Valdez daily prospector., 1915-10-13
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1s, 1915
ALASKA LITTLE KNOWN.

is StOrehOuSe or mlS1nIOrmaLlOn On matters Alaskan. The same mind that pictures the Southerner as a lank, lean, bearded individual in high top boots, with blacksnake whip iii hand, has caused Alaska to be pie tured as the habitat of walrus, D )lar bears and icebergs. You never see pictures of green fields and smil ing valleys, and herds of cattle, and fields of oats, barley or potatoes. It is always of men dressed in parkas, driving dogteams, and looking IS if they were on the point of congealiny with the cold. Alaskans themselves are responsible for lot of this mis- information. as they are prone to send out to their relatives exaggerated pie lures of our climate. They say. if asked why they don't show our sum. mer pictures: "Oh, they see all of that out in the states"
 We have received numerous letters since taking charge of the paper that would cause one interested in the country to tear his hair and weep tears of shame for the ignorance of his fellow-countrymen. Only this week we received a letter from an inquirer in Michigan, stating that she would like to come to Valdez, and asking if there were any white wom- .en in the town.
 It would be hard to convince this lady that dress suits and silk under wear are as common in Valdez as in Cheboygan, and that our ladies are as educated and refined as any in the land. Our schools, and churches, and libraries are equal to any in the East in proportion to population. B V. D.'s and toothpaste are used as commonly here as in Kalamazoo, and seven-but- ton kids and silk umbrellas are as plentiful as mushrooms in Texas. We use as pure English and wipe our red noses upon as clean handker- chiefs as they do in Detroit. Club life and social amenities are as strict
 
 our anatomies and nerve centers are so nearly identical with that of the good people of Michigan, that a sur : geon from that State could find our appendix as unerringly as if we were human beings.
 Only a year or so back the post nE nrtr 7ny1f of wrote very vigorous letter to the postmaster at Dawson, telling him if he did not receive report from his office immediately he would close up the office; that he had received no report from him, and that one should be filed immediately. As Dawson is sin Canadian territory, the postmas- ter very wisely objected to sending n his report to Uncle Sam.
 A department store from New York 'efuses to ship goods to Alaska, as ne does not care for business from foreign country" The Kansas City Star wants more money for sending hat journal of intelligence to our nsular possessions, and a man from owa wants to know if we publish UT paper in Eskimo or English.
 He does not know that the interior as better farms than the state of owa; that crops are heavier and 1e chances of failure less; that hum reds of settlers are raising thou ands of tons of potatoes of superior nality, acres of barley and oats, and
 ammoth cabbages, turnips, lettuce nd peas. Cattle graze> the year pund in localities where he imag- les the festive snowshoe rabbit ekes
 precarious existence;s chickens, Dgs and horses thrive in climate
 cooler summers and milder win srs than back in Io-way. Automo- Sles dash along the highways where