The Alaska daily empire., 1915-12-06

ards. and the winters A1noubh colu' have nttie snow and the climate ia dry and lnvlgoratlng Cattle groze here al the wear and they are latter and I'm heiter condition in the spring than fbev ere In the fall What a country for the cattleman'
 asouthwestern Alaska however, Is destined ln the next twenty-five years Co have @ permanent agricultural ana cattle raising population ana tne oay will come when this part or Alaska win contain and sustain several mil lions of people It has now perma- nent nopuiation of thousands who have zone there and been there for many veora many of whom were born near there. and they Intend to stay there. Mark what l say, the day wilt come when Southeastern and Southwestern Alaska will be states In the Union.
 Alaska north of the Yukon river is 0 vast country stretching away from the Yukon river to the Arctic ocean. This part of Alaska has very little timber. lt Is rich in mineral re- sources and is essentially O mining country It has vast deposits of cop per. and gold, and tn, and coal, and various other kinds of minerals. This mart of Alaska will always be sparse liy inhabited by a migratory people who go there to mine, and when the mines are worked out they will come away.
 "Alaska's production of mineral wealth is growing apace. The mineral production for 1915 is estimated at S28. 8.S70, ,000, of which $27 l5O,OOO comes ! from copper and gold. The gold pro- duction of 1914 amounted to $24,12S,- 749. The copper output is estimated at 32.s0O.OOO pounds for 1915, against 4421. .639 pounds in 1913. Alaska quar- ries and mines in 1914 produced also marble. and gypsum, and tln coal and silver to the estimated value of s1, ,79O, ,O0O. an increase of $l,4OO0O0 over 1913. The total value of Alaska's mineral production since 1880, when mining first began, Is, in round figures 06,000,000. or more than 4S times the sum paid to Russia for the terri tory.
 Alaska at the present time is on the crest of an unparalleled era of good times, and the figures show that trade between the territory and the United States will be two and one-half times greater for 1915 than during 1914.
 "The increase of gold production, the development of railroad agricul- ture and forest enterprises, and the steady gain in population have worked to bring about the doubling Of the business.
 "The development on large scale of lode gold mines has been confined to Southeastern Alaska. The progress made in the treatment of low grade gold-bearlng ores in this section, with in very recent years, has been little short of marvellous. and this has been SO eminently successful as to warrant the statement that what has been achieved here will be followed by sim liar successes in Southwestern and Northern Alaska where vast bodies of higher grade ores than are found in Southeastern Alaska await only bet ter transportation facilities to invite the attention of the capital necessary to make them productive.
 Do you know that long before Cali fornia was more than myth, before the Columbia was discovered, before there was a United States, Alaska had been explored and settled? If Chinese records are to be believed the discoy- cry of Alaska antedates the Journeys of the Norsemen Co Greenland and noroan tho --Ationti0.
 According to the records. O Chinese Buddhist priest traversed the Alaskan shore in 499 A. D.. In I'll the Cos sacks of Russia were hunting sable i'm Alaska. In 1724 Peter the Great with his own hands wrote the instruc- tlons for the expedition that led to the discovery and exploration of Bering Sea. and in the following century : Spanish. English and French naylgat. ors again and again headed for the Alaskan coast in a vain effort to find the Northwest passage from the Pa l cfic to the Atlantic. The records or these explorations constitute a most ! important part oi the history of Amer ica.
 My friends you know ] am sour dough- have made nine trips to | Alaska. l am one of the pioneers or Alaska. l belong to the Arctic Bro therhood. Years ago l said that AL aslSa was the wonderland of the world. 1 reiterate that Nine-tenths of the people of the country have no idea Of the vastness of her boundaries; the extent of her domain; the grandeur of her scenery; the salubrity of her climate: the wonder of her mountains the length of her rivers; the possibll- ity of her fisheries; the greatness Of her forests: the grazing advantages in her valleys for sheep and cattle; her untouched agricultural resourcesi her incalculable mineral wealth. and her splendid homes for the multitude in the land up there that spells op- portunity for the earnest worker and the brave pioneer.
 'I repeat now what have often said before-that Alaska is the won derland of the world-God's country. No words can adequately describe it. It is the poor mans and the rich mans. and the sportman's paradise. Alaska Is the natural gallery of the universe. The time In my judgment lis at hand when this vast territory must be developed by Amedican gen. ius. American capital, and American enterprise. and take my word for It.. there will be no more prosperous sec tion in all our progressive country for American brawn and American brain. Alaska is the place for the new set tler.-for the hustler-ior the man who wants to go ahead and get on.
 "Politically speaking, Alaska wants her rights-that's all! Alaska must have her rights. That is destiny. AL aska with her increasing population of patriotic people; Alaska with her invigorating climate; Alaska with her beautiful scenery; her magnificent -l---.------. L..- nnoL-nunnnu mnnn-