Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-05-07

every dog is to be brought back. dead
alive-thesc exacting conditions APP
peal to the pioneers of the north
These are some of the striking char
acteristics of life in Alaska. but the
larger towns are being
Life in Towns rapidly conventional
K s,., ized. There's LIN e AIR
the capital, for in
stance. II is we'll regulated town of
1000 people. with hotels. theaters. wa
ter works. schools, two daily newspa-
pers--more advantages than the aver
age town of its size in the states. There
is Fairbanks. in the interior Its mu-
nicipal prosressiveness is Indicated by
! the fact that il maintains municipal
heating plant. which supplies heat to
the business section of the town, thus
avoiding the foolish multiplication of
furnaces that prevails in the states and
saving nine-tenths of the total cost of
heating. Valdez has every convenience,
and is a picture town of bay. mounta in,
| forest, stream and glacier. But the
points of interest in Alaskan life are.
/ naturally, not those that conven-
! tional.
The presence of the army in Alaska
has had a decided effect on its social
well being. The army ruled the reg ion
until 1900, and there are still two COM
| panies each at Fort Davis, Nome; Fort
! Egbert. on the Canadian border: Fort
Gibson. on the Tanana: Fort St. Mich :
ael. at the mouth of the Yukon, and at
Fort William II. Seward near Skag-
way. The army has watched over the
well-being of Alaska. and has served
in many AN emergency. There was the
time, for instance, when there were
Is. 900 gold seekers and little law at
Nome. The men of, the army decided
most disputes At one time a mass
meeting was called by disappointed and
idle miners. and these malcontents, by
resolution. were about to declare all
mining ella inns vacated that they might
get another chance. This would, OF
course, have led to a miners war. But
into this emergency young lieutenant
| with seven men thrust himself. lie
seiz..,i the meeting. declared it adj
| io1.rr.d, and, despite the small size Of
his force succeeded in dispensing those
assembled.
| But the latest blessing that the army
has brought to all Alaska is communi
cation with the
Wireless Connects outside world
Interior and Coast. ' ny , ,e'es nire
! less. At scores of those towns far in
/ the interior. where communication was
| formerly cut off for half the year. there
Is now set up a wireless station, ana
some Young corporal of the signal serV-
ice is today sitting at each instru-
ment, picking off the chat of the great
I, stations along the shore, of the vessels
that traverse the north Pacific, of the
news service that every day blankets
all that region These bulletins are
published such, or are gwen to the
fugitive printer who may have ned so
far from the maddenins crowd and yet
retained the desire to put news IN type.
! At Eagle at Circle, at St Michael, at
| Fort Gibson and many other isolated
points the Signal Corps has brought
the lonely dweller in Alaskan wastes
| into touch with the world.
Another government agency that has
ment of Alaska is the geological sur
vey The exploration of this difficult
| region has been largely in the hands
| of these scientists, and they have been
an interesting part of its life. The
| manner in which these men of learn
| ing have accomplished the seemingly
| impossible. has been a revelation to the
| merely adventurous. They followed
streams inland that had never before
| reflected the image of white man. They
| rowed their boats until the water got
| too swift, then they poled, then they
waded. day after day. in this water
| from the shouts of glaciers and pulled
! their boats after them. They portrayed
! their canoes across watersheds, put
them into new streams that led they
knew not where.
If the waters were rough they built
stout RATS and started downstream,
never knowing when they would be
hurtled into rapids or over a water
fall AS they went they mapped the
unknown. examined it's formations. es-
timated possibilities as to mining Gov
eminent geologists told of the gold of
Alaska before the miners found it,
The government has been able to with
hold it's wealth from spoliation be-
, cause of the facts set forth by these
men.
While Alaska presents mostly an at
mosphere of heroism and hope there is
its one great tragedy
Natives Fast the native. Those chill
DYING Off. 49,. III. SHOWS wno