The Alaska daily empire., 1915-08-17
ALASKA SURPRISES
 SPOKANE TOURISTS
Spokane Spokesman Revlew)

Spokane Spokesman Review.)
 o. G. Robinson is back in Spokane from his fourth trip into the Cache Creek country in Southwestern Alas lxa. He has leased his claims on Mug get creek and is entirely content with the prospect, but gold mining is not the northern industry that he men- tions most frequently Instead, he tells you of turnips raised up there that weigh 25 pounds, of onions so tender and succulent that O dozen scarcely satisfies @ man who never did like onions; of cabbagesi all other vegetables we known anything about, and grass eight feet high all thriving in the valleys of the Susitna, Panama, Matanuslla and numerous other rivers that pour down from the everlasting ice and snow of the high range that attends Mount Mckinley.
 Everybody who reads has likely been informed of Alaska farming, but only those who have been there are able to actually realize 1t. It has always been the land of terrible cold in popular imagination, the place where with numb jaws you devoured the final fragment of your last trusty dog, kissed once more the red rose you had carried in your shirt bosom ever since Aneglina gave it to you back in Connecticut to make her a fortune on, mumbled a few parting re- marks that would sound well enough for the next novel of the north, then curled up and froze until discovered by the sweet little Savemefromsoap, or some other Siwash princess. That is the way 1t always has been, but now comes Mir. Robinson, enamored Of the delicate and altogether allur- ing onions they raise right in that very place, to say nothing of turnips big enough fora weeks board
 Six Tons of spuds To the Acre
 Theoretically 1t can't be done, be- cause Fairbanks is 300 miles farther north than the southern end of Green land and the bulk of the country is nearer the north pole than Labrador Yet Fairbanks has farms all around 1t, electric light and comforts of civ nization. The government has lit- tle farm there which yields from six to seven tons of potatoes to the acre. This Is up in the high altitude of the Panama and the country Mir. Robin son tells about is still further to the south Moreover he insists that mar ket gardening is the main agricultural prospect of the country. the kind of farming that sunny hill slopes and sheltered valleys are selected for in the temperate zone. Grain and hay grow, the latter especially so
 "The difference between Alaskan climate and that of the same latitude further east is as marked as the diff ference between Puget Sound climate and North Dakota. both of the latter being on the same parallel but the Puget sound winter is nothing at all in comparison to Dakota.
 "This influence of ocean currents, or whatever the reason is, extends to varying degree clear up into the neigh borhood of the Arctic Circle. From Fairbanks down the weather compares favorably with the northern attitudes of the United States, and offers the advantage of very little darkness in the summer. Vegetables grow day and night from June to the last of Au- gust. Naturally the cultivation of a country so far away from the main population is going to be a problem that will require any amount of cour- age and hard work, but the fact that 1t can be done is no longer a matter of surprise or doubt among people who have been there. have picked the finest strawberries growing wild up there that ever tasted Blueberries, raspberrles blackberries and even cranberries are abundant. They raise cabbage that weighs from six to ten pounds a head and fine cauliflower, Cucumbers, peas, tomatoes and, in es- pecially favored spots, even melons are produced.
 Take Hike of 75 Miles
 Mir. Robinson is interested 25O miles north of the town of Seward and he goes in by way of steamer up the Susitna river from Cooks Inlet to the Yentna and thence to McDougal. The steamers have but little trouble on the Susitna, for it is about a mile wide From McDougal it is a tramp of T5 miles to Nugget creek, making it in four and half days. They take wa gons up the trail and also use dogs, especially in the winter. The new railroad will simplify transportation all through this country immensely.
 Another factor that is expected to temper Alaska climate to a still great CT degree is the blacial shrinkage of glaciers that are common there. They are steadily melting and many of the huge fields lof ice will be gone entire ly within a reasonable period of years. 1t is figured. These huge bodies of ice are remnants of the glacial period preserved long past their time in the lower attitudes and their decreasing size indicates that Alaska's climate is certainly not getting any colder. When they are gone a vast amount of excess refrigeration will be dispensed with. There will be enough of that left in winter time for all practical purposes, but people seem to have be- come perfectly acclimated to it and 1t doesn't seem to harm vegetation. According to the United States weath- CT Bureau maps Fairbanks has a range from 90 plus to 65 below, with a win ter average of 1S below The highest Launnaralnra given in the SnslLna reg-