The Alaska daily empire., 1915-01-01
ALASKA: Its Resources
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When one considers that the industrial history of Alaska he said really begun scarcely more than of years ago it will be readily conceded that the Territory has made substantial progress in many ways Twenty years ago but very little was known about this expanse of land sea, riy- CTS, lakes and mountain ranges if except the southeastern section where years had Teen considerable mining development and fish. ing The remainder of the Territory comprised known region concerning which many wierd tales current. For instance the Copper River country was believed to be inhabited by extremely hostile like Indians who fired upon any adventurous white who. penetrated their domain with copper bull lets. As aemater of cold found, neth- CT in Alaska elsewhere kindly and unofend- ing people.
 But the story of the copper bullets served its for conveyed the impression cop per was thus freely used it must be plentiful. and. therefore the Copper River region attracted notice of the white prospector Klondke stam- pede which began in 1S97.
 For several years prior 1890 the Yukon country, and especially that portion known the British kon. had attracted the hardy the gold washed out of the bars of the Stewart River and Fortymie had excited attention the Pacific Coast Information concerning it, however. was indeed meager and the means of transportation between the ports of Washington, Oregon and California limit ed and uncertain. Alaska, in those days. only the great country but it the distant country whose remoteness from of civilization tits interest and increased its mysteriousness. Sa'The publicity given the of it's acquirement by United States until comparatively recently was negative in character. It pictured dur ing the debates in Congress when purchase so fearessly advocated by William II. Seward, ice box and "a playground for polar bears his idea seems to have become firmly fixed the minds of too many people. Indeed. nearly half century Russia. the figd aspect popuarly supposed to be presented by Alaska still finds lodg ment in the American mind. the earlier days the tourists who made the coast juorney from Seattle or San Francisco to Lynn Canal and Sitka, viewing country from the deck of a steamer were more anxious to portray its forbiddng features than its jed attractions Icebergs and glaciers popular totem poles obession. Furclad Eskimos and ice gloos, of which the average Alaskan knows nothing. delight and descriptions of them claimed first position in books Alaska that remarkable for the vast amount of transformation and downright for aught else Even today the stock of some wouldbe literary eXpoitcrs of Alaska is the parka. the dog sled and the totem pole. Although hardy voy- and prospectors had negotiated the waters of the Upper Yukon in the early eighties and had brought out pokes of gold dust their abors the golden promise of the Yukon Basin the stories that current of the awful dangers be tered by the prospcctor his golden found ready belief No that walked by night infested the day in the annals of mythology was comparable to those that beset the wayarer who threaded the devious channels of the river that led them to a Promised land. Miles Canyon. Five Fin Rink Rapids, yertable maelstroms ready to engulf their prey. while the hardshps the Northand were depicted in prose and verse. hairrasng but sui ficenty lucid to aid the mental discomfort of the early traveller. -. ..'
 The whaling fleets that visited Berin Sea and the Arctic Ocean viewed the nhospitablelookng shores Of Seward Peninsula from the decks of their vessels dreaming that beneath it's frozen and repellent bosom there almost inexhaustible golden wealth Perhaps had they known 1t, 1t would have been al lurement to them. for not walebone and whale oil fertile of wealth whose value they could easily approximate? ..' . ..
 The agricultural possibilities of Alaska, until within years, considered worthy of discussion although years in the early days of Fortymile ant Circle and Fort Yukon and other interior points. to nothing of the Coast habtas the prospectors and min invariably raised vegetables of various kinds. Some times garden plot cabin gave abundant yieit of leuces. radshes. onions and the like, while ire quenty the cabins roof not only protected the owne from the inclemencies of the climate but served chorage ground for garden sass' well.
 Tl le line of least resistance Is not always foowe, by tae pioneer. The settlement of the Alaska Panhan dle after 1867. slow indeed In 1880. according l. report made to the United States Census Bureau b Ivan Petrof there only 1i5 white people" in th entire Territory The white population today probab
 numbers 10000 In 1880 the total number of "civlIze people" was S,S72. By 1890. or exactly twentynv years ago, the white population estimated at 42St The great promise of the country to the Westward unknown although there the Russians had made earl settlements but had been cxpIoters of mineral weAt to only limited extent. The seal fisheries va uable to a few hut the great salmon haibut and co fisheries were small producers up to within comport