Valdez daily prospector., 1916-01-18
FAIRBANKS WANTS
 RAILROAD IN 1917
Fears that Construction May Delay Arrival Beyond Life of Pres-
 ent Generation.

Unless Secretary Franklin K. Lane can be induced to change his present plans, according to Fairbanks citi- zens, it will be absolutely impossible to complete the construction of the railroad from the Coast to Fairbanks, the interior metropolis of the territory, within five years.
 A change of plans, it is contended, would enable the Alaska Engineering Commission, in charge of the con- strucion, to complete the project by 1917, in the summer of which the fiftieth anniversary of the acquisition of the territory by the United States will be celebrated.
 The Fairbanks Commercial club has wired Secretary Lanes, President Wilson and Senator Key Pittman, George Chamberlin and others re sponsible for the passage of the bill, urging them to try to induce the gov ernment to begin the construction from both ends of the line next year. Similar requests were sent to the Alaska Bureau of the Seattle Cham Der of Commerce, the Portland Cham Der of Commerce and other organi- cations on the Pacific Coast.
 The Fairbanks people contend that if construction is not completed from the Fairbanks end next summer the road will be delayed two years by reason of the fact that the Tan ana River must be spanned by a bridge, and that it will take two years to build it.
 They contend that it would be foolish to carry the construction to the bank of the river and then lay off the track crews until the bridge is completed, then reassemble the track crew to finish the last 100 miles of track to Fairbanks.
 "The allotment of ss,000.000 for the coast end of the railroad" said Falcon Joslin, "and only $285,000 for the interior end. as contemplated in the estimate made by Secretary Lane, seems altogether out of pro- portion. It was expected at Fairbanks that at least $2,000,00O would be allotted for work at the interior end"
 Joslin,- who wrote the original railroad bill and was largely instru- mental in gaining the passage of the measure in it's final form, says that the building of small piece of track from the Panama River to the Nenana coal fields, as contemplated by the government, will seriously hurt Fairbanks instead of helping it, as it will drain the population of the interior city.
 "Indeed," he said,"It will kill Fairbanks as effectively as any town ever was killed in the past by delib- crate discrimination of private rail road exploiters."
 He says the Fairbanks end of the line is easier to build than the Sew ard end, as the groud is level and there is no rock work and no tunnels. He says further that road from Fairbanks to the Nenana coal fields will give the Fairbanks people sup ply of coal, something which Is vitally needed. The coast cities of Alaska can get their coal by water from the UnA.cu States.
 Joslin figures that the difference in cost would be insignificant when compared to the saving in time. He says the freight can be landed at Fairbanks for $50 per ton, and it will cost nearly that much to land 1t by rail after the road is completed to the river bank.
 "The slight decrease in cost and labor," said Joslin, would be com pensated for many times over by the increase of population and traf- fic which the construction work would bring to the interior. The money paid out in wages would be expended in building new homes, clearing new farms and opening new mines"
 "This is the great object in build ing the railroad. The whole expendi- ture is for that purpose. Thus the population of Fairbanks would be doubled in three years. This means double the traffic for the railroad when it is opened.
 Joslin points out that similar req sons influenced the builders of every road that reaches the Pacific Coast. Everyone of them both American and Canadian, was built from both lands, the material being brought orounA rono H0rn at frameNdOuN