Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1916-04-30

thdt Huo SiOWH up a. tliS hioulaa 80 SANP
creek on the mainland at the beginning of
the new construction of Uncle Sans rail-
road. The railway really begins at Seward
at the southern coast of the Kenai PENN
sula, but its tracks for u miles will be those
of the Alaska Northern, which Uncle Sam
has bought ready built. This runs across
the peninsula to the head of Turnagain Arm
not far from Sunrise and there will be Is or
20 miles to construct from there on to An
chorage. The work now under way is from
Anchorage northward The road is to go
up Matanuska valley to the coal fields and
northward through the Susitna valley to
\ Fairbanks, which, as the crow flies, is al
most 400 miles from where am writing.
The reason for Anchorage is the railroad
construction and it sprang into being when
the president, as Aladdin, rubbed the rusty
old lamp of congress and wished for that
appropriation Of $35,0O0Oo0 for railroads in
Alaska The town will be the nearest port
to the Matanuska coal fields, and when nav
igation iii Cook inlet is open, which is from
five to seven months of the year, it will
have, perhaps, the bulk of the coal trade
For the rest of the time it will go on to
Seward 1t is for this reason that the peo-
pie here expect big city at Anchorage.
They look forward to it as smelling and
manufacturing center as well as great
commercial port, and are already talking of
Il as the financial heart of Alaska.
The people of Seward are jealous of An
chorage. They claim that their port will be
the only real city at the southern end of the
railroad, for the reason that Resurrection
bay is free Of ice all the year round, and that
ships can land there at any hour of the year.
All steamers coming to Anchorage have to
go several hundred miles further. They
must come up Cook inlet, which is great
bay on the west of the peninsula extending
about 200 miles into the land The inlet in
places is upward of SO miles wide, but it
narrows at the northern end, and is only
few miles across in Knik ARM where An
chorage is situated. The lower part of the
inlet, owing to the warm Japanese current,
is open throughout the year. The upper
part freezes along in October or November,
and for great part of the winter ships can
not come in. The place is one of high tides.
The sea rises from As to 65 feet in the arms
of the inlet, and it rushes in twice day in
wall forming bore of somewhat the same
nature as those in the Bay of Fundy or in
the Hoogly river, up which one goes to
Calcutta.
had some experience with the tide in
going from Sunrise to Anchorage. We hal
to leave when the waters were high, and
this was not until midnight Our boat was
a launch about 18 feet in length with II.
horsepower gasoline engine taking up the
whole of the center. There were bench
seats around the side and only canvas for
cover. The owner OF the boat was Ger
man storekeeper of Sunrise, and the engi-
neer was his son, boy of 49, The man re-
fused to go unless he got at least $50, but
we managed to drum up seven passengers,
consisting of myself. George Parks of the
government land office and-five prospeetors
The distance we made was something
like 100 miles 1t took us about eight hours
to go, and the German was over six DAYS
coming back. We rode out of Turnagain
arm to Fire island, and lay there for an hour
to avoid the rough water We then came !
on through Knik arm to Ship creek and had
to wait several hours before the tide rose 50
That We Souiu idHu. 1iiS was 81, HolWllil-
standing our boat drew but three feet of
water. We might have taken dory and
tramped to the shore through the mud, but
the mud here is Of blue glacial clay and as
sticky as glue. 1t is almost impossible to
walk through it. The steamers usually
anchor some distance from shore, and all
freight is landed in lighters taken in by tug
boats. The government wharf is high up on
piles, and there are platforms little below