The Alaska citizen., 1916-06-19
RIGGS ARRIVES:
 IS READY FOR
 RAILROAD WORK
WORK ON INTERIOR END OF ALASKA RAILROAD TO
 BE FASTENED

l Thomas Riggs, Jr., member of the | Alaskan Engineering commission. ar
 rived in Fairbanks on the steamer i Yukon. And he came prepared to start to work as soon as possible on the interior end of the Alaska
 ra lroad, He does not expect to be
 able to do much before July 1. as the necessary funds will not be
 available until after the passage
 of the sundry civil bill by congress.
 which bill carries With it the mat
 ter of the appropriation of $6.247 900 for construction work on the Alaska railroad. But ii is thought that the bill in it's entirety will be taken up this week by the national legis- lators.
 MT. Riggs states that he has but little to add to what has already been said about the work to be un- dertaken here. The chief work. of course. is the building of the road itself, but it will be necessary to construct a wagon road from Fair 1 banks to Nenana along the line of the railroad, in order that the hand ling of supplies may be facilitated It will also be necessary to con struct a telegraph and telephone line to Nenana and the coal fields And MT. Riggs has asked the hearty cooperation Oe the residents of in terior Alaska in order that the
 work may be facilitated and has tened.
 It is expected that no less than 5000 tons of material for work in
 the interior will be brought north during the summer The rails for
 the road have already been or dered. so that they will be available at the opening of the season of 1917. Orders have also been placed for 105 miles of telephone wire, to- gether with the necessary fixtures, and work on the construction of the telegraph and telephone line will start as soon as the material arrives. The construction Of the wagon road will start as soon as
 the necessary funds are appropriated by congress-
 Mir. Riggs has but little to say concerning the manner in which the work of the engineering commits sion will be handled He states, however that it is the intent of the commission to do as much as pos
 sible by station work He also says that he will probably have more to say along those lines when he returns from a trip to Nenana which he intends to make in the near future, probably this week.
 Mir Riggs dream is the develop
 ment of the riches of the interior And he realizes that one of the
 reasons why development is held back is the cost of fuel for operat- ing purposes. His every effort is therefore being bent toward getting coal from the Nenana coal fields
 to Fairbanks, his present opinion
 being that fuel from the coal mines will be brought to Fairbanks over
 the railroad by the fall of 1917.
 MT. Riggs and family are now
 comfortably settled in the Hurley house, on lower First avenue. The
 children are Elizabeth aged two years, and Thomas IT, aged six months. It is Mrs. Riggs first trip
 to the interior.
 Others who arrived on the steam CT Yukon, and who will be employed
 by the commission during the com ing summer in official capacities
 were: w. J. Hubbach, accountant, who formerly held a similar posi-
 tion with the Baltimore & Ohio
 railroad; M. E. Pellet, formerly a
 court reporter and reporter in con gress, secretary to MT. Riggs; J. B. Bickford, formerly secretary to
 the committee in charge of the fair
 grounds at San Francisco, and Miss
 Edith Innis, who will be nurse ill
 charge of the Nenana hospital. Mir. Hubbach and MT, Bickford are ac companied by their wives
 Proposals will be received at the office of the Alaskan Engineering
 Commission, Federal Building, Fair
 banks, until 4 o'clock June Fist for furnishing 5000 lbs. best native po-
 tatoes, 500 lbs. each of native cab
 bages, carrots. rutabagas, to be de livered as ordered F o. B. any dock
 in Fairbanks. Boiled samples of DOtaIoaS must be submitted with