Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-09-21

tions duplicated on larger scale:
There Is the same juxtaposition OF
water power, timber, and deep fjords
running far inland where ocean
going steamers can load at the
mill itself. The Alaskan forests are
exceedingly dense and luxuriant. The
rainfall Is very heavy twice as great
as that OF the eastern United States
and the result Ia prodigal luxuriance
Of vegetation hard to reconcile Win
the popular idea of Alaska. The for'
ests are choked with lush underbrusn.
carpeted with moss, and 80 shadowea
by the roof OF spruce and hemlook fol.
age that the light In them Is a nal1
twilight at noon.
Through this forest run many
streams, falling hundreds Of feet IN the
course of a comparatively few miles,
which means speed of water and re-
sulting power. The Cana.
dian boundary runs along the crest OF
the coast range-its location was so
defined by the treaty of purchase nom
Russia-and from that crest to the
very edge of the sea the earth Is CLOTH
ed with trees
The coast line Is very irregular,
fringed with islands, indented BY deep
narrow channels. The largest steam
ers can pene trate far up many OF the
f1ords. Everywhere is the timber.
There are $4,000 miles of timbere4
shore line on the Tongass National
forest alone.
The forest service has recently MADE
the best estimates possible with avail
able facilities of the resources OF the
two Alaskan National forests, The
reconnaissance to date is admittedly
incomplete-we do not know exactly
how rich we are In timber but on the
basis of what has been done, 1t Is est.
mated that the Alaskan forests would
yield 100 million feet of timber an
nually on the basis of increase alone
that is, without decreasing the forest
appreciabiy at first, and not at all AZ.
ter the first year. In other terms, II
is estimated that after supplying all
local demands for saw timber, paper
mills with a capacity Of 5000 tons per
day-and 5000 tons is six million
pounds - could be fed from the nat
ural yearly increase without depicting
the real supply. And that Ia a good
deal of paper, when you come to con-
slider it.
The natural query Is, since Alaska
offers such attractive field for paper
mill, why aren't there any up there7
Capital usually doesn't wait to be ask
ed three times before Selling a chance
to earn good interest on investment.
Alaska Is not producing paper for
several reasons. In the first place, she
is pretty remote. Transportation Is
Just beginning to be put on an efficient
and reliable basis; it Is only In the last
few years that the extent and value OF
the forests has been realized. Under
normal conditions, before the war, the
result Of foreign competition. high
freights and the prevailing price OF
paper was such that ALASKA as paper
producer was on tho wrong side of the
cost line. But conditions are chang
ing.
> For the moment Of course, pulp
mill in Alaska would be one Of the
most profitable bits Of property you
could choose to ask for. AS one man
put it, 1t would be las good as license
TO rob banks With a guarantee OF
continuance Of present conditions, cap
ita1 would run to Alaska to build pulp
mills. What obviously deters It, Is the
fear that after the war prices will
drop until the Alaska investment
would prove Improbable.
But things may not be just the same
after the war az they were before.
Even If the price goes back all the way
to the old level, which is by no means
sure in view of increasing demand,
there is the increasing efficiency OF
steamer service to Alaska to be con-
sidered, which promises that the pen
insula can compete with western Can
ada and Norway under any conditions.
Then too, if the Oriental market for
paper develops as It Is expected to de-
velop, Alaska is the best and nearest
place for the Orient to draw its pulp
from When China uses one-tenth as
much paper per capita as the average
European country, she will be calling
for 100000 tons year.
The forest service has begun to re-
ceive Inquiries from various interest
ed parties about the purchase Of
stumpage in Alaskan forests. Sooner
or later Alaska will be one Of the
worlds great, sources of paper So
long as we own the Alaskan national
forests, we will be able to go on print
ing our papers and our books, though
Norway and Canada both stop shipping
US wood. We have not yet stopped
taking our profit on the investment Of
seven million dollars that Mr.. Seward
made fifty years ago.