Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1916-11-10
POSSIBILITIES OF ALASKA.
Territory Can Furnish Country With
Coal for 1000 Years.

Coal Tor 1000 Years.
Few really know that Alaska s area
equals one-iifth of the entire United
States, and that while the territory was
purchased in 1870 for $7,000,0O0, it has
already produced of mineral wealth, in
GLIDING gold, copper, silver and marble,
$250,000, 900; salmon and other fish
$170,000,000, besides $50,00O,0OO more
for furs and lumber, yet its surface
has hardly been scratched. We are just
beginning to realize that the warm
Japan current, which flows around
Alaska 8 southern coast, gives it a
climate milder in midwinter than that
of some of our northwestern states, and
that it has enormous possibilities for |,
the ranchman, the fruit grower and, 4
farmer as well as the miner. Copper
is abundant in Alaska. 1t has one of
the largest gold mines in the world.
Oil, tin, silver, gypsum, marble Ignite
and bituminous and anthracite coal
have already been found by the gov
ernment' surveyors, though they have
only begun the work of exploration.
Nature preserves its equilibrium al |
| ways and everywhere. 1t has furnished |
Alaska with abundant deposits of coal.
Some of the largest are in the Arctic
| Circle, the land of the midnight sun.
1t is estimated that Alaska can fur
nish this country with a supply of coal
for 1000 years to come; but only when
a higher price will justify the cost of
mining it in remote and almost ipac
cessible regions. Alaska's greatest need
for its industrial development is an
abundance of fuel. While it has plenty
of timber along the coast, wood is
scarce in the interior, but its coal fields
| L.. I, fttn1 hn
government, which owns the coal,
would permit capital to mine it.
Sensational writers have so cXaggcr-
atcd the immediate value of Alaska s
coal fields and created such wide
spread alarm regarding their seizure
and appropriation by private parties
that no administration at Washington
has had the courage to consider the So
luton of the problem from an economic
standpoint without regard to partisan
considerations.
It is greatly to the credit of the
present secretary of the interior, Mr..
Lane, that, with the approval of Pres
ident Wilson, vigorous effort to de.
vclop the coal deposits of Alaska is
now under way. The government sur
veys show in all about dozen sepa-
rate and distinct coal fields in Alaska.
ranging from Ignite to bituminous and
anthracite of high and low grade. Of
these fields only three or four are
tributary to seasonable navigation as
the rest are locked III by ice fields dur
ing the greater part of the year. These
available are known as the Boring Riv-
5 err field, near Cordova, and including
the much-talkcd-o and greatly mis-
r represented Cunningham Claim the
5 Cook Inlet Ignite deposit, covering a
, very large area in southwestern Alaska
and on which little work has been
done, and the Matanuska field, to
: which the government is now building
railroad of its own by authority re-
p Gently granted by congress and with
a an initial appropriation of 81 100000
, and plan that contemplatcs the con
struction of ! 900 miles of railway at
a cost of $35,000,000.
, The government on the completion of
it's railroad connection, probably in the
fall of 1916, will prepare the Matanus-
ka coal lands for leasing and working.
The Boring field is thus being prepared
, at present, and | had the pleasure of
! meeting Mr.. George Evans of Seattle,
the able government engineer now
marking out the limits of the coal con
cessions to be leased by the govern
ment. He is an authority on the Alas
lta coal situation and speaks from per
! sonal observations of the entire Pacific
= coast coal situation, extending over a
I period of 10 years. He dcplores the
publication of grossly exaggerated
statements concerning the character
t and value of Alaska s coal deposits and
/. says that many have been led to be-
: lieve that coal could be drcdged into
t boats at the wharves and sold at ex-
$ travagant prices by any one lucky
e enough to have coal claim, while in
:. fact the development of any of Alas
Y ka's coal fields will require very
f heavy outlay and great risk because of
the unusually broken condition of the
c coal bearing strata.
j The mining cost is bound to be OK
cessive. Every field must be thorough
ly examined and explored by the most
!, competent mining engineers. For this
= reason some of the heaviest investors
: in Alaska IS mining propositions, includ
ing Col. lacking, have refused to con
y slider the possibilities of its coal mines
J. and confined their explorations to gold
i and cOpDpr-Ii pslie g Weekly