El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-05-13

-oRpoVA, Alaska, May III have
crossed Prince william SOUND
~ from Seward to Cordova- Seward
is the terminus Of Uncle Sans rail-
way 70 Fairbanks and Cordova is the
terminus Of the Copper River railway
which was built by the Morgan-Gug-
renheim syndicate to open up their
great copper mines which are at Ken
nlcott. about 200 miles in the interior
The two ports lie almost opposite
cscb other AT the western and eastern
ends Of the great bay known as Prince
NVi1Iiam sound Their distances apart
Is the width Of the hay, which Is wv
miles Both ports have eNceliehl ndi
bors free from ice al the geaI, 49, 49,
Both are close to valuable coal ne 80 -.
and each form a natural gateway IoI
a railroad TO the interior OF the coun-
try. .,,oi,,+ed
NV president Taft TO plan out the pes
lines Of transportation ior lne ueeS,s
opmcnt Of Alaska chose CordoVa an
tie Copper River road Tor eAlenoiVil ~. "
FAIRBANKS in preference to seward an. az
the Alaska Northern, but II huE VS. IS
tbat "a second road be built from sew
ard around Cook inlet and across "a
The Yukon by way Of the ldltaro9 E1iu
region. II also proposed DrahCh ii"0
to the Matanuska coal fields. - DO
The present administration mas -
cided that the Seward Fairbanks tlHe
lis the better, and the road along ina
route IS now being built. II ls hul ~,
probable that the Copper tdVeI roau
NAV he extended at some time IN lho
future.
like n Road In the stHtes;
During me- stay in COrdoVa ! nav
taken a trip over this rallIoau. -
technical name is the Copper River ana
railway. Ine cars ~
smoothly The passenger coaches 81
like those Of the states. Their llIlsl,
is oak and the seats are uphoisleI ~
an wicker The road is well built ana
we'll baUasted. II has the standard
gage track. with 20 pound rails slmlld
10 those on the new government ran
wnv The road crosses the mountains
bv easy grades, having maximum OF
not over $40 or $40 percent, and II rs
so made that a train load OF ABOUT 'vV
tons can be carried each way over II
The construction OF the road began
fu 1906 and was completed IN lyil-
IFS cost IL is said, is somewhere be-
tween S15.O0O.00O and $2O,OOO'OOO, ana
soma of its building shows great SKIN
and scientific engineering. Ihere are
1q6 miles Of road now in operation,
and upon this there are daily freight
trains on the Kennicott branch, ana
three trains a week between CordoNa
and Chitina, the station from where IL
was proposed to extend the road on 10
J. HlTnankh.
HEADQUARTERS I'm COrdOyH.
The company has office buildings and
machine and car shops here at CordoNa.
II has also built large ocean Wharl
accessible 20 steamers at all stages OF
the tide The cars bring their freight
right to the steamers and are unloaded
with the minimum OF handling. There
are annie warehouses and facilities for
furnishing the steamers with fresh wa
ter and fuel oil
tween the wharf and the town, which is
about three quarters Of a mile away
As soon as our ship came TO anchor the
matches were raised and we began to
load conner ore. The ore cars were
automatically dumped and the bags OF
copper. each holding about half
bushel, were shot from the cars right
into the hold OF the steamer. The load
ing went on for almost q day. and dur
ing that time we took in cargo valued
at about 100000.
Tops Richest Mineral section.
Among the arguments advanced in
favor OF the government buying the
Conner River e Northwestern railroad
was that the traffic already developed
would have made the railroad "A live
working proposition from the very
start The route taps the Wrangell
range. the richest known mineral sec
tiOn OF Alaska This range has gold.
copper and silver. It has the richest
copper mines Of the world and some
which are now producing 6O.0O0.O 900
pounds OF copper a year at a cost Of
less than five cents a pound.
The road is now bringing down from
the Kennic0tt mines 200 carloads Of
such ore per month. and its yearly rev
enue from that source is something
like $4,000. 000- The ore is charged
freight according to its value and that
now coming down averages over 20
percent pure copper and pays at the
rate Of $1,000 a carload Some Of the
lower grade ores pay only 81 or So a
ton.
Annfher ars.ninenf rnnde fnr he Con