Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-04-23

cubic feet, are too small. Farther up
the river is Duncan Stewards mining
camp, where they are dredging at a
profit and where are quartz mines said
to be good
Other towns are kenai, kasiof. Sell
dovia and Port Graham. on Cook inlet.
Kenai has population of $50. and Sell
dovia, at the southwestern end Of the
peninsula, has less than 200. Both
have fish canneries and SO have Kasi-
lof and Port Graham. 1t is not far from
Kenai, where the first gold in Alaska
was found. 1t was discovered by the
Russians. being washed out of the
kenai river in 1850. seventeen years
before the territory came into our
hands. Since then small quantities
have been found here and there IN
many parts of the peninsula, and the
prospects for quartz mining and placer
mining are comparatively good. This is
the story / get from the miners
Coal is known to exist in the western
part of the peninsula, and it was mined
there by the Russians. who brought
in laborers from Siberia and miners
from Germany with a view to devel-
oping the territory. Later one of the
American steamship companies took
some of the coal to San Francisco, but
it was found of too low a grade to be
valuable. 1t is Ignite. varying in color
from black to brown, and 1t cracks
upon drying. There are great quantl-
ties of it north of Kachemak bay, and
the entire Kenai low1and may be coal
bearing. This coal will furnish fuel
for the farmers. and run through gas
producers it might be used for manu-
featuring purposes.
The great future of the kenai PENN
sula lies in it's farms. The Agricultural
Department experts who went over the
country year or so ago have esti-
mated that there are on the peninsula
and in the Matanuska and Susitna val
leys, where the railroad is now build
ing, something like four million acres
of fairly good land. This part of the
country is low and 1t has an equable
climate. Some of the region is covered
with swamp and muskeg which will
need draining, but at least one-third
of it will require clearing only to be
made ready for crops. The land of the
latter character is enough to make
more than eight thousand farms of
quarter of a section each. or four thou
sand farms of $50 acres, which is the
amount of land now allowed for u
homestead in Alaska.
The total area of the lowiands which
are suitable for farming is about three
fourths the size Of the state of Massa
chusetts, and the best of the lands,
those which do not have to be drained,
are about twice large as Rhode Is
land. OF the latter. one-half lies in the
Susitna and Matanuska valleys, and the
other half is on the western side of the
kenai peninsula.
If weeds, grass and bushes are any
sign of fertility. much of this country
will produce excellent crops. Here at
Sunrise. outside the roads and trails,
the land is a jungle of dense vegeta-
tion and one wades through weeds as
high as his head. l have found high
grass in every open place in the for
ests and some of it is SO thick that
man short distance away is hidden
from view. There is grass on the
stream bottoms, on the benches and up
the slopes of the hills even above the
timber line. The most common is n
red-top that grows to the height of
five or six feet. and, as l am told, makes
excellent hay. Indeed it is cut for that
purpose about Sunrise and Seward. 1t