The Cordova daily times., 1916-01-14
] I ALASKA WATER
 POWER

The water power or Alaska may De considered a source of great potential wealth. Its value was only partially realized a generation ago, since which time it has been highly developed in many countries, and is now productive of some of the wonders Of the age. The utilization, therefore, of the water power of Alaska is of far-reaching import to the people of the territory and also of the nation. A bill has passed the United States House of Representative and is now pending in the Senate to provide for the de- velopment of the water power of the territory and the use of it's public lands in relation thereto. While wat CT power has been in use for many years, by means of the more or less crude water wheels, the water power business, as applied to electric trans mission, is not over 25 years old. It has now become a question of almost universal interest, and Alaska pre- sents a fruitful and inviting field for its development.
 The Pacific coast of Alaska has many undeveloped water power sites, many of them ideal In location and with few natural obstacles in the way to make them readily available by a comparatively moderate outlay of cap ital It may be thought that these waters are useful for power purposes for only a few months of spring and summer, but such is not the case. Water power which has been deyel- oped in the southern part of the ter ritory may be utilized throughout the year with a diminished flow perhaps month or two during the winter season. This water power makes possible the development of the vast low grade quartz deposits of south eastern Alaska, inasmuch as extreme ly cheap power is thus provided. But few of Alaska's streams have been harnessed for power purposes, al though one large project has been ompleted-that of the Alaska Gasti- neau Mining Company. near Juneau and the same company is now devel- Ioping a second, auxiliary to the first. Another extensive project is in course of development at Speel river, abont 40 miles south of Juneau, which is probably one of the best water power sites on the entire Pacific coast. The mineral deposits of Alaska are such as to induce the development of water power on a large scale.
 In addition, the forests of southeast ern and southwestern Alaska, and es- pecially the former, contain vast areas of timber suitable only for the manu- facture of wood pulp. The forest Is virgin one, and millions of feet of
 timber are annually going to waste
 because the wood pulp manufacturers,
 under the conditions caused by uncer- tainty of title, multiplicities of red tape and the profusion of regulations
 and restrictions that have existed,
 have been scared out of the territory.
 The importance of the bill now pend
 ing in Congress, as applied to indus trial development in Alaska, can not
 be overestimated. As soon as some ldefinite assurance of title for a term of years, coupled with reasonable re- gulations, can be obtained more of these water power sites will be devel- oped and utilized for the manufacture of wood pulp and electro-chemical products.
 It is only within recent years that the federal government has made some effort to ascertain the extent and importance of the undeveloped water power of Alaska with view to furnishing accurate data in relation thereto, and the waters of the south eastern coast are now being investi- gater under the direction of the United States geological survey and the United States forest service, Au- tomatic water gauges have been placed in position at various points to determine the flow throughout the year, and it is intended that this in vestigation shall continue over a period of three or four years.
 Representatives of strong finan-