The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-04-19
FUTURE OF ALASKA
Stewards ICE BOX" NOW LAND
OF ENORMOUS RESOURCES.
Cost s7,2c00oo in 1867 ard Last Year
Exported Twice Her Purchase Price
in Gold Alone-Total. Commerce Of
Year Near St20cOO,O0o.

Year Near St2oc0O,00o
Washington. April l9-In 1867. vii.
| liam Il. Seward insisted that the
United States government BUY Alaska.
The price paid was S7.9OO000. People
scofted and rallied and jeered at Sc
wards Ice Box
Last year the territory exported
twice her purchase price in gold alone.
six times her purchase price in cop
| per- three times her purchase price
in fish. Her total commerce for the
year approached one hundred and
! twenty million.
Still Land Of Thrills.
And still Alaska is a land OF thrills.
She has scarcely stepped across the
Threshold Ct the vast prosperity that
will be hers. The half billion of dol.
lars she has given these United States
during the course OF the last half cen.
tury will be doubled many times be-
| fore the century is closed
An inyinci6le frontier spirit forded
the mighty Mississippi, oyercame OBJ
structing mountain barriers and pene-
trated to the broad Pacific. That in.
yincible frontier spirit was the spirit
Of the pioneer American, and it is with
US still.
The plains Of Kansas and the placers
OF California played their part in the
steady westward march of American
civilization. Then came the rush to
the Klondike That brought the first
great thrOng Of Alaska pioneers. Many
OF them struck pay and returned 10
the States. More Of them have struck
something better and richer than
pay, they have struck homes. The
! far-famed lure of the north has caught
them, and they can wish for no bet.
! ter.
Montana was a famous mining coun-
try and great cattle region. SO was
Arizona. Now they are farming both
] states with rich results.
The rush to California in 40 was
for gold Since then California has
become one OF the greatest agricul-
tural states in the union.
And now they tell us that the farm.
| ing area alone of Alaska is as large
as the combined total area of Penn
| sylyania, Maryland, Delaware, New
Jersey Connecticut, Massachusetts,
Vermont and New Hampshire. We
are told that Matanuska potatoes
weigh a pound and half we are
shown turnips and rutabagas that
weigh from II to II pounds apiece.
We are fed lettuce and strawberries
that might have been grown in Vir.
ginia. Is this Stewards Ice Box"
Stewards Folly" Stewards Arctic
Polar Bear Preserye?"
No Longer Wilderness.
Alaska is no longer a formidable
wilderness. Thoughtful men and
women realize that though it is cold
In winter, It is warm in summer. Re.
ports of actual weather conditions
show that II was milder at Seward this
winter than 1t was at New York or
at Boston.
We can not speak of Alaska as a
whole any more than we can speak OF
the Pacific slope as a whole. 1t is
just as misleading to speak of the
Matanuska valley and Point Barrow
in the same breath as It is to infer
that pomegranates will mature In Van.
couyer just because that island hap
pens to be circled by the same sea that
laps the beach at Coronado.
\ map OF Alaska superimposed up
on chart Of the United States shows
spread Of territory extending from
the Atlantic ocean at Charleston to
the Pacific at Los Angeles, from Can.
ada at Lake Superior to the State OF
Sonora.
Her $4,000 square miles comprise
a domain one-fifth as large as the
United States, and quite as carried,
both in climate and in resources.
Why then, did Alaska lie so long
undiscovered? Lack OF concrete
knowledge, prejudice born of igno-
rance. have retarded the development
of the territory up to very recent
date The effect on the country has
been psychological rather than inter.
national, but the results have been
the same.
Until the present administration as.
sumed control at Washington It was
very difficult to get the Federal gov.
ernment to do anything for its north.
ern country. Since March 4, 1913.
Alaska has begun to come into her
own.
Government surveys have disclosed
vast riches, the government railroa1
is fast opening the country Her coal
is declared to equal the worlds best
her soil is fertile and her people in.
dustrious.
What better foundation could al
candidate for stateEocd have in its
race for future prosperity?