The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-21

plies, and with the miners and traders who live there and who have taken ad- vantage of open navigation to pay their annual summer visit to this metropolis of the north. Last night, for instance, I had long talk with a man who has a store and trading station on Kotzebue sound and during my stay have had 1 several interviews with Judge M. F.. Moran, who represents our farthest north in the legislature of Alaska. He lives 1 so far away from Juneau, the capital, that his mileage allowance is $900. His home is at Shungnak, on the Kobuk river above the Arctic circle and so far north that during the summer he has broad daylight for three months in succession, while for a part of the winter his home | is almost shrouded in darkness. But before I give the gist of these inter- views, let us take bird s-eye view of the country to which they relate Arctic Alaska comprises about one-fourth of the territory. It is almost half the size of Texas, more than twice the size of llll- nois and three times that of Ohio, Vir- ginia or Kentucky. If you could lift it up and drop it down upon Europe it would more than cover the half of France, Ger many or the Spanish peninsula, and it
 
 | its blanket of snow.
 Arctic Alaska may be said to begin little south of Boring strait and to run from there eastward to the Canadian boundary, and northward to the Arctic ocean. The country comprises some parts of the northern watershed of the Yukon, and it includes the Rocky mountain sys- tenn, which, extending from the United States through Canada, runs almost to nf a in Alaska is nearly 100 miles wide, and it slopes down into the plains which bor der the Arctic ocean, The mountains are a mile and half high where the range leaves Canada and they fall to the height of the Alleghenies, or lower, on their way westward.
 The coastal plains are part of the tun- dra belt that encircles the Arctic ocean. Much of the ground is low and swampy. It has great lagoons and morasses and many slow-flowing rivers. The plains are covered with moss, upon which the Eski- mos graze their reindeer. There is prac- tically no timber, except the stunted trees in the mountains, and the alder and will lows, which grow along the banks of the streams.
 The vast country ilas less population than any other under the American flag. It has a few white men living along Kotzebue sound and one the banks of the Kobuk river, and there are, all told, perhaps 5000 or 4000 Eszimos. The Eski- mos are scattered along the Arctic ocean in little settlements, the largest of which have only 300 or 400 souls. There are sev- eral Eskimo Villages in the interior. The government has established schools at nearly all of these settlements and many of the Eskimos are growing rich in the raising of reindeer. They also uhunt wal rus for their ivory tusks, which they sell to the traders and they deal largely in furs
 One of the chief trading stations is at Kotzebue sound. The white men in charge there tell me that they have dur
 ing the summer 300 native families living in canvas tents, and that the Eskimos come in by sea from as far north as Point Barrow. They use great skin boats called omiaks, which are five or six feet in width and thirty feet long. Such boats will carry from five to eight tons They have square sails and are propelled also by paddles.
 The natives bring with them the furs they have caught in the winter. and trade them for calicos, ginghams and other cloth. They buy all kinds of hard ware and especially needles for the sew ing of parlSas and mulSluRs. They want the best of guns, knives and hatchets. | Iney Duy canned 1OOQS or NdTlOuS kliluS, and even stoves and window glass to take back to their homes. One reason for their coming to Kotzebue is to catch sal mon the winter food supply for them selves and their dogs
 I asked the trader to tell me some thing as to the character of Kotzebue sound. He replied:
 Tt is a great bay, into which flow @f +I,a 1or 1f Alaska. One is the Kobuk, which is 600 or 700 miles long; another the Noatak, which is almost as large, and a third is the Selawik, which is more than half the length of the Kobuk. The port is an open roadstead, but there is good shelter for ships. except when the south wind blows"
 What sort of settlement have you at Kotzebue?
 'It is little more than a trading sta tion. It has a store and a fish cannery. The chief industry is the fisheries, the Eskimos coming from long distances to catch and dry their supply of fish for the winter
 Are the fish of that region valuable?''
 Yes They are caught in the icebergs, and are fine and fat. Owing to the in- tense cold they have coat of blubber between the skin and the flesh. We have great many salmon, and also speckled trout and Dolly Warden trout. Our cannery has capacity of 15,OOO cans per annum, and it has been shipping sal mon and salmon trout for four or five years The salmon is of light color and it does not bring so much for that reason. But to offset this we have the Dolly Warden trout, which reaches a weight of 10 or 15 pounds and length of three feet. The trout are especially fine They are caught in abundance when running and the output of the can nery might be greatly increased One of the best authorities on Kontze- bue sound and the Kobuk river is Judge M. F. Moran, who lives on the Kobuk POO or 300 miles from ehsound. Said he:
 Tt is 5000 miles from Seattle to Kotze- bue. and the steamers make regular sai- ings there every July and August There are small steamers on the Kobuk, and goods are carried up that stream into the heart of the territory. I live in the Kobuk valley and have been there for 12 years, winter and summer I have taken up a homestead of 320 acres about 200 miles east of the sound. It is the farthest north of any homestead in Uncle |Sam's territory
 What kind of a climate have you?' asked.
 T consider the Kobuk valley one of the 1-Is< Ac,.I