The Alaska daily empire., 1917-01-16
HAS AMBITIONS FOR
 ALASKA TRAILS
Alaska Needs Feeders For New Railroad to Open Up the
 Other Sections.

Col. W. p. Richardson, United
 States Army chairman of the gov. ernment Alaska Road Commissi n, IS most Alaskans know hes one consuming ambition. This is to give Alaska a good system of free high ways and especially to make a good automobile road from Valdez, on the coast, to Fairbanks. in the interior.
 The Colonel is now in Washing ton, D. C., on his annual visit for m appropriation. and is asking for S5OOOOO for road repair and eXten. sion work this year His plans for new work include the spanning of Gastineau Channel with bridge at an estimate cost of $3OO,OOO, the sum of S1OO,OOO to be expended this year, a feeder for the government rail road. near Anchorage, extension Of the Ruby.Long Creek road, the com. pletion of steel bridge near Fair. banks to Garden Island and also enough additional work on the Val dez.Fairbanks road to make 1t typical summer and winter mail route for automobiles
 Heart and Soul in Work
 It is only necessary to talk with the Cononel to realize that his heart and soul are in road work in Alas. ka. He travels every winter 10 Wash. lngtOn, D. C., to lobby for money He passes the remainder of the year in Alaska repairing and rebuilding roads.
 Previous to 19O4, when the Panama began 70 attract attention, most of the travel was via Dawson in the Yukon Territory. Then began talk of. an all-American route, and outfits left Valdez over the Glacier, where the crevices claimed a number of victims Later Thompson's Pass was discovered and, though an improve ment over the glacier route, 1t proved rather difficult.
 In 1904 freight was $l per pound, dogs being mostly used, and horses in some instances, a short distance beyond Copper Center.
 In those early days also, when Col onel Richardson began work, it was mostly river travel, with numerous oyerflows and changing ice condi. l ,iOns. Because of insufficient ap. road work was carried | Du at a disadvantage, but soon hors- es were used all the way to Fair. banks, freight rates came down rapid | y, also allowing a larger bulk to be handled, and for the past year auto mobiles have been making regular rips over the route.
 However, great deal of work re- mains to make tho Valdez-Fairbanks 'oute practicable for automobile win CT and summer. There are less Christmas presents, which now reach Panama people the following Fourth ,f July when navigation opens. The nail limit weight has been increased, iue to better roads, yet a consider. .ble tonnage of mail accumulates very winter to be transported by water later in the season.
 Good roads in the vicinity of Ju. cau due to the work of the Alaskan load Commission, have increased ho number of automobiles to nearly co, have given considerable i'm. etus to farming and dalrying. and ave made 1t possible to get sup. lies on the ground for additional inning development work.
 Colonel Richardson is working on he theory that with the building f the government railroad from An r horage to the Panama River, with
 branch line to the Matanuska coal eds, and with an extension pos. f bly to the great Kuskokwim Valley ( le need of additional wagon roads i'll be increased, to serve as feed. rs for the railroads.