The Cordova daily times., 1917-05-05
PAINTS GLOWING PICTURE OF
 ALASKA

The department of the interior |, batting itself on the back for it's pol icy in Alaska, and in statement jus issued, under the caption, Alaska. tn, Empire of the Future" gives this en Tightening and lucid description of the westward, ho, movement that final ly led to the gold rush to the north
 Tn 1867 William H. Seward insist ed that the United States government buy Alaska. The price paid was s7.. 100000. People scoffed and railed and jeered at Stewards ice box Last year the territory exported twice her purchase price in gold alone. six times her purchase price in con per and three times her purchase price in fish. Her total commerce for the year approached $120,000,0OO. And still Alaska is a land of thrills She has scarcely stepped across the threshold of 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 invincible frontier spirit forded the mighty Mississippi, oyercame ob- 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 plans of Kansas and the plac. CTS of California played their part in the steady westward movement of American civilization Then came the rush to the Klondike. That brought the first great throng of Alaska pio- neers. Many of them struck pay and returned to 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 better
 Montana was a famous mining country and great cattle region. So was Arizona. Now they are farming both states with rich results.
 The rush to California in ia49 was for gold. Since then California has become one of the great agricultural states of the Union.
 And now they tell us that the farming area alone of Alaska is as large as the combined area of Penn sylvania, Maryland. Delaware, New | Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire. We are told that Matanuska potatoes weigh a pound and half. We are shown rutabagas that weigh from twelve to | fourteen pounds apiece We are fed lettuce and strawberries that might have been grown in Virginia.
 "Is this Stewards ice box Seward S folly, Stewards Arctic polar bear pre-, server
 Alaska is no longer a formidable wilderness. Thoughtful men and wo, men realize that though it is cold in winter it is warm in summer. Re ports of actual weather conditions show that it was milder at Seward this winter than it was at New York ol Boston.
 We cannot speak of Alaska as { whole any more than we can speak o the Pacific slope as whole. It ii just as misleading to speak of tn, Matanuska valley and Port Barrow il the same breath as it is to infer tha pomegrantes will mature in Vancou yer just because that island happens to be circled by the same sea tha laps the beach at Coronado.
 "A map of Alaska superimposed up on chart of the United States show a spread of territory extending iron the Atlantic ocean at Charleston to tn | aNiiiS at i<oc AhStitos Aioii Nahtiui to Lake Superior to the State of Sc nora. Her 5s6,O00 square miles com prise a domain one-fifth as large a the United States and quite as varied both in climate and in resources.
 Why then, did Alaska lie so lon undiscovered Lack of concret knowledge. prejudice born of ignol ance, have retarded the developmen of the territory up to very recen date. The effect on the country ha been psychological rather than inter tional, but the results have been tn same.
 Government surveyors have di: closed vast riches and the governmen railroad is fast opening up the cour try. Her coal is declared to be equa to the worlds best, her soil is fertil and her people industrious.
 What better foundation could candidate for statehood have in it' ] race for future prosperity" Just received, large shipment O ! kA bn