Evening star., 1917-01-14

diers at Haines. or Fort William II.
Seward. which is the military station
for southeastern Alaska. There is an
other station near Valdez, and there
was formeIy one at Eagle. not far from
the boundary of Canada. l visited the
post at Eagle on my way from DAVIS m
to Fairbanks. 1t is now abandoned.
and the buildings are in the hands OF
one or two soldiers as caretakers.
Going on down the great river. /
stopped at Fort Gibbon. at the junction
of the Tanana and the Yukon TAis
military post is one of the most i'm
portant in Alaska. 1t is in the very
heart of the territory. about half-Hay
between the international boundary and
Nome. and almost midway between the
Arctic ocean and the Pacific FAIR
banks the terminus of the government
railway, is several hundred miles u
the Tanana valley Fort Gi3bon was
established in 1898. and the next var
Congress set sside $4,000 acres OF land
there as military reservation ne
post is on the southeastern corner OF
the reservation. 1t adjoiES the town
of Tanana. which. next to Fairhanks
is the most important place IN interior
Alaska 1t is estimated that II Cost
something like 81 100000 to clear the
land and erect the buildings for the
post, and that it costs S5Ooooo year
to maintain 1T
The post now has about 80 men in d,
Gliding the officers and soldiers OF
Company b of the 18th United States
Infantry 1t has a hospital cerps
signal corps. and a"artermaster oe
partment Nj of its buildings are
steamheated. a large central plant
being maintained. for the purnose 1t
has a eas-lightirg plant. but it is no"
planned to install electricity. and ths
engineers are estimating the cost OF
such a plant. .,.
husky and healthy. They. do not OBJ
;ect to their stay in ALASKA. and man
age to keep themselves in good splr'tA
summer and winter. they nave gHn-
nasium amateur theatrIcals ana NOV
ing picture shows. They play base
ball. and have two good teams wnich
have matches once week When 'iie
weather Is good. They have also
hand and a part of their regular exer-
else is practice shooting with rifles
The government has now five mill
tary posts in Alaska. and its force con-
sists of about 1900 officers and soldiers
These men not only guard tie terri
tory, but they operate the cable ana
telegraph service, make and sup"rin-
tend the roads and trails. and nave the
control of all river and ha'""r I'M
provements undertaken by tlc f'oNeIn
ment In the past they did great
deal of police work: but Just now their
chief business is the maintenance and
operation of the cable and telegraph
system. The army telegraph is tne
only one in the territory. 1t consists
of about fifty stations. or Which Ten
are wireless. There are forty teie-
graph Offices and more than one thou
sand miles of land lines. The subnla,
rine cables are about three thousand
miles in length, and they connect the
territory with the United States proper
at Seattle. The cable goes to Sitka
and Skagway. and it reaches every nm
portant port from Ketchikan to sew
ard. the southern terminus OF the
new railroad. There are wireless sta-
tions at Nome, Circle and EAGLE oDer-
ated by army officers. and also at val
dez. Sitka, Cordova,' Kad x s.arh
Udatka. Dutch Harbor and
land. operated by the Navy p%n
The land lines are all under {"
and they make 1t possible to 80
outside world from almost ar
Alaska.
The construction of thes"
and cable lines was unde~tlf 90 a
military necessity; and 1t seer 70 -,e q
mistake of the government ~ 'oat IL
is now trying to operate the AT tne
expense of the territory. The hhes
were first begun in 1900. and up TO the
present time they have cost IN the
neighborhood of three million dollars.
The cost of operating them is some
thing like one hundred thousand DOL
lars per year. but this does not lnciuoe
the pay of the officers and soldiers