The Seward gateway and the Alaska evening post., 1917-11-07
APPOINTMENT WILL PROBABLY BE MADE
 EARLF IN JANUARY

Thomas Riggs Jr. one of the three members ot the Alaska Engineering Commission will be nomlnaUeu Io governor of Alaska by President Wilson some tune ul mo anuarv This is the report received in Seward today and comes fraom the highest of authority MT MggS IS now returning to Nenana to wind up his affairs as ral- road commissioner with view to accepting the goVer- noshp He will leave for Washington the latter part or this month or the first of December By that time every hng will have been lined up for the appointment Wch will be made in January.
 Those who have been in close touch of political aI- fairs know that the of Gov Strong was sent Uo Ce President by Secretary Lane about two months ago.
 The appointment was returned by the President sml- ply marked unsatisfactory"
 Mr. Lane had done his part, as promised OoV. ououg when the latter was in Washington about two months ago.
 Mr. Riggs had previously declined to be canuloaCe but according to all reliable reports has changed ms m entos and is now an active candidate and will receive the apponment according to tho best of information from Washington and various political centers in Alaska
 If was believed here several weeks ago that MT. Picgs asked for more time to complete certain matters in connection with the Nenana branch of the Alaska Ra
 od This s the work he is now to do upon his return inside
 When MT. Riggs was in Seward couple of weeks ago he professed the greatest interest m the governor shin and plainly showed that he was an active candidate for the position Mr. Riggs refused at that time to make any positive statement but subsequent events pear out the above lineup.
 Since beginning active construction WOfk III Jule' 1916 Mr. Rggs has accomplished much under conditions that have been anything but favorable The first big problem was camp construction nasmuch as the whole tent village would have to be housed before the reezeup the middle of October but on account Of the short season of navigation on the Panama River 1t was question whether sufficient lumber could be moved from Fairbanks and Wood River to do the work Then too the purchas CTS of townse lots on the 24th of August n their anxiety to build before snowfall boosted the price of lumber so that the commissions supply was lost for tune ana Ine wages paid carpenters so much III excess OL the co
 mission rate that their services were lost at the tune when tbev were most needed These difficulties, however did not seem to worry Riggs for by the 10th o October ne had his employees comfortably housed and month later he put his power plant in operation At Anchorage where they had the advantage of earlier start and quicker de- livery of material they didn't get their power plant under way until the middle of December.
 In April of the present year MT. Riggs began lay ing steel which arrived on the last boat Tn September 1916 and in face of oods labor disturbances uncertainty of appropriations and inability to get materials he has completed thirteen miles of the road to the south of Ne mana rebaased and overhaued the twelve miles ot the Tanana Valley railroad between Fairbanks and Happy Station that is to form part of the main e and m the remaining A miles between Fairbanks and Nenana all clearing and about half of the grading has been completed All grading has been completed to 43 miles south ot Ne mana and everything is ready for the rails.
 Mr. Riggs has promised the people of Fairbanks coal from the gnte coal fields 57 miles south of Nenana, by the fall of 1918 but since the has greatly curtaed the source of supply of materials necessary to ke cOnstuc on it is question whether he will be able to keep hs promise or not The working season is so short that to be