The evening leader. (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) 191?-19??, 1918-04-23

EDITIONS and probB strange to the
railroader. For art of its distance
it skirts living ger, and a glacier,
as Mr.. Edes ren1s, is "a ticklish |
thing"
You never kn quite what it is
going to do" heys, "and from it
we always look forouble. We don't
actually run over ice,' but we have
to skirt the gravel the terminal mo-
raines. And in summer, the ice
! recedes, loosing seritable food of
water, while in tlwinter it pushes
slowly forward aa. Just now, we
run the line up on restle, high above
the gravels, but t. glacier, working
away, has Away the capacity to
change the entire biography of the
country. Still the tficulty is not un-
surmountable."
AS was done atIanama, the COM
mission has preceded to it's task
without any informing contractor.
! The actual labor HI been performed
by "stationmen," alardbitten set OF
old hands, who havcome through the
/, era Of railroad obstruction in the
I west. Each of the, or perhaps a
pair or group, arees to construct
100 linear feet of lie grade, whether
it involves cuttingIdown through a
hill, building up fbm swamp, OF
blowing out the had rock at price
based on the quantity and type of ma
terial moved. Therthey set their owr
pace, and their own hours, and liter
ally work wonders The commission
standing behind, oganizes their com
missary, tools, and equipment.
"Our figures indicate that the, aver
age scale Of wages we paid during
1917 would work tut around $1,500
year," Chairman Edes said, "but it ac
tually doesn't run a year for more
than part of the men because of TIT
seasonal character of the work.
have no doubt that wesshaH have t,
revise our wage scales upward thi
eoasfaaes lss'ss is aGte s., 9oy Sras tn
line 80 miles from the trunk and
DONG some port dredging at Anchor
age, and building docks and coal bnny,
ers at Anchorage and Seward. It i
also operating sections of the line. il
a sketchy sort of fashion, incident t,
the construction, with a passenge,
rate OF six cents mile.
To date, $23,670,00O has been spent
upon the enterprise, out of a S35 600.
DOO estimate for the total cost which
Sseimate Secretary Lane has raised to
because of higher costs of
AMOR and materials. Lieutenant-Col-
'nel Frederick Mears, borrowed from
lie army for Panama railroad purpos-
IS was a member Of the commission,
'et las recently been returned to the
'fmy, for railroad building in France
md IN his regiment has included an
.'prcclabie number of the men of the
Alaskan commission staff. Thomas
Eggs the thru member, has been
AIMED by the president to be govern
r Of Alaska.
Gre stretch Of the main line
mcurting 10 70 niles, was purchased
pr a little over s. 100000, while more
gently the commission acquired for
100000 45-mile stretch of narrow
aage road, running out of Fairbanks
} oharlna7ya, All of the rest has been
viii be built.
AS to whether the road will nav +bo
ventures no prediction
nd considers present traffic no ppide
} possibilities.
Since the United States took cIose
billion dollars from Alaska. the
'vcrnment has adopted the policy of
ak'ng this RETURN" Chairman Edes
marked, and probably. does not
DRY about the results. All our con-
ruetion amounts to pioneering. Both
e "meral and agricultural POSSIBLE. |
es OF Inc area opened are quantities
ttuaiiy unknown, and the railroad
'elf rust be the final factor reouir-
to prove or disprove their value.