Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-04-28
ALASKA RAILWAY
SKIRTS GLACIERS
Commission Ventures No Opin-
ion as to Whether Road
Will Pay.
WAR DELAYS CONSTRUCTION
Coastal Sections of Line Practi-
cally Completed During
Last Two Seasons.
WAR DELAYS CONSTRUCTION
IRy Associated Prcss.l

! w ASliINGION. April "1.-ConStruc-
ton of the Alaskan railway is being
materially delayed by the war, and
completion may be deferred somewhat
beyond the 1919 or 1920 date originally
projected for IT,
While moro than 5000 men were
employed in the field durin. 1917,
force OF perhaps 5000 is probably all
! that can be maintained through tho
summer of 1918, and though the $40.
100000 undertaking stands at stage
e3 per cent toward completion, the re-
rnaindcr may take much longer to con-
st-uct than has the two-thirds so far
built.
y linking up Of gaps in the coastal
section. and the pushing of main rail-
heads some forty or nifty additional
miles toward the interior is the limit
| OF construction which the commission
crs feel certain that the shortage OF
men. materials and shipping will allow
| them to attain.
That will be Alaskas share OF tho
| inevitable sacrifice war entails" said
| William c. Edes, chairman of the Alas
! kan Engineering Commission, discuss
ing estimates and uncertainties con-
nected with the enterprise. although
| some of tho delay would have inter-
4
! During the last two seasons, we
have practically completed the coastal
sections Of tho line, along which we
were enabled by transport conditions
! 10 work simultaneously at a number
OF points. In the future, we shall be
| constructing straight up into the i'll
terror. extending the line at most from
only two points"
COMMISSION HOPES TO
LINK TWO sEAPoRrs
J Assuming the usual congressional
appropriations become available. the
commission, which still has some
doubts about it's ability to secure even
! half the labor force 1t had year ago,
VIII center its effort during the com
! ing summer upon the completion OF
tho main line from Seward to Anchor
age both of which are Pacific Cocoon
! ports On the Alaskan southern sea-
BOARD between which a rail gap OF
seventeen miles now exists.
| Main railroads in addition wiII Il.
pushed some forty or fifty miles to-
ward the interior terminal. which is
Fairbanks. opening the line approxi
matcly from Mile cl5 to Mile es5 dis
lance estimated from the ocean termi-
nus at Seward northward. In Alaska
| except IN certain places and on GER
tain types OF work, the commission
has found that construction is only
practical during the summer after
May l5.
NEARLY 200 MILES OF
RAILS ALREADY LAID
me Alaskan railroad. stretching up
$50 miles in trunk and branches to-
wards the Arctic circle. is literally
'urthest north in railroad building en-
teEpr!Sc. and rs ii stands to -day has
$50 miles oF rails laid. has grades and
! cuts completed far ahead OF rails and
location engineering entirely COM
pietcd. II does not quite touch the
polar zone. for its northern limit 81
! Fairbanks is 100 odd miles south Of the
great circle, but its trac Gu, across
an area where the sun shines for
Twenty-Five hours q day in June and
Hartman Edcs admits, that the daylight
saving prescribed in the United States
will appear trivial from an Alaskan
| viewpoint.
Engineering and transport problems
OF no mean magnitude have been solved
and arc being solved in tho constvuG-
ton Of tho line. for it's ocaters and
even its grade crews. must hold them
selves abrcaS. and ahead or tho pioneer
settler. With work proceeding from
| hoth ends or the line glance at the
maps VIII show the transport. line
built UP 10 supply tho interior terminus
stretching up from the United States
| through the Pacific and Arctic Oceans
70 the por; OF ST. Michacls a. the mouth
OF the Yuhon River. steel. powder,
| food and equipment must so thousands
! OF miles b. sea. be t-ansshirped to
ri
currents OF the Yukon and Tanana
Rivers and then overland by last
painful stage OF pack and wagon trains
&c Fairbanks.
Until last November the commission
| had 4 steamer. an army transport Dor.
rcwcd for the work. hut then tho army
took il hastily back for the more i'm
poTtant duty of carrying soldiers Tho
commission will now depend upon COM
rierciai transport facilities, already
greatly restricted. to deliver 5000 tons
Of freight this year over the circuit.
whose magnitude can be comprehendcd
from any map. Supplying tho southern
terminus will present less difficulties.
for tho sturdy ocean tugs can still put
out from Puget Sound and go safely
VI the inside passage" sheltered by
islands from the Pacihs winds. and
tring tho clumsy heavy laden barces
into seward and Anchorage.
BUILDERS FACE MANY
NOVEL PROBLEMS
Building the line itself. across tundra
wilderness, smiling valleys and sharp
edged passes alike az the Arctic coastal
range, tho commission has met condi.
tons and problems strange TO the rail-
roader. For a part OF its distance IL
5klrts living glacier. and glacier.
as Mr. Edes remarks. is n t,cl<lish
thing"
You never know quite what st "
going to do" he says. land from II NO
Continued on Ninth Pagc.)