, 1919-11-06
RRF

great length of the days. that growing season is
worth about 200 of our days. So that they are
enabled to grow crops suitable to take care of a
large population and take care of the stock that
they may produce. The crops are wheat, oats.
rye, barley, hay, and they have produced an alfalfa
which makes n good crop. Its vast forests of tim
Der suitable for paper pulp are awaiting a ready
market, while its fisheries are the greatest on this
continent.
MIR. Miller of Washington have been over
nearly all of Alaska. l have gone into the hills
with my pack on my back. 1 have teamed what
rev provisions I had 200 OF 300 miles with a dog
team out to my diggins. The greatest copper
mines on the face of the earth are within the
territory Of Alaska. You know how we searched
the world for metals during the war. We have 90
per cent of them in Alaska. They are there await.
Ing the hand that will develop them.
Something has been said here of the reindeer
situation. There is no prettier sight in the world
than to see a thousand head of reindeer grazing
on a mountain side. The Aleutian islands are full
of them. There are 10000 or 100, 900 reindeer in
Alaska. They are a godsend to the natives. They
go out with their little herds. An Indian or an
Eskimo may not have over 25 or 80 reindeer, but
he herds them as a careful husbandman takes care
of his little flock of sheep. Incidentally they are
cleaning out the wolves and lynxes and the other
predatory animals that infest the country Tho
reindeer support the natives. And l truly believe
that with the great grazing lands that there are in
Alaska, the future development of the reindeer
as a substantial source of meat suppIv for on
country is one of the mc.a promising that we have
before us.
Now, the climate there is not bad. Over in tho
interior, in the. Yukon valley, the atmosphere is
dry. and with the temperature % degrees belov
zero You can wear an ordinary hat all dav LONG
and your ears VIII not get cold. When you 60 ont
to the coast you get the moisture. Going ave.
from the coast into the Yukon valley Won 90
over a mountain chain some 1000 feet h,yb ond
when you get over that chain you are In the great
arctic slope. have come out of that valley with
the Thermometer AZ degrees below zero. where I
could stay out doors all day without discomeor.
and have dropped over that ploun,ain chair on,g
30 miles and come out to the coast where tho
thermometer was s degrees below zero and haus
nearly persisted with the cold. The interior 10 a
cold, dry climate. Animals can forage all w,n.a-
in the interior country.
1t would surprise some of you to know that -
that country the ground is eternaIly frozen NJ
one has ever dug through the frost, and thew bano
been down q thousand feet. ~
The fields of barley and rye md who.
grown on the top of ground that is frozon -
thousand feet beneath. 1t thaws, on the sursaoa
I'm the summer time. 1t gets very warm. Tbers
is daylight 16, Is and "a hours in the dav ana
crops mature quickly. They come right mn ~
night. OF course, In the winter the nights = 80
and dark and cold, but the summer seasons da'
lightful. The thermometer goes up TO 30 on 80
90 in summer. but in the winter 1t becomes excaaa
ingly cold. The coolest weather / ever saw 4, -.
Yukon valley was 6S degrees below zero. That ~
cold weather, and it is dangerous weatbar h,t
you 90 down the Yukon river, and perhaps SOD
miles from the mouth, there is a Catholic u,ss,or
the Holy Cross mission. There is one of the mos,
beautiful apple orchards I have ever seen. perhans
so acres of the most beautiful young annie ,ress
just coming into bearing. And grazing over broad
acres of clover was one of the finest herds of Ter.
sey cattle l have ever seen. All that in a land tbat
is frozen. 1t is a queer country. Every rule of The
biologists Is reversed when you get to Alaska.
And I tell you. gentlemen. just as sure as God.
the future viii unfold for Alaska and the Ameri.