New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1919-11-07
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AASh4Y GOLD [WET

great length of the days. that growing season is
worth about POO 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 "A good crop. Its vast forests of tim
Der suitable for paper pulp are awaiting n ready
market. while its fisheries are the greatest on this
continent.
Mr.. Miller of Washington have been over
nearly all of Alaska. | have gone into the hills
with my pack on my back. | have teamed what
few provisions | had 200 or 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 30
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 10 see II thousand head of reindeer grazing
on a mountain side. The Aleutian islands are full
of them. There are 10000 or 160, 600 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 % or 30 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. The
reindeer support the natives. And I 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 supply for our
country is one of the most promising that we have
before us.
Now, the climate there is not bad. Over in the
interior, In the Yukon valley, the atmosphere is
dry. and with the temperature % degrees below
zero you can wear an ordinary hat all day long
and your ears will not get cold. When Won On ont
to the coast you get the moisture. Going away
from the coast into the Yukon valley Won 20
over a mountain chain some 1900 feet high. and
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 discomfort
and have dropped over that mountain chain only
30 miles and come out to the coast where tho
thermometer was 8 degrees below zero and have
nearly persisted with the cold. The interior is a
cold, dry climate. Animals can forage all winter
In the interior country.
1t would surprise some of you to know that IN
that country the ground is eternaIly frozen. No
one has ever dug through the frost. and they hava
been down a thousand feet.
The fields of barley and rye and wheat A..
grown on the top of ground that is frozen for a
Thousand feet beneath. 1t thaws on the surface
in the summer time. 1t gets very warm. There
is daylight 1G, Is and "a hours in the dav ana
crops mature quickly. They come right I'M over
night. OF course, In the winter the nights are lon,
and dark and cold, but the summer seasons 40
lightful. The thermometer goes I'D to so On .na
% in summer. but in the winter 1t becomes exceed.
ingly cold. The coolest weather I ever saw in N.
Yukon valley was 6s degrees below zero. Thar r.
cold weather, and it is dangerous weather. but a 3
you go down the Yukon river, and perhans so
miles from tine mouth, there is a Catholic mission.
the Holy Cross mission. There is one of the mos,
beautiful apple orchards l have ever seen. perbans
80 acres of the most beautiful young apple trees
just coming into bearing. And grazing over broad
acres of clover was one of the finest herds of Ter.
sey cattle I have ever seen. All that in a land that
is frozen. 1t is a queer country. Every rule of the
biologists is reversed when you get to Alaska.
And 1 tell you. gentlemen. just as sure as God.
the future will unfold for Alaska and the Ameri-