The Nenana daily news. (Nenana, Alaska) 1918-1921, 1919-09-01
HECKMANS LIKE
INTERIOR MUCH;
TO COME AGAIN

were enthusiastic in their praise of
the scenic beauties of the Interior
country, and both are sure the
country will enjoy heavy tourist
travel within the very near future.
The Heckmans are passengers on
! the steamer Yukon, enroute from
Nome to Fairbanks, from which
point they will return to the coast
i by way of the Richardson trail after
they have had look around the
Fairbanks district, with possibly an
other and longer visit in Nenana.
The travellers came in by way
of Skagway and the upper Yukon
early in the season. They travelled
the entire length of the great river,
in leisurely fashion, finding them
selves, finally, on Seward peninsula,
where they spent several very en-
joyable weeks. The town of Nome,
Mr.. Hickman says, has the appear
ance of having seen better days,
but, Notwithstanding the fact that
there are a number of vacant build
! ings, reminders of boom times, the
occupied portion of the town has
! busy air and there is considerable
activity along the beach, where the
F.; Government is putting in a jetty Cor
! the protection of boats visiting
Nome. When completed, this jetty
will insure good harbor for vessels
of medium draft, such as trading
schooners and coastwise freighters,
for which there is now no protec-
ton whatever.
speaking of trading schooners,"
said the senator to a representative
ofsThe News last night, "Bering sea
is fairly alive with them this sum-
mer, the majority of them engaged
in tradinG on the Siberian side. Sew
eral large cargoes of furs reached
Nome while we were there, includ-
ing a big lot of white foxes, and
we were told that many more were
expected before the end of the sea-
son. One lot of white fox pelts
was obtained on the Siberian coast
for about $21 a skin, and the price
quoted at Nome was about S45. The
value in the States is about $50 for
Alaskan white fox, which are bet
ter, as a rule, than those coming
from the Russian side, owing to the
fact that many of the Siberian skins
are stained by seal oil.
Mining operations on Seward
peninsula" continued Mr.. Hickman,
"are not very active this summer
but the district is not worked out
by any means. 1t is claimed by
the Nomeites that there is vast
area of low-grade ground which
canot be worked under present con-
ditions, owing to the difficulty of
obtaining water This handicap they
hope to overcome by the installation
of a large power plant, at an esti-
mated cost of 100000. An effort
is being made to interest the Gov
eminent in the project"
! Mrs. Hickman says they are very
glad they made the Nome trip.
Before we reached Tanana," she
said, 1--WE were advised against Wis
lung the lower river country. 1ney
told US that we would see only
tundra and river BUT l want to
say, now that we have seen it, that
the tundra and river which we
were warned to avoid, is one of
the best scenic assets of the terri
tory. We enjoyed every foot of
it, and found much to interest US
on the return trip, that we had over
looed on the way down stream. In
fact, our visit to Interior Alaska
has convinced US that one cannot see
all that is worth seeing here in
eooeon orL ,~4o~