The Cordova daily times. [volume] (Cordova, Alaska) 1914-1947, 1919-02-03

the present service between New
York and Washington and between
Washington and New York and Chi
cago to points further westward.
The web of aerial lines planned by
the department was laid cut In a
unit basis by Otto Praeger, second as
sistant postmaster general, and an ex-
tension of the service from Washing
ton to Boston is now in preparation.
This unit will later be extended to
Montreal, in cooperation with the Ca
madam government, and with that end
in view a number of discussions al
ready have been held with Canadian
officials to arrange the details. An
other line is planned to run southwest
from here to Atlanta. Dividing at
that point, Key West and New Or
leans will be served.
Another unit will extend almost due
westward from Washington, passing
through Cincinnati and st. Louis and
terminating at Kansas City. Air lines
will radiate from Chicago to Milwau-
kee, Minneapolis, st. Paul, Omaha,
Denver, Cheyenne, Salt Lake City
and San Francisco. From Salt Lake
City another line will connect with
Butte, Spokane and Seattle, and still
another will reach from Seattle to
Alaska.
Will Push Alaska Unit
Speaking generally, the plan was
to gradually extend the service from
Washington along the lines indicated
above, which would have placed the
Seattle-Alaska branch of the service
the last to be installed. The condi-
tons Of the mail service in Alaska
and the fact that at the best Alaska
has only steamship service, while
other cities have the advantages of
the quicker deliveries to be obtained
by railroads, has made the Seattle
Alaska unit among the first of the
extensions to be considered.
Although the plans have not been
fully formulated, an effort will be
made to make the Seattle-Alaska
service self-supporting. A rate of
25 cents a letter may be charged for
air mail delivery from Seattle to Jul
neau, and it is believed that num-
Der of business men would gladly pay
the extra charge rather than suffer
the delay which they must endure I'M
der the present conditions.
The present plans are to construct
seaplanes with carrying capacity
OF 1000 pounds, and these ships will
make three round trips week to Ju-
neau, calling at Petersburg, Ketchi-
kan and Prince Rupert en- route. The
trip from Seattle to Juneau can be
made in one flight with two stops for
fuel. Two planes will be needed in
the service. These details, however,
are purely tentative. sss.. y
b. r x
Seeks Contractor
About the only obstacle in the way
of the immediate adoption of the Sc
attle-Juneau service is the lack of
contractor. The department naturally
would prefer to have the mail deliv-
cred by contract, but being unable to
make suitable contracts for the New
York-Chicago service, the work is
done directly by the department itself.
The department owns the planes and
employs it's own aviators. If unable
to make a suitable contract for the
Seattle-Alaska service, no doubt the
same plan of operation will be
adopted.
One round trip daily on the serv-
ices already inaugurated is being
maintained, and the postoff1ce officials
anticipate no difficulty whatever in
giving similar service on the units
west of Chicago.
An average of $500 pounds OF