The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1919-11-07
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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 a good crop. It's 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.-I have been over
nearly all of Alaska. ! have gone into the hills
with my pack on my back. / have teamed what
few provisions l had 200 or 800 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 to see a thousand head of reindeer grazing
on a mountain side. The Aleutian islands are full
of them. There are 49, 900 or 100, 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 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. The
reindeer support the natives. And / 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 atmospbere Is
dry, and with the temperature % degrees below
zero you can wear an ordinary hat all dav long
and yeur ears will not get cold. When you 90 our
to the coast you get the moisture. Going awav
from the coast into the Yukon valley you 90
over a mountain chain some 1000 feet high. and
when you get over that chain you are in the great
arctic slope. l have conn out Of that valley with
the thermometer AZ degrees below zero. whore 7
could stay out doors all day without discomfort
and have dropped over that mountain choin onIv
80 miles and come out to the coast who're ,ho
thermometer was 8 degrees below zero and havo
nearly persisted with the cold. The interior 70 q
cold, dry climate. Animals can forage nil wiptor
in the interior country.
1t would surprise some Of you to know tbat :,
that country the ground is eternally frozen NJ
one has ever dug through the frost, and tbev have
been down a thousand feet.
The fields Of barley and rye and wheat >
grown on the top of ground that is frozen for q
thousand feet beneath. 1t thaws on the surfaoa
in the summer time. 1t gets very warm Tbaro
is daylight 10, Is and "A hours in the dov and
crops mature quickly. They come right nm ovor
night. OF course, In the winter the nights are lon,
and dark and cold, but the summer seasons ore do,
lightful. The thermometer goes up to so. 90 and
% in summer, but in the winter il becomes exceed.
ingly cold. The coolest weather Z ever saw in the
Yukon valley was 6S degrees below zero. That is
cold weather, and it is dangerous weather: bnt nc
you 20 down the Yukon river, and perhaps 5OO
miles from the mouth, there is a Catholic mission
the Holy Cross mission. There Is one OF the most
beautiful apple orchards l have ever seen, perbans
50 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 l 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 l tell you, gentlemen, just as sure as God.
the future will unfold for Alaska and the Ameri.