The Elk Mountain pilot., 1919-11-06

States and s only at the beginning
OF Its development Some Of these facts are mere
given. with credit to the various representatives.
Mr. Curry OF Californa.-Mr. Chairman. In 1897
when Alaska purchased through the eHoru
of Secretary Of State Seward from Russia Tor
SI.2OO.OOO which was less than cents an acre.
the European nations pOked fun at the United
States and the papers OF the United States ridi.
cued Secretary Seward and referred to Alaska as
Stewards Iceberg"
The climate Of the most of Alaskn is better than
that OF Scandinavia and New Foundland. vege
tnbles and cerenls can be and are raised there
and 1t IL the richest undeveiOped mineral section
on the face Of the earth.
Time has justified Sewnrd's purchase OF Alaska
for the United States. Since 1859 Alaska has pro-
duced $40 OOOO.OOO worth OF wealth; $SOO.
O0O.OtO Of that from her fisheries. most OF the
from her mines and from her furs. In the
same time Alaska has bought FROM the United
States *4OOOUOO0O worth Of property. 1t has done
that under existing law that practically ties up the
resources Of Alaska and prohibits them from being
developed.
In 1914 under these cs.ditssas. knowing that
Alaska should he developed and that q railroad
could not and would not be built BY private uoter-
prise. the congress Of the United States enacted
II law authorizing the president to construct rail-
road railroads In Alaska not to exceed 1.OOO
miles in length. and authorised the expenditure
by him Of 1886 100000 for that purpose. The presi-
dent placed the construction Of the road under the
control Of the secretary Of the INTERIOR and he In
| engineering commission to take practical charge Of
the work.
| The original authorization Of 1885, 900 would
have constructed this road under ordinary 'cOndi-
| tions and circumstances. hut the war came along.
wrges increased 80 per cent. the cost of material
Increased up to 161 per cent and transportation up
| to 14I per cent. Under those circumstances the
| $35 600 600 Is not suficient to complete the work
1t is. therefore, absolutely necessary. uniess
wish to sacrifice the '$s5 100000 already invested
| that this $4,000 900 authorization be SLOWED.
| The road. when completed will be COL miles in
| length. The main line from Seward to Fairbanks
will he Al miles In length. The spurs and branches
and side lines will make up the COL miles. All Of
| the road has been completed. with the exception
| of work to be done to complete the first II
| miles from Seward north and 4 gap Of 100 miles
nd another small gap Of 25 miles. Most Of the
iD-me gap hns been surveyed and some Of the
| dubbed has been made.
| The road started from Seward on the southern
,ont Of Alaska, and went to Anchorage. Part OF
hat road-7l mies-had been constructed. From
Anchorage over to the northern terminal Of the
| road Fairbanks is located on the Tanana river
| The Tanana river is a branch OF the Yukon river
| and the Yukon river and the Tanana river are
navgnble for 1000 miles. The Alaskan railroad
commission commenced building from the south
| err point north. They brought the material to
Seward and Anchorage. and they commenced to
build from the northern terminal south. that
they could save time and money.
The road already reaches to the coal fields
| There the 1902 square miles of coal fields in
| Alaska that have been explored and exported by
the coast and geOdetic survey. the geological sur.
vey and by the Alaskan engineering commission
That is all on the line of this road 1t Is estimated
hat there are 9OOOO.OOO.OOO tons of coal that will
l '7pened to commerce by this road. and $4,000
5000 tons of 1t will be high-grade coal which
oud he used for cOking and smelling ORE and
uch purposes and the rest Of 1t for fuel and mat
ers Of that kind. In Alaska 1t has been estimated
that there are 15O.OOOOOOOOO tons of coal No
| person knows how much there fs
Mr.. Strong Of Kansas.-There has been dscoy-
cred in AnsSu not only gold, but silver, copper
| coal. lead. ron antimony tungsten and platinum
In large quantities. In addition there has been
discovered large fields of OIL 1t has splendid agri-
cultural advantages 1t is estimated that 1t has
over 1O0.OUO square miles of tilable land. 1t has
a growing season of 100 days. and because of the