The weekly Alaska citizen., 1919-02-10
L-.aSkA CAN PAY THE NATIONS
 WAR DEBT

HuI over IIlS DIOdO ! dSS u dlA lo ]AAShoAsASS' Mr w. A. Ryan, writing to The Citizen from Dead Horse t1lll on the Shusnltna flver, al camp ol .ne A. l.. C. eight days out rom Ne mana, says:
 '"rhe potential greatness and wealth ol Alaska Was never so torcetuily prot home toI me as on this trip over Broad Pass. All along the rail ind evidences ot the great mineral wealth that will be unlocked by the Alaska railroad. We wilfpass over the coal deposits at Algnlte and Heaiy creeks because these are already too well Known and advertised as the 'gr:atest coal deposits in the world But they gre not, for there are Ill the Broad Pass cour- try much greater. But ot this more later.
 All along this trail are to be seen ev1- dences of the Dcllet of some one ill the future great richness ot the region. Great areas are 'staked out,' it is said by representatives ot the Guggenheim interests immense loW-grade deposits ot gold and copper ores. In modest caDiIs sit the lonely representatives ot greater interests holding down these claims till the railroad comes to make operation poSSlDle. l cannot, o1 course, speak With the certainty of authority that all the things heard ot are true, but what Is so prevalent i'll the atnos- phere IS q teelng Ot assured confidence that the future IS one ot great rlchnesS and prom
  which the owners mine for tIclr own use quite close at hand.
 "The Park Gate Road House, owned by Maurice Moreno, occupies 9 bcautllui ioca- ton III a mountain Dordcrcd valley, from Which point d series ot low passes lead to the he:4t ct Nit. AlcNinlcy Nallolai tark, the shortest route from the ralroad 10 that park and sad to be the most feasible tor wagon oI /i,o,tr1 ip tnr l tourist hotel and salatoriuln. How many A. ..JEa,,S have given ScrlOus thot to the wonder .! pv,entlalitleS of this climate as remculaI .:':enl LOT tuberculosis. 1uDcrCuiar suDJccls . over lnclr health rapidly Ill Alaska 1nou- .....uS and tens ot thousands Ot AmerlcallS r., . to tine Saranac Lake rcglon every year fer ..le Denc1lClal Influence O1 the cod Cn- mate ot tnat mountaln rcglon. Once the rall- roo1 IS completed and the Mckinley Park re- ,ron Is made accessible the region thus opened ID is one tnat for health-glvlng results Will be paramount and in addition Will offer par adsc to the big game hunter. Round about .lis sai1l, locality are placer gold deposits o1 broad ex.ent if tales ot prospectorS a.c to De credited. These deposits are not workable under present conditions, tho shallow and talr- y rich (cven as Alaskans count placer ground
 
 told nle he had been driven out of every hole he dug at twenty feet but that he was hanging on with the expectation that the coming oi the railroad would enable him to install the proper machinery to work ground under such conditions.
 At Sullivan's road house, which is on the Middle Fork of the Sulitna river, they are burning coal that from all outward appear ancss is almost a btuminous coal. It very closely resembles the so-called 'canncl coal ot the Ohio river region, semi-bitumnous pro duct that at one time was very highly valued, and is certainly better coal than Ignite. l am sending sample of this coal to Mir. J. A. Davis of the Bureau of Mines at Fairbanks for his information. The bed out of which this coal is taken is 200 feet in thickness and in that depth contains no intrusions of slate or stone or sand. 1t is exposed ill the cliff side on the Middle Fork for its full thickness and it must certainly be admitted that if the lignite and Hcaly creek deposits were previ- ousy considered the wonder of the world this Suitna deposit must be the most wonder full of the world. Sullivan claims to have traced this deposit distance of three miles from the cast fork to the west fork of the Sui.tna. Its extent in the opposite direction ;s unknown. Mir. Davis estimates that the i.ientc field contains 5 millions of tons ot coal to the square mile of area. l should judge therefore that this deposit could safely |" estimated as 10 million tons per square r ,ic.
 "Of course these observations of mine sl4 superficial and broadly general. But if suy..:cc indications point to such enormous poss Jilities are we not justified in believing that ,lcvcloDment will disclose even greater riches? Here is very narrow strip of coun-