The Nenana daily news., 1920-07-19
kANT|SHNA ROAD ID bE REPAIRED;
 CASH AVAILABLE

,hoheisHid uLsIiiSl, NSHdHd anu dii other interested sections that im- mediate steps will be taken by the Alaska Road commission to put the Roswell Moose wagon road, in the Kantishna, in condition for traffic. The work will be undertaken this season, with funds that are now available, and while we do not promise that the repairs will be completed this summer, the road surely will be ready for next sea- sons traffic. And you can state, further, that the money we plan to Ispend on this project at this time will not interfere in any way with our plans for the construction of trunk line road into the Kantishna district as soon as funds are made available for such an undertaking"
 Thus spoke Lieut.-Col. John c. Gotwals, engineer officer of the Alaska Road commission, to a rep resentative of The Nenana News, following a conference with mem- Ibers of the Nenana Commercial Iclub yesterday afternoon. Col. Got walls came to Interior Alaska espe- cially to investigate the Kantishna road needs, arriving in Nenana yes lterday aboard the steamer Alaska, in company with Territorial Sur veyor-General Robert J. Sommers and Territorial Road Commissioner Robert E. Sheldon, both of whom are thoroughly familiar with In- iterior road needs and conditions in general.
 In a talk made to the members of the local club, who have been very active in advocating road work in the Kantishna and other dis tricts tributary to Nenana, Col. Got Iwals stated that the Alaska Road commission had outlined a general road program for Alaska, covering a period of years, and would ask Congress, through the war depart iment, for a substantial annual ap- propriation sufficient to carry on the work. He intimated that an effort would be made to secure a million dollars yearly, but stated that he was not at liberty at this time to go into details regarding the proposed program.
 He said that during the sixteen years the Alaska Road commission has been in existence it has ex- Ipended the sum of five million dol lars and constructed upwards of a thousand miles of wagon roads, in addition to many miles of trails. He believes, however, that the time has come for the commission to get on new basis, with a particular view to the construction of roads for the use of trucks-feeder highways, he called them-which will serve both the railroad, now under con Istruction, and the Interior water ways, which will always be used for the movement of freight.
 The colonel is a firm believer in Ithe value of truck roads. In France. during the war, he said, it had been demonstrated that supplies could be moved more cheaply and quickly over short distances by truck than by railroad, through elimination of handling at each end of the haul. And he believes truck roads in Alas ,ka are the great need of the coun- jtry, connecting with the Govern iment trunk line railroad and with tthe various rivers.
 
 | The colonel believes the Kantish- na should have truck road, con- meeting with the railroad, but he says that it is impossible to in- Iaugurate work on such a project until ample funds are available to lcarry it through to completion. Such