The weekly Alaska citizen., 1920-01-19

Mines, before the last annual con vention of the American Mining Con gress in St. Louis. Mo. advocating the establishment of a central pow CT plant by the federal government in the Nenana coal fields for the purpose of stimulating the gold min ing industry of Interior Alaska. As result of Mir. Davis address and personal efforts a resolution was en- dorsed by the convention urging congressional action in accord with MT. Davis suggestion.-Ed. Note)
 To many persons the word Alaska" connotes a small area tucked away In the lower left hand corner of a map of "he United States and Our Island Possessions. an area which they visualize as land of intense cold. of ice. snow and glaciers Stewards Icebox-and about which they conjure up picture of an Els quimo sitting on cake Of ice and smiling at grief or picture of gambling and vice rampant; or of trials and hardships to be endured for the winning of fabulous riches; or of virgin gold 10 be had for the asking. To those who know and love her as she Is today. however she speaks a different language vari- ous language. She tells of vast areas of forest and of potential farms of magnificent scenery; of warm and glorious summers; of flowers and shrubbery run riot of celery lettuce, radishes, beets. potatoes. tomatoes cucumbers to be eXcelled nowhere else on earth; of law and order. pa triotism and thrift; and of almost fabulous riches of mineral wealth - no longer to be had by the hap hazard seeker with his shovel and gold pan, it is true. but offering stupendous opportunities for systema- tic mining with modern. up-to-date equipment.
 Perhaps no greater islander can be perpetrated by photographers upon the fair name of Alaska than the GUS tomary habit of depicting the terri tory upon greatly reduced scale, tucked away in some convenient corner of the map of the United States Such a course must inevit- ably portray a grossly inaccurate i'm pression of the size of the country. Alaska is not the size of Rhode Is land. In it's area Of 590,000 square miles you could lose. not only Rhode Island but the whole Thirteen origi' nal states as well. with Maine, Yer mont. West Virginia, Florida Ala, bama, Tennessee and Kentucky thrown in for good measure. Few persons realize that if Alaska were superimposed upon map of the Unit ed States with its southeastern point at Savannah, Georgia. the Wester- most Aleution Island would fall up' on Los Angeles California and the main bulk of the territory would en- tirely cover Wisconsin, Minnesota. H. linois, Iowa, and the greater part of Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, Alas ka contains 156.000 square miles of timber land, one-fourth of which is covered with merchantable timber while that of the remainder will make the finest grade of paper pulp. I, has 100000 square miles of agricul- tural land; equal to that of Pennsyl- vania. Maryland, New Jersey, Con necticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire And Alaska has a coast line 26,000 miles in length; greater than the circumference of the earth In the bays and inl-ts of this coast is centered fishing industry that ir one season. 1918, packed $50,000, ,0O( worth of salmon. The unexplored ant undeveloped regions of the interior abound in fur-bearing animals; ths source of another great industry Alas ka Is vast empire.s It's very name in the Indian tongue from which i was derived means "The Grea Country"
 Even if my time would permit al attempt, the richest and most color full words in the language are utterl. inadequate to describe the scenery o Alaska. Mir. E. H. Hartman, wh' saw the coast of Alaska from his pri vate yacht, exclaims. "There ar glaciers and fiords elsewhere, bu nowhere on earth Is there such al abundance and magnificence of noun tain. ford and glacier scenery" Tn
 Malaspine glacier. one of the hundred of glaciers in Alaska, covers an are
 one-tenth the entire size of Switzer land. Norweigians and persons wh
 have travelled in that country ar outspoken in saying the Inland Pas sage among the islands of south east ern Alaska far outstrips in beaut
 the famous fiords of Norway. Addiso
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