The Seward gateway., 1921-01-17
HAPPEly[yGSOF
 TERRITORY ARE.
 BRIEFLY TOLD

Farmers, within the shadows of the Arctic circle and members of the most northerly farmers organization in the :orld,. not only frown on profiteering 5y the agriculturalist but have pre- vented "corners" con the food supply, said P. J. Rickert, resident of the Tan ma Valley Agricultural association, member of the Alaska territorial legis- ature and candidate for the federal narshalship of Alaska. MT. Ricket .alled at the Alaska bureau of the ;hamber of Commerce.
 "Our farmers organization is, l believe, the most unique one on .ecord," said Mir. Richert, who built the first hot house in the interior of. Alaska and is the daddy" of agricui- turists around Fairbanks, having started farming in 1906, when miners thought anyone who talked crops was not 100 per cent efficient mentally.
 eve estimate how much garden
 
 produce our section. will require and raise that amount. Our association has 8 central warehouse. We fix definite and fair price for produce and then sell it, adding trifle each month. For instance our price for potatoes after the crop was dug was five cents a pound and when July rolled around the price of spuds in Fairbanks was only six and one-half cents, which was less than in the states. Do not think the Fairbanks people do not have let tuce, tomatoes, and nice things for the table in winter for our farmers grow these in hot houses in the cold months. It would be an education to those who think that Alaska does not have fu- ture as an agricultural area to see what we farmers produced last year and see the prices we sold our product at."
 After deciding how much acreage to plant of produce to meet the commun- lty requirements, the farmers plant the surplus to wheat, oats and hay, of which there is great shortage.
 Ut will take 500 new farmers ten years to supply the markets for these commodities" said MT. Rickert. "The farmers at Fairbanks are replacing the small experimental min, which ground the first whole wheat flou rmilled in Alaska, with a 25 barrell 8 day mill, which will make patent flour, out of as fine wheat as can be found on thiscontinent."
 Mr. Rickert predicts Alaskans will go back to the territory as rapidly as they came out during war days when inducements on the outside lured them away and the return of these old tim CTS will be good thing for the terri tory, he said. Mining around Fair banks is quiet, due to the high costs of transportation, fuel and supplies but he predicts that with q readjustment the extensive placer and quartz gold properties will be worked. Two com panies have made a success of quartz mining in the Fairbanks district, he said.
 Iiginite coal, which has less heat ing qualities than cord of wood, sells delivered at Fairbanks for $9 a ton, ttnS coal being mined at Healy River and brought to the interior metropolis by the railload. Alaska is going to be a place for homes and it will settle up rapidly under the right laws" said Mir. Rickert. He will leave next week for the east.
 Plans fer an active educational cam pa;gn of national scope to inform the public of the high food value and low 1 cost of Pink and Chum salmon have been announced by the Association of Pacific Fisheries. Salmon fishing is