Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-04-08
WONDERFUL ALASKA
|Immence Wealth That Was Bought
4 For a Song.
big AS half Dozen LARGE STATES

Much Ignorance of the Far off Terri
tory-Most People Look Upon it al
Boundiess Fields of Ice-Country o
Immense Resources, Splendid eli
mate and Luxurious Vegetation.
Fifty-four years ago, on March 80
1857 was signed the treaty whereof!
1.-The United States purchased Alaska
from Russia for s7,O00,OO0. In the in
tervening half: century, we have taker
from the territory more than sevent!
times the seven millions Of purchase
money" says bulletin from the
Washington. D. c., headquarters OF the
National Geographic Society.
'Nfost Americans arein the habit oi
thinking of Alaska as of insignificant
area, yet it, is as large as Illinois, Iowa
Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin and
Missouri put together. with sizable
bits, from Kansas, Nebraska, and the
two Dakotas added on.
cs"To most people, also, Alaska is Wis
ualized as a land of snow and ice
of glaciers and scant vegetation. In
point of fact the Alaskan climate is
fairly diversified, and along the coast
there are slight extremes Of cold and
|heat. In the interior there is less rain
fall, and the long Arctic day produces
Ia very dry and warm climate.
| AssWelI Located as Norway and Swe'
den.
:SsEverywhere, except in the extreme
north, the vegetation is luxuriant, its
growth is rapid, and fruits. vegetables
land grazing grasses flourish. Located
mo; less advantageously than the
Peninsula and with an
area almost twice as great as that OF
Norway and Sweden combined, Alas
|ka, nevertheless, has a white popula-
|tion of little moSe than $4,000 as
against the eight Million of Scandina-
|Vians.
1.-THE three great sources of Alas
ka wealth arc minerals. fisheries and
furs. Up to the end Of 1915 the mines
1of,. Alaska had produced more than
|S30O 100000. In 1916 the fisheries pro-
iduced nearly s20,0OO,000 and the pei
tries more than half million. There
arc great deposits of coal as yet un-
touched and Of low grade ores more
precious which await only the devel-
|opment of the Territory's own water
power to make them available at tre-
|mendous profit.
Spruce Valuable in Airplane Making.
J "Forests, too, are extensive and suit
ed for the production Of both timber
land wood pulp. The heaviest growth
HES along the coast, where two nat.
Iional. contain a combined
area of about 21,o0O,0oO acres with ar
fexisting stand of merchantable tim
ber exceeding eighty billion feet
board measure. These forests com
prise the northwest extremity of the
|great northern belt of conifers which
spans our continent and Alaskan
spruce has been found valuable fol
the construction Of the wooden frames
| of airplanes, for which use it COM
manded during the war the remark
able price Of nearly $3.50 per thousand
feet.
I'm recent years Alaska has attract
| ed attention as a producer Of meat
| for expectation to the United States
This meat is derived from reindeer
herds which Craze on the moses
and grasses of the far northern part
| of the territory which at one time
were considered worthless and unpro'
ductive. The Alaskan reindeer herd:
Inow contain more than 100000 Of the
animals, all derived from the 1880 re-
fndeer imported into Alaska by tht
Federal government IS years ago. 1r
this period besides, many thousand:
of the animals have been slaughtered
for food. 1t is established that tht
portions of Alaska unsuited for othe'
industries will maintain four to five
million head of reindeer. In the Scan
dinavian countries their meat is high
! Iy priced. The reindeer meat from
Alaska is beginning to appear reSu'
4 larly now in many of the meat shop!
of the United States.
transportation Facilities Greatest
Need.
1.-THE development of the lumber in
dustry, like that of all other enter
prise in Alaska, is largely dependen
upon the extension of communica
tions, especially by rail; and the Fed
eral Government now has under con
struction a railroad, which is designed
to open up the country for both trave
and industry. There are 457 miles o
this road in operation. Only So mile
remain to be constructed to give thi
road it's total trackage of $40 miles.
Alaska was not taken in to tn
Federal domain without much criti
cism None Of it, however, reached
the height of invective with whicl
eastern statesmen had condemned tn
Oregon territory at an earlier period
4 though the later prophets OF i'll hav
been as deeply confounded as tn
others. The price paid seemed entirel