The Alaska daily empire., 1921-11-07

U dillNI tiit tiid HStto iliNth' P'' and to take advantage of the diff fercnt transportation facilities offer ed with the opening of the Govern ment Railroad and also with tho hope of finding more resources, Gel. J C. Gotwals. engineer officer of tho Alaska Road Commission, during the past year has covered practically tre entire Interior section of the Terri tory Colonel Gotwals made the first of his extensive trips last winter and the second was completed s5yer- al days ago when he returned to Jl- neau from Nome.
 In his latest trip Colonel Gotwals wont overland virtually from the bOr- der of Yukon Territory into the heart of the Kuskokwm and theace north to the Yukon at Ruby and by boat from there to Nome
 In this trip he acquired inforn.a- tion on a vast portion of Alaska which probably has not been had first-hand by any Of his predecessors on the Commission and which, as he says, is necessary for the proper tul- fillme1t of his duties as Engineer Officer on the Commission.
 { No Difficulties Encountered
 In an Interview given The Empire, , Colonel Gotwals reviews his trip and gives briefly it's purposes and his conclusions. He said:
 The extensive overland travels which have performed last winte: and summer were made for the pur- pose of Inspecting widely scattere road and trail projects, to investigate the economies and topography of great, new areas in the Interior and to gain an. intimate personal know ledge of every difficulty which the Alaskan encounters on the winter and summer trail. This was done without hardship, due to the careful equipment which I obtained, anI the excellent men I was able to have with me.
 Equipment Used
 Tn reference to winter travel, my own conviction. still holds that the Siberian dog is the best dog on the trail in Alaska or. perhaps, any where There are several species of native dogs, which, if subjected, to the careful breeding and training given to the Siberians, would rank very high on the trail In sleds, the lower Yukon sled is the best and the rint of Eclri in, cluding water mulkuks, reindeer and hsirseal parka and reindeer sleeping bag, with tho addition of mittens lined with mountain sheep from the Interior, gives nucleus of excellent personal equipment.
 'In winter freighting with horses, great deal of the commerce of the Interior will continue to be carried. There is nothing new in the prin- ciples of handling horses on the win ter trail The horses can work and resist the bitterest weather. proyid- ed they are sheltered in a warm, dry stable with plenty of forage during the night. The peculiar. topography of the Interior makes winter freight ing with dogs and horses important. Besides this, recent experience has proven that, on a well graded trail with dry snow of under two feet, a tractor can be used with success.
 For Summer Travel
 As to summer travel, with an out fit well equipped, impressive speed can be made over the summer trail The trip of inspection made through this last summer is of more than passing interest The purpose in making it was to save time in getting the next and to cover the entire In teriOr of Alaska in one summer An inspection of the map of Alaska will make clear the goal of my summers inspections. This, in general, was as follows:
 Route Is Described
 Starting at Eagle and following the old Eagle trail as far as Gull kama, crossing the Panama at Tana. na Crossing. and thence along the Richardson road to Meiers and di rectly west through Valdez Creek and across the Susitna River 70 Carlson's roadhouse at Broad Pass and then from Lynch's roadhouse up Morris Creek along the Highway Pass to kantishna post office and down Moose Creek to Roosevelt. The travel to this point involved 800 miles of overland packing. While, in general, the going was good, all of the trails followed were not ex actly what the Interiorite calls a