Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-11-24
Rediscover;ng Alaska

"~~A
House recently voted an appropriation
- for the completion of the Alaskan rail
road prompts a newspaper friend OF the telIA-
tory to rejoice that the day is gone Wne ~
congressman would object to the building OF
this line because sit would be patron1zed only
( by Eskimo fur traders and gumdrop venders
and would haul nothing but ice. al
Congress. together with the public, has
learned much about Alaska since it was
purchased in 1857 for less than a fifth the
cost of a single modern battleship, yet over
the choleric protest of many solemn Sena-
tor of the time. But most of the learning mas
been done in the last few years up until the
administration of President wilson the
Government was content first TO leave Alas
kan resources prey to monopoly, ana tnen
to lock them up against any development
whatsoever. Acting upon the principle that
true conservation is not the boarding OF nat
ural treasure which belongs to the people,
but rather it's efficient exploitation and use Tor
the common veal, Democratic leadership
pressed to enactment legislation to PROVIDE
sorely needed transport facilities for the ter
ritorys interior commerce and uppulldlng.
In 1915 was announced the route OF the
railroad which the Government was TO con-
struct for this purpose, extending from Sew
ard on Resurrection Bay to Fairbanks on the
Tanana River, distance of four hundred
and seventy-one miles. Soon thereafter, work
started with vim.
Their began the better part Of the coun-
try's education concerning this vast expanse
of richly stored forest and stream and mine
and meadow this realm five times as large
as the United Kingdom, capable of producing
great stores of foodstufs, as well as minerals
and furs. That Alaska had not stood UNI
changed and improbable, even during us
long season of neglect, appears IN the rev
ord of it's import and export trade. In 1851
it's purchases from the United States amount
udrnd SiXtV-thr66
dollars in 1900 to eighteen million, four nun
dred and sixty-three thousand. For the nscal
year 1920 it's imports from the United STATES
amounted to approximately thlrLy-Iour I'LL
lion dollars. It's exports to the unitea Sta' 90
increased frcm some ten millions in l9O4 TO
upwards of seventy-two million in the nscal
year 1920.
But these figures, impressive as they are to
the economist, fail to picture the country and
it's life They leave us uniformed OF the
color, the variety, the charm with which ma
ture has touched the land, and also OF the
human progress it has witnessed. They 40
not remind us that the Alaskan climate is IN
general milder than that of Norway and oWe-
den where millions thrive and the arts ana
sciences flourish '"The Alaska of Rex Beach
and Jack London, of gunner and dance halls,
writes one who knows the country, rs past
in spite of all we see in the moves to the
contrary" Polar bears and reindeer ABOUND
in Alaska but SO do children and schools ana
means of communication and transportation
are considered, Alaska is no farther from
New York than St. Louis was hundred years
ago. She has fourteen incorporated towns,
in EACH of which you will find the same sort
of folks ana social life that you enjoy IN
towns of the same size throughout the coun-
try. There are hundred schools in these
incorporated towns and districts, and about
sixty-ive in other less densely populated sec
lions. There are thirteen high schools, and
many of the upils, far from fearing the WIN
ters have their own dog teams, which they
race for SPORT The telegraph, both wired
and wireless, makes communication easy;
and as Army aviators recently demonstrated
the airplane will reduce by half or more the
Journey from Alaska to the United States
The people of Nome, which is the one port OF
Importance that is ever shut in by ice, boast
of their gay winters, crowded with sports;
but if the season grows listless they harness
the dogs and go capering away to Ho1
Springs, sixty miles distant, where the social
calendar is never lean.
President Thomas Jefferson in reporting tC
Congress such information as he had beer
able to gather concerning the imperial reaches
of the lately acquired Louisiana territory
gravely averred that thousand miles VI
the Mississippi there was salt mountain one
hundred and eighty miles long and forty-fve
miles in width, composed of solid rock salt
without trees or shrubs upon it." He wo lo
not have credited SO strange tale, the Presl
dent explained, "but for the testimony Of
travellers who had shown specimens Of the
salt to the people of st. Louis!" Every great
territorial acquisition Of the United States
has been drolly misunderstood in the popular
and, not infrequently, the official mind. 1
is doubtful, however, that any was ever 81
long or so exceedingly misunderstood al
Alaska It is time indeed we were learning
a bit about this northern treasure troVe o.
r ours.
EDTTODIAJ ECuHECs