The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1921-01-13

greatest cattle and sheep ranges under
the American flag. Here is the land for
the immigrant. Here is the place for the
homeseeker. In these valleys are vast
stretches of arabic lands, much greater in
area than in some of the states of the
Union; and this part of~Alaska can. sup
port a larger number of people than Nor
way and Sweden and Finland and Den
mark combined.
Look again at the map. On the hills
here in Southwestern Alaska are great cat
tie ranges, and here in abundance grows
what is called buffalo grass, bunch-grass,
which stands five or six feet high, rich in
saccharin matter; and cattle can Craze
here all the year without protection from
the weather. 1t is far superior for cattle
grazing than the most favored sections of
the northern states. They have no biz
yards, and the winters, although cold, have
little snow, and the climate is dry and in
vigorafing. Cattle Craze here all the year
and they are fatter and in better condi-
ton in the spring than they are in the
fall. What country for the cattleman!
Southwestern Alaska is destined in the
next twenty-five years to have per-
manent agricultural and cattle raising
population, and the day will come when
this part of Alaska will contain and sus-
tain several millions of people. 1t has now
permanent population of thousands who
have gone there and been there for many
years, many of whom were born there,
and they intend to stay there.
Alaska north of the Yukon River is
vast country, stretching away from the
Yukon river to the Arctic ocean. This
part of Alaska has very little timber. 1t
is rich in mineral resources and is essen
TALLY mining country. 1t has vast de-
posts of copper, and gold, and tin, and
coal, and various other kinds of minerals.
This part of Alaska will always be sparce-
ly inhabitated by migratory people who
20 there to mine, and when the mines are
worked out they will come away.
Alaska's production of mineral wealth
is growing apace. The mineral produc-
ton since 1880, when mining first began,
is, in round figures $500, 900, or more
than seventy times the sum paid to Russia
for the territory.
Do you know that long before California
was heard of, long before the Columbia
River was discovered, long before there
was a United States, Alaska had been ex-
plored and settled? If Chinese records
are to be believed, the discovery of Alaska
antedates the journeys of the Norsemen
to Greenland and across the Atlantic
According to these records, Chinese
Buddhist priest traversed the Alaskan
shore in 499 A. D. In 1711 the Cossacks
of Russia were hunting sable in Alaska
In 1924 Peter the Great with his own
hand wrote the instructions for the ex-
petition that led to the exploration of
Bering Sea, and in the following century
Spanish, English, and French navigators
again and again headed for the Alaskan
coast in vain effort to find passage
from the Pacific to the Atlantic. The
records of these explorations constitute
most important part of the history of
America.
am one of the Pioneers of Alaska. l
belong to the Arctic Brotherhood. Years
ago I said that Alaska was the wonder =
land of the world. reiterate that. Nine
tenths of the people of the country have no
idea of the vastness of her boundaries;
the extent of her domain; the grandeur
of her scenery; the salubrity of her eli
mate; the wonder of her mountains; the
length of her rivers; the possibilities of
her fisheries; the greatness of her forests;
the grazing advantages in her valleys for
sheep and cattle; her untouched agricul-
tural resources; her incalculable mineral
wealth; and her splendid homes for the