Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1921-03-10
FACTS ABOUT ALASKA,

A country of constant surprise and
wonder you who have always
thought of Alaska as bleak and Ice
clad and but the home OF seals and
the producer of gold under the cru
elest hardships-listen! says A. ].
Stone In The Century Magazine. It's
harbors on the Pacific ocean are free
from ice the year round. its climate
Il nearly as varied as California's-
Sitka has n more eQuable climate than
Washington. d. c., its lowest temper
ature being 31.6 degrees with a mean
August temperature of 81 degrees
against that OF San Francisco of So
degrees. At Prince William Sound
Alaska. the average winter tempera-
thre is 80 degrees above zero, which
Is the average Of New York and Bos-
ton. Ice is never found in the har-
bors. whereas New York and Boston
are frequently tied up with ice.
There are no wind storms. the snow
that falls in winter never drifts and
only in the interior of Alaska are the
winters severe.
One may travel 2.1OO niles up the
Yukon river and find neither Ice nor
snow. but everywhere a luxuriant
plant life-birds, flowers and small
animals such as one would find along
upper Mississippi
What Is the size OF Alaska? How
Few have any concepton-it Is larger
than the combined areas of Belgium,
Holland. Finland, Denmark. Norway.
Sweden. England. Ireland, Scotland
and the former German empire. 1t
has $4,000 miles of coast line, four
times that of the United States or
equal to the distance around the
world. Alaska covers exactly the
same parallels OF latitude that the
above named countries cover and is
influenced by the japanese current
what can be grown in Ohio. can be
grown in the great tracts OF. Alaska
the broad river valleys covering one
third OF the country have no chill
nights in simmer. There are 80
million acres of most wonderful for
est land-20 million acres of fine
wood pulp timber. destined to fur
nish the future paper supply Of our
country. and most Of this timber lies
on the coastal side with easy water
transportation. Although we know
or gold In Alaska. how little we real
lie that there lies more gold than in
California and Colorado; more COP
per than In Montana and Arizona;
more coal than in Pennsylvania
and West Virginia. 1t Is probably the
most heavy mineraliZed country in the
world with over rs million mountain
acres OF mineral. with only the sur
face scratched here and there. Its
wonderful fisheries are family famil-
lar to some. There are verified rec
ords of over 6 million seal skins be-
Ing taken from two small islands
about II miles long: the recorded
figure probably does not cover one
quarter OF the actual killing. No
great national asset was ever so
ruthlessly squandered.
The Kenai peninsula has climate
similar to New England a wonder
ful combination of sea. land. forest.
lake. mountain and glacier. 1t Is the
most luXuriant flower land in all
America. A profusion of dense
growth of grasses and wild flowers
daisies. violets, forget nots and
columbine. Besides all this, IL is the
richest country in the world for wild
animals and furs. having with little
exploitation produced furs to the ex-
ten OF several billion dollars.
Alaska-the little known-holds