The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1922-02-16
ALASKA IS LITTLE
KNOWN TO NATION
Governor of Farthest North
Paints Bright Picture When
Resources Become Bet
ter Known.
Says Present System of Gov.
ernment is Harming Pros
poets and Holding Back.

poets and Holding Back.
BY ScoTT C. BONE, Governor of
Alaska
Editors NOte.-Scott c. Bone,
gopernor of Alaska, loves his north
ern home NTH a great passion. He
believes in it and, what is more to
the point for the reader, he knows
1t. In the following he tells of many
things in connection NTH his home
land that are unknoWn to the average
man and also gives poice to hopes
that may mean great things not only
for Alaska but for the entire nation
as well.
Comparatively few people know
Alaska. Fewer still comprehend it
| III al us greatness.
Alaskans themselves, in major
number, have seen little of Alaska.
Eight out of ten of them have glimp-
sed only small sections OF the terri
tory.
The average citizen of the popu-
lous communities along the coast
thinks of Alaska in terms of Ketch-
kan, Juneau, Cordova, Valdez and
Seward. To him-this average Alas
ka citizen-Alaska as a whole is al
most as it is to the average citizen
of the outside world.
The tourist who visits these shores
is overwhelmed with the scenic beau
ties presented to the eye on every
side, from Dixon's Entrance through
the panoramic Inside Passage Of
Skagway at the head Of Lynn Canal
and, perchance, on over the White
Pass, in the Yukon territory, to
IWhitehorse. But, if his journey ends
there, he does not know Alaska. He
has seen only the beginning of Alas
ka.
Alaska lies beyond.
Or GREAT MAGNITUDE.
The magnitude Of Alaska -60O,-
600 square miles, or nearly one-fifth
the dimensions Of the American un-
ion-precludes in the unopened
stage of the territory the possibility
of a general and intimate knowledge
of Alaska.
Illustrative Of the prevailing mis-
information is the instance of the
fine young soldier who, returning
from overseas, visited a school friend
in Boston and, at social gathering,
was pointed out as hailing from Alas
ka. Does he speak English ?" ask
ed Miss Highbrow, adjusting her
glasses and inspecting him interest
edly.
Vilhdalmur Stefansson, college
bred, in an Illuminating discussion OF
The North that Never Was" gives
approval TO the idea Of Cambridge
preacher that the country needs a
National University Of Polite Un-
learning. Stefansson himself would
, fit into the Alaskan chair of the in
stitution. Or equally so, DR.. Alfred
Brooks, the eminent geologist, or
Major !. C. Gotwals, practical road
builder, who has mushed the terri
tory and knows it from A to z.
So profound statesman as Daniel
Webster, who visioned Americas fu-
. trre greatness, could see nothing
: worthy of consideration west of the
Rocky mountains. Therefore, we
: may be patient with a Twentieth
: Century denseness that still ignor.
antly visualizes Alaska as a country
: of ice and snow, its mountains ant
: hills laden with precious metals anc
\ its glacial scenery unsurpassed, bu'
e really fitted for habitation only BY
}, polar bears.
THOSE MISCONCEPTIONS.
Something more potential with the
masses than a National University o.
l Polite Unlearning is required to cor
S rect and dispel these ridiculous popu
i lar misconceptions about Alaska ant
v force upon the public mind fair ant
|. accurate knowledge of the grea
e Northland.
0 Alaska is not monumental ice
e berg or glacier. 1t is not snowboun'
and in the grip Of bitter, biting ele
f ments. 1t is not cut off from tn
v world. Its ports, save those in tn
g region of the Arctic Circle, are opel
e the year around. Its temperature Ii
q in the interior, in mid-winter, is n
:, more severe than in the Norther
II and far Western states. Its climat
q on the coast is generally mild an
cquable, with much rainfall, but CON
parable to the climate of Portlan
+ and Seattle. Billiards such as rag
* in Minnesota, the Dakotas and Nor
J. tana and the East, are sometimes e,
'e perienced in the northernmost pal
III Of the territory but are uncommon,
IS not unknown, to coastal Alaska an
is Alaska as a whole.
10 Millions of people live happily an
thrive in Norway and Sweden and
- ,o,t.a,e of oVr 0wn country itrdf