Evening star., 1922-08-14
RAILWAY D|SPELS.
ALASKAN GLAMOUR
Through Pullman to the
Tanana Replaces Mixed
Freights and Dog Teams.
YUKON TRAIL MADE EASY
Bi-Weekly Passenger Train Takes
Traveller Through Scenes of
Grandeur Once Wild and Remote.
By the Associated Press.

BY the Assoc. ated Press.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, August IA
"All aboard, through train for the
interior" thus sings out the white
coated porter. standing with step in
hand at the rear of the .Sourdough
limited. A glance along the train
| shows it made up Of exress and bag
gage car, Iay coach, Pullman sleeper
and an observation chair car.
1t seems incongruous that THIS
equipment IL ready to dash through
the heart of Alaska and bring up
on the banks OF the Tanana river,
that mighty stream whose mere name
conjured up visions Of argonauts. dog
teams. myriads of caribou and the
old days when only strong men
reached the Tanana.
On July 13 the through freight
took the place of the mixed train
| operated heretofore. and a regular
bi-weekly passenger and freight
service has been installed.
Old Way Was Rough.
route two years ago. 1t entailed a
mixed train that began to crawl
along as it entered the Broad Pass
country, where operation extended
almost TO the last rail laid. Then
came the horse se-Jrawn sleigh or dog
init. a bleak. desolate spot in winter.
hemmed in by icy mountains and
swept by wintry blasts Overnight
at the crude roadhouse and the trip
was continued to Nenana, on the
banks of the Tanana. down a
ciung to the beeuing cliffs by the
teeth of the brake. Maybe it was
40 degrees below zero and only the
hardy or those compelled to take the
trip braved it.
Today this same country is un-
folded in scenic grandeur from the
window Of the Pullman or the rear
platform of the observation parlor
car. or mayhap while the traveller
dimes in the buffet car ahead. The
mysterious light. Little rivulets
rush down from the mountains to
join the noble Susitna. carrying its
turbulent flood Into Cook inlet.
The system Of crossing the Tanana
in winter on rails laid upon the ice
soon will be supplanted by 70o-foot
single steel span bridge. with ap-
proaches well above the flood of the
stream: the narrow-guage Tanana
valley "dinky" line will retreat be-
fore the oncoming of the mogul en-
gine and its serpentlike string of
modern equipment.
Change Sudden and Complete.
Fairbanks" shouts the porter. and
old Alaska. has vanished: the great
land of mystery along the Yukon be =
comes but banal echo OF something
that has been, but is no more.
The change has been 80 sudden and
SO complete that the old-timers are
finding it hard to readjust their lives
to the new conditions. The railroad
means of transport to the interior.
Richardson highway. from Valdez. is
but a tourist adventure: automobiles
take the place of the stage in sum-
mer and the railroad now serves
country extending to Nome on the
northwest and the arctic slope to
the north, down the Tanana from
Fairbanks to the Yukon, and up the
Yukon to Dawson-a veritable ad-
venture for the tourist who has alb
sorbed the romance of the days
of 'eS.
The old-timer says the Dawson
days will come again; where. he Is
unable to state: but the lure of the
''shovel-in" EroundAeckons, and as
the railroad threaded north the pros
pector broke new trails. What the
future holds for the dreamer Is as
problematic as the first venture into
the forbidding country that has so
suddenly been transformed into a re-
Eion wherein the most delicate may
live and prosper.