The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1922-02-23
ALASKA GOVERNOR
TELLS NEW FACTS
PAINTS BRIGHT FUTURE WHEN
RESOURCES BECOME BET
TER KNOWN
IS NOT AS COLD AS PEOPLE SUPPOSED
Says Present System Of government
Is Harming Prospects and
Holding Territory Back

BY Scott C. Bone, Governor Of Alaska
Editors Note: Scott c. Bone, gov
ernor of Alaska, loves his northern
home with a great passion. He be-
lieves in it and, what is more to the
point for the reader, he knows It.
in the following he tells Of manv
things in connection with his home
land that are unknown to the average
man and also gives voice to hopes
that may near great things not only
for Alaska but for the entire nation
as well.
Comparatively few people know
Alaska. Fewer still comprehend it
in all it's greatness.
Alaskans themselves in major num-
Der, have seen little of Alaska. Eight
out of 10 of them have glimpsed only
small sections of the Territory.
The average citizen of the populous
communities along the coast thinks
Of Alaska in terms Of Ketchkan,
Juneau, Cordova, Valdez and Seward.
To him-this average Alaska citizen
Alaska as a whole is almost as un-
known as it is to the average citizen
Of the outside world.
The tourist who visits these shores
is overwhelmed with the scenic
beauties presented to the eye Oh
every side, from Dixon's Entrance
through the panoramic Inside Passage
to Skagway at the head of Lynn
canal and, ~perchance, on over the
White pass, in the Yukon Territory,
to Whitehorse. But, if his journey
ends there, he does not know Alaska.
He has seen only the beginning Of
Alaska.
Alaska lies beyond.
The magnitude of Alaska-600, 900
square miles, or nearly one-fifth the
dimensions of the American union
precludes in the unopened stage Of
the Territory the possibility of a gen.
eral 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 a social gathering, was
pointed out as h~ailing from Alaska.
Does he speak English?" asked Miss
Highbrow, adjusting her glasses and
inspecting him interestedly.
Vilhdalmur ~Stefansson, c~ollegebred,
in an Illuminating discussion of THE
North That Never Was gives ap-
proval to the idea of a Cambridge
preacher that the country needs a
National University Of Polite Unlearn-
ing. Stefansson himself would fit
into the Alaskan chair of the institu-
ton. Or, equally SO, DR.. Alfred
Brooks, the eminent geoloeist, or
Major j. C. Gotwals, practical road
builder, who has mushed the Terri
tory and knows it from A to z.
So profound a statesman as Daniel
Webster, who visioned Americas flu
ture greatness, could see nothing
worthy of consideration west of the
Rocky mountains. Therefore, we may
be patient with a Twentieth century
denseness that still ignorantly visu-
allies Alaska as a country of ice and
snow, it's mountains and hills laden
with precious metals and it's glacial
scenery unsurpassed, but really fitted
for habitation only by polar bears.
Something more potential with the
masses than a National University of
DD1itn TTpJnnrninn ic ranI,iroH fo oo,-
rect and dispel these ridiculous popu
lar misconceptions about Alaska and
force upon the public mind a fair and
accurate knowledge of this great
Northland.
Alaska is not a monumental iceberg
or glacier. 1t is not ~snowbound and
in the grip Of bitter, biting elements.
1t is not cut off from the world. It's
ports, save those in the region of the
Arctic Circle, are open the year
around. It's temperature in the in
terror, in mid-winter, is no more Sc
we're than in the northern and far
western states. It's climate or the
coast is generally mild and equable,
with much rainfall, but comparable to
the climate Of Portland and Seattle.
Billiards such as rage in Mime.
sofa, the Dakotas and Montana and
occasionally in New York and the
east, are sometimes experienced in
the no~rthernmost part of the Terri
tory, but are uncommon, if not I'M
known, to coastal Alaska and Alaska
as a whole.
Millions of people live happily and
sections of our own country under
climatic conditions no more fa.or.
able, il not more severe, than the
general climatic conditions of Alaska
Alaska's summers are ideally pleas