The Alaska daily empire., 1922-01-03
Authority Extended

the Territory"
 Authority Extended
 This authority was further extend cd to November 22, 1922, by Presi dentisl Proclamation No. 1543, dated November 22. 1918. and reading il part as follows:
 Whereas. it appears that the available supply of coal for domes tic and other uses in She Territory of Alaska, and particularly in towns and settlements upon or near the line of the Government Railroad in Alaska. is. by reason of existing conditions, inadequate and Insufficient.
 Now, therefore. I, Woodrow Will son President of the United States of America nndcr and by virtue of sad statute, do hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of the In ter.or. dur.lg he pericd Cf three years irons he date hereof, to sell and dispose of surplus coal taken from the mines now being operated by the Alaskan Engineering Com mission for supplying domestic and C,her local needs in the Terri tory"
 Funds Not Provided
 It should be noted that both au- thori7ations were confined to the Territory of Alaska and made no pro- vision for the sale of coal for ship mont to Seattle. San Francisco or other coast points. No additional funds were appropriated by Congress, as a result of the issuance of these executive orders. With which to carry ont any enlarged program of coal mining by Alaskan Engineering Com mission forces. Permission was giv- en to sell the coal. but no means were made available to meet the mar kct demands for the coal as regards quant.ty or ocean transportation.
 The Interior Department heads were possibly correct in their atti- tlsda in thus limiting governmental activities, in what should more prop arly be, commercial field It is believed that the wisdom of their policy has very good opportunity of demonstration in that there are now several private companies with coal leases in the Matanuska Valley, some of which are probably capable of coal production in excess of local or territorial demands. The private leases acquired in the Matanuska field are as follows:
 The Mdtanuslaa Coal Company, units ? and 3, 1,400 acres.
 The Rawson mine, unit 4, 1,200 acres.
 The Evan Jones Coal Company, unit 6. 1,0S0 acres.
 *The Navy Alaska Coal Company units 10 and II, LAO acres.
 *Do not confuse with U s. Navy Government Coal Commission.
 The difficult problem confronting these companies is not so much the that of transportation of the coal by water to other Alaska towns, or Pa ctfic Coast points.
 As this paper is not intended to cover the activities of the private coal mines in the Matanuska field, no further mention of same need be made here, but brief reference to the operations of the United States navy at Chickaloon is desirable be fore taking up the main subject.
 Navy Commission at Work
 The United States navy is investi- gating the possibilities of the Chicka- loon district of the Matanuska coal fields by prospecting, coal mining and development work in units s, 3, 12 and 14, lying along the Chickaloon River, Kings River ard Coal Creek.
 Tle work is being performed by the Mining Department of the Alas kan Engineering Commission under the personal direction of the Navy Alaskan Coal Commission, headed by Commander o. c. Bowling, U. & navy. Their operations have been extensive and have been conducted on broad scale, looking forward into the future. They have blocked out about 100000 tons of 'high-grade b'tuminous navy specification - steaming coal, which amount they soon hope to double by sinking to a lower level At the same time they are endeavoring to block out much larger tonnage of the same high-grade coal on Coal Creek. The develop ment work on this latters property k being done by diamond drilling as well as by horizontal tunnelling along the coal feasures. They have mined and stored some coal at Chickaloon but same has not been made avail able for sale commercially, nor to tn. Government Railroad, except in smal quantities, for lblacksmithing pur poses. to save importation from thu United States.