Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1922-01-19
Alaska / never saw a head of stock.

Alaska / never saw head of stock.
And with the exception of this
one favored section, there is NO
SOIL in Alaska, and it will be thous-
ands of years yet before. there will
be. A few inches under the tundra
the soil ceases. Even trees cannon
subsist Over the millions of acres
of Alaska you will see forests grown
up to scrub dimensions and dead.
On the entire length of the Yukon
there is no timber worth while for
when 1t reaches a certain size it dies
for want of root substance. The ia
nous Alaska spruce you read about
is not in Alaska proper, but far down
in the panhandle, north of Prince
Rupert.
If you want to go into the fishing
Tor fur business, don't look for any,
thing better than the north land,
but If you want to take a long
chance on farming or stock raising
take Death Valley as better chance
than Alaska, for there you wills have
the satisfaction of at least keeAing
warm while you "go broke"
AS to what the governments rail-
road will do for the coal section Of
Southern Alaska. it is but a matter
Iof opinion. and my honest opinion
an opinion founded on all the infor-
nation could gather from all
sources-is that it will never be a
paying investment, and that the gov
ernment took chance that even the
IGuggenheims dared not tackle.
Around Fairbanks and Tenana you
hear nothing but the glad music.
The completion of the railroad is
going to bring on regular old
fashioned Seattle real estate BOOM
The great coal fields will be develop
ed, thousands of men will be en-
ployed, and as a man told me "Te-
mana will skin Dawson for a grow" "
"But what is going to be done
with the coal?" I asked.
ship it to Seattle and down the
Pacific ocean, was the reply
But" countered, great de-
posits of coal lie undeveloped in
Washington today because it can
not compete with cheap fir wood,
and how are you going to railroad
your coal to Steward, boat it to
Seattle and railroad it down the
coast and buck a competition in
WASHINGTON and oregon that state
are you going to ship it thousands
of miles to California and compete
with the cheapest fuel oil in the
world"
And after you have poked few
of such questions at the enthusiasts
it is well to see if your boat is not
due-time to move along or lose
your popularity.
There have been enormous unfore-
seen expenses in the construction OF
this road; there have been great
washouts and other engineering
problems almost new to the builders.
In two years they say the road Will
be completed and ready for service.
7 NAV be a cold water thrower, but
wonder how much of the year 1T Will
be in service. With the enormous
snowfall in this part of Alaska, and
with the terrible floods in the sum-
mer months, my guess is that IT Will
be some job to keep that railroad in
operation-even if there is a de-
mand for it's operation. However,
this is but an opinion, one l may
have. to renig. on.
Alaska today is hitting the chutes.
The territory is declining. Half of
the population of the country has
left this year. In every town, camp
and mine l visited, the people were
leaving or making preparations to
go out on the last boat. There was
gloom and depression everywhere.
The reasons / found were three:
No new strikes of size or permanent
ey, the excessive cost of living in the
mining camps and the stories of high
wages and great activity on the out
side. This trio4was loadinEs the pas
senger accommodations of all the
last boats. s
And vet AlnQnat eves iner or
prcebector Whor was leaYiEk would