The Cordova daily times., 1923-01-25

expenditures have been made by the Government in developing this knowl- edge, they say, have been well ap piled, according to the gauge of na- tional safety.
 A history of the operations which have developed the knowledge now held runs back to the days in the last decade prior to enactment of the leas- ing act Joseph A. Holmes, the first director of the Bureau of Mines, wis ited both the Matanuska and Boring River fields in 1911, giving his per sonal attention to the problems which had been brought into the limelight by reason of the vail and woe sound ed by alleged "conservationists"' who declared that the natural resources of Alaska were being gouged by "monop- olies." Dr. Holmes was impressed by the quality of the coals, but indicated that he foresaw the difficulties and high mining costs that would be in- volved in development work and fu- ture operations
 When Barriers Were Built
 The coal lands already had been reserved from entry when the leas- ing law was passed in 1914. In pur- suance with this act, the known coal lands were segregated into blocks for leasing.
 Little or no coal mining had been undertaken by private enterprise when in 1915 the Government entered upon it's program to construct the Alaska Railroad. Withdrawals from entry of coal lands during the Taft administration when nact authoriz ing the withdrawals was passed by Congress, had stifled any ambitions that may have exceeded the normal in their spirit and fervency, and the blocking off of tracts under the Ieas- ing act had not played the part of an when plans for construction of the railroad were laid, it became evident that coal would have to be provided. Importation was out of the question, because of the cost involved.
 To accomplish this result, the Alas ka Engineering Commission entered into contracts with private enterprise designed to open mines in the Mata nuska field. The difficulties which these contracting companies encoun- tered caused them to cease their ac- tivities. One of the mines was taken over by the Commission and furnished the coal for the building of the rail road.
 Quality of Coal Assured
 The Navy had taken a sample of coal from beds further east in 1913, and, in efforts to stimulate develop ment of the Territory's coal deposits, the Commission ran it's tracks to this point and began exploration and de- velopment work in that section, sit uated "A miles from Anchorage, in the Chickaloon district.
 Four years later, in 1919, the Navy evidently realized that developmen ent of the Alaska fields was making such slow progress that it's fond hopes for a Pacific Coast source of coal were kept hanging in mid-air and would remain in that position until the possibilities of the fields could be proven. Accordingly, in 1920, the Navy Coal Commission took over the supervision of work on the Chicka- loon mine, carrying on this work until May 1, 1922, when concrete re- suits drawn from the intensive stud ies showed that the time had ar rived when a definite idea of the willingness of private industry to undertake continuation of the work must be gained. Since the Navy ob viously was not the branch of the to make advances in this direction, the entire supervision of the work was returned to the of the Interior in May, 1922.
 The officials of the Department of the Interior then found themselves confronted with this situation: |
 1. Because of economic and phy- sical handicaps, private enterprise had remained aloof from the fields since the days when the coal lands had been withdrawn by the Roose- welt Administration, through the period of enactment and early ad- of the leasing act and down through to the present year.
 2. The Navy had carried it's ac tivities to the point where industry had to be called in if possible, it being realized that the Navy Depart ment could not logically engage in