Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-11-22
NEW TERRITORY PLANNED
FOR THE UNITED STATES
Proposition is to Cut Out a Slice
of Alaska

The possibility of the United
States having a new territory pre-
sents itself by the announcement
that the proposal to separate the
first judicial district from the rest
of Alaska received a majority vote
in the November territorial cleo
tons.
alaska, in the minds of most
citizens of the United States. is, a
country of mountains, mines n
snow. similar throughout. However,
hat section which recently has
voted to become a separate terri
tory is separated from the rest OF
Alaska by a will of ice no living
man has crossed" explains a bull
letin from the National Geographic
Society.
"How would the map of Alaska be
changed by the formation of q new
territory?
Alaska's. LAND Tall" of 600 Miles
ALASKA presents a great square
block, wedged cornerwise between
North America and Siberia, obstruct-
ing an open channel of the Paclnc
| Ocean to the North Pole. On the
southernmost corne of the square
| block is q tail of land extending
down the coast in the direction OF
Seattle. 1t runs southwark o oOo
miles from the longitude boundary
between Alaska proper n
This section reaches back from the
coast to the watershed OF tine can
adam Rockies, a distance
| from so to $50 miles. IL Is known
as the first judicial district, or the
Juneau district.
"Of the four judicial districts OF
Alaska the first has the largest pop
| ulation of white men and in most re-
spects outranks the others, although
| the third division, along the south
| ern reaches of the peninsula, looms
| larger in many important CONNER
| ciaI factors. OF four Alaskan cities
which had a population of more
than 1000 in 1920, Juneau, ketchl-
kan. and Sitka, the former the cap
ital of Alaska, are located In the
first division while Fairbanks, when
has a population only one-htth as
great as the combined populations
of juneau and Ketehikan, Is ocate
on the Tanana river, in the tourth
judicial district.
Ice Barrier Separates Districts
"The wall of ice which separates
lower Alaska from upper Alaska
is made up of hundreds of glaciers
moving down the steep sides of the
Rocky Mountains which tower above
| the Inland passage. This passage
is an arm of the sea, forming a
breakwater between the ocean ana
! the mainland. So ruggedly noun
famous and wild is this section OF
the coast, particularly betweeh
Skagway and Copper River section
in the third judicial district, that no
explorer has Travelled by land, en-
tirely over American territory from
Juneau or Skagway to the other dis
trict.
wire communication between the
two parts of Alaska is maintained
by submarine cable and by a tele-
graph line through Canada down the
Yukon valley, but physical COM
munication is either by boat across
the Gulf of Alaska or through the
Skagway gate to the Yukon ana
thence to Central Alaska. even
the shortest journey ron
Juneau to seward taxes
all of two days, a longer trip than
from New York to Kansas CITY,
population distribution bears up
on the recommendation of the
Alaskan citizens of the first judicial
district. The whole territory mas
now a population of 10000, a OF
which are natives. Lower Alaska
claims 1900 of this total, but 1t
has 10000 whites to 5000 natives.
Juneau in lower Alaska is the pres
emit capital of the territory n the
residence of the governor.
"The conception that Alaska is a
country OF mountains is as errone-
Gus as the conception hat 1t Is as
colo as Greenland. At Juneau the
temperature seldom goes below
zero and this modulated climate IS
found in practically all southern
Alaska, swept by warm winds from
the Pacific Ocean which bring
heavy precipitation to this coast.
Heat ~Prostrations in Alaska
al Fairbanks, which is in the
same latitude as Iceland, three men
were Frustrated by the heat last
summer. Fairbanks is the center or
q great section which would surprise
the individual who. expected
only mountains. In Alaska. Away
from the south coast, the country
back of the barrier of mountain
ranges stretches broadly as a great
inland plateau, rolling gently north
to the reaches of the Boring Sea.
Tanana and Fairbanks are centers
of a growing agricultural region
which Is having considerable sue
cess in producing quick-growlng
crops. The big inland plain is in
habited chiefly by huge herds OF
reindeer guarded by native owners
"Most of the minerals for which
Alaska is noted-gold, silver, and
copper-are found. in both upper
and Alaska. The Juneau district
produces three times as much gold
as the rest of Alaska and it has
some of the great copper mines OF
the country. A further contrast be-
tween the two sections is found in
shipping statistics; while 1918 ships
cleared at the fishing port of ketchl-
kan. only 900 %clearings were re-
ported for all other Alaskan ports
in 1922.
Lower Alaska has been the obtec-
tive of most of the tourists VINO
visit the American Switzerland fhe
MAGNIFICENT scenery of the Inland
passage focused much interest out
with the completion, of the great
Tanana River bridge on the Seward
Fairbanks railroad this past year.
many visitors are pushing on across
the Gulf of Alaska to see the beau-
ties and wonders of the interior as
did the late President Harding and
his party"