Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-04-18
Geographic News
Bulletins by the
National Geographic Society
More TRAFFIC For Alaska

One more step in opening up
! Alaska will be taken when the gov
eminent begins operation of river
, boats on the Yukon and Tanana
this summer.
THUS Fairbanks, interior me-
tropolis of Alaska, becomes ofici-
ally the place where rails and riv-
| ers meet" says q bulletin from the
Washington. D. c. headquarters OF
the National Geographic Society.
Fairbanks marks the apex of a
traffic triangle with one leg PLANTED
at Seward, southern terminus or
the Alaska railway. and the other
on Bering sea. where flow the wat
ers OF the Tanana and the Yukon
Yukon q Great River
1.-THE Yukon Is n OF the words
great rivers. II its mouth were at
New York city its source would be
near Salt Lake City.
1.-The Tanana, the less familiar
portion of the new government boat
| route, is the Yukon's chief southern
! tributary. 1t drains the vast Tan
ana Valley, rich in gold, other min
erals, and virgin farm lands.
"This Imperial Valley of the Tar
| north. as large as West virginia,
now has a white population OF less
than 1000. In a dozen years after
the first substantial gold output
IN lSuS, yellow ORG WoESh TvV'S''
600 was mined.
a Town of Flowers and Bird Houses
"Steaming up the Yukon In sum.
mer time the visitor will reach a
town of many flowers. where num-
erous homes have hothouses, some
have bird boxes on their peaks,
and practically all have vegetao'e
gardens. Wild roses and Scotch blue
bells grow in the fields.
- 1T nxran nd HAXGiAlflS
This can't be Alaska!' But 1t is,
and Alaskans would have their Eel
low Americans ecove from the
idea due to misleading textbooks
of generations gone that theirs Is a
'forbidding, ice covered, glacier
crowned land of dog teams ana po-
lar bears The quotation Is from
the most recent report of the terri
torial government, and 1t Is repea~-
ed at every opportunity.
.4The Alaskans are not denying
marked climatic differences from the
states. A novelist recently sent the
proof of a serial story he was writ
ing TO a native. This writer had the
pitch dark of a Fourth of a July
night illuminated by fireworks. me
fireworks were all right-the Aias-
kka celebrate with the rest or US
but there is no night IN jury.
AuIIeW IAlttk9 " ~ -
"Fairbanks had to pass 8 curfeW
law that all children must pc put
to bed summer evenings by ~
o'clock, lest the youngsters get IN.
adeouate rest, After your host mas
tucked the children to bed and
takes you to a dance or to the
movies 1t Is u queer nsatio -
walk home in daylight. 80
THE town of flowers ano piros
L. rrapapa Turning IN.
10 III, river of that name the Visitor
is assailed by less pleasant eVl-
dence that Alaska rs not all winter.
MOSQUITOES and mooseflies
"The Tanana Is broad and piazza.
Green willows n poplars push ote
over the waters edge, for the earn
banks are soft and the dirt melts
away as in many places the water
digs a cave beneath.
HOften turning and twisting, your
boat will pass Tolovana where, on a
clear day MI. Mckinley, a hundred
miles away, is visible. Farther ON
10 Nenana, now the terminus of the
broad gauge Alaska railroad from
Seward. Today passengers must
change here to the narrow gauge
line to Fairbanks. With the opea-
ing of the 700 foot, single span
bridge across the river at this point
the narrow gauge viii be conVerts1
to the standard track width ana
trains will run through.
The government railway MADE
Nenana a busy little town of neat
building and up-to-date stores. 80
anxious are It's citizens for a spos-
less town ideal that they prohioit
any dogs within a mile OF their
community. .b
"The next town is Cinema, which
hopes to wrest future laurels from
Fairbanks as the st. Louis or IN
lanL Alaska.
Electric Lighted Chicken Coops
Then Fairbanks! Here as N
Dawson, sandwiches once cost 9
dollar apiece, fortunes were dug up
i, and suuandered, and the hilarity
, of a big city's night life extended
through the "a daylight hours.
Today Fairbanks retains httle
trace of a mining town. 1t mas eiec.
! trio lights, stores, telephones. an
agricultural college, jitneys run out
to nearby towns and camps and Us
D women are reputed to be the mos
modishly dressed in the territory.
1.-THE electric lighting plan is useo
j. for the chicken houses as well a;
homes in the dark winter, sinai
farms and diaries are springing VI
: around the city, and their celerY
t growers insist is on Fairbanks tanIe'
before that of Massachusetts reach'
es Boston consumers.
Fairbanks has it's slogan, too
like it's sister cities back In tins
states. It wants mores roads ant
9 railroads, and capital for develop
n ment of its surrounding coal held'
Therefore its appeal. about to be re
allied in part, Give US the railway
and motive power, and we will pay
the nations war debt"