The Glenwood post., 1923-10-18
CONGRESSMAN TAYLOR
TALKS on ALASKA
Continued from Page ~

had to go to bed in broad daylight
when the sun is in its northwest and
get up when the sun is in its north
east. The chickens didn't have sense
enough to go to roost (some chickens
in cur country don't know when to go
to bed either). Up there they would
be gathered in coop which had been
darkened to make them go to roost.
"We had the opportunity and wit
messed some of the mine operations.
Gold has been discovered in over 900
creeks and rivers, and since we pur-
chased Alaska over $5OO,00O,O0O in
geld and copper has been taken out,
the same amount in fish and 100000
900 in furs. In all over a billion dol
lars has been taken out of Alaska.
"After passing over the coast range
and starting north we found the ground
was frozen solid to the center of the
earth or as deep as anyone has ever
gone down, and covered with moss
which the moose, caribou and reindeer
eat In summer time the sun thaws
the ground to a depth of about six or
eight feet. They have only about 1O5
days without frost, but claim that they
can raise as much in that time as we
can in five months, as the sun works
double shift, there being no night. The
ice under the ground forms sub-irri-
CATION and they do not have to irr-
gate their crops'
Mr.. Taylor explained the process Of
placer mining which was very inter
esting. "The people get timber and
build fire on a piece of ground about
ter feet square to thaw the ground.
When this is thawed they take that
ground off, build other fires until they
get to bed rock to the pay streak
where they find particles of gold. They
tunnel as far as they can and the next
summer take the piled dirt and build
sluices and wash out the gold. 1t is a
very laborious and hard process, but
they have found some places where
they could install water power and use
compressed air.
"About half way between Fair
bants and Seward we saw herd of
about 1900 reindeer. The reindes. IS
very similar to the caribou although
hat as large as the wild carbon, and
are different colored. They were
taken to Alaska about thirty years ago
and turned over to the Eskimos. The
meat of the reindeer tastes similar to
elk meat and someday this will make
large meat supply for the country
and It has already been shipped to the
L arllcts in Seattle.'
An interesting place is the Valley
of Ten Thousand Smokes. On June 6,
1912, large mountain blew up. Con-
gresham Taylor explained that it was
the scme as if the top of Mt. Sopris
would blow off. The explosion was
heard almost all over the earth. It
blew off forty times as much earth as
was taken from the Panama canal and
made hole as large as fifteen cities
the size of New York.
"From Seward we Travelled up to
Cordova, the terminus of the Copper
River railroad. The Guggenheim and
Kennec colt copper mines are located
near here and at one time million
dollars worth of copper was taken from
them each month. 1t was sent to Ia
coma to be treated.
'nThe railroad goes to the large
Childs and Miles glaciers. The Childs
glacier is a solid front of ice from 300
to 40C feet high, and the main body
is about three miles long and faces on
the Copper river. 1t is formed by
snow and ice collecting in gore. The
weight of the pressure of the ice and
snow forces it to move down little,
in the winter about foot day and
in the summer several feet day. We
stood on the opposite side Of the river
and watched and heard the popping,
grinding and roaring as it broke into
the river. Those facing the ocean
Dreak OIL anu IOTH i'trPe iCepoieo.
The charm fthese glaciers is so much
superior to others that there is really
no comparison.
"The Malaspina glacier is most
picturesque and grand sight to see. A
glacier 125-150 miles wide, larger than
the whole area of Switzerland.
fHaynes has the only army bar
racks. 1t also has n school for orphan
children, and. many Eskimo children
were left orphans during the time Of
the flu when the people died by the
thousands.
"From Skagway, the outlet and
doorway from the United States during
the time of the great Klondike gild
stampede in 1897 and '9s, we went to
juneau, the capital and social, po-