Seward daily gateway., 1924-03-03
GIVEN NEW YORK PAPE!IS
 BY GEO. [. LEWIS

recently to Cora E. Morlan, publicity department, Hotel Astor, which was published in the papers February IS.
 When the late President Harding visited Alaska he first went to Ketch- ikan, then Wrangell, Juneau, Skag- way, Cordova, Valdez, Latouche and Seward In each of these towns he gave a short address referring to Alaska as a territory, but when he returned to Seattle he enthusiastically declared that this Northland was not a Territory but an empire.
 "In my opinion the late President Harding did more for Alaska by his visit than anything in recent years," said Mr. Lewis. "One often hears 4he question-can Alaska come back Can Nome, Dawson, Skagway and Fairbanks bring back the multituGes they enjoyed a score of years ago? At that time each of these cities had a steady population of 30,000 people. A quarter of a million people lived in the Territory and another quarter of a million were en route to and fro. Fully million were personally inter ested and five millions were indirect ly concerned, while fifty millions were enthused by stories and articles writ ten and told about the silver north.
 "What could bring them back? An other stampede? Nothing could-in a spectacular way, because the craze is over-it passed with the age-the old time mania for stampeding is done forever. But again, resources nov coming to be generally ard widely known, having a stable merit and 9 firm durability can and will bring back to this unknown frontier a brighter and better dal than she has ever krown.
 The profits of Ala,l4 are not all tug with the gold pick and shovel, nor washed in the sluice box, for the men who built SkagWay in a day, chmbed the icy ralnparus of Chilk"ot pass, moiled at Lake Bennett, sh) the White Horse rapids and bored the Yukon hills for gold, have now learned diversity of resources Customs and innovations have now raised another standard of want and demand. Long have the miners and merchants of the Far \ North known thac at a lowcr level were oceans of oil. And now with earths greatest oil n.tgnates ready 10 zap this reservoir 5vlievtd t) bc inex- haustible, who can predict the net re- suits"
 Thee hundred miles freq an excel lent harbor on the mar line of the government railroal and only seven days from Portland aal Seattle is a al mountain with 1J,000 tons of sur face C al in sight. This coal can ;.r.'i will be conveyed to Pacific coast cit ies, cutrivaling and unde@-selling any coal On the coast today,
 4kere are scores (: copper claims in the Territory and only two in op- erati.n One of the :. the kcnnicott mine, $ the richest copper mine iii any land 1nd can shut down every copper mine in the U. s. and So. America and still make handsome profit
 As high as $60,OO0,Oo0 worth of fish have been taken irum Alaskan wa lers in 9 single yeac ih salmon, her ring, halibut and whale oil.
 !t,1 is a stable commodity. Ere Guc1 tiy 6O,OOO fur seas are dressed in a single summer on the Pribilof and St. Paul Islands, sable, fox, wolf, lynx, mink, ermine, bower, otter and many ether kinds are there in great quantities.
 1.nlber lands are in large areas, virgin forests covering mountains and valleys for hundreds of miles with spruce, hemlock, larcn, birch and cot tonw' cd.
 The country also boasts of consid- 9.able agriculture as lou fine farms are being cultivated ir the beautiful Tanaru valley adjacent to Fairbanks. These support large elou" mill with
 in sixty miles of the <" tic circle. All over Alaska the most luscious berries are grown. There are seventeen va rieC es: blue berries, salmon berries nd strawbrries being the leading kinds, and for flavor tha Alaska straw berry is unrivaled. Potatoes, cab bage, lettuce and all kInd- of garden truck grows as readily as in the U. g.. nd of better quality
 There is hunters paradise in Alas ka today, and it may be fund in this vast empire Caribou rcarn the wood lands and elevated divides in herds as great as the bison roamed the western hemisphere eighty years ago. Goats, sheep and bighorn are there in thousands and the grand center of all the great moose activities is now on the Kenai peninsula.
 The Kodiak bear, lhe black bear, blue bear, bald face bear and other varieties are found iii large numbers.