Evening star., 1937-01-31
Aviation Developments
i'm Alaska.
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

free delivery routes, 50 Q change has
come about in the mail service OF
Alaska, but 1t Is . different, and far
more romantic change. For years such
mail routes as existed In the Northern
Territory were served, over much Of the
year, not by horse-drawn vehicles, nor
even by dispatch riders, but by dog
teams and sleds. Through every kind
Of weather and over the most difncult
terrain the huskies got the mail through.
Today these dog team routes have been
supplanted by airplanes.
Thousands Of pounds of mail are regu-
larly delivered over scheduled Alaskan
routes. 1t should not be understood
that this is airmail in the sense in
which that term Is used In the States
No airmail stamps are required, nor any
extra postage. The delivery by air Is
the delivery Of the ordinary mail. Now
and then letter from the States, bear
ing an airmail stamp, may be found In
the sacks. That postage would have
been required to get the letter to Alaska,
but, once there, 1t would have been
forwarded by airplane anyway. The
change from dog sled to airplane is no
more, in effect, than the change from
ilOt OtcC-AhWn NcHiClc W duIOuiOpIc OOWA
here. E
Persons who use the airmail in the
United States find 1t of the highest
value for long distances, but, often, q
disadvantage for short ones. Thus an
airmail letter from Washington to New
York often is beaten by q train letter,
but the airmail wins on the longer trip
to Chicago. In Alaska the distances are
long. It is as far from Juneau to Point
Barrow as 1t is from New York to
Minneapolis, and as far from Ketchikan
to Kotzebue as it is from El Paso to
Chicago. In addition to the distance
factor, there is the factor Of terrain.
With the country SO mountainous and
forbidding and, for most OF the year, so
frigid, the airplane has come to be re-
garded as the natural mode of delivery.
Not only can the plane fly over the
glacial mountains in Winter, but in
Summer 1t can fly above the swarmS Of
mosquitoes, big as humming birds, and
get out of the torrid heat.
Mail transport is but one aspect and
q somewhat minor aspect Of Alaskan
aviation development. The mail is i'm
portant, Of course, but were the matter
put to Q vote it is likely Alaskans would
declare that the commercial transport
and passenger services are Of greater
moment to them. The same handicaps
which slowed the mail in the old days
did more than that to other matter.
Mail Is relatively light and the dog
teams performed tremendous feats In
getting 1t through. But produce and
rAaAi1v In
the Winter season.
-
For this reason there has been the
most amazing development Of CONNER
cial aviation in Alaska. The situation
is utterly different from what it Is in
the States. Here the airplane has been
used as Q speedy alternative method
Of travel or of carriage Of valuable
parcels. If one does not elect the air.
one can still take train or bus. In
Alaska there was no question Of al
tentative. In the closed season there
was no mode OF transportation at all.
The advent Of the commercial plane
in Alaska might be compared to the
arrival at some unknown hidden valley
or island of a means of communication
with the outer world. It Is like some
thing out of H. G. Wells.
The Government has been Of great
assistance to commercial aviation in
Alaska by constructing landing fields in
many places, some Of them places so
small that, in the States, no Govern,
ment aid would, likely be forthcoming.
The story is different in Alaska and the
Government realizes the fact. A place
Of 1000 population In Alaska-and there
are not many that large-looks like
200, 900 in the States.
Yet this ofiicial assistance does not
tell the whole tale Of commercial avia-
ton in the Northern Territory; indeed.
1t is the lesser chapter. 1t would be
dificult to find q place in the world
where rugged individualism has become
so rugged and so individualistic as in
Alaska. The advent Of flying has re-
suited in the building up of several
private air transport businesses by ad-
venturous Alaskans.
Without subsidy, they have created
transportation network of absolutely
unique value They serve the isolated
villages by forming q connecting link
with the outside world. They might be
compared to Aladdin's genie who was
ends Of the earth on errands. The
pilots serving these isolated commune
ties do their shopping for them. They
know the residents personally and when
the family needs shoes the pilot knows
their sizes. He shops for all the town
stun which before had been inaccessible.
1t may be 1000 miles to the store, but
he comes back with his commission
fulfilled.
One of the most remarkable services
Is the furnishing Of fresh eggs, fresh
fruit and fresh vegetables in the dead
of Winter. Such things were not luxuries
before-they simply were not obtain
able under any description. Now they
have become almost commonplace.
When the price Of gold was advanced
from $40 to $35 an ounce, there was an
increased activity In the Alaskan gold
fields. Mines which had been abandoned
as worked out and thin placer deposits,
became the scenes Of renewed activity.
More people went up into the back colln.
try, and they required supplies. They
turned to the commercial airplanes.
These do not move on regular schedules.
That would scarcely be practicable. They
hy as the trafic dictates, and now the
trafic is growing steadily heavier. In
1880 Alaskan planes carried 1854 pas.
sengers 338, 40 miles. In 1885 they car
ried 16,441 passengers 1881, ,736 miles.
In the first six months of 1886 further
gain was indicated.
able man. The well-qualified pilot in
dfafa Ax1I