TEEMING WITH WEALTH.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18951, 27 August 1923, Page 11

TEEMING WITH WEALTH.

ALASKA,, AN UNDEVELOPED LAND. NEED FOR SETTLEMENT. Alaska is one of the many paramount problems confronting the Government of the United States, writes Hubert .Work, Secretary of the Interior, in. the San Francisco Chronicle, Whether this vast expanse of land containing Hugo mineral riches surrounded by almost endless tracts of ocean waters teeming with sea food and fur-bcaring animals shall he developed or allowed to remain dormant is the question that has induced President Harding to visit this territory during the summer. The history of Alaska since its purchase by the United States reveals some startling facts. The territory was purchased from the Russian Empire in 1867 for the comparatively insignificant sum of 7,200,000 dollars, the amount being paid in gold. Since then it has proved to be a most lucrative investment. Up to 1922, it has produced from its mines, its sea, and fur trade the aggregate sum of 1,100,000,000 dollars, and during this time it has cost the American Government, including the original purchase price, approximately 200,000,000 dollars. Inestimable riches and hidden treasures are still hermetically sealed in its natural recesses awaiting development. The total area of Alaska is 590,881 square miles. Its immensity can only bo realised when a comparison with the area of the United States' shows that it is one-fifth as largo as the total territory embraced in the 48 States of the Union. Likewise its size is equal to the entire area included in the Louisiana Purchase. The population of Alaska presents an interesting problem. For years after this country became, American territory there was a slow but gradual increase in the number of inhabitants. Ten years ago, following the census of 1910, the population began to dwindle, and as a result 10,000 people left .Alaska, between 1910 and 1930. Its permanent population is now fixed at approximately 60,000, of which about one-half are whites and tlie other half Indiana, Eskimos, and persons of divers nationalities. And along with the decrease in inhabitants has come a corresponding less in the commerce and trade of Alaska. The total commerce in 1920 amounted to some 106,000,000d01, as compared with 63,000,000d0l in 1921, a decrease of 43,000,000d01. Figures received for the year 1922 indicate a recovery of 20,780,000d01, but Alaska is still 22,000,000d0l short of its commerce in 1920, and no one knows how many millions of dollars in trade could be developed if adequate transportation facilities were supplied and large numbers of sturdy Americans were induced to immigrate to the territory and develop it. Alaska’s greatest resource is its mineral wealth. There is gold, silver, copper, zinc, antimony, and tungsten in immense quantities. Deposits of coal, including bituminous and lignite, have been found upon a magnitudinous scale. So has oil and petroleum and, in addition to platinum, lead ores, quicksilver, graphite, and asbestos. The mineral output of Alaska in 1922, amounted to approximately 18,000,000d01, an increase of 1,000,000d0l over 1921, but two years before the mineral production was over 23,000,000d01, showing that Alaska is still behind its previous records. The partial stagnation of the mining industry in the territory is due to the decrease in population, inability to transport raining machinery over the poor roads and trails, and lack of capital to sink shafts in the mines. Evidence of petroleum in Alaska exists in many regions, but difficulties of transportation have prevented drilling on an extensive scale. The fisheries of Alaska made up its principal commerce. Salmon, herring, clams, shrimps, and other sea foods .in abundant quantities are taken from its waters annually and an immense canning industry has been built. In 1922, 34,720,000 dollars in fish products were shipped from the territory, representing an increase of 12,000,000 dollars over the previous year. In 1919, the output of fish was 41,375,000 dollars, and in 1920, it was 39,693,000 dollars, showing that the fishing industry has also declined materially during the last four years. Conservation of the fisheries supply is one of the big problems that must be solved. In the popular fancy, Alaska is supposed to be a forbidding, ice-covered glaciercrowned land of dog teams and polar bears. The truth of the matter is that it is a country of delightful climate many months of the year with an area of 100,000 square miles fitted for agricultural development and capable of producing crops of almost endless variety. The valleys of its long rivers are fertile with soil in which may be grown wheat, rye, hay, turnips, parsley, peas, cabbage, potatoes, spinach, and other vegetables for the sustenance of life. Clearance of these lands for cultivation is an expensive process and will have to bo facilitated by the Government before farming upon a large scale can bo prosecuted. _ Along the coasts of Alaska, arc magnificent virgin forests, the timber of which has scarcely been touched. They cover an area of 20,579,336 acres. Estimates of the actual merchantable timber standing in these forests run around 75,000,000,000 board feet consisting of hemlock, spruce, rod cedar, and yellow cvpress. Conservation of the tremendous resources of these great stretches of timber land is an important national policy that must bo decided, as it is estimated the „rowth of these forests under careful management will support permanently a pulp and paper manufacturing industry with an output equal to one-third of the present consumption of pulp products in the United Stated. _ The American Government has just, completed the construction of a railroad through the far-off wilderness of Alaska at a cost of about 56,000.000 dollars. This lino extends from Seward to Fairbanks, a distance of 467 miles, penetrating into the very heart of the territory and is the first railroad ever built and operated by this Government. It is the first great step in building an empire in this northern country that must be followed by the construction of roads and trails upon a scale of over-shadowing magnitude in order to encourage settlement and industry. .