T By WALTER E. CLARK GOVERNOR OF ALASKA HE problems which occupy the minds of the people in Alaska are those which have to do with the development of natural resources. This convenient and mouth-filling phrase, descriptive of the greatest material things in our country, was a phrase of much significance in Alaska years ago and the Territory is still young. There are political problems here, it is true; and there are social problems; questions of territorial government and municipal control; but they are all in a particularly intimate way connected with material development. There is no merchant who is not vitally and consciously interested in the development of mines; no mechanic who is not deeply concerned in the growth of fisheries and other industries; no citizen in any walk of life who is not eager to witness the utilization of the forests, of the water-powers and of the agricultural land. And, barring a few selfish individuals who are engaged in special enterprises which are not affected at all by prosperity or adversity in other lines of industry, every citizen is interested in some degree, directly or indirectly, in the promotion of every undertaking which makes for the material progress of the Territory and is conscious of this interest. the means and methods of development and all are not ready at all times to encourage the others. There is some anxiety-so professed-regarding the operations of highly capitalized enterprises, and some fear lest equality of opportunity may not be afforded to the poor man. Sometimes it is feared that some particular enterprise will injure, through its natural operation, some other enterprise; but, broadly speaking, there well-recognized interdependence among the people, and there is certainly a remarkable feeling of optimism. The world knows a good deal more about Alaska than it did ten years ago, but has much yet to learn. It is singular that the knowledge of Alaska's great resources has probably been spread on a larger scale within the last twelve months than in all the years that had elapsed since the Purchase; and that this knowledge has been promoted by persons whose first-hand information in the premises is slight. This enlightenment has been diffused through the medium of sensational newspapers and magazines -some of it highly inaccurate and mischievous; it has been spread by the apostles of conservation, big and little; but the world heretofore has been so little informed as to primary conditions in this Territory, and publicity is so welcome, that we cannot fail to give the Copyright, 1910, by Technical World Company Of course, our residents differ as to 245 the muckraker his due. Earnest and sincere advocates of rational conservation, being engaged in a great work for the future of the race, will receive support in Alaska as elsewhere. It is unfortunate that the cause of conservation is so often exploited by sensational writers who, in their search for that which is evil, frequently ignore that which is good; or, without compunction declare that the good is really evil in disguise. What are leading facts about Alaska's natural resources? How are they being developed, and how shall they be developed? What are the opportunities for capital; what for labor? Is there equality of opportunity? What is the prospect for permanent settlement? How are the rights of the people to be conserved? I shall not answer all of these questions fully some of them because I cannot, others be cause I may not with propriety while these matters are occupying the 1867, until 1884 it had no civil government, but was under the control of the military authorities. A civil judicial system was provided in the latter year, a governor and other civil officers being appointed. appointed. It was not until the late nineties that the value of the mineral resources was widely recognized, although the possibility of an enormous fishery industry had been appreciated for some years and the fisheries had undergone a considerable development. As late as 1905 the complaint that capital had failed to recognize the mineral and other great resources of the Territory, outside of the fisheries, was heard everywhere in Alaska. Even now there is an eager desire, almost universal, that capitalists enter the Alaska field; and not much honest fear that capital will "gobble up the country" and oppress the poor prospector and miner. The sane opinion is that capital can be properly controlled in Alaska; and there can be no doubt in any honest mind that capital is indispensable in a country as vast and isolated and rugged as this. WALTER E. CLARK, GOVERNOR OF ALASKA. attention of Congress. We may, however, consider some of the more obvious facts and theories. Alaska is a big territory whose very bigness is only vaguely appreciated by persons at a distance, whose wealth of resources is just beginning to be recognized and whose climatic conditions have been misjudged and usually slandered. Alaska is as large as England, Scotland and Wales, France, Germany, and Italy combined. It has almost as wide a diversity of climate as is found among these countries, although the extremes of climate are not the same. After its acquisition by the United States in The salmon fisheries and one large gold quartz mine aside, the first significant embarkation of large capital in Alaska was about five years ago when the owners of a large copper mine in the Chitina region reached an agreement with some of the largest financial interests in New York by which a railroad should be built from the southern coast, somewhere near the mouth of the Copper River, for a distance of about one hundred and sixty miles to the interior. It was understood also that in case certain interior copper prospects, still more remote from tidewater, should be developed the road would be extended. It should not be ignored that another railroad project, in the Resurrection Bay district, several hundred miles to the westward, had already been undertaken; but the enterprise had not been fully capitalized. Of this railroad, projected to extend three hundred miles or more to navigable water on the Tanana River, about sixty miles have been completed. The Copper River road is fully financed, one hundred miles of it have been completed, and the projectors expect to extend the line as far as the rich Chitina copper property by the end of this year or early in 1911. Without affirming that for these two railway projects routes have been selected which promise most for the permanent development and settlement of Alaska and for the welfare of the people, it is to be said that both promise much for the development of riches in certain regions. The older project-the line extending northward from Resurrection Bay-proposes to traverse a country rich in minerals and abundant in promise of agricultural development by a people of the hardier and more frugal classes. Gold and coal have appeared in good prospects, the latter being of good quality and abundant in the Matanuska region. Already there has been a considerable output of gold in the region tributary to the route of the railroad. The coal awaits the investment of capital, which, of course, is powerless to do anything until transportation is afforded. Referring to no railroad project in particular, but speaking generally, it may be said that the immediate investment value of railroads in Alaska may be questioned at this time; and this fact lends much soundness to the recommendation of President Taft that government aid be extended for the construction of railroads in Alaska, according to the plan adopted by the government for the Philippine Islands. By no other means, perhaps, will any railroad be built in the near THE TIDE-WATER TERMINAL OF THE ALASKA NORTHERN RAILWAY AT SEWARD. When completed this line will pass through one of the most promising agricultural regions and the valuable Matanuska coal fields. future which will connect any Alaska seaport with navigable water in the interior, thus affording trunk-line transportation for passengers, mail and freight. It is true in Alaska as it was true in the Western states some years ago that while railroad construction must, to a large extent, precede settlement and industrial development, this precedence is frequently accompanied by financial loss. The chance of ultimate success in Alaska seems no more doubtful or remote than it seemed in some of the far Western states fifty years ago. Nearly all of the early Western railroads received aid from the Federal government; similar aid, Of all the resources of Alaska, most of which will be assisted in development by the construction of railroads, minerals have attracted most attention, both from the public and from the government. The lure of gold exceeds that of any other enterprise in a new country; and the government, through the Geological Survey, has sought to inform the poor prospector and the rich investor and operator alike. The result in Alaska has been that survey parties have made reconnaissances and more detailed examinations of mineral deposits in this Territory every summer for many years. Not A CENTER OF THE FISH INDUSTRY. Petersburg, showing principal cannery buildings and a part of the town. only the gold resources, but the resources of copper, coal and many other minerals have been sanely and accurately exploited by this agency of the government until nearly every locality in this vast domain has had the benefit of at least a general reconnaissance within the last decade. Valuable maps and reports have been published, and |