more was spent at Katalla, on the eastern side of the river's mouth. A breakwater was constructed to protect the harbor area, but the depth of water was not sufficient for shipping and the harbor still remained exposed to the fury of storms. that frequently sweep the Alaska coast. Katalla has many advantages, especially in its location with reference to the coal fields of the Bering Lake district, where the famous Cunningham group of claims is located, and an independent company has a railway projected the thirty-five miles to the coal deposits. But the syndicate, upon the advice of engineers, determined to abandon operations there and go to Cordova, where M. J. Heney associated with Close Brothers, of London, had spent half a million dollars in railway construction, the announced plan being to open the mines of the interior and build across to Fairbanks and the Yukon river. Close Brothers were the principal figures in the White Pass, & Yukon line.

So Mr. Heney and his associates took the half million dollars they had expended on the Cordova project in stock in the new Copper River & Northwestern Railway Company, and Mr. Heney was given the contract for the building of the syndicate road. That was in the fall of 1907.

From Cordova, on a little shelf between the mountains and the sea, the rail line lies to the eastward, and then swerves north as it approaches the Copper River. Miles and Childs Glaciers, wide rivers of ice that are several hundred feet deep where they face upon the Copper, one on the east and the other on the west side, are only a short distance apart. To pass these it is necessary to cross and recross the

Copper river. bridges carried the rails, but within the last year these have been replaced by steel structures with concrete piers. Construction of the strongest character is necessary to withstand the ice floes of the winter season and the torrents that sweep down when the snows of the interior melt.

At first temporary

"Our line follows closely the course of the Copper and then of the Chitina. river," said Mr. Heney recently. "We go through a rough country, with canyons, marshes and mountain sides as

obstacles to be overcome. Some of the construction is extremely costly. One stretch of the line already built averages $75,000 a mile for twenty-five miles, while some of the work has averaged $100,000 to the mile.

"But in the work ahead of us this year lies the most costly piece of construction along the entire route, save for the steel bridge construction. This is in Wood's canyon, where it will be necessary to expend $250,000 to the mile for a considerable distance.

"Hundreds upon hundreds of tons of giant powder have gone into the construction of the roadbed. During the winter season the chief work carried on is in reducing the roughest places in the course so that the tracklaying may follow with as little delay as possible when the summer comes. All last winter we had about fifteen hundred men almost all engaged on sub-contracts, blasting out of solid rock a place for our rails. In these blasts from fifteen to twenty tons of giant powder are fired at a shot, shaking

the country for miles around the site of the explosion.

"In some places the tracks run on ledges cut out of the cliffs several hundred feet above the river, and at others they are not more than a few steps from the high water mark. There is virtually a water level grade from the coast to the mines.

"One thing is certain-when the Copper River & Northwestern railway is completed it will afford to travelers some of the most striking scenery to be found on the American continent. The bigness -the majesty-of northern creation holds one enthralled. Man seems small indeed when measured against this mighty Alaskan land, where mountains tower from the sea into the clouds and the forces of nature seem without restraint. The time is coming when Alaska will be known as one of the wonder portions of the world."

But to return to Mr. Heney's problem that of completing his contract before the beginning of December.

"If one does not undertake seeming impossibilities there is little chance of accomplishing anything in the North," he says. Of indomitable will, perseverance and boundless energy, he speaks as if no impossibility were too great for him to undertake. Yet the strain of the last year's operations in the Alaskan railroad work has shaken even his strong physique and at a critical time he has been compelled to leave to his assistants the task that is before him. A sojourn in California, his physicians believe, will make him ready for the summer's operations.

"I must have men, more and yet more men, 4,000 of them, if I am to turn the completed Copper River & Northwestern Railway over to the owners completed by November 30," he declared with emphasis, just as he started on his southern trip. "Every ship that sails from Seattle harbor for Cordova carries all the laborers we can get to make the trip, but the

Alaska fleet has been seriously reduced by the loss of two vessels within the last few months. The Farallon was wrecked out to the westward of Cordova, and the Yucatan struck an iceberg and went down in Icy Straits, while southward bound from Alaska.

"The result is that it is going to be almost a physical impossibility to get the requisite number of men transported to the north, supposing that we can get enough applicants for the job. Railway work in the Northwest is now so heavy with the Hill and Harriman systems racing through central Oregon and employing an army of 10,000 men, the Northern Pacific, the Great Northern and the Milwaukee making extensions, and with other roads busy in half a dozen directions, so men are hard to find.

"Observation teaches us that Scandinavian workmen do best in the North as they are constitutionally suited to the latitude. Workmen from southern Eu

rope, employed so largely on railways in the states, are not so good, nor do we find the Japanese especially well adapted. We do not apply any particular tests to the applicants for work, but we size up pretty carefully the men who appear at our Seattle offices. Only the physically capable are sent North."

It is the ultimate intention of the Copper River railway builders to extend their line across interior Alaska to Fairbanks and the Yukon river, doubling its length to the copper mines. A government trail

given at Washington, D. C., by representatives of the combine was to the effect that on these four properties at least $6,000,000 in copper showed on the surface, while experts have declared that the supply is almost limitless. The Bonanza mine itself is a veritable mountain of copper.

But even more surprising were the estimates made on the value of the coal locations in the Bering Lake district. The statements made by Stephen Birch, special agent and expert for the syndi

extends now from Valdez to Fairbanks, and over this goes most of the Fairbanks traffic by stage in summer and sleds in winter. Next winter, however, a good part of this travel will be from Chitina, on the railway to Fairbanks, bringing that rich mining district, the greatest so far developed in Alaska, into much closer touch with the outside world.

Four claims in the Bonanza copper group are owned by the Morgan-Guggenheim syndicate. Testimony recently.

cate, were to the effect that the coal in the Cunningham group of mining claims, comprising a score of separate locations, was estimated to be worth $900,000,000. His testimony before the senate committee on territories indicated that the syndicate had obtained an option on a half interest in the Cunningham group. If title can be obtained to these rich deposits of coal, greatly needed upon the Pacific Coast, the Copper River & Northwestern will be provided with a branch

line tapping the fields.

The plan under which the Morgan - Guggenheim operations are carried on was also brought to light. According to the statements of Mr. Birch the agreement was made verbally between the two interests, in 1906, that they should go ahead with the Alaska projects and entail a joint expenditure of $10,000,000.

Mr. Morgan became interested in Alaska through his son-in-law, William Hamilton, who had an interest in the gigantic corporation organized to dominate the salmon fishing interests of the Pacific Coast. When this combine, known as the Pacific Packing & Navigation Company collapsed Mr. Morgan took over the properties, and later became interested in the steamship business between Puget Sound and Alaska. Alaska Steamship Company, the most important factor in northern water transportation, is a Morgan-Guggenheim concern. The Guggenheims became interested in the North through mining oper

The

THE TOWN OF CORDOVA.

A view down First Street.

ations in the Klondike. They bought up the greater part of the pay dirt that had been worked over by the first miners in the district, and by the importation of great dredges are making millions out of low pay earth-the old dumps.

The Morgan-Guggenheim combination is the greatest factor to be reckoned with in the future development of Alaska.