The Seattle Star Newspaper, June 26, 1915, Page 10

‘Alaska Coal for People of the U. S. by Summer of 1916, STAR—SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 1915. PAGE 10. lA COAL MINE IN ALASKA GREAT FUTURE BY F.M. F. M. KERBY D. ¢ OF 3 WASHINGTON, PFOR THE PEOPLI THE SUMMER OF 1916!” Franklin K. Lane, United States seer has just made this official statement to me in all earnestness, an effort to portray with what speed the government pening up our northern kingdom. [| had to it to me just what Uncle Sam is expecting \l NITED ASKA COAI STATES BY Tune THE of the interior ash Lane point to do up there “Our government railroad {# go- ing to reach the Matanuska coal fields by next season. Lane sponded, “and th eys under the; Alaska coal-lea t will be far enough advanced that persons desiring to secure leases m at the beginnin ot After that, it d the shipped to the F coast before the end of the 1916 season Getting Ready for Digging Coal urveying parties are already on| their way to Alaska and it is our| intention to expedite the work in} every wa The extent of the work} in the field and the shortness of! PRANKLIN K. LANE Secretary of the interior. the Alas 1 prevent us| from opening the lands to leasing Matil the beginning of the 1916 season, but BEFORE THEN we expect! have plans perfected for those interested. In fax have sPready | h up a tentative draft of a lease and everything wil! be ready early | it spring.” “From what information you have now,” | asked, “do you anttel- that there will be large developments in coal mining there? “That will depend on several things,” he answered I am recely &@ great many inquiries already as to the date when operations can fe commenced under the coal-leasing act, and these people evidently Rot informed that it is necessary to survey and make government es fons in both the Bering river and the Matanuska fields, and © subdivide the lands into suitable leasing trects before we can open for lease. | “The extent of development, when these things have been com ¢ will depend, of course, on how attractive to coal operators we an make the proposed leases. That we will make them as attractive i We can and at the same time safeguard the government's interests, without saying. “Tt will be quite possible for coal to be mined and shipped to the, States before the end of the 1916 season, unless the difficulties inary mining work should prove greater than usual.” “How about possible government coal mine operation?” the secretary was asked, Sam Will Dig Coal Himself, if Necessary $ “Well, under the law, we may open mines for the supply a + the navy, and also for direct sale to consumers if monopo- listic or other conditions should arise by which the price goal is kept up beyond a reasonable point. But that, of course, _ would require an appropriation from congress, and we don't anticipate any monopoly conditions. The statute provides against that, and our leases wil! be so drawn as to make it ible.” » “What is going to be the effect on the development of Alaska of ® opening of the government road and the development of coal i?” 1 asked. “I won't say that the government road wil! pay from the begin. answered Lane, “but I will say that we know enough about ia and its resources to make it clear that ft Is a territory that de re do 80 v16 season. | olutely on lessees w 1 can be a season Ww Shipbuilders | serves to be proved and tested | is going to send a rush of people inte The above picture shows a mine in the Matany Alatka, which will be right on the new raliroad Uncle build from Seward to Fairbenks. coal fields of jam ie going to The population t# going to grow very The opening up of the intertor the ritory, which bh already This shows how aggressive our people are; how willing but for the sake of ad rapidiy--too rapidly at first, in fact begun indeed. to endure, and not merely for the sake of gain, venture. Our American people have not lont at all tn virility; in will ingness to take personal risks; to goilnto an unknown country and hazard their lives, and to live a life the very opposite of the life they ave lived in our dense civilization. THAT KIND OF STUFF IS THE b VERY CAUSE OF OUR COUNTRY’S GREAT CIVILIZATION TODAY U. S. Will Do in Alaska What a Private Owner Will Do “Alaska’s future will not depend so much upon what the government does; it will depend 90 per cent upon the kind of people who go there; their attitude toward each other, their desire to help each other, their enthusiasm for thelr new coun try. And all that we can do is to make things sy for them as we can under the laws. The Alaskan make \. resources developed under the contro! of men who live there. But inasmuch as those re- sources are federal resources the federal government must select those agents thru whom its policies will be carried out, but those agents should live on the ground and be In touch with actual conditions. “The work that the government is doing In Alaska is the sort of work that a private individual would do if he owned the territory. If we had turned thi r to an East India company, for in stance, they would have run a railroad into the heart of it, because they | would know that only with transportation can the country develop. WITH ALASKA! There is plenty of coal TRANSPORTATION ANYTHING 18 POSSIBLE IN/ in the coal fields which the new Alaskan railroad can carry to Seward for reshipment to the United States Pa | cific cities The bituminous coal taken from the United States navy mine in the Matanuska coal fields is the finest that has been found anywhere in the United States, excepting in Weat Virginia, Engineers Boiler Makers BUILDERS HALIBUT STEAMER STARR STERN WHEEL STEAMER K. L. AMES FOR N. W. FISHERIES CO. BUILDERS STEAM WHALERS UNIMAK KODIAK FERRY BOAT LESCHI FOR THE PORT OF SEATTLE ——a ‘ DESIGNERS AND BUILDERS OF Steamsbips, Engines, Boilers, Pumps, Winches ‘ All Other Marine Equipment Agents for Roberts Safety Water Tube Boilers -+«+-Foot of Whatcom Avenue seereeeceeeeees West Connecticut Street SEATTLE, WASHINGTON PROMISED IN FOX-FARMING Where Will “Tt Be? Why, Alaska, of Course; Big Farms There Now. lU. S. LEASES ISLANDS Andrew Grosvold Controls Six Islands; Has 700 Foxes; and Is Rich Have you ever heard of fox farming? Do you know that And can you imagine where this indus try 18 going to be? In Alaska, ago James ed farming on Sum nd, off the hern coast of Alaska, He started with 20 pairs of blue foxes; today he has between 70 and 100, and he has made his liv Ing In the meantime By an executive order in the secretary of commerce wa given authority to lease certain istands in central and western Alaska for the purpose of fox farm. ing The minimum lease price set was $200 per annum per island. Since it requires from $2,000 to $4,000 capital to start a succensful fox jfarm, only a few men were able }to enter the business at first Now the government is consider ing the question of making the lease conditions more attractive,’ lowering the price and extending the time of lease The government tells us that one of the most successful island fox farmers in Alaska is Andrew Gros vold, who lives at Sand Point, on Popof Island. here he hb a trad. er's post, and hires reliable men to look after his fox farme Grosvold has leased six islands. has between 700 and 800 foxes and) he “ban” getting rich! On the mainland of Alaska, a dif.) | ferent method of fox-farming ts car- | |ried on. On the tslands the foxes |are allowed to range freely, the| natural water boundary preventing | their escape. | On the mainiand the corral plan is in une. Successful corrals are large, and each contains a comfortable house lof two stories, the lower part com pact and tight, and the upper part open at both ends, where the foxes can He in good weather and sleep | with plenty of air and sun ‘are and experience are neces ty in fox raising. During the summer the foxes are fed once a day on smoked salmon or other fish. Bear meat ta also occasionally used, but no salt food _ | In winter they receive frozen fixh 1914, | Says Sec. F. K. Lane 'ALASKANS DON'T LIVE IN IGLOOS -- BUNGALOWS! |THEY BOAST FURNACES, KITCHEN RANGES AND PIANOS BY E. 0. BAWYER, JR, SEWARD, Alaska, June 19.— (By Mall to The Star,)—How do we live up here? Do we craw! Into our ice-block igloos when the long winter comes and subsist on blubber? Do we Go about attired in the skins of seals and sea lions and polar bears; and with spears in our hande? | No, reader. No! You are think ing of the Eskimos, who live hun dreds of miles to the north of us Hut you are not to be blamed Those who bave rushed in here from the States as soon as the government announced that work would begin on ite $31,000,000 rail road, possessed the same opinion jof this country, If thin Is the view that prevatis in the States, let me| change it | Like Chicago Suburb We live in regular houses, just an you do, They even have fur naces in them, kitchen ranges, the best furniture obtainable and pt anos, talking machines and tele ph Gare down a street in |Beward and but.for the mountains the background you cannot tell Coer it is a suburb of Chicago San Francisco, It {s made up pretty bungalows of the latest wigne The only ice in Seward today is jowned by the ice man and the ice cream manufacturer, They charge la cent a pound for it in small quantities, In the winter we have skating during January and Feb- ruary, but the tee probably is \thicker on the lakes of Wisconsin and Minnesota, They're Reguiar Houses For » long time Seward boasted |the most modern row of residences in Alaska, Of late several more! modern residences have been erect | Jed in Juneau, but Seward expects| jto again take the lead because of} |the boom occasioned by the selec tion of this place as the terminal! of the new government railroad, |which will tap the coal fields of ae | And if you look in the back yard) of some of these homes which |which have front porches, regular windows and stained roofs, you! | will see a little vegetable garden| absolutely no different than the| pone you have in your own back | } | |" Living Cost Reasonable | The best hard wheat flour costs! $5 per 100 pounds; condensed milk! | ‘s $4.25 a case; butter, two pounds | jfor 75 cents; eggs, three dozen for! $1. Not so bad | | The average summer tempera- |ture bere is 50 degrees above; to- day it happens to be 61 in the shade. In the winter the average| iw 20 degrees above, Once in a great while it gets down to zero.) I winter the coldest recorded | was 6 above. | The only great difference be- tween thie country and yours is that thie is a new land, new to the people and new in his tory. The forest-topped hills are still full of game birds, and fish are so plentiful that a snag hook on a pole is an easier way to using bait. not scarce, either, And further, uniess you follow well beaten tralis, you can travel for days without meeting man or finding a trace of his having been that way be- fore you. Tiny Launch Driven Towards Rocks; Is Saved by Miracle CORDOVA, June 16. — (By Mall.)—-The wonders of the sea will never cease. The launch Edith G. has come into port The Edith G. had been given up for lost. Several days ago the tug Columbia and the gas boat Wilhelmina came tn and report ed seeing the little launch bat- ting against a howling south- east gale, tossing about like a cork She can't live,” said the crews of the Columbla and Wil helmina. But they didn't take Providence into account. The gale drove the shell of a craft shoreward, but instead of dash- ing the boat against a rocky coast, she was carried far up the Tatshenshini river and fin- ally beached. A row of bunga’ Alaska, and Miss Anna Nelson, who wae born in the territory. Both pictures look American enough— do they not? HERE IS LAND “GUTTED AS THO BY GREAT WAR Special Correspondence. FAIRBANKS, June 7.— From Bear creek summit, down to 16 miles below Discovery—as far as the eye can reach—Fairbanks creek ie slowly awakening to life and pre. paring to give up its annual output of gold, to add to the world’s sup- ply of the precious metal. The visitor to the creek for the first time has a hard time realiz- |ing what it all means. His first impression is that a mighty war been in progress. For miles earth is torn and gutted, as tho the huge shells had burst by the score. This mutilated coun- try is mute testimonial to the vast amount of work thet has been done in years gone by. | Discovery has produced nearly a million and a half, while 3 above, | staked by Pat Meehan, has given up over a million, and three years ago took on a new lease of life. It is still a rich producer. | Up at the head of Fairbanks \ereek is the pride of the district, the future hope of the camp. It is a small quartz section, not yet extensively opened, yet promising much and showing some gold as ft is developed. Scattered along the creek are a dozen or more plants, and about |each of them there is feverish ac- tivity. Ruby city, the Yukon river, Meloze river, is the trading center of a growing mining district to the has ‘the Nothing Succeeds Like Success Do you know that Seattle has a reallive fire insurance company that has made good in a remarkable manner? Do you know that its PROFITS TO DATE AMOUNT TO MORE THAN $1,860,000? Do you know that these profits all go to its policyholders, eign stockholders? Do you know that it has cash resources equal to five times the necessary amount to pay its average losses, and that it has greater proportionate loss-paying ability than any company doing business in the state? Do you know that it has more than twice as much insurance outstanding in the State of Washington as any other company? Do you know that its policies are absolutely nonassessable? Do you know that it is the first fire insurance company in the United States to adopt the principles upon which all of the greatest life insurance companies of the world have been builded, by issuing policies that are nonassessable, but participating in the profits? and not to a few for- All the above are facts which every citizen of the State of Washington should know. You should stop kicking at high insurance rates and become one of the forty thousand property owners who are obtaining the best possible insurance service at lowest cost through the Northwestern Mutual Fire Association SEATTLE THREE SECRETS OF THESE RESULTS First—That losses should be prevented rather than distributed. mee A p96 inspection service instead of paying local agents more commis- ris sion for a bad Third—t companies, OW expenses. than a good one. Our expenses are little more than half those of other