Sample of Pamphlet Issued by
lhe Seward Commercial Club
ALASKA
The Government Railroad
AND
Resources 1 ributary
SEWARD
The Ocean Terminus
ISSUED BV THE
SEWARD COMMERCIAL CLUB
SEWARD. ALASKA
July 15. 1915
SEWARD
The Gateway to
ALASKA
The building of a system of Government-owned
and Government-operated railroads to open and pop
ulate Alaska marks an epoch in the industrial his
tory of the United States. It is the first project of
the kind which the Government of the United States
has undertaken. It is undertaken, too. in the last
X
3
•>
p—
E
*
>
3
w
3
»—
<—
X
3
e
6
Im
r3
13
3
3
3
3
-X
X
^3
■d
3
3
i
1 X
and the richest of the undeveloped public domains.
These unusual features, coupled with the con
spicuous part Alaska has taken for many years in
the production of the world’s output of gold, and
with the growing realization that Alaska has agri
cultural and grazing areas of vast extent, in addi
tion to gold, silver, copper, lead and coal, and furs j
and fisheries, have united to awaken a keen and
widespread interest in Alaska, its possibilities and
opportunities.
The purpose of this booklet, issued officially by
the Seward Commercial Club, is to meet the de
mands of that widespread interest by answering
accurately and concisely the questions that naturally
arise in the minds of people who never have been to
Alaska but who wish to know of the opportunities ,
it offers for farmers, stock growers, prospectors,
m;ners and business men.
Alaska and Northwestern Europe Compared.
The best idea of Alaska’s possibilities may be had
by comparison with the four countries of North- ;
western Europe—Norway, Sweden, Finland and
Denmark—in the same latitudes, under identical
conditions of climate. For convenience, the> will
be referred to as the four Scandinavian countries.
Alaska covers an area of 566,446 square miles;
the four Scandinavian countries, 454,365 square
miles.
The Japan current moderates the climate of
Southern Alaska exactly as the ^Gulf Stream mod
erates the climate of the Scandinavian countries.
In both, the winters are mild and damp on the
coast, but colder and dryer in the interior, with
long days, warm weather and luxuriance of plant
growth in summer.
Many millions of acres of spruce and hemlock
cover the valleys and mountain sides of Alaska and
of the Scandinavian countries alike.
Tillable and Grazing Lands.
The four Scandinavian countries together have
16,000 square miles under cultivation and 75,000
miles in grazing. The Department of Agriculture
has classified 60,000 square miles in Alaska as suit
able for cultivation, mostly in the Susitna, the
Map Showing Mountain Rangss, Navigable Rivers in Heavy Black, and the Routes of the
New Government Railroads as Designated by President Wilson.
_ ——
9 R I s
j
(The principal known mineral and mining districts are
indicated In the numbered circle*, as follows: 1. Port Dick
district; 2. Sunrise* disKict. gold: 3. Resurrection district,
co, ,*r 4 Kalis Creek district. »gv>ld: 5. Latouche district, cop
per; 6. the Bering River coal fields; 7. the Valdez district, gold
and copper; 8. llliumna district, gold and copper; 9, the
Bonanza mining district, owned by the Alaska Syndicate, cop
ier: 1", the Matanuska coal fields, and Matanuska iron aad gold
dix’rict: 11. Willow Creek district, gold; 12. Tentaa district,
gold; 3<>. N'ulato coal fields; 31. 32. and S3 Seward Peninsula
districts, gold and silver; 15. Broad Pass district, gold and cop
per; l*i. Nenana coal fields; 17. Kantishna district, gold; 18.
Tanana ami the Kuskokwim valleys, with 100,000 |
square miles more of hay and grazing lands, and
another 100,000 of reindeer range.
The waters of the Scandinavian countries afford
the best fishing in Europe, as the waters of Alaska
produce the most abundantly in American.
Gold, Copper and Coal.
The Scandinavian countries have some copper and
iron, but little gold, silver or coal. Alaska has the !
richest copper deposits in the world, and has bitumi- :
nous and anthracite coal in the Matanuska district
equal to the best in Pennsylvania and West Vir
ginia. with numerous fields of lignite. Its gold ;
mines have produced $250,000,000, and arc now pro
ducing $20,000,000 a year, and, on completion of
the Government railroad from Seward to the Tan- j
ana river, are expected to produce indefinitely from 1
$50,000,000 to $100,000,000 a year.
Possibilities of Population.
The four Scandinavian countries have 12,000,000 j
population and 14,000.000 head of live stock. On >
the same basis, Alaska is capable of supporting
20.000.000 population and 80,000,000 head of live
stock.
On their 16,000 square miles of cultivated lands j
the four Scandinavian countries produce soil crops j
worth $250,000,000 a year. If the tillable lands of ,
Alaska were equally cultivated, its soil crops would
be worth $800,000,000 « year.
Agricultural Experiments.
The Department of Agriculture has carried on
extensive experiments in Alaska continuously since
1M>8 on experimental farms under Professor C. C.
Georgeson, with results that demonstrate Alaska s
agricultural possibilities to be equal in all respects
to those of the Scandinavian countries. Prof.
Georgeson, whose headquarters are at Sitka, sup
plies official data to all inquirers, so far as his ap
propriation enables him to do, and frequently dis
tributes seeds specially imported from Northern
Europe. He established a new experimental farm
during the summer of 1015 in the Matanuska valley,
adjacent to the route of the Government railroad.
Alaska's Output to Date.
A recent publication by the Department of Com
merce on “Alaska and Its Relations to American
Trade and Industry” says in part:
“In the period since 1867 Alaska has given to the
world $250,000,000 worth of gold, $183,000,000
worth of fish, $65,000,000 worth of seal and other
aquatic fur skins, $20,000,000 worth of copper,
nearly $5,000,000 worth of whale, walrus and fish
oils, $2,000,000 worth of silver, ami whalebone, coal,
gypsum, marble, tin and vegetables in sufficient
sums to bring her total output to more than $500,
000,000. This result has been achieved by a sparse
population and an inadequate system of railway and
other transportation facilities. With the new area
of Government railway construction by the Govern
ment, the development of Alaska will be greatly
accelerated.” .
The locations of the different mineral resources
are indicated on the map of Alaska in this booklet.
That map shows also the mountain ranges and the
navigable rivers, with the routes of the Government
railroad as designated by President Wilson, in
April, 1915.
Government Railroad.
Congress authorized the expenditure of not to
exceed $35,000,000 for the building of not more than
1,000 miles of railroad in Alaska, and the Presi
dent's designation of the routes was in compliance
with the provisions of the Railroad Act, directing
him to ascertain the most feasible location, which
would open the greatest amount of resources.
Hot Springs district, gold, silver, and tin; 19, halrbanks district,
gold; 20, Circle district, gold; 21. Rampart district, gold ; 22.
Chandlar district, gold; 23. Eagle district, gold; 24, Konjkuk
district, gold and coal ; 26, Kuskokwim district, gold; 26, Ruby
district, gold and coal; 27. Ophir district, gold; 2«. Idltarod
district, gold; 29, Georgetown district; gold 30, Nalato coal
fields; 31. 32, and S3 Seward Peninsula districts, gold. From
Cordova to Kennlcott, the Copper River & Northwestern Rail
road. 199 miles, owned by the Alaska Syndicate. From Seward
to Nenana, Government railroad route, 412 miles, with 38-mlle
branch to Matanuska coal fields, and projected branch of 396
miles through the Kuskokwim valley to the Yukon.)
Routes of the Government Railroads.
The main trunk of the Government railroad, ex
tending when completed 412 miles from Seward to
the Tanana river, with a 38-mile branch to the
Matanuska coal fields and a 385-mile through the
Kuskokwim valley, will unite the 4,000 miles of
navigable rivers of the interior directly with the
Pacific Ocean at Seward. All the commerce of in
terior Alaska will then meet the commerce of the
world with Alaska through the open port of Seward
as the commercial center.
Kenai Peninsula.
En route from Seward to the Tanana river the
Government railroad will traverse the Kenai Penin
sula, absorbing the present Alaska Northern, com
pleted for seventy-one miles, which the Government
has bought to form a part of its main trunk line.
The Kenai Peninsula, 18,000 square miles in area,
surpasses Switzerland in grandeur of scenery. It is
the hunter’s paradise for bear, moose, mountain
sheep, grouse and ptarmigan. It is studded with
gold and copper veins, and its valleys and mountain
slopes are green with dense forests and grasses.
"D '
t- >
I
a !
«
44
•k
s
C I
44 ,
« !
44 I
U ^
1 i
-3 J
3
£
3 i
«4
2 |
The Great Susitna Valley.
Beyond the Kcnai Peninsula the railroad will
ascend the fertile agricultural valley of the Susitna,
150 miles long by 75 miles wide, and from 100 to
700 feet above the sea. It is among the best and
largest of Alaska’s agricultural areas. Grasses, ber
ries, timber and coal are its distinctive products, but
it has gold, silver, copper, and iron also. The route
taps the Matanuska coal fields with a branch 38
miles long. It passes through the Willow creek
gold quartz district, one of the richest^ in Alaska,
and comes within easy reach of the \ entna gold
district, the McKinley gold district, and the lal
keetna gold and copper district.
Broad Pass and Nenana Districts.
Emerging from the Susitna Valley through Broad
Pass in the Alaska Range, 320 miles north of Sew
ard, at an elevation of 2,600 feet, it bisects the re
cently discovered Broad Pass gold district and the
long-known Broad Pass copper district. Thence it
follows down the Nenana river through the Nenana
coal fields, where seven veins one above the other
have a total thickness of 286 feet, according to
actual measurement by the United States Geological
Survey. While the Nenana field is lignite and not
to be compared with the Matanuska, it nevertheless
will be an important source of supply for the in
terior. , .
A few miles below the Nenana coal fields the
route cuts the western end of the Bonnifieli and
the eastern end of the Kantishna gold districts,
finally entering the great Tanana Valley, where it
is fifty miles wide, and reaching the Tanana river
at the mouth of the Nenana.
Reaching the Heart of Alaska.
There, in the geographic center of Alaska, it con
nects with more than 4,000 miles of navigable river
waterways. On these streams are many steamboats
and barges that handle the commerce and the pas
sengers of the numerous thriving settlements and
mining districts on or near the river banks.
The advantage of this route over any other in
Alaska is not alone that it traverses the best and
the most of Alaska’s resources of every kind, but
it is the only feasible route by which the Matanuska
coaj is made available alike for the United States
Navy, for all parts of the Pacific Coast as far south
as San Diego, and for every town and mining dis
trict along the railroad and its branches, and along
the system of navigable rivers with which the rail
road will connect; it is the only route that can join
the agricultural valleys with the markets of the
mining districts and the industrial centers to be de
vcloped; it is the only route from which feeders
and branches may bo projected to every productive
part of Alaska.
Importance of Matanuska Coal.
The Matanuska coal, which this route opens, is
the only coal on the entire Pacific slope which has
measured up in every official test with the best
coals of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It there
fore must bear the same relation to the commerce
and the industries of Alaska, of the Pacific slope,
and of the Pacific Ocean, that the coals of Pennsyl
vania and West Virginia bear to the commerce and
industries of Pennsylvania, of the Atlantic slope,
and of the Atlantic Ocean.
Why Seward Is the Terminus.
The question is sometimes asked: “Why was the
ocean terminus of the railroad established on Resur
rection Bay at Seward, and not at a point on Knik
or on Turnagain Arm?”
The answer is simple: The barriers of nature in
upper Cook Inlet could not be overcome, and Nature
was kind to Resurrection Bay.
Upper Cook Inlet was carefully investigated for
terminal purposes in 1902 and 1903 by the Alaska
Central Railway Company, predecessor of the
Alaska Northern; by the Alaska Railway Commis
sion in 1912, and by the Alaska Engineering Com
mission in 1915. All alike found the same objec
tions to upper Cook Inlet, and all alike officially
recommended Resurrection Bay, the harbor on
which Seward is situated, as the only harbor that ;
meets every requirement for an ocean railway ter
minus. President Wilson accordingly designated :
Seward as the ocean terminus of the Government
Alaska railroad systems.
Ice interference in upper Cook Inlet, ranging
from three to seven months every winter, together
with its shallow water for 50 miles above the East
and West Forelands, make it navigable^ only during |
the summer for vessels of less than 2,500 tons.
Resurrection Bay, on the other hand, is open to
vessels of any draft every day in the year, and is I
ice free every hour of every winter. It connects
directly with the ocean. It has a wide, timbered
valley at its head, where the room is ample for
terminals and a population of any size. Its climate
is mild, ranging from 50 to 85 above zero in sum
mer, and from 7 below, the coldest on record, to 50
above in winter. The annual snow fall is light, with
total precipitation of but 42 inches a year.
Distance, Insurance and Lower Rates.
By the outside route from San Francisco, Seattle,
Vancouver and Prince Rupert, straight across the
open ocean to Seward, marine insurance is 2Ya per ,
cent a year on vessels and Ya per cent on cargo.
Site of the Naval Base.
Coal can be taken aboard direct by cruisers and
battleships of 10,000 to 32,000 tons displacement, or
be loaded on modern navy colliers of 10,000 tons
and more for transportation to the different navy
coaling stations of the Pacific Ocean. A navy yard
and dry dock of first magnitude at Seward will
therefore be a necessary development. The navy
department is now, in fact, preparing plans for its
coal bunkers, docks and shops at the Seward base.
The Secretary of the navy officially announced in a
statement to the Senate Committee on naval affairs
in the spring of 1915 that Congress would be asked
for appropriations to carry these plans into effect.
They will involve expenditures of several millions
of dollars. , . j
The navy department has already reserved a site j
of 3,300 acres for a naval base and coaling station
on Resurrection Bay, a mile south of Seward. Its
plans are completed for large coal bunkers. This
will be the supply point for the navy on the entire i
Pacific, as the Matanuska coal, carefully tested by
the navy, has been officially accepted as the only
coal on the Pacific slope of North America suitable
for naval use.
Commercial and Manufacturing Center.
But the shipment of coal will be a small item in
comparison with Seward’s commercial and manu- j
facturing industries and activities.
Scores of thriving towns on the railroad and on
the banks of the connecting navigable rivers in all
of interior Alaska, no less than along the coast for
200 miles east and 800 miles west, will have their
commercial, banking and manufacturing headquar- j
ters at the central point—Seward. Its destiny is
f
4>
(4
U
m2
73
lb*
ri
4)
•fc
Ji*
*5
pa*
3
a
U> be the Stockholm or Christiano of Alaska,
and steamers will como and go daily, bringing every
part of Alaska and all the principal ports on the
Pacific together at Seward, every day in the year.
It will be the resort of thousands of summer
tourists, attracted from every state in the Union
and from every nation in Europe by the incompar
able grandeur of lake and mountain scenery and by
the unsurpassed hunting and fishing throughout the
Kenai Peninsula.
Progress of Railroad Construction.
By the summer of .1917 the Government railroad
is expected to be completed from Seward continu
ously as far as the Matanuska river, and on up the
Susitna Valley. Rapid progress in construction is
being made.
Trains will then be in operation from Seward di
rect through to the Matanuska and the Susitna
valleys, and from that time forward interior Alaska
can absorb many thousands of immigrants every
year. The railroad should be completed from Sew
ard to th» Tanana river by the fall of 1919.
?s
rt
o
3
O
tc
c
Sa
a
H
With a reasonabie passenger fare and a freight
rate corresponding, which the Congressional debates
on the Alaska Railroad Bill indicated would be
adopted as an inducement to encourage rapid settle
ment and development, the increase of population
should be by leaps and bounds.
The opportunities for prospectors, for miners, for
manufacturers, for stock growers and for farmers
in the great new country thus being opened have
never been surpassed in any part of the United
States.
How and Where to Get Located.
For the gardener, the dairyman, or the poultry
farmer, the numerous valleys in the Kenai Peninsula
and the great valley of the Susitna olTer locations
to tens of thousands. Much of the land, most of it,
in fact, has to be cleared of timber, but large
orofits are to be made from small tracts intensively
cultivated. Vegetables of every variety grow lux
uriantly in the long days of Alaska’s summer.
For the stock grower there are millions of acres
of grass lands throughout the Kenai Peninsula, in
the valleys and on the mountain sides. The red top
and blue stem grasses here yield two to four tons
per acre. Winter feeding is from four to five
months. It is within the literal truth to say that
of the Kenai Peninsula’s 11,520,000 acres, 4,000,000
is suitable for grazing. It has been estimated by
Montana stock growers that the Kenai Peninsula
alone could support 2,000,000 cattle. Its climate the
year through is the best in Alaska.
Similar conditions are presented in the Susitna
Valley and on the mountain slopes that surround it,
where hundreds of thousands of beef and dairy
cattle can and will be grazed and winter-fed.
For the Miner and Prospector.
Placer and gold quartz prospects and mines are
numerous in all the country between Seward and
the Kenai river.
The Kenai Peninsula has gold dredging grounds
below Kenai Lake, where the gravels yield from 27
cents to $1.50 a yard, estimated to total 200,000,000
yards in a distance of lifteen miles. Other dredging
districts are being developed near Sunrise and Hope.
The mountains of Kenai Peninsula are streaked
with gold quartz. The Moose Pass district, in par
ticular, forty miles north of Seward, has a well
defined dike that has been traced for nine miles. It
is four to twelve feet thick and carries values of
$2.00 to $40.00 per ton. Large capital will be re
quired to develop it with mills of a minimum ca
pacity of 1,000 tons a day for economical operation,
but on that scale the ore is there to make of the
• district another Juneau or Leadville.
Other well known gold quartz districts in the
Kenai Peninsula are south, east and north of Kenai
Lake, south of Sunrise, south of Hope, and west of
Resurrection Ba^. They are in the prospecting
stage at present, but are inviting fields for mining
capital.
The Crow Creek district on Turnagain Arm, tho
Knik district on Knik river, the Willow Creek dis
"C
la
it
©
VI
u
©
>»
u
E
©
la
(S
an
©
«aa
£
la
e
X
u
c
C3
2*
trict north of Knik, the Yentna district south of
Mount McKinley, and the extensive Broad Pass dis
trict recently discovered, all will be opened to ac
cessibility by the new Government railroad. They
have scarcely been scratched.
Thriving Towns to Be.
The country between Seward and the Tanana
river within 100 miles of the route of the Govern
ment railroad needs 100,000 prospectors for years to
come to do the country justice, and even they would
leave minerals undiscovered for future generations.
With all these resources of agriculture, grazing,
and timber, of gold, copper and coal, distributed over
the whole of Alaska between the Yukon river and
the Pacific Ocean, there will be many thriving
towns along the line of the railroad and on the
banks of the connecting navigable rivers, such as
Roosevelt on Kenai Lake, Moose Pass, Girdwood on
Turnagain Arm, Hope, Sunrise, Anchorage, Mata
nuska Junction, the Matanuska coal towns, Willow
Creek, the junction of the Kuskokwim branch rail
road, Talkeetna, Broad Pass, the Nenana coal towns,
Nenana, Fairbanks, Hot Springs, Tolovana, Tanana,
Rampart, Ruby, Nulato, Kaltag, Russian Mission,
Iditarod, Dykeman, Ophir, Georgetown apd Mc
Grath.
It is Seward’s purpose to aid actively in the de
velopment of all of them, and to do its full share
in the work of bringing population by the scores of
thousands from the overcrowded States and from
Europe to these vast, unoccupied, wealth-stored re
gions.
For further particulars write to
THE SEWARD COMMERCIAL CLUB,
1 Seward, Alaska.