i n Alaska's Trade Value mm
Enti 'r prise—1 * roy res#—Pros peri t y '
Amidst confusion and uncertainty existing gen
erally throughout the United States resulting from
business recession and unemployment of recent
months, Alaska’s steady growth, work and money
continues to provide the world with a prosperous
and responsive market.
Here you will find a happy equilibrium in in
dustry with no problems of maintaining the buying
power of the population and no restrictive influence
against individual productivity.
The daily demand here for necessities and lux
uries of every type is far beyond the understanding
of many business firms in the United States. Alas
ka’s army of prosperous and free-spending people
have purchased and imported into the Territory from
1867 to date more than 900 million dollars worth of
merchandise of all kinds;
During the year 1930 resident Alaskans purchased
$33,045,287 worth of commodities from American
merchants and manufacturers. There is no better
indication of the potentialities of Alaska’s great
trade territory than the fact that her total com
merce for the past year amounted to $90,232,413. Her
rich bonanza mines produced during 1930 minerals
to the value of $13,602,000. Shipments of fish and
marine products for 1930 amounted to $36,719,429.
During the same year five thousand resident Alas
kans actively engaged in the prosperous fur in
dustry of the Territory. And aside from the thous
ands of hunters, traders and trappers occupied in
the pursuit of fur, 544 producing fur farms have
come rapidly to the fore and their output is steadily
increasing. The fur production of Alaska for 1930
totaled 465,328 raw pelts valued at $3,145,528, not in
cluding seal pelts from the Pribilof Islands. The an
nual production of Alaska fur is $4,000,000!
As Large as Twenty States of Union
What is the explanation of this fruitful field in
Alaska in the face of disturbed equilibrium of pro
auction and sales elsewhere? Before answering this
question it is first necessary to get a correct idea
of the size of the Territory.
In total area Alaska is approximately 590,884
square miles, equal in size to the area of twenty
States of the Union, which extend from the winter
resorts of Florida to within a few miles of the St.
Lawrence River and Quebec, where navigation is
closed in winter, and from the shores of the Atlantic
to the Mississippi River. If the map of Alaska is
placed over that of the United States, with Ketchi
kan, in Alaska, on Jacksonville, in Florida, the west
ern island of the Aleutian chain will be found in
Santa Barbara, California. From south to north it ex
tends over one thousand miles of latitude, equal in
distance from the Mexican to the Canadian borders:
and from east to west over two thousand five hun
ted miles of longitude.
As a comparison with European countries, Nor
way, Sweden, Finland, England, Scotland and Ire
land have a total area of 562,253 squre miles; of
Germany, France and Spain have a total area of
610,432 square miles.
Alaska is nine times as large as the State of
Washington and twelve times as large as the State
of New York!
Miracle of Alaska's Wealth Disclosed
It is impossible to convey within the limited
space of this paper the productivity of such a
diversified region. The miracle of Alaska’s great
wealth is best described in a recent public speech
on “Alaska’s Trade Value to the United States,”
by Honorable Judge James Wickersham, Alaska’s
present delegate to the United States Congress at
Washington, D. C., who was elected to that high
office in 1908 and served until 1920 and presided
on the Federal bench for eight years.
“From January 1, 1880, to December 31, 1930, a
period of 50 years, Alaskans mined and shipped to
the United States the sum of $628,806,856 in gold,
copper and other minerals. There are 600 months
in 50 years—Alaska miners produced more than a
million dollars of gold and copper per month during
tnat 50-year period. The mineral industry in Alaska
is yet in its infancy and is constantly growing. f
“As great a sum as that half-century output of
Alaska minerals amounts to, the value of Alaska
fish shipped to the United States in half that period
exceeds it. From 1906 to 1930, both included, a per
iod of 25 years, Alaska fishermen caught, prepared
and shipped to the United States markets fish to j
the amount of $743,975,738—an annual production
of $30,000,000. From the reports of the governor and
collector of customs, we are informed that the total
production of Alaska fish, furs and minerals exported
to the United States since 1867 amounts to the
sum of $1,762,968,496. '
“Not only has Alaska produced and exported that
great wealth to the United States . . . but her people
have purchased from the United States, and import
ed into Alaska, from 1867 to date, more than 900
million dollars worth of merchandise of all kinds.
Add Alaska’s total production of wealth to her total
purchase of merchandise—our total exports to, and
cur total imports from, the United States—
Total exports .$1,762,968,496.00
Total imports . 907,873,941.00
Total trade .$2,670,842,437.00
and we have the total sum of Alaska’s trade value
with the United States merchants and manufacturers
. since 1867—more than two and a half billion dollars”.
His striking statement isn’t just so many nice
words; it is an out-and-out narration of cold hard
facts.
Millions for Improvements
•!
In recent years Congress entered upon a sys
tem of internal improvements in Alaska in aid
| of the development of territorial government and
the natural resources of the country. It authorized 1
the construction of a government owned and op
erated railroad. 470 miles long, from an all-the-year
open harbor at Seward, through the Matanuska and j
j Kealy River coal fields to the interior gold fields |
! at a cost of $70,000,000.
Recently the Secretary of the Treasury caused
plans and estimates to be made and set apart the
funds necessary to construct a general-use building j
at Fairbanks, authorized by the public building act
of Aug. 1, 1914 (38 Stat. L, 611), to cost $400,000.
! I
The War Department will spend this year for j j
Alaska harbor improvements, $272,000 for the Ket
chikan basin, $85,000 for the Seward breakwater and
$18.000. for the Port Alexander harbor work, while I
I
the improvement of the Nome harbor, to cost $250,
! 000, is to come in two years. i j
I it
' !
The Alaska Road Commission will spend this
| |
year a million dollars for general highway work in j ■
Northern and Western Alaska, and in addition the j i
f i i
sum of $130,000 on roads in the Mt. McKinley Na- j
;
| tional Park.
j j The Bureau of Public Roads, under the Agri
I cultural Department, will spend out of forest service
j funds, for highways in 1931, $50,000 at Ketchikan,
I $140,000 near Juneau, $45,000 at Seward, $40,000 at
Wrangell, $60,000 at Skagway, $45,000 at Yakutat,
$25,000 at Kake, $30,000 at Moose Pass, $10,000 at
Craig, $20,000 at Klawak and $75,000 at Petersburg
■ a total of $540,000, while the forest service will spend
! $191,000 In its separate work. The total to be ex
pended for construction of highways, roads and
trails in 1931 amounts to $1,670,000, not including
a recent appropriation of approximately $2,000,000
by the Legislature in Alaska for internal improve
‘ i ments.
I
Nor are the schools forgotten: The Bureau of
Education will erect this year six new school build
ings in the northern part of the Territory at a cost
of $36,000; three new hospitals to cost $29,500; ex
tensions to 14 other school buildings to cost $110,
000; an Indian boys’ training school at Shoemaker
Bay, Wrangell, to cost $100,000, and other items to
taling $1,125,000. Public funds to the amount of
about $7,000,000 will thus be expended in Alaska in
1931 for improvements.
Alaska’s Trade for Year 1930
But a few generations ago Alaska was almost un
known. Out of her earth, rocks, forests and seas has
sprung her industrial wealth of today. According to
statistics compiled by the United States Department
of Commerce at Washington, D. C., the total com
merce of Alaska for the past year amounted to $90,
232,413. Of this total amount of trade, $57,187,146
represents merchandise, gold and silver shipped from
Alaska, while $33,045,267 represents the value of like
commodities shipped to Alaska during the same per
iod. The balance of trade in favor of Alaska for
the year 1930 amounts to $24,141,879.
MERCHANDISE AND GOLD AND SILVER SHIPPED
FROM ALASKA TO UNITED STATES IN 1930
Articles Unit
FISH—Fresh and Frozen:
Halibut ..Lb.
Salmon .Lb.
All other . Lb.
Canned:
Salmon .Lb.
Cured or Preserved:
Cod .Lb.
Herring .Lb.
Salmon .Lb.
Shellfish:
Clams . Lb.
Crabs .Lb.
Shrimps . Lb.
Other Fish Products:
Fertilizer ..Tn.
Meal .Tn.
Oil .Gl.
Other fish Sc fish prod. Lb.
TOTAL FISH.
Whale oil .Gl.
Live Blue Foxes .No.
Other live animals .No.
Curios .No.
Furs and fur skins:
Seal ....No.
Blue Fox . No.
Silver or Black Fox .No.
Red Fox .No.
White Fox .No.
Mink .No.
Muskrat .No.
Beaver .No.
All other .No.
Manufactured Furs .No.
Ore, Matte and Regulus:
Copper .Gross Tn.
Lb.'
Lead .Gross Tn.
Lb.
Tin Ore & Concentrates ..Lb.
Reindeer Meat .Lb.
Stone (including marble) Tn.
Trophies, Specimens, etc. No.
W'ood, Timber & Lumber . M ft.
All other articles.
Quantity Value
11,580,350
6349,975
801,149
$ 1,402,269
756,914
59,117
239,208.020 30,084,228
1407,313
8,832,620
5,538,461
813319
86,154
509,356
179
11308
3,608.498
110
982,365
678
1,096
1,908
43,365
7,446
821
15,699
4,824
26,299
337,450
182
27,133
75
56,823
37,774,969
2,355
2,390,058
51,424
1,566,485
200,847
264
5,120
69,410
727,878
1,410,046
204,288
34,927
201,359
10,000
678,446
978,697
50
$36,615,429
409.366
69,660
* 75.921
8,471
650,305
504,700
82,644
556,669
203,353
252,935
188,521
3,760
689,619
13,022
5,341,035
139,884
12,900
157,918
105,982
31,840
178,114
174,497
TOTAL VALUE OF PROD
UCTS OF ALASKA .
Products of United States
returned .
Total value of foreign
products ..
TOTAL VALUE OF SHIP
MENTS MERCHANDISE
Domestic Gold .
Domestic Silver*.
Foreign Gold Sc Silver ..
GRAND TOTAL
$48,468,545
1,510,271
1,020,146
$46,996,962
• 7,631,737
180,306
30,450
$56,839,455
In the preceding table of “Merchandise and Gold
and Silver Shipped From Alaska to the United States'
there appears an item “All Other Articles.” This
item comprises the following products which, as
they increase in value, will be added to the itemised
list of that table:
Articles Unit Quantity Value
(Pla«M tara to Pmgo SU>