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OF SEWARD, ALASKA — Established August 19. 1904
Published daily except Sunday by
THE GATEWAY PUBLISHING COMPANY
Entered in the postoffice at Seward Alaska as
second-class mail matter.
MEMBER 0F THfl ASSOCIATED PRESS
H. V. HOBEN and E. F. JESSEN, Proprietors
E F. Jesscn, Editor and Manager
The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use tor republication
of an news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise in this paper and also
ih* local news published herein.
All rights for republication of special dispatches herein are reserved
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GENERAL RICHARDSON ON ALASKA
The Atlantic Monthly for January, published at Bos
ton, earned a contribution from Brig. Gen. W. P. Rich
ardson, formerly chairman of the Alaska Road Commis
sion, on the subject of Alaska in general. It might better
be labled “Richardson’s Grievances,” for it seems to be
tray a severe case of unpleasant memories.
In the first place, the General in his contribution to j
the Atlantic Monthly takes the gloomy view that Alaska j
has been very much over-rated, that there never was any j
real need of the Alaska Railroad, and that the tax payers
of the United States are in for a long and hard pull to get
it out of the ditch of perpetual deficits,." Then on top of
this he laments that Seward was selected as the ocean
terminus, which he avers was done without recommenda
tion of any responsible agency of the government.
There are so many gross inaccuracies of statement;
in the Richardson article that it is difficult to name one)
as more glaring than the other. But this about the desig-;
nation of Seward as the ocean terminus of the Alaska
Railroad is possibly as exaggerated as any.
Whether Richardson knows it or not, a Naval Com-'
mission was duly appointed and sent to Alaska about 1914j
to examine harbors and to designate one as preferable
above others as the center of operations and as a future
Naval base for Alaska waters. That Commission unani
mously eliminated all others and selected Resurrection
Bay. Not only did they designate it and describe it as;
ideal for Naval purposes of all kinds, but they selected
and established a Naval Reserve of 3,300 acres on the
shores of Resurrection Bay two miles south of Seward. It
has been a Naval Reserve during all the time since then
apparantly unknown to General Richardson, and has been
adopted by the Naval Board of Strategy as the future
base of Naval operations in Alaskan waters.
That Naval Commission emphasizes in its report
the central location of Resurrection Bay, its perfect
shelter from storms and from possible attack by enemy:
fleets, and its safe and easy exit and entrance to and from
the open sea at all times.
To add to the sum total ot General Richardsons ab
surdities, he says it is impracticable to operate trains
through the Kenai peninsula over the present “adverse
grades and curves.” For downright ignorance, or malice,
that takes the palm. He does not know that one locomo
tive regularly hauls 18 loaded cars from and to Seward
over every mile of the Alaska Railroad through the Kenai
peninsula over the same maximum 2.2 grade, compen
sated that .every transcontinental railroad in the United
States operates over with thousands of heavy trains per
year. Even this grade can be reduced to 1.5 by building
the cut-off through Moose Pass, as The Gateway has
pointed out, and as the present management of the Alas
ka Railroad has verified.
General Richardson's management of the Alaska
Road Commission was under constant storms of crit
icisms. During his incumbency it is notorous that 90 per
cent of the roads laid out and built have either been com
pletely or practically abandoned because they extended
through barren and unproductive parts where no perma
nent population can subsist, and that he neglected other
and really productive valleys, like the western shelf of the
Kenai peninsula, and the Susitna valley, where the future
dense populations of Alaska will reside.
‘ The work and record of General Richardson in Alas
ka are conclusive and sweeping proof of his gross incom
petence to pass intelligently upon any subject pertaining
to Alaskan developments, or of the possibilities that
Alaska holds for the future.
Kentucky's governor is named Sampson, but it's Ok
ahoma's governor who appears to have a Delilah on his
hands. ,
The woolen boom has shrunk so that we suspect if
must have gotten all wet.
VALUE OF AUSKA’S
EXPORT COMMERCE
' 1927 FELL SNORT
DROP SHOWN IN SALMON PACK;
TOTAL EXPORTS $23,873,032
UNDER 1926
The value of shipments from Alas
ka last year as shown by the annual
report of the United States customs
service registered a decline of $23,
873,032 as compared with the previous
year, the total for 1927 being $57,077,
968.
However, in spite of the decline,
Alaska ended the year with a favor
able trade balance amounting to $21,
185,249, and there is every indication
that the total for 1928, due to the pros
pects for paper pulp manufacture, will
show a substantial increase.
The drop in the value of exports last
year is due mainly to the unprece
dented decrease in the size of the sal
; mon pack. The value of 1927 totaled
; $27,223,447 as compared to $48,336,013,
i a drop of $21,112,566. The produc
tion of copper also showed a decline,
the decrease amounting to more than
2,000,000.
The value of gold and silver ship
ped from the Territory showed a de
crease, dropping from $6,160,942 to
| $5,744,838. A marked increase was
| recorded in the value of furs and
| skins shipped to the states, the total
1 of $4,286,126 comparing yith $2,895,
!703 for 1926, an increase of $1,300,423,
'or more than 40 per cent.
Concerning the decrease in the val
ue of minerals produced last year, the
treasury department’s report dis
counts the indications of a retrogres
sion in the mining industry.
; “While the bare figures, taken by
! themselves, show a decrease in the
1 mineral production of Alaska in 1927
from the former year,” says the re
' port, “yet such figures should not be
taken as marking a retrogression in
the mining industry. Such is not the
lease, ccording to the yearly investiga
tions made by the geological survey
throughout the territory. Many of
j the conditions that explain the de
creases are of themselves such as to
indicate increased production in the
future. In many districts the gather
ing together and consolidation of a
large number of claims formerly oper
ated separately, the careful study of
economical methods of mining the
ground, the purchase of suitable ma
chinery and equipment and the un
dertaking of large engineering feats,
clearly forecast more productive work
in the near future, and those are the
conditions which prevail in many of
the mining districts throughout the
| Territory.”
Sunday services at the Seward Com
munity church will be as follows:
song, prayer, and preaching service
at 11 a. m. conducted by the pastor.
Evening services conducted by the
j f
! pastor at 7 o’clock.
Sunday school at 10 a. m.
THOMAS PHILIP GRAHAM,
Minister.
FALLS TO HIS DEATH
Alois Frederick, carpenter for the
Fairbanks Exploration company, at
Fairbanks, died in the Interior hos
pital a few days ago as the result of
injuries sustained in a fall from a
scaffold. He struck on his head and
failed to recover conciousness prior
to death.
LIBERTY
THEATER
TONIGHT—TWO SHOWS 7 AND £
Frank Lloyd, the director who made “The Sea Hawk," has pro
duced another masterpiece of the old buccaneer days.
‘The Eagle of
The Sea ”
A stupendous eight-reel spectacle of the final raids of
CAPTAIN SAZARAC THE LAST FAMOUS
PIRATE TO OPERATE IN AMERICAN
WATERS
Historically correct both as to the great ship made for this
movie and to the incidents and equipment New Orleans and the
coast in 1820—Spanish galleons—American merchantmen—
Pirate ships—all form the setting for this thrilling picture.
RICARDO CORTEZ makes a wonderful pirate
Florence Vidor a fascinating heroine
The Pirate and his crew attend a masked ball in New Orleans
and are there discovered which starts a series of thrilling scenes
leading up to the great climax
H A story untold, g
Of days of old,
When yellow gold, §|
jf§ And maidens sold, g
n W
Lured Pirates bold, g
g To seize and hold,
Is, “The Eagle of the Sea.” 1
H * H
A smashing picture of the kind of story that makes you read
all night through
And an interesting Pa the News
SUNDAY ONLY
DOUGLAS MAC LEAN
u
That’s My Baby
OH BABY! A ROLLICKING, RIPROARING
COMEDELIRIUM THAT STARTS FAST and
FINISHES FASTER
Also a Fable and a fine Pathe News
iHjML.
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tr~ I’| ii I {<8a 11 I
K , H % PxaS If" ■ A 4 ‘i -A ii ini t£
Next to the Overland Hotel
i ,
Opert Day and Night
Private Boxes
Gabriel Santos Proprietor and Chet
5bbbhmim——r ithmiiii wnr—iiiii’ 'pm"
HOMESTEAD FOR SALE CHEAP
$2000
Worth $5,000
Henry Coulliard Moose Pass
20 acres cleared; 7 acres under .cultivation
Includes house and barn, cattle, three head of
horse, 200 chickens, impliments of all kinds; in
fact everything on the farm.
160 ACRES PATENTED IN 1927
Reason: 111 health necessitates this sale
BUSY BLUE DANUBE
| VIENNA, March 10. (^—Merchan
dise traffic is now open the entire
length of the Danube and passenger
trafic will begin in April.
Lawrence Ferraris, owner of ex
tensive placers on Glen creek In the
Kantishna district, was a recent vis
itor in Fairbanks. He intends to
open up on a large scale this year.