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COAST TERMINAL FOR THE ALASKA RAILROAD
VOLUME XXII. NUMBER 27. SEWARD, ALASKA, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21,1927. PRICE TEN CENTS
Alaska as Viewed
By Correspondent
Of Detroit News
EMINENT NEWSPAPER MAN FROM ONE OF MOST
INFLUENTIAL PUBLICATIONS IN FOURTH
LARGEST CITY IN UNITED STATES GIVES IM
PRESSIONS GAINED DURING BRIEF SOJOURN
IN LAND OF MIDNIGHT SUN
(By A. M. SMITH, Detroit News-Wilkins Expedition)
Editor Seward Daily Gateway:
You asked me for my impressions of Alaska, and it
was only 24 hours ago that I landed at Seward. This fact
will enable all sourdoughs to save the time of reading
what might appear to them to be only futile impression
isuc spiasmngs.
But such as my impressions are—and I have
never been in Alaska before (though I have been
in America since 1836)—here they are:
I find that I must at once throw away some old
impressions accumulated through the years of
States ignorance. Down in the States we think
about the gold of Alaska, not to mention her other
great mineral resources and industries. I note that
up here you say it with fish.
Your total mineral production last year was
about $18,000,000. But you caught, canned and sold
approximately $50,000,000 worth of fish. You put
on the market about six-sevenths of all the salmon
sold in the United States.
You have good gold mines, copper mines, and
your real mineral resources have thus far been
touched for the greater part only where some lucky
prospector stumbled on the stuff. To get to some of
these rich mineral deposits the prospector had to
walk over large tracts which form a part of your
100,000 square miles of as fine, rich, sandy loam as
can be found in any agricultural areas in the world.
In 1914, a farmer near Fairbanks reported that
% °n 22 1-2 ?cres of ground he raised potatoes, cab
bage, turnips, rutebagas, beets, carrots, oats, barley
and other things, including pigs, all of which he sold
for the sum of $5,417.
Yet, down in the States we think and talk of
Alaska in terms of gold and copper!—and intolera
ble cold weather!
This farmer stated that in the Tanana valley
BUILD HUGE NAVY
i
INSIST NATIONAL DEFENSE OF
AMERICA NOT BE JEOPARD
IZED BY PACIFICISM
WASHINGTON, Feb. 21. (/P)—'The
combined veterans organizations
through their officers demanded that
the United States government immedi
ately start a building program which
will make the American navy second
to none in the world. The action fur
ther demanded that the national de
fense of America not be jeopardized
by pacificism or economy. It cited
the world strife now going on as rea
son for the rebuilding of the national
defense at once.
Blizzard Sweeps
Atlantic Coast
Lives are Lost
MILLION DOLLARS DAMAGE SUNDAY—COMMU
NICATIONS SEVERED MANY PLACES—RECORD
HIGH TIDES—SUMMER HOMES DEMOLISHED;
PATROL BOAT LOST AT SEA—NUMBER FOUND
FROZEN TO DEATH IN PENNSYLVANIA
NEW YORK, Feb. 21. (/P)—A northeast gale reached
blizzard proportions at many points and scourged the At
lantic seaboard from Delaware to Halifax, Saturday
night and Sunday. Railroad communication is hampered
and severed in many places north of Delaware. The
beach shore is strewn with debris of small craft. Record
high tides have undermined the waterfront of summer
homes particularly along the Jersey coast.
\
George Washington
7 739__ 7 700
The principal loss of life came with
the destruction of the coast guard
patrol boat 238, off Provincetown,
Mass., with a crew of eight men,
which was swallowed while two de
stroyers fought doggedly through a
50-mile wind in attempting to aid their
beleaguered comrades. The boat was
smashed to fragments when the sea
which tore her from her anchorage
yesterday and hurled her onto the
sands. Men who saw the wreckage
reported the only thing which came
ashore intact was a gun which was
mounted on the foredeck.
Four persons died from freezing
weather in Pittsburg, Pa., district,
where the snow was piled from 16 to
24 inches deep. A 13-year-old boy was
found frozen to death in a tool box
where he took refuge from the storm.
Note—And still the weather in
Alaska is beautiful.
STORM STRIKES OREGON
PORTLAND, Or., Feb. 21. (&)—. Rail
and highway traffic is virtually at a
standstill and wire communication is
seriously crippled as the result of
torrential rains in Oregon and North
ern California within the last 24
hours. The rivers are running the
highest in 25 years. Roads, bridges
and rails are washed out at Cottage
FAIRBANKS, Feb. 21. (JP)—'The an
ticipated gruelling cross-examination
which drew a crowded court room two
hours in advance of the opening of
the session resolved into a technical
battle when the defense sought to se
cure a copy of the original confession
given in Los Angeles a year ago. On
order to deliver a copy if one was in
their possession the prosecution an
nounced that the only copy was in the
hands of postal inspectors, who were
forbidden by departmental regulations
to surrender it.
<uone mere were, In 1914, approxi
mately 5,000,000 acres of farming land
just as good as his, and the farmer
can homestead 320 acres.
What’s the matter with Alaska?
My impression is that it needs farm
ers, million of them. Norway, Swe
den and Finland, in the same latitude
as Alaska, and with almost no min
ing resources, and poor fisheries com
pared with Alaska, support a popula
tion of about 15,000,000. .1 understand
(that in Alaska today you have about
25,000 whites and 30,000 Indians and
Eskimos.
Sure it is a long way from market,
from the interior of Alaska to, say,
Seattle. But has it occurred to you
that with fast freight and good
through steamer service, the interior
of Alaska is only four or five days
from Seattle, and much of the produce
that could be shipped south would be
no more perishable than the thousands
(Continued on Page Two)
JL 9
LET US pause tomorrow to honor the memory of that
handful of men whose untiring struggle against great
odds brought victory to a weak nation and laid deep the
beginnings of our happiness and prosperity. Let us re
member with reverence the man who forsook wealth, ease
and influential friends to lead his countrymen in the war
for liberty: George Washington, American.
WHIPS CHILD WITH CHT
O-NINE-THILS, ARRESTED
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 21. (£>)—
James Carter was sentenced to 30
days in jail and Mrs. Burrell, proving
that her was ill, was given a suspend
ed sentence of six months. They
were arrested on the charge of beat
ing five year old Peggy Burrell, her
daughter, with a cat-o-nine-tails.
LIST BUST ON FAMOUS
TUNNEL BE GROUTED
DENVER, Colo., Feb. 21. (IP)—The
final blast in the famous Moffett tun
nel "will be broadcast over the radio,
the first time such an event has been
placed on the air. When completed
the tunnel will cut 118 miles off the
distance betwen Chicago and the Pa
cific coast.
Grove and Grants Pass, which, 'are iso
lated. The Willamette river rose 24
feet since Saturday washing away a
road house near Eugene.
Note—And for the past week the
weather has been wonderful in Alaska.
SEPPIU IN SECOND
PUCE QUEBEC MCE
QUEBEC, Feb. 21. (#>)—St. Goddard
won the first lap in three hours 47
minutes and 30 seconds. Seppala was
second in four hours six minutes and
25 seconds. All dogs finished in good
condition.
Fifteen dogs started in the first 40
mile lap of the Quebec International
120-mile Derby. Dupuis, who won
last year, is backed two to one against
the field. Seppala and St. Goddard
are quoted at three to one.
Dancing and Cards,Tomorrow Night; Legion Post