DEVELOPMENT POSSIBILITIES OF NOME DISTRICT
REASONS WHY NOME AND SEWARD PENINSULA
NEEDS GOOD WAGON ROADS
Road Almost Imnassablt* Near Nome
articles issued by the Northwest
ern Alaska Chamber of Commerce
of Nome dealing wir'h the develop -
j ment and industrial exploitation of
; the resources of Nome and Seward
i Peninsula.
| (Space for this purpose is donated
| by the Nome Nugget.)
lest: The situation of the Seward
Peninsula section, closer to foreign
shores than any section of tin* Ameri
can coast (renders the life and property
off the residents strung for many miles
along the shores of Bering Sea and
the. Arctic Ocean, liable to attack at
any time. The absence of free and
open means of communication renders
this liability to attack all the more
precartous owing to the practical im
possibility of dispatching assistance
over an unbroken country without loss
of much valuable tlmo enroute.
Jn the event of an attack the attack
ed settlement or district would have
practically no defensive resources save
such hs it might itself afford. Dur
ing the few months of the oixm period
of navigation, assistance might be dis
patched by water, but in view of tin
great length of the Siberian and Alas
Another Example' of Why Roads Are Needed—Miners Hauling Outfits Op Ri
district is to receive adequate protec
tion from attack.
2nd: A trunk line road from Nome
to Cundile via the Kougarok and from
Nome to Kaltag via Council City an I
Dime creek would pay for itself in ten
transportation of the government
mails by a direct interior route rathe;
than over the present dangerous ami
uncertain route down the Yukon river
and along the Bering Sou and Arete
coasts. With a trunk line road con
necting with the government railroad
at Kaltag, mails could !*• brought to
Nome via automobile in far less time
and at immensely lower cost than by
the present slow and precarious wut«
3rd: The economic value of such
trunk lines as suggested are readih
apparent. Their installation ami
maintenance would be an invaluable
factor in aiding the development <>(
Che peninsula and also result in an im
mense saving in costs of transporta
tion and production. Close study o\
immense ;um of placer sold bearing '
terrain, in the Iron creek section tin* j
proposed road would enable wide de- |
velopment of numerous known depos- i
i’s of gold quartz, copper, silver, tung- 1
> ien, antimony, graphite, cobalt, nickel, j
platinum, nuica and other mineral for- |
mations of commercial value, in ad
I dition to literally hundreds of placer
gold hearing creeks and benches al
I ready located but restrained in devel
| opuient because of the general itinc
I1 c *ssihility of the country, due largely
to the absence of roads.
Following the proposed road from
Iron creek wvj will find ourselves close
to the only Hot Springs found in tiii.s
section. The medicinal value of the
j waters of these springs is attested by
| numerous sufferers who have been re
i li *ved otf various types of ailments.
1 The area surrounding tlit* springs con
j tain immense agricultural possibilities, j
j owing largely to the remarkable!
i wcrnitBi of the earth. The ami pro-I
i duces an immense yield of vegetables
| tier acre with nominal cultivation and '
AN ARGUMENT FOR INCREASED ROAD APPROPRIATIONS
kan coasts and the numerous bays, in
dentations and rivers thereon, in which
an enemy might hide, the presence of
hoaflUe submarines would render the
task of guarding one or two boats,
one that would require the services of
half the United States Navy. The
establishment of road communication ,
would serve the purposes of protec
tfon far more adequately than a large
naval force through enabling the
movomsnt of troops from one section
to another with promptitude and prac
tical freedom, from attack by sea. In
view of the fact that during t<he larg
est part of thd year wia are completely
Isolated and at the mercy of on enemy
or the elements is an added reason for
the establishment of trunk line roads |
connecting With the Alaska Railroad !
on the Yukon and a road entirely
through the interior sections of the
Peninsula. The lat|er is an tndis
penatble necessity if the upward of
twenty thousand square xnllets of terri
tory comprising the Seward Peninsula
that, the result of such installation
would be an immense and immediate
development of the district and partic
ularly of many sections heretofore un
productive for the one and only reason
of inaccessibility due to the absence of
roads and trails.
Of the proposed Nome-Kougarok
Candle post and military trunk line
road, the first 8Vi miles have been con
structed from Nome to Dexter Creek,
and has served the section through
which St runs with results that are lit
tle short of marvelous. The produc
tion of the district it serves has been
practicality without a parallel in the
history of placer development and pro
duction. The continuance of this
road along th# divide betwen Nome
and Snake rivers for a distil nee of
about fifty miles would insure practic
ally the same results in the adjacent
areas as have occurred along the Initial
8V6 miles of road with its laterals and
■feeders. In addition to covering an
A 1mmh#bI (kU Dredge in the Koagarok—the Heart of Seward Peninaula.
the establishment of the proposed road
would enable theur cheap disposal in
the Nome markets. The area is cap
able of providing practically all the
vegetables required by the district and
the transportation of the Hot Springs
products alone would provide a ton
nage of great value over the proposed
trunk road. The sale of the domestic
vegetable products in the Nome mar
ket would aiso result in a considerable
saving in living costs. Agriculturists
assert that the district can lie made
to yield not only tfhe vegetable require
ments of the Peninsula but also a sur
plus which could be shipped to Seattle,
thereby not only »>enefltting the dis
trict but also providing an increase in
the export tonnage of considerable
value to the steamship transportation
companies. In addition to facilitat
ing the development of the Hot Springs
district, tine road would also enable |
the opening of valuable mineral de
posits known to exist in the adjacent
Sawtooth Mountains but at present
practically inaccessible to exploitation.
The Sawtooth range offers Immense
ect; r,limitation ia established. Those
who have visited the locality are un
niim.tis in stating that the range
abounds in mineral deposits of wide
on.ee of character and value. The
The Sawtooth range also contains im
r/vpse power development possibilities.
Tic water power development poten
tial ties of l«»ke Llndeberg ami sev
eral large mountain streams are sich
as to make the construction of an
electric power plant a feasimle pros
Roads Three Miles From Nome
piilation remains small an.I prndiu
I 32 Jior^ Uaulinfl ayisft oJS ma^hin^ry w^i|lun| l* fonj, SSj?!'.
Heavy Machinery Must bi- Hauled Over the Snow in Winter Dun to the Lack of Roads Photo b) Lomt ti Bro
•y ovfrVikrirDftjgfpj^
Drill Prospectors Going Over Tundra
is wortii $12 r>'» .ilon?; this section of
the proposed road after transport !tior.
vilifies are so Hinited at present that ;
the transportation of large pieces of!
machinery ia prohibitive. K'lel sup- !
plies transported to tlte district are a »
Mostly as to render machine operation
; rohibitive save in such ca*es that the
returns from mining operations are <f
more than average value. A ton <•:
coal costing :»t present Nome value* i
$36. when transported to this nectk n i
attains a value In excess of $-00. J
of Me district's potentialities.
und tile Arctic range bordering ti <■
inuchuk district. Bordering along the
perity of the district. Practically :iH
Caudla ia tha Northerly End of (ha Projected Road. Photo by Lomcn Bros.