in opening up Alaska to the
prospector and miner, as well
as the homesteader, has been
the Alaska Railroad, owned and
operated by the United States
government As early as 1886
Alaskan railroad possibilities
were discu?"ed in Congress, and
emphasized later by Presidents
Roosevelt and Taft. But it was
not until 1912 in the month of
August, that the Alaska Rail
road Act was passed. President
Wilson appointed a commission
which acted under the secre
tary of the interior, to make
preliminary surveys, and a year
later the Alaska Northern was
purchased by the government
and construction of a new line
from the northern end of this
line to Fairbanks was begun.
From Anchorage, in both direc
tions; and from Nenana north
to Fairbanks, the railroad was
extended. Today the Alaska
Railroad extends from Seward
to Fairbanks, a distance of 470
miles, with aproximately 4 0
miles of branch lines. Mr. O
F. Ohlson, an experienced and
capable railroad man, now
serves as general manager of
the railroad.
“In addition to the mileage
afforded by the Alaska Railroad
there are nearly 1,500 miles of
automobile roads in the Terri
tory, 87 miles of tramway, more
than 7,000 miles of sled roads
and nearly 4,500 miles of trails
that have opened up rich ag
ricultural lands for homestead
ing in the Matanuska Valley
and Anchorage district, the
Susitna Valley and Yukon Val
ley. Each year the government
appropriates generous sums for
extension of the highway sys
tem.”
■x
THWAIT’S PHOTO SHOP :::
KODAK FINISHING
;:i COPYING—ENLARGING
Ketchikan I
tmtuwwmnnmmnmmmmmtnmm
A Fishermen’s prospects
T: c following letter from an
oM-time fisherman of Squaw
Harbor, Alaska is something
more than a modern version of
the old unbelievable fish tale
about “the ones that got away.”
The fish at Squaw Harbor get
away because of the legal res
trictions on seines and gill nets,
only to be taken by the ml1 Hon
in a special privilege trap. Even
with a trap of such deadly ef
ficiency the company ginxois
,y permits the seiners and gil1
netters to catch a few under
such restrictions as will cer
tainly prevent them from catch
ing too many for why should
the company continue to pay
fisherman for catching fish
which it can just as easily brail
from its trap? What becomes
of the resident fisherman, the
merchants and other tradesmen
of the territory the reader may
guess. And tris is but one
instance of the manner in
which the fisheries regulations
and special privilege traps are
building up (?) the territory.
The letter follows:
... Squaw Harbor, June 25, ’30.
Edhor Alaska Fisherman,
Petersburg, Alaska.
Dear Sir:
I am a fisherman who has
lived in the Shumagin Islands
about twenty years and my
partner was born here. But the
way the P A. F. has got the
laws made I don’t see how we
can make a hving here any
more. They do not let us use
a gillnet more than twenty
five fathoms long and there
must be 1800 feet between nets.
Only small semes, 75 fathoms
long and 100 meshes deep may
be used. We can’t get much
Jsh with that kind of gear up
here All creeks and bays where
there is any show of catch are
closed. It is fixed now so no
A
bod\ can get any fish from
Cassel Cape to Ikutan e::cept
the P. A. F. and the fishermen
cannot make a living in their
reservation It is about 250
mil^s from Cassel Cape to Iku
tan and they have canneries at
Squaw Harbor, King Cove and
Ikutan to can their fish.
This year (19?0) the Skinner
iTid Eddy Company is trying to
get started up here and they
put in two traps where Squaw
Haroor tried before. The P. A.
F. so id they were crazy but they
drove their traps just the same
and some piles farther out that
scaled the P. A F. Now I hear
thaf the P. A. F. has bragged
that they will get a special law
to block the new company
from getting ary of the Kelly
Rock trap fish by making the
trap leads shorter. I would like
to know if they can really do
that for the new outfit is a big
company too and I don’t think
they will stand for the P. A. F.
saying what laws they are go
ing to make to block them like
they do to us fishermen.
We can fish around here with
gillnetts and seines only three
days a week when the reds are
running and then only with our
small gear but only a couple
of hours after the season opens
they take scow loads of fish out
of Kelly Rock trap, so you can
figuie for yourself. You can see
we are up against it good and
plenty trying to make a living,
the way things are. We can
send you plenty of facts about
the way things are done up here
and about fishermen who have
hardly a thing in their shacks
for their children to eat. The
P. A. F. fishes the way they
want to and if you can tell us
how to get somebody up here
to investigate and write about
how things go around here it