ALASKA IS UTILIZING AIRPLANE
KXTKNSIVELY
Reads World in f'oiniuercial Flyinqj
In Proportion To Population
airplanes with passengers have
tlown approximately I’OO.OOO mi 1cm
in Alaska in the past six years.
More use in proportion to popula
tion is made of airplanes in Alaska
thru in any other community in tlv*
world, it was stated by the Depar
ineiit of the Interior.
’i he airplane is becoming a son
of long distance taxicab in Alaska
More use of it is made in that com
munity in proportion to the popula
tion than in any other in the world.
H is contributing much town re.
speeding up business in a region o'
great distances and sparce popula
tion. Such are the reports received
by the office of the Alaska Railroad,
in the Department of the Interloi
in Washington.
300,000 Milos Flown.
Alaskan commercial fliers liavi:
flown 300.000 miles with passenger.^
aboard during the last half dozen
years. There are now 40 flying
fie ds in Alaska and all of them ar<
regularly in use.
I,very Alaskan community realiz
ing that an emergency may at an.
time occur that will necessitate the
landing of an airplane, is likely to
char off a field that will make this
possible. There have, for example,
her n a number of cases where peo
plo reguiring hospital treatment,
have been carried out by air and
their lives saved.
The commercial hangers at Fair
banks and Anchorage house many
cars ready for almost an yunder
taking. The laborious days of pol
ing boats up and down shallow
streams and hauling supplies long
distances by dog team are giving
ay to a near era in which such
services are performed expeditiously
Y y airplane.
Gold Prospecting by Plane
Today when a mining man wants
:o get from one to another of Alas
ka’s pioductive centers, he hires an
.A’ A DO XX A AND CHILD—A Famous Picture in the
Creek Orthodox Church, Sitka, Alaska
•airplane for tlie trip. When he hear.;
of a new strike 200 miles across
< rack less wastes he does not plod
as in the old Klondike days but hops
trackless wastes in an airplane.
Occasionally gold dust from the
inferior comes down by airplane.
Fur buyers go from one outpost to
another by plane and often ship
t'.cir purchases out by the same
nma ns.
This summer a number of Mg
game hunters are arranging to
save much time by being carried by
•ah plane to the vicinities where spor
is best. Traveling salesmen cover
ing Alaska frequently find it con
venient to visit certain remote places
by i iplane because of time thus sav
ed. So it is stated that the airplane,
ir Alaska, is becoming a long dis
tance taxicab of the north.
The government itself is almost
ihe only agency that is not using
the airplanes in Alaska. The mails
a ret still carried by old-fashioned
methods.
Temporary Flying Mail
.As far back as 1924 the govern
ment installed air mail service be
tween Fairbanks and McGrath, and
the route was flown for eight con