DEVELOPMENT POSSIBILITIES OF NOME DISTRICT
REASONS WHY NOME AND SEWARD PENINSULA
NEEDS GOOD WAGON ROADS
Road Almost Imoassablc Near Nome
-:-*,
This department is devoted to
articles issued by the Northwest -
I ern Alaska Chamber of Commerce
1 of Nome dealing with t lie develop
| ment and industrial exploitation of
j the resources of Nome and Seward
| Peninsula.
| (Space for this purpose is donated
| by the Nome Nugget.)
.._+
list: The situation of the Seward
Peninsula section, closer to foreign
shores than any section of the Artiet'i
can const irendors the life and property
of the residents strung for many miles
along the shores of l.ering Sea and
the Arctic Ocoan, liable to attack at
any time. The absence of "free and
open means of communication renders
this liability to attack all the more
precarious owing to the practical Im
posisibility of dispatching assistance
over an unbroken country without loss
of much valuable time enronte.
In the event of an attack the attack
ed settlement or district would have
prac.tiea.lly no defensive* resources save
such as it niUgh t itself afford. I lur
ing the few months of the open period
of navigation, assistance might he dis
patched by water, but in view of the
great length of the Siberian and Alas
Another Example of Why Roads Are Needed—Miners Hauling Outfits Up Riv«*rs.
2nd: A trunk lino road from Nome
to Candle via Che Kongorok and from
Nome to Kaltag via Counoil City and
IMine creek would pay for itself iti ten
years by the saving accruing from th ■
transportation of the government
mails by a direet interior route rather
than over tile present dangerous and
and along the tiering Sou and Arete- j
roasts. With a trunk line road con
necting with the government railroad
at Kaltag, mails could Is* brought to
Nome Via automobile in far less time
and at immensely lower cost than by
the present slow and precarious water
3rd: The economic value of su^-h !
trunk lines as suggested are roadilj
apparent. Their (installation and
maintenance would be an invaluable
factor in aiding the development of
Che peninsula and also result in an im
mense saving in costs of transporta
tion and production. Close study <*f
terrain, in the Iron crock section the
proposed road would enable wide de
velopment of numerous known depos
its of gold quartz, copper, silver, tung
sten. antimony. grapldto. cobalt, nickel,
platinum, mdea and other mineral for
mations of commercial value, in ad
dition to literally hundreds of plueey
gold hearing creeks and benches al
ready. located but restrained in devel
opment because of the general inac
cessibility of the country, due largely
to tin- absence of roads.
Following the proposed road from
Iron creek we will find ourselves close
t.o the only Hot Springs found in this
section. The medicinal value of the
waters of these springs is attested b>
numerous sufferers who have been re
lieved of various types of ailments.
The area surrounding the springs con
tain immense agricultural possibilities,
owing largely to the mmarknble
warmth of the earth. The urea pro
duces an immense yield of vegetables
per 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 tilde, the presence of
hostile submarines would render the
task of guarding: one or two boats,
ape fhat would require the services of
half tb® United States Navi'. The
establishment of road communication
would serve the purposes of protec
tion far more adequately than a large
naval force through enabling the
movement of troops from ope section
to another with promptitude and prac
tical freedom from attack by seu. Jn
view of the fact that during the larg
est part of the year wto are completely
isolated and at the mercy of an 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 latter is an indis
pennible necessity if the upward of
twenty thousand square miles of terri -
tory comprising the Seward Peninsula
the question is speedily convincing i
thnt the result of such installation i
would be an immense and immediate ;
development of the district and. partU- .
ularly of nuuty sections heretofore un j
• productive for the one and only reason I
of inaccessibility due to the absence of!
roads and trails. >
Of the proposed Nomo-Kougarok- '
Candle post and military trunk lino j
road, the first 8% miles have been con- i
strutted from Nome to Dexter Creek, f
and has served the section through !
whileh It runs with results that are lit- '
tic short of marvelous. The produc- '
thm of the district It serves 1ms been
practically without n parallel -in the
hdstory of placer development and pro
duction. The continuance of this
road along the divide betV.en Nome !
and ,Snake rivers for a distance of
about fifty miles would insure practic
ally the same results in the adjacent •
nreas as have occurred along the Initial .
8Vj mil»es of road with its laterals and
feeders. In addition to covering an
A tuiin<fiTf Gold Dredge in the Kougerok—The Heart ot sewera r-enmsuw.
the establishment of the proposed road
would enable thoir cheap disposal in
the Nome markets. The area ls cap
able of providing1 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 product* In the Nome mar
ket would also result in a considerable
saving In living costs. Agriculturists
assert that the district can bo made
to yield not only the vegetable require
ments of the Peninsula but also a sur
plus which could be shipped to Seattle,
thereby not only benefiting 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, the road would also enable
the opening of valuable mineral de
posits known to c-xiist in the adjacent
Sawtooth Mountains but at present
practically inaccessible to exploitation.
Tlje Sawtooth range offers immense
Inducements to the prospector if open
crtrununication Is established. Those
who .'inve visited the locality are un
animous in staring thnt the range
abounds in mineral deposits of wide
nge of character and value. The
Tbr Sawtooth range also contains im
rv< ns-e power development possibilities.
Th: Water power development pot on -
thirties of hike Lindeberg and sev
eral large mountain streams are stch
as to make the construction of an
electric power plant a feaslmle pros-1
I'WJ.I^owVf 33 hor}\ l\aw, it\u.Un$ a of m«^hi«fry w^i|lwn| la ftmj, 9*JfY.lm£ ov^VCD^xrsr^ivut^.^
Heavy Machinery Must be Hauled Over the Snow in Winter Due to the Lack of Roads Phnto by Lomrn Brie.
Drill Prospectors Going Over Tund:
statement tni:n .1 p.n k of flour eo.-tln.T
■ t ['went war pri«^*s in Noun*
is worth SI’2 50 a long this section of
the i»r.)|»o>- d road after transportation
costs are added. . Transportation fa
cilities tire So limited at present that
ll’.e transportation of large pieces of
machinery i* prohibitive. Fuel sup
plies transported to the district are *1
costly as to render innehine operation,
; rohilhi live 'save in such cases that the
returns from mining operations are of
mere than average value. A ton of
coal costing at present Nome values ,
$3«. when transported to this section j
attains a value in excess of $-00. j
district abounds in mineral-; in i|it;u'tr.
mensely valuable coppe -deposits. .
tabllsiiment of transport iCion facilit:* s
will alone enable u complete (stiinai
of Cite district's potentialities.
Knough is known, b iwever. to p
vide assurance that Hi establishme-t
tit tin* pro|KJseil rorul will be n?npl> t
paid by the development of tin* pi<
(*nt known resources, without r* gar
to others which further surve> w II
undoubtedly develop. This greet a- .
embraces the greater part of the wa
tersheds of the Kusdtrien, Kougarok
and I’pper flood Hope rivers and i i
cludes more than 100 s<iuare miles of
territory between the Kougarok rivet
r.orthern slope of the peninsul i
Crossing this area we arrive at tl.
terminating section of the nroi*osed
trunk road, the Candle. Peering. In
tnachuk district. Bordering along th*
Arctic Ocean and open to navigation
only a. portion of the period common
to the Nine coast, the district is prat*
ticall.v inaccessible to commerce dur
ing eight months of the year. It is
rich in placer resources and also con
tains numerous uuartz lodes which un
der other and less anions conditions
would alone insure the general pros
perity of the district. Practically . 1;
of the* more important st:earns ar<*
gold hearing and have already produc
ed immense sums, despite the serious
handicaps afforded by high costs and
Iflf,
mv the district is practically cut
Candle is the Northerly End of the Projected Road.
Photo by Lomeu Bros.