DEVELOPMENT POSSIBILITIES OF NOME DISTRICT
REASONS WHY ROHE AND SEWARD PENINSULA
NEEDS GOOD WA6DN ROADS
Rond Almost Imnossablc I
articles issued l»y the Northwest
ern Alaska Chamber of Commerce
of Nome dealing with the develop
| ment and industrial exploitation of
| the resources of Nome and Seward
| Peninsula. J
| (Space for this purpose is donated
j by the Nome Nugget.)
♦-♦
situation of
Peninsula section, elosei
Shores than any section o
can coast (renders the life
of the residents strung fo
along the shores of Bor
the Arctic Ocean, liable
any time. The absence
open .means of comtnunie.
this liability to attack all the more
precarious owing to the practical ini
liorvfibillty of dispatching assistance
, unbroken couijtry without losi
renders
4it much valuable ertrofltef
In the event of an attack the attack
ed settlement or district would have
practically no defensive resources savr
such ns it irn&ght itself afford. Dur
ing the few months of tho oi>en period
of navigation, assistance might be dis
patched by water, but in view of th<
great length of tlie Siberian and Alas
w
Another Example of Why Roads Are Needed—Miners Hauling Outfits Up Rive
| lion from attack.
2nd: .V trunk lino .road from Nome
to Candle via the Kougarok and from
Nome to Kaltag via Council City and
JMme creek would pay for itself in ten
years by the saving accruing from tie
transportation of the government
mails by a direct interior route rather
than over the present dangerous and
uncertain route down the Yukon rivet
and along the Bering Sou and Areth'
coasts. With a trunk line road con
necting with the government railroad
at Kaltng, mails could Ixe. brought ti
Nome via automobile in far less tim.
and ut immensely lower cost than bs
the present slow and precarious waljy
Srd: The econom/ic value of sue!
trunk lines as suggested are ivndilj
apparent. Their 'installation am
maintenance would be an invaluable
factor in aiding the development o
t1»o peninsula and also result in an fan
mense saving In costs of transport.!
tiion and production. Close study o
terrain, in tile Iron creek section the !
proposed road would enable wide de
velopment of numerous known depos- I
its of gold quartz, copper
sten, antimony, graphite, cob
platinum, mnen and other
mations of commercial
«lition to literally hundreds
sold bearing creeks and 1
read\ located but retstrainc<
.
I
I
cessibility of the country, due largely
to the absence*>f roads.
Following the proposed road from
Iron creek we Will llnd ourselves close
to the only Hot Springs found in this
section. The medicinal value of the
waters of these springs is attested by
munerous 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 remarkable
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 whicl
an enemy might hide, the presence o
hostile submarines would render th<
task of guarding one or two boats
one that would require the services o
half the United States Navy* Th<
establishment of road communicatior
would serve the purposes of protec.
tion for more adequately than a larg<
naval force through enabling th<
movement of troops from one sectior
to another with promptitude and prac
ttcal freedom from attack by aea. Ii
view of the fact that during the larg
est port of thd year wio are complete^
Isolated and at the mercy of an enem>
or the elements is an added reason foi
the establishment of trunk line roads
connecting with the Alaska Railroad
on t*VO Yukon and a road entirelj
through the Interior sections of ths
Peninsula. The latter is an indis.
penslbje necessity if the upward oi
twenty thousand square mllea of terri
tnry comprising the Seward Peninsuln
trce question is speedily convincing
that the result of such installation
would be an immense anil immediate
development of the district and partic
ularly of many sections heretofore un
productive for tho one and only reason
of inaccessibility due to the absence >f
roads and trails.
Of the proposed Nome-Kougarok •
Candle post and military trunk line
rood, ttye first 8% miles have been con
structed from Nome to Dexter Creek,
iind has served the section through
which it runs with results that are lit
tle short of marvelous. The produc
tion of the district It serves has been
practically without a parallel in the
history of placer development and pro
duction. The continuance of this
road along the divide bet wen Nome
and Hnake rivers for a distance of
about fifty miles would insure practic
ally the same results in the adjacent
arena as have occurred along the initial
8% miles of road with its laterals and
feeders. In addition to covering an
A 8ucc*»«ful Gold Drsdge in the Kougarok—Tha Hurt af Saward Paninsula.
| the establishment of the proposed road I
i would enable their cheap disposal in !
the Nome markets. The area'is cap
able of providing practically all the
vegetables required by the distric t 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 casts. Agriculturists
assert that the district can be 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 beneflttlng the dls
[ triet but also providing an increase in
; t,ie export, tonnage of considerable
value to the steamship transportation
companies. In addition to facilitat
ing tire development of the Hot Springs I
district, the road would also enable |
the opening <>r valuable mineral de- 1
practically inaccessible to exploitation,
i rim Sawtooth range offers immense
indue* ments to the prospector if open
e*t riimiui. at icq is established. Those
W o have visited the locality are un
m!»,ou*i lo stating that the range
ihoii;•):!;• in minor:LI deposits of wide
ire of character and value. The
Ti e Sawtooth range also contains im
Tt :-w power development possibilities.
water power development poten
t: l.t’.CH of l^ake Llndeberg and sev
er:! large mountain streams arp sach
ai to make the construction of an
electric power plant a fe&simle proa
Roads Three Miles From Nome
conditions will lie vastly
I ‘VYf f^ow^f. 32 Jior^s !\aw, }u\u\ln$ a jiiVft of mathinfry wr{igttR| IS ronj, 85j?nio^ owf*r T3^f^v,©iviju^^^
Heavy Machinery Must br Hauled Over the Snow in Winter Du.
I he Lack of Roads Photo by Lomni Bro-.
Drill Prospector^ Going Over Tundra
s worth along this section « f
he proposed road after transportation
•osls are added. Transportation fa - \
eiiities arc* so limited at present the I 1
lie transportation of law pieces of
iiaehincry is prohibitive. Fuel snp
>llcs transported to the diistriet are & >
•ostl.v as to render machine operation
rohibitivc save in such eases that t! •
ettirns from mining: operations are » f
wore limn average value. A ton • '.
coal costing at present Nome \allies
|36. when transported to this secth n j
pttaine a value tu excess of $-30. j
polity of the district. Practically ;:li
Candle is the Northerly End of the Projected Road.
Lomen Bros*
A