274 GANNETT 



quent censuses will doubtless show radical changes in its 

 distribution. 



RESOURCES 



The natural resources of Alaska are enormous. The 

 skins and furs, the fish, the gold, copper, and coal, and the 

 timber of the territory are in value almost beyond calcu- 

 lation, and the mere reaping of this harvest sown and 

 ripened for us by nature will occupy an industrial army 

 for many years. The wealth thus collected will add 

 greatly to the well-being and happiness of our people. 



Some of these natural resources, however, have begun 

 to suffer from the drain to which they have been subjected. 

 The gathering of furs and skins, which has been in prog- 

 ress since the early Russian occupancy of the territory, 

 has been prosecuted so actively that the fur trade is now 

 of comparatively little consequence. Blue foxes are now 

 so valuable that systematic attempts are being made to 

 breed them for their skins. The sea otter has become 

 very rare, and the value of its skin correspondingly high. 

 The fur-seals, on account of pelagic sealing, are now re- 

 duced to a small fraction of their former number and only 

 24,000 skins were obtained at the seal islands in 1899. 

 Even the great brown bear has become scarce and shy, 

 and hides in the fastnesses of the interior, away from the 

 seaboard, where he was formerly abundant. 



The seabirds, once plentiful all along the coast, are 

 now driven to the rarely visited parts, where, particularly 

 on the islands of Bering Sea, they may yet be found by 

 millions. 



Fish are still abundant, but the salmon canneries have 

 already reduced the supply in many of the rivers, and the 

 erection of new canneries along the coast will soon make 

 the reduction more apparent. During the year 1899 these 

 canneries packed and shipped 1,100,000 cases and 25,000 

 barrels of this fish. 



