ALASKA. 19 



111 IMassacbusctts* our forefathers had a land In which all the 

 necessaries of li/c^ and many of the luxuries, could he produced 

 from the soil with certainty from year to year; in Ahiska their 

 lot would have been quite the reverse, and they could have main- 

 tained themselves therewith no better success than the present 

 inhabitants. Attention shouhl be directed to the development 

 of its mineral wealth, which I have reason to think will yet 

 prove to be considerable, and effort should be made to stimu- 

 late and protect the present available industries of the fur- 

 trade, the canning of salmon, &c. 



*"I have seen with surprise aud regret, that men whose forefathers 

 wielded the ax in the forests of Maine, or gathered scanty crops on the Iiill- 

 sides of Massachusetts, have seen tit to throw contempt and derision on tlie 

 acquisition of a great territory naturally far richer than that in which 

 they themselves originated, (!) principally on the ground that it is a 'cold' 

 country." (W. H. Dall, Alaska aud its Eesources, p. 242, Boston, Lee & 

 iSbepard, 1870.) 



