ALASKA EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 341 



75 cents; tea, per pound, SL; cotioo, per pound. To cents; sugar, rice, 

 beans, sago, dried fruits, corn meal, and oat meal, per pound, 85 cents; 

 sardines, oysters, and deviled ham. per can, 50 cents; lunch tongue, 

 per can, 75 cents; potatoes, sliced and dried, per pound, 50 cents; salt, 

 ,S pounds, $1; hay, per pound, 25 cents; oats, per pound, 25 cents; 

 kerosene, per 5-gallon can, $1(». 



Tlics«> prices are due to the cost of transportation. The further one 

 goes inland the higher the cost. TIkmc are no regular stores hej'ond 

 ('()p})ei' Center and there are therefore no tixed values. 



Game is becoming scarce and ))eef or nuitton can seldom l)c had, 

 and therefore have no tixed prices. The writer learned on the best 

 authority of instances which illustrate the situation in this regard. A 

 steer was bought in Valdez for ^12."). The purchaser put a pack of 

 250 pounds on his l)ack and drove him to a mining camp in the Slate 

 Creek district along with a train of pack horses. He received ^1 

 a pound, or ^25(» in freight for the goods the steer carried. He then 

 slaughtered him and sold the meat foi- $1 a pound. On the other 

 hand, a dozen steers were driven into the camp on the Nizina, 200 

 miles distant, the past sunnner, but there was no demand for this 

 meat, and they had to be driven back to Valdez and sold at local prices. 



The prices of haj', oats, and other farm products are attractive to 

 farmers, and there is no doubt whatever Init that money can be made 

 in producing these things if the farmer is once established, has his 

 farms cleared up and in running order. The cjuestion is if the neces- 

 sary outlay to get this start will not exceed the means of the class of 

 farmers who are likely to settle in the Copper River Valley. In the 

 first place, the cost of landing his goods and family in \'aldez is con- 

 sideral)l(>, but leaving this out of account the cost of transporting his 

 equipment, say as far as Copper Center, is almost prohil)itive if he has 

 to hire it done, and it will be high even if he can do the work himself. 

 He should carry with him a year's i)rovisions, considerable feed foi- his 

 live stock, the necessary implements and seed grain, and, if he has a 

 family, also some household goods. If he can reduce the e<juipnient 

 to 5 tons, or even 4, it will cost him 2<' cents per pound, or from )^1,(*»(»0 

 to ^2,000 to land his goods in the farming region, aljout 10() miles from 

 N'aldez. If he can do it himseH' with his own animals, and he does not 

 consider th«^ labor and hardship involved, it will, of course, cost him 

 oidy the price of provisions and feed, sleds and other necessary e(jui})- 

 ment for the tv\\), and the labor he will find necessary to hire to lielj) 

 him over the hard places. In that case no estimate can be ]mt on ihe 

 cost, but it will be, some hundred dollars at least. 



The natives of the region seem to be inferior to the Imlians on the 

 coast in i)liysical vigor and genei'al ihi'iftiness. They complain bitterly 

 that the white man scares the game away, and that furs are also becom- 

 ing scarce. L'idess they learn t(» woik ami earn wages, to cnlli\ate 

 gardens, and acquire liabils of ';i-ea(cr lliriri, they nuist ine\ ital>ly 



