28 GRASS LANDS OF THE SOUTH ALASKA COAST. 



Fuel. — In the timbered region a supply of fuel is easily obtainable, 

 Avliile in the tiniberless country a rather scant quantit}^ is secured 

 from scrubby willoAvs and alders and from beach drift. Coal of an 

 inferior quality, but still fairly satisfactory for domestic use, is 

 abundant along Cook Inlet. At present none of this is mined, but 

 considerable quantities are gathered from exposed ledges, or from 

 drift on the beaches. Most of the coal used along the Alaska Penin- 

 sida, however, is at present shipped from Puget Sound. In some 

 localities the paraffin residue from oil seepage is utilized as fuel. 



CHOICE or A LOCATION. 



In general, Kadiak and the neighobring islands and the Cook Inlet 

 country are the most favorable jjlaces for live-stock raising on 

 account of a great luxuriance of grasses and contiguity to timber. 

 The Cook Inlet region enjoys the reputation of being the garden spot 

 of the Alaska coast, apiDarently producing finer vegetables than else- 

 where, though lying farther north than the Alaska Peninsula and 

 most of the territory described in these pages. The accessible grass 

 lands here are, however, comparatively limited. 



On the other hand, Unalaska and the neighboring islands, Avhile 

 possessing less abundant grass and perhaps a less faA'orable climate, 

 can perhaps reach markets in the Nome region and on the lower 

 Yukon. At Yakutat, while the grass is not overabundant, the loca- 

 tion is more favorable for shipments southward. 



The prime requisite of any Alaska location is a sufficiently large 

 available supply of winter forage. Of summer range there is an 

 abundance nearly everywhere, but the utilization of , this is definitely 

 limited bv the number of cattle one can safelv winter. The all- 

 important point is therefore to have a sufficient acreage of land from 

 which hay or silage can be secured. By selecting locations on the 

 fiat lands that so commonly occur at the heads of the narrow fiords 

 one can easily control for all practical pur2)oses great areas of grazing 

 lands. 



The writer can not refrain from quoting here the following opinion 

 of a widely traveled man from California, who for three years has 

 been engaged in placer mining on the beach on the west side of Kadiak 

 Island and who is seriously considering taking up a homestead and 

 bringing his fainily to Alaska : 



III all my travels I have never found a place where one can live so well or 

 so cheaply as 1 have done for the past three, years. 1 can raise all sorts of 

 hardy vegetables and berries, besides the wild ones, and have unlimited g:rass 

 to keep cattle and slice]). Fish of the choicest sorts — salmon, halibut, cod, and 

 many others — are very almiidant, and the stream tlowiii.tc by my- cabin donr' 

 swarms with trout. In the way of big game there are bears. Of small game 



