leave the Kenai Station inaccessible except by hirinji' special con- 

 veyance. It is therefore reconiniended that steps be taken to remove 

 this station to a suitable location somewhere on the railway, the 

 place to be selected after the road is built and in ojieration. 



This change in transportation could not j)()ssibly have been fore- 

 seen at the time the station was located at Kenai, in 181)8. It was 

 then expected that the peninsula would be settled by people who 

 would work in the newly discovered placer mines and in the coal 

 fields, which were then being opened up in the peninsula ; but neither 

 the coal fields nor the placer mines have made any progress, 



HOMESTEADS. 



The writer has taken pains to ascertain how many homesteads have 

 been recorded to date in Alaska. Reports have not been obtained 

 from all recording offices, but those heard from are as follows: 



Circle 5 



Fairbanks 82 



Copper Center 11 



Sliagway 33 



Juneau 36 



Sitka 6 



Yakutat 6 



Catalla 3 



Valdez 39 



Seward 59 



Total 280 



It is probable, however, that many of these homesteads have been 

 taken up for the value of their timber rather than for the purpose of 

 utilizing the land for agriculture. 



GRASS INVESTIGATIONS. 



It is hoped that the very Nahudjle work which was begun by 

 Professor Piper in the summer of liiOI. by his investigations of the 

 grass lands along the coast region of Alaska, can be continued. The 

 native grasses and forage plants of the interior have never been in- 

 vestigated by a specialist. The force employed by the Alaska stations 

 can not be spared from their regular duties for this work. It is there- 

 fore respectfully recommended that steps be taken to continue coopera- 

 tion with the Bureau of Plant Industry in this work. If that Bureau 

 could send a man to do the work, Alaska stations might possibly 

 undertake to defray half of his expenses while so engaged in Alaska, 

 the resulting information to be at the disposal of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industr}' and the Alaska stations. 



