93 8 ALASKA 



ALASKA 1 



Population. In 1910, 64,356 (1.2% more than in 1900); 36,347 whites; 28,000 na- 

 tives. Density of white population, about i to 16 sq. m. In the decade 1900-10 there 

 was a decrease of Indians and Chinese and an increase of whites. There were no in- 

 corporated places in 1900 so that comparison for places of the same name in 1900 and 

 1910 as given in the i3th Census Bulletin on Alaska is misleading, the former being for 

 districts, the latter for smaller, incorporated areas. 2 The incorporated places in 

 1910 were: Chena, pop. 138 (native village, 47); Cordova, 1,152 (district, 1,779; J 73 

 in 1900); Douglas, 1,722 (825 in 1900); Eagle, 178 (district, 543; 383 in 1900); Fair- 

 banks, 3,541; Haines, 445 (85 in 1900); Iditarod, incorporated in 1911; the capital, 

 Juneau, 1,644 (district, 5,854; 3,664 in 1900); Ketchikan, 1,613 (459 in 1900); Nome, 

 2,600 (12,488 in I900 3 ); Petersburg, 585;" Skagway, 872 (3,117 in igoo 5 ); Treadwell, 

 1,222 (522 in 1900); Valdez, 810 (315 in 1900), and Wrangell, 743 (district 1,067; 868 in 

 1900). Seward, incorporated in 1912, had 534 inhabitants in 1910. There are five 

 forts: Fort Wm. H. Seward, 255, near Skagway; Fort Davos, 180, near Nome; Fort 

 Liscum, 162, near Valdez; Fort Yukon, 321, at the junction of the Yukon and Porcupine 

 rivers, and Fort Egbert, 198, near Eagle. The total population of the Aleutian Islands 

 (see E. B. i, 543) was 1,083. 



Agriculture. The experiment station in 1911 and 1912 was experimenting with hybrid 

 strawberries, crossing cultivated varieties with the wild native berries; with spring grains, 

 especially beardless barley and oats to mature in 90 days or less; with Siberian alfalfas to 

 secure a nitrogenous fertiliser; and, at Kodiak, with milch cows suitable for Alaska. The 

 Fairbanks station is conducted as a model farm. Besides the headquarters station at Sitka, 

 there is a station at Rampart. James Wilson, U.S. secretary of agriculture, prophesies that 

 Alaska will soon supply American farmers with superior cereal seeds. The Tanana Valley 

 is par excellence the agricultural region of Alaska and except for a slight disadvantage 

 in climate seems to compare favourably with farming land in Norway, Sweden, Finland, 

 and the Russian provinces of Archangel, Vologda and Olonets. In 1910 there were 222 

 farms with 42,544 acres (2,660 improved) ; value of farm property, 81,468,402. The largest 

 crop (1909) was vegetables, $186,134; hay and forage were valued at 94,933. 



Fauna. National Bird Reservations were created on Forrester Island and on Hazy 

 Islands by executive orders of January n, 1912. Four others (Bering Sea, Tuxedni, St. 

 Lazaria and Yukon Delta) were set aside in 1909, when a moose reservation was created on 

 Fire Island, in Cook Inlet. There are also two fishery reservations (Yes Bay and Afognak 

 Island) and a fur-seal reservation on the Pribilof Islands (see E. B. xxii, 313), where seals 

 have been elaborately studied. In 1911 the value of Alaska furs was $786,376 ($432,913 

 being seal). In June 1911 there were 33,629 reindeer in the Territory; three-fifths were 

 owned by natives, one-ninth by the government, one-seventh by missions, and the remainder 

 by Lapps. In October 1911 reindeer meat was first shipped from Nome to Seattle. 



Manufactures and Fisheries. The number of manufacturing establishments increased 

 in 1904-09 from 82 to 152; the wage-earners from 1,938 to 3,099; capital invested from 

 10,685,000 to 813, 060,000; and the value of products from 8,245,000 to $11,340,000. More 

 than four-fifths of the value of all manufactured products in 1909 was the value ($9,190,000) 

 of canned and preserved fish. In this industry the Territory leads the United States. In 

 1899 it produced 17.4% by value of the total for the country; in 1904, 29.3%; and in 1909, 

 26.5%. In 1911 there were 64 salmon canneries and in 1912, 87. Most of the new factories 

 were in south-western Alaska. The increase was due to high prices and large profits in 

 1911. In 1911 the pack of canned salmon was 2,820,066 cases (out of 6,122,483 for 

 the Pacific coast, including 948,965 from British Columbia) and the value of the salmon 

 fisheries was $14,593,237, and of all fishery products (excluding furs) $16,377,463. Curing 

 and salting salmon are becoming more important industries. Halibut, cod and herring 

 fisheries along the Alaska coast arc carried on mostly by Puget Sound and San Francisco 

 fleets and there is no local manufacturing. Some whale fishers have local shore stations. 



1 See E. B. i, 472 et seq. 



2 See the remarks on inaccuracies of the census by Tames Wickcrsham, Territorial delegate, 

 in Hearings before the Committee on Territories, March 29, 1912. 



* This was the population of the Cape Nome district, a subdivision of the Second Judicial 

 District, "including persons on vessels in port, census having been taken during the rush 

 to the gold-fields"; the same area in 1910 had 12,351 inhabitants, not counting those in port. 



4 Sitka, not incorporated, had in 1910 a population of 539, and, in the native village, 500; 

 as compared with a total population of 1,396 in 1900. The population of the district of St. 

 Michael, partly in the Second and partly in the Fourth Judicial District, was 2,255 m 



8 Including many labourers in transit. 



