ALASKA 



138 



ALASKA 



thrive and in part, at least, solve the problem 

 of food and clothing; they now number about 

 50,000 (see REINDEER). Among the smaller 

 animals are wolves, foxes, beavers, weasels and 

 minks. The ptarmigans are plentiful, and 

 eagles are common along the Pacific coast. 

 Each animal here named is described elsewhere 

 under its title. 



Fisheries. It is the marine animals, however, 

 which are of the greatest economic importance, 

 especially the fur seal and the salmon. The 

 home of the fur seal (which see) is the Pribilof 

 Islands, and the value of the seal skins taken 

 from these islands has already reached a total 

 of more than six times the price paid by the 

 United States for the whole of Alaska. So 

 rapidly did the sealing industry grow that the 

 extinction of the herd was threatened (see 

 BERING SEA CONTROVERSY). In April, 1910, the 



was built in 1878; since then the industry has 

 steadily increased until the annual catch is 

 worth about $20,000,000. The total value of 

 the salmon catch from 1868 to 1915, inclusive, 

 was about $200,000,000, nearly thirty times the 

 original cost of Alaska. The catch of cod 

 shows little variation from year to year, but 

 the catch of herring and halibut is steadily 

 increasing. The young herring are packed, 

 chiefly at Juneau, as sardines. 



Plant Life. The plant life of Alaska does 

 not show as great variety as the animal life. 

 The Pacific coastal region, especially in the 

 southeast, has rich forests of hemlock, spruce 

 and red cedar, with considerable willow and 

 cottonwood. Probably the most characteristic 

 Alaskan tree is the tide-land, or Sitka, spruce. 

 The interior has extensive areas of black and 

 white spruce, poplar, white birch and alder. 



THE FARM 



Potatoes 

 Hay, For age 

 Sundry Vegetable 

 Milk,Oeam 



ALASKA PRODUCTS CHART 



Figures Based on U.S. Government Reports 

 Millions of Dollars Annually 

 5 10 15 



Cabbage 



Animals soldslaughtered 



Butter 



Berries 



THE MINE 



Coal 



Antimony 

 Tin 

 Silver 

 Copper 

 Gold 



THE FACTORY 

 Lumber,7imber 

 Salmon canned 



15 



10 



5 



United States cancelled all existing leases under 

 which seal fisheries were operated, and in 1912 

 entirely prohibited the killing of seals for a 

 period of five years after January 1, 1913. 

 The sea-otter and the walrus were formerly 

 plentiful, but are now nearly extinct. 



The whaling industry is no longer as impor- 

 tant as in the early part of the nineteenth 

 century, because the whales are fewer and keep 

 to the north. The natives occasionally kill a 

 whale for blubber, but the commercial impor- 

 tance of the animal is due to the baleen, or 

 whale bone. 



Of the fishes taken in Alaska waters the most 

 important are herring, cod, halibut, and most 

 valuable of all, salmon. The largest salmon 

 fishery in the world is on Kodiak Island, on 

 the Karluk River. The Nushagak River and 

 Bristol Bay form another great salmon fishing- 

 ground. The first salmon cannery in Alaska 



With care the stand of timber should always 

 be abundant for local uses, but in the past 

 lumbering has been so carelessly done that the 

 government has felt it necessary to create two 

 forest reserves. The Tongass National Forest 

 includes Southeast Alaska, and the Chugach 

 National Forest extends from Cook Inlet to 

 Controller Bay. 



The remainder of Alaska has few trees. Near 

 the Arctic Circle the willows become mere 

 shrubs two or three feet high, and all other 

 trees are gnarled and small. Grasses are 

 abundant in many sections, but the most dis- 

 tinctive features of the plant life are the 

 mosses, which cover one-fourth of all Alaska. 

 These vary in color from pure white to deep 

 brown and green. The tundras, which include 

 the coastal region from the Aleutian Islands 

 northward to Point Barrow and eastward to 

 the Canadian boundary, are covered with 



