ALASKA 



139 



ALASKA 



brown peat moss, herbs and sedges. During 

 the short summer these mosses are dotted by 

 countless millions of wild flowers. 



45' 



THE GREAT FOREST AREAS OF ALASKA 



Agriculture in Alaska is as yet in its first 

 stages, but there is no longer doubt as to its 

 possibilities. Near the mining camps and towns 

 are a few truck farms, and hardy vegetables 

 and cereals are raised with much success. 

 \vberries and other fruits are raised in ih 

 Snk.i di-tnrt. and barley and oats grow well 

 thiouuhout the larger part of the territory. 

 Cattle-raising should become a flourishing in- 

 dustry around Cook Inl t and oth.r favored 

 sections, where native grasses grow in pro- 

 Mineral Wealth. Though il..- existence of 

 in moral deposits was known to tin Russians, no 

 serious attempt was made to develop then 

 resources until after Alaska became the prop- 

 >o United States. Gold was first in 

 ly at Juneau, after 1880, and in th< 



next fifteen years was discovered and mined in 

 many other sections. The coast region was 

 for a long time the center of production, and 

 the stamp mills near Juneau are still among 

 the largest in the world. The discovery of the 

 Klondike gold fields, near the boundary be- 

 tween the United States and Canada, is really 

 an event in Canadian history, but it drew 

 hundreds of prospectors to Alaska proper. In 

 1899 placer gold was first found at Nome, and 

 in that year and the next the hundreds of pros- 

 pectors found new bonanzas. The gold pro- 

 duction of Alaska in 1899 was double that in 

 1898. Other fields have since been discovered, 

 the most important being the Fairbanks camp 

 on the Tanana River, one of the tributaries of 

 the Yukon. Nearly all the large gold-mining 

 camps are in the Yukon basin or on Seward 

 Peninsula. Placer mining is still the rule, but 

 increasing attention is being given to deep 

 veins. The production in recent years has 

 fluctuated little, the annual average being from 

 $15,000,000 to $18,000,000. The output of silver 

 is usually only about $400,000 a year, and is 

 almost entirely in connection with gold-mining. 



Coal. The estimated area of the Alaskan 

 coal fields is 20,000 square miles. The most 

 important deposits are along the Bering River, 

 twenty-five miles east of Controller Bay, and 

 along the Matanuska River, a small stream 

 which empties into Cook Inlet. The coal in 

 these regions is good bituminous and semi- 

 anthracite, but in the other known fields it is 

 of lower grade. The development of this re- 

 source has been prevented by lack of trans- 

 portation facilities and by the many changing 

 restrictions which have been fixed by the 

 United States government (see, below, History). 



Other Minerals. Copper is now nearly as 

 important to Alaska as gold, the usual output 

 of about $3,000,000 having advanced in 1916 to 

 over $26,000,000. The metal was first mined in 

 1901 on Prince William Sound, and the annual 

 product ranged from 20,000,000 to 30,000,000 

 pounds for several years before the record year 

 of 1915, when it amounted to more than 

 80,000,000 pounds. Most of it comes from tin 

 Copper River district, but about half the pro- 

 iir mines are in the Ki-tehikan r< ci>n, in 

 tin lAttvmc southern part of the territory. 

 Tm and antimony, though still of slight im- 

 portance, are produced in increasing quantities. 

 >leum has been found n.-ar the Copper 

 id gypsum and marhl> exist in several 

 islands of the southeast, but not in large quan- 



