274 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



waterways. Thriving towns, salmon canning plants, log- 

 ging operations, wireless towers, whaling stations, marble 

 quarries, living glaciers, totem poles, perennially snow- 

 capped peaks, dense forest-covered slopes and shore 

 lines these are characteristic of the Tongass National 

 Forest of southeast Alaska. 



Ketchikan, the metropolis of southern Alaska, is first 

 reached. Here are located the headquarters of the Ton- 

 gass National Forest. Going on north Juneau is reached, 

 the territorial capital, and here also are the District For- 

 ester's headquarters for the Alaska District. Near Ju- 

 neau are the large mining ojierations of Treadwell and 

 Thane. 



Passing through the i)anhandle country of southeast- 

 ern Alaska, from your steamer chair you can see the age- 

 old ice masses breaking off into the ocean, while above 

 and around you rise peaks to thousands of feet. Totem 

 poles, the clan records of a fast-passing race, gleam out 

 from forested points as the steamer threads its way 

 through the hundreds of miles of channels, straits, and 

 natural canals of the Tongass Forest. 



Although not on the regular stops for main steamers 



The panhandle of southeast Alaska is practically all in- 

 cluded within a National Forest, and here is beginning 

 the construction of pulp mills to convert some of its enor- 

 mous timber resource into newspaper print. The forest 

 rangers here cover their districts and handle their forest 

 business in 30-foot gasoline launches, instead of the more 

 picturesque saddle horse or the more prosaic flivver of 

 the National Forest areas of the States. 



If you wish a longer sea trip then go farther west- 

 ward to the Kenai Peninsula and the Cook Inlet country, 

 where the Chugach National Forest is located. Starting 

 out from Cordova, the headquarters of the Chugach For- 

 est, you will see more glaciers, even more stupendous 

 mountain masses rising before you, even more sublime 

 scenery. Here you may see from a comfortable railway 

 car, (on the Copper River Railroad), living glaciers and 

 as sublime scenery as there is in all America, or all the 

 world that along the Copper River. 



If you want an even longer Ixip take the railroad out 

 of Cordova to Chitina, and from there take a car over 

 the Richardson Trail, (they call it a trail) 320 miles to 

 Fairbanks, a 3-day trip, in the interior. Comfortable 

 roadhouses are found along this road, and scenery that 

 you will remember as long as you live. 

 From Fairbanks you may come out to 

 the Coast again over the line of the re- 

 cently completed Government railroad, 

 560 miles, to Seward, passing through 

 the wonderful Kenai Peninula, the big 

 game region of America today. Or, 

 wishing an even longer trip, you may 

 take a river steamer from Fairbanks on 

 down the mighty Yukon river, to St. 

 Michael, and to Nome, and back by 

 ocean-going steamers, through the Beh- 

 ring Straits to Seattle or to Vancouver, 

 British Columbia. All these trips are 



A DOCK FULL OF WHALE OIL 

 Industries of Alaska are as interest- 

 ing to the visitor as are some of the 

 other features. This is at the Whal- 

 ing Station at Port Armstrong. 



it will be worth your while to 

 make arrangements to see Sitka, 

 the place of all Alaska with a 

 historical and romantic back- 

 ground. For here was the old 

 Russian capital, and here yet are 

 Russian churches and houses, 

 and many landmarks of the old 

 Russian occupation before Secre- 

 tary of State William H. Seward, 

 back in 1867 bought all this 

 country from Russia for some 

 two cents per acre. 



ACRES OF ICE RIVER 



The Mendenhall Glacier, within 11 miles of Juneau and reachable over a good auto road is 

 a lodestone for travelers reaching this point. 



