UNLOCKING ALASKA 



479 



WESTERN HEMLOCK FOREST NEAR KETCHIKAN. TREES RANGE IN DIAMETER FROM 12 TO 24 

 INCHES, AND IN HEIGHT FROM 75 TO 100 FEET. 



fice Department, and $732,643.28 spent 

 by the Department of Justice. 



"Although a statement of the receipts 

 and expenditures," says the Secretary, 

 "show a large discrepancy on the debit 

 side of the ledger, this is by no means 

 discouraging. There are many items 

 of governmental expenditure in the ter- 

 ritory that are not fairly chargeable to 

 Alaska. Probably one-half or more of 

 the present and past expenditures come 

 under this head. The deficiency remain- 

 ing is one that may easily be overcome. 

 Alaska can be made self -supporting 

 within a very few years, as soon as con- 

 ditions are created which will enable 

 settlement and development, and pro- 

 duce revenues. So far, the government 

 has done little, aside from the care of 

 the seal herd, to bring returns. It is un- 

 reasonable to expect revenue from an 

 undeveloped and unsettled country." 



ALASKA'S FORESTS 



Having quoted Secretary Lane to 

 some extent, it is now interesting to 

 consider what the timber lands of 

 Alaska, which are to be made available 

 by the building of the government rail- 

 road and two or three privately owned 

 lines, offer to the prospective settler, or 



to the lumberman looking for an invest- 

 ment. 



In such a great area as that of Alaska 

 it is natural there should be a consid- 

 erable forest wealth, particularly since 

 the Alaskan panhandle contains an ex- 

 tension of those forests which have 

 given to our northwest and to British 

 Columbia the deserved reputation of 

 having the densest timber stands ever 

 known. In comparative areas, however, 

 the forests are rather restricted. West 

 of Cook's Inlet and the eastern end of 

 Kadiak Island there is no forest growth 

 whatever, if one excepts a little group 

 of spruce planted by priests of the Rus- 

 sian Greek Church near Unalaska a 

 group that has not thrived and stands 

 very lonesome and forlorn, all of 600 

 miles away from its nearest relatives. 



The two principal forest regions are, 

 first, the south and southeast coast ; and 

 second, the broad valleys of the interior, 

 where the only forests of any great 

 density are pretty close to the rivers 

 the upper reaches of the Yukon and its 

 branches, and the Kuskokwim. The 

 coast forests, as already stated, are sim- 

 ply northern extensions of those of Brit- 

 ish Columbia. They do not go far in- 

 land, being barred by glaciers and peaks 

 above timber line. The inland forests 



