UNLOCKING ALASKA 



485 



VIEW ACROSS YUKON VALLEY TO TOWN OF RAMPART AND HILLS BEYOND, FROM U. S. AGRICULTURAL 

 EXPERIMENT STATION. TIMBER MOSTLY CLEARED AND CJJT. BLACK SPRUCE AT THE 

 EDGE OF RIVER, WITH OCCASIONAL VETERAN WHITE SPRUCE. 



is used largely for local demands, with 

 a good share going into boxes to carry 

 the salmon pack. It is, however, not 

 more than one-twentieth of what can be 

 cut from the forests for an indefinite 

 period, since they are largely over-ma- 

 ture and will readily stand a yearly 

 drain of 800 million feet. 



Within the past year the first full 

 cargo of timber from the Alaskan For- 

 ests went to the States, when the 

 steamer Melville Dollar cleared for San 

 Francisco with 1,200,000 feet aboard. 

 She was loaded at the mill, and this il- 

 lustrates a phase of Alaskan lumbering 

 which is bound to have a potent effect 

 on the development of the industry. 

 Many of the trees can be actually felled 

 into the fiord-like waters of the coast ; 

 few trees are any considerable distance 

 away and the ground slopes rapidly 

 down to the sea. Mills on tidewater 

 can have their logs rafted right up to 

 the saw, and can load from their lum- 

 ber piles to the decks of ocean-going 

 vessels. 



When it comes to a question of pulp, 

 for which much of the spruce is partic- 

 ularly suited, there is, moreover, the 

 added advantage of the many streams 

 which will furnish abundant and cheap 



power. It is true that they are com- 

 paratively short and have little or no 

 natural storage basins ; but they are 

 swift, and, because of the heavy and 

 well-distributed rainfall, constant in 

 their flow. 



The Tongass Forest, with its TO bil- 

 lion feet of timber, or about one-eighth 

 of the total stand of all National Forest 

 timber, is already more than self-sup- 

 porting, and also more than takes care 

 of the expense of the Chugach, which 

 thus far has not been as fully developed 

 as the more accessible Tongass. 



Any prediction as to the possibilities 

 of the future are reasonably sure to 

 fall short of what is likely to happen 

 within a few decades. Five years ago 

 it was recognized that trunk lines of 

 railroad would accelerate development 

 and bring about permanent population 

 and institutions. Now r the railroad is 

 assured under the best sort of owner- 

 ship. 



Heretofore the idea has been to take 

 out of Alaska what wealth might be had 

 quickly and cheaply. That day has al- 

 ready passed. Placer mining under the 

 old methods is already over. The new 

 way is with giant dredges working care- 

 fully over the low-grade ground on long- 



