Vol. XX, Xo. 7 



WASHINGTON 



July, 1909 



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THE ECONOMIC EVOLUTION OF ALASKA 



By Major General A. W. Greely, U. S. Army 



Author of "Handbook of Alaska," etc. 



THE fact that Alaska is of econom- 

 ical importance to the rest of 

 ■ the United States is an opinion 

 born of late years, which even yet is not 

 widely disseminated. Indeed, the tenor 

 of public knowledge on this subject was 

 strikingly illustrated by a foot-note to an 

 ai Licle by one of the best informed and 

 highly esteemed of foreign writers on 

 American subjects, whose reference to 

 the Territory was printed, without ac- 

 companying comment, in one of the most 

 influential and progressive periodicals of 

 this country. The writer, referring to 

 Alaska in 1905, said : "This vast region 

 is inhabited by a few savages, and is not 

 likely ever to support a population large 

 enough to make its government a matter 

 of practical consequence." Undoubtedly 

 this statement represented the general 

 opinion of intelligent men eastward of 

 the Rocky Mountains. 



It is, however, but one of the many in- 

 stances in which leaders of American 

 thought or opinion, illy informed as to 

 Alaska, have indirectly characterized it as 

 a land of gilded rainbows and unfulfilled 

 promises, whose golden bonanzas are un- 

 substantial foundations for permanent 

 communities, and that to there obtain a 

 dollar in gold necessitates the expendi- 

 ture of two others. 



The writer holds no brief for Alaska, 



and makes no recommendations as to im- 

 migration or investments. In his Hand- 

 book of Alaska he has treated briefly 

 such subjects of commercial interest as 

 "Mining," "Fisheries," "Agriculture," 

 "Forestry," "Trade and Transportation." 

 He now yields somewhat reluctantly to 

 the request of the National Geographic 

 Magazine to consider the lines along 

 which commercial progress in Alaska has 

 proceeded, with pertinent comments on 

 its interruption, diversion, and develop- 

 ment. 



The great Alaska- Yukon- Pacific Expo- 

 sition is doing useful work in bringing 

 the resources and possibilities of this val- 

 uable Territory to public notice, and 

 many visitors will be brought to the reali- 

 zation that Alaska contributes its full . 

 share to the glory and support of the 

 nation. 



In considering the commercial aspects 

 of this remote region, it is apparent that 

 the products of Alaska, upon which all 

 trade depends, have hitherto been drawn 

 from three widely divergent sources — 

 furs, fish, and gold — which will be sepa- 

 rately considered. 



WEALTH FROM FURS 



Land and aquatic furs were the pri- 

 mary — indeed, the only — source of eco- 

 nomical wealth in Alaska during its gov- 



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NOV 5 1981 



