Railway Routes in Alaska 



171 



(see map, page 169). The southern belt, 

 to which a railway is being built, has been 

 sufficiently developed to indicate a large 

 tonnage. 



AGRICULTURAL POSSIBILITIES 



I have shown that the resources which 

 promise to yield a tonnage are gold, cop- 

 per, and coal. The forests, except along 

 the seaboard, have no value for export 

 (see map, page 172). Inland the heavy 

 timber, of which the largest trees are not 

 over two feet in diameter, is closely lim- 

 ited to the river courses. Though there 

 are sawmills in every placer camp of the 

 Yukon, that these do not even supply the 

 local demand is made evident by the fact 

 that in 1905 upward of $30,000 worth of 

 lumber was brought to the Yukon from 

 Puget Sound. The timber map can also 

 be used to indicate the general distribu- 

 tion of arable lands, for the areas marked 

 as timber embrace practically all the 

 lands which may possess future agri- 

 cultural value. A region lying adjacent 

 to and north of Cook Inlet appears to be 

 best adapted for agriculture, but in the 

 Copper and Tanana basins, too, there are 

 considerable tracts of agricultural and 

 grazing lands. It should be borne in 

 mind that beyond the coastal barrier the 

 subsoil usually remains perpetually 

 frozen and the climate is semi-arid. 

 These conditions, combined with the 

 shortness of the growing season and the 

 liability of frosts, do not invite agri- 

 cultural pursuits. Nevertheless, the con- 

 ditions are no more adverse than those 

 existing in some European countries 

 which support a thrifty agricultural 

 peasantry and export agricultural prod- 

 ucts. The richness of the soil is attested 

 by the many gardens found throughout 

 the inland region. These are specially 

 successful where hot springs have thawed 

 the soil. One of these is shown in the 

 illustration on page 183. 



4 TONS OF COAL AND 30 TONS OF GOLD 

 EXPORTED IN 1905 



As regards the developed resources, 

 little can be added to what has already 



been presented. The rapid increase in 

 gold production is shown in the diagram 

 on page 175. Including 1906, the total 

 output of gold is about $100,000,000, 

 only about one-quarter of which has come 

 from the inland districts, as shown in the 

 following table : 



Gold Production of Alaska, with Approximate 

 Distribution 



* Production for 1906 is estimated. 



The copper production, which in 1905 

 was valued at $750,000, has so far been 

 only from the coastal zone, and therefore 

 does not affect this discussion. In 1905 

 4 tons of coal were exported from 

 Alaska, as compared with 30 tons of 

 gold, which strikingly indicates that the 

 coal fields have not yet been exploited. 

 Several thousand tons are, however, 

 mined annually for local use. It is 

 worthy of note that both the Controller 

 Bay and Matanuska coal fields (see map, 

 page 170) carry some excellent coking 

 coals, and, if made accessible by rail- 

 ways, the mining of this character of 

 fuel for smelting of the copper ores is 

 likely to become an important industry. 



