I«2 



The National Geographic Magazine 



The line would run southeastward from 

 Yakutat Bay for about 50 miles, to the 

 mouth of the Alsek. A narrow-gauge 

 railway has already been built for about 

 10 miles of this distance, for the purpose 

 of bringing fish to the salmon cannery at 

 Yakutat. The Alsek Valley is almost 

 unexplored, but no doubt a railway could 

 be built through it. It would intersect 

 the Pyramid Harbor-Tanana route about 

 200 miles from the coast, and would 

 there attain an altitude of about 2,400 

 feet (see profile, page 179). 



Yakutat Bay, which is about 1,150 

 statute miles (1,000 nautical miles) by 

 sea from Puget Sound, is only a fair 

 harbor, and, so far as known, the pro- 

 posed railway would not tap any mineral 

 deposits, though such may exist in the 

 unexplored Saint Elias Mountains. At 

 170 miles from Yakutat it joins the 

 Pyramid Harbor route, and is open to 

 the same objection, inasmuch as it passes 

 through Canadian territory. 



CORDOVA BAY, OR CONTROLLER BAY, COP- 

 PER RIVER 



Cordova Bay, an eastern arm of Prince 

 William Sound, lies about 30 miles west 

 of Copper River. A railway, now in 

 construction, is to follow a route skirt- 

 ing the coastal margin of the mountains 

 to the Copper River, and then, turning 

 northward, to traverse the Chugach 

 Mountains through the valley of that 

 river. A distance of about 200 miles 

 will bring it to the mouth of the Chitina, 

 and with 100 miles more of track it will 

 be able to tap the copper belt, which 

 skirts the southern margin of the Wran- 

 gell Mountains. The route to the mouth 

 of the Chitina follows the river grade, 

 and there are no serious engineering diffi- 

 culties, with the exception of the two 

 bridges, 800 and 1,200 feet in length, 

 which will have to be built across the 

 Copper to avoid the Miles and Childs 

 glaciers (see illustration, page 190). 



A corollary to this plan is to construct 

 a branch line about 35 miles in length 

 from the Copper River to the Controller 

 Bay coal field (see map, page 178). 



A rival company has made a survey 

 for a railway from near the mouth of 

 Katalla River, 30 miles east of the Cop- 

 per, which is to run northwestward to the 

 head of the Copper River delta. A single 

 bridge will be needed to avoid the gla- 

 ciers, beyond which point the route will 

 coincide with the one above described. 

 This route has the advantage of the one 

 above described, inasmuch as it is some- 

 what shorter and has to bridge the Cop- 

 per but once. Katalla is only 1,200 miles 

 distant from Puget Sound, as compared 

 with 1,350 for Cordova Bay. On the 

 other hand, at Cordova there is an excel- 

 lent natural harbor, while at Katalla a 

 breakwater will have to be constructed. 

 On the other hand, again, a harbor at 

 Katalla would serve the Controller Bay 

 coal field. Whichever line is built, cer- 

 tain it is that there is not room for two 

 railways along this Copper River route. 



V.\LDEZ-C0PPF,R RIVER ROUTE 



An alternate plan for reaching the cop- 

 per belt of the Chitina region is to build 

 a railway from Valdez. Valdez Inlet, a 

 northeastern arm of Prince William 

 Sound, is 1,400 miles distant from Puget 

 Sound. Surveys have been made and 

 some construction work has already been 

 done on two railway projects which are 

 planned to cross Marshall Pass, about 

 1,900 feet high and 30 miles from Val- 

 dez, and thence down the Tasnuna River 

 to the Copper (see profile, page 179). 

 From the mouth of the Tasnuna the 

 route would correspond with the route 

 up the Copper River. The distance from 

 Valdez to the mouth of the Chitina is 

 about 20 miles less than from Cordova, 

 but a pass 1,900 feet in height has to be 

 crossed ; on the other hand, two expen- 

 sive bridges over the Copper would not 

 be needed. This line would not reach 

 the Controller Bay coal field. 



Most of the railway projects into the 

 Copper River have been planned with the 

 ultimate object of extension into the 

 Yukon ba^in. Some of these have chosen 

 Eagle, other Fairbanks, as their ultimate 

 objective point. Of the two. Eagle ap- 



