i86 



The National Geographic Magazine 



of two custom-houses, with all the at- 

 tending annoyances of delays and formal- 

 ities. It should be remembered, too, that 

 the route to Fairbanks via the White 

 Pass Railway involves the transhipment 

 of freiglit at White Horse to Canadian 

 steamers, a journey of 500 miles to Daw- 

 son, then a transhipment to American 

 boats and another journey of 800 miles, 

 of which 200 miles is upstream. If good 

 connections are made, some eight days 

 are consumed in going from tide-water 

 on Lynn Canal to Fairbanks, which by a 

 direct line could be reached in 450 miles. 

 As a rule, freight is at least a month in 

 transit. The journey up the river, while 

 it avoids one transhipment, involves 

 changing from ocean vessels to river 

 steamers at the mouth of the Yukon, and 

 then a 1,200-mile upstream journey. 

 Moreover, these routes are only open 

 . from the first of June to the middle of 

 September. It would seem, therefore, 

 that if the resources of the Yukon are 

 sufficient to warrant the construction of 

 a railway, such a railway should hold its 

 own against the competition of water 

 transportation. In any event, a railway 

 into the Susitna-Copper River province 

 would encounter no competition with 

 steamboat transportation. 



Considered geographically, the routes 

 described fall into two classes, namely, 

 the one comprising those parallel to the 

 lines of height, and the other those trans- 

 verse to the lines of height. In the first 

 group belong the trans-Alaskan-Siberian 

 line, the Lynn-Canal-Fairbanks line, to- 

 gether with its alternate, the Alsek- 

 Fairbanks line. 



These routes, as has been shown, are 

 parallel to the dominant axes of uplift, 

 and therefore harmonious with the 

 topography. As a matter of fact, how- 

 ever, pioneer railways are usually trans- 

 verse to the watersheds, for the reason 

 that they are located to supplement and 

 not to supplant water transportation. 

 The history of railway development in 

 the United States shows that piedmont 

 lines are the last to be built. A railway 

 parallel to the inland front of the Saint 

 Elias range would traverse a series of 



abandoned valleys such as are every- 

 where recognized as ideal topographic 

 conditions. 



Geographically, therefore, these routes 

 would appear to have the advantage, and 

 would, moreover, render accessible a 

 large area in the interior of Alaska and 

 northwest Canada not reached by any 

 railways of the other group. When, 

 however, the developed resources are 

 considered, they are at a disadvan- 

 tage, for while they would tap the upper 

 copper-bearing region, they would reach 

 neither the valuable southern copper belt 

 nor the coal fields. 



The transverse lines, including the 

 Copper and Susitna routes, appear, as 

 has been shown, to follow the laws which 

 govern the location of pioneer railways ; 

 that is, they cross the watersheds and 

 connect existing lines of water trans- 

 portation. 



In any event, it is clear that a properly 

 located transverse line must follow one 

 of the rivers which traverses the coast 

 ranges. Two such railways, one up the 

 Copper and one up the Susitna, are 

 already under construction. The rival 

 interests financing the two projects have 

 been loud in claiming that each route was 

 the best. In point of fact, the two sup- 

 plement each other. It is certain that a 

 railway by way of the Copper River fol- 

 lows the only feasible route to copper 

 deposits of the Wrangell region. It is 

 equally certain that as a route to the 

 Yukon a railway up the Susitna River 

 has the best of it. Again, neither of 

 these lines bisect Alaska as would a rail- 

 way extending from Lynn Canal to Fair- 

 banks and to the Seward Peninsula. 



The matter presented in the foregoing 

 pages indicates that more facts are 

 needed before scientific deductions can be 

 drawn of the best route for immediate 

 construction. Meanwhile, however, in 

 view of the large amount of capital ready 

 for investment in any promising enter- 

 prise, it is only too likely that the prob- 

 lem will be solved by experimentation 

 alone, as has been done at great cost else- 

 where; in other words, by the survival 

 of the fittest. 



