32 CONSERVATION THROUGH ENGINEERING. 



There is an open stretch across Broad Pass to connect the Susitna 

 Valley with the road coming down from Nenana. This gap closed, 

 there will be through connection between Seward and Fairbanks. 



MATANUSKA COAL. 



By decisions of the Commissioner of the Land Office all of the 

 claims in the Matanuska coal field were set aside, and by act of 

 Congress a leasing bill was put into effect over the entire field. 

 Under this law a number of claims must be reserved to the Govern- 

 ment. The field was surveyed, and some of the most promising por- 

 tions of the field have been so reserved. 



Two leases have been entered into by the Government, one with 

 Lars Netland, a miner, who has a backer, Mr. Fontana, a business 

 man of San Francisco, and the other with Oliver La Duke and asso- 

 ciates. There are many thousands of acres in this field which are 

 open for lease and which will be leased to any responsible parties 

 who will undertake their development. Government experts who 

 have examined this field do not promise without further exploring a 

 larger output of coal from this field than 150,000 tons a year. 



The population of Alaska has fallen off during the war. She sent, 

 I am told, 5,000 men into the Army, the largest proportion to popu- 

 lation sent by any part of the United States. The high cost of labor 

 and materials closed some of the gold mines, and the attractive wages 

 offered by war industries drew labor from Alaska to the mainland. 

 All prospecting practically closed. But with the return of peace 

 there is evidence of a new movement toward that Territory which 

 should be given added confidence in its future by the completion of 

 the Alaskan Railroad. There is enough arable land in Alaska to 

 maintain a population the equal of all those now living in Norway, 

 Sweden, and Finland, and all that can be produced in those countries 

 can be produced in Alaska. The great need is a market, and this will 

 be found only as the mining and fishing industries of the country 

 develop. 



SAVE AND DEVELOP AMERICANS. 



When the whole story is told of American achievement and the 

 picture is painted of our material resources, we come back to the 

 plain but all-significant fact that far beyond all our possessions in 

 land and coal and waters and oil and industries is the American man. 

 To him, to his spirit and to his character, to his skill and to his in- 

 telligence is due all the credit for the land in which we live. And 

 that resource we are neglecting. He may be the best nurtured and 

 the best clothed and the best housed of all men on this great globe. 

 He may have more chances to become independent and even rich. 

 He may have opportunities for schooling nowhere else afforded. 



