AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA. 



19 



Generally speaking, it is necessary to clear the land of the timber 

 growth and then remove the coat of moss. The timber growth is 

 heavy on the south coast and smaller in the interior, but is often in 

 dense thickets. Present experience does not favor plowing the moss 

 under, as it seems to decay very slowly and it contains properties 

 that appear to be injurious to ordinary farm crops. If it can be 

 destroyed by burning on the ground the effect is beneficial. Mr. 

 Kehoe accomplishes this quite effectively by rigging a standing 

 cutter to a plowbeam, cutting the field in narrow strips, and then 

 plowing a thin furrow slice. After it has lain awhile in this con- 

 dition to dry, fire will smoulder its way through the loosened layer 

 of moss and semipeat and leave a sprinkling of ashes that is beneficial 

 to the land. 



Fig. 8. — Tanana Valley agricultural exhibit at Fairbanks, Alaska, September 24, 1900. 



(Photographed by Huey.) 



The Tanana Valley, extending from the mouth of the Tanana 

 upstream 200 miles as the crow flies, contains the largest area of 

 available tillable land to be found in any one locality in Alaska. 

 Within this area is Fairbanks (figs. 7, 8, and 9), the largest town in 

 the Territory and the center of the greatest mining activity, which is 

 principally placer gold mining. Consequently there is here the best 

 local market for farm produce of any place in Alaska. Market 

 gardeners, dairymen, poultry keepers, and general farmers are pros- 

 pering in the immediate vicinity of Fairbanks. At Hot Springs, 

 midway between Fairbanks and Tanana, large quantities of vege- 

 tables are grown on J. F. Karshner's homestead by taking advantage 



