io6 The National Geographic Magazine 



velop them, owing solely to the cost of 

 transportation. 



Owing to the absence of transportation 

 facilities, nothing is being done further 

 inland, but a railroad from the nearest 

 port to the interior, a narrow-gauge 

 railroad, should pay for its cost each 

 season for many years to come. There 

 are no heavy grades, no mountain work, 

 and for many miles it runs through a 

 heavily timbered country, but west of 

 Council there is no timber, and both 

 lumber and fuel are exceedingly high 

 in price. There is not only gold here, 

 but also what gives promise of being 

 one of the richest lead and silver dis- 

 tricts in the world. Seventy miles in- 

 land from the ocean, up the Fish River 

 and its tributary, Omilak Creek, less 

 than 50 miles by railroad survey, silver 

 and lead ore has for 18 years past been 

 quarried out, the ore running from 70 

 per cent to 80 per cent lead and about 

 120 ounces of silver to the ton. Much 

 ore lies sacked on the dump, but in 

 small quantities of several hundred tons 

 it costs more to move it than it is worth, 

 although its smelting value exceeds $100 

 a ton. From Golofnin Bay there is a 

 freight rate of $3 a ton to the Tacoma 

 smelter, but the wagon haul to the river 

 and the transportation down the river 

 is as yet prohibitive. This one quarry, 

 if properly equipped and opened, should 

 yield a minimum of 10,000 tons a year. 



For Pacific Coast maritime evolution 

 Alaska has been of inestimable advan- 

 tage. The Dawson rush of 1897 an( i 

 1898 impressed every available boat, and 

 when it was over left well established 

 lines with almost daily service. The 

 Nome rush of 1900 again caused a de- 

 mand for all available craft, and in 

 summer the regular service keeps a 

 fleet of more than a dozen ocean steamers 

 busy. The Valdes developments even 

 now justify weekly sailings. All the 

 worn-out dilapidated craft of American 

 register drift into these runs, and as 

 the Alaskan coast is for the most part 

 uncharted, unbuoyed, and unlighted, 

 many of them find their graves in north- 

 ern waters. 



The export trade from Alaska for four 

 months ending October 31, 1902, ex- 

 ceeded $20,000,000, and was equal to 

 that from Hawaii (for ten months end- 

 ing the same date), was three times 

 that of the Philippines, and more than 

 double that of Porto Rico. The island 

 dependencies of the United States are 

 densely populated, small in area, and 

 fairly well developed. They are in the 

 tropics, and unfit for white men and 

 their families. Alaska needs 10,000 

 miles of railroad, 20,000 miles of wagon 

 roads and telephone lines, and can, as 

 fast as transportation is available, give 

 homes and employment to a population 

 of 10,000,000. 



THE FORESTS OF CANADA 



THE immense forest resources of 

 Canada are not generally realized 

 outside the Dominion. Hence 

 the statements contained in a recent re- 

 port fromU. S. Consul Henry S. Culver, 

 at London,* Ontario, about the Cana- 



* "Advance Sheets of Consular Reports," 

 January 31, 1903 (No. 1559)- 



dian forests are specially striking. The 

 following is abstracted from the report : 

 There are three great timber belts in 

 the Dominion : The northern or spruce 

 belt, the southern or commercial belt — 

 both east of the Rocky Mountains — and 

 the British Columbia belt, west of the 

 Rocky Mountains. These belts do not 



