Photo by Hettels 

 THE TERMINAL OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT RAILWAY AT SEWARD, ALASKA 



feed the workers in the cities and mining 

 camps (see page 586). 



In May, 19 14, the Alaskan Engineer- 

 ing Commission was created by President 

 Wilson, to act under Secretary of the 

 Interior Lane in making investigations 

 of proposed railroad lines in the Terri- 

 tory, to enable the President to decide on 

 the most available route from an ice-free 

 harbor in the south to the navigable, 

 winter-bound rivers of the interior. The 

 act of Congress of March 12, 1914, had 

 authorized the President to locate, build, 

 or purchase and operate a system of rail- 

 roads in Alaska, at a cost not to exceed 

 $35,000,000. An appropriation of $1,- 

 000,000 was made immediately available. 



The government was particularly for- 

 tunate in the selection of the members of 

 the Engineering Commission. The men 

 chosen are leaders in their profession, 

 of wide experience, and possessed of the 

 imagination, determination, and fertility 

 of resource which equip them thoroughly 



for their difficult task of penetrating the 

 mountains and wilds of unsettled country, 

 locating and building therein a railroad. 



NO MORRIS-CHAIR JOB 



Their's was no Morris-chair job. It 

 was not a matter of sitting in a comfort- 

 able office and directing activities of a 

 field force, but of each member of the 

 Commission personally leading and di- 

 recting exploring parties, seeing the coun- 

 try with his own eyes, and amid the 

 glaciers, streams, mountains, and valleys 

 selecting with careful judgment a safe 

 and practicable route for a great govern- 

 mental highway, intended to open to set- 

 tlement the last great wilderness of the 

 United States. 



William C. Edes, of California, chair- 

 man of the Commission, was chief engi- 

 neer of the Northwestern Pacific Railway 

 at the time of his appointment. Many 

 eminent engineers and railroad men rec- 

 ommended him as the best qualified engi- 



568 



