Photo by Johnson 

 COAL OUTCROPPINGS ABOUT SIX MILES UP LIGNITE CREEK I NENANA COAL FIELDS 



By executive order, the timber on a 

 strip 5 miles wide on each side of the 

 railroad route, from Turnagain Arm to 

 Chickaloon and Fairbanks, was early last 

 summer reserved for the use of the Com- 

 mission for construction purposes. Leg- 

 islation was also enacted in the last Con- 

 gress whereby timber may be taken free 

 of charge from the Chugach Forest Re- 

 serve. 



TIMBER FROM SEATTLE 



Because of the fact that the large tim- 

 ber through much of this region is widely 

 scattered, however, and the additional 

 fact that it is largely cottonwood or other 

 soft varieties, while much of the spruce 

 is small and knotty, it was found imprac- 

 ticable to utilize the local timber supply 

 exclusively in securing lumber for bridge 

 and other heavy construction, and lum- 

 ber has been brought in from Seattle, at 

 a delivered price, as low as $19 per thou- 

 sand feet. The local timber will be re- 

 lied upon mainly to supply piling and 



crossties for the entire length of the line. 

 With the beginning of work of the rail- 

 road last spring there was a threatened 

 stampede to Alaska in search of employ- 

 ment, incited by the popular notion of 

 high labor prices prevailing there, and 

 the probable belief that the government 

 would pay higher wages than private em- 

 ployers. So far as possible this stampede 

 was checked by giving publicity to the 

 facts, but even then the Commission was 

 not able to give work to all of those who 

 applied. 



Most of the clearing and grading work 

 on the railroad is being done by contract, 

 on the "station" or "piece-work" system, 

 which has been followed generally in 

 railroad construction in the Western 

 States for years. A gang or number of 

 men associate as partners and are given 

 the contract for clearing right of way at 

 so much an acre, or for grading at rates 

 per cubic yard, according to classification. 

 When the contract is finished the work is 

 measured up and the gang paid at the 



581 



