28 BTJLLETIX 50, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGBICULTUBE. 
The timber growth, which occurs on practically all the land suit- 
able for tillage, must, of course, be cleared from the land. 
All this work — building houses and barns, draining, clearing land 
of moss and timber — is very slowly accomplished in the short outdoor 
working season if done single handed by the homesteader, and costly, 
almost prohibitively so if hired labor is used, because of the high 
wages and living expenses. 
Lack of general transportation which would open up the country, 
of local wagon roads, schools, churches, and other features of present- 
day life, and of the markets in which to sell farm products and from 
which to obtain home supplies and farm equipment are deterrent 
features at present, but they will disappear in time. 
Another serious obstacle to homesteaders is the lack of Government 
land surveys. Under the law a man may locate a homestead on 
unsurveyed land and fix boundaries by metes and bounds: but he can 
not get a title to the land until he has had the tract surveyed at his 
personal expense by an authorized surveyor and has had the survey 
approved. This means an outlay of several hundred dollars in cash, 
which few homesteaders in Alaska have available. Happily, this is 
now being remedied by the General Land Office. Surveying par- 
ties have been at work in the Fairbanks and Cook Inlet regions, near 
Seward, and in the Copper Eiver Valley sectionizing the land, and 
this work will be continued until all the areas where farming is 
feasible have been covered. 
SUMMARY. 
Alaska lies between latitude 51° 20' and 71° 20' X.. and longitude 
130° TV and 175° E. 
Seattle is 400 miles nearer to Eastport, Me., the easternmost point 
of the United States, than to Attu. the extreme western point of 
Alaska. The meridian of longitude passing through Attu also passes 
through Xew Zealand. 
The coast line is 26.000 miles long. On the south coast there are 
numerous deep, land-locked, ice-free harbors. 
The total length of the navigable rivers is 6.000 miles. The Yukon 
is 1.500 miles from the mouth to the Canadian boundary and is 
navigable by large steamers for 500 miles above that point. It drains 
an area of 200.000 square miles. 
Alaska has an area of 586.400 square miles, of which 100.000 square 
miles are susceptible of agricultural use — tillage and grazing. Prob- 
ably 30.000 square miles, or 5 per cent of the total area, can be made 
available for tillage. 
Four-fifths of the possible tillage area is in the Central Plateau, 
of which the Tanana Valley offers the largest opportunities for farm- 
