BERING RIVER COAL. 77 
All these plans are feasible, although the last would have the disadvantage of possible 
interference by ice for a short time in the winter. The choice must depend onquestions 
of cost, including both the actual cost of handling the coal and the interest on the original 
investment. Some of the projects involve the extension of the road to the copper fields 
of the interior, which would of course greatly modify the conditions. There are no diffi- 
culties connected with building a railroad from any point on Controller Bay or Katalla 
Bay to the coal field. The important factors in the problem are, on one hand, the rela- 
tive merits of a local harbor, questions of depth of water, holding ground, shelter from 
storms and from ice, and cost of improvements being considered, and, on the other hand, 
the cost of a longer road to a possibly better harbor farther west. 
