COMPARISON OF FINMARKEN WITH ALASKA.--THE TWO LANDS MUCH ALIKE.--WHAT
MUST BE DONE FOR ALASKA.--COLONIZATION.--IMPORTATION OF
REINDEER.--PROTECTION OF FISHERIES.--HOUSES OF REFUGE.
That same evening (it has to be called so for the sake of distinction) I
stood out on the brow of the hill, looking at the fjord and Arctic
Ocean. Suddenly Alaska came to my mind. I remembered all I had seen on
the coast of Finmarken, and also all I had encountered and done in "Snow
Land", "The Land of the Long Night," and "The Land of the Winds," and I
said to myself, "Why should not Alaska have its fishing towns,
settlements, and hamlets, like those of Finmarken, and become as
prosperous as the country I have travelled through?" There is a
wonderful similarity between these two countries; they are both exactly
in the same latitudes; they have the same kind of barren coast bathed by
a warm stream, and both have fjords.
Alaska has immense shoals of codfish and herring, besides salmon. Both
have their long nights, and then long days of Midnight Sun. We must give
inducements to the people of Finmarken to come to Alaska. They will find
in their new country something similar to the one they have left, they
will enjoy the same life. California and Oregon will provide the people
with flour and send them delicacies and products of their state, and
take in return the cod and herring. The southern American countries
would be a great market for their codfish.
Then I thought that the only way to make Alaska prosperous eventually,
is to do exactly what the Swedes and Norwegians have done for their
country in the far North. The fisheries must be protected, and the laws
regulating them must be enforced. Then, as on the Finmarken coast,
towns, hamlets, and fishing settlements will rise in the course of time,
and the wealth of the people will come from the fish--their gold from
the sea. Then we shall have more American-born sailors to man our ships.
Some of the barren hills of Alaska should be planted with juniper,
birch, alder, and with pine and fir and other trees growing in the high
altitudes of the mountains of Scandinavia. It will take a good deal of
time, but the world was not made in one day. The Scandinavian laws
regarding the cutting of trees below a certain size ought to be adopted
for Alaska.
Then we must import many reindeer, and establish the same laws in regard
to them and their pasture as the Swedes and Norwegians have done. A
great many of these reindeer must be broken, and brought up to eat kept
reindeer moss. Samoides and Laplanders must be induced to come to
Alaska; they know how to take care of the reindeer, they are accustomed
to law and order, and they are absolutely honest.
"Yes, indeed, they are honest," I said loudly without knowing it; "for
they knew I had money with me, and I have never been afraid of being
robbed or murdered. Such thoughts have never entered my head." Then I
thought of the good care these kind people took of me when there was
danger in travelling.
Wherever there is a little good grazing land, houses and farms of
refuge, and post stations where reindeer can be procured, must be built
by the government in the interior, so that people can find refuge from
the terrific storms that blow over Alaska, and I cannot realize how they
could be fiercer than those I had encountered in Finmarken. With
reindeer and skees, travelling will become easy, and good distances will
be made in a short time.
In summer boat stations must be established along navigable rivers, also
a tariff made for distances and for food--so that there be no
overcharge--as is done in Sweden, Norway, and Finland.
Little hamlets with the church and the school will rise. Doctors must be
sent, and paid a salary by the government; besides a fee must be given
by the patient, who will then not call the doctor for a trifle.