BURIED WEALTH
It is not the purpose of such a book as this to go into detail in
regard to the gold and the other minerals which lie hidden in the heart
of Alaska. There are many volumes dealing with the gold fields and with
mines and mining which contain such definite information along those
lines as the student may seek. But to those who knew Alaska both before
and after the great stampede of 1898 the change of scene in the
locality offers food for thought. In the great Interior, where once man
alone, with only his pick and shovel, coaxed from Mother Earth in small
quantities the precious yellow metal, huge monsters with an endless
chain of buckets now swoop down, dig up sand and gravel by the ton and
search every ounce of it for gold. One may now take a motor car and
ride out to the spots where in the early days bewildering fortunes were
made in a short space of time,--fortunes which in many cases were spent
as fast as they were made. A well-known missionary of the Episcopal
Church relates that one day during his travels he met a man freighting
with dogs along the Koyakuk River. He learned while stopping at the
camp that night that in the palmy days of the gold rush this man had
offered a dance-hall girl her weight in gold dust if she would marry
him. She refused. But she told him she would get his dust anyway. And
she did!
Twenty years have gone by since the madness at Dawson, Nome, and the
other gold centers was at its height. The true story of the stampede to
Klondike has never been written. Perhaps it never will be. It was
unique,--not so much in the number who flocked to the gold fields. Of
those who went between 1897 and 1900 thirty thousand is an elastic
estimate. Far greater was the multitude which flooded California during
the wild rush of '49. Eighty thousand in one year! Five thousand ships,
deserted by both owners and crews, tossed idly in San Francisco Bay.
Three years later there was a much larger migration to Australia. A
hundred thousand gold seekers entered the port of Melbourne in 1852!
But the Klondike stampede is without a parallel in history because of
the conditions to be confronted. Never before had a gold region been so
inaccessible, so remote. Never before had such masses of men flung
themselves against an Arctic wilderness, determined to do or die! The
result was only what was to be expected. The physically unfit perished.
Only the hardy survived. Hundreds of men, fresh from offices and shops,
came, bringing their city-bred habits and customs. They found them of
no value in this land where Nature, in her fiercest and most savage
mood, awaited them. They died,--died in almost every conceivable
manner. They perished of exhaustion, of starvation, of disease. They
were the victims of their own ignorance and lack of experience. They
were drowned. They were smothered in snow-slides. Only the fittest held
out. These, making long journeys up and down the frozen rivers, through
dense forests and over rough mountains, ofttimes pulling their own
sleds,--these have left no record of those tragic days for the world to
read!
The Matanuska coal fields are the richest in the world, not excepting
the rich mines of Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky. They lie in
ninety square miles of territory. The vein is fourteen feet and bears
the highest grade of coking coal,--the only coal except that to be
found in Virginia which is fit for the use of the Navy. It is estimated
that this coal can be mined and shipped to San Francisco at a cost of
four dollars a ton, that if it should be sold at retail at six dollars
a ton, the price would be nine dollars cheaper than the present price
of coal in Los Angeles! In my judgment this solves the coal question,
both as to its use for domestic purposes and in time of war as well.
The new government railroad leads directly into the Matanuska coal
fields.
As far as the mineral deposits,--the gold, copper, tin, etc.,--are
concerned one may truthfully say that they have not yet been touched,
although the yearly output is more than thirty-two million dollars. The
richest mines are not the gold mines. They are the copper mines. Last
year (1917) the Kennicott copper mines produced the largest per cent of
the thirty-two million. And the copper production doubles in value the
entire production of gold. Since the purchase of Alaska the country has
produced in excess of five hundred million dollars,--a country which
was bought for seven million two hundred and fifty thousand! Alaska was
Uncle Sam's best bargain.
Harry Olsen, a member of Stefanson's latest expedition, asserts that
fabulous deposits of native copper were seen by them on Bank's Island,
about six hundred miles north of Great Bear Lake. The Eskimos use
copper for everything for which any kind of metal is used and because
it is so plentiful and so easy to obtain they think it of no value.
In 1913 I was going from Nome to Siberia on the S. S. _Victoria_. Among
the passengers were Dr. and Mrs. Anderson and several members of
Stefanson's party. We put them off into their own boats in the
Roadstead, outside of Nome. The expedition was wrecked just after
leaving Diomede Islands and the party lost for a year. Amundsen, when
he returned through the Northwest Passage, reported having seen a tribe
of blond Eskimos. Stefanson was on his way to verify that report. Later
a second expedition was fitted out and the report substantiated.
There are many famous placer gold mines,--at Nome, at Dawson, and at
the other localities in the Yukon. Two of the largest quartz mines in
the world are at Juneau,--the Alaska Juneau and the Alaska Gastineau.
Each plant handles from eight to ten thousand tons of ore a day. The
Juneau mines had produced sixty-two millions of dollars' worth of ore
when the ocean broke through and flooded the works. Two-thirds of the
property was ruined. But the remaining third, now enclosed by a huge
concrete dam, is still producing. The famous Treadwell mines are on
Douglas Island and have recently had a similar experience. About a
year ago they also were flooded and sustained a serious loss.
[Illustration: SLUICING THE WINTER DUMP AT FAIRBANKS]
[Illustration: THE THIRD BEACH AT NOME FROM WHICH WAS TAKEN MILLIONS OF
DOLLARS WORTH OF GOLD IN DUST AND NUGGETS]
[Illustration: ONE NIGHT'S CATCH. NEARLY FIVE THOUSAND SALMON WEIGHING
APPROXIMATELY 75,000 POUNDS]
[Illustration: A FISHWHEEL]
I have already said that it is not my purpose to go into detail in
regard to the mines and the other industries of the North. I wish only
to reveal the opportunities which lie waiting for him who is alert for
business chances. When the new railroad is completed any able-bodied
man who has energy, initiative and ambition can get into the interior
of this rich country at little expense. And if it were generally known
how many hundred prospectors are laying their plans to be there during
this present year (1918) the laggard would bestir himself! It can not
be long until _all_ the industries of Alaska will be opened up upon a
large scale. The climate, while severe at times, need not deter any
well man or woman from going. People here dress for the weather. Real
suffering from cold is seldom known. Nobody has "bad colds" in Alaska.
The cold is dry and invigorating. Nowhere on earth will one find men
and women of such perfect health. Nowhere will one see sturdier,
healthier, more rosy-cheeked children. Moreover, novelists and
playwrights to the contrary, the living and working conditions here are
governed by the very same principles and laws as those of other lands.
Any man or woman can get on in Alaska just as long as he or she is "on
the square." Otherwise either of them, in my judgment, will, in time,
come to grief anywhere.
As was the case with the railroads, the government was up against the
proposition of government ownership or private monopoly in regard to
the rich coal fields of Alaska. When their value was discovered,
capitalists and entry men with speculative tendencies swooped down upon
the coal treasures of the country, horse, foot and dragoon. For a time
it seemed that the entire potential wealth of the land was to have the
usual fate,--that of being brought under monopolistic control.
The United States Government has ill repaid Theodore Roosevelt for much
that he has done. But Alaskans will not forget and the United States
will one day realize what he did for them in this particular instance.
When he saw what was about to happen, with his characteristic method of
doing things first and asking permission afterward, he withdrew every
acre of coal-bearing land in Alaska from entry! This was nearly fifteen
years ago. Alaska sat helpless and gnashed her teeth while legislation
fought with politics and speculation wrestled with finance.
Being able to see the absurdity which never fails to appear in such
crises and to laugh at it has saved many a man from losing his chances
of going to Heaven! One day in 1913 I chanced to be at Dutch Harbor
where the battleship _Maryland_ was coaling. Had the _Maryland_ carried
a gun such as the German one which fired on Paris on Good Friday of the
present year she might have fired a volley which could have landed
squarely in the Matanuska coal fields! There was nothing funny in the
situation to an Alaskan, of course, but I was moved to unseemly mirth
when I saw that _Pocahontas_ coal _from Virginia_ going into her
bunkers! We in Alaska (_miserere_!) were importing coal for our own use
from Washington, California and--Australia!
Now, however, Alaska has her reward. The Secretary of the Interior has
re-opened the coal fields for entry. But permission is given only to
_lease_ the coal tracts. Before this book appears the first Alaskan
coal will be helping to fill the bunkers, not only of Alaska herself
but of the Pacific coast as well.
There is one noticeable thing about the conditions imposed upon the
lessees of the coal fields by Secretary Lane and it is a point upon
which both the prospective lessee and employee should be informed.
These conditions provide for the safeguarding of the lives and welfare
of the miners. No operator may mine coal at minimum cost without
regard for the safety of his men. The rules are explicit. The lease
requires him to "leave ample support for the roof of the drifts and
stopes, to provide adequate ventilation, special exits, to guard
against explosion, flooding, 'squeezes' and fire." The protection of
the workman goes even further than this. No firm, or individual,
operating in government land, may work the miners longer than eight
hours a day. They must agree to pay them twice a month in cash. The
forced buying at stores owned by the company is strictly prohibited.
The operators, at the request of a majority of the miners, must grant
one of their number, chosen by vote, permission to check and weigh the
coal in cases where the miners' pay is based upon their output.
Wise provisions these! The stormy and bloody history of the Colorado
fields is to have no repetition here if the foresight and the good
judgment of the Department of the Interior can prevent it. All these
things lend to the desirability of employment in Alaska. There are only
two spots in the country where the coal lands are in possession of
individuals or of private companies. Every other inch of it belongs to
the government. And it will keep on belonging to it! The Secretary of
the Interior, Mr. Franklin K. Lane, is the largest operating landlord
in the world. While you may not buy coal land in Alaska you may lease
it--for not more than fifty years. For each ton mined you pay a royalty
to the government. You may then ship your coal in a government
coal-car! One can see how easy it will be for a lessee to make money in
coal in Alaska. All he has to do is to dig! No speculating in coal
lands! No shifting and juggling of stocks and bonds of coal-carrying
railroads! So far as the coal fields and mining in Alaska are concerned
neither money, politics nor influence will avail to change the
situation one jot or one tittle! Amen! Hallelujah!! Waltz me around
again, Willie!!!
With farm and mineral lands, however, it is different. These may pass
into the hands of private companies or individuals just as soon as the
latter can qualify to meet the conditions. We who know the country can
realize as outsiders can not what the railroad will mean to Alaska. One
may take a boat at the mouth of the Yukon, traveling westward to
southward, thence up the Tanana until he reaches Fairbanks which is
within a hundred miles of the Arctic Circle. Here the new railroad will
have its northern terminus. One may then take the train back to Seward,
riding through the great gold country--a section the wealth of which is
uncomputed--then on through the enormous coal fields, past farms laden
with crops, finding himself, when the end of the journey is reached, at
Seward, the terminus on the Peninsula, after a journey (not including
the water voyage) of four hundred and fifty miles.
In proportion as commerce and industry grow opportunities for labor
will increase. The omnipresent automobile will bring with it the
necessity for the garage, the repair shop, the chauffeur, the
mechanician. The railroad terminals mean new towns and new towns mean
business houses. Wherever there is a road in process of construction
there is always a chance for women. The workmen must be fed and
provided with sleeping quarters. Boarding houses, laundries, etc., are
indispensable. But----. I should not be honest either with myself or
with my readers if I did not here utter one word of warning. No woman
need be afraid to go to Alaska, but both men and women should go wisely
and in full understanding of conditions there. Both _must_ be equipped
to meet those conditions. The first is the promise, oral or written, of
a job before going! The other is the means to return home at any time.
No one should go to Alaska without having first provided for one or
both of these conditions.