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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1916)
THE SUNDAY OREGOTA37, PORTLAm MAT 7. 191G. Alaska "... - ---"-i r. I I f y: t ;' f " IV " -V , ; tgJL-,;. .-;: i " JV-Y'-..' -Y w ENORMOUS RE&OUIZCESJH GpD. -JZOAL ANE OTHER. tilNERAJuSTIOlBEiORENED THIS yEAR iT i i Copyright, 1916, by Frank O. Carpenter.) ANCHORAGE. Alaska. I have Just returned from a ride along the Line of Uncle Sam's railway. The new construction begins here at the mouth of Ship Creek, where ocean steamers land their supplies tn the Summer and the roadbed has been graded for about 40 miles. Twenty miles of track have already been laid and everything Is In preparation for rapid work as soon as Congress passes the hill supplying the money. The work has been so pushed that by last November the engineers had done what it was supposed would require the whole Win ter. They have made careful surveys of the route from here to Fairbanks and have covered the branch line which goes from Matanuska Junction to the Chlcaloon coal fields. They have gone over the, Alaska Northern Rail way, which Uncle Sam bought last year at a cost of $1,150,000, and have put 35 miles of that road in running condition. They have laid out the extension of the Alaska Northern to Anchorage, and. In fehort, have now planned the whole rail way. They have made careful esti mates of the oost of everything con nected with It and have constructed contour maps showing the- country on the scale of one Inch to the mile. They Iknow Just what they have to expect and from now on the road can be pushed as rapidly as Congress will furnish the money. The act providing for Government railroads in Alaska was passed March 12. 1914. It authorized the operation and building of railroads here to an extent not to exceed 1000 miles and at a cost of not. more than $35,000,000. It was on this authorization that the President bought the Alaska Northern Hallway and decided to extend it to Fairbanks, a distance of of 472 miles, at a cost of something like $27,000,000. But Congress will have to appropriate the money as needed and the progress of the work is dependent upon the two houses at Washington. In 1914 the appropriations amounted to about $1,000,000. Something like $2,000,000 was appropriated last year and the en gineers have asked for $10,000,000 to be cpent in 1916. If that Is granted the road to the Matanuska coal fields can be completed and the lower portion of the extension to Fairbanks put into operation this year. The road can also b ebuilt I'rom the Nenana coal fields to the Fairbanks gold mines, giving that rich territory the cheap fuel It so great ly needs. The total length of the Government railway will be under E00 miles and the engineers tell me It can be constructed at an average cost of about $50,000 per mile. In some places the cost will run to $90,000 per mile, but in others It will be $20,000 or under. The road will cost about the same as the western end of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway ana It will be more expensivs than the Northern Pacific or the Puget Sound division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul. The track Is to be of the standard gauge, with rails of 70 pounds to the yard. It will be substantially built and of the most modern construc tion. ' I like the way our Government en gineers are handling their Job. There is no red tape here at Anchorage and so tar "fuss and feathers" are absent. The three engineer commissioners are as plain as pipestems and they tramp about with the men and go over the Job on foot and on horseback. Never theless, William C. Edes. the chairman of the commission, has built some of the great roads of the West. Lieuten ant Frederick Mears .was superinten dent of the railway at Panama and Thomas Rlggs. Jr., was at the time of his selection chief of the boundary sur vey. They are all men of practical ex perience and are especially fitted for life and work on the frontier. I have already written of the head quarters of the engineer commission. The two-story house put up for them here at Anchorage would not rent for more than $15 a month In the States. The mostof the clerks are doing their work In tents' or log cabins and the forestry department of the Government ls a two-room shack with folding cots, on which the clerks sleep at night. The commissary building ls of logs and the stables nearby, where from 60 to 100 horses are kept, are of canvas. The hotel orNmessroom for the men and Government employes ls of logs and three meals there are given for $1 a day. So far I have to meet an official who puts on any airs. Most of them go about with their pants In their boots and the clothes worn by the engineer commissioners would hardly bring the value of the wool In them at a second hand store. Everything ls business. The work began IS days after the President de cided the route and it has gone on steadily as long as the money has last ed. Fifteen hundred men have been at work the past year and something less than 1000 are now on the Job. W. C. Edes, the chief engineer, has had large experience in constructing rail-, ways In our Rocky Mountain highlands and throughout the West and he ls using the same methods of employment which have proved most economical and most efficient In Oregon, Califor nia, Washington and Canada. The construction and grading are af ter a system known as station work. A certain section of the road, or station, is given out to a number of men called a gang, who contract to build It ac cording to the specifications. They go in together as partners and have an equal share In the work. The cost ls estimated by the cubic yard and the pay ls on that basis. The Government sees that the men have fair treatment. It has timekeepers who go over the work and keep track of Just what each man does, so that on the completion of the Job the account shows the efficiency of every man on It. There ls nothing of the peonage system connected with these arrangements:' There Is no one who employs all the hands and gets a rakeofC The Government sees that the arrangement ls on a partnership basis and that each man gets his Individual check for his share. The great advan tage of this method la that it eliminates all questions as to hours and conditions of work. Uncle Sam pays for results only and that within a .fixed time. I have asked the officials as to the wages prevailing in the other branches of the construction. Mr. Edes tells me they are higher than those paid for similar work in the western parts of the United States, although they are much below those of Interior Alaska. The men here are now getting from 37 H cents an hour upward. Some of the skilled laborers are paid 60 cents an hour, and some 75. This is without board, but the latter is furnished at the Government messhouse at 33 1-3 cents a meal. The time is eight hours where the men work by the day, and this makes the wages range from $3 to $6. The men have the right to buy their personal supplies and other t,. - - '- rrip T' I tPO .t i --w 1 f 1 1 i ..-ri the forests of the Kenal Peninsula anC things of the Government commissary, where goods are sold for their whole sale cost, plus a small percentage for handling the business. This gives them the goods at about 40 per cent under the ordinary prices and enables the poorest of them to clear as much as $2 per day. Medical and hospital charges are free. here of building. along hills made of grave L They are composed of pebbles ranging from the size of my fist to that of a pea, and all that has been neces sary to get the material for the fills has been to drive cuts Into the hills at the side of the track. These cuts are then roofed over and the cars are run Into the lank and loaded by gravity. I - understand that gravel can be easily been plenty ol la- KOtten aiong the greater part of the route between here and Fairbanks, and that much of the track will be perma nent and easily repaired. So far there h bor. The United States has a large class of professional railroad builders who move about from Jod to Job. There are also many who prefer to work on the frontier, and it is this class that ls now doing the greater part of the con struction. The men are of all nation alities and the greater proportion are foreigners. In addition are a few men from Alaska. The engineers tell me It ls difficult to get Americana to do the rough work. They all want to be foremen, bosses or timekeepers. They will work hard as prospectors and miners, but they will not continue for any length of time to handle the pick and the shovel at so much per day. The Alaskans are doing much of the clearing, and they have taken many States. He.therefore, low wages oi me uuvernineni, nuitu are far under those which have pre vailed throughout the Interior, where $5 a day and board is .still paid. shipped here via Turnagaln Arm. Cll'eflz'nc? Inge's JcZe None of the large permanent build- 7 7 .-J;, C lng. ha. yet been erected, but they wi:. ST7Ct'Jt?ftZ. ftear OT7 all be put up on this tract There will t2etV7rt3C-S aZ HnCZ30n3. probably be large offices for the offi cials and clerks. There will be ma chine shops for the roads and ware houses and depots for the Matanuska coal which will be sent here for export. There may also be smelters and facto ries of one kind or another. ors are working. They are taking out placer gold. Some of the men are grub staking, the outsiders who furnish the money getting half of the findings. During my stay at Anchorage I have learned about the country through My trip over the new roadbed was which the railroad will go from Thomas made in company with Mr. J. E. 3'- who h" h" much j O'Reilly, the superintendent of the rail-' ?rk throughout the interior, and way construction. Mr. Q-Rellly has the w,B ow every fOQt of tn srounL One of the moat promising mining districts along the new railroad ls near Broad Pass, where are road crosses the mountains at an altitude of 2400 feet above the sea. The pass ls about five miles In width and there are moun tains on each side of it 8000 or 9000 feet high. Off to the west can be seen Mount McKlnley. which is 65 miles away, and on the east are the Cathedral reach the Nenana coal Aids and then come to the Tolovana gold region, which lies not fa from the route be tween Nenana and Fairbanks. This Is a new district, where something like 500 men are now prospecting. They took out $60,000 worth of gold last Summer and the possibilities are prom ising. But most Important of all the min ing regions so far discovered ls that ot Fairbanks Itself. The whole country about that city carries gold. As much as $90,000,000 worth has already been washed out of the creeks and valleys nearby and thv production last year was $3,500,000. The most of this comes from placers; quarts mining Is a com paratively new Industry and It has pro duced only about $800,000. The Alaskan mining regions will profit exceedingly by the cheap fuel that will come from the railroads. Those of the Kenal Peninsula, the Mat anuska Valley and all south of Broad Pass will have cheap coal from the Chickaloon coal fields, whereas thosa on the northern side of the pass and la the Tanana Valley will be supplied by the great coal deposits of the Nenana region. The Chickaloon coal Is from the Matanuska fields. It ls said to be equal to the Pocahontas. The Govern ment has mined and tested $00 tons of It on the vessels of the Navy and it ls found to be excellent. It can be used for cooking and It will bo the first Alaskan coal of commerce. The Nenana fields are of vast extent. The railroad passes through them and It is down grade all the way from there to Fairbanks. The coal deposits run from the railroad eastward for a dis tance of perhaps 100 miles. The black strata can be seen standing out in the cliffs and In places the veins are 0 feet thick. The coal Is a high-grade lignite, suitable for all local commer cial purposes. It has an ash which is 46 per,, cent fixed carbon and its heat value is equal to about 12.000 British thermol units. It is not good enough to bear exportation, but It will be of enormous value to the mining regions of the interior. In order to appreciate what this coal means to the mining regions It must be remembered that most of the gold de posits are in frozen ground. The frost . Mountains ana Aiouni iiayes. ine lat- A n own to berdork The earth under the direction of Lieutenant ha. not yet been fully prospected. Th. ter , almost hIrh FuJly.raa or "tf for Iges and It has to Mears. one ot the engineer commls- ,and, is covered with mos. and other pik,. Peak McKlnley is over tJoMhy llor mtL jLVm sioners. He is well fitted for the Job. vegetation which so hide, the rocks 00n- Wt hirh: it I. hl-h,r ,h .A I ' -f" "I"8.! . . . . . . , . . . , . , . " wine win onen cunsuma irons aw ld am He has had a long experience In Alaska, where he has been engaged not only In mining, but as one of the builders of the Alaska Northern road, which forms a part of this Government line. He has also been connected with that it ls hard to tell what there Is. It Is known, however, that the road will give easy access to many rich gold deposits and that mining camps will spring up here and there all along the way from Seward to Fairbanks. I wish I could show you the roadbed and track so far constructed. The new railway looks as though It might form an exhibit In a national exposition. It runs through the woods, but the land on both Bides has been cleared and ditches, drain away every bit of the water. A smooth bed of gravel, ten or more feet In height, has been made through the valley of Ship Creek, and this ls of the requisite width for the railroad construction in our Western There ls quarts gold near the line of the has a thorough Alaska Northern and there are quarts understanding of the country and how and placer mines In other parts of the to handle the workmen who are build- Kenal Peninsula. As much as $450,000 lng the road. in gold was taken out of the peninsula We started at the harbor and crossed In 1914. the railroad yards about which the ter- Going north of Anchorage at Mile minals are to be built. These yards 1S5 from Seward ls Willow Creek. This have an area of 500 or 600 acres and the ls 40 miles north of Anchorage and It ground is as flat as a floor. It was should be reached by the railroad this originally covered with forest, but the year. Willow Creek has three quarts trees and stumps have been cleared mines, with a 10-stamp mill. It pro- away and. now it looks like an Iowa duced gold last Summer to the amount corn field Just plowed. A number ot of $315,000. The mill is about 20 miles tracks have already been laid upon it and here and there are other tracks building. Scattered about are railroad supplies of all kinds. There ro loco- track. I have never seen a better look- motive, and boilers from Panama: there lng roadbed anywhere, and now at Its are fireboxes and steel rails, and ma- beglnning it compares favorably in ap- chines of all kinds. On one side of the pearance with that of the Pennsyl- yards are millions of feet of pine lum- vanla or the New York Central. ber from Puget Sound and on the other, west of It are the Tetna and Skwetna The engineers have the advantage are great piles of ties that were cut In mining districts, where many prospect- from the end of the tracks now being laid. A little further north ls the Talkeetna River, where there Is good farming land. That part of the country is open. It ls made up of plains and val leys spotted with groves and covered with grass. A short distance to the peak on the North American Continent. having Its equal only In the Himalayas and the Andes. To the west of Broad Pass discover ies of large low-grade quartz gold are reported. The gold ls of a refractory character, running from $1 to IS per ton. It will probably develop consid erable traffic Further over in the foothills of Mount McKlnley ls the Kantishna mining district, which has gold, antimony and other metals. There sre 60-odd miners and trappers' there now and some of them are doing quite well. One company has taken out 1000 tons of antimony, which will be sent out as soon as navigation ls opened. The war has made that metal exceed ingly valuable. Another mineral which Is now being mined in Alaska may be found in that same region. It ls known to exist near Fairbanks, where they are mining it and shipping the concentrates by par cel post. This mineral is sheelite, a high-grade tungsten, used for making ammunition. The concentrates sell for $3500 a ton. Going further along the railroad you cords of wood a day and so far nothing but wood-vould be used. Something like 100,000 cords of wood aae now annually sold In the region about Fairbanks. This wood costs from $10 to $16 a cord and the average in Fairbanks ls be tween $11 and $12 a cord. At $15 a cord a mine will use as much as $150 worth of fuel a day and without the gravel or quarts is of comparatively high grade It will not pay to work It- Moreover, the wood here ls soft and it has no great heating value. The Nenana coal, when the railroad Is complete, will probably be worth at the mines about $5 per ton, and as one ton of coal Is equal to two cords t wood, five tons will thaw out as much earth as 10 cords of wood. In other words, the difference In cost will be the difference between $25 and $150 a day in working the mines. This alone will mean a great profit and it will re sult in enormous areas of low-grade gold-bearing regions being worked. It, means the opening of many new quartz properties and a great Increase in the valleys and benches where the gravel can be washed over by dredging and hydranlic sluicing. Out in the Fields s stay in bed because she had 'a Spring cold. The poor child did not know how to make the time pass and she fretted herself Into a headache. Mother OON It will be time to run out Into wondered what she could give the child 10 ao. wnen suaaeniy sue saw the vase of daisies on the little table beside the bed. "Come dear, I'll show you how to make a family of daisy-children," said Mother, seating herself' beside Lucy. She took a daisy out of the vase and clipped all the petals but two, about an eighth of an inch from the yellow center. "This ls the little girl's cap, and these two long petals are the strings. Now we will make the little girl's face. Mother spreal a large paper over the bed so that Lucy would not spot the covers with ink, and handing her a pen, and ink said: "Make two eyes, a nose and a mouth." Lucy laughed aloud at the comical face, and for that day. at least, mother had no further trouble keeping the child in bed. When Lucy was able- to run out In the fields again her mother told her to pick dandelions. "Bring them home to ye and I will show you how to make a chain." Lucy felt, a little sad to see her mother nip the flowers from the stems, but this chain was to be made of rings. One end of the dandelion stem is smaller than the other, and the stem is hollow. Push the smaller end of stem Into the larger and you will have a ring any size you please. Just as Lucy had. Now before making the next ring pass the stem through the first ring and then Join It. .A very pretty link-chain can be made. Shell-Fire and Birds the fields and pick daisies. Ild you ever make a daisy chain? I5o! Then I will tell you how to make the kind of chain the May Queen wore iH'hen she sat on her flowery throne. Gather only the daisies with long St erne, and make a loop In the stem about an inch from the flower. Put the head of another daisy through It, and then tighten the loop so as to hold the daisy. You can. make this chain as long as- you want, and you can wear it either around your head, neck or waist. 0 Did you know that daisy means ""day's eye?" The daisy opens with the risinsr of the sun and shuts up. or goes to sleep, when the sun sets hence Its name. One day little Lucy Smith had to MANX people have been wonder ing over the behavior of the birds on the fighting line in France. The robins perch on the edge of the trenches and peer down as If they were generals on Inspection; they are tempted' into the very trenches themselves to have a share of the ra tions. "Came and perched on my bayonet, thn little beggar did," as one of the soldiers said, "when I put it up out of the trench. Just the same as a Christmas card." Sometimes in the course of a heavy cannonading, the sky-larks, high in the sky through which the shells are hurtling, go sing ing as if they were trying to drown IF 3 T5ovr We Will Make the Little Girl". - sail. There la Hope. Philadelphia Bulletin. "Well, John, inasmuch as your grandmother died four times last year. I don't see how you'll manage to get to any of the ball games this season. "But, sir, said Johnny quietly, "haven't I told you that grandpa has married again, though it was much against the wishes of ihg family. ft with their song the noise of the bom bardment. Mere noise has very little terror for birds as English people - know who watch a thrush on her nest by the side of a railway cutting, while an express goes by at the rate of 60 miles an hour. But though the birds grow indifferent to the noise of firing there ls much evf dence that they are keenly sensitive to the Impact of air-waves. When the Zeppelins paid their first visit to Eng land the birds were roused from their slumber and began a most singular and insistent clamor. . This sudden outcry of scared birds was heard In places so far away from the Zeppelin's line of travel that the human ear would not catch the sound of the big engines at all. And now and then in that firing line where they sing and play so fear lessly they pay the penalty of their daring. They don't get hit by shrapnel, but they come within the area of vio lent air vibration caused by a bursting shell and this kills them. No wonder, when the concussion can throw a grown man off his legs and out of his wits! Hans Troubles N' Singing as It They Were Trying to IJrowa With Their Song the oie sf the Boabaxtlmeat. OT long ago you were told about poor little Hans and the troubles he was havina In school with the Engllssi' language. Well, every day his perplexities seemed to Increase, and the German youth wished himself back In his own country many a time. In spite of the troublesome times tney were having over there. Here Is an Instance ot the other day's troubles. His teacher called on him and said: "Nov Hans, spell "ONE" for me." -O-N-E spells ONE." "Very good. Now spell WONDER" said Teacher. -O-N-E-D-E-R, WONDER, "Wrong, said. Teacher, and she told him the correct way. Then she said: "Spell "two." "T-W-O. TWO." was Hans answer. "Correct. The next word ls TO.' "D-W-O spells Do." Teacher laughed! "Spell LAUGH." Hans spells "L-A-U-O-H," proudly. Then Teacher asks him "CALF." Hans promptly. "C-A-U-G-H CALF. "Wrong again." Spell "ENOUGH." Hans. "E-N-O-U-O-H ENOUGH. "Right. and now be careful and spell "STUFF. " Hans answered, triumphantly. "S-T-O-U-G-H spells STUFF." "You are hopeless." said the teacher. ""Go home and study from the book." That night Hans had a funny dream. The 26 letters of the alphabet rose In rebellion and Jumped, around his bed. They scolded him for not giving them more serious thought, and they argued with the poor little German until his head ached. They all talked together and they talked In a streak, and one letter more precocious than the rest (I think It was the K) beat him most unmercifully. As the boy lay exhausted in his bed. he dreamt the door opened and in came the teacher. Hans cried out his heart on her sympathetic breast, and begged her to have Just a little more patience with him. Teacher then ordered the alphabet to arrange themselves in a straight line, and then she led Hans up to them. "This." she said, "is your new mas ter." Hans bowed, -and Teacher con tinued: "I want you to serve him well Treat him. kindly an J do your best. Re member he comes from far across the ocean and everything Is ' new and strange to him." "We will," cried the 26 letters In such a loud chorus that Hans woks up with a start. However, he remembered his dream, and he and. bis 26 servants s;ot along much better after that. dame call out to a very much dolled sent me a tallagram savin he was up young colored woman: comln' in on de five-thutty, en I Jess "Hello, dar. Jinny Jackson! To' ex- come down heah to tell him dat if he pectin' of nobody?" was expectln' me to chase a nlggah by "No. I Isn't expecln' of nobody an' runnin' ter meet him on a tallagram nobody is expectln' of me. on less hit call he was mighty mistaken. Don't ls dst Joe Perkins nlggah. He done ketch me chasln' no nlgcrah like dat!" BASEBALL PUZZLE. 3 IT"'-"- W Tiit-ee buys want to organize more players. a baseball nine. See If you can find three Way ef a "tVemaa. Judge. A crowd of negroes were assembled "DELETIONS. rn-r. n-y-s-p-a, a-y-s-d-i. n-m-u-l-g-r- L Delete a letter from a -machine e-s, 1-t-l-p-u, p-r-e-t-o-o-e-l-h-L producing motion and find a waste Answers, land. Deletions: 1, Motor-moor; 2. Pearl 2. Delete a letter from a precious peal: 3. Cream -cram; 4. Spray-spry, stone and leave to sound loudly. Floral Mix-up: Violet, poppy, prim- 3. Delete a letter from a nourish- rose, pansy, daisy, geranium, tulip. lng food and leave to stuff. 4. Delete a letter from small at a little railway station In the South branch and leave active, and a passenger seated by the open FLORAL MIX-UPS. window ot a Prill man heard a stout L o-i-o-a- t-y. y-p-p-p-o, s-o-p-e-i-r- hcliotrope. Baseball Tussle. One In center of picture between two boys, one at the rlsrht of picture behind boy. and one between feet of boy In center.