Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 172, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 July 1916 — EXTENDING LINES IN ALASKA [ARTICLE]

EXTENDING LINES IN ALASKA

Degree of Development Not Generally Recognized Has Been Steadily Carried Forward. Private enterprise is re-enforcing government enterprise In the development of Alaska transportation. An-

nouncement was recently made of the Intention of the Copper River & Northwestern to extend its Cordova line farther into the interior. Now comes the assurance thaj private enterprise has financed the proposed Immediate construction of a railroad from near Controller bay to the Bering river coal fields, 17 miles away. Thus coal of high quality is to be. Drought to titlewater By next and shipped to Alaska points as well as Seattle and points farther south. Possibly about the same time Matanuska coal will reach Seward and Anchorage and be distributed from these points for naval and commercial needs. The humanizing of Alaska administration and the partial opening of the territory to commercial enterprise have had a stimulating effect. Long dormant coal claims are taking on the form of business ventures. Railroad construction is to bring these In touch .with the niaiket, cheapen fuel and make greater gold production possible. The world’s demand for copper has further accentuated Alaska’s progress by forcing the railroad line from Seward to extend into the wilderness beyond the present terminus. The utilities for commerce are being vastly increased. Coal will soon be reaching Central Alaska frwn the Nenana fields, and the south coast will be supplied from the Bering and Matanuska fields, vitalizing every Industry that It touches. In another year the northern wilderness will be split in twain by the arteries of commerce.