Northwest History. Alaska. Science. United States.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1937
• Subjects: Alaska; Value of Alaska; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th Century; Arctic; Pacific; Nome
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/102198

Gold And Fish Gold and Fish. When the United States bought' Alaska from Russia 70 years ago, many Americans said it was a foolish bargain. They called Alaska "Seward's icebox," because Secretary of State Seward signed the treaty, and because the land purchased seemed to them nothing better than an ice-filled As a matter of fact, of Alaska are cold. In some places, the temperature falls to 65 or 70 degrees below zero during the long From that viewpoint, we might say there was reason to call it an "icebox," but there are other facts which should not be forgotten. The southeastern section, the so-called "Panhandle," has a fairly mild climate the year around. Even j far to the north, around the city of Nome, the summer weather is warm enough for comfort. In winter, it is different, for Nome is "frozen seven months of the year" —but what else could we expect of a town almost at the edge of the Arctic circle? The interesting thing is that hundreds of islands near Alaska and thousands of square miles of the mainland have a good climate. The price of Alaska was $7,200,- 000 "in gold." Let us compare this to the gold which has been found in Alaska! In the past 70 years, the streams and mines have yielded gold to the value of more than $450,000,000. This makes the purchase look like a good bargain. The greatest "gold harvest" came after the gold rush which started 40 years ago. Even in the present period, the yield of gold is far more each year than the entire amount that was paid to Russia. Copper and silver mines in Alaska also have proved of high value. Coal, lead, tin, tungsten and platinum are other minerals found,in fairly large amount. All taken together, however, the minerals of Alaska are not proving of as great value as the fish. The. yearly catch of salmon alone is worth almost twice as much as all the gold, silver and copper which' are being mined there. In addi-; tion, the waters around the territory provide millions of pounds of halibut and codfish. One kind of salmon caught in Alaska is known as the "sock-eye." It is about three feet long on the average, and weighs about five pounds. A far larger fish is the "king salmon," which is caught in the rivers of Alaska's panhandle. It has an average weight of more than 20 pounds. (Copyright, 1937.)