| Summary: | Alaska Business Boom Halted By Marine Tieup. ALASKA BUSINESS BOOM HALTED BY MARINE TIEUP Gains In ore production, canned salmon output and general trade sent Alaska's Industrial income soaring during the year just ended. Business was booming in nearly every town from Ketchikan to Nome until the shipping tieup interrupted trade and travel. Gold production in 1936 surpassed the fifteen million dollars produced In 1935 by approximately $500,000, according to information received yesterday by the Alaska Bureau, Seattle Chamber of Commerce. Compilations made by J. J. Connors, collector of customs at Juneau, show a valuation of $14,500,000 for gold mined in the territory during the first eleven months of the year, it was announced by Darwin M. Meisnest, chairman of the chamber's Alaska committee. The salmon industry in the territory last year enjoyed its most successful season in history, producing 8,320,00 cases, valued at more than thirty-five million dollars. Freight movements from the states to the territory from January to October were up 20 per cent over the 1935 volume for the corresponding period. Tourist travel was up 42 per cent. Shipping during the last two months of the year was confined to cargo handled on ships chartered by the government. Because of the strike, only foodstuffs and materials urgently needed by Alaskans have been moved from Seattle and other Pacific Coast ports since October 30. Building activity in Alaska., as in the states, also gained momentum last week. Builders in Anchorage completed a $400,000 construction program, including numerous new homes, a new city hall, an addition to the town's main hotel and modernization of many business buildings. Cordova built a new city hall and Valdez a new school building. Extensive street improvements were carried out in Wrangell and Petersburg, and nearly every thriving city and town experienced a home-building boom. Feverish gold-mining activity was reported in the Fairbanks area, and in other rich gold centers. With gold selling at $35 per ounce, many mining properties which could not be profitably developed in the past are now in operation. The Fairbanks Exploration Company is active at present in the Esther and Cripple Creek regions, and the American Smelting and Refining Company is said to be planning large-scale operations in the Good-paster District. New mining equipment also has been set up in the Forty Mile and Circle districts. Harbor improvement projects are under way or contemplated at a number of points on the sea coast and along navigable rivers in Alaska. Dredging is going on at present in Petersburg Harbor under the direction of United States army engineers. Small-boat harbors at Juneau and Valdez also will be improved this year. Flood control work is being planned for Fairbanks, Seward and Matanuska. All signs point to greater prosperity for Alaskans this year. Cargo bookings in Seattle for Alaska business firms are heavy, and tour reservations for summer trips to the territory are being received by steamship companies from all parts of the country.
|
|---|