Northwest History. Alaska, United States.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1936
• Subjects: Alaska; fish; gold; seals; yonder; Seward; Uncle Sam; snow; railroad; harbor; coast guard cutter; Matanuska; coal field; Cordova; the Aleutian islands; Yukon rush; Nome; Texas; Oklahoma; Nebraska; Wenatchee; Mrs. F. M. Lucavish; Seward Chamber of Commerce; Central Washington; Commissioner Bell; the Entiat; clacier; S. V. Brown; Georgia; Eskimos; North Pacific ;Shelikof straits; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Anchorage; Pacific; Yukon; eskimo*; glacier; glaciers; Aleutian Islands
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/92117

Alaska: The "Great Land" Way Up Yonder!/What's Doing In The Land Of Fish.Gold.Seals.Whales.Yes, And Farming. ALASKA The'Great Land' Way Up Yonder! What's Doing In The Land of Fish . . . Gold . . . Seals . . . Whales . Yes, And Farming At Matanuska. By KUFUS WOODS Article No. 9 SEWARD. July 6.—A beautiful bay, ringed by greenclad mountains with patches of snow here and there, an engine of Uncle Sam's railroad snorting around t h e switchyard, a government coast guard cutter in the harbor ready for emergency calls anywhere on the sea, a trainload of coal being unloaded from the Matanuska coal fields for use in the Aleutian islands and at Cordova, old-timers of the Yukon rush and of the days when Nome was in her heyday, newcomers from Texas and from Oklahoma and elsewhere, fishermen from the boats and salmon traps, all intermingled with the men who sell goods services—that's Seward as I it today. Here at Seward is a Miss Maud May, member of one of the best known families in Nebraska. For eleven years she has been spending one half of the year or more at Seward and environs. She is probably the only one who comes year after year to remain and spend her money. Most folks come up to make money and go elsewhere to spend it. But she has found here the most wonderful region in all the world. She drove me cut in her car to visit Mrs. Brannin, who will be remembered in Wenatchee as Mrs. F. M. Lucavish before ihe death of her first husband. Minnie Lucavish, her daughter is now married and lives in Anchorage. I asked Miss May what was the greatest need of Alaska. She replied: "A permanent population." There h a program toward which the people of Alaska can work. At Seward members of our party were invited guests of the Seward Chamber of Commerce. When called upon for a few remarks I referred to the similar features of the countrv between Alaska and our own Central Washington. First Alaska is a great big sparsely settled region. So is I told them when I first came to Wenatchee 33 years ago I did not see a deer for years. But when a definite program of protection and propagation was developed that we now had thousands of them. I told them of having gone to the Entiat one day in early spring and counted two hundred within two hours time. Alaska too needs a definite program. It has such a program in their sealing studies and operation. By means of that program seals have increased six fold in a few years. Commissioner Bell is developing a similar program in regard to fish. Then those folks of Alaska, I told them had another point of contact with us. How we prospered under a proper freight rate. But when the freight rates were jumped 50 per cent we have been, fighting a hard battle ever since. It is shame I told them that, Alaska people should pay freight; rates about four times as much as are paid in other parts of the world. They know that they are being milked by experts. Here we are now on our way out of Seward. It is 9 o'clock but still light and will remain so during the night. As we move out of the harbor a glacier is on out right. I ask S. V. Brown, the man from Georgia, what strike is that strikes him most. He says that there are so many things that interest him but that one of the things which strikes him most is the warm weather and the mild balmy air even with the snow in patches on the mountains. Says he, "All my life I have heard about Alaska and in my mind I could only think of glaciers and snow, ice and Eskimos. And then to come here and find such a delightful climate, it certainly was a surprise." July 10. What a day we have had. How this 95-foot craft does roll and pitch. I thought I was a good sailor after having been back and forth across the continent on airplanes and back and forth across the ocean on the large vessels. But this 95-foot craft just doesn't check up with vessels 200, 400 and 600 feet long. Then, this North Pacific is a wild ocean anyway. But the wildest of all are the Shelikof straits. Never before did I have the experience of being rolled clear out of bed onto the floor, and the bed covers with me.