Northwest History. Alaska, Highways & Bridges. United States.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1935
• Subjects: Ketchikan; Alaska; Unuk river; international boundary; stream; international highway; United States; Fairbanks; British Columbia; Yukon territory; George King; aviator; gold-silver district; Portland; J. R. Heckman; mineral deposits; transportation; Behm canal; Burroughs bay; glacier; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Pacific; Portland Canal; Unuk River; Yukon
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/92500

Rich District May Be Opened. RICH DISTRICT MAY BE OPENED KETCHIKAN, Alaska, Nov. 23. (/P) --Construction of a road or trail up the Unuk river, to open a rich mineralized district on both sides of the international boundary, was suggested here this week as a federal work relief project. The stream Is too wild and treacherous even for motor boats. The improvement has chamber of commerce backing. Ketchikan residents foresee a time when such a road would tap the proposed International highway from the United States to Fairbanks, Alaska, via British Columbia and the Yukon territory. George King, aviator, said a gold-silver district almost the counterpart of the noted Portland canal area, exists around the headwaters of the Unuk; that the area is rich in big game and timber, but can be reached by pontooned airplanes now. J. R. Heckman, former Alaska legislator, another proponent, said he has been in touch with the area for 45 years, that It has rich mineral deposits only lacking transportation to assure development. The Unuk is about 70 miles long, draining over 200 square miles with its tributaries. It rises in British Columbia, is glacier fed, and empties into Burroughs bay at the head of Behm canal, 65 miles north of Ketchikan.