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National Geographic : 1909 Jul
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VoL. XX, No. 7 WASHINGTON JULY, 1909 fATIONfA E@KTAIPHII U THE ECONOMIC EVOLUTION OF ALASKA BY MAJOR GENERAL A. W. GREELY, U. S. ARMY AUTHOR OF "HANDBOOK OF ALASKA," ETC. T HE fact that Alaska is of econom ical importance to the rest of the United States is an opinion born of late years, which even yet is not widely disseminated. Indeed, the tenor of public knowledge on this subject was strikingly illustrated by a foot-note to an aai icle by one of the best informed and highly esteemed of foreign writers on American subjects, whose reference to the Territory was printed, without ac companying comment, in one of the most influential and progressive periodicals of this country. The writer, referring to Alaska in 1905, said: "This vast region is inhabited by a few savages, and is not likely ever to support a population large enough to make its government a matter of practical consequence." Undoubtedly this statement represented the general opinion of intelligent men eastward of the Rocky Mountains. It is, however, but one of the many in stances in which leaders of American thought or opinion, illy informed as to Alaska, have indirectly characterized it as a land of gilded rainbows and unfulfilled promises, whose golden bonanzas are un substantial foundations for permanent communities, and that to there obtain a dollar in gold necessitates the expendi ture of two others. The writer holds no brief for Alaska, and makes no recommendations as to im migration or investments. In his Hand book of Alaska he has treated briefly such subjects of commercial interest as "Mining," "Fisheries," "Agriculture," "Forestry," "Trade and Transportation." He now yields somewhat reluctantly to the request of the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE to consider the lines along which commercial progress in Alaska has proceeded, with pertinent comments on its interruption, diversion, and develop ment. The great Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Expo sition is doing useful work in bringing the resources and possibilities of this val uable Territory to public notice, and many visitors will be brought to the reali zation that Alaska contributes its full share to the glory and support of the nation. In considering the commercial aspects of this remote region, it is apparent that the products of Alaska, upon which all trade depends, have hitherto been drawn from three widely divergent sources furs, fish, and gold-which will be sepa rately considered. WEALTH FROM FURS Land and aquatic furs were the pri mary-indeed, the only-source of eco nomical wealth in Alaska during its gov-
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