m*- w - Clpdigital.org

82 ILLUSTRATED WORLD
w
A HOME FOR THOSE WHO LOVE MOUNTAINS-
This scene on the Copper River is typical of Alaska's rough country.
fish, fur, and timber. As time goes on,
Alaska will also furnish manufactured
articles of the simpler sort made from
these materials. The amount of these
commodities which Alaska will send out
depends upon how well her transportation
facilities compare with the facilities
from competing districts. Thus, Alaska
will supply either iron ore to the new
smelters of the Pacific Coast or finished
iron and steel to Pacific Coast trade, as
soon as transportation makes Alaskan
metal (adding to the cost of producing
and carrying the ore, the selling cost
involved in supplanting the eastern
goods) cheaper than the product of the
eastern mills. So in figuring on the
possibilities in any one place, always
watch out for transportation facilities
and the chances that they will create.
Within the territory, there will be
room for all the men engaged in these
various industries, and also for the commercial
and professional men who supply
food, clothing, dentistry, moving pictures,
etc., to the producing classes. The
size of each town will depend upon two
'*m*-
factors. The first is the number of men
it needs to conduct its share of Alaskan
industry—that is, if it is a shipping town,
upon how much shipping will be needed
to handle the goods for which there is a
demand produced in the territory about
it or connected with it by railroad or
river. The second factor is the number
of commercial and professional men required
to meet the needs of the town
and the surrounding territory.
As an example we can take the problem
which many prospective settlers are
considering right now—"Will Anchorage
or Seward be the bigger city ?" A glance
at the map will show that both towns
are located on the great government railway
being built into the heart of Alaska
—Seward directly upon the Pacific, and
Anchorage tucked in behind a peninsula.
One or both will develop shipping, manufacturing,
and commercial enterprises,
because they stand at the threshold of
Alaska: which one will pull ahead of the
other will depend largely upon the transportation.
ff Seward js able to get goods from