Show S-S S i ALASHA ALASKA t lf Alaska aska is IS constantly constantly- growing In in importance t l Y Jle le story of it reads like a romance It was r ight by bj the United States States' from Russia the sum j paid being It was said at the time that f th the sale was intended merely to rec recompense Russia Ii for sending her Atlantic fleet to New York harbor har- har H S bor and her Pacific fleet to San Francisco Francises harbor 4 time when Louis Gr at at t a Napoleon was urging J Britain to interfere in behalf of the confederacy cy S It was said too that the admirals commanding those fl fleets ets had orders to report for duty to the S secretary of war a in case the services S of f. f the fleets were needed It is true that Prince Princ Russia's chancellor served y notice on Louis Napoleon that any direct interference S ence in behalf of the confederacy would be held heldt t by Y Russia as an act of war Avar So the story ran that S Alaska an absolutely worthless country was bought for to make good goon the obligation obligationS S which this countr country owed to Russia and that the they y J additional was to pay for the coal the J fleets were obliged to use S But in a little while a Californian California secured a ad d lease from the government upon the seal fisheries off off Alaska and made a fortune though by the terms S S of pI the lease leas the company paid to the United States more money than it had paid paia for the coun coun- try Then came the gold discoveries which up to have paid several times over all that wa was l originally paid for the country and now it is said recent at-recent cen discoveries make it clear that in coppS copper Coppe S c. c enough J-is-enough is enough in Alaska for the world and that S it l J Q jit t is going to be a second Rand t r f. f Then the fisheries still continue and the forests i yet et are are practically untouched 1 Then there am ari l Enthusiasts who claim that by bj and by bJ Alaska is l VI VIr tiia i ia r I e a great range and agricultural territory that the the short hot summers summers are sufficient to mature barI bar bar- tey Jey and Jey-and arid and th the coarser vegetables and that the climate I vs a vast improvement over oyer that of much of the further south I S It se seems to be 10 e a clear lea case case th that t the tho interest in I fU Alaska is IS growing and it is IS not impossible to believe be be- lieve that within the next twenty years Alaska kill vill i l be knocking for admission at the doors of th the Jion lon and that she will come robed in furs fur and ancS ringing gifts of copp copper r and of gold which will ls re admission for her I |