OCR Text |
Show 0. S. : : -L'J-d ALASKA BUSY ANCHORAGE. Alaska. Nov. 11. L'ncle Sam is finding the railroad bu.si-. j ness good on his new Alaska lln . which runs from tidewater at Sewar 1 and Anchorage, across the mountains i to Fairbanks and Nanana on the termor's ter-mor's interior river system. Traffic has been so heavy on the line that It has been necessary to add more Pullman sleeping coaches and baggage cars At present the road Is operating 3'i passenger coaches, 716 j freight cars and 236 cars of mlscel-1 laneous nature, making a total of 781' cars. in addition to the railroad, the j government, also is operating two river transports to connect the lower-river lower-river points with the road. These boats will connect With mosquito fleets Operating on the smaller rivers of the j interior and will serve to hook up the entire section In one great transpor- j tcitlon system. Coal Is one of the big items on the freight bills on this transportation system j Tho coal la taken from the mines along the railroad and sent ro all parts of the Interior by rail and boat . With a good supply of coal at reasonable rea-sonable prices It will be possible to mine large areas of frozen grounJ Which, it Is believed, contain gol 1-b 1-b Caring gravels. Geological survey officials of-ficials estimate there Is $100,000,000 In gold In these gravels. Nome, one ot the distant points of Alaska, will benefit by getting coat at lower prices. At present coal is $45 a ton in Nome. By taking it down the river and across an arm of the Bering Sea to Nome it Is thought coal can be sold there for half the price. oo The average depth of all the oceans, gulfs and seas is estimat?! at from two to two and one-half I miles. |