Many reservations have been made by the United States in the interests of conservation and for public utilities. The army, the navy, the fishery and the lighthouse bureaus have thus been insured proper facili ties for administration, free from unauthorized invasion. Among reservations elsewhere men tioned are the Chugach and Tongass forests, the Pribilof fur-seal islands and nine for native villages. Others of importance are a sea-otter reserve on Afognak Island, a reindeer station on Saint Lawrence Island a moose reserve on Fire Island. A general and very extended reservation is that of the Aleutian Archipelago, for the development of fisheries, the propaga tion of reindeer and for the protection of birds and fur-bearing animals. Special bird-reserva tions are the Bering Sea, the islands of Bogoslof, Chamisso, Forrester, Hazy, Saint Lazaria, Tu zedni and the great delta of the Yukon, the last named being a favorite breeding region for ducks and geese. The fox-farming islands are not reservations, although leased for exclusive use.
In summer transporta tion in the interior of Alaska is largely by boats on the great rivers. The principal streams are the Yukon, with its important tributaries, the Porcupine, Koyukuk and especially the Tanana, Copper, Kuskokwim, Susitna, Yentna and Kobuk. They are all navigable for steamboats from 100 miles upward. The Yukon, 1,865 miles in length, is the fifth river in size of North America. The Tanana, besides 750 miles of navigable waters, has tributaries also navigibk — the Chena, Kantishna, Tolovana and Volk. mar. For the interior regions, Fort Gibbon. at the mouth of the Tanana, may be called the centre of river transportation. From that point boats ply to and from Dawson, from the end of May to 1 October; Fairbanks from the middle of May to 1 November; Saint Michri from the middle of June to 1 October. casional boats navigate the Koyukuk and*: Kuskokwim. Skagway and the Prince Willis Sound country are reached weekly by steamer from Seattle throughout the year and Nom from early June to October. The railroads (see Railroads) are almost entirely operated in connection with mines. Land travel has been greatly facilitated by the labors of the Army Roads Commission. Under its adminis tration there have been built to 30 June 1916. 3,759 miles of wagon roads, sled roads, trails and winter trails. A stage route is operated throughout the year from Valdes to Fairbanks, about 375 miles; stages from Chitina on the Copper River Railroad nect with this route at Copper City. From Fairbanks there are sled roads (for winter travel) to Ft. Gibbon and Circle on the Yukon. Pack-trails extend westward from Gibbon to Nome and eastward to the Canadian border. They also reach northward within the Arctic circle to Candle on Kotzebue Sound, Coldfoot on the Koyukuk, Ft. Yukon on the Yukon and Barrow on the Arctic Ocean.
Practically all the railways of Alaska have been constructed as adjuncts to mining enterprises. They aggregate 466 miles
in length, as follows: White Pass and Yukon, from Skagway, 20.5 miles; Yakutat between Min to and Situk bays, 9; Tanana ley, from Fairbanks, 46; Council City, from Solomon, 32.5; Golovin Bay, from Council City, 5; Seward Peninsula, from Nome, F6; Copper River and Northwestern, from Cordova to Kennicott, 195; Alaskan Northern, fro Seward, 72 miles. Conditions of taxation. mining, etc., were such that from 1913 to 1915 only 261 miles of these roads were operated. The necessity of additional railroads for the development of the Territory was so evident that Congress authorized such a system at lk cost. Public Act 69, 12 March 1914, powered the President to locate, construct and operate railroads in Alaska, at a cost not to exceed $35,000,000. After surveys and studies by a commission, the President approved of what is known as the Susitna route, a line from Seward, Kenai Peninsula, to Fairbanks, on the Tanana River, about 471 miles in length, with a branch line of 38 miles to the Matanuska coal fields. The route is from Seward to the head of Turnagain Arm to Knik Arm, up the drain age valley of the Susitna and Chulitna rivers, over Broad Pass, and down the valley of the Nenana River to the Tanana valley. In order to develop as early as possible the Matanuska coal fields, work was begun on Knik Arm, where a town site was surveyed and settlement made. It is known as Anchorage, is connected with the main line by a branch of five miles, and will be the shipping point save for four months in the winter when Knik Arm is usually frozen. During the remainder of the year freight and passengers will necessarily be handled to and from Seward, with which the Matanuska section will soon be connected by rail. During 1914 about 70 miles of the Alaskan Northern Railway were rebuilt, and about 30 miles of the Matanuska section graded and bridged. The terminal station, Chickaloon, of the Matanuska coal field is now connected by rail with Seward. Construction has so far progressed that there are now being operated about 75 miles of new line, 65 miles of which is located north of Anchorage. Some of the heaviest work on the line is found between Anchorage and Kern Creek, on account of it being necessary to bench in the line on pre cipitous cliffs in that locality. It is estimated that the 500 miles of line from Seward to Fair banks can be built for $27,000,000, exclusive of the $1,150,000 paid for the Alaskan Northern. Passenger service has been fixed temporarily at 12.5 cents per mile, while the freight rate for 35 miles operated is 125 cents per pound. Tim ber for construction purposes will be taken free from the Chugach forest, while local needs will be met from the timber reservation made by executive order, five miles wide on each side of the railway route from Turnagain Arm to Chickaloon and to Fairbanks.