There is gold in the Alaskan part of these mountains also. At Juneau is the famous Treadwell gold mine, where there is an enormous mass of ore, yielding only a little gold per ton, but enough to pay men for working it. This mine has produced many millions of dollars worth of gold, and the ore that remains will produce many millions more. The coast here is so steep that it is difficult to find room enough for the houses of the small town, so some of them have to be perched up on the rain-drenched hills.
165. Railroads and cities.—Southern Alas ka has deposits of copper and coal, and the United States Government has built a rail road to help the mining industry. In sum mer the terminus of this road is at Sunrise, near the head of Cook Inlet, but when the in let freezes over in winter, the trains must cross the Kenai Peninsula to the port of Seward.
Skagway, at the head of a long, narrow inlet, has a railroad that crosses the moun tains to connect with the steamers on the upper Yukon at White Horse. These steamers carry supplies to mining settle ments and trading posts on the great Yukon. We shall study about them later (Sec. 348).
Prince Rupert, at the mouth of the Skeena, will probably be the largest city of this region north of Vancouver. It is the terminus of the new Grand Trunk Railroad that has been built by the Canadian Government to give the northern part of the wheat region an outlet on the Pacific.
166. Preparing for the future.—These moun tains reach from the land of blazing sun to driving snow, but everywhere they are mountains, producing only pasture, wood, minerals, water, or recreation. They are not suitable places for the permanent homes of many people. Most of those who live there stay only for a time, and then move away. They are lumbermen, miners, for est rangers, or campers seeking a summer vacation in the cool mountains. (Fig. 168.) Though men live here only temporarily, it is the intention of the Government to use the resources of the mountains wisely, so that people will receive future benefits. In the national forests the ranger fights fire, in order that people may have wood to use ten or a hundred years hence. The parks are planned to last forever. Water power plants are being built along side of mountain waterfalls in order to send power to Seattle, San Francisco, and dozens of other cities. These power plants and irrigation reservoirs are being built with the future in view, because they must run for many years before they can pay for themselves, and they can keep on furnishing water and power to valley dwellers for generation after generation.
These Pacific Mountains have almost as much water power as all the rest of the United States combined. They have as much power as is used by all the factories east of the Mississippi River. Some of this power is in the Coast Range, but more of it is in the Cascades and the Sierra. All of it is within easy reach of the cities of the valleys and the coast and the Basins.
If we take proper care of our continent, we shall keep these mountains in forest to furnish wood, to hold the soil, to store water in the soil, and to shade the snow so that it will not melt too soon. In many of the
narrow canyons, dams will some time be built to provide water for irrigation and electric power. Show one way in which waterfalls are better than coal fields.
167. Alaskan resources.—The mines of Alaska promise to yield large quantities of coal, copper, and gold; they may keep many thousands of workmen busy for a long time. Salmon canneries at liver mouths along the coast will continue to be busy in the canning season; that is, if we do not destroy the sal mon by too much fishing, as we have done in some other rivers. On the Pribilof Islands in Bering Sea our government owns and cares for the largest herd of fur seals in the world. The men who live there to protect the seals also have fox farms, where they raise the blue fox for its valuable skin.
There is some farming land along the Alaskan coast waiting for the time when we , may need to use it. Grass grows to great height. The long summer days let potatoes, oats, barley, and many hardy vegetables ripen.
The forests of the Alaskan coast region contain a vast amount of timber, and will soon be of use. In 1921 the United States Forest Service leased a large tract of land in a national forest near 56° north latitude to a paper company which promised to build a large paper-mill at once. Who will use that paper? How will it reach the market? The interior, with its maze of unmapped mountains, offers attractions to daring per sons who like to join the Indians and tramp where few have tramped before; who like to fish and to hunt mountain sheep, caribou, and grizzly bear, far from the homes of men.
168. The conservation of resources.— These mountains will be one of the tests of our government and of our civilization. In some parts of Spain the firewood cutters went out long ago and cut down the trees. Then the goatherd came along with his flock, and every little tree was eaten.. Then gullies started and now they are deep enough to hide a house. Nothing grows on those mountain sides and no one makes his living there.
In parts of China the same thing has happened. The forest is gone from the mountainside, the earth is gone from the mountainside, and even worse yet, the dirt and stones have been spread over the good farm lands of the valley and have ruined the valleys also.
Shall we do better than this? In some places we have already done the same thing in our new continent. (Fig. 82.) Most of our western mountain lands belong to the government. Shall we elect to government positions people who work for the public good, and then keep them in their positions? In a very short time that choice of officials for such positions will be made by the boys and girls now in our schools. What organ izations are there in your neighborhood that work to make it a better place in which to live?