Ala ba ma

Alabama, on Sunday, June 19, steamed out of the harbor; and after a close engagement, lasting about an hour, was found to be sinking, and surrendered.

During her short existence, the Alabama captured one steamer and no less than 67 sailing vessels. In addition to this direct injury, the Alabama and several other commerce destroyers paralyzed the American shipping trade, and caused the transfer of 348 ships, aggregating more than 250,000 tons, in one year alone to the British flag.

For the damage done by the Alabama and several other cruisers, claims were made by the United States against the British government for breach of neutrality, on the ground that Britain had failed to use due diligence'; that after the escape of the vessel the measures taken for pursuit and arrest led to no result; and that the Alabama had been admitted into the ports of Great Britain's colonies. A joint high commission, meeting in Washington, drew up an agreement, known when ratified as the Treaty of Washington (1871), by the terms of which the Alabama Claims (as they were generally called) were submitted to an international tribunal, which sat in Geneva during 1871-2. Under the treaty, Great Britain agreed to have the tribunal apply to her conduct during the Civil War certain rules embodied in the treaty, enjoining upon neutral nations the duty of diligence to prevent the use of their ports for the fitting out of war vessels, or for the renewal of military supplies, or for recruitment of

men.

The court, presided over by Count Federigo Schlopis of Italy, was made up of one representative each from the United States, Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland, and Brazil (Charles Francis Adams representing the United States, and Sir Alexander Cockburn Great Britain). In addition, both Great Britain and the United States were represented by counsel, the former chiefly by Sir Roundell Palmer, and the lat ter by W. M. Evarts, Caleb Cushing, and Morrison R. Waite.

A dispute over the indirect claims, which were thought by Great Britain to have been dropped, threatened to nullify the treaty; but the danger was averted through the acceptance by both nations of the tribunal's preliminary decision that such claims, being too general to admit of financial compensation, were not arbitrable. The arbitrators upheld the claims for Vol. I.-Oct. '12

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damage done by the Alabama and the Florida and their tenders, and by the Shenandoah after she had received reinforcements at Melbourne. The award (signed Sept. 14, 1872) fixed the indemnity at $15,500,000.

Consult Semmes' Service A float; Haywood's Cruise of the Alabama'; Admiral Porter's Naval History of the Civil War; Scharf's History of the Confederate States Navy; Balch's Alabama Arbitration; Hackett's Reminiscences of the Geneva Tribunal (1911).

Alabama City, town, Etowah County, Alabama, on the Alabama Great Southern, Louisville and Nashville, Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis, and Southern Railroads; 57 miles northeast of Birmingham. Cotton is the most important industry. Pop. (1910) 4,313. Alabama Claims. See ALABAMA, THE.

Alabama Polytechnic Institute, a State institution, collegiate grade founded at Auburn, Ala., in 1872, under Federal auspices, to give instruction in agriculture, chemistry, pharmaceutics, engineering, architecture, and veterinary medicine. library comprises 25,000 volumes. On its faculty are 72 instructors, with a student attendance (1912) of 824.

The

Alabama River flows through the States of Alabama and Georgia. It rises in the northern part of the latter State in two main branches, Coosa and Tallapoosa, which join about 10 miles north of Montgomery, Ala. Its general course is west, then southwest to its junction with the Tombigbee, to form the Mobile. It is 320 miles long, and is navigable for vessels of six feet draught as far as Claiborne, 60 miles above its junction with the Tombigbee.

Alabama, University of, a co-educational institution at Tuscaloosa, Ala., forming part of the public school system of the State. It was established in 1820 on the basis of a Congressional land grant in 1819, supplemented by a further grant in 1884. The University comprises a Department of Academic Instruction, with undergraduate and graduate departments, and a Department of Professional Instruction, with schools of engineering, law, education, medicine, and pharmacy -the last two at Mobile. In 1906 a movement for a Greater University resulted in an appropriation with which three new buildings have been erectedComer Hall (engineering), Smith Hall (geology and biology), and Morgan Hall (arts and sciences).

Alacranes

It has productive funds of $5,000,000, an income of $150,000, and a library of 25,000 volumes. In 1912 its faculty numbered 65, and the students 785.

Alabaster, properly a massive form of gypsum-hydrous calcium sulphate (CaSO 2H,O); So-called Oriental alabaster,' 'alabaster marble,' or 'onyx marble,' however, is a carbonate of lime (generally calcite, occasionally aragonite), which has been deposited through the action of springs (a form of travertine, q. v.), or in caves as stalactites and stalagmites. The white material used in Italy for the manufacture of vases, figures, and so forth is true alabaster, which, after treatment, is often sold for Carrara marble. It is quarried in England, France, Germany, and Italy. (See GYPSUM.)

'Oriental alabaster' exhibits wide variation of color and translucency, and is marked in cross sections by wavy, parallel lines indicating successive layers of deposit. In ancient Egypt and in Rome it was extensively used for building purposes, statues, and sarcophagi, as it is to-day for mantels, fireplaces, and staircases (as in the Paris Opera House and the royal palace at Tabriz). The alabaster mosque in Cairo (early nineteenth century) is celebrated. The chief sources of supply are Algeria, Egypt, Persia, Italy, and Mexico. Consult Merrill's 'Onyx Marbles' (in U. S. National Museum's Report for 1893); Renwick's Marble and Marble Working (1909).

Alabat, island, Philippines, across the mouth of Lamon Bay, north of the province of Tayabas, Luzon; length 15 miles, width 51⁄2 miles. It is mountainous and well wooded with valuable timber, and has good anchorage. The inhabitants are Tagalogs.

Alacoque, MARGUERITE MARIE (1647-90), a nun and religious enthusiast, was born in Lauthecour, France. She took the veil in the convent of the Order of the Visitation in Parayle-Monial. She was the founder of the devotion of the Sacred Heart, and wrote several works on religious subjects. She was beatified in 1846. Consult Lives by Barry, Tickell, and Bougaud.

Alacranes, small islands in the Gulf of Mexico, about 70 miles north of Yucatan (c. lat. 22° 24' N.; long. 89° 42′ W.). There is a dangerous reef 15 miles long and 12 miles wide; but there is a safe harbor on the south side

г

Aladdin

Aladdin, a name chiefly associated with the well-known tale of the Wonderful Lamp, signifies literally, Glory of the Faith' ('Ala al-Din). This name is borne by another hero of the Arabian Nights; and also by the 'Old Man of the Mountain,' king of the Assassins, and an Osmanli prince, son of the great Osman.

Alaghez, ALAGHÖZ, or ALIGHEZ, mountains, Transcaucasia, Russia, in the northern part of the district of Erivan; direction, west to east. Alaghez (13,436 ft.), the highest point, is an extinct volcano.

Alagoas ('lakes'), state, Brazil, on the Atlantic Coast, between Pernambuco and Sergipe. The interior is mountainous, and contains iron and other minerals, which are little worked. The woods yield Brazil wood, copaiba balsam, and timber. Of the numerous lakes, the largest are Mundahû in the north and Manguaba in the south. The principal river is the Sao Francisco, which forms the boundary be tween Alagoas and Sergipe. Sugar and cotton are the chief crops, which furnish the material for a few factories. The state railroads, controlled by the Great Western of Brazil, connect with Pernambuco, Parahyba, and Natal, while numerous extensions and branch lines are projected. The capital and chief port is Maceio (q. v.). Alagoas is second only to Rio Janeiro state in density of population. Area, 22,580 square miles. Pop. (est. 1912) 792,000.

Alai Mountains (Alai Tagh), the southwest branch of the TianShan, in 40° N. lat., which spreads out like a fan as it drops toward the lowlands of Russian Turkestan. This range has two parallel lines, Alai proper and Trans-Alai, on the north and south sides of the Alai River (tributary of the Vaksh, a main branch of the Upper Oxus or Amu Daria). They stretch for about 250 miles along the northern edge of the Pamir; average 15,000 to 18,000 feet in the east; and contain Peak Kaufmann (25,000 ft.).

Alais (ancient Alestum), town, department of Gard, France, on the Gardon d'Alais, where it issues from the Cévennes into the plain; 26 miles north of Nimes. It is an important centre for the silk trade. It gives its name to a coal basin, including Bessèges and La Grande Combe, producing yearly between two and three million tons of coal. Glass, bricks, tiles, and cloth are manufactured. A treaty was concluded here in 1629, which Vol. I.-Oct. '12

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ended the Huguenot wars in France. Pop. 25,000.

Alajuela, chief town of province Alajuela, Costa Rica, Central America, on both banks of the Las Ciruelas River; 14 miles by rail north of San José. The two parts of the city are connected by a bridge, completed in 1911. In October, 1911, a tramway was authorized between Alajuela and Grecia. The town has a national institute, a cathedral, and an industrial school. There is a large trade in sugar cane. Pop. of the city (est. 1911) 6,000; of the province (1910) 89,586. Ala - Kul, the 'variegated lake' of the Kirghiz, lies 120 miles east of Lake Balkhash, in the province of Semiryechensk, Russian Central Asia, between 45° 45′ and 46° 25′ N. lat., and between 81° and 82° E. long., at the height of 837 feet above sea level. Its length from north to south is 40 miles; its mean breadth, 23 miles. There is a smaller lake of the same name 14 miles to the west.

Alaman, LUCAS (1775–1855), Mexican statesman and historian, author of Disertaciones sobre la Historia Mejicana (1844-9) and Historia de Mejico (1849-52), both works of high authority. He represented the colony in the Spanish Cortes until 1823, when he returned to Mexico, and became successively Secretary of the Interior and Foreign Minister.

Alamanni,LUIGI (1495–1556), Italian poet, was born in Flor

ence.

Detected in a conspiracy against Cardinal Giuliano, he escaped to Venice, and thence to France (1522), where he enjoyed the favor of Francis I., and later of Henry II., by both of whom he was sent on important embassies. His life thereafter was spent in France, where most of his poems were written. Among his works were La Coltivazione (1546), a didactic poem on agriculture (his principal work, and one of the best of its kind in Italian literature); Girone il Cortese (1548), an epic; L'Avarchide (1570); collections of shorter poems, Opere Toscane (1532) and Epigrammi Toscani (1570); Flora, a drama. Consult Raffaelli's Life. Alamans. See ALEMANNI. Alameda, city, Alameda county, California, on San Francisco Bay, and on the western division of the Southern Pacific Railroad; 6 miles east of San Francisco, with which it is connected by ferry. It is chiefly a residential city, but commerce and industry are developing. The most conspicuous industry

Alamo

is the making of borax. There are also oil refineries, shipyards, potteries, and the plant of the Alaska Packers Association. According to the U. S. census of manufactures, there were in 1909, 51 industrial establishments, with 915 wage earners, and products valued at $2,554,000. It is a summer resort, and contains the homes of many business men of San Francisco. Here is the college of Notre Dame (R. C.). Pop. (1910) 23,383.

Alamo, THE, a building or group of buildings within the limits of San Antonio, Tex., historically important because of its stubborn but unsuccessful defence by Texans against a vastly superior force of Mexicans under Santa Anna in 1836, during the War of Independence in Texas. The buildings were originally those of the Mission del Alamo; were built about 1722; and were probably so named because originally erected in or near a grove of alamo or cottonwood trees (Populus monilifera). They constitute a low, thick-walled, adobe structure, and at present are carefully preserved as a historic memorial.

The garrison consisted of about 180 men (including a reinforcement of about 30 which arrived during the siege), and was commanded by Lieut.-Col. William B. Travis, with Col. James Bowie as his second in command. David Crockett (q. v.) was one of the most notable of the defenders. The siege lasted from Feb. 23 to March 6, when the stronghold was taken by assault, no quarter being given, and five survivors being bayonetted in cold blood. It is probable that the Mexicans numbered about 2,500, and of these probably as many as 400 were killed or fatally wounded; the figures, however, are not accurately known.

In one sense the defence of the Alamo involved a useless sacrifice of lives, for it was a strategic mistake, and the garrison could almost certainly, during the siege, have escaped; but their heroism and bravery inspirited the Texans (who adopted the battle cry, 'Remember the Alamo'), and no doubt contributed to their ultimate victory at San Jacinto. The Alamo is known as The American Thermopylæ.' Consult Lanier's 'San Antonio de Bexar' in Retrospects and Prospects; Corner's San Antonio de Bexar; Williams' Sam Houston and the War of Independence in Texas; Ford's Origin and Fall of the Alamo; Amelia E. Barr's Remember the Alamo.

Alamos

Alamos ('poplar trees'), mining town, Sonora, Mexico, at the northern end of Sierra de Ala

mos.

The city is about 200 years old, and the mines of the vicinity (gold, silver, and lead) were famous in Spanish days. The exports to the United States amounted in 1910 to $153,675chiefly silver, gold, and ore, and cyanide precipitates. Pop. about 10,000.

Alamosa, town, Conejos county, Colorado, 7,545 feet above sea level, on the Rio Grande River and on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad; 100 miles southwest of Pueblo. Gold and silver are mined in the neighborhood. Pop. (1910) 3,013.

Aland Islands (300, of which 80 are inhabited), at the mouth of the Gulf of Bothnia, government Abo-Björneborg, Finland, Russia; separated from Finland by the Skiftet Canal and from Sweden by Aland Bay (25 miles wide). The chief occupations are hunting, fishing, and agriculture. The strategic position of the islands constitutes their chief value. The capital is Mariehamn. They were Swedish until 1809, when they were ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Frederikshamn. After the Crimean War, Russia was a party to an international convention which forbade the maintenance of any military or naval establishment on the islands. Pop. (est. 1910) 25,000, largely Swedish.

Alans, ALANI, a Sarmatian people who inhabited the steppes north of the Caucasus Mountains and the Black Sea during the first three centuries of the

Christian era. A large section of them were subdued and incorporated by the Huns in 370. Subsequently they settled in Pannonia, Lusitania (411), and Africa (429).

Alarcon, HERNANDO DE, Spanish navigator, sailed from Acapulco in 1540, and disproved the idea that California was an island. He was the first European to explore the Colorado River, the lower course of which, with the Gulf of California, was mapped by a member of the expedition.

Alarcon, PEDRO ANTONIO DE (1833-91), Spanish author and soldier, was a native of Guadix, in Granada. In 1859, having previously (1857) published his El Hijo prodigo, he followed the Spanish army in Morocco as newspaper correspondent, and chronicled these experiences in his Diario de un Testigo de la Guerra de Africa (1860). He was sent to the Cortes by Cadiz in 1864, and in 1868 fought at Vol. I.-Oct. '12

127

the Battle of Alcolea. His novels enjoyed great popularity by reason of their national spirit, and light, humorous, yet sincere tone. Among the best are La Nochebuena del Poeta (many eds.); El Escandalo (1875); Las Alpujarras; El Sombrero de tres Picos (1874); El Niño de la Bola (1880). His poems are represented by the Poesias serias y humoristicas (1870). Consult his Obras Escogidas, with biography (1874).

Alarcon y Mendoza, JUAN RUIZ DE (1581-1639), Spanish dramatist, was born in Mexico. He was for a time professor at the university of Mexico and a magistrate of the supreme court. He lived in Spain from 1611 until his death, as an officer of the council of the Indies. He was one of the first modern Spanish playwrights to embody types in his characters, and to make each of his plays convey a moral lesson. His most famous comedy, La Verdad Sospechosa, enforces the folly of lying and hypocrisy. It is to this play that Corneille is indebted, as he acknowledges, for the plot of Le Menteur. Twenty of Alarcon's plays still survive, the most notable of which, besides the above, are El Tejedor de Segovia, El Semejante á si mismo, Todo es Ventura, Las Paredes Oyen, and Gañar Amigos. His style is chaste and elegant. His principal plays are included in Moratin's Teatro Escogido, and in Ramon's edition of the same. Consult Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature.

Alaric I. (c. 375-410), king of the Visigoths or Western Goths, was a scion of the noble family of the Balthings. During his minority the Visigoths were in vassalage to the Romans; but on the death of the Emperor Theodosius, in 395, Alaric led the great revolt of the Visigoths, and was elected as their king. He overran Greece, and exacted a heavy ransom from Athens itself. As a result, he was able to conclude a treaty with the Emperor of the East (Arcadius), by which he became vicegerent of the greater part of the Balkan Peninsula. His growing power and ambition led him (in 400) to invade Italy, the northern provinces remaining in his power for eighteen months, until his defeat at Pollentia by Stilicho. In 409, however, Alaric once more invaded Italy, and this time laid siege to Rome. He spared the city, contenting himself with a heavy ransom; but in the following year, on Aug. 24, 410, the imperial city was entered and plundered. The Em

Alashehr

pire of the West was almost within his grasp, when he died suddenly at Cosenza. See GOTHS. Consult Hodgkins' Italy and Her Invaders.

Alaric II. (c. 484-507), eighth of the Visigothic kings of Spain, succeeded to the throne in infancy on the death of his father, Evaric or Euric, in 485. At that period the Visigothic kingdom included almost the whole of Spain, together with the greater part of Central and Southern France. Nearly all his French possessions, however, were wrested from him by Clovis, king of the Franks, who inflicted a crushing defeat on the Visigoths at Vouglé, near Poitiers, in 507, when Alaric was among the slain. Although a zealous Arian, he showed great tolerance in religious matters. He enacted several useful statutes, and compiled a code of laws, The Breviary of Alaric II. See GOTHS.

Alarodian Languages, a term sometimes applied to the Caucasian languages, of which Georgian is the chief division. The group is in the main agglutinative, although it frequently approximates inflection. It is not impossible that the cuneiform inscriptions of Van represent an extinct form of Alarodian speech. Consult Sayce's Introduction to the Science of Language.

A Lasco, JOHANNES. See LASCO.

Ala-Shan, province, Southern Mongolia, lying between the Desert of Gobi (Golbiin-Gobi) to the north, the province of Kansu and the Great Wall to the south, and the Hoang-ho and Ala-Shan range, or Khara-Narim (11,000 ft.), to the east. The extreme length is about 800 miles, the mean breadth about 480 miles. It is mostly a vast plain of sand, broken by grassy steppes, chalk downs covered with saline deposits, and low, unstable, sandy hills rising to 80 feet or so. Vegetation is almost absent; and the fauna is poorthe wolf, fox, hare, crow, crane, lizard, and serpent. The population is mostly composed of the Kalmuck stock, near relatives of the Kalmucks of the Lower Volga basin. Their live stock are mainly goats and yaks. Kirghiz and Chinese compose the rest of the inhabitants. Chinese and Mongol caravans traverse Ala-Shan on their way to and from Tibet. The province was annexed to the empire of China in 1636. Pop. 25,000.

Alashehr (ancient Philadelphia), walled city, on the Smyrna and Kassaba Railroad; 74 miles

Alaska

east of Smyrna, Asia Minor. The mineral springs in the vicinity attract many visitors. The waters are also bottled and shipped to Smyrna. There is considerable trade. The town is the seat of a Greek archbishop. Pop. over 22,000.

Philadelphia was founded by Attalus Philadelphus (c. 150 B.C.) on the site of the Lydian village Callatebus. It was destroyed by an earthquake at the time of Tiberius, but became again an important city in the early Middle Ages. It was sacked by Tamerlane (1402). There are ruins of the ancient stadium, temples, and theatre, and of the mediæval walls and castle.

Alaska, a Territory of the United States, comprises the northwestern extremity of North America, west of the 141st meridian, and a strip of coast extending south to 56° north latitude, with the adjacent islands. Its area is 590,884 square miles; inlets and island outlines included, the coast is about 26,000 miles long. The outermost of the Aleutian Islands is as far west of Skagway as that town is west of New York. Point Barrow, the most northerly land of Alaska, lies more than 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and is without the sun for forty days during the winter season.

TOPOGRAPHY.-The shores of the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea are comparatively low and flatmarshy plains or tundras-with a broad offing of shallow water and outlying shoals, and few places where a ship may closely approach the shore. The south coast, however, is formed by mountains, the continuation of the littoral ranges of British Columbia, making the sea-front and the islands of the Alexander Archipelago. These islands rise from 3,000 to 5,000 feet above the sea, and are separated by narrow and deep channels, called 'sounds,' affording a protected waterway for ocean steamers almost continuously from Puget Sound to Cross Sound, with many excellent harbors. The precipitous coast is deeply indented with fiords, at the head of which glaciers come down to the water, and continually give off small bergs. West of Cross Sound and Glacier Bay rise the Saint Elias Alps, bordering the coast for some 300 miles, and containing many peaks clothed with ice and snow almost to their bases exceeding 15,000 feet in altitude; the highest are Fairweather and Saint Elias (18,024 feet). The enjoyable character of the navigation, pleasant cliVol. I.-Oct. '12

127A

mate, and magnificent scenery induce a constantly increasing tourist traffic in summer, which is of great benefit to the residents of this part of the country.

West of the Saint Elias Alps and the Copper River, the coast is broken by the great Kenai Peninsula and Cook Sound, and is studded with lofty volcanoes, some active. The Yakutat Bay region has been the scene of some of the greatest earthquakes in history, the tremors in September, 1899, reaching over an area of 1,500,000 square miles. In 1912 the Kodiak region was severely shaken, and a large territory covered with ashes by an eruption of Mount Katmai. Inland is a mountainous plateau, forming the divide between the ocean and the Yukon Valley. At the head of the Kuskokim River is the highest peak in North America, Mount McKinley (20,460 feet). Southwest from Cook Inlet stretch the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands, extending almost to the Asiatic Coast, and consisting of a line of half-submerged, treeless mountain summits, mostly volcanic.

The northern half of Alaska is a plain of coast tundra, rising interiorly into low hills, and gradually ascending to the Rocky Mountains, which form the western boundary of the Territory, and reach the Arctic Sea near the mouth of the Mackenzie River.

About one-fifth of the drainage of Alaska is toward the Pacific, nearly one half to Bering Sea, and the remainder toward the Arctic Ocean. The great Yukon River is the principal stream, and has a course of 1,865 miles. It rises in British Columbia, far to the southeast of Alaska, and flows westerly across the middle of the Territory, in a winding, islandstudded, and shallow channel, for 1,200 miles. The Yukon is the natural highway of Alaska, its waters being navigable in summer, and its smooth ice coating in winter affording an unequalled sled road. The Kuskokwim River, emptying into Bering Sea, is the second in size, having 1,000 miles of navigable waters. Lying west of the Alaskan range, it is wholly within the plateau country. In the Pacific system are the Sushitna and Copper Rivers, also the smaller Alsek, Taku, and Stikine. In the Arctic Ocean system are the Noatak, Kobuk, and Colville Rivers.

GLACIERS. The largest glaciers outside of the Polar regions are in Alaska-a natural result

Alaska

of the great rainfall (including snow) in that country, ranging from 81 inches to 190 inches annually. The excess of the snowfall over that which can melt during the short summer has formed large valley glaciers, thirty of which reach tide water. The great Malaspina Glacier, on the northwest shore of Yakutat Bay, covers 1,500 square milesmore than the whole State of Rhode Island. The Hubbard Glacier extends inland 28 miles, with many branches or feeders. It discharges icebergs continually from a cliff-like front 5 miles long and 280 feet high above the water, and reaching far below the surface. The Muir Glacier has a front of 3 miles, 300 feet in height, and moves forward 64 feet per day, tumbling its bergs into the sea with an almost continuous roar. The Columbia Glacier is 4 miles in width and 300 to 400 feet high. There are 170 glaciers important enough to have names.

CLIMATE AND PRODUCTS.The climate and products of so vast and varied an area present marked contrasts. The north has Arctic conditions-a short, warm summer, and a long, dry winter, with moderate snow and excessive cold, the thermometer on the upper Yukon often marking -50°; the soil never thaws more than a few inches deep. In the Nome region a shaft 120 feet deep showed the ground still frozen at that level. The only forest in the northern section is a thin growth of spruce, and this ceases a short distance north of the Yukon Valley. The meadows, however, yield an abundance of excellent natural hay; while planted hay and hardy cereals are cultivated in favored places. Potatoes and a great variety of other vegetables are raised, maturing with great rapidity because of the prolonged sunlight they receive in the long subArctic days of summer. The growing season, between killing frosts, is from four to five months.

The southwestern peninsulas and islands have a foggy, wet, and chilly climate, without excessive cold. Some harbors on the Aleutian Islands are open all winter; but those on Bering Sea are closed by ice from October until late in May. The Yukon is unnavigable except during the three summer months, when many large and well-furnished steamers of light draught navigate it.

The southern coast has a very different climate. The high and ice mountains, which border it,

Alaska

catch and precipitate most of the moisture brought from the Pacific by the prevailing westerly winds, causing very frequent rain and fog (the annual fall amounting to about 100 inches in the islands south of Sitka), and accounting for the dryness of the interior. The moist sea winds in process of condensation yield a large amount of latent heat, making the climate of the south coast equable and warm-the temperature rarely sinking to zero. At Sitka the annual average is 50° F. Anything suitable to the North Temperate Zone may therefore be grown, but the scarcity of level places and of clearings has retarded development in this direction beyond thriving vegetable gardens. All this southern coast strip is covered with heavy coniferous forests, consisting principally of hemlock and Sitka spruce, the latter spread over most of the Territory west of the mountains and south of the Yukon Valley. There are also some willow, cottonwood, red cedar, and the more valuable yellow cedar (Cupressus Nootkaensis), which is confined principally to the south coast. Of other trees, a large poplar is the most important.

GAME.-Alaska is a vast natural game park. On its barren northern shores are found walrus and polar bears; the flat, open tundras and treeless plateaus are the haunts of the caribou herds; in the interior forests ranges the Alaskan or giant moose, the largest of the moose family, with horns spreading 5 to 6 feet; on the snow-clad mountains are the mountain sheep and the so-called mountain goat, which is less goat than chamois; and in the southern coastal forests roam the Sitka deer. Fur seals and sea lions inhabit the islands; the brown, black, glacier, and grizzly bear in a dozen varieties are abundant-the Kodiak (q. v.) being the largest of all bears. Ducks, geese, swans, and sandhill cranes breed in the numberless ponds; there are myriads of shore birds-plovers, snipes, curlews, and sandpipers; the ptarmigan is everywhere; and there are five species of grouse. Alaska's game is protected by strict game laws, a substantial revenue being received from the sale of hunting licenses.

MINING. Signs of gold and deposits of coal had long ago been found in various places; but until recent years the only considerable mining was at the Treadwell mine, near Juneau, where gold ore of low grade was Vol. I.-Oct. '12

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so easily and cheaply worked that one of the most productive mines in the world resulted.

In 1896-7 the discovery of rich gold placers in the Klondike region of the upper Yukon Valley was followed by a rush of immigration, which led to the discovery of productive workings all along the upper Yukon, in the Tanana Hills (Birch Creek, etc.) south of the river, along the Canadian boundary, and elsewhere. This was followed in 1898-9 by the finding of gold in the beach sands of the north shore of Norton Sound, and the establishment of the town of Nome (q. v.).

The beach diggings were soon exhausted, however, and placer mining is now carried on in the river and creek bottoms. Dredgers are employed in the Seward Peninsula that dig to a depth of 16 feet, and handle from 1,400 to 2,000 cubic yards of dirt a day.

In the thirty-one years from 1880 to 1911, Alaska's mineral output totalled $206,813,594, of which gold amounted to $195,916,520, copper $8,237,594, and silver $1,500,441. The yield of gold for 1911 was $17,150,000, of which more than $12,000,000 came from placer workingshalf from Fairbanks. Thirteen lode mines are worked, the principal ones on Douglas Island. Canadian gold to the value of about $10,000,000 is also shipped annually through Alaska. silver output for 1910 was 126,480 fine ounces, valued at $67,649. The recent discovery of remarkably rich tin placers in Buck Creek indicates that Alaska may become an important world source of supply of that metal.

The

There are a number of producing copper mines; and these yielded 22,900,000 pounds of copper in 1911, as compared with a yield of 4,241,689 pounds in 1910. Alaskan mines and quarries also produced silver, tin, coal, marble, and gypsum to an estimated value of $390,000 in 1911, an increase of $200,000 over 1910.

There are two known areas of high-grade coal in Alaska-the Bering River field, in the Controller Bay region, and the Matanuska field, north of Cook Inlet. The output for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1911, was 116,000 tons. The Bering River field is 25 miles from tide water at Controller Bay, and so far as surveyed shows 26.4 square miles of anthracite and 20.2 square miles of bituminous coal. The Matanuska field is about 25 miles from

Alaska

tide water at Knik Arm (Cook Inlet); but as this is frozen in winter, the nearest open sea port at that season is Resurrection Bay (150 miles). The Matanuska coal is sub-bituminous to semibituminous, with some anthracite. The coal varies from 5 to 36 feet in thickness, over an area of 74 square miles. Further survey, however, may show a much larger area. Other coal fields are of lower grade, in known area reaching 1,238 square miles, with the probability that further survey will show them much more extensive, as coal-bearing rocks have already been found to cover 12,644 square miles.

There are also great fields of lignite. Peat is widely distributed, the climate favoring its production, and the great tundras appear to be underlaid with peat deposits. Petroleum has been developed in the Cook Inlet and Controller Bay districts.

Fine marbles and other valuable stones and earths exist in Alaska, and are being quarried and exported.

FORESTRY.

The establishment of national forests throughout Alaska has checked their wasteful destruction. Lumbering is permitted for local needs under scientific supervision. Except above the 5,000-foot level, the interior of Alaska is well wooded. There are large areas of dense forest in the Tanana Valley. Northward the woodland is thinner and the trees small. In 1911 the timber cut from the forest reserves amounted to 28,248,000 feet.

FISHERIES AND FURS.-The fisheries of Alaska are exceedingly rich. Cod, halibut, herring, and many small food fishes abound off the coast. There are said to be 125,000 square miles of cod-fishing banks. Several important species ascend the rivers to spawn, the most valuable of which is salmon. Throughout the southern archipelago many establishments for catching and preserving salmon have long existed.

During 1909 the number of persons employed in the fisheries was 12,588; the value of apparatus and vessels, with shore property, $9,881,682. The product was 201,983,238 pounds, valued at $11,181,388. Of this total, 175,028,594 pounds was salmon, representing 34,692,608 fish. The seven Alaska salmon hatcheries liberated 162,228,620 fry. In 1911 the shipment of canned salmon was 2,820,066 cases (of 48 one-pound cans).

Alaska has always been a valuable source of furs, which have