If presently there shall come the news that the land
boomer has reached the mouth of the Mackenzie River--as long ago
he reached certain portions of the Yukon and Tanana country--if
it shall be said that men are now selling town lots under the
Midnight Sun--what then? We are building a government railroad of
our own almost within shadow of Mount McKinley in Alaska. There
are steamboats on all these great sub-Arctic rivers. Perhaps,
some day, a power boat may take us easily where I have stood,
somewhat wearied, at that spot on the Little Bell tributary of
the Porcupine, where a slab on a post said, "Portage Road to Ft.
McPherson"--a "road" which is not even a trail, but which crosses
the most northerly of all the passes of the Rockies, within a
hundred miles of the Arctic Ocean.
Land, land, more land! It is the cry of the ages, more imperative
and clamorous now than ever in the history of the world and only
arrested for the time by the cataclysm of the Great War. The
earth is well-nigh occupied now. Australia, New Zealand, Canada,
even Africa, are colonization grounds. What will be the story of
the world at the end of the Great War none may predict.
Pages:
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184