irection of J.A. MacKnight, of Birmingham, throughout
the exposition, and he had his office at the exhibit.

ALASKA.

Members of the Alaska commission.--Thomas Ryan, First Assistant
Secretary of the Interior, chairman; Governor John F. Brady executive
commissioner; Joseph B. Marvin, resident representative; Mrs. Mary E.
Hart, hostess. Honorary commissioners: M.E. Martin, mayor of Ketchikan;
Peter Jensen, mayor of Wrangell; O.H. Adsit, mayor of Juneau; Frank
Bach, mayor of Douglas; John Goodell, mayor of Valdez; L.S. Keller,
mayor of Skagway; D.B. Miller, mayor of Eagle City; W.H. Bard, ex-mayor
of Nome; Anthony Tubbs, mayor of Treadwell; H.P. King, mayor of Nome.

The district of Alaska appeared at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition as
an exhibitor in a national exposition for the first time. The conception
of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and its plans were presented for
the consideration of the Congress of the United States at a time when
the reports of the committees of Congress sent to Alaska to investigate
its resources and needs had aroused the Congress to the duty of enacting
legislation for the development of this great region. In appropriating
the large sum of $50,000 for an Alaska Building and an Alaska exhibit at
the Louisiana Purchase Exposition it was the purpose of Congress to
afford an object lesson as a means of education to the millions of
people who should attend the exposition as to the extent and resources
of this country or territory. The sequel showed that the money was
wisely expended, as the Alaska exhibit had the distinction of being
regarded by the thousand of its visitors as forming one of the most
interesting, instructive, an surprising exhibits shown at the great
World's Fair.

When the United States, thirty-seven years ago, paid to Russia the sum
of $7,200,000 for the almost unknown territory of Alaska, the purchase
was not generally approved; and even members of Congress denounced it,
regarding the acquisition as a region of icebergs and glaciers. Later,
when gold was discovered in Alaska, the region was regarded as being one
of ice and almost inaccessible gold, and few had the hardihood to
venture within its precincts, even with the possibility of finding gold
as an inducement for the venture.

Still later, after the reports of the Revenue-Cutter Service and the
recognizances of army officers and naval commanders, the United States
Geological Survey sent men into Alaska to inves