water in the very midst of the ice and
the snow, I am reminded of my surprise on the top of Mount Tacoma. We
had climbed some eight thousand feet of snow and were shivering in a
bitter wind on the summit, yet when the hand was thrust in a cleft of
the rock it had to be withdrawn by reason of the heat. One knows about
the internal fire of some portion of the earth's mass, of course, but
such striking manifestations of it, such bold irruption of heat in the
midst of the kingdom of the cold, must always bring a certain
astonishment except to those who take everything as a matter of course.

It is evident that this hot water, capable of distribution over a
considerable area of land, makes an exceedingly favourable condition for
subarctic agriculture, and a great deal of ground has been put under
cultivation with large yield of potatoes and cabbage and other
vegetables. But the limitations of Alaskan conditions have shorn all
profit from the enterprise. There is no considerable market nearer than
Fairbanks, almost two hundred miles away by the river. If the potatoes
are allowed to remain in the ground until they are mature, there is the
greatest danger of the whole crop freezing while on the way to market,
and in any case the truck-farmers around Fairbanks find that their
proximity to the consumer more than offsets the advantage of the Hot
Springs.

[Sidenote: ARCTIC AGRICULTURE]

When the great initial difficulties of farming in Alaska are overcome,
when the moss is removed and the ground, frozen solidly to bedrock, is
broken and thawed, when its natural acidity is counteracted by the
application of some alkali, and its reeking surface moisture is drained
away; when after three or four years' cultivation it begins to make some
adequate return of roots and greens, there remains the constant
difficulty of a market. Around the mining settlements and during the
uncertain life of the mining settlements, truck-farming pays very well,
but it could easily be overdone so that prices would fall below the
point of any profit at all. Transportation is expensive, and rates for a
short haul on the rivers are high, out of all proportion to rates for
the long haul from the outside, so that potatoes from the Pacific coast
are brought in and sold in competition with the native-grown. And
despite the protestations of the agricultural experimental stations, the
outside or "chechaco" potato has the advantage of far better quality
than that