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Seward Seaport Record
Seward, Alaska
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Delegate Bartlett urges relinquishment of gravel mining claims on Alaska school lands near Anchorage and introduces bill to repeal 1939 law allowing mineral leasing, to protect $2 million in public value.
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Delegate Bartlett last week called upon persons who have staked mining claims for gravel on school land near Anchorage to relinquish their claims. "Such action," he declared, "would be applauded and is the only right thing to do."
The Delegate's suggestion was made on the floor of the House on the day he introduced a bill to repeal the law approved in 1939 permitting timber and mineral leasing on school lands.
The present situation was apparently never anticipated 36 years ago when Congress in 1915 passed a law reserving to the Territory for the support of schools in Alaska two sections from every township in the Territory. That law provided that the sections would be set aside for agricultural and related purposes after survey and if found to be non-mineral in character.
Some of these lands contain considerable deposits of gravel which only recently, with the Territory's growth and need for accessible building material, have taken on a commercial mineral value.
The law which Delegate Bartlett seeks to repeal was passed in 1939—long before gravel as a mineral took on any significance—which allowed timber leasing and extension of the mining and mineral leasing laws of the United States to school lands with proceeds going to the Territory.
Delegate Bartlett pointed out to the House this week that "In one school section near Anchorage, the largest community in the Territory, a lease arrangement made for the benefit of the territorial common school fund has been disturbed by mining claims being staked out on this school section. Whether or not such staking will be sustained in court remains to be seen. If it is, then the gravel which is conservatively valued at $2 million will go to private individuals instead of to the territorial government, as was intended. Enactment of my bill would prevent any recurrence of that in the future."
"It is felt," the Delegate concluded, "that the public good has been endangered by the desire for private gain. I want to suggest to those who have staked this land that the proper thing for them to do it to relinquish their claims without further controversy. Such action would be applauded and is the only right thing to do."
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Where did it happen?
Domestic News Details
Primary Location
Near Anchorage, Alaska
Event Date
Last Week
Key Persons
Outcome
potential loss of $2 million in gravel value to private individuals instead of territorial government; bill introduced to repeal 1939 law and prevent recurrence.
Event Details
Delegate Bartlett called upon persons who staked mining claims for gravel on school land near Anchorage to relinquish their claims, stating it would be applauded and the only right thing to do. He introduced a bill to repeal the 1939 law permitting timber and mineral leasing on school lands, originally reserved in 1915 for agricultural purposes and school support. The situation arose from recent commercial value of gravel deposits, with claims disturbing a lease arrangement for the territorial common school fund.