MINERAL OUTPUT OF ALASKA
SHOWS A NOTEWORTHY IN
CREASE GOLD PRODUCTION
(Continued from Page i.)
near Nixon Fork, report some produc
tion of gold, and prospecting was ac
tive at a.Jiumber :of. other places.
The inccase in production of gold
from planer, mines is attributable in
most part.to the.greater output from
the properties'-of the Fairbanks Fix
pjpratiom Company, in the Fairbanks
district,...which early in 1928 ^placed
two of its large dredges in operation
on Goldstream creek and the Chata
oika river and before the end of that
season had lnished a smaller dredge
on upper Goldstream creek and had
had begun mining with it. The be
ginning of production from this large
project has not only resulted in great
ly, increasing the amount of gold
mined- in. the: district, hut, what, is
Verba l seven more significant, gives
pro mi -iv -of a greater output in the
succeeding years. So far as has-been
reported, no other new dredges were
constructed in Alaska during 1928.
but several that were constructed in
1927 and operated only a short time
duringthat year were running
throughout 1928. A few of the.
dredgesuthat formerly were active
were idler.during 1928,. but on fhe.
whole all the dredges that produced
much gold in 1927 were again active;
last year, and most of them report
fully as. large a production as in
1927. Ass a result., approximately 64
per cent, of the placer gold that was
recovered in 1928 was mined by
d sedges.
1 he amount ot gold produced trom
the pinoers that are mined by other
methods than dredging seems to have
been.' itLightly less than that derived
from such placers in 1927. No new
finds of placer ground were made
during the year that yielded any eon
sid< table. amount of gold, and inevit
ably each year many of the known
areas.of placer are worked out. There
still remain, hbwever, large placer
reserves that could undoubtedly be
work*id'by companies having adequate
capit and:'skilled engineering aid.
Copper.
The_:value of the copper- produced
from Alaskan mines in *1928 is esti
fliat?d.vto have been §6,100,000. This
margj a decrease of about §1,150,000
over.‘the value of the copper produced
by these mines in 1927 and acon
cifiuation of the decline in the pro
duction of copper in Alaska that has
been more or less steadily in progress
since 1923. In 1928, as in former
years, practically all of the copper
came from the mines near Kennecott,
in the Copper River region, and from
one mine on Latouche Island, in the
Prince William Sound region. These
mints alone, according to the pub
lished reports of the Geological Sur
vey, have yielded copper worth §200,
000,000 in the 18 years- or- so that
they have been actively developed.
In the vicinity of th eknowrr ore
bodies at these mines extensive tests
Have een made to determine their
extent and to disclose any other
bodies. The extent oi tiie deposits
that are being mined has thus been
closely mapped' out. No notable ne$v
ore bodies are reported to have been
discovered' during the year. Although
large ,3aits of the known ore bodies
still remain to be mined, they are
being depleted each year, so that, un
less new deposits are found, a- still
further decrease in the output of cop
per from Alaska is inevitable. That
there are in the Copper River region,
as well as in other parts of Alaska,!
otheT deposits that hold promise of !
profitable development seems likely,:
and prospecting kwork is in progress'
at a number of these pidees. The
successful development of a large;
copper mire., however, is an expensive
and time-cmisuming task, and none of
the prospects that are now being ex
ploited appear to have yet reached {
suefi a stu'ge that their future can be I
predicted; ..itJa.cartainty.
Silver. j
Most oi the silver produced in1
Alaska .dutaT^p recent years has been.,
recovered from the copper ores—in
fact, during 1927, the latest year for ,
which complete reports are available,1
over three-quarters of the silver came
from that source. With the great re
duction in the output of copper in j
1928 the quantity of silver naturally
shows a corresponding decrease. The
greater output of gold from both
lodes and placers resulted in a slight
increase in the amount of silver that
is associated with the-gold . obtained
from them. The quantity of' silver
contained in ordinary lode or placer!
gold is, however, relatively so small,
and silver is so low in price, that the
increase in output of gold means an .
increase of only a few thousand dol
lars in the value of the silver recov
ered from those sources. Some silver
■ is also recovered from ores that are
, principally valuable for the lead and j
1 silver they contain. Most of the ore ]
of this sort is mined in the Hyder
district, in Southeastern Alaska, and
is shipped to smelters in the States,
for treatment. Silver-lead ores are,
however, known in widely separated
parts of the Territory and sonnet min
ing and prospecting is in progress at
several places on ores of this type.
The high cost of transportation and
! treatment discourages develop of or
i search for these ores except in the j
; more- accessible parts of A laska.
Coal.
The production of coal from Alas-.
kan mines was greater in 1928. than j
in 1928—in fact, the preliminary esti-;
mates indicate that more coal, was i
produced in 1928 than in any earlier
year. As usual, the greater part of
production came from the Matanuska
and Healy River coal fields. The,
principal' producing mines in the;
Matanuska fields were those of the ■
Fvan .(ones Coal Company and the,
Pr«?m:er Coal Mining Company., and .
in the Healy River valley the Sun-;
Irama mine of the Healy River Coal
Corporation. No notable new devel- j
opments were reported in either of |
these fields, but there was a steady j
development in both. The increased
demand for fuel in connection with
the dredging project of the Fairbanks
Exploration Company in the Fair- j
banks district has served as an addi- j
tional outlet for coal from the Healy
River field.
During the year considerable activ
ity was shown in the development of
coal beds that have Tong been known !
on Admiralty Island, in Southeastern i
Alaska. This work was done on the I
property of the Admiralty Island
! Coal Company, on Kanalku Bay, and
several shipments of coal were sent
to Juneau and near-by markets. A
small quantity, of coal for local needs
is also reported to have been pro
duced, principally by Eskimos, from j
coal heds on the Kuk river, near I
Wainwright, in Northern Alaska.
No new developments were reported
in the Bering River field, nor in any
of the many coal fields that are known
in other parts of Alaska. There is
. still a considerable use of coals im
ported from the. States find British
Columbia that might be supplied by
coals from Alaskan fields if they were
pushed by a strong selling corpora^
tion.
Petroleum -
All the pettoleum produced in
Alaska in 1928 continued to come
from the wells of the Chilkat Oil Conv
pany, near Katalia, where ,in adiii ■
tion to the oil wells, the company;; op
erates a small refinery. The gasoline
and distillate produced from this pe
troleum are. much in demand in the
local market, as they are said ,to be of >
better quality than the usual commer
cial brands. This company is reportd
to have Continued operations in. this' :
field on essentially the same .scale as |
heretofore. '
The only other place in;.: Alaska
where drilling for.oil was. in progress ;
during the year was in the Matanuska. j
valley a few miles west of Chiekaloon,
where the Per arson Oil Association J
continued work throughout most of j
the open season. The well isr said to ]
have been giving strong: showing of , 1
gas at several levels, but a*' the. geo- <
logic formations that, it penetrated
consist of members of the coal series
there is strong probability that the
gas came from them. This probabil
ity seems to be borne out by such
tests as have been made of the gas.
No new activities in the search for
petroleum in the Alaska Peninsula, in'
Northern Alaska, or elsewhere in the i
Territory, were reported during the |
year. This lack of activity does notj
indicate that the possibilities of find
ing petroleum in them are regarded
as exhausted nor t hat search has
been permanently abandoned. It sim
ply means that the proving of a new
field in Alaska is an extremely ex
pensive one that can be undertaken
only by a large, strongly financed
company. Such companies find that
at present their e.tideavors promise
more certain and immediate returns
in other fields.
inner minerals.
In addition to the mineral products
already mentioned, Alaska also pro-1
duced during 1928 some lead, marble.,
limestone, tin, and platinum. The ag
gregate value of the output, of' these
minerals, with that of petroleum, was
$356,000. Most of the lead came as a
by-product from the gold ores of the
Alaska Juneau mine, and the in
creased production of these ores re
sulted in the recovery of a greater
amount of lead also. An increasing
amount of lead is also recovered from
the silver-lead ores of the Hyder dis
trict. The output of marble in 1023
came as heretofore entirely from the
quarries of the Vermont Marble Co.,
on Prince, of Wales Island, in South
eastern Alaska. The mining of cer
tain limestone deposits on Dali island,
in Southeastern Alaska, by the Pacific
Coast Cement Company, as a source
of one of the constituents of its ce
ment, marks the beginning of a new
enterprise whose development should
materially increase the mineral pro
ductios from that part of the Terri
tory. The tin ore was derived prin
cipally from placers near York, in
Seward Peninsula, but small amounts
were recovered from plaocers in the
Hot Springs dinstrict of the Yukon-.
Tanana region. Negotiations were
concluded late in the summer of 1928
for some extensive developments of
the tin resources of the Hot Springs
district in the near future. Prospect
ing for tin <we near Big creek, in the
Ruby district, was continued and prob
ably some placer tin was recovered,
but no details regarding the results of
the prospecting there are yet avail
able. The platinum metals came prin
cipally from placers in the eastern
part of Seward Peninsula and in the
Goodnews bay district, at the mouth
of the Kuskokwim river. The mine of
the Alaska Palladium Company on
Kassan Peninsula, in Southeastern
Alaska, which for a number of years
has been a large producer of platinum
metals and the only one in which
these metals were recovered from
lodes, was closed throughout the year.
Possibly a few other mineral commod
ities were produced during the year,
but for the purpose of this prelimi
nary summary their value may he re
garded as inconsequential.
TABLE OF DISTANCES BE
TWEEN NENANA AND FI,AT
Nenana ...
Tavern Roadhouse .
Knight's Roadhouse .
Nineteen-Mile Roadhouse
Diamond Roadhouse.
Roosevelt .
Luke Minchumina .
Trappers’ Cabin .
Lone Star Roadhouse ...
Telida Roadhouse .
Slow Fork Roadhouse ....
East Fork Roadhouse .
Berry’s Landing Roadhouse
Big River Roadhouse.
McGrath ._.
Takotna . .
Bill Goss’ Roadhouse ...’.
Ophir ..
McCafferty
Miles
. 00
. 1714
. 1114
. 68 ..
... 70
..... 89
115
132
... 150
... 16&14
... 187
) 206
... 22714
... 241
. 263
. 280
291
300
306
Brown Creek shelter cabin . 318
Fritz shelter cabin ..
First Chance shelter cabin
Schermeyer R. H.. ..
Iditarod ...
Flat .
Bonanzza uheler cabin, 12
from Flat.
Crooked Creek shelter cabin,
miles from Bonanza.
333
346
360
376
384
miles
19
i I
Babeesch Moosehide Mitts and Boots
Furs Bought and Sold Clothing
All Kinds of Nice Fresh Groceries and Fruits
Canned Goods of All Kinds Beds and Bedding
A. R. Eldridge - McGrath
TAK0TM ROADHOUSE
Best of Meals and Rooms
Where Everything Is Homelike and
Where You Are Cordially Welcomed
GOOD DOG HOUSES f BATHS
Ivar Ghilstrom - Prop.
Rough and Dressed Lum
ber of All Kinds
as
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I
i
i
I
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