.♦"Mineral production
IN ALASKA IN 1926
t (Continued from .l ast Issue.)
Most of the .silver produced in Alas
. k* jj 1926 was recv.oered from the cop
. per ores. In fact, it i* probable that
considerably more than three-fourths
> of the silver produced during the year
came from, this source, A arlge part
of the remainder was produced from
i the god ores.ofhfhtL Alaska Juneau
Gold Mining Company, and some sil
•' ver was alap recovered from the.gold
-, nan in placers and other .gold lode
•. operations- The lead-silver ’deposits
•- in thejMydef oiiatiicfcattracted cons id
v eciable^attejoVior during'.the year, as
the ownership. of several of the more
pnoinisjng^projutirfck-s was taken over
. by stapngjcpmpanies—an -indication
i dasn^HBOfeOtoati ’them Will probably be
. coirried.~owi<.m£re actively, ;and ,under
skilledumanagement. The Riverside
i mine^muntinued. tube the main pro
. dueerunObAbts. American side of the
■a. disttififct in th«c vcinity of Hyder. Pros
;<-pecjypio^wasi, continued on the silver
load-lodos north of Skagway.
Copper.
A veaOfeiderable part of fhte. decrease
in thevValUR of the coppeirpioduced in
lfl26s istriirectly attributable to the
lowertamerage price, of copper in that
year Ahap in 1925. IThis dower price
undoubtedly also had air indirect ef
fect’ onii.the.quantity ofeppppertpro
, duaeli, for Uncertainly did not stimu
late the mines to produce t«h their full
capacdtyt. dnd prohajbhvofetuild lead a
wise manager to reduce his output
, com|«ny, fhecvhgk yhgkisf mfw mfwy
so far as outstanding;ccmtracts, fixed
charges*^nd.other fenu^iconditions
( • would permit
In 1926, as in prt-jrioakk'the output
Of copper avas largely nlade by the
Kennecott-and Mother Jiodtt inin.eS;' ii;
the tCo.Aper rivereregipn* and by the
Beetson mine, on Latouche Island
-Amongithe smaller,’producers of cop
per* JJukAlaska Palladium Company
_Ti ■_ e i,r_i_, l_l t ir
viiv iwi
, ehicsn district, .huCtanisulargest out
- put. As a indicated by the name oi
this company, the mast~v&lUahle meta
i peuduchi int-tits: lines ip-ipailadium, bul
the mine was originally developed foi
i thaocopper-content _ of' aho-iyt anc
.even now that metal 4orms quantita
Jtiwely bjntfar the bulk of the valuable
min eras recovered. Soma*-prospect
ing of copper lodes is being continuec
t at several..places in the Cfpper Rivei
region and at a few places in th<
. Prnee William Sound, district, bul
. none, of the developments so far re
pouted suggest the probability of no
table new sources of copper produc
v tkm. in;the immediate future.
*. ‘ Coat o •
The production of coal w.as main
tained in 1926 at approximately th<
same rate as heretofore, and was fur
niafaed mainly by. the £«an Jones
L
cGrath
loolHall
i
v
V
> ’Fbesh Fruits
v Candies
Tobaccos
i Ififfcs
Cigarettes
.tSoft Drinks
Cigarette Holders
Geo. Mutchler
Proprietor
{ Alaska . Matanuska,. and Premier
mines, in the Matanuska region, and
the Suntrana mine, in the Healy river
field. The Evan Jones mine was
closed down in September, and the
owners did not pan to operate again
during ihe year. The Alaska Mata
nuska was more or less closed down
for;isuveral months during the sum
mer for the purpose of installing new
machiner and getting the washing
ptan&dntn running otdes.7. 3Vith the
completion of this work it materially
increased its production in Septem
ber, and it has probably maintained
quarter of thvbgkq cmfwycmfw shr r
an even higher output for the last
quarter'.ctf:<the year, .as it has one oi
Uie largest contracts with the rail
road fonxaal. The legal difficulties
of the Premier mine have, keen solved
sufficently so that it continued to pro
1 duce a, small..anu>uat. of coal. Some
| development work under lease or per
! mit waSi also dona, at the Rawson
mine, on Moose, creek, and on Coal
creek opposite, GHiickaloon. The Healy
i River Coal Company’s mine was in
I operation throughout, the year, though
i its.production during part of the sum
! mer was .reduced while certain con
struction w.urk. was. in progress. A
J little- coal is, .reported to .have beer
mined from the Chicago Creek mine
I in Seward Peninsula. A small
amount of coak&was dug.by natives
for local use froi»KCoal.Jbeds exposed
near Wainwright„k and -applications
! were tied for coal prospecting per
! mits covering several othejc areas in
Northern Alaska.
The controlling .factor of Alaskar
coal production .continues., to be the
markets, and spescial . efforts have
been made, by several of , the com
panies during the year to build up ar
outlet for them coal.. As a. result ol
these-efforts,,, shipments have, beer
made to several points as far distant
as .Southeastern. Alaska,, .but the
largest quantity'of coal continues te
be used on the Alaska.Railroad ant
m enterprises in the immediate vicin
ity ui tne rauuuau. . ejvciljii tiie aitt
in ..which Alaska.xoals. should havt
decided, .trade advantage, they havt
uot supplanted coal from outsidt
fields. Much, therefore, might be ac
cqmplished in supplying more fully
local. or near-by markets, but the
trade, can be won only, by reliable de
liveries of coal of uniformly standan
quality.
. Petroleum
All..the^ petroleum, produced ir
Alaska continued to come from tht
wells of. the Chilkat Oil Company
wear Kataila, where, in addition tt
..e oil wells, the company operates i
..mall refinery. The gasoline and dis
.illate produced by.the company art
, .ouch in demand in the local market
as they are said to be of better qual
ity than..the usual commercial brands
The exploration for petroleum 01
the Pearl Creek dome in. the Alask:
peninsula, which has been in pro
.,-ress for three years, by the .Standari
oil Company, was definitely suspend
ed early in the ..year, when the. tes
well was abandoned. at a depth o
5,034 feet.. According to the Stand
ard Oil Bulletin of. April, 11)26, thi
well, “proved wholly unproductive o
petroleum,” though it "was well situ
ated in the area and constituted a ful
test, of the formation, in. the opinioi
of the company’s .geologists.” A1
though these..conclusions are unques
tionabiy true for the Pearl Creel
dome, the test by no means condemn
other parts of Alaska peninsula, foi
as has alrdgdy been pointed out ii
pubished reports of the: Geologice
Survey, there afe Tn ..that region othe
structural features where the prob
ible oil-bearing formations lie neare
the surface. For instance, W. E
Smith has stated that in the vicinit;
of Wide bay the strata near the sur
face are practically the same as thos
ncountered in’ the vicinity of th
Pearl Creek dome at a depth of les
than 4,000 feet below the surface. Ni
lrilling is reported tp have been dom
his year by the Associated Oil Com
pany, which, bag hcfldingsip an.surei
near that of the Standard Oil Com
pany, and which had earlier drilled a
test well to a depth of 3,000 feet.
Drilling to test for .oil, the structure
in the vicinity of Johnson creek, in
the Yakataga region, was carried on
by the General Petroleum Company,
According to the latest available in
formation, this well had- been drilled
t,o a depth of 300 feet, and a good
flow of oil was said to have been en
countered at 240 feet, and indications
of oil at several places between the
depth of 200 feet and :ihe>.bottom of
the well. This well t oa .depth of 61
feet .had a 151-2-inch casing, from
that depth to 240 feet a1.12-inch cas
ing, And below that depth ^an 8-inch
cas.
Examination of Naval -Petroleum
Reserve No. 4 in Northern*.. Alaska
! and adjacent regions was lontinued
by a party from.the Geological Sur
j vey, in charge of, Philip S. Smith,
which went overland during, the win
ter and spent all the summer in held
work in the area. The area traversed
was mainly theiwesternipart of the
reserve and adjacent country in the
vicinity of.Kivalina, Kukpowruk and
Kokolik rivers and the country near
uhe tributaries ’ of Kuk river and
PPePard Pay. No new seepages hr
other definite indications of petroleum
were found, but the party reports
that at many places excellent struc
tural .features were, 'recognized which
afford good collecting places for any
oil that might, have originated in. the
near-by rocks.
The report of the discovery of oil In
the Nizina district appears to be un
founded, and a member of the Geo
logical . Survey who vieit«f> that dis
trict was unable to find any signs
that might form a .basis for the re
port. In fact, the general geology oi
the district is distinctly unpromising
for an oil field.
f’i Other Minerals.
Alaska also produced during- 1926
some lead, marble, tin, patinum and
palladium. Lead showed some de
IRE
crease in quantity, but a large part
of the decrease in the value of the
output was due to the fact that the
price of lead was about a half a cent
a pound less than in 1925. Most of
the lead was recovered in the treat
ment of ores whose principal values
is their gold or silver content. The
lead-bearing gold ores came almost
entirely from the Alaska Juneau
mine, in Southeastern Alaska, and
the lead-bearing silver ores came
principally from the Hyder district,
also in Southeastern. Alaska. The out
put of marble came entirely from the
quarries of the Vermont Marble Com
pany, at .Tokgen, on Prince of Wales
Island, Southeast™ Alalska. The tin
ore, or cassitehitc, was derived from
.placers near Yoork, in Seward Penin
sula, and from the Hot Springs dis
trict, in the Yukon-Taoana region.
Some of the platinum metals were
won from placers in the vicinity of
Dime creek, Seward Peninsula, but
the. larger , part of the output was
palladium recovered from a copper
lode of the Alaska Palladium Com
pany, on Kansan peninsula, in the
Ketchikan district. According to cur
rent reports, the low price of pal
ladium caused suspension of opera
tions of this mine in October. A new
mining enterprise was started on
Gravina island, in* the Ketchikan dis
trict, where one of the old gold mines
whose ore carries large amounts of
pyrites, was u >tinchase£ by the Alaska
Paper Mills to supply sulphur re
quired in the manufacture of paper
pulp.
FORFEIT L'RBJIOTIC E.
To John H. Anderson, his heirs, ex
ecutors, assigns and successors in
interest:
. i-You, and each $f> you, are, hereby
notified that the undersigned, through
power . of attorney from Frank E.
Johnson, has expended far annual
, labor and improvements the sum of
One Hundred Dollars (91000)0) per
I year for the years 1919, 1920, 1921,
i 1922, 1923, 1924. 1926 and 1926, a
total of years years, upon the foHo
in^ described placer mining claims, all
located n the Ruby Recording District,
Territory of Alaska:
No. 3 Above Long Creek, one-half
interest;
No. 3 Right Limit Bench, Long
Creek /we-fourth interest;
Lone Pine Claim, Long Creek, one
half interest;
Keystone Association, Long Creek,
one-fourth interest.
That all of said work and improve
ments were required by law and
were put upon said claim in compli
ance therewith in order to hold the
same for each said year and. there
after, all of said work having .been
performed by Jensen A.Wiklund.
And if within ninety, (90) days after
the publication of this notice you and
each of you do-not contribute to the
undersigned your proportion of. said
expenditure for each said elaim for
each said .year, your interest in. said
claims will become the property of
the undersigned, according to-the pro
visions of Section 2324 Revised stat
utes of the United States.
H. JENSEN.
Attorney in Fact for
Frank E. Johnson.
First publcation, January 1, 1927.
Last publication, April 9, 1927.
NOTICE «F FORFEITURE.
To Max Altman, his heirs, executors.,
assigns and successors in in
terest:
You, .and each of you,'are hereby
notifitd that the undersigned has ex
pended for annual labor One Hun
dred Dollars ($100.00) per year for
the years 1915, 1916,1917, 1920,1921,
1922, 1923, 1924 and 1925, upon the
following described mining claim, in
Ruby Recording District, Territory of
Alaska:
The SANDBAG ASSOCIATION
CLAIM, on Greenstone Creek, a trib
utary of Long Creek, in order to hold
said claim under the provisions' of
law protecting annual labor on min
ing claims.
And if within ninety (90) days after
the publication of this notice you, or
any of you, fail to pay your portion
of the amount expended on the above
claim, your interest in said claim; will
become -forfeited to the undersigned
co-owner, according to the provision*
of Section-2324 Revised Statutes of
the United States.
DAN SUTHERLAND.
First publication, January 1, 1927
Last publication, April 9, 1927.