iCf tbamreietC-from Page 1.)
MINERALS OF ALASKA
t. the Territory to dae to about $419,
791.GC0 ou-_the.oki basis of gold value.
I Since midsummer the Treasury has
i been. losing, a premium on newly
mined gold, the price in early Decem
ber berime,-oval". $3 4 ,an ounce. In this
summary.the gold value is stated on
the bas s_ of. the price prevalent here
• before, nawe.ly,$20.67 an ounce. This
is done in..part because of the desira
bility of, mair.taing uniformilty in
,'.the tahiilar pr.esentaton of facts with
the statements issued in preceding
.years, and m part because at the time
this summary was prepared many of
the mine operators themselves did not'
know what price they were to receive
for their voorious shipments of dust
and hullion. :The actual money re
u, cewed»toy the miners will greatly ex
ceed the amount is the gold output as
stated, above, possibly by as murh as
15 per cent of the entire production.
A preliminary estimate shows that
.the gold production was divided al
most equaly between lodes and placer
mines, the difference in the amount
produced by these two classes of
mines being iess than 1 per cent. This
compares with the proportion of 44
to 56 in 1932, shows that pronounced
increase in the proportion of gold
won from lodes. Apparently there
was a decrease of $180,000 in the out
put of placer gold, probably as a re
sult of the unusually dry summer,
but this decrease was much more than
onset oy an increase oi over $izt>,uuu
in the lode production. Of the gold
won from placers, nearly four-fifths
was recovered by dredges, the re
mainder being recovered by hydraulic
methods, .by the use of mechanical
scaoers, and by the mrre primitive
method of groundsluicing and shovel
ing gravel into the sluice boes by
band. The growing proportion of gold
recovered by mechanical means is the
inevitable result of the exhaustion of
Ticher ground that nan be profitably
be exploited by expensive hand meth
ods, and the application of large
scale mechanical methods to leaner
^deposits.
The policy of purchasing newly
mined gold a< a premium, adopted by
.the .Treasury during the summer, has
greatly stimulated the exploration
lor gold and fheidevelopmentoi gold
mines, both placer and lodo. Many
gravel deposits hitherto considered to
be of too low grade to be attractive
are now being re-examined as dredge •
possibilities. ^Similarly there is re- i
newed interest throughout the Terri
tory in gold lodes and active develop
ment with a view to installing mill
_iug equipment) is, under .way on many
properties. All these projectts that
require installs tioon of elaborate me
chanical equipment take considerable
time beforji they become productive,
and the poor results of increased
• price of gold will not appear in the
figures of qutput until 1934 or even
latex.
The largest producing mine in the
Territory jg. that of the Aaska Ju
neau Gold! Mining Company, near
Juneau. This mine greatly increased
/its oi&rat over that of 1932, no doubt
as the result of milling higher grade
ores in a newly developed portion of
'the mine. This -recent development
is expected, to supply an increasing
portion of the ore mill during the
next .year. feThe Hirst Chichagoff and
Chichagof f mines, on Chichagof f
island, important producers for many
years, were operated somewhat less
uc..vely than in 1932. The Willow
Creek districts north of Anchorage,
maintained its place as an important
lode mining center. The main pro
duction there came from the Lucky
Shot mine, the,property of the Willow
Creek Mines, Ltd. During the sum
...er this company was actively en
gaged in reopening its adjoining
. ar Bay Mine, the ore .from wh.ch
in this OiStrict were in part time op
eration. Lode mining in the Fair
banks district was continued on about
the same scale as in 1932. Though
increasing interest was shown in
properties on both Ester and Pedro
Domes, and plans were afoot to de
velop ioues that had not hithertto
been mined. Active mining was p ros
ecuted at the property of the Nabesna
Mining Company, on the Upper Na
besna river, and this recenttly devei- j
oped lode mine continued to be an im
portant producer. Other scattered
lode mines that yielded some gold in
clude that of the Eva Creek Mining j
Company-, near Ferry, the Mespelt!
Mine, on the Nixon Fork of the Kus
kokwim river, and the Sunny Fox j
Mine, in the Nuka Bay district. Ac
tive developments were, however, in
i roogress at numerous other lodes,
some of which are expected to come
into production in 1934.
Alaska placer mines are estimated to!
have produced gold valued at $5,342,
000 in 1933, calculated on the ould
'basis of $20.67 an ounce. The actual
amount received by- the miners under
the premium offered by newlv-mined
gold by the Treasury was consider
ably in excess of the figure here
here given. This is a slight decrease j
over the amount of placer gold recov- !
ere din 1932, due to an unusually dry
season, which restricted the produc
tion of.many mines. Much the greater ;
part of the output came from the
Yukon region, Seward Peninsula took
second place, and the remainder came j
from widely- restricted mining re- >
gions, in the following order of im
portance: Cook Inlet-Susitna,;
Copper River, Kuskokwim, North
western Alaska, and Southeastern'
Alaska.
With the exhaustion of -the richer •
bonanza placers in Alaska the ten-!
dency has been to .exploit, iowe r grade j
ore by mechanical .pieans, and for!
many such depoosit? the gold dredge
has been found Jo be the most econ
omical device. In 1933 about 80 per
cent of the placer gold was recovered 1
bly dredges, of which 28 were in op-1
eration for at least part of the open
season. The Fairbanks district was i
much the largest producer, with Sew- !
ard Peninsula second. Other areas !
in which gold dredging was carried
on incude the Icjitarod, Inn o, Kus
kokwim, and Yentna districts.
Coojtper.
The alue of the annual production
of copper from Alaska has for many
years been an important item in the
annual statement of the mineral out
put of the Territory^ in 1916 it
amounted to 128,483,291, and between
that year and 1930 it never fell below
54,000,000, As a result of the low
price for copper in 1931 the output
fell to less than $2,000,000, and in
1932 to little mor^ than $500,000.
In 1933.
Silver.
Of late ;years most the silver
produced in Alaska hgs been recov
witiimmimmm
Freighting
Wood Hauling
WATEJt DELIVERED WEDNESDAYS AND<£AT&$D$lYS
See Johnny or Curley Company
ered as a by-product of coppsr and
gold mining. The Alaska copper
ores, though low in silver, have in
the aggregate a notable amount of
the metal. The amount of silver de
rived from that source naturally fluc
tuates with the demand for copper,
and the closing of importtant copper
mines in 1933 is reflected in a de
crease in the silver output. Next in
importance to copper or a a source;
of silver have been the gold lode ores,;
particularly those of the Alaska Ju
neau mines, and the 1: ; • -'d oldg i
and silver output of that 1933
n part offsett the lo~ the
. i : mint.
There are a nunifce; s in
Alaska in which lodes «..i . ; valu
able for their silver are hr wn to
exist, and any decided increase in the
price oi silver will be reflflcted in ifi-i
creased interest in sirver lodes. Ac
tive development is said to be in pro
gress at present on a silver-lead lode
in the Kantishna district that has in
'he past yielded a considerable ton
nage of rich ore.
Coal.
The output of Alaska Coal mines
in 11133 is estimated to have been]
about 100,000 tons, or practically the
same as 1932. PPractically all the
coal produced came from mines in j
the Matanuska valley and the Healj !
river basin. The two principal pro
ducing mines in tne Matanuska field
were the Evan Jones mine and the
Premier mine, t hough some coal was
taken from the Wishbone Hill mine.
Other Minerals.
In addition t o the mineral products ■,
listed in the table presented here-!1
with, there are others shipped from!
Alaska each year, the aggregate value I <
of which is considerable, but which in
dividually were not produced in large |
amounts in 1933. The value of these ^
minerals which include for 1933 lead,;
tin, platinum, copper quicksilveer, and j j
limestone, is here grouped under a I
single • heading, together with .pe
troleum, which is produced by a sin
gle eomnanv.
6th day.of October, 1933.
Jones—Hello, Brown; you are
looking rather stiff today. Y/ere you
playing golf yesterday,
Brown—No. I got t he bath salts
and starch mixed—Montreal Star.
In the Probate Court for the Terri
tory of Alaska, Fourth Division, Mt.
McKinley Precinct.
In the matter of the Estate of F.
C. H. Spencer, deceased.
NOTICE OF SALE
Notice is hereby given that Charles
Cowan, administrator of the estate
of F. C. H. Spencer, deceased, will
sell, subject to confirmation by the
Court, at public auction, to the high
est bidder, on the 16th day of Feb
ruary, A. D. one thousand nine hun
dred and thirty-four, at two o’clock
p. m., at the front door of the Ta
kotna General Stoore, at Takotna,
Alaska, or at some otoher place, as
the case may be, all of the personal '
property of the estate of F. C. H.
Spencer, deceased, to-w t, that cer
tain stock of groceries, hardware, dry
goods, and other m^ichandise and
personal property, ncrv rocated in the
store of said estate at Takotna,
Alaska.
Tre terms of said sale are: Cash
in lawful money of the United States
of America, at least ten per cent of
bid to be paid at the time of sale and
the balance on confirmation of the
sale by the Court. Said adminis
tra reserves the right to reject any
and all bids.
Dated this 15th dayi of January, A.
D. 1934.
CHARLES COWAN,
Administrator of the Estate of j
F. C. H. Spencer, deceased. j
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
All persons having claims against
the estate of John T. Smeaton, de
ceased, are hereby required to present
the same to the undersigned, Nick P.
Mellick, administtrator of the said
estate, at the place of business of
deceased, at Bethel, Alaska, or at the
administtrator’s place of business at
Sleittmue, Alaska, within six montths
from and after the date hei’TOfr—
Dated at Bethel, Alaska, November
3d, 1933.
— --NICK T. MELLICH,
Administrator with the will
annexed. ‘
First pub. Jan. 6, 1933.
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—A stray dog
wandered limping on three legs into
the office of Dr. H. H. Cummings
Cummings here Sunday. A nurse
gave sympathetic attention to .the
bandaged leg.
Dr. Cummings, who specializes in
obstetrics, walked into the outer-of
fice, noticed the dog’s plight and re
marked with a smile to the nurse:
‘Sorry, w edon’t take that kind of a
iase.”
Dr. Cummings it ft the office ant
returned in a few minutes to find that
the dog in he meani me had given
birh to five pups.
At Madura Madras, 17 elepnans
were found dead in a corn field in the
Tumdum valley recently, after an all
night’s feed. Mahout concluded that
the animals, attracted from the hills
by the scent of the ripening grain,
broke into he field and ae themselves
to death.
m
FESKEER SHCP
sL E. LOWRIE
Blacksmith, Machine and all kinds of Sheet
Metal work. Stoves, Safetys, Tanks.
Drills and Boilers and all kinds of Prospect- [
ing Equipment \
l
4 h. p. Gasoline Drills
{■
AUTOMATIC HAND DRILLS
Light k\ weight and Hercules in strength. Can be operated by one *
man. if necessary, and reach bedroc kin shallow ground and
get results.
SOIIREOUGH TRADING POST
McGRATH, ALASKA
Groceries
Clothing
ANYTHING FROM A NEEDLE TO AN ANCHOR
Except a Few Missing Links
Coma and Look Things Over.
W. T. V&KDERPOOL
PROP.
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