U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

USGS Fact Sheet 099-00

2000

Three Western-Mineral-Resources Archives

SUPPORTING SOUND MANAGEMENT OF OUR MINERAL RESOURCES

US SG

Alaska Technical Data Unit

In 1896, three men discovered gold

on the Klondike River in the Yukon

Territory of Canada. When news of

the discovery reached the outside

world in the summer of 1897, thousands of men and women began a

great rush to the Yukon Territory and

Alaska. In January 1898, Congress appropriated funds for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to make geologic

and topographic surveys in Alaska. As

geologists made plans for fieldwork,

Walter C. Mendenhall wrote in a letter

to Alfred H. Brooks:

Interest here among a good many of

the younger men is centered in the Alaskan plans which Mr. Willis and the Director are considering at present. The

bill appropriating $20,000 was signed

by the president a week or more ago.

This with the unexpended appropriation of $5,000 made last year gives

them a good working sum. The plan

being considered at present involves the

sending in of four or five different parties, each in charge of a geologist and

accompanied by a topographer and several camp hands. The tendency seems

to be to choose pretty big men to put in

charge of these parties. Spurr, of course,

will have charge of one. Keith has been

offered another, and will probably take

it if he can agree with the Director upon

the time of starting. He thinks that he

cannot be ready before the first of May,

while the parties are expected to start at

least a month earlier. Eldridge has been

mentioned for another, but I believe that

the matter has not been broached to him

yet, unless it was brought up yesterday.

It was hoped at one time that I.C.

Russell might be willing to take a command, but I don’t know whether he has

been communicated with or not.

Schrader rather put himself out of the

game earlier, when he thought there

would be nothing open to him but an

assistantship, by expressing a preference for work in the States. I think that

if an independent party were offered

him under the new plans, he would take

it, and I should not wonder if one were

offered him. I am sorry that Hayes is

not here, for there is no doubt that he

would be given an opportunity to carry

out some of his cherished plans for exploration there. Your own application

is being considered, but I do not know

what your chances are. I think, though,

that the chances of the younger men depend in some measure upon the attitude

of the more experienced geologists.

Several of these latter will be offered

parties first; if they don’t want them,

the boys may be given a chance. I applied some time since for a transfer to

 Map created in 1902 during the first known traverse through

Rainy Pass in the Alaska Range, Alaska; geologist Alfred H.

Brooks (see inset) was party leader for this expedition from

Cook Inlet to Fort Yukon. Field records, such as the map

and notebook shown here, plus other historical documents

of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) work in Alaska, are

archived in the Alaska Technical Data Unit in Anchorage

(see photograph at right).

M

nonrenewable resources and a

clean, healthy environment requires

accurate and unbiased scientific

data. The ongoing work of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists provides information crucial to the creation of sound public policies that

will ensure future supplies of mineral resources while protecting the

health of our Nation’s citizens. Three

archives, in Anchorage, Alaska, Spokane, Washington, and Tucson, Arizona, are maintained by the USGS to

help policymakers, industry leaders,

government officials, elected representatives, and the general public

make informed decisions on mineral

issues based on accurate, up-to-date,

and impartial mineral-resource information.

eeting the challenge of balancing America’s needs for both
the West and took the occasion to mention that I was in a receptive mood so

far as Alaska was concerned. B.W.

[Bailey Willis?] called me up the other

day and told me confidentially that he

didn’t think that I had a ghost of a

show to get an Alaskan assignment,

since something would be required

there besides a superabundance of

W.Va. experience. I told him that that

was all right but I should like to have

some assurance that the W.Va. dose

was not to be unnecessarily prolonged.

He made me happy by saying that I

should be sent west this summer, perhaps with Smith in northern Washington. Other plans will not be touched,

of course, until the Alaskan assignments are settled, but Tom Reed and

some others have set their faces toward an early adjournment of congress, hence there seems to be some

ground for hope that the regular appropriation will not drag along until

long after July 1st, as it usually does

with a new congress.

As it turned out, both Brooks and

Mendenhall realized their ambitions that

year, each leading a field party to

Alaska, along with the aforementioned

Spurr, Eldridge, and Schrader. Brooks

continued to work in Alaska and served

as head of Alaskan operations from

1903 until his death in 1924.

Mendenhall returned for three more

field seasons (1900–2) and eventually

served as Director of the U.S. Geological Survey from 1931 until 1943.

Mendenhall’s letter is just one of the

historical records preserved in the

Alaska Technical Data Unit (ATDU) in

Anchorage, Alaska. ATDU is the

archive of original geologic field notes,

maps, correspondence, and unpublished

reports that document the history of

USGS work in Alaska. The two major

categories of reference materials are the

Project History files and the Geologic

Subject files.

The Project History files encompass

much of the raw data from which the

Federal geologic maps of Alaska have

been compiled. These files include:

• Geologic notebooks containing the

original field observations, descriptions, and sketches by USGS geologists working in Alaska since 1891.

More than 3,700 notebooks are arranged in numerical order and are

indexed in a computerized data

base. Microfilms of these notebooks are also available for onsite

use at the USGS in Menlo Park,

California.

• Map files containing more than 850

sets of original field sheets and sketch

maps, map compilations, cross sections, diagrams, and annotated aerial

photographs. These materials are arranged by quadrangle and are also indexed in a computerized data base.

• Paleontological notebooks containing fossil identifications made at

various localities in Alaska since

1898. These notebooks are arranged

by year of collection, and there is

no index for this record group.

• Petrographic thin sections made

from rock samples collected in the

field for analysis and description.

More than 30,000 sections are indexed by year and collector.

The Geologic Subject files incorporate more than 6,500 files containing unpublished reports, speeches and lectures,

correspondence, reprints, photographs,

and historical materials relating to

USGS activities in Alaska. Also included are some reports by the Alaska

Power Authority and the U.S. Atomic

Energy Commission, handwritten translations of Russian geologic texts, and a

small collection of Alaskan military terrain studies and highway reports. These

files are indexed under 31 subject headings in a computerized data base.

The Economic Mineral files are a

subset of the Geologic Subject files that

pertain to mineral resources, mineral

commodities, and mining activities in

Alaska. These files contain news

clippings, company reports, mine

histories and production summaries, and

USGS evaluations of “strategic mineral”

properties for the Defense Minerals

Administration and its successors.

Digital catalogs of the materials in

ATDU have been compiled, utilizing

desktop PC’s and the Microsoft Access

relational-database software, running in

a Windows NT environment. Access to

this archive is by appointment only;

written and electronic requests are also

accepted. Researchers should first conduct a thorough search of the published

literature to determine which scientists

have worked in their area of interest and

whose notes and maps might be most

useful to them. Access to certain materials

may be restricted for nongovernmental employees. Owing to the irreplaceable nature of items in ATDU, only copies will

be supplied, and reproduction costs will

be born by the requestor. For further information, call or write to:

Jill Schneider

Technical Data Unit

U.S. Geological Survey

4200 University Drive

Anchorage, AK 99508–4667

Telephone: (907) 786–7457

Fax: (907) 786–7401

E-mail: jschnidr@usgs.gov

Property Files from Federal Government

Exploration-Assistance Programs

(1950–74)

In 1950, Congress enacted the

Defense Production Act, which authorized the President to make provision for

the encouragement of exploration,

development, and mining of critical and

strategic minerals, metals, and

materials.The President delegated his

authority to the Department of the

Interior, among other agencies, and the

Secretary of the Interior established the

Defense Minerals Administration

(DMA). One of the purposes of the

DMA was to provide Government

support for exploration of unknown or

undeveloped mineral deposits. To this

end, the DMA established a program

that would provide funds for projects

which sought or developed sources of

strategic or critical metals and minerals.

When the DMA was terminated in

November 1951, the Department of the

Interior formed the Defense Minerals

Exploration Administration (DMEA)

and continued the program until June

1958. In August of that year, Congress

enacted a law that authorized the

Secretary of the Interior to provide

financial assistance which would

promote exploration for domestic

mineral reserves, and the Secretary

formed the Office of Minerals Exploration (OME). In 1965, OME was transferred to the USGS, where it remained

until Congress terminated funding in

1974. Contracts with these agencies

provided financial assistance for

exploration on a joint-participation

basis.

These contracts are documented in
over 5,000 property files (called

“dockets”) generated by the DMADMEA-OME exploration-assistance

programs. The first item in most dockets is the property owner’s program

application, which would contain information concerning the property’s

location, commodity to be pursued,

and funds requested. This should be

followed by a site evaluation and recommendation. Additional reports

might detail the status of the application, specifics of any financial contract

awarded, results of exploration, production summaries, payback schedules, interim evaluations, and contractcompletion data. The dockets reflect

program activities carried out in 44

States; only Delaware, Indiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, and

Rhode Island are not represented.

Until 1996, these dockets were

stored at several locations throughout

the United States. In the spring of that

year, they were consolidated into the

DMA-DMEA-OME Archive, located

in the USGS Spokane Field Office.

The integrated collection occupies approximately 480 cubic feet and has

been indexed in a Microsoft Access

data base. Interested parties may access dockets at the Spokane office or

make arrangements to have them copied for offsite inspection.

The Spokane Field Office also archives many project files of the former

U.S. Bureau of Mines, as well as the

office files of several Bureau geologists who did mineral-resource studies.

For further information about the

exploration-assistance files and other

archival materials at the USGS Field

Office in Spokane, call or write to:

Dave Frank

U.S. Geological Survey

West 904 Riverside Avenue

Spokane, WA 99201–1087

Telephone: (509) 368–3107

Fax: (509) 368–3199

E-mail: dfrank@usgs.gov

Latin American Archive

From 1989 until 1995, the USGS

operated the Center for Inter-American

Mineral Resource Investigations

(CIMRI) in Tucson, Arizona. This

center served as a focal point for the

development and exchange of minerals information between public

mineral-resources agencies and the

mining industry in the Americas. The

USGS, through CIMRI, actively

sought to develop cooperative working

relationships among governments,

organizations, and individuals interested in the mineral resources of Latin

America and the Caribbean region.

CIMRI undertook four basic interrelated activities to accomplish its

mission: (1) development and exchange of minerals information, (2)

cooperative mineral-resource investigations, (3) technology transfer and

training, and (4) research.

CIMRI collected and disseminated

published and unpublished information on the mineral resources of Latin

America. Much of this information

was archived for public inspection.

This archive includes maps, files,

reports, bibliographies, computerized

data bases, and many related materials.

In 1995, CIMRI was abolished;

however, the archive remains. This

eclectic, multilingual collection is

Map showing distribution of

properties in the lower 48

states for which documents

are available for inspection at

the U.S. Geological Survey

(USGS) Field Office in Spokane,

Washington (housed in building

shown in photograph at right).

The master set of dockets from the Defense

Minerals Administration, Defense Minerals Exploration Administration, and Office of Minerals

Exploration occupy 480 cubic feet in the USGS

Spokane Field Office (below).

Example of a docket (at

left), which might contain

information on property location, owner, commodity,

application status, exploration contract, and financial

data. The dockets have

been indexed in a Microsoft

Access data base.

A duplicate set of

dockets for Washington, Oregon, Idaho,

and Montana that are

organized by State and

county are stored in

file cabinets (at left) at

the USGS Field Office

in Spokane.
organized by country and consists

largely of “gray literature,” unpublished or difficult-to-obtain reports

that would not be easily available in

most libraries. The archive is open to

the public from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00

p.m., Monday through Friday, and is

used by researchers from around the

world who are interested in the mineral resources of Latin America.

The Latin American archive, located in the Environment and Natural

Resources Building on the University

of Arizona campus, currently consists

of approximately 55 linear feet of materials housed in file cabinets, an additional 61 feet on shelves, and 39 drawers of maps. It includes such materials

as The Mineral Deposits of Peru, an

unpublished 1,715-page manuscript

and more than 300 accompanying

Printed on recycled paper

maps by former USGS geologist

Frank Simons, who worked in Peru;

and the Latin American portion of the

field notes and correspondence of V.F.

Hollister, a consultant who worked

throughout the Americas.

To receive further information

about the Latin American archive or to

make arrangements to visit, call or

write to:

Karen Sue Bolm

U.S. Geological Survey

520 North Park Avenue, Suite 355

Tucson, AZ 85719–5035

Telephone: (520) 670–5544

Fax: (520) 670–5113

E-mail: kbolm@usgs.gov

These three archives are maintained

by the U.S. Geological Survey to help

our officials and the public to make

For more information contact:

The Spokane Field Office

U.S. Geological Survey

904 W. Riverside Ave., Room 202

Spokane, Washington 99201–1087

Telephone (509) 368–3101

Fax (509)368–3199

Graphic design by

Judy Weathers

Karen Bolm, Dave Frank, and Jill L. Schneider

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Latin

American Archive (to left), located in the Environment and Natural Resources Building on

the University of Arizona campus in Tucson,

Arizona (below left), currently consists of approximately 55 feet of materials housed in file

cabinets, an additional 61 feet on shelves, and

39 drawers of maps. This archive of the Center

for Inter-American Mineral Resource Investigations includes such materials as The Mineral Deposits of Peru, an unpublished 1,715-

page manuscript and more than 300

accompanying maps by former USGS geologist

Frank Simons, who worked in Peru; and the

Latin American portion of the field notes and

correspondence of V.F. Hollister, a consultant

who worked throughout the Americas.

Information archived for public inspection includes

maps and atlases like those shown in the photograph

(at right), as well as files, reports, bibliographies,

computerized data bases, and related materials.

informed decisions based on accurate

and impartial mineral resource information. Keeping our environment

healthy and supplying America’s need

for nonrenewable resources requires

unbiased scientific data. The availability of these data is crucial for the creation of sound public policies. USGS

scientists are providing important information, now and for the future, that

will keep our environment healthy and

protect our Nation citizens.

Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this publication is for

descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the

U.S. Government.