Mohave County miner., 1888-04-14
The AlssIsa Boom.


coming this year. It's ayant courier, a.
ship load Of mines as early as February,
has arrived. It has started in a month
earlier than expeted, but not too early,
as the indications are favorable for an
early sphng; andesen at this date miners
can get out and prospect along the beaches
and in the foothills and cross the range TO
Yukon. Reports from nearly every State
and Territory in the Union say they VIII
send peops 10 Alaska, and from the min
ing sections In the West they will come
in crowds. The great attraction is, per-
haps, that Alaska In new country and
known TO be rich in auriferous deposits os
gravel and black sand and immense gold
bearing ledges; and no lesser attraction
is that the very FIRST attempts at both
placer and quartz mining here have prov
I'D eminerily successful, as the output In
gold from these enterprises clearly prove.
Aside from the unexplored interior OF
Africa, Alaska Is the only positively new
mineral country that the miner can turn
to, and is inaccessibility and great extent
will keep ID a new country for years to
come, AMI Juneau will-scnd out her pros
pectors twenty-five years from nov as
to-day. The rush here will not be unlike
that to California In 40, for the attrac-
tons are the same--or where the spark.
ling watsrs in the mountain streams bub-
BILE over pebbles Of gold in country new
and ithouaand miles away. II Is true
that we base the impetus Of our boom on
the discovery Of "course gold" where
| men make fortunes in a week and things
fairly hum az long as they last (; but We do
not depend upon such resources alone,
| Tor we have another class OF mineral
wealth that will make II permanent and
live long after the gravel di2gings have
been worked out. We refer to quartz
mining, veins Of nearly every size and
description, and carrying nearly every
class OF minerals known. We venture to
say that i'm no other mining section can
TIE found such variety Of minerals and
veins as has already been found In Alaska.
We have veins. Of low grade gold ore
ranging from 80 to 800 feet in width, OF
mountains OF quartz" as they are more
appropriately, termed. These are 20 ,lo-
Gated that the cost OF reducing the ore ID
reduced 10 minimum, or it is now being
done for $1.25 per ton. And we have
smaller veins Of high grade gold, silver
and copper ores, not so accessible, but 30
| rich rs to pay handsome profit when
packed down and shipped below for treat.
ment. The low grade ores consist ol
quartz carrying free gold and gold in sui.
phurets or iron pyrites, ranging IN value
from II to so per ton, the country rock
or formation being slate. In the high
grade ores a large per cent. Of the gold IL
free, but the veins bear streaks heavily
mineralized with galena, iron and copper
and in some instances black jack. Thii
latter class is rich in both silver and gold
the silver being carried mainly in the
galcna in the form OF chloridcs and biack
sulphurets. In the limestone formation
other classes OF ore are found. One elias,
Is a gray copper ore carrying native silvel
and little gold. Another class is leae
carbonate, and this will probably oper
ont TO be the richest ore yet found in tn,
Territory. II occurs in the limestone il
chimneys and deposits, and in one in
stance where little development wori
has been done large boulders Of lead, iror
and antimony are extracted from bed o
mineral ashes These mineral boulder
give fair assay returns in silver, with ,
few dollars In gold, but most OF the silve
is contained in the mineral ash, wiici
gave assay returns Of $3,l00 per ton. A
this point work was commenced at tn,
opening Of a great crack in the earth. 4
shaft was sunk from the surface TO abou
ten feet in depth, and leading off from
the bottom is large cave, the walls O
bath tho cave and the fissure being spat
tered over with mineral. For many yard
around the mouth OF the shaft the surfac
Of the bare limestone In spattered owe
with mineral the same as on the walls O
the 6ssure,; and centering towards tn
shaft, like the spokes Of q wheel to the
hub, are hundreds OF smaller assures nj
filed with mineral. Every surface indi
cation points to great body Of miner
secreted there somewhere in the bowel
Of the earth. small portion Of which ha
found vent through these cracks in tn
crust OF the earth, and has been shot u
while hot and adhered and cooled on tn
walls, and some Of it escaping from tn
assures has shot into the air and droppe
and cooled on the rocks just as ii is fouu
there now.
Practically the natural resources {
Alaska are in the infancy Of their deve
opment; in fact, all her elements {
. wealth, aside from the fur trade, ca
more properly be written as "undevelope
resources" than any other way. At Leaf
nine.tenths Of her gold bullion last yea
came from her one developed mine, whic
ere year has gone will be supplied wit
mill facilities which will enable it
more than double its annual product (
precious metal. The mineral besrin
halt Or ladnn IN which fhia NINA In l.