The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-11-24
THE MINES OF ALASkA
Wealth They Are Pouring Into
the United States.
INCREASE Or GOLD PRODUCTION
Greater Than Colorado in Proportion
TO White Population-Sew Dis.
tricts Being Developed.

That Alaska is fast coming TO the front
as one OF the leading gold-produciug ter
r1torles Of the United States is shown BY
the results OF tffe seasons work Just
closed. as made clear by an interview with
@. b S~wtnehaTT, OF Juneau. editor OF the
Alaska Mining Record He tells OF all the
districts and makes a striking COMPARE
son OF the production OF Alaska and Colo
RADIO. the banner state for the year
'~The outlook in Alaska" sad Mr.. Swine
hart has never been as good as in the
last two months. either IN its placer or
quartz mines. What has contributed %
keep back our knowledge OF me vast min
eral wealth OF Alaska was The suspension
OF the assessment laws n this sus-
pension. which was passed because OF the
hard times. owners were not compelled 20
DO their assessment work and their claims
therefore lay idle. But this year they
have been compelled 70 do their assessment
work. and nearly all the prospects that
were at all promising before have become
mines. This. OF course. mora particularly
applies 10 the quartz mines"
Where ara the quartz mines?"
In and around Juneau principally. but
paying quartz IS being found Ia other To-
c~alitses. and there are quartz mines at
other points"
"And the placer mnes7"
The Placer Mines.
'rTheSe are principally in the interior. in
what is known "a the Yukon gold fields.
which Is divided into districts. Birch creek
and its tributaries: Forty-Miie creek. and
Sixty-Male creek. On the river,
another district. some prospecting has been
done az the mouth that has paid well.
though The headwaters OF the river have
never been prospected az all, but are sup
posed to contain considerable gold. The
same can be said of the Copper river.
which, in addition 70 its g~old-bearing rocks,
Is exceptionally rich in copper.
Some little mining has also been done
At Koyukuk river. but no new finds have
been made there this year so far as
known. There are two or three prospects
On Kowak river that are doing fairly well.
In the Cook inlet district the prospect
ing has turned put exceptionally we'll. thu
mining being confined principally TO the
Sushitua, Knik and Kakni rivers, in re-
gard TO which many reports have recently
been published in the Post-Intel2gencer.
At Yakutat and Latuya BAYS there has
been considerable gold taken from the black
sands.
The Silver Bow Basin Mines.
THE principal among the placer mines.
which are generally worked by rockers and
sluices. is that IN the Silver Bow basin.
above Juneau, which il worked by the big
hydraulic plant Of the NOVEL; Gold Mining
Company. and which has made q far better
showing this year than In any previous
one.
Among the quartz mines that are now
being operated and that are fair pnoduc-
ers. IS the large plant OF the Alaska Tread
we'll Cola Mining Company on Douglas
island, across the bay from Juneau. which
has a mill of 24O stamps. Then there IS
The Alaska-Mexcan Gold Mining Com
pany, which has a mill OF sixty stamps
and Is owned by the same shareholders as
The Treadwell mill.
The Many stamp Mills.
The Berner's Bay Mining and Milling
Company at Berner's bay has forty
stamps; the Novel; Gold Mining Com
pany. IN Silver Bow basin. Juneau. twenty
stamps: Alaska Commercial Company's
mines at Unga, forty stamps; the Yakou
Consolidated group. owned by Willis
Thorp. ten stamps: the lessees of the
Bennett mine are operating a mill OF the
Juneau Mining and Milling Company, ten
stamps: the latter company is running a
mill OF t~hirty-hve stamps: the Bald
Eagle Mining Company. at Sun Down, five
stamps: Webster mill. IN Silver Bow
basin, five stamps: Silver Queen Mining
Company. at Sheep creek, ten stamps.
Norton's Sound. above the mouth of the
Yukon river, has a five-stamp mill run
ming on silver ore, aid TO be exceedingly
ETE1l. his IL the IGTNltFnIIDSE ulklle III
America, and ia owned by a Mr.. Greene.
Of San Francisco. If you figure this up.
YOU Will find IL makes an aggregate OF AS
stamps that nave been running the past
summer.
In the quartz districts there are a mum
her OF a~rastras running. and a great Heal Of
cold Is obtained in this way. One OF these
mines IS owned by Hyde & Smith. and II
promises to be one of the richest in Alaska
Il IS on Montana creek. twelve mile. above
Juneau. Some ore from this mine has been
skipped 20 the Tacoma and Everett smelt-
ers."
The Seasons Gold Output.
"At what do you estimate the entire out
put of the past season.
well. let's see. The luxor placer dis
trlct viii aggregate 500, 900. That includes
all the Interior. Cook inlet will send out
close on $4,000. The output OF The Unga
mine (~uuar.z) viii be about 10000; from
placer mines outside the Yukon district.
Lituya and Yakutat bays and Silver Bow
basin. $4,000. hen come quartz mines
again: The Treadwell and the Mexican
s1.25a,0o0: Berner's hay and Novel;. 5000
90. Sheep creek. $25.000: juneau Mining
and Milling Company, $1,000; Bald Eagle,
10000.
''The balance OF The mines not mentioned
VIII aggregate $4,000. which gives a total
OF s2.670.000. This g a conservative est
mac. AHL I AANE iD 4tt-tHdk4VAA III - TX
that the total output VIII reach $2,ooo,09o.
Then Z must be remembered that the
mills have not been running to their fun
capacity. and three OF them were only
built this summer.
This output "a appear small % the
ewes % a great many mining people, but
con,nare A. with that or Colorado. which
took The banner for the largest output Of
gold for any state from California last
year. Her output was &2.e00 eo. Her
Dooulatfon IS -. on. while our white popI-
Iatian does not exceed s.01o-a mere hand
ful OF people % turn out -one-quarter the
amount ~ gold that was found n Colo
RADIO with her hundreds Of thousands Of
miners"
Outlook for Next Year.
'What is the outlook for next year. Mr..
s~wtnohart?'
Prom present Indications Il Ia good.
some Of our Developments have been made
within the past two months. hence mex
year viii see not less than five more stamp
mills In our country. and that with other
things IN sight, such ga the present mills
running . their full capacity. would mean
an increased output FOR the quartz mines
Of n uer cent"
WHAT new mills VII probably be bu,lt.
d3 you Think
IRE Ready Bullion claim. owned by
ah7ftt The same s~tockhoIaers a. the Alaska
T~rradweli and The AlaSka-AfaEtcan mills
and under the Same management Work
has already begun on an additional sixty
stamp NH for the Mexican
the new company Organized N san
Francisco. known a. the Alaska Nui0uEa-
hv Gold Mining Company, already has q
Tve-s-anD m4.. Ee frame IoFE FOR wEaca
w4s huLl1 here ID Seattle a fortnight aKo.
eT1a~e are tR0 Egrall mills. ore Of which
"a nqsnR bulk IN Portland and 4he other in
80 a- aa@4aaAn - n - -.