The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-12-03
THE ROANOKE TIMES. THURSDAY. DECEMBER 8. 1896

stratum in the Alaskan belt is assumed
to be considerable, is likely to be very
great, but that is wholly matter of SUR.
mise. No boring has been made with a
view to getting data on the subject.
The gold occurs in iron pyrite and in
other compounds with sulphur. Under
such conditions it's presence would not be
detected by Il novice: but the decomposi-
ton of the s,lpbdes in the surface rocks
by weather has left free gold in veins.
ana this glittcrs yellow. 1t will not be
long before plants equipped with the most
improved machinery will be established
all along the newly. discovered belt. Tn.
I'll the region is opened by n railway.
mining will he costly, owing to the ex-
pense of transportation food, labor. and
machinery. But no such difficulties us
those will rctard for any length Of time
the exploitation of what promises to be
one of the greatest gold fields of the
world. Some of the placer miners even
now winter over on the Yukon. in prefer
ence to losing time by retreat to dis
tant civilization and more hospitable
attitudes. The resident Indians. who
come under the general designation of
Siwash, are found in scattered tribes and
are peaceful. They have not suffered so
much as their brethren OF the coast from
alcohol and diseases of the white man.
No dispute of the British boundary
seems likely to affect the exploitation Of
the new gold belt. The first important
placer diggings were at Forty Mile Creek
and about the adjacent head waters of
SiXty.Mile Creek. These are partly in
American and partly in British territory.
They are pretty we'll worked out Up to
date, the Birch Creek district has proved
richest i'll the yellow metal, and it is en-
tircly in American territory. A new find
of Importance has just been made in
british territory, on the Klundak River.
Gold has been found recently as far to the
northwest as the Koyukuk River. Dur.
ing the last year the placers of the Yukon
have furnished about $1,000, 900 worth of
the yellow metal. The miners carry their
own gold to Victoria, Portland and san
Francisco.
Alaska is already taking no unimpor-
tant part in the gold production of the
world. Along the coast in the southeast
ern part runs an auriferous belt which
follows the coast for 100 miles. 1t is a
whole system of iodes, which contain
much silver and copper also. The belt is
from one to seven miles wide and crops
ont on islands adjoining the mainland.
The famous Treadwell mine is located on
one of these islands, ut Juneau. 1t is one
of the richest mines in the world, exhibit.
ing Il mass oil ore 4OU feet thick. Sixty
miles to the southeast are great deposits
of sulphurets, which yield as much as
S2i0 Il ton, with much free gold. On Gold
Creek, short distance east of Juneau,
the hillsides are washed away, exposing
rocks which are scanned with network
of gold bearing veins of great richness
Lying close by IL stream, Mr.. Spur
found the tip of a mastodon's tusk. This
was far up in the valley of the Yukon.
Looking for other remains OF the same
animal, he obtained one of it's teeth from
n clay bank near by. This tooth was of
remarkable size, weighing about eight
pounds. The tip of tusk was foot long
and showed the marks of wear from the
habit which the animal had of digging
up trees. 1t is supposed to have fed
chiefly upon the foliage of trees. Prob
ably the beast died in swamp perhaps
~, 1000 years ago, Judging from the situn-
ton in which the relics were discovered.
Washington Post