Daily Kennebec journal., 1896-11-18

well-ntgh unlimited. IN one EeepSSt enS
opportunity resembles that offered by
the mines Of the Rand In South africa
there are gigantic ore bodies IN sight
and easily accessible. though OF no more
than moderate richness. The deposits
OF the Rand yield only an average OF
$l4 q ton, but the production Is UNIFORM
| and the bulk enormous, and for these
reasons they are the most profitable
mines ever known. Here the likeness
ends. for the Rand formation is not OF
igneous origin. but merely an ancient
beach on whose golden sands the waves
| Of a vanished ocean broke many mil
| lions of years ago. The thickness OF
the gold-bearing stratum in the Alask-
an belt is assumed to be considerable;
is likely to be very great, but that is
wholly matter of surmise. NO boring
has been made with 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 novice; but the de-
composition of the sulphides in the sur
face rocks by weathering has left free
gold in veins, and this glitters yellow.
IL w III llOt NC AOAAco oSAOAS PAtAHeS SANfP
ped with the most improved machinery
will be established all along the newly
discovered belt Until the region is
opened by a railway. mining will be
costly, owing to the expense of trans
porting food, labor and machinery.
But no such difficulties as these will re-
tard for any length of time the ex-
ploitation 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 preference
to losing time by a retreat to distant
civilization and more hospitable lati-
tudes. The resident Indians, who come
under the general designation of 81
wash, are found in scattered tribes and
are peaceful. They have not suffered
so much as their brethren of the coast
from the alcohol and diseases of the
white man.
No dispute over the British boundary
seems likely to affect the exploitation
of the new gold belt. The first import
| ant 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 Brit
| ish territory. They are pretty well
worked out. Up to date the Birch
Creek district has proved richest in the
| yellow metal and it is entirely in
American territory. A new find of I'M
portance 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
Youkon have furnished about N,0Oo,O00
worth of the yellow metal. The miners
carry their own gold to Victoria, Port
land and San Francisco.
| Alaska is already taking no unim-
portant part in the gold production of
| the world. Along the coast in the
southeastern part runs an auriferous
! belt which follows the coast one hun
dred miles. 1t is a whole system of
| odes, which contain much silver and
| copper also. The belt is from one to
seven miles wide, and crops out on is
| lands adjoining the mainland. The ia
nous Treadwell mine is located on one
of these islands. at Juneau. 1t is one
of the richest mines in the world, ex
| hibiting mass of ore 400 feet thick
Sixty miles to the southeast are great
| uSROSllS VI sulphur clS WHICH yiSiu eo
much as $270 a ton. with much free
gold. On Cold Creek, a short distance
east of Juneau, the hillsides are
| washed away exposing rocks which
are scanned with a network of gold
| bearing veins of great richness.
| Lying close by a 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 a claybank near by.
| This tooth was of remarkable size
| weighing about eight pounds. The tip
| of tusk was a 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. Probably the
| beast died in a swamp, perhaps twenty
| thousand years ago, judging from the
situation in which the relics were dis
| covered