Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1904-09-21
WHAT HAS BEET
 DONE IN ALASKA
By the Geological Sur
 vey Recently.
Has Been Opened Up With Only a Quarter of a Mil
 lion Dollars.

Few people realize how little was
 known of the great Territory of Alas
 ka previous to 1898 and how much our
 present knowledge of its resources in
 the result of investigations made by
 members of the United States Geolog-
 ical survey. Purchased from Russia
 in 1867 for S7, 200, 600, it remained for
 thirty years practically forgotten. 1 The discovery in 1897 of the rich gold
 deposits of the Klondike region fired
 popular fancy and moved congress
 to appropriate 20, for Surveys in
 Alaska. 4 sudden widespread
 demand for knowledge about this
 great unknown region of the national
 domain arose, and the United States
 geological survey attempted to collect
 the information as promptly as time,
 circumstances, and money would
 permit The general results of those
 efforts are set forth in an interesting
 article contained in bulletin No. ?,
 recent publication of the survey concerning its own origin, develop
 ment, organization, and operations,
 which was prepared for distribution
 as a souvenir at the Louisiana Pur- chase exposition.
 Previous to 1898 several investiga-
 tions of a preliminary nature had
 been made. Although cooperating with various other organizations in these investigations the survey had no special fund for Alaskan work until 1895, when congress appropriated 8, 900 for the investigation of the gold and coal resources of the territory. Under similar appropriation in 1896 the examination of the placer gold producing areas along Yukon river was commenced. Since 1898 appropria- tions have been much larger and the work has developed rapidly. Up to the present time the appropriations for this Alaskan work aggregate s252, 089.60 The expeditions of the earlier years had resulted in contributions to the knowl9 l9dge of the Yukon valley, the interior plateau, the St. Elias i range, and the coast south of that | range, but most of the country was practically unknown. The reconnais- ] sance trips of 1898 added to the map many of the most important geograph- 1 ic features lying south of Yukon river and the trips of each succeeding year have filled many gaps in the earlier work and extended it from the 1. Yukon to the Artic ocean and from 1 the Koyukuk to the coast of Boring sea.
 One of the most important func- i tions of the survey in Alaska has !. been the production of topographic 1. maps. The value of these maps can not be overestimated. Demand for . them come from prospectors, engi- ! neers, capitalists and school teachers, | and they form one of the most essen- tial preliminaries to the development ! of the country. About one-sixth of | the territory, constituting an erea of i from 90, GOO to 100, ,OOO square miles, has been covered by topographic sur veys.
 Names used by explorers for streams mountains, and other geographic feat ures have been collected and brought . into the form of a geographic die tionary of Alaska. This gives the locations of the features named, in many cases the origin and meaning of the name, and a chronologic list of 
 The primary aim of the work has been to investigate the mineral re- sources of he country. This has necessitated geologic studies, and in course of time the geologic history of the entire territory will be de- ciphered. It is mainly through studies of bedrock Fgeology that the and origin of deposits of economic value have become known. The chief of these deposits are gold, copper, tin, and coal.
 The investigations of gold bearing localities have been rich in practical results, only few of which can be . here. In 1898 the regions which might prove to be mineral de- posits of economic value were outlin- sd, and it is interesting to note that the new mining camp of Fairbanks has recently been developed in one of these areas. In the survey report on the Nome district, which was the first accurate one published, the fact vas emphasized that the source of f