Arizona republican., 1905-02-03
The Gold Production of Last Year.

The Gold Production of Last Year.
 The director of the mint reports that the gold produced in the United
 States in 1904 was valued at the un- precedented sum of S4 1-2 millions, an increase of II millions compared with 1903. This gain is encouraging and it is hoped that with the Improvements which have been made in Colorado, California and Alaska, the three prin-
 cipaI gold producing states, the results
 of this years mining operations may
 be at least equally satisfactory. But
 while there was an important increase as compared with 1903. this gain seems somewhat disappointing when con
 trasted with the output of 1902, when
 so millions were produced. for the av-
 craze yield for three years was but a
 little more than @ Is millions. There
 were however, exceptional causes for
 the reduced output in 1903 compared
 with the previous year. Among these
 the principal were the labor troubles
 and deficient drainage in Colorado,
 which resulted in a decreased yield of
 about millions. There was also par
 tiaI Grouth in California which inter fered with the work of gravel miners,
 but the output in that state was not
 very greatly reduced thereby. That
 the decreased yield in 1903 was chiefly
 confined to Colorado is shown by the
 fact that in twenty-one of the states and territories embraced in the gold producing field the net reduction in output was 2-5 millions, an amount only slightly in excess of the decrease in Colorado.
 The richest gold fields in the United States are, in the order named, Colo ] rado, California, Alaska, South Dako- l ta, Montana, Arizona, Utah and Ne l vada. These fields yielded in 1903, ac- cording to reports compiled by the ge- ! olosicaI survey, gold valued at nearly 70 millions of dollars as against 73 1-2 l millions, the value of the product of all ! the mines in the country. IL will i doubtless be of interest to note the !. improvements which have been made ] in the principal Of these states and ! territories through which the output of ! gold is expected to be increased not i Tn Colorado. where the 1904 output ! was 26 millions, the most important | work has Eeen the construction of a ! drainage tunnel which will contribute 1 to the full development of the most 1 valuable of the mining properties in . that state; this engineering enterprise ! was completed by the end of 1903. and . the results were shown in the outputs i of last year. In California. where the . 1904 yield was 10 millions dredging machines were so successfully employ ! ed as to encourage large expenditures for this purpose and new fields. fav- Orable for the operation of these ma. chimes, have been prospected. The output of 1904 in Alaska was mil lions. There placer mining Is most pro- ductive and with a view to obtain the best results ditches have been built and hydraulic apparatus has been installed. . South Dakota produced : 1-5 millions in 1904, and in that state the cyanide process is chiefly employed; the out put is expected to be increased through improved transportation facilities. Arl- zona, Montana, Utah and Nevada showed outputs ranging from 1 1-2 to , millions in 1904. and a total of near ly 19 millions.
 But as The Republican has repeated Iy shown, while the mint directors es- timate Of the country's total gold pro duction is undoubtedly approximately correct. Arizona's output is invariably The failure to give credit to this territory for the amount of gold actually produced is due to the fact that gold is combined with nearly all our copper ores. The large copper producers do not make public the yield of precious metals from their enormous output of copper bullion, and the director of the mint has no means of ascertaining the correct fig Ires.