Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-30

man. Much of this gold was found in lay
| ers of ruby sand. 1t was fine, but not scale
| gold. The bed rock lay from four to eight
| feet below the surface, and good pay dirt
| was usually found when 1t was reached. A
| little later on all kinds Of machinery were
| gold out of the sands from beneath the sea
water Such attempts have usually failed.
The Seward Peninsula.
| Seward peninsula Is being peppered with
mining companies. A great deal of the
mining there is done by dtching. and there
are several hundred miles OF bitches al
| ready dug, representing an investment of
| something like two million dollars. These
bitches are necessary to placer mining, the
water being carried up and down hill,
Through iron pipes, and finally used for
sluicing. A large number of ditch COM
panles nave been organized each of which
has its own mineral properties. / have be-
fore me little book gotten out by the cit
liens OF Nome and Seward peninsula, which
mentlons the names OF number of the
companies. I count twenty-five combina-
tons, most of them representing consider
able capital. In addition quartz mines are
now being opened, and also silver mines
and mines OF copper and tin.
Corporations in Alaska.
great deal of capital is coming into
Alaska from all parts of the United States
Nearly every big industry there Is owned
by a company represented by capital in
other parts of the Union. There are more
than one hundred and fifty different cor
porations listed in the Almanac Of the
Alaska Club here, covering every kind of
investment from fish packing to fox-rais-
ing. There are numerous mining compa
mics. trading companies and companies for
nr,ay Nj ano1a va1
Many of the Institutions are small, but
others are backed by large capital. This
is so with those owning the copper depos-
its. which are said to be in the hands of
the Havemeyers and Rockefellers. The
same parties who have copper interests in
Montana and along Lake Superior have
gotten hold of the mines in Alaska. and
they are not anxious to have them devel-
oped until the market will enable them to
do so without affecting their investments
In the United States proper,
Big Copper Mines.
There Is no doubt however, but that
there is an enormous amount of copper in
Alaska. In the Commercial Club here little
bags of copper nuggets. ranging from the
size of pea to that of a mans fist, are
shown. 1t is said that a nugget was re-
Gently discovered some distance back from
the coast which weighed about six tons. If
1t were where it could be shipped it would
De worth eight OF nine nuTUrSQ UOudTS, out
as il Is now it would not bring 800 cents.
All this stuff Is merely the off-ScOuring or
the quartz mines, in which the real money
is. The specimens shown came from along
the Copper river, where, / am told, the ore
carries from 80 to 10 per cent OF pure
metal and Is far superior to that of the
chief copper regions of the Rockies
Our government biologists have found
copper in nearly all parts of Alaska, but
the best prospects so far are in the Ketchi-
kan district. Cook inlet district; at the
head of the Duncan canal; in the Hetta in
let and in the Copper river basin. The lat
ter occupies an area as big as Washington
state and it will some day be shipping cop
per all over the world. The Alaska Copper
Company is operating on the Hetta inlet.
1t has completed 250-ton smelter, a water
power plant and $500 cable tram. Other
claims are being developed in the same re-
gion by the Alaska Industrial Company
A Seattle Asset.
Seattle acts as though 1t owned Alaska,
and it is really making more profit out OF it
than any other part of the Union. This
city took jump when the gold regions
were discovered, and 1t has had on its
seven-league boots ever since. Every man
who goes there pays his toll to Seattle. and
ey cry ton of goods consumed does like
wise. large part of the money from the
mines is invested here, and, indeed, 1t Is
said that Seattle has received more than
$25, 900. 900 of Alaskan gold in real estate
purchases and in the natural profits of
trade. Every dollar that Is spent IN the
far west whether in mines, railroads or
trade, is reflected In business channels
here, and the people are just as anxious to
build up that country as their own state.
The trade of Alaska is now worth some
thing like $40, 000, 600 year. and 1t steadily
increases.
There are a number of steamship lines
which connect the Puget sound region
with the various Alaskan points. There are
,lar Seattle to 1uneau.
Ketchikan Haines Mission, Sitka and
Skagway. There is one line to the Gulf OF
Alaska, which calls at Valdez and else
where, and another which goes up along
the Alaskan peninsula to Dutch harbor.
third company connects Seattle with the
Seward peninsula. You can also go by
boat to the Nome region, and there are
river boats on the Yukon.
At the same time Uncle Sam is doing all
he can to better our communications with
that far away territory. The teiegrap hs
are under the United States signal service
and there are number of wireless stations
by which messages can be flashed from one
point to another. The head Of the telegraph
system is one OF the abiest men IN the gov
eminent service. This Is Maj. w. A. Glass
ford, who did excellent work as head of the
Signal Corps in Porto Rico during the war
and later on In the Philippines. As 1t Is
now every prominent point In Alaska can
words to sitka is $50, to Skagway. Sc;
to Fairbanks. $50: to st. Michael. $3.50.
and to Nome. q.
A Temperate Region.
We usually look upon Alaska as all snow
and ice This Il 80 with the greater part
OF the country. but not with the Alaskan
islands and the strip Of land running along
the south coast. The climate there Is such
that boats can run all the year round, and
the most OF the region Is no colder than
washington, d. c. Indeed, the Eskimos
and other Indians Of that part Of our terri
tory would laugh at the idea Of using snow