The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1907-01-30
ALASKA'S GREAT RICHES
Remarkable Increase In Her
Output of Gold.
MILLIONS MORE THAN LAST YEAE

Production VIII Reach @25 ,OOC
Against 915,OOO,0OO In 1DO5-He,
Treasures Only Skinned, Believe.
Judge J. C. Kellum, Who Says Inn.
proved Mining Methods VIII Great.
II Augment Her Resources.
"Alaska will produce $25,OOO,ON
worth of gold this year as compared
with SIS, 100000 worth last year." says
. Chicago special dispatch to the New
York Herald. Three banks In the
Fairbanks district have accumulated
more than $4,000. 600 In deposits In two
years. Alaska will be represented at
the Seattle exposition with a solid gold
statue worth $1,OOO,OOO. One Of the
banks of Fairbanks exhibited In It's
show window last summer. just as q
curiosity and object lesson, $1,5OO,OOO
worth Of gold bricks-the real thing,
composed of the pure yellow metal"
This Is the message brought from
Alaska by Judge j. c. Kellum, who
was assistant district attorney Of Ari.
iona in the last Cleveland administra-
tion. Judge Kellum has been in Alas.
ka ten years. 1t Is his opinion that
Alaska has hardly been skinned of
its treasures. He believes the present
rather crude way Of extracting the pre-.
cious metal from the earth could be
probably followed with ever increas-
ing results for a dozen years. With
the use of huge dredges, which are now
being introduced, he expects the out
put Of gold will be greatly augmented
and at a reduced cost.
There are only a few dredges In op.
GRAFTON in Alaska" Judge Kellum said,
''but these have been used with such
success that the demand now Is great
er than the supply. They are practical
bic for work only on n large scale, as
they cost something like $1oO,OOO each.
One of these machines will handle
5000 cubic yards of dirt In twenty
four hours. An expert man has MI he
can do to get away with ten cubic
yards, and the average for Il man Is
about eight yards, there being varla-
lions according to the geological for
nations encountered.
I'm the Fairbanks district 1t is poor
dirt that does not yield from 81 to So
a cubic yard; hence the dredges turn
out from $1,000 to $4,000 worth of
metal every day. With them 1t will be
possible to work dirt which Is not con-
sidered profitable when cared for by
hand. The average pay Of a miner Is
81 an hour, or So to $40 Il day. One of
the dredges can be operated at Il daily
expense Of $3.50.
There Is no money problem In Alas
kn. Coin or its equivalent Is moro
plentiful than anything else as a mat
ter of fact.
although we pny housemaids 500 Il
month. no II is lying awake nights
worrying owe the servant problem like
you in the States. A good stenogra-
pher draws the nice monthly allowance
Of $3.50. Common labor is worth ST
an hour, and skilled labor commands
81 to $3.50 an hour.
1T Is n pretty poor steak that does
not make n five dollar bill vanish. For
porterhouse steak the average price Is
81 to $1.5O IL pound, while ordinary
steaks are quoted Mt IS cents a pound.
Turkey and chicken-well, what do you
think Of paying $15 to 500 for a Christ
mas fowl? If you want oysters to go
with the turkey IL little can will
cost you 81. Flour costs $3.50 II sack;
sugar. Is cents a pound: coffee. 10
cents; green tomatoes. - cents a
pound, and c%ucunbers. 10 cents each.
oddly enough, many articles Of ia
bic food cost more in the summer than
In the winter. This Is explained by the
fact that frcighting in the summer
costs IS cents IA pound, and in the
winter. when the ice is on the ground
and streams, it costs only 5 cents Il
pound. We raise in the Fairbanks dis
trict nearly all kinds of garden truck
that are raised In a state like Illinois
tomatoes, potatoes, onions and the like.
The production of course is limited. the
main dependence necessarily being up
on shipments from outside.
"The statue of pure gold which Alas.
ka will send to the exposition at Seat
tie will be the most interesting and
expressive exhibit there Of the wealth
and characteristics of the territory. \
ton of gold, l am told. is worth $l66,-
600. The statue. therefore. will weigh
more than two tons. 1t will be four
feet high. and the other dimensions
will be in that proportion. The model
has not been selected. Some Alasknns
desired a statue full size with the hui
man form and not pure gold. Leading
bankers and business men. however,
insisted there should be no alloy in
Alaska's exhibit, and this notion finally
prevailed.
1T will be interesting to know what
will be the largest nugget Of gold on
display ut the exposition. At the Port
land exposition was displayed an Alas
kan nugget worth nearly $4,000"
Skirts For Men.
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