The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1909-09-17

development. The copper mines, ex'
cepting a few on the coast, are waiting
for means Of transportation. Corpora,
tions are now expending millions of dol
lars to provide these facilities. There
is more copper in Alaska than has beer
mined in the United States. Alaska has
! the greatest copper mine in the world
mine in which 2OO-foot tunnel and a
few cross-cuts revealed ore that, in
1906, had an estimated value of $22, ,OOO,-
600. The ledge of this mine is 10 feet
wide and the average value of the cop
per in the entire ledge is p per cent.
Twenty-Five feet of this ledge contains
ore which gives an assay value of sixty
eight per cent. copper. There are cop
per nuggets in this region varying in
size from shot to weight of three
tons. We care going to take you in the
outskirts Of this rich copper region.
And there are still other regions of
Alaska which contain valuable depos-
its of copper.
ALASKA contains more coal than
Pennsylvania. 1t contains anthracite
coal equal to the best grade mined in
the United States. Our journey takes
US up in the coal region of Alaska. The
combined area of the Bering River and
Matanuska coal fields is about 100
square miles. The estimated tonnage
from these fields from present pros
poets and development is 1000 ,OOO, 600.
The United States Geological survey
reports II, 2,644 square miles of coal-bear
ing rocks in Alaska and an area Of 1 ,238
square miles of coal. No doubt there
are many undiscovered coal deposits.
The total area of anthracite and bitum-
inous coal is 1913 square miles and the
total area of anthracite and bituminous
coal-bearing rocks is $500 square
miles. The remainder of the coal is lig-
mite. These data, gentlemen, will en-
able you to make an estimate of the
quantity and possible value of the
known coal deposits of Alaska.
"On our journey we shall pass the
Kayak, or Katalla, oil fields, the most
promising in Alaska, and while they
have not produced oil in any great
commercial quantity, the Oil secured is
of the best quality; and it is the opin-
ion of experts who have examined these
fields that there is an immense reser-
voir of oil in the Katalla field. In the
early part of our journey we will pass
by an island where marble, equal to
any in the United States, is quarried,
and by another island where gypsum is
mined. We will not go to the tin coun-
try, as that is in the extreme north
western part of the territory, a region
of Alaska that contains the most prom
ising tin mines ever discovered in the
United States. Most of the silver that
has come from Alaska is a by-product
of gold and copper, but there is large
number of galena lodges, carrying
high percentage of silver. These lodges
are now in process of development.
There are other minerals in Alaska
ouASSGcA, dSDe6COS, mica, ClnaD3f,
graphite and bismuth-but they have
not as yet been produced in CONNER
cial quantities. Garnets and rubies
have been found in the territory, and
on the Kobuk River on the Attic slope
there is mountain of jade.
"There are more fish in Alaskan wa
ters than in all the fisheries of the At
lantic Coast. The value of food fishes
exported from Alaska since 1873 is
$115,O00,O00. The total value of salmon
exported from Alaska is $1O5, ,OOO, 900.
The value of Alaska's fish product last
year was more than $11 100000. If the
cans OF salmon put up In Alaska were
laid end to end they would reach five
times around the earth. The salmon
fisheries of Alaska furnish one.half Of
the salmon product of the world. There
are 3O,OOO square miles of cod banks in
the North Pacific Ocean and in Bering
Sea that have been scarcely touched.