The Alaska citizen. (Fairbanks, Alaska) 1910-1917, 1913-02-10

resources and production in Alaska
FOR 1912 is nov in preparation under
the direction of Alfred II Brooks, oil
the United States Geological sur.
yey Some OF the important fea-
lures OF this report relating To min
inG development during the year
are distracted in the following
statement Complete statistics =.
the mineral production OF NdsI 4
cannot be collected within less tdaa
four or five months after the close
OF the year buf meanwhile / ap-
pears adv isable to give PROMPT pub
itsa,ion 10 preliminary estimates
which are believed to be not over
= PCT cent in error
gtlUF OF MINERAL OUTPUT.
II IS estiir tf,d that the to- / al
ue OF the mineral output of Alasha
in 1919 is S2l S5ooG0 compared With
S20,650.r00 Tor 1911. The value u
The gold output OF 1912 il estimated
al sl6.650, GOT; that OF 1911 was ST.
S53.256. II is estimated that tie
Alaska mines produced 2,a4b TOO
rounds OF copper in 1912. yalueA at
aGeut Si.63n, 00n In 1911 The od;=
- vas > .267.S1 pounds ya,ll'd al
s3.264.lHi The silver production
IN l2l2 is estimated 20 have value
OF s@ap.n as compared with $243.-
925 for 1911 The value OF all othcl
mineral products in 1912. includin1
tin, marble, gypsum. coal petroleum.,
etc. was about s26o.1ea. compared
with sl16.942 in 19ll The total
value of Alaska's production since
lNSU. when mining first began. is. in
round numbers S229oo0. 600. of
which s2G2 100000 is represented by
the value Of the gold output. The
10 al output OF copper in Alaska
since 1901 is about 9oa1aU0n pounds.
valued at about S13145.00o.
IMPORTANT FEATURES.
The increase in the value OF Alas.
ka's mineral output is 10 be credited
TO the larger copper output as com
pared With the previous year While
no new copper properties were put
on productive basis. large
amount OF developments work Was
accomplished III several Of the cop
per-bearing districts The goll
mining industry was marked by i'm.
portant advances in developing LODI
deposits. Work was continued on :,
number OF larger lode-minine enter.
prlses i'll the Juneau district. and
considerable advances We're made at
Fairbanks and in other districts. H.
addition to this. promising discover
les OF auriferous quartz were made
at Port Wells and in the lnnoko-
Idtarod region. as we'll as in other
parts of the Territory
The output from the placer mines
was less than in the previous year
On the other hand discoveries OF
rich auriferous gravel were made
on Hammond creek and in the koyu
kuk valley, and workable placers
were found in the Ruby district
Extensions OF collaborating gravels
CT districts. The installation of large
plants has not yet gone ahead rapid
ly enough to insure the keeping
up OF gold-placer production. II is
significant. however that the outpu,
i'll Seward Peninsula is to be credited
TO the installation of dredges. which
was continued in 1912 as in the pre-
vious year The data at hand nd-
cate that in 1912 about 40 dredges
were operated in Alaska. besides
number of others under construc-
ton. OF these. three are in the For
tymile district. one in the Fairbanks
district and one in the Birch creek
district, one in the lditarod district
one on the Kenai Peninsula. an the
rest on Seward Peninsula
There has been no change since
the previous year in the opening of
tOdl oHt tOdi mine MAS Optf
ated for part of the year at CHG
mix, in the Alaska Peninsula and
the mining OF coal for local use was
carried on in small way at several
other localities. Investigations were
made in the Boring River coal field
under the joint auspices of the Navy
Department and the Bureau of Mines
to determine the availability of the
coal for naval use. One we'll Was
drilled at katala, and there was
small production of petroleum from
this field, the oil being refined near
the we'll and the gasoline disposed
of in the local market.
PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND.
The Cliff mine. of the Valdez
district. continues to be the only gold
lode property in the Prince William
Sound region which has made a con-
siderable output. In the aggregate,
however, considerable ore has been
recovered from other properties in
cidentally to development work. Al
the Cliff the opening of the fifth
level is the most important develop
ment of the year Sinking was done
on the Alice property, at Shoup