The Nome daily nugget., 1914-03-26

| other valuable minerals discovered on Seward peninsula. as the committee contends that q sufficient showing has been made in gold resources to much more than justify the small cost cf the taking over of the present line oi railroad and extending the same aS indicated.
 Gold Production.
 Estimated output of gold from Sew ard peninsula from 1898 to 1918 in- elusive totals $6s. s.9l4.SSe or more than 9h times the purchase price of AL aska.
 In bullein No. S2S page II. 1908. of the United States geological survey, our eminent Alfred H. Brooks gives 1 ue the approximate value of placer gold production of Seward peninsula at $37247,OOO for the year 1898 to 1906 inclusive
 The collector of customs at Nome, Mir. R. w. J. Reed, reports the sum of $46,26O.4l0 shipped through his of flee for the years 1903 to 1913 inclu- 1 sive no report having been kept for | prior years,
 For the year 1903. f. :. and 6. Mr. T1ooks reports $2,52l 92O more than Mir. Reed or 137 per cent greater output This seeming discrepancy is caused by miners and others not re- porting their gold dust to the cus- tom office but taking it direct to the 1 outside government assay offices. from | whence no doubt. Mir Brooks gather ed much of his information. The | limit of error in his rports is placed at $5OO,OO0. To Mir. Reeds report s46, ,26O, GOO add l3.7 per cent. or $63S7,- e76. gives a total of 52,59S,Os6 for the Cutput of years 1903 to 1913 inclusive add to this Mir. Brooks. estimate for the years 1898 to 1902 inclusive $16,- S16 800 and we have grand total o' | SeS.9l4 ,Ss6.
 No account is made of the gold soi( to jewellers or dust and nuggets put away by miners for keep-sakes etc This would run into many thousands of dollars but no estimate can be ] made of the amount so used.
 The output of Seward peninsula nf tc date has largely come from camps nearby Nome and the most accessible places to water transportation. A great many mining claims on the upper Kougarok river are equally as rch in gold as were many of the claims on the famous Ophir creek. in the Council district. but lack of trans pcrtation has kept mining down to the crudest methods in the Kougarok This statement is made by man that mined on Ophir creek for five sea sons on one of the best claims, and who is now engagd in mining in the Kcugarok district.
 One of the main factors to be con- sidered in the economical mining o1 placer gold is the cost of transporta- ton of machinery and supplies The very rich or "bonanza" claims can b. worked under extra ordinary excessive | freight costs, but as by far the great CT part of the production of a placer | field comes from the larger areas O law grade aurlferous gravels. the cos l of transportation is a determining | factor as to the profitable mining O same.
 The greater part of the gold pro \ duction of Seward peninsula has cont from the mines located not far iron tide water. The Council district fl the only interior district that has st fla r been heavy producer. This Il due to a great extent to the clleal transportation afforded by the Niuk 1 lux river which flows through the middle of said district. This rive with Fish river is navigable from tid ! water by tow boats.
 As the fields are worked out in tn districts of ready access, railroad transportation becoms an absolut necessity to lessen freight costs an, enable profitable mining of the nor remote diggings.
 The prospectors and miners hay, proven the commercial value of tn l great low grade deposits of the inte rior. which are at this present tim
 Impossible to work on account of tn