The Alaska citizen., 1914-05-11
ALASKA'S RICH MINERAL STORE
 IS EXPLAINED
WRITER QUOTES STATISTICS re SHOW VAST WEALTH OF
 TERRITORY.

Alaska's mineral wealth is desCrib ed by Lincoln Wirt, former com missioner of education in Alaska, in his second article on the Territory recently appearing in the Seattle Sun, as follows:
 It is not gold only which is re wardng the tireless prospector, but l silver. copper, iron, tin, oil, graph | ite. marble and now coal in ineX- haustible quantities, and yet one half of the vast territorial extent of Alaska has not been prospected even superficially-ve little if any of it thoroughly.
 Some have said that the pending Alaska railroad bills will stifle pri- vate enterprise on a large scale. The very opposite has already been apparent Nice-President Baxter of the Copper River railroad is au- thority for the statement that the Morgan -Guggenheim syndicate will spend another million dollars in rail road extension in Alaska to com mence immediately. Baxter figures that the building of the government railroad will begin an era of Alas kan development comparable to that of the western states following the building of the transcOntinental roads.
 Alaska produced the first copper in 1901 About $1,5O0,OOO worth was produced in 1911. The next year the output increased 300 per cent and yet copper mining must have begun long before the advent of the white man. Natives in many parts of Alaska, when first encountered by explorers, were found to be us ing knives, spear-points and crude vessels made of virgin copper.
 Placer tin was discovered in Sew ard peninsula in 1900 by members of the United State Geological Sur vey Lode tin was found there on Buck creek and the average produc tion has been over one thousand dollars per day since during the summer months.
 Many High-Grade Coal Fields.
 The mining of coal in Alaska dates back to 1854. Many of the numerous coal measures already dis covered bear on the surface a low grade of coal, and knockers in con ger and out have not been slow in seizing on this fact
 But high-grade coal fields have also been discovered and were be- ginning to be worked on the Boring river, near Controller bay and in the Matanuska region when the government put ban on all coal mining in Alaska
 Government teachers on Wing Wright inlet have taken 2,0OO sacks of high-grade coal from the beds near Point Barrow And they have taught the natives the use of it.
 The U. s. Geological Survey esti- mates that there are 21,000,O00 acres of coal lands in Alaska, approXi- mating 15O,OO0 O0O0O,oOO tons of high grade ore.
 The Russians were the first dis coverers of oil seepages. The first drilling, however. was not begun until 1901. The residents of Katal- la make their own gasoline and kerosene, but the whereabouts of the oil fields are being kept dark, against the time when it is hoped that U. S. patents can be issued.
 Marble, Gypsum and Graphite.
 The exporting of fine marble for tombstone and building purposes is assuming large and profitable pro- portions. Gypsum deposits are also furnishing large quantities of plaster of paris. Graphite was found in 1900.
 Several immense deposits of iron ore, both magnetic and hametite have been discovered, but the lack of shipping facilities must block this great industry for time.
 Geologists declare that a greater variety of minerals is to be found in Alaska than in any other zone in the world.
 Alaska has produced in conner cial quantities, gold, silver, copper, lead and tin and the nOn-metalllc minerals, coal, petroleum, gypsum, marble and mineral waters. In ad- 6nnnSifc nf