The Alaska citizen., 1915-01-11

vey report for 1914. which have just been received by The Citizen from Washington, D. c. According to this report, the estimated total mineral output of Alaska for the year just ended was S19,2iS,000 little less than that of the previous year. A new report with exact data will be issued later.
 The report, which is being pre- pared under the direction of Alfred II. Brooks, devotes nsiderable space to conditions in the Fair banks district. It is pointed out that little can be accomplished in this district until cheaper power is provide for the miners.
 The advance sheets are too lengthy to publish in full, but the following excerpts concerning the mlnlng h. Alaska in general and in the Fair banks district especially, are taken rom them:
 Mining began in Alaska in 1880, and since that time the Territory has produced mineral wealth to the value of S26S,0O0,OO0 or this S244,- 300,000 has been in gold, sl9,S00,000 in copper, S2,251000 in silver S37O,- 900 in coal, and the rest in tin, lead, quicksilver, marble, gypsum, petro leum, etc. Copper mining began in Alaska in 1901, and the total production is about 133, 3,000,000 pounds.
 Tt is estimated that the value of the total mineral output of Alaska in 1914 is Sl9,24S 900, compared with SI9,4l6,0O0 for 1913. The prelimin- ary figures on gold output for 1914 show a value of $15 100000; in 1915 the value was $l5.626.S15. SIse, to the value of about $l91 900 was produced in 1914, compared with S21S,9SS in 1913. Though the low price of copper since midsummer greatly curtailed the output of that metal, about 20,S50000 pounds, val ued at about S2,S72,000 was produced in 1914, against 21,659,95S pounds valued at S3,357,29 in 1913. The output of the other minerals, includ ing tin, marble, gypsum, quicksilver, coal, and petroleum, in 1914 had value of about $2S5,000, compared with s272, PAP for 1913.
 MARKET DEPRESSED.
 Had it not been for the depres- sion in the copper market the value of Alaska's mineral product would have been considerably greater in 1914 than in 1913. The gold-mining industry of the Territory as whole was prosperous during the year, as is made directly evident by the figures on output, but a more i'm ,,f., .,,to of i- bn tensive dead work accomplished on large plants that have not yet reach ed productive stage. No progress was made in coal mining, there be- ing in 1914 only one small produc- tive mine in the Territory and that in one of the Ignite fields It is expected that the new law providing for leasing of coal land in Alaska will lead to the exploitation of the fields containing highgrade coal. The tin. gypsum, marble, and pc troleum mining industries of Alaska had successful year.
 The certainty of railway connec- tion with the Yukon basin has great ly stimulated both prospecting and mining development. There was a noticeable increase in investigation of large mining enterprises in 1914 compared with previous years. This was due solely to the expectation of cheaper transportation.
 The data in hand indicate that the value of the placer gold produc ed in 1914 was about $10, 000, or practically the same as that of 1913, which was S10,6S0000. The distribution of this output is, how ever, not the same in tEe two years. Some increases in the output of the Ruby, Seward peninsula, Idita rod, and Hot Springs districts were made, but on the other hand, there was a marked decline in the placer gold output from Fairbanks and les ser decreases in some of the small CT camps. The abundant rainfall which occurred in most of the Yu kon and Seward peninsula camps during the mining season of 1914 greatly favored placer operations.
 FAIRBANKS DISTRICT.
 'Placer mining began in the Fair banks district in 1903, and since that time gold to the value of about $63.000,000 has been recovered. The principal creeks, together with their estimated output to the close of 1914, are Cleary creek and tributaries, s2O 6OO,OOO; Goldstream and tribu- taries, s12,225, 900; Ester and tribu- taries, s10317,00O; Dome and tri- butaries, $7,360,0O0; Fairbanks and tributaries, S2,36O0OO; Little Eldo- rado, $1,765,00 Besides this placer output the lodes of the Fairbanks district have produced about $90O 0O0 worth of gold. Some of the other Yukon camps send a part of their gold output to Fairbanks, and this aggregates $1,0OO,O0O to $2,000,000 annually.
 Tt is estimated that about 75 placer mines. employing 1000 men, were operated in the Fairbanks dis trict during the summer of 1911. The winter operations were on a much smaller scale. Water was plentiful during the summer, and eX cept for the usual high cost of fuel and supplies, the conditions for mining were favorable. As the more accessible forests in the dis trict have been cut, the price of cordwood is constantly increasing-a serious matter for the miner who, by the exhaustion of the richer de- posits, is being forced to exploit tte gravels of lower gold tenor.
 'It appears that in the best min ing practice of the district the cost of operations have now reached their