Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-10-22
VAST FORTUNES BEDDE1
IN THE ICE OF ALASKA
Fairbanks Alone Has Produced Gold
Valued AT approximately
SSO,O0O, 900.
MUCH COMES FROM rLacERs
Man Stubs Toe and Falls, Then Dis
covers Tint Cause of Stumbling Is
Rock Full of Bits of Yellow NIctul.
ny EKANK q. CARPENTER.

f-NiRB+hNkS.--l have just returned
from two-day automobile trir
through some Of the riches, of the
collaborating regions Of Interior Alaska,
FAIRBANKS has produced almost one.
third OF all the gold we have gotten
ont of the Territory. The sum is more
Than ten times the amount of Uncle
Sahis purchase price. II is about $50
o"o'ooo. ana the biologists say there
are many millions to come The
amount taken out last year was two
or three miiiions. ana with the cheap
fuel from Uncle Sans railroad this
output Will be greatly increased
ihF enormous quantity of gold has
hceW washed from creeks and their
valleys surrounding this city. The val
ieys are strcaked with bed rock
which lies far down under the earth.
The bearings strata is five to six
feet in thickness. and 1t has an ;tveratc
value Of more than s. per cubic yard.
There is so much Of IL that If il were
confined to one strip. about five times
as wide as country road. the strip
would reach as far as from New York
TO Philadelphia. and every mile of 4,
OF sl.333.333.32. That amour, is known
TO exist. Prospecting is going on
everywhere 10 find more. and new
strikes are bound TO occur.
MINERS Still. WOnI<INt
On OLDEST or CRE:I:I<S
The miners are still working on the
oldest OF the creeks. although in places
they are almost deserted. We rode by
log hotels and dance halls now empty
and Silent. and passed grca, masses OF
gravel. the monuments OF the work OF
the past. leaving Fairbanks. wc mo-
tored up on" stream and down another
passing pile aitc; pile of these tuilings
We passed through villages. which
were once almost cities. now going to
ruin. and ate" traycrs.nr the valleys
OF Fox Crcch. Pedro Crock Engineer
Creek. Quecnic Creek. Ester Creek and
other creeks name u;tGr The dance
ladies' OF earlS dr,. stopped FOR the
night at Chutnulli., on Glcary. clcary
is one OF the r.Chcst nt al ;hc creeks or
the FAIRBANKS district. Hud to-day Il is
being mined along the lrcr,er par, Of
ITS course. This is true OF most OF the
creeks. The old tailngs arc being
worked over, ana The poorer ground. as
yet untouched. Is being exploited
There are now about 1870 plants has.
getting out gold and something like
i"oo men are employed. The values
produced in 1914 and IN 1914 Amounted
I" about $4,000 aud The year he
fore that the output was 81 900 600
New methods OF mining are coming in
III" open cut IL mulch used. and there
IS new scraDer. invented b. i Fair
banks miner, that proves Vcry valua BILE
fhcrc - an underground scrap.r which
digs and dumps au,omatical!y. and
there are surface scrap"rs which HIT
The earth TO a cable hy which IL is
carried to-thc sluice boxes. Among the
most aciive OF the plants are those on
thatanika flats. where something like
400 miners ere now employed
During my stay at chatanika | went
into some Of the mines. The gold does
not ii" on the surface Of the earth II
is seldom found in the gravel OF the
streams, ana ii cannot be clawed ont
with The glass roots. The most OF the
valley is covered with a layer OF moss
and muck. under which is n thick layer
Of gravel and below .hat the bedrock
In which the gold is. The muck and
the gravel are frozen. The cold OF
some thousands Of years ago has turn
ed them into one mass Of ice rock and
sand as solid rs stone. The moss on
the top has proved an almost perfect
non-conductor OF heat, and the only
way IT, get ~ the gold is to strip off
the moss. and. by means OF steam to
thaw and then dig your way down to
where the gold lies. This may he nifty.
sixty, eighty. or even 100 feet. the gold
strata itself being still frozen
LOWERED IN RUCKET
DOWN DEEP WELL.
In the Nolan mine they were working
at eighty-four feet from the surface
We got Into n bucket. and were low
cred down Il we'll OF that depth From
the bottom tunnels had been dug off
into the icc-frozcn collaborating roc :.
We left the bucket and walked through
the tunnels, stopping now and then
10 watch the miners thaw out the
strata The work is done with steam
points. or steel pipes through which
steam is driven into the ice. The pipes
are thrce-Guarters OF an inch in dame
ter They have heads of solid steel.
ana below them connections with steam
boilers outside. The boilers force tho
a'tHih 'HlohSn IuDDeT nose mo tho
steel pipes. These end in points OF
steel in which are small holes to let
out The steam The pipes are driven
into the frozen rock with steel ham
mers. working their way OH inch by
inch as the steam thaws ont the ice
1t mclts the gravel for several feet
about the pipe. The thawcl stun can
then be dug down and thrown into
wheclbarrowS. which carry Il t. the
shaft and the hoisis.
We saw the collaborating earth going
out Of the mine in the same bucket we
came down in. y steam engine did the
work. raising: the bucket by, steel
cable high above the shaft, whence il
slid on pulley 10 the dump over the
sluice box. The work of getting out
the ore goes on winter and summer, but
the sluicing or washing out the gold
can be done only when the weather
is WARM
At the Nolau mine they have u clean,
up once Il week. by this is meant that
they wash out the gold at that time.