The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-28
And Still Maintains Her Eminence as Producer of
 Precious Metals
ARIZONA IS BANNER
 STATE FOR COPPER
Heavy Increase in Output From the Far Western States Show That Prosperity Is Being
 Felt There
Rx HOLLAND

New York. February 27.-(Special0 Walter Harvey Weed who is recognized as an expert authority in the statistics of the production of American mines
 and especially copper, has prepared, by request, for use in this column some sta
 tistics which tell of the production not
 only of gold and silver, but also of cop
 per in the six states commonly recognized
 as the Pacific slope states. This table in- cludes Alaska.
 Early in 1915, reports were received in New York intimating that upon the Pa cific slope the stimulating effect of the war orders from Europe had not been felt as was the case in the east. Not all of the authorities of the Pacific slope 1 took this view Nevertheless, the opin- ion commonly held was that these states were to be the last to feel the business
 and commercial impulses occasioned by the European war
 superficial glance at the, statistics which MT. Weed has assembled indicates
 that so far as mining is concerned some | impulses have been felt upon the Pacific slope which, relatively speaking. are as great as any that have prevailed for d year and 8 half in the east. One of the phenomena associated with the revival of business activity and the increase in for eign trade is the hitherto unheard of
 mining, manufacture and marketing, both domestic and foreign, of copper Cali fornia has so long been associated with the production of gold-never having lost the pre-eminence which was due to the fact that her gold production even with in four years after the discovery of gold, l was of nationwide influence-that it will | be learned with some astonishment in the 1 east that in 1915 she produced 42, ,3O2 100 pounds of copper This was 100000 pounds more than the state produced in 1914 This production justifies ranking California l hgh among the copper-producing states Of the union. although with respect to copper producing she is third in the list 1 of the Pacific coast states and Alaska. 1 Arizona is the banner state of the Pa | elilc slope so far as the production of l copper is concerned, and also with respect | to the increased production in 1915 as compared with 1914 There is no question ! that the copper industry as stimulated | partly by war orders and partly by the revival of domestic industries, is best il- I Illustrated by the fact that the production
 in Arizona in 1915 was 63,C00,000 pounds,
 round numbers, in excess of her produc- | ton in 1914. In fact, this increase of
 6S,OOO,00O pounds is substantially equal to l the total production in Alaska in 1915,
 as well as Nevada. Arizona took from | her mines, smeted and marketed nearly 100000 GOO pounds of copper. That is the 1 state which when it was included as a l territory in the area purchased from Mexico, in 1S4S, was deemed of no great value and was identified as part of the so-called Great American Desert ALASK AIS OITTPITT
 Alaska produced in 1915 nearly 66,OOO, 600 pounds of copper. That is 100000 more than the territory produced in the pre- vious year These figures well illustrate | the development of the Alaskan copper industry. and point unerringly to a great increase in our output of copper.
 Nevada 40 years ago was famed as the silver state Of the union. In 1915, it pro-
 duced 64,O0O,0O0 pounds of copper, which was about 5,0O0,000 in excess of it's pro- duction in the previous year.
 From the far northwest come statis- tics which are very significant. although l it is not possible fully to understand | the meaning of them. The state of Wash ington produced 500,000 pounds of copper, and it is the only state on the Pacific slope or anywhere else in the country whose production fell off as compared with the year 1914. In that year Wash l ingtons copper output was approximately l 600,000 pounds.
 1 On the other hand, the state of Ore i gon with respect to copper production made probably the most phenomenal per- centage of increase of any of the copper | producing states. From Oregon's copper mines came, in 1915, S50.000 pounds of the
 mineral and that is S11,000 pounds more than the production of 1914 Apparently l copper properties in Oregon have either been discovered or else some of the old properties have been well worked. Taken as a group, the five Pacific slope states 1 and Alaska have furnished no small part of the phenomenal output of 1915.
 PRECIOUS METALS
 1 T5e teachings of the men of science ap- 1 pear tc have been needed and with ex-
 cellent results in California, so far as
 the production of gold is concerned, in i l9i5.; The money value of the gold was almost S24G00, ,000. There was a time some l years ago when apprehensions were l grave that gold mining in California was rapidly decreasing, but'science said to the I miners, ''Go deeper.'' and this advice | having been needed. California has main 1 tained her pre-emnence as a gold pro-
 ducer, standing first among the states of l the union.
 l Nevada is the second on the list of gold
 producers among the Pacific slope states, 1 having irined gold approximately of the i