Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-18
Copyright. 1917. by Frank G. Carpenter,

Copyright, 1917. by Frank G. Carpenter.)
NOME. Alaska
E1HE gold resources Of Alaska are
III beyond computation. The ter
ritory has produced so much Of
x that precious metal that II 1t
were divided equally among the people
Of the United States there would be $13
for every family living under the Amer
lean flag. The product already amounts
to more than 26o.oo0.O0O. and that not
withstanding nine-tenths of the coun-
try has never been prospected. The
greater part of Alaska is covered with
moss and other vegetation that hide
the rocks and earth, and the most Of
the gold so far won has been extracted
from ice, sand and rock that were
frozen solid for thousands of years be-
fore the miners thawed the ice and re-
covered the gold.
1t is easy to prospect a country where
the metals lie loose in the earth and
where every great rain washes some
of the float to the surface. 1t is diff
ferent where the metal is held tight In
the hands of Jack Frost. uptil his fin
gers are burned by the fires of the
miners. Almost all of the 100000
the basin of the Klondike was thawed
out by fire and steam. The same Is
true of the $80.000.000 from Fairbanks
and also of the gold now being mined
in the 1ditarod, and at Ruby and Nome.
\
What Alaska needs is more pros
pectors and modern machinery and
cheap fuel to get the gold out of the
wi wi
the completion of the railroad, and with
it we will have cheap coal for the
camps. AS to machinery, it Is being
dragged in by horse power and man
power, and the railroads will put 1t
into hundreds of places were it cannot
go now.
The gold mining of today is far diff
ferent from that of the past. 1t has
changed from gambling to a manu-
featuring proposition; from specula-
ton to an industry. By gold manufac-
turing 1 mean the mining of gold at
such a low cost that it is an industrial
proposition. The bulk of the gold OF
our forefathers came from the pick,
shovel and rocker of the individual
miner. The bulk of the gold of today is
capitals of millions of dollars. and
whose profits come from ores SO poor
that our forefathers could not have
mined them at a profit. This is SO OF
more than $4,000. 100000 worth of gold
since the first discoveries were made
about generation ago. and 1t Is true
also Of the greater part OF the gold
mined in the United States today.
Coming north from Seattle l saw my
first great gold properties on Douglas
Island. just opposite Juneau. These
were the Treadwell mines. which have
for more than thirty-five years. They
have taken out something like 100000
900 tons Of ore. and from It nave ex-
tracted more than $60,000.0Q0. The gold
so far taken out has averaged only
s2.42 a ton. and that low average has
paid an enormous profit for thirty-t1Ve
years.
Just across the Gastineau- channel.
stream of salt water thousand feet
wide. are several mountains of gold
which some of the great capitalists are
just beginning to work. They have al
yeady spent millions of dollars m pros
pecting and developing, and they VIII
make fortunes out of ore whose aver
age gold contents are almost 81 less in
value than those of the Treadweil They
Alaska Gastineau properties from which
the owners expect to be mining gold
for /, century to come are handling ore
worth on the average only S1.5c ton,
and the same is true of the Alaska
Juneau the Elmer and other large
mines nearby.
Indeed, there is strip of territory
in southeastern Alaska 200 miles long
which carries quantities OF loW-Brade
gold, and to this strip the Treadwell
and these other mines belong. While
at Juneau had talk as to the extent
of this gold belt with Mr.. B. L. Thane.,
the manager of the Alaska Gastineau.
Mr.. Thane says that Juneau Is about
in the middle Of the belt, and that it
runs north and south. much Of 1t being
so close to the water that the ore can
be handled by gravity. Mr.. Thane was
then mining gold which averaged only
$3.50 ton, and of that 80 cents was
clear profit. He expects to raise this to
81 per ton, and to SO increase the out
put that the mills will grind out more
than 10000 tons every day, Sundays
and week days. year in and year out.
The Alaska Juneau is preparing to
work on an equally large scale, and its
machinery is as fine or finer than that
of the Gastineau. If the figures given
me are correct, this would mean an out
put of 10000 tons day from these two
mines alone. and that at a profit of
dollar per ton would equal $4,000
day throughout the year.
In my talk with Mr.. Thane he spoke
OF the efforts made to reduce the cost
Of every possible item. Said he: I'VE will
gladly pay $780, to any inventor who
can show us how to save one cent q ton
In getting out gold. One cent per ton
would mean a saving of 800 day on
one. 1o.o00-ton product. 1t would mean
over S2h hee a Year; and a. SAYING of