The Cordova daily times., 1918-07-26

The Valdez Creek Placer Mines are developing their Interior gold prop erty on an extensive scale, and aC- cording to it's president. George W. Sias. who recently passed through CordOva, th" company expects to han dle soc feet of the old channel and recover not less than $l75, ,00O this sea. son, which is q iOrcrunncr of outputs to follow, as twenty years work has been proven up, according to the statements of such mining experts as Forbes Richards of Denver. who made q thorough examination of the ground.
 One Of the most powerful and cI. fective hydraulic plants has been com pletcd There is a ditch one and one fourths miles long. with capacity of 3,5OO miners inches every twenty four honrs: 62O0 feet of 36-inCh pipe, l2gauge steel; six giants, and S-inCh nozzles, under 350-foot head; 25 and 3S horsepower dynamos; 35 and 5S-horsepower Pelton wheels; air compressor to run nine rotary lnger. sollRand drills.
 An electric sawmill cuts 5000 feet of lumber day, while a l5-ton steel derrick, with an S0-foot mast, S5-foot boom and a General Electric motor on the derrick. handles boulders weigh ing as much as five tons. The reser- vOir completed covers ten acres. with water six feet deep, and the run is continuous It fills as fast as it is drained and is connected with fumes for bywash There are 5000 feet Of five.foot Hume on grade of eight inches to every twelve feet. For the rifles fortypound rails, cut in five foot lengths. with patent Jugs to hold them in place, have been installed.
 Excellent accommodations have been provided for the workmen. There is an engineers house. bunkhouse for twenty-five men, and dining room with d seating capacity for thirty.fve A general store is in op eration.
 Since President Sias has begun the development of this property he has expended more than $1.0o0, 900, and al though the gold production each sea son has been very satisfactory, the mine has now reached that stage that the output will be large and continu ous for some years to come.
 Valdez creek is approximately four teen miles long. It flows almost di' rectly west from it's source for ten miles of the gravel floor of a broad glaciated valley, and then enters d canyon about three miles long. and finally merges on the Sustna low lands. It has cut it's canyon through the oyerlying gravels into the slates beneath to a depth of 175 feet, and in so doing has interseCted an older gravel.flled canyon whose bottom is sixty feet higher than the present creek level.
 The Tammany Bench is Of particu- lar interest, both because of its un- usual character and because 1t has yielded a large part of the gold pro
 
 duced in the district. The gold bear ing gravels are worked through a tun- mel that follows the bottom of the old canyon. Gold is found chiefly in the lower five feet of the gravel. al though fine gold occurs in all the can yon filling.
 The old canyon gravels are favor ably situated for the application of hydraulic mining methods Valdez creek will supply water for moving the gravel without great expense, and its canyon provides an excellent dump for the disposal of tailings
 Prospecting has shown that the tributaries of Valdez creek that flow into it from the hills on the north yield practically no gold. On the other hand, tributaries such as Tim bcrlnc creek, White creek and Lucky gulch, that rise in the mountains to the south, carry important goIdbear- ing gravels.
 The hill between White creek and