The Cordova daily times., 1918-12-17

labor. These adverse conditions were felt in all parts of Alaska, and every | where tended to reduce the output of gold. Production was increased only where local conditions permitted an expansion of the industry notwith- | standing increased costs. Such con dtiOns prevailed in some of the newly l discovered camps, and consequently there w&s an increase in the output of placer gold in the Tolovana, Mar l shall. TOlstoi and Koyuk or Dime | Creek districts. The production of the Ruby district increased slightly owing to the very successful opera tion of the Greensboro dredge. There l was also an apparent increase in the | output of the Kuskokwim region. but | this may be due to undercstimates of | the production in 1916.
 About 610 placer mines were oper- during the preceding winter, but | many mines were operated for only | a part of the season. About 3,550 | men were engaged in productive | placer mining in the summer and $50 | in the winter. In addition several | hundred men were prospecting or | were engaged in other n-productive work relating to placer mining. The l only new placer-bearing area discov- cred in 1917 was in the Kuskokwim i region. and this has not yet produced | much gold
 Big Copper Production
 "The production of copper in Alaska in 1917 was about SS,793,400 pounds, valued at s24.240,59S. This is less than the production in 19l6 which was !l19.S54.839 pounds valued at $29,- l 4S4.291, but Is greater than the pro | duction in any other year The re- duction in the output for the year was due largely to scarcity of labor and ito q strike at the Kennecott- Bonanza mine. During the year seventeen cop per mines were operated, compared with eighteen in 1916 Of thse mines seven are in the kctchikan district. seven in the Prince William Sound district and three in the Chitina dis trict. Small shipments of copper were also made from nine prospects or mines not in regular operation.
 Output of Copper Mines in 1917
 Value Kctchikan district ........$ 722,5oo Chitina district ............ 19,2io.Zsl Prince William Sound.... 4.247,8OS
 Total .................$ $24. 240,598
 The average copper content of the ores mined in 1917 was 6.7 per cent. The ores also yielded an average of $O.40 in gold and S1.30 in silver per ton The average yield for 1916 was I9.7 per cent copper and s1.60 per ton 1 in gold and silver The decrease in ! the copper content in 1g17f sya. due ! to the smaller proportion of high grade Kennecott ores in the total pro- duction.
 Among the noteworthy features of copper mining in Alaska in 1917 was the continued enormous output of the KaDnecott- Bonanza mine, in the Chit ina district which. as in previous years. overshadOwed all other opera ,,Ft 1l mines increased in 1917. This in crease was due largely to the greater production of the BeatsOn mine, al though the aggregate production of the so-called independent mines was also larger than in 1916, notwithstand- ing the shortage of labor and ships. The larger production from the smaller low-grade mines Is. of course, due to the high price of copper, and will not be permanent for all the mines. However, some mines that are now being made productive or that are being worked on a large scale un- der the stimulus of high prices will perhaps be able to maintain their out put when copper sells at lower price and the copper industry of Alaska will probably in general continue 10 ad- vance. though it will doubtless meet temporary setbacks. Work prepara- tory to the production of copper was continued enersetically on several of the nOn-prOducing mines and pros poets in all three of the Alaska cop per districts. No new discoveries of note were reported"
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