The Cordova daily times., 1919-02-10
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1919
ALASKA A GREAT COUNTRY

Alaska is beautiful country, ana the photographs that we publish in this issue bear testimony to the fact. Alaska is also health-giving country, as those who have sojourned there know full well. The Interior, or "ln- side," beyond the coast range, enjoys a comparatively dry and extraordl- narily vitalizing climate. In days to come this part of the world will be recognized as sanitarium for those in need of a tonic. To be in Alaska is to feel that "the world is young and life an epic" We are glad, therefore, to indorse the suggestion of the writer of the article on the Kennecott dis trict and to commend this region to the attention of the young men of the profession, especially those returning from the war and unwilling to resume the humdrum existence of ordinary routine. To the young man with little money, some knowledge of m1n-
 
 better occupation today than explora- tory work in the North. The official statistics show that in 1918 the mines of Alaska produced $2S,9O0,00O, thus the output was s12,0O0,00O less than in 1917, but it is not due to exhaus- ton of resources but to the adverse effects of the war, chiefly shortage of labor and shipping. The production of gold was only $10,000,00O, as against $14,671 400 in 1917, and of last years yield s6,1OO,OOO came from the placer mines. Copper is the principal product of Alaska at this time, the output having been 69,426,000 pounds, worth $17,1S0,000 during 1918. We note that the tin production was val ued at s9O,O0O, this serving as re- hinder of one of Alaska's potentiali- ties. Since 1880 Alaska has produced $302,000,000 in gold and $105,800, 900 in copper. The figures are impress sive For this territory the United States paid Russia the sum of $7,2OO,- GOO in 1867. It is an enormous re- zion, not less than 514,7O0 square miles, with a population of barely 5O,- 900, most of whom are collected in number of small communities, leav- ing large tracts uninhabitad and hardly explored, although any men, tl1n Of exploration prompts instant recognition of the splendid work done by the United States Geological Sur vey, under the leadership of Alfred H. Brooks, whose many reports and bulletins are of the utmost practical value to those engaged in the search for deposits of ore. Anybody going to Alaska can obtain maps and other information of the most helpful kind simply by writing to the director of the Geological Survey at Washington. No mining region has been so we'll served in the matter of geological rec onnaisances and reports, all of which are available either gratis or at nominal price. Besides giving this geologic aid the government has un- dertaken to, build railroad, which will traverse the coast range and reach the Interior through the Broad pass. We publish an article by F. LeRoy Thurmond detailing mining ac- tivities in the vicinity of this noun tain pass and showing the district to bo rich in minerals, including stib- nite. It covers a portion of the line of contact between the sedimentary rocks and the granite intrusions along which the ore bodies of Alaska and British Columbia are chiefly distrib- uted. The government railroad has it's principal terminus at Anchorage. on Cook inlet, although the outer rail- head is at the harbor of Seward, on the Gulf of Alaska. It taps the Mata- nLska coal field, the Kenai, Willow creek and Talkeetna gold fields; it will serve the Nenana coal field, as we'll as the gold-mining districts and the agricultural tracts in the Tanana valley. This railway will afford direct entry into the heart of Alaska instead of necessitating the roundabout jour.