The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1919-12-20
MINING IN ALASKA IN 1918
ADVANCE STATEMENT is ISSUED
BY UNITED STATES GEO.
LOGICAL SURVEY

sources anu prOuuctlOn IN Alaska
for 1919 is now in preparation un-
der the direction of Alfred Fl.
Brooks, of the United States geologi-
cal survey, department of the in
terror. Some of the important
features of this report relating to
mining development during the
years are abstracted in the follow
ing. statement. Complete statistics
of the mineral production of Alaska
can not be collected within less than
three or four months after the close
Of the year. but meanwhile it ap-
pears advisable to give prompt pub
lication to preliminary estimates,
which are believed to be within
per cent of the actual figures.
The winning of some $4,000
worth of gold from placer mines
near Juneau in 1880 marked the
beginning of the great mining in
dustry of Alaska, the value of whose
1919 is $437, 100000. Alaska's de-
veloped mineral deposits are chiefly
gold and copper. Hence, her min
ing industry in 1919 was subject to
the same depression that affected
gold and copper mining throughout
the world. This fact explains in
large measure why the value of
Alaska's. mineral output in 1919 is
only about $1S,S50,000, while that
of 1918 was $28,254,0O
Alaska's mineral output in 1919
is the smallest made in any year
since 1910, and it's value is less than
half that of the output of 1916
($48, ,000). The abnormal pro-
duction in 1916. chiefly that of
three large mines, was due to the
high price of copper during the
war, which greatly stimulated cor
per mining With the fall in price
of copper the Alaska copper indus
try reverted to more normal pre-
war conditions. Meanwhile the
worldwide depression in gold min
ing consequent upon high operat-
ing costs brought on by the war has
seriously crippled the other inn
portant Alaska mining industry. AS
consequence, the value of the an
nual output of gold from Alaska
declined from $16,700,000 in 1916
to $9,000,00O in 1919. The Alaska
gold-mining industry is particularly
sensitive to present conditions be-
cause many of the enterprises were
not on a very sound economic basis.
Gold production has been kept up
for many years by the exploitation
of bonanza placers rather than by
the systematic development of large
deposits of lower grade. The mining
of placer gold has been carried on
as gamble rather than as bust
ness venture. AS the purchasing
power of their product was reduced
many gold-mining operators have
been attracted to other fields, such
as oil drilling in the states, in which
the chances of large speculative
profits were greater than in placer
mining. 1t is especially unfortunate
that the only large gold-mining VEN
lures in Alaska were the loGe mines
near Juneau, where the margin of
profit was so small that the in
creased cost of operations due to
the war have imperiled the success
of the undertakings.
The outlook for gold mining in
Alaska under present economic con-
ditions is not hopeful, yet the con-
tinued success of certain larger VEN
lures, like dredging, shows that it
is by no means hopeless. Such Oper-
ations and the msn,ng of bonanza
deposits will continue. Alaska still
bearing gravels that can be mined
profitably when transportation con-
ditions are improves. No one can
foretell whether any more bonanza
camps will be found, and therefore
the only certain future lies in the
development of deposits of lower
grade. Therefore the most import
ant event of the year for the future
of mining in AlasAs was the con-
tinuation of the work on the gov
ernment railroad and the assurance
by congressional action of the money
needed to complete the line. 1t is
now certain that in three years there
will be a standard-guage railway
connecting tidewater on the Pacific
with Fairbanks and navigable
waters on the Yukon. To give its
full benefit to the mining industry.
however, the Alaska railroad must
he couuacted with miniur aantar; Nv