The weekly Alaska citizen., 1920-01-19


 direction of Alfred H Brooks. of the United States Geological Survey, de partment of the interior. Some of the important features of this report relating to mining development during the year 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 1t appears advis- able to give prompt publication to preliminary estimates which are believed to be within 5 per cent of the actual figures.
 General Statement.
 The winning of some s20 900 worth of gold from placer mines near Ju neau in 1880 marked the beginning If the great mining industry of Alas ka, the value of whose total product rp to the close of 1919 is s437,400 900. Alaska's developed mineral deposits arc chiefly gold and copper. Hence. her mining industry in 1919 was sub ject to the same drepression that af fected gold and copper mining thru out the world. This fact explains in large measure why the value of Alas fa's mineral output in 1919 is only about s1S.s50o00. while that of 1919 was 2S.2540 900.
 Alaska's mineral output in 1919 ia the smallest made in any year since 1910 and it's value Is less than half that of the output in 1916 ts4s.600.- 000). The abnormal production in 1a1e chiefly that of three large mines was due to the high price of copper during the war, which greatly stimu lated copper mining With the fall in price of copper the Alaska copper industry reverted to more normal pre- war conditions. Meanwhile the world wide depression in gold mining con. sequent upon high operating costs brot on by the war has seriosuly crippled the other important Alaska mining industry. As a consequence, the value of the annual output of gold from Alaska declined from s16.- 700 900 in 1916 to s9000,0 in 1919. The Alaska gold-mining industry is particularly sensitive to present con ditions because many of the enter prises were not on a very sound eco homie basis. Gold production has been kept up for many years by the exploitation of bonanza placers rath- CT than by the systematic develop ment of large deposits of lower grade. The mining of placer gold has been carried on as gamble rather than as a business venture. AZ the pur- chasing 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 specu- piohNn 6itoN'i Aiioh III rlacer mining. It is especially un- fortunate that the only large gold mining ventures in Alaska were the lode mines near Juneau, where the margin of profit was so small that the increased cost of operations due to the war have imperiled the sue cess of the undertaking.
 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 1t Is by no means hopeless. Such opera tions and the mining of bonanza de- nosits will continue. Alaska will con- tains large reserves of goldbearine gravels that can be mined profitable when transportation conditions are improved. No one can foretell wheth- CT any more bonanza camps will be found. and therefore the only cer- tain future lies in the development of deposits of lower grade. There fore the most important event of the year for the future of mining in Alaska was the continuation of the work on the government railroad and the assurance by congressional ac- tion of the money needed to con- plete the line. It Is now certain that in three years there will be stand ard-gauge railway connecting tidewater on the Pacific with Fairbanks and navigable waters on the Yukon. To give its full benefit to the mining in. dustry. however, the Alaska railroad must be connected with mining cen. ters by good wagon roads.
 Except for the railroad construction during the years the transportation conditions in Alaska have been worse in 1919 than in any previous year. The coastal steamboat service has been unable to meet the demand for fright and passenger transportation. and the river steamer service on the Yukon and it's tributaries has been worse than ever. These conditions have tended to discourage those who were planning new ventures.
 Approxibate Value of Aiaska's Min.