The daily Alaska citizen., 1920-01-14

sources and production in Alaska for 1919 is now in preparation under the 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 durin& 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 it appears a@Yis- able to give prompt publication to preliminary estimates which are believed to be within per cent of the actual figures
 General Statement.
 The winning of some $2O0OO worth of gold from placer mines near Ju- r-au in 1880 marked the beginning of the great mining industry of Alas ka, the value of whose total product I'D to the close of 1919 is $437i0O,O00. Alaska's developed mineral deposits are chiefly gold and copper. Hence. her mining industry in 1919 was sub feet 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 ka's mineral output in 1919 is only about $18.85O,OOO, while that of 1919 was 28254,0OO
 Alaskas 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 C$48,60O- OOO). The abnormal production in 1916. 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 eequent upon high operating costs prot 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 SIG TOO 900 in 1916 to 5000, 900 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 a gamble rather than as a business venture. As 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 Wnlcn tllt CllductS Ol ldl S' Nb'Iu lative profits were greater than in placer 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 imperled 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 it is by no means hopeless. Such opera lions and the mining of bonanza de posits will continue. Alaska will con tains large reserves of goldbearine gravels that can be mined profitable when transportation conditions are improved. No one can foretel 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 ir Alaska was the continuation of the work on the government railroad anC the assurance by congressional ac ton of the money needed to com
 plete the line. It Is now certain tha in three years there will be a stand