The Alaska daily empire., 1921-10-31
MO CRATH MINING DISTRICT SHOWS
 GREAT ACTIVITY
kHFNEl &g
Most Active of Any Visited Says Steese Official
 Returns from Nome.

and other Seward Peninsula points, said Colonel James G. Steese, presi dent of the Alaska Road Commission who with Colonel J. c. Gotwals and Surveyor General H K. Thiele re turned to Juneau yesterday from Nome Colonel Steese and MT Thiele left here last August, while Colonel Gotwals has been on the go since June l3.
 McGrath District Active
 Colonel Steese did not go into de- tails relative to the trip and the road work carried on by the Commis- sion which he had inspected during his absence The center of greatest mining activity visited, he said. was in the McGrath district. On Candle Creek. the Aitken dredge took out some $400,000 for the season. The dredge of the Flume Dredge Company on Yankee Creek was in gumbo most of the season and its cleanups were consequently small. A third dredge is to be carried into the district this winter overland from Ophir and a fourth is now at Ruby and will be taken down the Yukon, along the coast and up the Kuskokwim next year for installation.
 Closing Down Work
 All the Commissions construction operations have been closed down for the season and the machinery and equipment is being stored for the win ter, said Colonel Steese. The usual winter trail stalking and repairs will be carried on by the Commission forces during the winter, he said.
 Completing Railroad Survey
 Colonel Steese said that. the sur vey and examination of the Seward Peninsula railroad had not been com pleted when he left Nome. This work is being carried out by Arthur G. Blake, an old-timer of the Nome district and a consulting engineers The physical examination of the property has been finished but exam. ination of title and other detail work was stiN in progress Mir. Blake's report will probably be made in few weeks and the findings and recommendation of the Commission made to the Territory before Colonel Steese leaves for Washington some time in December. Although the road, If bought, will be purchased by the Territory under authorization of an act passed by the late Territorial Legislature, the expenses of the sur vey of the road has been borne by the Alaska Road Commission as the Territorial act carried no funds fol that purpose.
 GotwaIs Covers Big Mileage
 Colonel Gotwals, who left here las. June; during his absence covered ap- proximately 5000 miles of the Ter rttory. Seventeen hundred miles of this was cross-country work Start. ing from Eagle he worked his way with a pack train across the old KetchumstOck trail to Gulkena, thence to Valdez and back from Val deg to Fairbanks. From Fairbanks he doubled back to Meier's road house and again jumped off into the wilderness, going through the Valdez Creek country and across the Al. aska range to the Alaska Railroad. He covered the Kantishna district and, leaving his pack train at Roose- welt, on the Kantishna River. he went through to Lake Minchumina. Building raft there, with one com ranion, he set out down the river. A short distance down the North Fork of the Kuskckwim, just after killing a moose, Colonel Gotwals and his companion met two prospectors and after trading the moose for the lat 'ters' boat, Colonel Gotwals alone proceeded down the river for some distance, where he connected with a hunter with power boat in which he finished the trip to Nixon Fork going from there to McGrath on the steamer Tana. He headed across country from there to Tacotna and Ophir and proceeded to Cripple where he planned to meet Colonel Steese and MT. Thiele Missing them. he proceeded to Ruby and went down to Iuc uhuu, HlcctiHS tuCAl de -hat- shal. remaining with them for the remainder of the trip.
 Nome Shows Inerease
 The Nome gold output probably will be somewhat larger than that of 1920. said Colonel Gotwals, Up to the time of the sailing of the Victoria from Nome, some $900.000 had been reported as compared to a total of $1,2O0.O00 for last year. Sev. eral of the creeks on which mining operations were being )nducted had made no returns and additional yields from others already repor ing, he said, would probably cer he total to we'll above last year fgures. Nome people are 'opelm that sena tor James Frawl,s VII carry laI gh the Sawtooth Mou.iaias pov Q -g3 ect. which will add .reat', t .s Ne lieved, to the prosper. of the d.s trict.