The Cordova daily times., 1922-01-11

local factors i'll promoting the TeVlVai of Alaska mining.
 The dominant features of the years mining are CD the decrease of
 both copper production and develop
 ment, owing to the low price of the metal; (2) the closing of the Perse-
 verance mine, one of the three auri-
 ferrous lode mines at Juneau; (3) con-
 tinuation of activity in auriferous , quartz prospecting in the Sitka. Ju-
 neau, Salmon River and Willow
 Creek districts; (4) revival of pla-
 cer mining; (5) continuation of sys- 1 tematic prospecting for coal in the
 Matanuska field by the Naval Coal Commission; (6) the many examtna- tions made in Alaska petroleum
 fields by oil companies, with the pur- pose of drilling. The discovery of a
 new locality of galena and other sul-
 phide deposits in the Kantishna dis
 trict is worthy of special note.
 GALENA DEPOSITS IN kANTisHNA DISTRICT
 The Kantishna district just north
 of Mount Mckinley has long been the
 scene of a little placer mining as
 well as of small deveopments of
 god and silver bearing lode. Two
 years ago galena deposit was opened
 up, and since then about HOO tons
 of ore has been shipped. The dis
 trict is about 50 to 70 miles west
 of the Alaska Railroad, but it has no
 road connection with. that line, and the ore had to be transported by
 horse sleds to Kantishna River and
 thence by small steamers to the
 Panama. This method of transpor-
 tation was so expensive that only the
 richest ore would stand, shipment.
 Therefore the galena ore was hand | picked, the grade of shipment being , thus brought to an average of about
 182 ounces of silver and $320 in gold to the ton, in addition to the lead
 and some copper.
 1 The Lode from which this ore came ! and others at nearby localities are
 at or near Eureka Creek. The depos- 1 it's lie in well-defined Assures travers- ing schistose rocks and are associat- ed with granite intrusives. Some of
 the ore bodies are to Is feet wide,
 but the rich galena is in shoots from 6 inches to 21s feet in width. Gold
 bearing quartz veins of similar type are also found in this part of the district, as well as some deposits of antimony (stibnite). The few open-
 ings made indicate that the lodes are fairly persistent along the strike.
 In 1921 sulphide- bearing lodes were
 discovered in the foothills of the Alaska Range 20 miles southeast of
 Eureka Creek. in the Kantishna dis
 trict These deposits were found by
 o. M. Grant and F. B. .Jiles, both ex- perienced prospectors, who staked 22 claims. They lie some IA miles from timber, but Ignite beds are close at hand. They are readily accessible to- pack horses. The construction of
 about 50 miles of wagon road would connect the locality with the Alaska
 Railroad at Riley Creek. Granodio- rite is the prevailing country rock of the region and is found both in large areas and as dikes. Banded and massive qaartzites with some lime stone and slate cut by granodiorite dikes constitute the formations in which the ores have been found. The sodimentary beds are much deformed and trend a little north of west. The ore bodies are distributed i through zone that trends a little north of east and thus apparently cuts across the bedding of the sedi- 1 ments. It has been traced about two
 miles and is reported to be longer. As determined by present discoveries, 1 it's width is from one-fourth to one | mile wide The zone is characterized
 by an abundance of sulphide miner
 als. concentrated in more or less we'll
 defined ore bodies. Some of these
 bodies have definite walls; in others
 the ore fraes into the country rock. i They occur chiefly in the quartzites,
 but some are in the granodiorite and
 others at the contact between the two. As no excavation has been done
 it is difficult to give exact state-
 ments as to width. At some place
 there is evidence of sulphide miner- alization over a width of about 100 feet but in these places the rich sul-