The Alaska daily empire., 1922-01-02

During the winter of 1920-21 som
 coal was also mined on Lignite Cree in the saTIe field, by the RrCeid Pas tCoal Company. Small Ignite m,ae were operated at several widely scat i tered locallties-two along the Alaski RailrCad; one at Homer, Cook Innlet one at Kugruk. Seward Penin sula and one at Wainwright Indnet. It i l probable that small quantities of coa i were also mined at other localities In 1921 coal was produced at prob ably dozen localities.
 The most significant feature ot Ih; years coal mining is that there arc DOW two commercial mines, the Ev ans-Jones and the Hea!y, and these mines. though only small producers will be operated throughout the year because they have railroad transpor tatiCn. Both these mines are the rc suit of local enterprise
 ! The question whether the deposits of high grade bituninous coal in the Aiatanuska and Boring River fields contain a large 5onnage of fuel avail able under the present high cost oi recovery and with the present market { is still unanswered. There is, how ever, no doubt that one or both these coal fields will be able to supply the local demand Actual mining of the lower grnde of Matanuska coal has proved that it can be produced in npeation with imported coal The Alaskan Engineering Commission has during four years of operation st the Eska mine made an output of nearly 100000 tons of coal at cost of about $1,150000, or $5.60 a ton. This wls used in the construction of the railroad. Had the government imported this coal it would have cost ndlIly $3,0000o0. This proves be- yond doubt that commercial mining in at least part of the Matanusl1a Sield is feasible. Some have even gonesso fag as to claim that the Mata nat$la branch cf the Alaska Railroad, which cost less than $2,500,000, has already proved a blunder Such state plents are without basis of fact, as shown by the record of mining in the MAtanu3ka field.
 Petroleum
 The petroleum produced in Alaska ia 1921, as in previous years, was derived from single patented claim ;,, +Io Kata ~il ;1JJ VI, fc erty is owned by the Chilkat Oil Company, which uses its entire prod uct in it's own refinery. Except for the work done by this company, there was no drilling in the Alaska petroleum fields. The stalking of Al aska oil claims began in 1920 and continued in 1921. Some claims are in regions of known secpages and favorable structure and some are in wildcat territory, not uncommonly in areas where what is known of the geGrogy is vorable to the occur reEce of oil Drilling in some of the Alaska oil fields will no doubt be undertaken in 1922. sa&t 2
 In July, 1921. petroleum seepage flowing about two ounces a day was found about one mile southwest of the town of Anchorage. This was visited by Alfred H. Brooks,g who re- ports that 1t emerges from a gravel lark on top of strata of clay. It's bedrock source is unoknown, for the region in which 1t occurs is largely covered by gravel, sand, and clay to a depth of 200 feot or more. Other seepeGes are reported near Anchor age.
 An examination made under private auspices of the long known locality f petroleum residue near Smith Bay, Pbout 100 miles southeast of Point Barrow, is reported to have disclosed several large seepageS. So far as known, these are the only new dis coverfes of petroleum seepages made in Alaska during 1921, though others are reported.
 The United States Geological Sur vey in 1921 examined the Iniskin Bay oil region. on Cook Inlot. and a part of the Cold Bay region, on the Alaska Peninsula The reports on this work have not yet been finished, but the general results can be announced F. H. Moffit found that the Inisllin Day region includes number of long. narrow anticlincs which are joined on the seaward side by a great nlonOcline. This monOcliIal struc- tnre affords a considerable draira ge area and may have resulted in the accumulation of pools of oil.
 s. R. Capps reports that in the Cold Bay district and probably in other parts of the Alaska Peninsula there are structural features favor able to the accumulation of oil and that these are well worth drilling. These are of such dimensions thu. there is possibility of their con :aining large oil pools,
 Miscellaneous
 Marble quarrylng and gypsum min ir3 continued in Southeastern Alaska in 1921. The marble output was smaller. but there was a consid erable increase in the gypsum output over that of 1920. Sulphur mining con