The Nome nugget., 1927-12-10
CASA DISTRICT PRESENTS
 DREDGING POSSIBILITIES

conservative estimate" SO stated Billy Allison, pioneer mining man Of the Casadepaga section to . rep resentative of the Nugget. Mr. AL lison has mined and prospected on the Casa since 1900. His technical knowledge of gold dredging has been through the hard but profit able school of experience. He has served in every capacity from shore man to dredge master.
 1.-TWO things contributed to the retarding of gold production on the Casadepaga." said MT. Allison. ''The first is the type of dredge so far in use; they did not handle sufficient yardage to yield good re- suits. For instance: last fall when the Peck dredge was taken over by Erne Schaeffer, I was working On some ground of my own which the dry season allowed me to work. Schaeffer needed a man on the dredge and I went to work for him. The ground handled for the four teen days of operation averagen seventy cents yard, but the yard age handled was only 700 yards fer 24 hours. It can easily he fig ured what a dredge handling, say 5000 to 5000 yards could accom- plish." {
 MT. Allison with Shorty Nelson, Gene Graham. and Cy Kester own three miles of contiguous claims on the river. Beyond rocking and long tomming on the river in dry seasons, the ground is practically virgin; gold is distributed from rim to rim and the most ideal for dredging purposes that could be desired. Adjoining Allison's ground is big stretch owned by Judge Adams and Billy Cameron of Nome. 1 Asked how much virgin ground was obtainable for dredge. such as he had in mind. he replied: fully seven miles, besides the side trib- utaries. all of which are suitable, and would make paying proposi- tions for dredging purposes. For instance. on Penelope creek. on which ' have been working by hand for years. seventeen claims can be worked by dredge methods" Ali son and John Rothler own the en- tire creek
 You may ask" MT. Allison said to the writer. why a sound propO- sition of this kind has lain idle 50 long; or you may naturally wonder . good thing. The answer is: The transportation problem. which is the second of the things I mem toned" The distance from the mouth Of Bonanza to Ruby Point is about thirty-fve miles. For years horse teams following the Solomon river bed and over the. steep hill and quagmire of the Solomon Casa depaga divide. negotiated the dis tance with difhculty between the. ! two points, the freight rates being necessarily high.
 The Territorial and Alaska Road Commission made intellectual at- tempts some years ago to remedy the situation by starting road from Bonanza and grading and corduroying the quagmire forma- tiou on the summit of the Solomon river Casadepaga divide. These ef- forts. while not solving the dihicui- ty. were highly appreciated by the miners of the section. and aided development. But it remained for the Alaska Road Commission ohi- l cials recently to outline program of road building which will definite ly solve the transportation problem ! of the Casadepaga. The project de- cided upon was the utilization of the. old railroad bed for a gravel road.
 Last summer the first yesr of the \ program was inaugurated under the direction of road superintendent Ross J. Kinney and justifes the earnest praise which mining men i. and prospectorc bestow upon the fine quality of the work performed. If the succeeding work is anywhere comparable to what vas accomplish