The Kusko times., 1931-12-12


 tions of the veins, but their general character and the mineralogie asso- citation indicate that primary Eold is present and should continue to eonsid- erable depths below any that have so tar been reached by mining. However. the general thinness of the veins, the apparently moderate extnt both hori- zontally and vrtically of any single vein, the large variations in strike within short distances, and the pres ence of numerous forks and offshootx indicate that great caution should he exercised in planning extensive de velopments, and that the wise course in both prospecting and mining will be to follow the shoots closely.
 Assays of samples taken from some of the dikes in the Moose Pass dis trice show the presence of gold in en- couraging amounts, and it is possible that portions of some of these dikes may be rich enough to justify min ing.
 Nonmetallic Resources.
 A study of nonmetallic resources other than coal in the railroad belt and an examination of miscellaneous metallic prospects that did not lie within the districts already described were assigned to G. A. Waring. He examined a large number of pros poets, including those containing limestone, manganese, and clayx of various types. as well as several metal-bearing lodes. None of these are now producing, but . sat any time there may be 8 demand for some of these materials, it was desirable to learn the facts concerning their distribution and qualities.
 Anthracite Field of Upper Matnuslt1
 Valley.
 One of the prime purposes of the special appropriation for the study of the mineral resources of the railroad belt was to determine the quality and the amount of minable anthracite in the upper Matanuska valley. 1t was realized that thenatural exposures of the coal formation are not sufficiently good to furnish as complete informs tion as was desired, and that event,.-, ally some drillin gmight b. necessary. However, 3 detailed surface examinz- ton was essential to determine. whether the heavy expense of core drilling would be justified. Accord- ingly field party was organized, with R. w. Richards in charge of the geologic studies. G. A. Waring WAS associated with MT. Richards during the latter part of the zuznmer. "A large-srale topograplil map of the more promising portion of the an- thracite field was made. and . torce of laborers was employed to open up the coal exposures.
 As result of structural. xtnaies,. beds have been traced on Anthracite Ridge proper that indicate a tonnage of some half million tons of snthra- cite, but the coal occurs under such structural conditions and in such . topographic situation that in itself 1t does not constitute . commercially feasible coal field. From geologic ev- idence, however, there is . high d. gree of probability that related beds extend southward from Anthracite Ridge beneath the gentler slopes th2t lie between the ridge and the Mata- nuska river. In that area the coal formation is in large part covered by glacial deposits, but sufficient struc- tural observations on the coal forna- tion were made to indicate the prota- bility that the area contains reserves of coal that may run into many mil lions of tons.
 Although the surface shovings. of r<,~%v,4 10~~