Seward daily gateway., 1932-01-18
ALASKA MINERAL PRODUCTION F9l2!l
 TH{: LAST YEAR
tContinued from Page Ones

1llG COI4EIuS1OLI z q II C V AAOA4A these studies was sufficiently en- couraging to warrant further ex- aminations of parts of the area by means of core drilling, and in De- cenber proposals were sent out by the Secretary of the Interior calling for bids from private contractors to do this work under conditions specified by the government and to undertake it as early in 1882 as conditions permit.
 Extension of the market for AL aska coal was effected through it's greater use by the government in some of its Alaska stations and by some of the canneries, especially at these situated on the eastern coast of the Alaska Peninsula.
 Although no productive coal min ing work was in progress during the year in the Bering River field, east of Cordova, a prospecting per- init was issued, and plans are said to be under way with the object of reviving search for deposits suS- ceptible of profitable development.
 Probably a small amount of coal for local uses was mined by natives near Wainwright, but information is not yet in hand as to the precise amount, though 1t was doubtless only a hundred tons or so. No productive developments on the coal deposits in other parts of Alaska are known to have been made. Petroleum
 All the petroleum produced in AL aska i'll 1881 continued to come from wells of the Chilkat Oil Company, near Katalla, where, in addition to the oil wells, the company operates small refinery. The gasoline and distillate produced from this pe- troleum are much in demand in the local market, as they are said to be of better quality than the usual commercial brands. This company Is reported to have continued op- erations in this field on essentially the same scale as heretofore.
 No new drilling work was In progress in any of the other AL aska fields that are believed to hold promise of containing oil. This lack of activity is not interpreted as meaning that commercial com panes have regarded the possibil- ities of finding oil as too doubtful nor that search has been abandon ed It is interpreted simply to mean that, with the present flood of oil in the States, the develop ment of new oil field in Alaska does not hold out sufficient in ducement and that the large ex- penditure required would probably yield more immediate returns in other fields
 The drilling that has been in progress for number of years in the region west of Chickaloon was continued during the early part of the summer of 1881 by the Peterson Oil Association. Various difficul- ties were encountered, so that only 8 little new work was accomplished and drilling was soon suspended.
 Other Minerals
 In addition to the mineral prod ucts already mentioned, Alaska also produced during 1881 significant amounts of lead, limestone, and platinum and lesser amounts of few other minerals and rocks. The aggregate value of the output of these minerals in 1881, together with that of petroleum, is estimat- ed to have been $290,0O0, as against $303, 3,000 in 1880
 Most Of the lead was obtained as by-product from the gold ores of the Alaska Juneau mine. Ac- cording to preliminary estimates, the production of lead from Alaska mines in 1881 exceeded that of any previous year, though because of the low average selling price of the metal it had a much smaller value than in many other years.
 For instance, though the quan- tity of lead in 1881 appears to have exceeded that of 1880 by more than 100000 pounds, it's value was $5,0o0 less