The Daily Alaska empire., 1937-01-05
75TH CONGRESS OPENS SESSION TODAY
Mineral Production of
 AIaska ip 1936 ShOlUs
 Big Increase Oper 1885

value of $23, 3,347 ,000, as compared with $18,312,0O0 in 1885, according to an advance statement of the Department of the Interior, prepar- ed by Philip s. Smith, of the Alas kan branch of the Geological Sur vey. This amount brings the value of the mineral output of Alaska since 1880 to practically $722,0O0,- 900.
 The cost of the Territory to the United States was approximately l percent of the value of the total mineral output alone for the past 56 years. This Government pur- chased Alaska from Russia for ST. 100000 sixty-nine years ago.
 The figures for 1886 are prelim- mary estimates and are subject to revision because advance informa- tion before the end of the year is necessarily based on incomplete records. The final figures will ap- pear in the Geological Surveys annual report on the mineral re- sources of Alaska, now in prepara- ton.
 General Conditions
 The increase in the value of the output of minerals from Alaska in 1883 reflected in measure the improvement in the general business conditions of the whole country but many other causes contributed to swell or reduce the output of the individual commodities. The prices at which most of the metals other than gold were sold in 1886 appear to have been higher than in 1885 However, these variations in prices affected the total value of the out put to only a minor degree, for gold made up nearly 78 percent of the total, and its price remained con- stant in the two years. Labor diff ficuities flared up at intervals and at several places throughout the year, causing at times complete ces- .ation of mining at certain prop lrtieS.. The waterfront strike that threatened Jo tie up all Pacific Coast shipping to Alaska and else where at the end of September, and that actually went into effect late in october, probably decreased pro- duction for the current year and hindered the shipment of supplies and equipment needed by many of the properties for the coming sea- son. The climatic conditions that affect certain types of mining, such as length of open season and abun- dance of water from rainfall and run-off, seem to have been unusu- ally favorable throughout most of the Territory. Many enterprises that had been started in preceding years were brought into production and by their success well justified the operators outlays. Many en- tirely new enterprises were put un- der way, and some of them were completed during the year, but oth- CTS will not begin to pay back on their costs for another year or more. These new enterprises were not limited to any one type but in- cluded large as well as small ven- lures, though most of them natur- ally pertained to gold rather than to other metals.
 Gold
 The gold produced in Alaska in 1886 is estimated to have been worth $18,146,000, at the current price of $35 fine ounce. This value exceeds that for the production of any other year subsequent to 1908 and has been exceeded by that of only years during the whole per- iod that gold mining has been in progress in AlaSka-namely, during the golden years of 1906 to 1909, in- elusive, when the average value of gold mined was about $20,273 ,00C a year. In this comparison, how ever, it should be remembered that in all the preceding years except 1884 and 1885 the established price of gold was $20.67 an ounce, so that the new price is about 69 percent greater than the old prices. The total value of the gold produced ir Alaska from the beginning of pro- ductive mining in 1880 to date is estimated as nearly $469,0OO,0O
 Gold in Alaska comes from two distinctly different types of depos- its-placers and lodes. In the plac- CTS the gold is recovered from gravel or other unconsolidated deposits; in the lodes it occurs in the solid rock or vein matter. In 1886 the proportion of gold produced from deposits of these two types is esti- mated to have been about 61 to 39 or s11 ,093 900 from placers and about $7,053, 900 from lodes. This propor- tion is essentially the same as that in 1885, though the total amount ot gold from each source was much larger in 1886; thus the gold pro- duced from lodes was worth about $500, 900 more and that from plac-