The Daily Alaska empire., 1938-07-18
Mineral Production
 Of Alaska in 1887
 Shows Big Increase

(Continued from Page One)
 ly heavy rate of percent on the gross production in excess of $10,000 from gold and platinum mines.
 Favorable Factors
 The favorable factors included the general much higher selling price of the metals other than gold and silver come come from Alaska mines some of the increases amounting to 10 to 40 percent more than the prices for the same com modities in 1886 the general abund- ance of labor available and few in- terruptions caused by failure to settle questions of employment amic- ably: and the increased utilization of mechanical equipment even at some of the smaller properties, which enabled the operators to handle much more material more cheaply and thus mine deposits that otherwise would have been unprofit- able. Weather conditions, which control certain phases of mining work. such as length of season and abundance of water supplies, appear to have been normal, though vary ing in different parts of Alaska. Thus, in western Alaska, rainfall and consequently water supplies were deficient during the early part of the open season but were good later, whereas in the eastern part of the Territory the supplies were good during most of the mining season. All the foregoing facts point to the conclusion that excellent as was the production of minerals from Alaska in 1887 it was at a rate that can be maintained or bettered in succeeding years.
 Both Lode, Placer
 The output of gold from Alaska comes from both lode (hard rock and placer mines. In 1887 this out put was distributed between these types of mines in the proportion of about 38 to 62 $7,7l8,000 from lodes and $12,655,000 from placers. The corresponding proportion for the entire period in which gold mining has been in progress in Alaska has been about 35 to 65. The producing gold lodes are widely attributed through the Territory, but nearly TT percent of the output in 1937 came from lodes in Southeast Al aska, where accessibility to deep- water routes of communication and other favorable conditions have per mitted the successful mining of immense tonnages of low grade gold ore. The other lode-gold pro- during districts of Alaska were the Willow Creek district, the Cook h. let-Susitna region; the Fairbanks district and the Nabesna district, in the Yukon region; the area near Valdez and adjacent parts of the Prince William Sound region; the Kenai Peninsula district; and the Nixon Fork district, in the Kus- kokwim region. In addition to these areas prospecting for gold lodes was in progress at many other tracts in the Territory, but at none of them was any significant amount of gold ore mined except such as was taken out in the course of the exploratory work.
 Hundreds of Camps
 Hundreds of camps contributed to the output of placer gold, but those in the Yukon Basin mined the greatest amount, and those ir Seward Peninsula came next. Near ly 69 percent of the total placer production of the Territory was mined by dredges of which Al (ex- elusive of one platinum mining dredge in the Kuskokwim region) were active during 1937-18 in the Yukon Valley, 21 in Seward Penin- sula, and 2 in the Kuskokwim re- zion. Together these dredges pro- duced gold to the value of $8,743,- 000 They are estimated to have handled about 16,684,0 cubic yards of gravel, and the gold recovered averaged about 524 cents a cubic yard. The longest season reported of any of the dredges in 1887 wa; 266 GGys, for dredges of the Fair banks Exploration Department ol the United States Smelling, Refin. ing and Mining Co. near Fairbanks and the longest season reported fol dredging in Seward Peninsula il 1897 was 185 days. Two dredge! that were mining in 1886 were idl' in l937, but four new dredges wer, in operation in 1887.
 Silver Production
 None of the Alaska ores are nov mined solely for their content O silver. As in the past, most of tn, silver recovered in 1937 was a minol constituent in the copper ores. Tn, silver recovered from these copper ores amounted to 285,000 ounces valued at $221 900. Some silver i obtained as a by-product from thu lodes in which the principal valu able metal is gold, and some silyel in nlro racovared from the bullion