Evening star., 1938-02-13
Youth Busy
On North's
Frontier
Flying as Well as
Mining Offers
Possible Job.
By jim EMMETT.

Il 10 uO AoA
young people Oh North Americas
new frontiers! Up in Radtum CITY,
smack on the Arctic Circle in Far
Northern Canada. mines are working
"a hours a day. seven days a week.
Farther north still, in Alaska and the
Yukon Territory, dozens of planes
flown by husky young fellows are
carrying passengers, mails and freight,
covering in three hours distances
which previously took II days by dog
teams. In Quebec. Chibougamau, .
vast new mining region, recalls
something of the old-time gold rush
madness. Youth figures there. too.
Planes make two or three trips daily
to st. Felicien, winter and summer,
while others maintain regular sched-
ules to more distant points.
Then there are the little known dis
coveries A few years back the Cana
dian government gave free course in
prospecting to deserving young men.
Today these fellows, either on their
own or In the employ of mining COM
panies, are securing the North Coun-
try. many making valuable finds.
The discovery of minerals always
creates jobs for those who have what
it takes to stand the cold. isolation.
and hard work conected with such
INNINGS When a find is made the
claim is usually sold to large min
ing company with SUFFICIENT capital to
develop it. Transportation is a seri-
GUS problem, and in itself creates
jobs.
In scanning possibilities Of new
mining area. engineers look for four
essentials: Skilled labor. transporta-
ton facilities. plenty Of cheap cleo
trio power and, Of course. minerals.
At Chibougamau, the provincial gov
ernment built a 133-mile winter road
into the section. and authorized con-
struction of a 250-mile railway from
Mount Laurier to Seneterre. a line
that ultimately will run into the IA
nous copper-gold area itself. At pres
ent this section Is accessible in sum-
mer only by canoe and plane; canoe
takes two weeks. plane two hours.
All OF which has opened up a great
field for experienced pilots. Not only
do planes bring in Passengers, sup
plies and mail, but engineers can thus
cover more ground in 10 days than
they formerly did in an entire sum-
mer.
In Alaska six commercial and eleven
private air lines are already in opera
ton. Not only do these give employ
ment to pilots. service men and ofnce
help, but they enable youthful pros
pectors to enter territory formerly i'm
penetrable.
Then there are the frontiers nearer
home. Gold, for instance, has been
found at some time in almost every
State Of the Union, although not al
ways in large enough quantities to pay
mining companies to develop it. Many
young men, who have learned to pan
gold. have discovered that vacations or
unemployed time yielded good results
II they tackled the problem intelli-
gently. First of all. they determined
the nearest place where gold was being
mined or had been mined. in order
to prospect nearby river banks and
creeks for placer (free and almost
pure) gold.
Gear required was an old car for
transportation as far as they could 60,
a gold pan, two chamois bags, pros
pector's pick and shovel. . tape meas
ure. q pocket magnifyins glass. q can
teen. a horseshoe shaped magnet. a
few ounces of mercury, small vial Of
muriatic acid and another of nitric,
a frst-aid kit. tent, grub. clothing
and bedding.
Samples were taken with the pan
here and there on the downstream side
of boulders and places where the river
widened. The prospectors dug down
to hard pan or bed rock. samplins
across the stream as deposits usually
run parallel with the flow of water.
One man could pan half yard Of
gravel per ten-hour shift and per-
haps make 81 . day. When several
fellows together wished to work more
dirt than was possible by panning,
1OthCIo, SA0oACo 0A4A 0lAlIC bOACo WCAC
built and perhaps powered by an old
car engine to handle around five
tons day.
Much has been written on the prac-
tical side of small-scale gold mining.
and maps giving the location Of placer
and lode mines may be secured by
writing the U. .. Bureau Of Mines at
Washington.
We cannot all 60 to the far-away
new frontiers; q cash stake, special
training and experience are necessary.
But many young men are finding
things not so far from home. Thou
sands scanned the hills for gold last
year; the big majority. by far. were
novices Only few made . real strike
but the majority not only made fair
wages. but returned home healthier
and more Independent than II they
had stavAd in the CITY.