The Nome nugget., 1940-01-22

noticeable effect in increasing the amount of material handled and at the same time decreasing the cost. This economy is of special importance, as it extends the lifeof many of the properties and adds to their poten tial reserv es through making it possible to mine successfully material of low CT grade. The prompt payment when due of such loans as had been made by the ReconStruc- tion Finance Corporation to aid in the development of Alaska pro jects has encouraged that organiz ation to extend is help to other worthy properties in the Terri tory and during the year a cred it of more than a million dollars was given for one of the placer perations in the Tolovana dis trict. Although it is probably true that the days of bonanza mining in Alaska by individuals is past, the recent large-scale de velopments in the Goodnews, Fairbanks, Circle, Tolovana, and Marshall districts, as well as in many of the other camps, are ir- refutable proof that opportunit- ies still may be found for compet ently planned and efficiently ad- ministered mining projects at many places in the Territory,
 Gold
 The gold produced from Alaska mines in 1889 is estimated to have been worth $22, 100000. This value is greater than for any other year in the history of Alaska mining, with the single exception of 1888, which was only about $270,O00 greater. In fact, the stated differ ence between the production of the two years is so small that it may possibly disappear or even be reversed when complete records for 1889 become available. In this comparison however it should be remembered that in all years preceding 1884 the established price of gold was $20.67 an ounce whereas during and after that year it has been $35. On the bas is of quantity, therefore, the amount of gold produced in 1889 1888 but also in each of the 13 has been exceeded not only in years 1905 to 1917, inclusive. The total value of the gold produced in Alaska from the beginning of productive mining in 1880 to the present is estimated at $535, ,557,- 900.
 Gold in Alaska comes from two distinctly different types of de- posits-placers and lodes. In the placers the gold is recovered from gravel or other unconsol- idated deposits; in the lodes it occurs in the solid rock or vein matter. In 1889 the proportion of gold produced from deposits of these two types is estimated to have been about 68 to 32, or $15,- 556,000 from placers and $7,344,- 900 from lodes. Though the com bined total amount of gold from these sources was about the same in 1889 as in 1888, the proportion differs, the gold produced from lodes in 1889 being worth about $929,000 less than in 1888 and that from placer about $659, ,000 more.
 Lodes.-In 1889, as in the past, the greater part of the lode gold from Alaska mines came from in Southeastern Alas ka, notably those near Juneau and on Chichagof Island, but less CT amounts came from a number of smaller producers widely scat tered throughout the region. Pre- liminary estimates indicate that in 1889 somewhat more than 70 percen of the lode gold came of the lode gold came from this region, but it's total val le seem to have been about 13| percent less than in 1888.
 The second district in the 1oIo ro1L