Show PLACER r MINING INING IN NORTHWEST NORTH I Government Report With a Comparison on What Is Do Doing Doing Doing ing in Seward Peninsula No 10 more striking example of the rapid rapt Industrial changes that may be wrought in an isolated province by the exploitation tion of ot rich gold sold placers could bs b cLot ci cd than that which Is s afforded by b th The his history history tory of cr the large peninsula thrust out from the northwestern coast cf ct c Alaska the Bering Dering sea from om the thi polar s a aIr Ir In a report bulletin No o soon con to tc tob tob b the United States Stes e survey sune Alfred H Brooks in charge of oi the division of or Alaskan mineral re resources resources resource sources source says sos saysA A ago Seward peninsula was vas nore than a barren waste pled except for a few hundred and a score of ot white men nien now It a t is the scene or of Intense commercial activity sup supporting supporting supporting porting a permanent population of ot or ox people peoples which in summer is more than doubled Then tho the igloo of the Eski Eskimos Eskimos mos nos and a mission were the only perma permit permanent permanent nent habitations now no a 0 town with all aU the adjuncts of civilization looks out on Bering sea and a 0 dozen smaller maller settlements are scattered through the peninsula ula Annual Production This region which then produced only a u few ew furs now increases the wealth of the world annually bv by b nearly A decade ago igo go the only communication with the civilized world was through the an annual annual annual nual of ot the Arctic whaling fleet and the revenue cutter now a score of or ocean liners ply between Nome ome and Puget sound during the summer months and even cven in lit winter a weekly man mall service is maintained by dog teams Moreover mil nil military military telegraph lines cables and wireless systems and a a private telephone system keep all parts paris of ot the peninsula in close touch with the outer world Railways connecting some Bomo of or the inland mining cen centers centers centers with tide water traverse regions which a few tew years ears ago were almost un nfl unknown unknown known tow bite men This Industrial im improvement Improvement provement is tho the result of the discovery and exploitation of the gold deposits As there has been but one successful at attempt attempt tempt at auriferous rOus lode mining in this region practically all nil the gold production approximately In the nine years ears from 1893 1898 to 1907 has been taken from from the placers and It is the geologic and Industrial history of these placers which is discussed In this report Comparison With California Compared with the output of ot the tho Cali Call California California fornia placers which are estimated to have yielded In two years ears 1531 to 1853 and of the Klondike placers whose output in the first decade is valued at the production of ot the Sew Seward Seward w ward ard peninsula placer mines mineR Is small A rough outline map In Mr Ir Brooks report Illustrates approximately approximate the relative size of 0 the areas of the tile three re fa and his comparison is most inter interesting eating esting The auriferous gravels of ot California probably cover an area about equal to that occupied by the auriferous gravels of or Seward peninsula but the Klondike gold field Is probably less than cs iz large The California placers are not note only e nh Ideally located for tor economic exploitation exploitation exploitation tation but their gold sold content averaged no less than that of ot the Seward peninsula gravels ravels Moreover the high hl h gravels of or California are arc far more extensive than those of the Alaska field With abundant abundant abundant dant water supply steep stream gradi gradients tc heavy hea gravel deposits accessibility and d s climate it is no wonder that t at the California placers pl ers far out outstripped outstripped outstripped stripped the northern field in the first firsty years y ars of production Klondike Is Richer The Klondike on the other hand is less favorably situated than Seward pen peninsula peninsula penInsula and its water supply available for mining Is much less les It appears appear however that the placers of such creeks as El Eldorado Eldorado Eldorado dorado and Bonanza in the Klondike averaged richer than any deposits of ot elm sim similar lIar ilar extent yet et found In the peninsula It i was the tho exploitation of these almost fabulously fabulously rich and relatively shallow grav gray gravels gravels els that brough the Klondike gold out output outPut put ut up with a bound and It is their quick exhaustion that has haa caused an almost equally rapid decline of the annual yield There are still extensive bodies of lower grade gravels to mine in the Klondike but these can be developed only by means of extensive water or by dredging Mining in the Klondike has passed its zenith whereas in Seward pen peninsula penInsula penInsula the maximum yearly output Is still to bo be reached I In the comparison of the Seward pen peninsula penInsula penInsula placer with others it must be borne in mind that probably three fourths of or the entire production has been drawn from the tho region adjacent to Nome and from Ophir creek and its tributaries Therefore though the tho area is la large yet only onh a few square miles have bave been extensively exploited and it is probable that It will be some sometime sometime time before the maximum yield will be attained The report from which the above ex cx extracts C tracts are made contains in addition to papers by Mr Brooks papers by A J 3 Collier F L I 1 Hess and P S Smith It Includes several maps and other illus ilius illustrations and will be ready for distribution In lit May |