| Show RESOURCES OF ALASKA delivered before american mining congress december 1 1908 by dr alfred H brooks three years ago alaska mines produced in 1907 the mineral output was nearly the gold deposits of alaska are for the most part associated with certain belts of altered sediments one skirts the coast of southern alaska and finds its continuation in the prince william sound and kenai peninsula A second belt lies in the central portion betwee en tanana and yukon rivers and within this belt are the most valuable of the alaskan placer deposits A third belt of metamorphic rock occurs in the northern part of alaska and its continuation is found in the seward peninsula over 97 per cent of the value of alanskas mineral production has come from these three belts of metamorphic rock the most important centers of placer mining are the yukon tanana region and seward peninsula these two provinces have an annual production of nearly 16 brict the gold and silver lodes are confined for the most part to southeastern alaska the productive copper deposits are confined to two districts the central portion of prince of wales island and on prince william sound miles northwest there is also a copper belt which follows the northern slope of the wrangell mountains there are two important coal fields that carry bituminous tu minous and anthracite coal one is near controller bay and the other miles to the west on the matakuska Ma river some bituminous coal is found on the alaska peninsula on the lower yukon as well as cape gisburne Lis bume burne in 1907 alaska produced upwards of aj 5 pounds of copper hadley is the center of the copper industry the treadwell mine the fourth in size in the world with its low values has been an object lesson to the mining world the output is valued at and the magnitude of this enterprise with stamp mills has obscured the fact that there are other extensive mining operations in the juneau district the copper river region has been a local point of interest because of its plan for reaching it by rail from pacific tidewater its ores are sulphides sulp hides with native copper the klondike gold fields now produce about worth of gold annually and is of course in canadian territory the Fair fairbanks bariks district is from the standpoint of f production the most important of the inland districts with an annual output of about gold gravels lie at considerable sid Bid erable depth varying from twenty to feet et the seward peninsula since its gold discovery in 1898 has produced worth of gold lode deposits including gold copper antimony and galena have been discovered in various points of the peninsula though the coal fields of alaska lie only twenty five miles from the coast the pacific seaboard offers no good harbors plans are on foot for the construction of break waters wafers near katalla batalla Ka talla which are proposed to connect by railroad with the coal fields another plan is to construct a line from cordova bay which means miles of track the coal of alaska is higher in fuel value than any coal west of the rocky mountains those whose familiarity with the mineral resources of alaska give them a right to an opinion believe that there is here a large field for mining which can only be developed by the construction of a railroad from the pacific seaboard to the yukon basis the time will come when we will have several trunk lines with many branches making all the mineral bearing parts of cheter the territory accessible at all times these schemes may appear visionary but when we reflect that alaska with its primitive systems of transportation has already added to the worlds wealth to the extent of over there seems to be some justification for this opinion |
