Show FAIRBANKS AND RAMPART quadrangles ALASKA the extension to alaska of the system of quadrilateral maps by which the geological survey has already covered about one third of the united states is now fairly under way two such maps those of the fortymile Forty mile and circle quadrangles were issued some time ago and are now being followed by two more covering the adjacent fairbanks and rampart quadrangles the last are published as part of bulletin of the survey which contains also a description of the geology gold placers and water supply of the region As the fairbanks region produced about worth of gold in 1906 the I 1 last ast year for which figures are now obtainable its importance can be readily perceived the fairbanks quadrangle which is described by mr L M prindle and mapped by mr D C witherspoon covers about 14 square miles it lies a little south of the arctic circle at the junction of the yukon and tanana rivers close to the northernmost part of the great bend that the yukon makes to the north owing to the high latitude the winters are very cold the temperature dropping to 76 degrees below zero the snowfall however is not great the ice on the rivers breaks up about may 15 and closes october 20 firewood is plentiful but large timber for mining is not abundant access to the region is had by river from dawson or from st michael and overland from valdez freight rates from seattle range from 55 to td 75 a ton and passenger fares from to fairbanks the chief town had a population of 2500 in 1905 it has newspapers schools and banks and is the seat of the united states court which has jurisdiction over the whole of the interior of alaska wages are 5 or 6 a day and board gold was discovered in this region in 1902 1901 and many bonanzas were taken out the deposits however lay so deep and were so consolidated by ice that the cost of exploitation was very great in 1905 no pay streak could be profitably worked that did not yield to the cubic yard since then however transportation rates have been reduced and much machinery has been brought in increasing production and lowering costs thus enabling less valuable grou ground nd to be worked at a profit plans are under way for utilizing to better advantage the available water supply which is not great these contemplate both the direct use of water for mining and its transformation into electric power with these improved facilities many creeks that have not been developed will become producers the rampart placers which are described by mr F L hess produced in 1906 bringing their total production since discovery up to 00 the gold lies aies at depths of 10 to 20 feet under frozen gravel wages and freight costs are about the same as at fairbanks bulletin contains also a brief discussion of the water supply of the th e region by mr C G C covert |