The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, March 31, 1940, Page 43

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” VOL. LV., NO. 8375. JUNEAU, ALASKA, SUNDAY, MARCH 31, 1940. PAGES 1 TO 8 TOTAL MINE OUTPUT OFF 13 PERCENT Fields Helps Boost 1939 Gold Rate By B. D. STEWART Territorial Commissioner of Mines The total value of all minerals| produced by Alaska mines during the year 1939 was 13 percent, or appro: imately three million dollars, le: than that of the corresponding out- put of the previous year. | This loss in production resulted principally from the almost total cessation of the mining of coppex-“ ore in the Territory that occurred | when the large mines at Kennecott | were permanently closed and aban- | doned in the fall of 1938. Other important factors in the diminished total production were: lessened output from lode - gold mines, which yielded nearly one mil- lion dellars less than in 1938; and a falling off in the amount of plat- inum metals produced, the value of | the total output of these metals| having dropped nearly, $300,000 be- low that of 1938 when the yield was estimated at $1,230,000. Loss in Silver As a direct result of the closing of the Kennecott mines the output | of silver, which theretofore had| been recovered in substantial|geyigeq by Pete Miscovich and first amounts as a by-product from the|yseq on his placer property near Kennecott copper ores, fell In valué gy ang the use on the same prop- from about $300,000 to 8154000, OF | grtv’ of & modified type of tre neazly 50 peresnt. {hoe for et savating in dry bedr The output of tin in 1939 was val-;maL contains p ued at only about one-third that of Yolis the previous year; amounting to, The number of men directly em- it sl |ployed in mining operations was The production of other miner-1,, ..onioq by about 400 during the e, “naloiimg lead, BritinoRys o) year, the total having been about Rl Umestonie., senyhHEt SubSt-an-‘G,ISO This increased employment Mg e it e previous| Lo wholly within the placer min- A Rich Gold Harvest ling industry. There was a slight o % » . |falling off in the number employed Portunstels et 780t 4 "‘m”!‘;t l(wTo mines owing to the closing in gold-placer mining, from whk‘him several small operations that , industry over 60 percent of the to-| " SUTE SO e ihe previous tal mineral preduction is now de-| J ¢ T rived, presents a much brighter [Y¢2: picture. The yield of gold from | Fatal accidents that occurred placer deposits increased by about“" and about mines during the year 5 percent over the year before and |pumbered four, of which three oc- & |curred in connection with lode Wit far foward offeefiig 119 fll-!) ining and one in connection with minished returns from other sourc- |18 g : es. placer mining operations. During In spite of lowered production of U previous year there were mineral products during the past|S1" '8 e : year the condition of the mlmng\m -.industry as a whole remains vigor- | ous and the outlook for the future | Although there was a is encouraging. No such major |, ] JOT | jcrease of activity in exploratory, backset as las 'S he | :r:()kn-rtm:;ix::;)trxrj)::::‘ ,;T; bglm.'m'_';grnund-tvsum: and prospecting work - erse | throughout the placer-mining fields seen and it is probable that sub- that was atte i with quite fa- Dl Ol O e sar, |~ |there was on the othier hand a dis- wing the coming year. ly,ping diminution of such activity New Equipment |in many lode-mining areas. There Continued advance in the mechan-|wos 5 substantial decre in the izing of placer mining operations has | number of lode propert under been of major importance in ac-|initia] development and in the num- complishing the increased produc- per of men engaged in such work. tion from that source. Especially noteworthy is the gigantic equip-| ment for excavating and distributing | ¢ placer material that was installed ¢ ... .. of PE ;8 during the year by the U. 8. Smelt-;f‘cm"m?\ (i) e\p‘omLm.) (xynd'%n > g *” | pecting operations in the Territor ing Refining and Mining Co. at their | g S iyl Gl Croek spit: opiias near | CORtiNUEs to be the most urgent % 2 b need of the local mining industry Fairbanks. The principal items of ~ Al . + The U. S. Geological Survey con this installation inciude an enor-| . . E e % 2 tinued to render its custom val- mous walking dragline of the Bucy-| 0 assistance to the industry by rus-Monighan type; a belt conveyor | B & Cigh i system for waste disposal that is| one mile or more in length; and a * huge movable and self-propelling | loading plant that receives mater- | ial from the 8 and 12-yard buckets of the dragline and delivers it in a| steady stream to the belt-conveyor | system. | | | | “walks them down ahead. the Bonnifield district. tantially the same for the two ars. Prospecting Necessary The provision of suitable means r extending the scope and ef- Dipper Dredge ‘Widespread interest was also man- ifested among mining operators dur- | ing the year in the encouraging| performance of a new type of dredge | that was placed in operation near | Ferry in the Bonnifield mining dis- | trict. The distinguishing feature of this dredge is the use of a single dipper, similar in type to that of a power-shovel, in lieu of the usual | bucket line, for excavating the ma- terial to be washed. The dipper is| mounted on a steel framework at | the digging end of the dredge in| such a way as to permit it to be| elevated at a sufficient angle to| discharge its load through the hol-| low dipper-stick into a revolving | trommel screen. The washing, gold-] saving and stacking units of this‘ dredge are similar to those now in widespread use in California and elsewhere on light-weight dredges that are commonly known as “doo- dle-bugs.” Other interesting innovations in the use of mechanical equipment! include the operation of an improved | type of hydraulic lift, which was! New Equipment in Alaska The encrmous dragline shown above stripping over- burden on Cripple Creek * forward, picking up its pontoons and setting It dumps material into the loading plant hopper at left for a belt ride of more than a mile. Below is pi('lm‘e'cl a new ty |severity of non-fatal accidents was | | noticeable t year, | Water Put to Wo I | | | i | i | | | ‘\ Terrritorial Department of Mines photos. | literally near Fairbanks, | pe dipper dredge at work in geologic studies and car- | topographic and geologic | mapping but the funds made avail- such important work are bly inadequate to meet the s needs, | making rying on As a means of attempting to de- | termine the applicability in Alaska of some of thé modern methods of locating and outlining the limits of mineral bearing areas that r cently have been successfully em- | ployed elsewhere, the Territorial | Department, of Minzs carried on dur- | ing the year initial experimental work in geophysical prospecting. A | | preliminary report on the resuits of this work is in course of prepara- | tion and will be published when completed. Field Work | The Department of Mines also continued its program of assisting | prospectors and small operators by making field examinations of pros- pects and properties in initial stag of development and by giving tech- nical advice when requested. A modest program of large scale geo- | mapping of limited areas that evidence of being potentially | mineral bearing and of preparing | geologic and ay sketches of in-| dividual prospects was also con-| tinued. In that connection the De- | partment cooperated with private | ope in carrying out a small | project of aerial photographing of a small placer region with a view to testing effectiveness of such | work in defining the positions of an- cient stream channels and also in | distinguishing - the limits of glac- | jated belts from those that had es- | caped glaciation, as a means of | guiding prospectors in their search | for existimg placers. Without question Alaska has a | wealth of unrevealed mineral re- s , but unremitting search with all the assistance that modern meth- | | ods of exploration and prospecting | can furnish and a much larger | corps of trained prospectors than is e | logic give ator | the Hydraulic stripping for large scale operations of the United States Smelting, Min- ing and Refining Company on Cripple Creek near Fairbanks. rk in Alaska Goldfields MINERAL WEALTH - Lkl §' s i | i-«—,,,,,,---—--. ————eed | MINERALS OF WAR SOUGHT INTERRITORY Congress Sefs Geological| Survey to Studying Al- askan Deposits | with developments | abroad heightening the importance of war materials, intensive geolog- | ical survey work has been carried on | in Alaska during the past year in earch of minerals used for war | OIL PROSPECT LEASES EXPIRE Survey, is directing the sur- The War Department hopes ) utilize Alaska’s nickel, chromite, Administration of Nation’s Petroleum Resources Now on New Basis ntimony and tin The survey was made possible by the “war materials stack pile bill” passed by Cong Under this bill $10,000,000 a year will be appropriat- ed for four years for the procure- All oil and gas prospecting per- its. The Bureau of Mines will re- mits, which allowed their holders ceive $350.000 a vear which, it is to develop public land or let n_ stand believed, will be for operation and |ldié, expired at the beginning of development of mines. 1940 and the Nauons‘ oil mul_gas The strategic mineral survey in |Fesources are now being adminis- Coincident Approximately to | materials. | Gecological Survey Geological Survey is to re-| $150,000 a year for invest- trategic mineral depos- The ceive igation of s Big Producer o1 Juneau Gold Mining Company. employment to almost 1,000 men. ment of strategic minerals and war Alaska is concentrated in the vic- |tered on a new ""‘;‘:' o inity of Cape York on Seward Pen-| APProximately 23250 oil and o insula for tin and in Southeast Al-|Prospecting permits, some of them e fon widkel covering public domain in Alaska, | Dr. John Reed, Survey Geologist, |expired last .December. 3l... Thelr mapped the Chichagof area last | holders were privileged to exchange summer. He also has mapped far|them for new flve-year leases. A enough north of Chichagof to be|Ye8r 880 when 4850 permits were i the nicke] area in the vicinity of |terminated by operation of the law. Yakobi Island. He is devoting his|the Disttict Land Offices received time particularly to nickel survey 2500 applications for exchange leas- |es. B. Mertie Jr. is surveying tin Progressive Abolition deposits at Cape York Congress, in the oil and gas pros- K i Stud pecting law of 1935, provided for o progressive abolition of the old sys- Further mineral study will be made | tem under which it was possible to in the Kenai Peninsula country of obtain an oil and gas prospecting chromite deposits which were work- | permit, covering 2,560 acres of pub- ed in a small way during the World | Jic land by the mere payment of a War, and also in Southeast Alaska.|filing fee of $32. The law extended Antimony will be examined in the|the life of some of the outstanding Interior, near Lignite, on the Al-|permits but provided that all should aska Railrond, and on Cleveland expire finally on December 31, 1939, Peninsula, near Ketchikan Under the regulations for ex- B TS |change of the outstanding permits “Ew (USI’ODMN FOR |for the new prospecting leases, ap- NATIONAL MONUMENT plicants will be exempt from the payment of rental for the land to the A new Custodian for Sitka Na- tional Monument, the first that 57- Government, during the first two years of the five-year lease period, fter which rental will be charged erve has had in its 30 years of existence, took up his duties in Alaska recently. at the rate of 25 cents an acre, He is Ben C. Miller, formerly of Failure to make a valuable discov- ery of oil or gas within the five- Glacier National Park, where he was District Ranzer. year lease period will result in the termination of the lease privilege. WATER POWER BIG FACTOR IN - ALASKA FUTURE 800,000 Horsepower | Ready for Development in Southeast Sfreams By HARRY SPERLING U. 8. Forest Service The important water power re- sources of Alaska are largely con- fined to the mountainous section of the southern coastal area and thus lie within the boundaries of the National Forests. An abundance of power is found here and it occurs in units of suitable size for indi- vidual industrial plants. Power can be developed at eéxceptionally low | cost. due to the possibilities for good | water storage in high lakes, the | large runoff due to a heavy preci- | pitation, nearness of the sites to navigable waters and the opportun- |ity to locate industrial plants ad- | jacent to the place where the power |is to be developed. 1‘ Investigations and surveys of the | undeveloped powers of Alaska were started extensively in 1915. In that now in the field obviously will be required to build up new mineral reserves that will be adequate to offset the rapidly increasing rate of extraction. | | year, to get a satisfactory record of the amount of water flowing at all times from the watershed of each power stream. Good year-round flow records for an extended period of years have now been obtained for many sites | New Sites Found | Power explorations in the past | decade have disclosed many new and important sites that had not previously been known or at least | reported. All of the better sites have now been surveyed to determ- | ile power capacities and methods | and costs of development. The in- formation i ailable in the form of Government bulletins. | Some 800,000 horsepower has been covered by surveys to date. The largest single power site so far in- vestigated has a yearlong capacity | of 32,000 horsepower. In many | places power from several sites can | be economically concentrated at one | manufacturing point. Only 52 pro- By . Trevor Davis photo. zlacial animals of a far yesterday are washed from the frozen soil of North- ern Alaska by modern min- ing activities. This skull of a super-bison, long van- ished from the earth, was expesed by hydraulicking operations on Ester Creek. regating 28,000 horsepower n wholly or partially de- F y of them pro- power at this time. water power resources of the 1 coast will doubtless prove to trong factor in furthering the eneral industrial development of hat region, and more especially the tablishment of the pulp industry ind the extension of lode mining. All waterpower sites are publicly ywned and can be leased under the Federal Power Act for periods as long as 50 years. ->ee - Skagway came into being over night and in 1897-98 was a city of ject have b eloped are iucin The Al e a v Juneau Mountainside 2,000,000 in wages were paid in Juneau during 1939 by the Alaska The mine and mill, shewn here, give year around 'SPECTROGRAPH SCIENTIFIC AID TOPROSPECTOR New 'Won&eTEye’ Identi- fies Trace Elements in Ore Samples Installation which will an instrument and accurately of identify measure the component parts of a sample that could be held on the |head of a | Laucks Laboratories, Inc, consulting announced by pin is | and analytical chemists of Seattle and Vancouver This wonder eye of science, the troscope discovered earth. | diffraction | the modern adaptation of the spec- with product | v o e e grating spectograph, is astronomers sun be- which helium on the Detects Rare Metals In the hands of an expert chem- leach of these companies decided to ist, the spectrograph will resolve Alaska Juneau Is Unique NEARLY FIVE 'MILLION TONS OREHANDLED Local Minefimph of 60 Year Gold Search on Gastineau Channel It has not been so many years, as time goes, since Joe Juneau and Richard Harris landed in a canoe at the mouth of a mountain stream at the site where the town of Ju- neau now stands. Panning the grav- el of this creek they found gold, and the name of Gold Creek has since been given to this stream., Following the news of gold discov- ery, many prospectors and miners rushed to the vicinity and the up- per reaches of the Creek were ex- plored. A large hydraulie placer op- eration was established, and many |lode claims were located. | Soon after the discovery of gold |in Gold Creek, discovery of gold was made on Douglas Island across the channel from Gold Creek, and |claims were located. These claims | were developed and a profitable op- |eration soon emerged, out of which came the Treadwell mines of Doug- |las Island, well known for the ex- |tent of their operation. | Not For Small Companies Various groupings of lode claims wege made in Silver Bow Basin at the head of Gold Creek, and com- panies were formed to exploit and work the several groups of claims. \These early companies operated with small, if any, profit, and it was | demonstrated that the ore depos- its were of too low gold content to permit a profitable operation when worked on a small scale and inter- mittently, as was necessary, due to the lack of water in Gold Creek |Basin and vicinity in the winter |season. Gradually the various |claims, claim holdings, and com- panies were gathered together into two groups, and after several years of seasonal operation on a moderate |scale by the two companies con- |trolling these groups to further de- | termine the gold content of the ore, on Gastineau |bulld a large mill and identify trace elements meas-|Channel, and to further develop its uring 0.01 per cent of the specimen |claims to furnish ore for the mills. examined. Rare but now market- | The Alaska Gastineau Gold Min- able metals such as berylium, cerium, | ing Company started building their iridium, palladium, tantalum, thor-| mill at Thane in 1912, and opera- fum, thallium and titanium, the di"iuons were started in 1915 and dis- terminations of which would other-|continued in 1921, without having wise require expensive and pains-| made any profit or returned any of taking chemical procedures, can be | the capital invested. readily analyzed by the spectro- graph at a fraction of the cost of ordinary chemical methods. Fur- ther than that, one spectrographic analysis suffices for the determina- tion of the nature and quantities of | .. : gt LAY rge mill was begun. Construc- practically all elements presented '"Imn was finished and the mill be- a sample prospector pays for but one analy the which means that A. j. 25 Years Old In the meantime, in 1913, the Al- aska Juneau Gold Mining Company began mine development on a large |scale, and in 1915 construction of a |gan operation in 1917, but owing |to many structural difficulties, and and gets actually 10, 20 O MOTe COM-= |y} oot that no provision had been plete determinations. It becomes the miner to explore abandoned or | o ton"venrs” elapsed, during which commercially for the rare of the 92 |x economical then for doubtful ore bodies trace metals. Seventy ible types of elements can be detected and catalogued by the probing eye of tae spectrograph. | Bpectrographic terials is based upon the fact that | each element. when subjected to the | intense heat of an electric radiation composed of c wave lengths known & These wave reality the character en off by anaiysis of ma- emits acteristic s spectral lines. which are in tic colors giv- substances, length the heated are different for each element. o> The first permanent settlement of the Russians wa Three Saints Ba some 15,000 inhabitants. “Gettin year a study of the stream flow \on the then known powers of Soth- | |eastern Alaska was begun by the| U. 8. Forest Service and the Geolo- Fairbanks News-Miner cut f!omnt.ic stream gauges which oper- ate continuously throughout the | gical Survey, using clock-driven au- in 1784. established at Kodiak Island, Fairbanks News-Miner cut One of the many large medern gold dredges on the creeks of Interior Alaska is shown at work. |made for sorting the ore, the oper- ation was not profitable. A period |time many changes and additions |were made in the mill, much addi- |tional work was done in the mine, |and the annual tonnage handled had been brought up to over 4,000,000 tons annually. In November of 1927 the first ioporatmg profit was made, but in |the interval between starting the |mill in 1917 and the 1927 profitable operation, an indebtedness of $3,- {000,000.00, over and above what the stockholders had invested in the mine, was incurred. . Three years’ profitable operation were required before this indebtedness was liqui- |dated, and the operating profits {(:ould be applied to dividends. In 11931 the first dividend was paid, |and since that time regular quar- terly dividends of varying amount Ihavv been paid. Costs Increase Operating costs have steadily in- creased. In 1922 Juneau operating |cost was $1,138,351, in 1927 $2,286,- 651 and in 1939 had increased to $3,390,094, or nearly three times the 1922 figure. Of the amount ex- | pended in 1939, $2,000,000 was paid |as wages in Junmeau. Thus it will |be seen that nearly two-thirds of the Juneau operating cost consists |of wages. During the years from 1927 to 11931 inclusive, very substantial |amounts of money have been spent on new construction and improve- | mets annually—a large part for |labor in Juneau. | During the year 1934 all the min- ing claims, power plants, and all other physical property in Alaska | belonging to the Alaska Mining and | Power Company, were purchased. The purchase price for this prop- |erty was paid with shares of the Alaska Juneau Gold Mining Com- (Continued to Page Two)