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crushing the ore, and chlorination works tor extracting by chemical pro- 

 cess the finely disseminated ore. The fumes from the chlorination 

 works have killed the surrounding forest over a large area. 



The annual output from this mine is about $800,000, of which a 

 little over half is profit. 



On several mines back of Juneau, in the Silver Bow Basin, several 

 hundred thousand dollars have been expended in extensive hydraulic 

 mining, but so far the net results have not been very remunerative. Pros- 

 pectors' holes, and small tunnels, are quite numerous along the coast. 

 Each in turn had its day of showing the " best indications " and then 

 dropped out of sight. 



Mining, or rather prospecting, is undoubtedly an alluring vocation. 

 The prospector lives and starves on hope, striking it rich some day ; yet, 

 how very small is the probability of his success and how great the sacrifice 

 he makes. 



The discovery of rich gold and silver mines or diggings is not an 

 unmixed good. The value of these mineral finds, although sometimes 

 very rich, is generally ephemeral. The result is an abnormal prosperity 

 of one or more towns or cities whose birth is due to the gold or silver 

 discovery. Railroads are built, business, bustle and activity are rampant 

 in the mining region. After a few short years, the scene changes, mines or 

 diggings are exhausted, there is a stampede out of the district almost as 

 vehement as there was into it. Real estate, houses, blocks, everything im- 

 movable becomes unsaleable. Manyof the people of the miningregionhave 

 been ruined through its shortlived prosperity. A glaring example of 

 these conditions is the state of Nevada, which some years ago was struck 

 by a rich mineral wave, on the crest of which Nevada was enabled to 

 ride into full sisterhood in the Union. To-day it lies prostrate, and her 

 whole population, spread over an area of 110,000 square miles, is less 

 than that of the city of Ottawa. In the same relation I might mention 

 the Fraser River and Cariboo gold diggings in the sixties. Where are 

 to-day the signs of prosperity of those golden footsteps of years gone by ? 

 What I wish to impress is, that a country that is solely or mainly 

 dependent on gold or silver production is a factor in unstable equili- 

 brium. Gold and silver mining is not conducive to the permanent 



