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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



crystalline rock, with a conchoidal fracture. 

 In other places it swells up into bosses and 

 rounded masses which are thrust up into 

 the overlying rocks. The outside of these 

 masses presents a scoriaceous or slag-like 

 appearance ; in the interior the cavities are 

 filled with infiltrated minerals. For the 

 first two or three feet above the trap the 

 shales which rest directly on these igneous 

 rocks have been intensely metamorphosed, 

 and are scarcely to be distinguished from 

 the trap itself. At a distance of six or eight 

 feet above the trap the shales are still very 

 much altered and filled with a great num- 

 ber of small spherical masses of a dark- 

 green mineral, resembling epidote. Midway 

 up the sides of the ravine, which is about 

 thirty feet deep, the shales present some- 

 what of their usual reddish appearance, but 

 are traversed by a great number of irregu- 

 lar cavities formed by the expansion of va- 

 por while the rocks were in a semi-plastic 

 condition. At a distance of twenty-five or 

 thirty feet above the trap, the shales and 

 sandstones are changed but slight!)', if at 

 all, from their normal condition. A bed of 

 limestone from two to three feet in thick- 

 ness, which is here interstra titled with the 

 shales and sandstones where it approaches 

 the trap, is considerably altered and forms a 

 mass of semi-crystallized carbonate of lime. 

 All this furnishes indisputable evidence that 

 the igneous rocks composing the First New- 

 ark Mountain were intruded in the molten 

 state between the layers of the stratified 

 rocks subsequent to the consolidation of 

 the latter; and by analogy we are justified 

 in extending this conclusion to all the trap 

 ridges which traverse the Triassic regions 

 of New Jersey. 



Agricnltnral aiid Mineral Resources of 

 Alaska. The following notes on the min- 

 eral and agricultural wealth of Alaska we 

 take from a communication published in 

 the Chronicle of San Francisco. The Ter- 

 ritory is as yet virtually unexplored, yet 

 gold, silver, copper, graphite, lead, iron, 

 sulphur, and coal, have already been found 

 in sufficient quantity to pay for working the 

 deposits. " Eight well-defined ledges of 

 gold-bearing quartz have been prospected 

 on Baronoff Island, close to the town of 

 Sitka; their owners owe their discovery 

 and partial development to the enterprise 



and energy of one Haley, who was formerly 

 a soldier of the garrison that was stationed 

 here. Haley began to utilize his gold dis- 

 coveries about three years ago by quarrying 

 out rock and crushing it in a common hand- 

 mortar. By this primitive process he ob- 

 tained money enough to support his family 

 and pay the cost of a visit to Portland and 

 San Francisco in search of capital to de- 

 velop his mines. Little is known of that 

 section of Alaska which lies back of the 

 coast between Cross Sound where the Al- 

 exander Archipelago, with its 1,100 islands, 

 ends and Prince William's Sound. On 

 Prince William's Sound are several Indian 

 villages, and several tracts of prairie-land 

 which may be easily cultivated. Beyond 

 this large inlet lies Kodiac and Cook's In- 

 let. As a fishing and agricultural district 

 this is undoubtedly the best section of the 

 whole Territory of Alaska. The climate is 

 milder, the winters less severe, and the 

 rainfall less, than in the southern counties 

 of Scotland. Both on Kodiac and the 

 shores of Cook's Inlet are large tracts of 

 prairie-land, which now afford excellent past- 

 ure for cattle and sheep, and which can be 

 easily cultivated for all the hardy vegeta- 

 bles, barley, and oats. Timber is abundant 

 and easily accessible from the water. A 

 large deposit of coal has been prospected, 

 the quality of which is declared by Prof. 

 Newberry to be fully equal to any coals 

 found on the Pacific coast, not excepting 

 those of Vancouver Island and Bellingham 

 Bay. The Indians who come- down to the 

 head of the inlet report large deposits of 

 native copper a short distance inland, and 

 exhibit ornaments and utensils of the same. 

 Lead of sufficient purity to be moulded into 

 bullets is also found there. The waters 

 literally swarm with fish ; and it is safe to 

 say that there is no district of country on 

 the whole Pacific coast which offers so 

 many advantages for the profitable estab- 

 lishment of fish-canning and fish-curing 

 works. With a comparatively moderate in- 

 vestment of capital, exports of fish to the 

 value of several millions of dollars annually 

 may be sent from Cook's Inlet, which would 

 pay a large profit to the owners of the 

 works, and would support many thousand 

 fishermen, laborers, and mechanics. Noth- 

 ing but the power of monopoly has hin- 

 dered Alaska's growth thus far." 



