380 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1914. 
lodes are not always easily discovered. From the quantity of gold in 
the gravels which are derived from the parts of the local rock surface 
that have been denuded away, it is likely that the undecomposed rock 
beneath contains much more, but unless lodes are found in a sufficiently 
concentrated form at any one place they can not be profitably mined. 
Hitherto the attention of miners has been mainly directed to what is 
immediately payable, but further research may reveal large bodies of 
pay ore in the little explored district. The great and highly profitable 
Alaska Treadwell mine on the coast near Juneau has laid open an im- 
mense body of low-grade ore, but the conditions are far more favor- 
able for cheap mining than they are likely to be at Dawson for a long 
time to come. 
YUKON COLO PRODUCTION 
TO 1913 
Scare of Million Paunds Sterling 
SE 8 e 2 Pane Trio 
Si image 
ee eae ete ie one & 8 & 
S cs 
7 
Fic. 5.—Yukon gold production to 1913. 
In conclusion it may be noted that although the Yukon and Klon- 
dike district is not now producing sensational results, the production 
from the placers is still large and steady. The exact annual produc- 
tion prior to 1904 is only estimated, but the figures from that year are 
officially known and have been kindly supplied me by Mr. Edmund E- 
Stockton, the inspector at Dawson. The Government levies a royalty 
of 2 per cent on the value of the gold. This is carefully collected, 
sometimes with the help of that admirable force, the Northwest 
Mounted Police (mainly recruited in the Old Country) who work more 
‘‘for honor and applause”’ than for financial reward, and have, with a 
small but highly efficient and thoroughly respected personnel, been 
the means of maintaining a wholesome respect for British law and 
order in the vast Northwest territory durimg and since the very try- 
ing time of the first great rush of wild adventurers to the Klondike. 
