406 



PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION E. 



and Intersections for Railways and Tramways "), for which I ant 

 indebted to Mr. G. H. Knibbs, Commonwealth Statistician, were as 

 follow : — 



Country of Origin. 



United Kingdom 



Belgium 



France 



Germany 



Netherlands 

 U.S.A 



Total 



340,435 



628,931 



These figures would certainly not convey to a stranger the idea 

 that Australia ought to rank among the gi^eatest of iron-producing 

 countries, and yet such is literally the case. 



COPPER. 



Alaska only produced 3,592 metric tons of blister copper in 1905, 

 and 1, 342 in 1906, chiefly from Prince of Wales Island. The principal, 

 fields are situated on Prince of Wales Island and Prince William 

 Sound. These mines are favourably situated with regard to shipping 

 facilities to smelting works on Puget Sound, Washington. 



In the whole of the coastal districts of British Columbia, and 

 specially on Vancouver Island, copper mines are numerous. Again, 

 the Boundaiy district (adjoining the State of Washington) is of great 

 importance. British Columbia possesses some of the largest and best 

 equipped copper smelters in the world. Its products could come to the 

 Pacific if the demand lay in that direction, but as it is a large propor- 

 tion of them goes east. The production in 1898 was 4,247 tons; in 

 1905, 17,097; and in 1906, 19,500 tons. 



Washington (United States). — The Monte Christo Copper Mines 

 (lat. 48 degrees 40 minutes east of the City of Everett, connected by 

 E. and M.C. Railway) is in the heart of the Cascade Range, just below 

 the snow line. There are many other mines of considerable promise 

 in the State. The production of blister copper from Washington in 

 1905 was 111 short tons, and in 1906 145 tons. 



Oregon produced, in 1905, 420 metric- tons of blister copper, and 

 in 1906, 272 tons. 



California is rich in copper mines. The first was opened in 1860. 

 The local production of copper was 1,000 short tons in 1864, besides 

 considerable shipments of ore to Swansea, Baltimore, and New York. 

 The industry was closed from 1868 to 1896, when the " Iron Mountain" 

 Copper Mine rose into importance. The high-water mark of production 

 was reached in 1901, when it amounted to 17,000 short tons of fine 

 copper. In 1905, the production of blister copper was 8,326 tons, and 

 in 1906, 14,076. 



In 1906, Mexico produced 51,000 tons of fine copper, but it is 

 doubtful whether any gi-eat proportion of this reached or affected the 

 Pacific. 



