ALASKA 939 



Mining. The production of gold in 1911 was 16,853,256 (in 1910, 16,126,749), of 

 which about one quarter was from siliceous ores, $86,569 from copper ores (only 36,484 in 

 1910), and the remainder from placers. In the Innoko-Iditarod region placer production 

 was thrice as great as in 1910 and in the Hot Springs placers more than twice as great, but 

 in general placer mining, apart from dredging (in the Nome region), is declining rapidly. , In 

 the Fairbanks region quartz-mining is displacing placer. The production of silver was 

 460,231 oz., almost thrice as much as in 1910; more than two-thirds was from copper ores. 

 The copper production in 1911 was 22,314,889 Ibs., five times as much as in 1910 a striking 

 increase attributable to the first appearance of the Copper River district on the producing 

 list, due to the completion of a railway thither. Since 1911 there have been further copper 

 developments in the Chitina and Prince William Sound regions. Small quantities of coal, 

 silver, and lead were taken out. The production and importation of coal is decreasing, 

 because oil is rapidly supplanting it as fuel and because Congress does not permit the develop- 

 ment of coal lands. The Katalla oil field is being developed. Marble and gypsum ship- 

 ments were little changed. Sixty-three tons of tin were produced, mostly from placers, and 

 this was practically the entire output of the United States. In May 1912 announcement was 

 made that a ledge of tin ore 3,700 ft. long and 12 ft. wide had been discovered in the lower 

 Tanana Valley. This may prove a great factor in the wealth of Alaska. In general the 

 development of mining in the Territory awaits a supply of fuel and better transportation 

 facilities. (See Frank L. Hess, "Tin" in Mineral Resources of Alaska, pp. 89-92, 1912.) 



Transportation. At the beginning of 1912 there were nine railroads in Alaska, with 

 a total constructed mileage of 465 (371 in 1910). The Alaska Northern Railway is pro- 

 jected from Seward on the S. coast to near Fairbanks on the Tanana river, a length of 450 

 m., of which 71 were in operation. The projected line of the Copper River & Northwestern 

 Railway, through the Copper River Valley from Cordova on Prince William Sound to Copper- 

 field and the Bering River coal district, was completed to Kennecott, 197 m., in April 191 1. 1 

 Further building will probably be delayed until the coal fields are opened. On Seward 

 Peninsula there are two lines: the Council City and Solomon River, from Penelope creek 

 to Candle, a distance of 100 m. of which 35 were in operation; and the Seward Peninsula 

 Railway from Nome to Lane's Landing, a completed road of 96 m. including the 6 mile 

 McDonald branch. In the interior, the Tanana Valley Railroad from Chena to Chatinka, 

 45 miles in length, was completed in 1907. In addition to these, the White Pass and Yukon 

 Route from Skagway runs for a short distance through Alaskan territory. A railway from 

 an open Pacific port to the Yukon basin is greatly needed for development of smaller mining 

 projects. The Civil Government Act of 1912 authorised the President to appoint a rail- 

 road commission of four members, which studied the transportation problem and especially 

 routes from seaboard to the coal fields and was to report early in 1913. It has been 

 suggested that the Federal government should purchase the Alaska Northern railway and 

 extend it to the Matanuska coal fields. The Alaska road commission is constantly at work 

 on wagon roads and trails; since its creation in 1905 it had constructed 2,800 m. of roads and 

 trails. A winter trail from Seward on the Gulf of Alaska has reached the placer mines on the 

 Iditarod river and is aiding the development of Alaska by shortening the winter route to 

 Nome by nearly 300 m. The work of the Engineer Corps of the United States Army on 

 the St. Michael Canal has been abandoned. Steamer service on the Copper river above 

 Chitina and on the Susitna has been suspended; but river steamers now run on the Kus- 

 kokwim to the mouth of the Takotna (600 m.). . 



Commerce. The trade between Alaska and the continental United States increases 

 steadily. Shipments of domestic merchandise to Alaska were valued at $18,809,270 in the 

 fiscal year ending June 1912 and much more than half of this was the value of manufactured 

 goods ready for consumption ($10,261,770). The shipments from Alaska to the United 

 States in the same period were valued at $21,597,712, of which $14,300,240 was the value of 

 fish, canned salmon being valued at $13,210,073, and $5,040,386 the value of copper. Of 

 the total, $10,019,835 was the value of goods shipped to Seattle, $5,159,767 of shipments to 

 Tacoma and $4,614,211 of shipments to San Francisco. Exclusive of this merchandise there 

 was shipped from Alaska to the United States $20,732,597 in gold and silver, of which $17,- 

 490,821 was gold and silver of domestic origin. 



Government and History. On April 29, 1912, the Federal Supreme Court held 

 that Alaska is an organised Territory of the United States within the meaning of the 

 Interstate Commerce Act. The Interstate Commerce Commission had not granted 

 the request of the Humboldt Steamship Company that the White Pass & Yukon railway 

 be required to post rates. The ground for the refusal was lack of jurisdiction. The 

 Supreme Court of the District of Columbia denied a writ of mandamus, on the ground 



1 Built by the Alaska Syndicate, the "Morgan-Guggenheim trust," after it gave up 

 its construction work at Controller Bay and at Katalla Bay. Some bridge spans are set on 

 concrete bases on glacial ice. For engineering problems, see an article by D. A. Willey 

 in Scientific American Supplement, July 13, 1912. 



