The rivers and lakes abound with fish. The salmon fishery is 

 of major economic importance. In the waters off the Pacific 

 coasts there are numerous fish of commercial value such as halibut, 

 mackerel, flounder, and Alaskan herring. Whales are somewhat 

 less numerous since the onslaughts made upon their numbers by 

 the early whalers. Alaska, fur seals, now protected by interna- 

 tional agreement, are fairly abundant in the Bering Sea, particu- 

 larly off the Pribilof Islands. This controlled seal industry pro- 

 duces about 60,000 sealskins a year. In addition to the larger fish 

 and sea animals, the ocean waters have large quantities of shrimp, 

 crabs, clams, and small, even microscopic marine fauna. 



RESOURCES 



The mineral resources of this area are vast in contrast to the 

 rather limited mineral resources of the Arctic. The gold of the 

 Yukon is still a source of considerable yearly income. Its recovery 

 has created much in the way of industry. It must be noted, how- 

 ever, that very often gold mining, especially placer mining, does 

 not establish permanent communities because the prevailing atti- 

 tude over most of the Yukon and Alaska has been to recover the 

 gold quickly and to leave. 



Another important gold mining center is at Yellowknife on the 

 north shore of Great Slave Lake. Mining has been conducted in 

 this location since 1934. By 1942 the yearly gold production 

 amounted to almost 4 million dollars. During the war, however, 

 production was almost stopped. 



About 40 percent of the world's radium is produced at the 

 Eldorado Mine on the eastern shore of Great Bear Lake. The 

 silver-pitchblende deposits were found in 1930, but only in recent 

 years has there been any real development. There is now a mod- 

 ern mining and milling plant located at this deposit. Another 

 uranium deposit is being mined at Goldfields on Lake Athabaska. 



The whole contact zone between the ancient rocks of the shield 

 area and the recent sediments of the geosyncline appears to be rich 

 in minerals. There are also oil fields near this contact zone. 



Oil seepages in the vicinity of Fort Norman were first reported 

 as early as 1789 by Sir Alexander Mackenzie. The first drilling 

 was made in 1920, but not until much later was any serious effort 

 made to develop the field. Just prior to, and during World War 

 II, a small refinery was built at Norman Wells to serve the area. 

 To aid in the defense of Alaska, a trail and a 4-inch pipeline were 



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