126 The American Geologist. Feb. i89o 
Prof. C. H. Hitchcock was elected treasurer of the American 
Committee, vice Prof. H. S. Williams resigned. 
It is not generally known that the largest gold mine in 
the world is in Alaska. It is lighted throughout b}' electricity 
and worked day and night. An ofler of sixteen millions of 
dollars for this mine has been refused. 
During the past year over 7,000,000 gross tons of iron ore 
were mined in the lake Superior region. This is a gain of over 
two million tons over last year, and a corresponding increase 
in the output is expected for the year to come. The largest 
production from any single mine was from the Norrie in Wis- 
consin, and the second largest from the Minnesota mine at 
Tower, Minn. The combined production of these two mines 
was considerably over a million tons. 
The following gentlemen have been appointed by the 
President as commissioners to test and examine the weight and 
fineness of the coins reserved at the several mints during the 
calendar year 1889 : John P. Jones, Unit 'd States Senate ; E. 
H. Conger, House of Representatives ; H. L. Dodge, San Fran- 
cisco ; William A. Sackett, Saratoga Springs, N. Y. ; William 
Lilly, Mauch Chunk, Pa. ; Prof. William W. Folwell, Univer- 
sity of Minnesota; Francis A. Walker, |)repident of the Massa- 
chusets Institute of Technology ; Daniel W. Fisher, president 
of Hanover College, Hanover, Ind. ; Austin Blair, Jackson, 
Mich., Byron Reed, Omaha; Thomas Price, San Francisco ; 
John Jay Knox, New York ; W. D. Wheeler, Montana ; Prof. 
George F. Barker, University of Pennsylvania; Prof. T. C. 
Mendenhall, Washington ; Eliot C Jewett, St. Louis. 
The production of gold and silver in 1889 was distributed as 
follows among the states and territories west of the Missouri 
river, according to Mr. J. Valentine, general manager of Wells, 
Farffo & Company, viz : California, $12,842,757 ; Nevada, $11, 
908,'9fil; Oregon, $785,361; Washington, $217,000; Alaska, 
$845,000; Idaho, $17,344,600 ; Montana, $31,726,923 ; Utah, $9,- 
830,013; Colorado, $28,074,888; New Mexico, $3,937,677 ; Ari- 
zona, $5,803,027 ; Dakota, $3,407,177 ; West coast of Mexico, 
(bv steamer), $512,288; British Columbia, $442,164; Total, 
$127,677,836. 
The separate production of each is as follows ; Gold, (25.83), 
$32,974,643; Silver (51.15), $65,316,107 ; Copper (11.59), $14,- 
793,763; Lead (11.43), $14,593,323, 
The commercial value at which the several metals named 
herein have been estimated, is ; Silver, 94 cents per ounce. 
Copper, 10 cents per pound, and Lead, $3.80 per hundred 
pounds. 
For the year 1889 the export of gold from the United States 
exceeded the import b}^ $49,661,101. 
Rustless Iron a Reality. — Says a Pittsburg paper of recent 
date : The rustless process, which has been until recently an 
experiment, has now demonstrated that great economy can be 
