LODE MINING IN SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA. 53 
Adjacent to the vein have been altered to a talc schist of light-green color and in places slip- 
ping grooves are prominent, pitching 50° NW. At the end of a 45-foot tunnel, which opens 
the ore body to the south, the vein narrows to a mere seam. From all indications the deposit 
appears to be an ore shoot, 5 to 100 feet in length and 1 to 3 feet in width, pitching to 
the northwest. 
The Copper City mine, located as the Red Wing claim, lies on the east side of Iletta Inlet, 
8 miles south of Copper Harbor. The ore body is a narrow vein of massive sulphide ore 
similar to the Corbin vein, though the percentage of copper contained is higher. The 
country rock is an altered greenstone schist interstratified with siliceous slate. It strikes 
north and south and dips 40° E. The vein parallels the bed-rock structure, has an average 
width of 2\ feet, and is composed of pyrite, ehalcopyrite, and pyrrhotite, with some magnet- 
ite and small amounts of carbonate ore near the surface. Diabase dikes crosscut the ore 
body at various points and in places have caused faulting: they are usually a few feet wide 
and are later than the deposit. Developments consist of a 100-foot incline shaft and 200 
feet of drifting and tunneling. A total of 1,600 tons of ore is reported to have been mined 
and shipped to the Tacoma smelter, yielding about $60,000 in copper and gold values. 
GRAVINA ISLAND. 
On the south side of this island near Seal Bay and on Dall Head, copper-bearing ore 
bodies have been discovered which give some promise of value. In the past the properties 
have been operated only in a desultory way, so that at present it is not possible to form a 
definite idea of the extent and value of their deposits. They are low grade in character, 
irregular in shape, and occur in various kinds of rocks. 
The Victor Mining Company, whose property is located near Seal .Bay, has recently 
renewed operations and plans to continue them throughout the winter. 
WRANGELL DISTRICT. 
At the head of Duncan Canal some exploration work has been accomplished on several 
low-grade copper-bearing ore bodies occurring in greenstone, but no concentrated effort has 
been made to develop any one prospect sufficiently to determine its value. The ore produc- 
tion has been very small. 
SILVER, LEAD, AND ZINC. 
Up to the present time but few workable deposits of silver, lead, or zinc have been found 
in southeastern Alaska, and these are confined practically to the Wrangell and Ketchikan 
districts. 
WRANGELL DISTRICT. 
In the Wrangell district the most important finds have been made on the mainland east 
of Wrangell, at, Glacier and Groundhog basins. (See map, PI. XI.) At both points the 
veins are inclosed in a belt of argillite, which lies between the Coast Range granite and the 
parallel outlying intrusive belt, as indicated on the sketch map. The veins are closely asso- 
ciated with light-colored porphyry dikes which have intruded the formation along its bed- 
ding planes. They consist largely of sulphide ores of lead, zinc, and iron, and vary in size 
from small stringers to strong veins 6 to 8 feet in width. During the past year assessment 
work only was accomplished on these properties. Several samples have been assayed and 
favorable returns reported. 
KETCHIKAN DISTRICT. 
In the Ketchikan district two deposits of silver-lead-zinc ores have been discovered on 
Prince of Wales Island and may prove of future value. 
The Hope group of three claims is located near the head of South Arm, Cholmondeley 
Sound, and is reached from salt water by a good trail 2 miles long. The deposits occur as 
bedding replacement veins 1 foot to 10 feet wide in crystalline limestone and strike about 
