COPPER AND OTHER MINERAL RESOURCES OF PRINCE 
WILLIAM SOUND. 
By U. S. Grant. 
INTRODUCTION. 
Prince "William Sound is an embaymenl extending northward from near the center of 
the north side of the Gulf of Alaska, and lies just west of the Copper River delta and 
east of Cook Inlet (PI. II). It is included between west longitude 145° 35' and 148° 50', 
and between north latitude 59° 50' and 61° 25'. (See fig. 4.) The extreme east and 
west length of the sound, from the head of Cordova Bay on the east to the head of Port 
Nellie Juan on the west, is 108 miles, and its extreme north and south dimension, from 
the head of College Fiord on the north to the south end of Montague Island on the south, 
is 107 miles. Instead of being strictly a sound, in the ordinary usage of this term, Prince 
William Sound is a bay or gulf, which includes many islands and whose coast line is indented 
by numerous long, narrow inlets or fiords. The coast is rugged and rocky and commonly 
rises abruptly from the water's edge to altitudes of from 1 ,(K)() to 3,000 feet, while inland 
a few miles are mountains from 4,000 to 10,000 feet in height. These mountains sur- 
round the sound on the west, north, and east and form part of the Chugach Range. 
The higher peaks are continually snow covered, and glaciers descend into many of the 
valleys. Along the north and west sides of the sound, at the heads of various fiords, a 
number of these glaciers reach tide w r ater. 
The principal town of the district is Valdez (see fig. 4), situated at the northeast corner 
of Prince William Sound, at the head of Port Valdez. It is the outfitting point for the 
sound and also for the Copper River region and the placer fields to the north. Canneries 
are located at Orca and Odiak, while at Ellamar, on Virgin Bay, and at Latouche, on 
Latouche Island, there are producing mines. 
Prospecting for copper on the shores of Prince William Sound has been going on for 
about ten years, and earlier than this sporadic search for ores is reported. In 1904 and 
1905 prospecting was especially active. Mining Is being carried on at two points — at 
Ellamar and on Latouche Island. During the summer of 1905 from 1,200 to 2,000 tons 
of copper ore were shipped monthly to the smelter at Tacoma, Wash. The main part 
of this came from the Gladhaugh mine at Ellamar. 
In 1898 a party of the United States Geological Survey made a rapid reconnaissance of 
the geology and mineral resources of Prince William Sound,a and in 1900 further infor- 
mation concerning this region was obtained by the Survey. b During the summer of 1905 
the writer, assisted by Sidney Paige, made a more detailed reconnaissance of the general 
geology and mineral resources of the sound. The whole eastern shore from Valdez to 
a Schrader, F. C, A reconnaissance of a part of Prince William Sound and the Copper River Dis- 
trict, Alaska, in 1898: Twentieth Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, 1900, pp. .341-423. 
t> Schrader, F.C., and Spencer, A. C, The Geology and Mineral Resources of a Portion of the Copper 
River District, Alaska; a special publication of U! S. Geol. Survey, 1901, 94 pp. 
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