COPPER, ETC., OF PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND. 87 
CONCLUSIONS. 
Two mines on Prince William Sound have demonstrated that copper ore of good grade 
accurs in this district and that it can be produced at a profit, notwithstanding the fact that 
the ore is shipped, at an expense of $2.50 to $3 per ton, to Tacoma , Wash., before it, is smelted. 
Up to the present time nearly the entire output has been from the Gladhaugh mine. At the 
Bonanza mine existing developments warrant the prediction that there will be an early 
increase in production and that a large body of ore will be found available. None of the 
prospects, as developed in the summer of 1905, showed indications of as large an ore body as 
is known at either of the two mines. 
Though very definite conclusions can not yet be formulated without more thorough study 
;>f the data at hand, certain of the more important facts throwing light on the character of 
the deposits may be stated. 
Erosion in very recent time has been general throughout the Prince William Sound region, 
so that no considerable secondary concentration of ores exists. The ores of possible com- 
mercial importance have all the characteristics of primary deposits and are a phase of a 
general sulphide deposition along certain channels or zones. In general there is no reason 
to expect that stringers of ore on the surface will develop in depth to payable veins or that 
reins of considerable width at the surface will continue with unvaried dimensions and rich- 
ness to great depths. On the contrary, it is known that ore bodies pinch out in individual 
jases, and, on the whole, irregularity of form is to be expected. Developments of prospects 
should be confined to the following of ore. Running long crosscuts to catch stringers or- 
ceins in depth is bad practice, since experience has shown that the continuation of the 
deposits is by no means assured. 
Throughout the district much of the development work has been misdirected and nowhere 
except on Latouche Island and at Virgin Bay have excavations gone far enough to definitely 
prove the presence of workable ore bodies. However, at a number of prospects the copper 
md gold contents of the ore are sufficiently high for profitable mining and these places are 
worthy of further prospecting. These facts, coupled with the location of many of the veins 
it or very close to tide water and the present demand for ores of this character for furnace 
mixtures, give reason to expect an increase of copper mining outside of the two mines 
already in operation. Should the future see the establishment on Prince William Sound of 
plants for smelting the copper ores of the Copper River district, for which purpose the coal 
3f the Bering River or Matanuska field could be utilized, the prospect for mining on the 
sound would be still brighter. 
Bull. 284—06 7 
