ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. 51 
• The prevailing wage for miners is $5 a day and board, but in 
some places it reaches $6 a day and board. The duty per man per 
day of ten hours is from 75 to 100 wheelbarrows of dirt broken down 
with the.pick, shoveled into a wheelbarrow or cars, and delivered to 
the shaft bucket; the average is probably about 9 cubic yards a day, 
but under very favorable conditions for short periods of time this 
quantity may be nearly doubled. The conditions under which work 
in the drifts is carried on vary with the character and form of the 
deposit. Where the pay streak is thin the drifts are made as low as 
possible to avoid removing more waste than is absolutely necessary, 
from which it is seen that the most favorable conditions occur when 
the pay streak is of such a thickness, feet or more, that on its re- 
moval there is space for perfect freedom of movement and sufficient 
ventilation. 
SUMMARY. 
Although up to 1905 the producing creeks were few and compara- 
tively short and most of the deposits were so deep and so consolidated 
by ice that machinery and much time were required for their devel- 
opment, the returns were for the most part satisfactory. The intro- 
duction of much machinery met with a quick response in a greatly 
increased production. With the lower cost of mining resulting from 
increased facilities in transportation, there is the opportunity every 
season of working ground containing lower values; there are, fur- 
ther, the potentialities of the undeveloped creeks which have just 
become producers, and the possibilities of new discoveries. 
The problem of water supply is becoming more important every 
year, and has led to extensive plans, to which reference has already 
been made, for bringing water from the upper valley of the Chata- 
nika. An inspection of the map shows a considerable difference be- 
tween the level of Beaver Creek at the great bend and that of streams 
to the south and southeast, tributary to the Tanana, and this has been 
suggested by Ii. B. Oliver as an important possible source of water 
supply. 
WATER SUPPLY OF THE FAIRBANKS REGION, 1907. 
By C. C. Covert. 
The future development of the Fairbanks mining district depends 
more or less on the economical development of its water resources. 
Most of the producing creeks have small drainage areas and will 
furnish but a scanty water supply, especially during the dry season. 
During July and part of August, 1007, the operators were obliged 
to resort to various schemes to procure sufficient water for sluicing. 
Tn some places the water was returned for a second and third time to 
the sluice'box by means of the steam pump, entailing extra expense 
