THE MINING INDUSTRY IN 1906. 31 
PLACER MINING. 
INTRODUCTION. 
Of the $21,600,000 worth of gold produced in Alaska in 1906, 
nearly $18,000,000 came from the placers, and more than half of this 
from the Fairbanks district. Seward Peninsula stands second, with 
a production of over $7,500,000, of which at least one-half came from 
the old beach line. The silver recovered from the placer gold repre- 
sented in 1906 about two-thirds of the total output of that metal in 
Alaska, and had a value of about $60,000. 
No new placer districts were discovered in 1906, but the Yentna, 
Kantishna, and Tenderfoot have become producers since last year. 
Mining in both Seward Peninsula and the Yukon district was more or 
less handicapped by the scarcity of water during a part of the open 
season. 
METHODS. 
The evolution of placer-mining methods, which is going on continu- 
ously, is directed chiefly toward the introduction of machinery in 
some form. As districts become more accessible the small operator 
is supplanted by companies with ample financial backing, to bring 
about a reduction of costs of operation. Moreover, the wasteful 
methods of the pioneer prospector can find no reward except in the 
richest and most favorably situated placers, and the gravels of lower 
value must await better capitalized companies. This change is taking 
place throughout Alaska, but notably in the Nome region. The most 
significant feature of this evolution during the last year was the 
systematic search for placer ground suitable for dredging. 
Much has been written on the subject of dredging and its possible 
application as a mining method in this northern region. Though 
this is a matter for discussion by the mining engineer rather than by 
the geologist, a brief statement of a few conditions affecting dredging 
in this field may be of service to those who are not personally familiar 
with them. On the one hand, prominent mining engineers have been 
loud in proclaiming the inapplicability of dredging throughout most 
of Alaska because of the failure of certain misdirected efforts; on the 
other, less conscientious promotors have cited the low values profit- 
ably recovered by dredging in the Oroville (Cal.) and similar fields 
as examples of what may be accomplished in Alaska. 
From the standpoint of dredging, the Territory may be divided into 
two provinces, one embracing the area tributary to the Pacific, and 
the other the placer districts of the Yukon and Seward Peninsula. 
In the Pacific province there are a number of placer districts which 
undoubtedly include some good dredging ground, yet in this part of 
Alaska glacial bowlders are not uncommon. Even in glaciated areas, 
where only easily decomposed rocks, such as mica schist, are present, 
