THE MINING INDUSTRY IN 1906. 29 
operations of the district are those of the Bartels Tin Mining Com- 
pany, on the southern slope of Cape Mountain. This company 
installed a 3-stamp mill in 1905, and some concentrates were shipped 
during the year. Current reports, which the writer is unable to 
verify, indicate that the ledge varies in thickness from 18 inches to 
several feet. Values of 1 to 55 per cent are reported, and the aver- 
age of the ore mined is said to have been 3 J per cent. The company 
is mining and also prospecting systematically with electric-power 
drills. An enlargement of the plant is said to be in contemplation. 
The United States- Alaska Tin Mining Company has erected a 10-stamp 
mill in the same region, but no shipments are reported. The Seward 
Tin Mining Company is said to be at work in the same vicinity, and 
some prospecting is reported on the Compass, Bear, Midnight, and 
Sun claims. The developments on the north side of Cape Mountain, 
at Village Creek, have already been referred to. 
Less definite information is available concerning the operations at 
Ear Mountain and Lost River, but current reports indicate that sys- 
tematic prospecting is still going on. The Lost River deposits are 
near the coast, but the Ear Mountain district is less accessible. 
As no further studies have been made, it is impossible to present 
any conclusions in regard to the future of the district beyond those 
already advanced by Collier a and Hess. 6 The actual shipment of 
ore and the continuation of work in the various localities bear testi- 
mony of progress. There can be no doubt that this district has suffered 
by the exaggerated estimates of the tonnage of ore developed and its 
value, which have been published far and wide. While these are in 
part to be credited to conscienceless promoters, who are using tin 
prospects as a basis for the selling of stock, it is also due to the igno- 
rance of honest prospectors. Nearly all the owners of tin prospects 
hold them at such enormous figures that the experts sent to examine 
them often must advise their clients against purchase. Those who 
are inexperienced in lode mining, especially of tin ores, should under- 
stand that capitalists will not pay for a prospect the same amount of 
money which they would for a developed mine. Had this fact been 
accepted by the prospectors, much more prospecting would no doubt 
by this time be carried on in this field by the moneyed interests. 
In 1905 the average price of tin was 31.35 cents per pound; in 1906 
it rose to 39.81 cents per pound. The world's production of tin in 
1906 was 93,919 long tons, or about 500 tons less than in 1905. Of 
the total production about 47 per cent was used in the United States, 
with practically no production. These facts alone assure a continua- 
tion of the search for tin, especially in a field which has yielded as 
encouraging results as the York district. 
a Collier, Arthur J., Tin deposits of the York region, Alaska: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 229, 3904. 
& Hess, Frank L., The York tin region: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 284, 1908, pp. 145-157. 
