20 ALASKAN MINERAL RESOURCES IN 1906. 
STATISTICS. 
The collection of accurate statistics of mineral production, a task 
much beset with difficulties even in well-settled regions, is in Alaska, 
with its indifferent mail facilities, as yet well-nigh hopeless. Up to 
1905 no systematic attempt was made by the Geological Survey to 
gather statistics at first hand, the work being limited to distributing 
among the different districts, according to the best information avail- 
able- the totals as published by the Director of the Mint. The first 
attempt to gather this kind of information was confined to estimates 
furnished by residents of the Territory and in many cases checked by 
the personal observations of the geologists working in various fields. 
By 1906 the improvement of the mail facilities and general accessi- 
bility of the country was deemed to have gone far enough to warrant 
an attempt to obtain statistics through schedules sent to the indi- 
vidual producers. This experiment was, however, only partially 
successful. Though nearly all the lode miners throughout the Terri- 
tory have been prompt to reply and to send the desired information, 
the returns received from placer miners were very disappointing. 
Most of the small operators in the less important districts have, 
indeed, shown their willingness to cooperate in this statistical work 
by furnishing the desired information, but on the other hand the 
majority of the large operators, especially in the Nome region, have 
either ignored the request for information entirely or have returned I 
the schedule without furnishing any information as to production. 
This seems particularly unjust, because it is the large operators who 
have benefited most by the work of the Geological Survey, and it 
seems as if they should have shown their good will by acceding to the 
request for information. In undertaking this work the writer be- 
lieved that the mine operators would be the first to recognize its im- 
portance and would, therefore, be willing to cooperate. It has been 
a source of deep disappointment to him that such has not proved to 
be the case. While it may appear at first thought that by replying 
to the questions asked on the circular an operator is revealing infor- 
mation which might be used to his disadvantage, yet this fear is 
groundless, because the schedules are used only to make up totals of 
districts and all individual productions are held in strict confidence. 
It is the earnest hope of the writer that in the future mine operators 
may further the collection of reliable statistics and show their confi- 
dence in the Geological Survey by furnishing the desired information. 
The following table of gold production is based on the best infor- 
mation available. The totals since 1898 are probably correct within 
5 or 10 per cent, but the error in distribution of these totals among 
the various districts is probably much greater. 
