44 ALASKAN MINERAL RESOURCES IN 1904. [bull. 259. 
Mr. Stephen Birch, operating in the Nizina district of Alaska, has 
courteously furnished for this report a summary of the costs of work- 
ing placer ground on Dan Creek. These figures are given separately 
(p. 46) following the table, as they imply a total charge of invested 
capital in addition to working costs against one season's operations. 
The} 7- are worthy the attention of prospective placer miners. 
The cost of shoveling into sluice boxes in the remote parts of the 
Seward Peninsula is at present from $3 to $5 per cubic yard. Some 
drifting operations have been carried on in the Kougarok and Fair- 
haven districts, on which figures are not at hand. 
Dredging estimates furnished by trustworthy interior operators 
place the cost at 80 cents where gravel must be thawed by points ahead 
of the dredge. In the Seward Peninsula it is estimated that if the prop- 
erty is sufficiently large for a ten-year life to be allowed, a dredge can 
be operated at the cost of 30 cents per cubic yard. The field for 
dredges in placer mining in Alaska is extremely limited. In the 
Seward Peninsula it is not impossible that some of the wide, shallow 
creek deposits will be worked successfully by means of the steam 
scraper. The cost of an experimental operation on Ophir Creek was 
reported to be under 20 cents per cubic yard. 
The costs of operating by two mechanical systems in the Seward 
Peninsula (involving the labor of men in shoveling into cars and 
tramming to the bottom of an incline, or to a bed-rock sluice leading to 
hydraulic elevator throat) are, unfortunately, not available for publi- 
cation. The derricking system, No. 7, however, both in the interior 
and on the Seward Peninsula, appears to be superior in point of cost to 
either of the above mentioned, for the working of the average Alaska 
open cuts. 
Frozen ground can not be attacked with success by the steam shovel. 
Even where it digs the gravel successfully, if men follow it to clean 
bed rock by hand, the cost of operating is sometimes doubled. The 
steam shovel has, however, a field in northern placer mining. 
Regarding mechanical operations in general, the important princi- 
ple should be emphasized that the main expense is getting the mate- 
rial into the receptacle which conveys it to the sluice or washing plant. 
Tramming, even for a long distance and to a considerable elevation, 
adds a veiy small proportionate amount to fhe total cost of working. 
The establishment of a permanent washing plant, economically situated 
as regards water supply and dump, should be considered by every 
Alaskan miner who purposes working the shallow creek deposits 
which characterize that country. The isolation of the washing opera- 
tions, together with the adoption of the most economical system of 
tramming possible, will go far toward attaining the ends of adequate 
grade and room for tailings, which are the sine qua non accompani- 
ments of successful gravel mining. 
