brooks] PLACER MINING IN ALASKA IN 1904. 19 
exploited, but also of the conditions of occurrence of the gold and the 
best methods of its extraction. Many instances have come to the 
writer's attention where plants, which are dependent on an abundant 
water supply, have been established without any exact knowledge 
of the supply available. Steam shovels have been installed without 
the knowledge that they are not adapted to work in frozen ground 
unless the ground is thawed. Thousands of dollars have been invested 
in ditches to hydraulic shallow deposits when the material could be 
handled more economically by some mechanical means. This is particu- 
larly true in the Seward Peninsula, where the successful operation of 
several ditches has led many to believe that a fortune is assured if a 
ditch is constructed. It need hardly be .stated that Alaska, where the 
cost of labor and transportation is great and the season short, is an 
expensive place to gain experience in mining. Corporations could 
well afford to make more careful choice of managers than in the past, 
for this is eminently not a field for the hit-or-miss policy occasionally 
successful in more favored regions. 
SEWARD PENINSULA. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The placers of Seward Peninsula, with their output of probably 
over $4,500,000, still hold the first rank in gold production of Alaska. 
This field, embracing an area of about 20,000 square n lies, will excel 
for many years to come, both by reason of the widespread distribution 
of its alluvial gold and because in methods of exploitation it is far in 
advance of all other parts of Alaska except the Pacific coastal belt. 
Improved methods are the result not so much of the good judgment 
used by mine operators as of rapid development due to the compara- 
tive accessibility of the gold-bearing districts to tide water. In spite 
of this ease of access, the Seward Peninsula miner who has progressed 
beyond the pick-and-shovel methods has in most cases still to face 
serious transportation problems. The twenty-odd miles of completed 
railway help only a few camps, and freightage by wagon during a wet 
season is sometimes well-nigh impossible. 
Three conditions seriously enhance the cost of hydraulic mining in 
the peninsula: (1) The comparative shallowness of most of the aurif- 
erous gravels; (2) the low stream gradients, which entail additional 
cost in disposing of the tailings, and (3) the frequent scarcity of 
water. It is evident that the first two conditions are absent in the 
case of the high-bench gravels near Nome, and the extension of the 
ditches into the Kigluaik Mountains will to a certain extent alleviate 
the third condition. A further discussion of these questions by Mr. 
Purington will be found elsewhere in this bulletin. 
