INVESTIGATION  OF  METALLIFEROUS  ORES. 
By  S.  F.  Emmons,  Geologist  in  Charge 
ECONOMIC    PUBLICATIONS    OF    THE    YEAR. 
The  number  of  Survey  publications  primarily  devoted  to  the  economic 
geology  of  metalliferous  resources  that  appeared  in  the  year  1903  was 
smaller  than  in  the  previous  year.  This  has  been  due  to  a  combina- 
tion of  causes,  the  most  important  of  which  is  the  fact  that  the  accumu- 
lation of  material  for  publication  has  increased  more  rapidly  than  the 
Survey  facilities  for  preparing  the  necessary  maps  and  illustrations, 
so  that  many  reports  already  completed  by  the  authors  have  not  yet 
reached  the  stage  of  publication.  The  list  includes  the  following 
bulletins: 
Bulletin  No.  202,  Tests  for  Gold  and  Silver  in  Shales  from  Western  Kansas,  by 
Waldemar  Lindgren. 
Bulletin  No.  219,  The  Ore  Deposits  of  Tonopah,  Nevada  (Preliminary  Eeport),  by 
J.  E.  Spurr. 
To  this  may  be  added  the  following  professional  papers,  presenting 
the  results  of  geological  reconnaissances  in  different  parts  of  Alaska, 
in  which  special  attention  was  given  to  such  indications  of  the  existence 
of  deposits  of  the  useful  metals  as  might  be  of  value  to  the  prospector: 
Professional  Paper  No.  2,  A  Reconnaissance  of  the  Northwestern  Portion  of  Seward 
Peninsula,  by  Arthur  J.  Collier. 
Professional  Paper  No.  10,  Reconnaissance  from  Fort  Hamlin  to  Kotzebue  Sound, 
by  W.  C.  Mendenhall. 
Professional  Paper  No.  15,  The  Mineral  Resources  of  the  Mount  Wrangell  District, 
by  W.  C.  Mendenhall  and  F.  C.  Schrader. 
Second  editions  of  Bulletin  No.  182,  by  F.  L.  Ransome,  on  "The  Eco- 
nomic Geology  of  the  Silverton  Quadrangle,  Colorado,"  and  Bulletin 
No.  193,  on  the  "Geological  Relations  and  Distribution  of  Platinum 
and  Associated  Metals,"  by  J.  F.  Kemp,  both  mentioned  in  Bulletin 
No.  213,  have  also  been  published  during  the  }^ear. 
Bulletin  No.  202  represents  the  results  of  work  carried  on  in  the 
spring  of  1902,  at  the  instance  of  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Interior. 
Reports  had  been  current  for  some  time  that  the  Fort  Benton  shales, 
38 
