44  CONTRIBUTIONS    TO    ECONOMIC    GEOLOGY,   1903.  [bull.  225. 
Nome,  but  even  this  could  be  improved.  It  costs  probably  $5  per  ton 
to  land  freight  from  the  steamer  at  Nome— one-third  of  the  entire 
expense  of  sending  it  from  Seattle  to  the  Nome  beach.  Last  season 
about  60,000  tons  were  landed  at  an  expense  of  $300,000,  which  can  be 
regarded  as  a  direct  tax  on  the  mining  industry.  Moreover,  this  is  not  I 
all,  for  the  delays  incidental  to  stormy  weather,  or  a  late  season,  much 
increases  this  tax.  Plans  are  under  consideration  for  the  construction 
of  a  pier  at  Nome  which  shall  extend  out  to  deep  water.  If  such  a  pier 
could  be  built,  it  would  be  a  great  boon  to  the  region.  The  ordinary 
difficulties  of  engineering  such  a  structure  are  very  much  enhanced  in 
this  northern  region,  because  it  would  have  to  be  built  strong  enough 
to  withstand  the  tremendous  ice  floes  which  pile  up  on  the  Nome  beach, 
sometimes  to  a  height  of  100  feet. 
The  handling  of  freight  at  Nome  is  done  fairly  expeditiously  during 
the  good  weather  of  early  spring  and  summer,  but  is  very  uncertain 
after  the  stormy  weather  of  fall  begins.  Freight  for  other  points  on 
the  coast  of  Seward  Peninsula  is  frequently  transferred  to  small 
steamers  at  Nome,  a  very  costly  and  time-consuming  system. 
The  uncertainties  of  Yukon  River  traffic  were  well  illustrated  by 
the  conditions  in  the  summer  of  1903,  when  low  water  delayed  many 
steamers  until  midsummer,  and,  as  a  result,  many  of  the  supplies 
and  equipments  did  not  reach  their  destination.  While  there  is  not 
likely  to  be  actual  suffering  because  of  these  interruptions  to  traffic, 
yet,  as  a  result,  provisions  will  be  overexpensive  in  several  camps  and 
nuui}7  mining  operations  will  be  blocked.  Until  the  Yukon  placer  fields 
are  reached  by  a  railway  from  the  coast  a  repetition  of  such  a  state  of 
affairs  may  be  expected  every  year.  Two  railway  projects  have  been 
under  consideration:  (1)  From  Resurrection  Bay  to  the  Tanana,  cross- 
ing the  Alaskan  Range  at  Caribou  Pass  (elevation,  about  2,000  feet); 
(2)  from  Valdes  across  the  Chugach  Mountains  at  Thompson  Pass 
(elevation,  2,200  feet),  and  across  the  Mentasta  Mountains  through 
Mentasta  Pass  (elevation,  2,400  feet).  Neither  route  presents  any 
serious  engineering  difficulties,  and  both  are  known  through  the 
reconnaissance  maps  made  by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey. 
There  are  also  several  projects  for  reaching  the  Yukon  placer  fields1! 
by  railways  through  Canadian  territory. 
In  southeastern  Alaska  the  transportation  question  is  a  simple  one.  | 
The  principal  mining  camps  can  be  reached  by  comfortable  steame 
from  Seattle  in  two  to  five  days. 
KOWAK«  REGION. 
The  Kowak5  placers,  which  received  some  attention  in  the  summer 
of  1903,  have  produced  a  few  thousand  dollars,  and  the  reports  have; 
«The  river  from  which  this  name  is  derived  is  known  locally  as  the  Kobuk. 
i'\  general  account  of  this  region  will  be  found  in  "A  Reconnaissance  from  Fort  Hamlin  toj 
Kotzebue  Sound,"  by  Walter  C.  Mendenhall,  Prof.  Paper  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey  No.  10,  1902. 
