brook?,]  PLACER    MINING    IN    ALASKA    IN    1903.  49 
ests.  In  1902  the  output  of  all  the  camps  of  the  peninsula  was  about 
$4,500,000,  and  was  probably  about  the  same  in  1903,  but  the  statistics 
have  not  yet  been  compiled.  This  will  bring  up  the  value  of  the 
entire  gold  production  of  the  peninsula  since  1899  to  over  $20,000,000. 
Though  placers  are  widely  distributed  in  Seward  Peninsula,  yet 
probably  somewhat  over  four-fifths  of  the  gold  mined  has  come  from 
two  districts,  the  one  lying  immediately  adjacent  to  Nome,  and  the 
other  tributary  to  Council  City.  These  facts  must  be  taken  as  evi- 
dence rather  of  the  greater  developments  in  these  two  camps  than  of 
the  greater  richness  of  their  placers.  Though  there  are  probably  few 
placers  in  the  peninsula  in  which  the  gold  is  as  concentrated  as  in  those 
of  Nome  and  Ophir  Creek,  yet  there  are  many  undeveloped  or  little- 
developed  prospects  which  give  promise  of  yielding  very  large  returns. 
It  is  certain  that  the  held  is  far  from  having  reached  its  maximum  out- 
put, for  in  relatively  few  of  the  districts  have  mining  methods  been 
introduced  which  would  give  large  returns.  During  the  excitement 
of  the  years  1899  and  1900,  the  pick  and  shovel,  with  the  rocker  and 
short  sluice  box,  held  sway,  and  these  primitive  methods  are  still  in 
use  on  the  majority  of  the  creeks.  With  their  aid  many  a  broken- 
down  miner  and  prospector  has  retrieved  his  fortune,  but  capital  is 
often  chary  of  entering  a  field  where  such  methods  are  in  use,  because 
they  are  suggestive  of  pocket  mining,  and  large  enterprises  are  in 
many  cases  delayed.  Then,  too,  the  general  public  has  so  often  under- 
gone losses  in  this  field  through  ill-planned  or  downright  swindling 
mining  schemes,  that  it  looks  with  well-merited  suspicion  on  new 
ventures.  With  the  successful  execution  of  some  extensive  mining 
operations  this  conservatism  is  being  rapidly  overcome,  and  mining- 
men  of  experience  and  reputation  are  finding  it  less  difficult  to  secure 
backing  for  legitimate  undertakings. 
Mine  operators  are  now  thoroughly  alive  to  the  fact  that  an  abun- 
i  dant  and  reliable  water  supply  is  the  first  requisite  to  large  mining- 
operations.  The  experience  of  the  past  three  years  has  settled  the 
question  of  depending  on  local  and  periodic  supplies  of  water.  To 
the  experienced  hydraulic  miners  of  other  regions  it  may  seem  strange 
that  this  lesson  had  to  be  learned  again  at  Nome.  It  should  be 
remembered,  however,  that  Nome  was  first  developed  by  men  who 
were  trained  in  the  early  days  of  the  Klondike,  when  gold  was  taken 
out  by  the  crudest  methods.  There  were  many  who  believed  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  build  and  maintain  jditches  at  anything  but  a 
ruinous  cost,  but  this  has  been  disproved.  There  are  now  nearly  100 
miles  of  ditches  in  successful  operation  on  the  peninsula,  and  an  equal 
mileage  has  been  surveyed  and  is  partly  under  construction.  Experi- 
ence has  shown  that,  except  for  the  difference  in  wages,  the  construc- 
tion and  maintenance  of  ditches  is  not  more  expensive  in  the  Nome 
region  than  in  many  more  favorably  located  districts.  The  original 
Bull.  225—04 4 
