Copper River region, that are operated practically as a single unit, and a mine on Latouche Island, all three operated by the Kennecott Copper Corporation. Considerable quantities of copper-bearing concentrates were shipped from the palladium mine of the Alaska Palladium Co., on Prince of Wales Island, in southeastern Alaska. Small amounts of copper-bearing ore and concentrates were also received by the smelters from ores whose principal value came from some other metal, notably gold or silver. Such material was produced by the mines in the Hyder district near Ketchikan, near Juneau, and in the Willow Creek district near Wasilla.

The ore from the producing properties in the Copper River region, as in the past, was largely high-grade copper sulphide and carbonate containing considerable silver and no gold. The highest-grade ore is sacked and shipped directly to the smelters, but the lower-grade ores are concentrated before shipment. The ore at the mine on Latouche Island is a low-grade copper-iron sulphide which is mined by a system of caving. All the ore is concentrated at mills at the mine, and only the concentrates are shipped to the smelter in the States.

The total copper ore mined during the year from all producing properties amounted to 670,430 tons and the copper produced to 67,778,000 pounds. In addition to the copper content of the ore, silver to the value of $377,600 was extracted from the copper ores.

SILVER

Practically no ores are mined in Alaska solely for their silver content, and by far the greater part of the silver produced is recovered as a minor constituent in ores that are chiefly valuable for their copper content. Productive mining of ores that are principally valuable for their silver content was done only in the vicinity of Hyder. In that region the ores from which much of the silver is recovered are dominantly lead ores in which the silver is less in quantity but higher in value. Considerable silver is also recovered from the gold lodes and gold placers. The total amount of silver produced in 1926 from all sources in Alaska amounted to 690,000 ounces, having a value of $430,500.

LEAD

The lead produced from Alaska ores in 1926 amounted to 1,555,50) pounds, which, at 8 cents a pound (the average market price for the year as determined by the Bureau of Mines), was worth $124,400. By far the largest part of the lead was recovered in connection with the mining of the gold ores at the Alaska Juneau mine, in southeastern Alaska. According to the published reports of the company, it produced 1,300,915 pounds of lead. This represents a recovery of about three-quarters of a pound of lead from each ton of ore milled. The remainder of the lead produced came principally from the silverlead ores of the Hyder district. Lead is practically absent from all the ores mined by the Kennecott Copper Corporation and the companies associated with it.

PLATINUM

Platinum is one of a group of several metals which, because they are closely related in physical and chemical characters, are often not distinguished specifically by name and are not even identified specifically in the usual forms of assay or analysis, but are spoken of as the platinum metals. Palladium is one of the metals of this group. All the platinum metals that are recovered from lodes in Alaska come from the mine of the Alaska Palladium Co., on Prince of Wales Island. Platinum metal, whose bedrock source is unknown, are found in placer deposits in a number of widely separated localities. They occur usually in amounts so small that they are recovered only in the course of mining for other metals, notably gold. A small recovery of platinum metals was reported from placers on Dime Creek in eastern Seward Peninsula and in the Hot Springs district of the Yukon-Tanana Valley. The total quantity of platinum metals produced either from lodes or placers in 1926 was 3,590 ounces, ralued at $274,500.

TIN

Stream tin, or cassiterite, has been found in concentrates in the sluice boxes of placer-mining operations in several places in Alaska. Tin minerals have also been found in the veins and in mineralized country rock in the Port Clarence or York region of Seward Peninsula. Tin minerals were recovered in 1926 only from a placer deposit in Goodwin Gulch, in the Port Clarence region, and the placer mines at Tofty, in the Tanana region, where the recovery of tin is incidental to gold production. The production of cassiterite in 1926 was 12.85 tons, which contained an average of 62 per cent of metallic tin, and was therefore equivalent to approximately 8 tons of metallic tin. The average price of metallic tin for the year, as computed by the Bureau of Mines, was 65.3 cents a pound, so that the value of the total Alaska output was $10,400.

QUICKSILVER

Three small companies were engaged in prospecting and operating quicksilver deposits in Alaska in 1926. Altogether, however, not more than 50 tons of ore was produced, and of this only a small part was retorted, so that the production amounted to only a few flasks. The general inaccessibility of the region and the high cost and difficulty of obtaining all the supplies and equipment make it impossible at this time to work profitably in this region any except rich streaks of ore.

COAL

In general the Alaska coal-mining industry showed little change in 1926 from the conditions that prevailed in 1925. It is true that a few thousand tons more coal was produced during 1926, but the industry is still very small. Practically all the productión came from three mines in the Matanuska field and one in the Healy River field, but none of these produced as much as 200 tons of coal a day. Many of the mines were originally started by individuals or companies with scanty financial resources and little technical experience. This

handicap is gradually being overcome, and during the year several properties were put into much better condition, as regards both equipment and mining methods, so that in the future they should be able to produce a cleaner, better product more efficiently and less expensively. In addition to the coal mined in Alaska, 35,620 tons were imported from the States, chiefly from Washington, and 34,254 tons were imported from foreign countries, chiefly British Columbia. The total domestic consumption, therefore, amounts to less than 160,000 tons of coal a year, and it is evident that under present conditions there is only a small market in Alaska for domestic coal. The use of Alaska coal, however, is certain to increase, as the country becomes settled and as large-scale operations, such as mining, develop.

PETROLEUM

The only petroleum produced in Alaska comes from wells of the Chilkat Oil Co., in the Katalla field. At that place the company obtains oil from a number of shallow wells, few of which are more than a thousand feet deep. A small refinery is operated by the company, and the products-gasoline and distillate-find a ready market near at hand, especially in Cordova.

Large quantities of petroleum products are imported to Alaska from the States. According to the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, 14,000,664 gallons of heavy oils, including crude oils, gas oils, residuum, etc.; 5,069,584 gallons of gasoline, including all lighter products of distillation; 328,615 gallons of illuminating oil; and 730,924 gallons of lubricating oil were imported into Alaska during 1926.

Among the notable oil developments of the year were prospecting in the Yakataga oil field and the abandonment of drilling operations on the Pearl Creek dome in the Alaska Peninsula. Drilling in the Yakataga field by the General Petroleum Co. was being carried on actively on the company's claims near Johnson Creek. The drilling operations by the Standard Oil Co. on Pearl Creek dome were definitely discontinued early in 1926, after the hole had reached a depth of 5,034 feet. Although this well probably gave a fair and conclusive test of that part of the Pearl Creek dome in which it was located, it is considered not at all conclusive in determining the petroleum possibilities of other parts of the peninsula, because in other places the probable oil-bearing beds are believed to lie many thousand feet nearer the surface. Some drilling for oil has been done in the vicinity of Chickaloon, but the geology in the vicinity of the test well is not regarded as favorable for the occurrence of petroleum.

OTHER MINERAL PRODUCTS

Many other mineral products have from time to time been exploited in Alaska. The list of these minerals is long, including such metals as antimony, arsenic, bismuth, chromium, iron, molybdenum, nickel, and tungsten and such nonmetallic minerals as asbestos, barite, clay, garnet, graphite, gypsum, lime, marble, mica, stone, and sulphur. So far as reported to the Geological Survey, however, none

of these mineral products were produced and sold in 1926 with the exception of marble, though doubtless some of them were produced in the course of other mining operations. Most of the marble produced came from quarries at Tokeen, on Marble Island, near the north end of Prince of Wales Island. These quarries are owned and operated by the Vermont Marble Co. In the past several marble quarries were in operation at other places in southeastern Alaska, and it is strange that deposits so favorably situated to ocean transportation as many in the places where marble is known have not been profitably develped commercially. Many types of marble occur in these deposits, some even approaching statutary grade.

An interesting new mineral development in southeastern Alaska during 1926 was the purchase of the old Sea Level gold mine, on Thorn Arm near Ketchikan, for the purpose of using the sulphur contained in the iron pyrites that makes up a considerable part of the ore in the manufacture of paper pulp. The increasing development of the forest products of southeastern Alaska, especially for making paper, is sure to call for considerable quantities of sulphur. The extensive pyrite deposits which are found at many places near the borders of the large granitic intrusions of the Coast Range give promise of affording a near-by source sufficient to supply almost any quantity that might be reasonably required for this purpose.

INVESTIGATIVE WORK

The work of the Geological Survey in Alaska consists of two main types-investigations of the mineral resources of the Territory and activities connected with the administration of certain of the land laws relating to leasing and prospecting of mineral deposits on the public domain. Much of the leasing work is conducted from a local office maintained by the Geological Survey at Anchorage, in charge of B. D. Stewart, supervising mining engineer. Its present activities enter largely in the coal fields adjacent to the Alaska Railroad and in keeping in touch with the general situation throughout the rest of the Territory.

The investigations of mineral resources embrace a wide variety of subjects, including an annual canvass of the mineral production of the Territory, the study of individual mineral deposits, and the preparation of reports and maps covering the prospective mineral-bearing areas. The preceding statements regarding the production of the everal mineral commodities are typical of the annual statement prepared by the Geological Survey on this subject.

In connection with the investigation of the mineral resources of Alaska, both geologic and topographic surveys are carried on. The llowing table shows the area that has been mapped topographically and geologically in the course of this work. It will be seen that only little more than two-fifths of the entire Territory has been surveyed n any of the scales that are used for the two types of mapping.

Areas surveyed by Geological Survey in Alaska, 1898–1926, in square miles

The principal projects that were carried on during the field season of 1926 were as follows:

Airplane mapping was done in southeastern Alaska by the Navy Department in response to the request of the Geological Survey. The Navy expedition accomplished noteworthy results, and the pictures taken are being worked up as rapidly as possible in the Geological Survey, so that preliminary maps will be available to the public and that later these maps may be completed and perfected by ground surveys.

Some work of a general character was done in the Copper River region, directed principally toward the determination of the conditions under which the copper deposits of that region occur.

Combined geologic and topographic surveys were made on the eastern flanks of the Alaska Range in the vicinity of Skwentna River. No new areas of mineralization were discovered, but the geologic observations afforded many data on the history of the region, and the topographic work has yielded reconnaissance maps of over a thousand square miles of new country. North of Yukon River, in the unmapped valley of Sheenjek River, a combined geologic and topographic party did reconnaissance mapping. Owing to an injury to one of the members of the party, it was impossible to do more than a short season's work, but, nevertheless, about 1,200 square miles of hitherto unsurveyed country was mapped and its principal geologic features were determined. In northwestern Alaska the surveys started in 1923, principally at the request of the Navy Department, to determine the possibilities of petroleum in naval petroleum reserve No. 4. were continued by a joint geologic and topographic party that surveyed an area of about 5,000 square miles in extent.

The projects for the field season of 1927 have been under way only a short time at the end of the fiscal year, and detailed statements of the results are not yet available. The principal project is a combined geologic and topographic survey of portions of the Alaska Peninsula, which should be essentially a continuation of the surveys made at the head of Skwentna River in 1926. This is an entirely unknown region, but it is believed that there is a possibility of mineral deposits here similar to those found at other points along