5,022 skins dyed black brought $109,011.50 and 9,000 skins dyed logwood brown (Bois de Campêche) brought $240,636.50. Average prices for skins of the black dye were $29.65 for regular skins, $16.84 for scarred and faulty skins, and $5.50 for No. 111's. The logwoodbrown skins brought average prices as follows: Regular skins, $30.56: scarred and faulty skins, $20.35; and No. 111 skins, $4.50. At the sale on April 7, 1930, 14,046 fur-seal skins taken on the Pribilof Islands were sold for a gross price of $319,290. Of these, 8,011 dyed black brought $177,412.50 and 6,035 dyed logwood brown brought $141,877.50. For the black-dyed skins the average prices were $30.59 for regular, $15.65 for scarred and faulty, and $4 for No. 111 skins. The logwood-brown skins brought average prices of $29.97 for regular, $16.26 for scarred and faulty, and $4 for No. 111 skins. The 200 sealskins sold at special sales during the year, of which 125 were dyed black and 75 logwood brown, brought a total of $8,807.86. These sales were authorized by the Acting Secretary of Commerce. There were also sold at public auction at St. Louis on September 30, 1929, 544 blue and 9 white fox skins taken on the Pribilof Islands in the season of 1928-29. The blue-fox skins brought $35,865, an average of $65.93 per skin; and the whites $556, an average of $61.78 per skin. In the season of 1929-30 there were taken on St. Paul Island 193 blue and 31 white fox skins, and on St. George Island 552 blues and 1 white, a total of 745 blue and 32 white skins. No changes were made in the regulations previously issued for the protection of fur seals and sea otters. An Executive order was issued under date of January 14, 1929, to include the vessels added to the bureau's Alaska service since the summer of 1924 among those specifically designated to take part in the fur-seal patrol. A new edition of the circular containing the regulations affecting walruses and sea lions was issued as of May 1, 1930, extending for two years the prohibition on the killing of these animals, but making no other changes in the regulations. The following table shows the results of fur-seal computations in the years from 1918 to 1929: General comparison of recent computations of the seal herd on the Pribilof General comparison of recent computations of the seal herd on the Pribilof Islands-Continued Receipts and expenditures, Fur Seal Service, Bureau of Fisheries, fiscal years 75, 277. 41 2,571, 057. 404, 477, 919. 26 751, 014. 88 22, 945. 17 5, 251, 879. 312, 964, 449. 49 283, 627.58 2,680, 821.91 1,183. 28 273, 991.00 2, 964, 449. 49 2, 964, 449. 49 1 Receipts are net amounts turned into Treasury of the United States after payments of moneys due Great Britain (or Dominion of Canada) and Japan account fur-seal convention. It will be noted from the foregoing report that in the 13 fiscal years from 1918 to 1930, inclusive, a net profit of $2,680,821.91 has been made as a result of activities at the Pribilof Islands, Alaska. It must be remembered that this profit has been made in the face of the fact that in recent years there have been heavy expenditures for construction of roads, the replacement of all native dwellings with modern buildings, for the most part of concrete, and the carrying out of an otherwise large reconstruction program, including the erection of warehouses, shops, barns, and other structures, as well as the erection of new salt houses to handle the larger take of sealskins. The substantial increase in expenditures for the fiscal year 1930 is entirely accounted for by the construction of a tender at a cost of upward of $140,000 for the Pribilof Islands to replace one no longer suitable for the work and which will be used hereafter in fisheries patrol work. The property devoted to the fur-seal service of the Bureau of Fisheries at the Pribilof Islands, including buildings, roads, other structures, machinery and other equipment, and stores, was valued on March 31, 1930, at $443,964.68 for St. Paul Island and at $174,910.33 for St. George Island, a total of $618,875.01. These figures were exclusive of a new tender for the Pribilofs then approaching completion and costing upward of $140,000. Buildings alone were valued at $188,538.54 on St. Paul Island and at $103,416.27 on St. George Island, a total of $291,954.81. Nearly all the present buildings on both islands have been built since the Government took over the property of the last leasing company, the North American Commercial Co., in 1910. Of the valuation of $291,954.81 placed on existing buildings, only $10,491.71 on St. Paul Island and $4,801.41 on St. George Island applied to buildings taken over in 1910. For all practical purposes the stations on both St. Paul and St. George Islands have been rebuilt. The principal road work on St. Paul Island has been applied to the construction of a suitable road from the village to Northeast Point, a distance of about 10 miles. About 51⁄2 miles of this has been surfaced with scoria. A part of the remaining distance is through sand dunes where plank tracks will have to be laid. The work through the sand is partially done. As of March 31, 1930, the road construction on St. Paul Island was valued at $18,084.20. The road work on St. George Island has been chiefly between the village and East Reef Rookery and from the village to North Rookery. While considerable work has been done as a whole, only a comparatively small portion has been actually completed. As of March 31, 1930, the road construction on St. George Island was valued at $1,092.07. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY MINING IN ALASKA IN 1929 The total value of the mineral production of Alaska from' 1880, the earliest year for which records are available, to the end of 1929 was $615,501,000, as shown by the following chart: Value of total m'neral production of Alaska, by years, 1880-1929 1 $37,205 for coal produced prior to 1890 should be distributed among these years, but data are not available or this purpose, and the entire value of that coal has been credited to 1890. 1909. 1910_ 1911. 1912. Of this total a little less than 62 per cent was furnished by the gold lodes and placers and nearly 34 per cent by copper lodes. The following table shows the distribution of the total output of minerals from Alaska by substances: Total value of mineral production of Alaska, by substances, 1880-1929 Mines in Alaska produced $16,066,000 worth of minerals in 1929, as compared with $14,061,000 in 1928. The following table shows in summary form the mineral output of Alaska in 1929 and for the sake of comparison the production of the same minerals in 1928. The large increase in the value of Alaska's mineral output in 1929 is to be attributed mainly to the increased price at which copper sold during the year and the greatly increased production of gold by both lode and placer mines. The increased selling price of copper, which was 3.2 cents a pound higher in 1929 than in 1928, alone accounts for an increase of $1,165,000, and the gold output was $916,000 greater. On the whole, the conditions affecting Alaskan mining were at least normal. Several of the large enterprises that have been in developmental stages began productive work. Several new places were found which seemed worthy of careful investigation to determine their true character, and there appeared to be a renewal of interest on the part of prospectors and capitalists to look for or help in the development of new mining properties. The weather conditions, which largely affect placer mining, were favorable, with fairly abundant rainfall, which kept the water supplies at a high level, reported at almost all the larger placer camps. A few of the metals which enter into the Alaska output less largely than gold or copper showed some falling off in selling price, notably silver, tin, and platinum, but the price of lead was higher than in 1928. In spite of the lower selling price of silver, the increased amount produced resulted in making the total value of silver recovered somewhat more than in 1928. GOLD LODES The value of the production of gold from the lode mines in 1929 was $3,644,000, or approximately 47 per cent of the total gold produced, the amount recovered from placers being $4,117,000. The principal production of gold from lodes was made from mines in southeastern Alaska, where accessibility to deep-water routes of connection and other favorable conditions have brought about the successful mining of immense tonnages of gold ore of very low grade. Gold-bearing veins are widely distributed throughout the Territory, but the producing lodes may be grouped into three main districts and a number of smaller ones. The output of gold from these districts in 1929 is shown in the following table: Over 95 per cent of the total lode gold production of Alaska comes from mines in southeastern Alaska. The outstanding mine in this region is that operated by the Alaska Juneau Gold Mining Co. near Juneau. Other notable producing mines in southeastern Alaska in 1929 were those operated by the Hirst-Chichagof Mining Co. and the Chichagof Mines. In the Willow Creek district the season was spent mainly in development and construction work, so that there was a very great falling off in the amount of gold produced. In the Fairbanks district the largest production from lodes came from the Mohawk and Ready Bullion mines in the vicinity of Ester Dome, the Hi Yu mine of Crites & Feldmann, and the McCarty mine of McCarty & Ewers Gold Mining Co. on Fairbanks Creek, the Wild Rose mine of Heath & Kearns on Dome Creek, and the Wyoming mine and the old Rhoads-Hall mine on Bedrock Creek. Gold was also produced from lodes in the Nuka Bay district, at the southern end of Kenai Peninsula, notably from the Sonny Fox mine of Babcock & Downey. Farther north on Kenai Peninsula the Lucky Strike mine of John Hirshey was active and in the Girdwood district, near the head of Turnagain Arm, some lode gold was |