Custom assays.. 657. 207 Official assays and analyses_- 282 356 These determinations were as follows: Aluminum, 1; antimony, 18; arsenic, 9; calcium, 1; copper, 58; chromium, 2; coal (proximate analysis), 3; cobalt, 1; gold and silver (requiring 1,161 fusions or scorifications and 863 cupellations), 852; iron, 12; lead, 91; manganese, 4; mercury, 23; molybdenum, 6; platinum, 4; sulphur, 9; tin, 2; tungsten, 2; water (partly sanitary analysis), 12; zinc, 37. COAL SAMPLING AND ANALYSIS The analysis of samples of coal in Alaska is carried on by the Bureau of Mines in a well-equipped laboratory at Anchorage furnished by the Alaska Railroad. The analyst who conducts the work is detailed and his salary paid by the Bureau of Mines. All coal purchased by the Alaska Railroad under contract from private operators is inspected, sampled, and analyzed by the analyst; and, if necessary, appropriate penalties are applied on the basis of the results obtained. The facilities of the coal-analysis service are also available to other departments and bureaus of the Government and to the public. Advantage of the service was taken by several of the operating coal companies and a large dredging company which uses a quantity of Alaska coal. In addition to the coal-analysis work the analyst made a number of sketches and blue prints for official use and collected data on clay and rock adjacent to the Alaska Railroad to determine the possibility of establishing a cement plant in that vicinity. A brief summary of the sampling and analysis work done in the coal-testing laboratory during the past fiscal year is as follows: Tons of coal inspected and sampled.___ Analyses made: Ash control determinations__. Proximate analyses for Alaska Railroad__. 52, 626 309 30 25 Total determinations_____. PUBLIC LANDS 365 Alaska is divided into three land districts, which include the four judicial divisions of the Territory. A local land office is maintained at Anchorage to care for the land entries of the first and third judicial divisions, and the Nome office and the Fairbanks office handle the second and fourth divisions, respectively. All surveys of the public domain are made by the cadastral engineers of the public survey office, with headquarters at Juneau. The headquarters of the field service and the inspection service of the General Land Office are located at Anchorage. The land laws of the United States, modified to meet local conditions, are applicable to Alaska. The administration of the town sites in Alaska is in charge of the division inspector at Anchorage. Tim ber sales, outside of the national forests, are arranged through the local land offices. Birch timber may be exported, though all other timber on the public domain outside of the national forests may be sold exclusively for local consumption. The third and fourth judicial divisions contain the greater part of the suitable homestead lands, and requests for information should be directed to the local offices at Anchorage and Fairbanks, respectively. The following statement shows the total number of entries made and the total acreage of land entries filing in the offices in Fairbanks, Nome, and Anchorage during the year 1930: During the fiscal year the following surveys were approved: Six fractional township surveys on the Stikine River in the vicinity of Wrangell. Twenty-four mineral surveys, embracing 114 locations. Fifty-seven surveys of town sites, homesteads, trade and manufacturing sites, etc., 39 of which were executed by the public surveying service and 18 by United States deputy surveyors. One subdivision party is now engaged in extending the rectangular net over the timbered area of Kosciusko Island near Tokeen. During the fiscal year an area of approximately 30,000 acres was subdivided, including subdivision of the timbered area of the west and south portions of Admiralty Island and on Revillagigedo Island in the vicinity of Loring, in connection with the pulp and paper development of southeastern Alaska. FOREST SERVICE The two national forests in Alaska are administered by the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture. The Chugach, the smaller of the two, is located in the Prince William Sound region and has an area of 4,800,000 acres. The commercial timber stand here is estimated to be 6,260,000,000 feet board measure. The Tongass National Forest covers the greater part of southeastern Alaska. It has an area of 16,547,000 acres and a commercial stand of timber of approximately 78,500,000,000 feet board measure. The tree species of these forests occur in about the following percentages: Western hemlock, 73 per cent; Sitka spruce, 20 per cent; western red cedar. 3 per cent; Alaska cedar, 3 per cent; others, 1 per cent. Forest Service officials estimate that it is possible to cut 1,000,000,000 board feet each year in perpetuity from the Alaska national forests. The last calendar year's cut was only 47,500,000 board feet. This material was used to supply the local needs for saw timber, piling, ties, and various other products. No great increase in the cut can be looked for until the pulp and paper mills now in prospect become a reality. Applications for licenses to develop certain water-power sites in connection with pulp and paper mills to be established near Juneau and Ketchikan have recently been made to the Federal Power Commission by large and responsible firms. There is every reason to believe that construction work entailing the development of a total of 110,000 horsepower will be started this year. ROADS AND TRAILS National-forest roads are constructed by the Bureau of Public Roads, the road-building agency of the Department of Agriculture, with funds appropriated under the forest-road section of the Federal highway act and in cooperation with the Territory. These roads are an important factor in the development of the national-forest section of Alaska, since they connect isolated agricultural settlements and small towns and mining districts with the larger communities and main-traveled waterways. Up to June 30, 1930, 227 miles of road were constructed and maintained, at a cost of $4,500,000. The trails open up new regions for mineral prospecting as well as for many other kinds of development. A total of 375 miles of such trails has been built to June 30, 1930, at a cost of $420,000. A recent appropriation by Congress makes available for Alaska some $500,000 additional road money for the fiscal year 1931. This assures an even more extensive road-building program than has been followed in the past. OTHER ACTIVITIES The Forest Service is continuing its policy of putting land to use through the medium of leases at nominal sums to activities such as fur farms, residences, cabins, canneries, etc. Eight hundred and seventy-two special-use permits, utilizing nearly 150,000 acres of land, were in effect at the end of 1929. Mineral development is encouraged on national-forest land. The prospector and operator is not burdened by restrictions other than those provided in the general mining laws. Newly discovered mineralized regions have recently stimulated prospecting to a marked degree. The act of March 3, 1927, permits the leasing of land as a home site, not exceeding 5 acres, which can be patented at the end of three years if used as a home during that period to the exclusion of a home elsewhere. The desirability of this law is shown by the fact that 263 applications for home sites have been made under this act to date. Salmon canneries and other industrial enterprises occupying sites under lease on the national forests are now largely taking advantage of a recent regulation under which these sites can be eliminated from the forest and then patented. The fall of 1929 saw the completion of a project started in 1926 that means much to the Territory. This is the mapping by aerial photography of southeastern Alaska. The work was done by the United States Navy with the cooperation of the Bureau of Public Roads, Geological Survey, Forest Service, and other Government agencies in Alaska. The photographs obtained are of inestimable value in showing timber stands, water-power lakes, possible road and trail routes, water courses, and the outline of uncharted coasts. Two very important water-power sites, heretofore unreported, one on Baranof Island and the other near the mouth of Taku Inlet, were mapped by the Navy fliers. The latter, known as Dorothy Lake, is expected to be used immediately for power development near Juneau. Any of the aerial photographs are available to the public at the cost of printing. RECEIPTS Except for money spent on roads and trails, the National Forests in Alaska are almost self-supporting. In the fiscal year 1930 a total of $110,320 was received by the Government from the sale of timber, and as rentals from special use permits and other activities. This amount is slightly less than the administrative expenditures for the year. Twenty-five per cent, or $27,580, of the net receipts is made available to the Territory for schools and roads, and 10 per cent, or $11,032, is returned to the local branch of the Forest Service for expenditure on trail construction. GAME AND FUR CONDITIONS AND ADMINISTRATION The Alaska Game Commission entered its sixth year of operations under the Alaska game law. (Act of January 13, 1925; 43 Stat. 739.) The commission is composed of five members, one from each of the four judicial divisions of the Territory, and the chief representative of the Biological Survey resident in Alaska acting as executive officer, fiscal agent, and secretary. The general public is still somewhat confused regarding the activities and functions of the United States Bureau of the Biological Survey and the Alaska Game Commission. Although both agencies are under the general jurisdiction of the Secretary of Agriculture, they are independent organizations, each with separate duties to perform. The former is responsible for, and conducts scientific studies and investigations on the wild life of the Territory in its relation to agriculture, grazing, game, and fur industry. It also administers certain bird reservations. The fundamental activities of the latter agency are regulatory and pertain to the requirements of the Alaska game act and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. The sixth annual meeting of the commission was held in Juneau, October 31-November 11, 1929. All members were present and after disposing of routine reports and fiscal matters, attention was devoted to the consideration of many reports and recommendations received from residents of widely scattered sections of the Territory. Responsive to the request of residents of Valdez, the Keystone Canyon closed area was established to protect game animals and birds along |