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GOLD AND SILVER.
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119
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Compared
with the mines report for 1906 this table indicates a decrease of
,$9,748,506 in gold and of 4,862.350 fine ounces of silver.
Twenty-three States and Territories contributed to the production of
gold. The rank of the principal producers remained nearly as in 1906
and is as follows: Colorado, Alaska, California, Nevada, Utah, South
Dakota, Montana, and Arizona. The only change consists in an exchange
of places between Montana and South Dakota. Vermont appeared for the
first time in many years as a producer of gold. The Philippines and
Porto Rice were in 1907 added to the list. Twenty-seven States and
Territories participated in the production of silver; the rank of the
principal producing States was somewhat changed from 1906 and now is as
follows: Colorado, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, and Arizona.
Alaska.—The
gold production of Alaska was less in 1907 than in 1906 by $2,687,051,
the production for 1907 being $19,349,743. This decrease was largely
due to labor troubles at Fairbanks and also in some degree at Juneau
and on the Seward Peninsula. The production was divided approximately
as follows: From the Pacific Coastal belt, $3,100,000; from the Copper
River and Cook Inlet region, $200,000; from the Yukon Basin,
$9,100,000; and from the Seward Peninsula, $7,000,000. The copper mines
of Prince of Wales Island and Prince William Sound contributed $93,858
in gold. New discoveries were made in the outlying districts south of
Fairbanks. The Tenderfoot district yielded $225,000. The production at
Fairbanks was approximately $8,000,000. The gold in the third beach at
Nome is becoming exhausted and the mining will have to depend on creek
and bench gravels. In the Forty-mile district 3 dredges are installed;
1 dredge is working on the Solomon River, Seward Peninsula; and
examinations have been made to ascertain the feasibility of further
dredging on the Peninsula and at Fairbanks. Owing to an exceptionally
dry season a further decrease in the output is not unlikely for 1908.
The
production of silver was nominal, 149,784 fine ounces, in 1907, most of
it being derived from the small percentage of this metal which is
contained in placer gold. The copper ores of the Pacific coast belt
yielded 52,056 fine ounces of silver.
Arizona.—The
gold production of Arizona amounted to $2,617,313, a decrease of
$347,370. A large part of this came from Yavapai County. Mohave,
Cochise, and Yuma counties were next in rank. The leading producing
mines were the Goldroad, in Mohave County; the King of Arizona, in Yuma
County; the Gladstone, in Yavapai County; and the United Verde and the
Congress mines in Yavapai, County. Forty-nine per cent of the total
yield was obtained from siliceous ores in quartz mills, the larger part
of the remainder being obtained from copper ores. The placers yielded
$44,891, partly from dry washings. Toward the end of the year the
industry was interfered with on account of financial conditions, but
to a less degree than in other States. It is expected that the
production for 1908 will remain at about the same figures as in 1907.
Silver
was produced in Arizona to the amount of 2,511,897 fine ounces, a
decrease of 369,862 ounces. Cochise County, which contains the great
copper mines of Bisbee and the silver-lead-gold mines of Tombstone,
leads in the production of silver, having yielded in
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