ous
lodes. The production was divided approximately as follows: From the
Pacific coast belt, $3,448,380; from the Copper River and Cook Inlet
region, $401,500; from the Yukon basin, $10,323,000; from the Seward
Peninsula, $5,120,000. The copper mines of Prince of Wales Island and
Prince William Sound, in the coast region, contributed $47,483 in
gold. The production in the Fairbanks district was approximately
$9,200,000, about 300 mining plants being in operation; this was an
increase of $1,200,000 compared with the output of 1907. The placers of
the Seward Peninsula, chiefly near Nome, yielded only $5,100,000, a
decrease of $1,900,000 from the figures for 1907. A dry season and the
exhaustion of the mines of the third beach line were the reasons for
the decline. The total production of placer gold in Alaska was about
$15,900,000.
The
production of silver was, as usual, small, amounting to 135,672 ounces,
a decrease of 14,112 ounces. Most of it was derived from the small
percentage of this metal which is contained in placer gold. The copper
ores of the Pacific coast belt yielded 33,602 ounces of silver.
Arizona.—The
gold production of Arizona amounted to $2,431,977, a decrease of
$185,336 compared with that of 1907. As usual, Yavapai, Cochise, Yuma,
and Mohave are the principal producing counties, in the order
indicated. Yavapai County yielded $1,116,793, but none of the others
attained a production of $1,000,000; Mohave County yielded $295,736.
Noneor the counties not enumerated above reached a production of
$60,000 in gold. Compared with the output of 1907, that of Yavapai was
slightly reduced; Mohave County decreased its output greatly, owing to
the idleness of the Gold Road mill; considerable increases are
reported for Cochise and Yuma counties, in the former due to greater
activity in copper mining at Bisbee, in the latter to increased
activity in the Kofa district. In Yavapai County the yield from copper
ores decreased, while a corresponding increase was noted in the product
of the siliceous ores. Over $1,500,000 of the
f
;old from Arizona was
recovered from siliceous ores and about $861,000 rom copper ores. From
placer mining was recovered $30,937 in gold, somewhat less than in 1907.
Silver
was produced in Arizona to the amount of 2,808,450 fine ounces, an
increase of 296,553 ounces as compared with the output of 1907. Cochise
County, which contains the great copper mines of Bisbee and the
silver-lead-gold mines of Tombstone, led in the production of silver,
having yielded 1,630,749 fine ounces in 1908. Yavapai County was next
in rank, with 602,645 ounces. Gila, Graham, and Pima counties yielded
smaller outputs, and the minor quantities came from Mohave, Santa Cruz,
Pinal, and Maricopa. The principal producers of silver in Arizona, each
of them yielding over 300,000 ounces, were the Tombstone Consolidated,
the United Verde, the Copper Queen, and the Commonwealth mines. The
silver obtained from copper ores was 1,777,266 ounces, while siliceous
ores yielded 899,072 ounces.
California.—The
output of gold in California in 1908 was $18,761,-559, an increase of
$2,033,631 as compared with 1907, and almost exactly the same amount as
the product of 1906. The rank of the most important counties was as
follows: Butte yielded $3,139,398, a considerable increase for 1908.
The gold was almost exclusively derived from the constantly extending
dredging operations at Oro-ville; Nevada County yielded the increased
amount of $2,297,963,
