largest
increases in silver in 1912 were 1,362,116 fine ounces in Utah
(following an increase of 2,006,816 ounces in 1911), 1,184,462 ounces
in Nevada (following an increase of 704,730 ounces in 1911), 881,902
ounces in Colorado (following a decrease of 1,179,430 ounces in 1911),
and 746,442 ounces in Montana. There were no notable decreases
in silver production in 1912. Of the 26 geographic divisions enumerated
as producing silver in 1912, there was increased output in 19 and
falling off in but 7. In 1911 there was increase in 15 and decrease in
12.
On the whole, therefore, the silver industry made a much better showing than the gold industry in 1912.
MINE PRODUCTION OF GOLD AND SILVER, BY STATES.
ALASKA.
Gold.—The
gold production of Alaska in 1912 was $17,145,951, against $16,853,256
in 1911. The output from siliceous ores was $5,002,399, against
$4,226,687 in 1911, and that from copper ores was $153,552, against
$86,569 in 1911. The production or placers decreased from $12,540,000
in 1911 to $11,990,000 in 1912.
From
the Pacific coast belt, including southeastern Alaska and Prince
William Sound, the output of gold in 1912 was $4,904,753, against
$4,265,573 in 1911; from the Copper River and Cook Inlet regions,
$358,401, against $313,538; from the Yukon and Kuskokwim Basins,
$8,857,797, against $9,139,145; and from Seward Peninsula and
northwestern Alaska, $3,025,000, against $3,135,000. From the first and
second of the above-named geographic divisions there were increases in
output, therefore, of $639,180 and $44,863, respectively, and from the
third and fourth decreases of $281,348 and $110,000, respectively,
giving a net increase for Alaska for the year of $292,695, against a
corresponding increase of $726,507 for 1911. The increased output of
Alaska in 1912 was due chiefly to the increased production from
gold-lode mines, particularly of southeastern Alaska, and copper mines.
The production also increased slightly from the placers of the
Innoko-Iditarod region, but the output of the Hot Springs, Fairbanks,
Seward Peninsula, and other placers declined.
A
little more than three-fifths of the gold production of Alaska still
comes from the placers, but the ratio is declining as the richer
gravels are worked out and the output from gold-quartz and copper mines
increases. Increased application of dredging to Alaskan placer mining
will, however, tend to maintain the placer output at a large figure for
many years. The auriferous lode mines of southeastern Alaska produced
$4,418,392 in gold in 1912, against $3,904,217 in 1911. The great
Treadwell low-grade group of mines in the Juneau district continued to
be the heaviest producers. In the Copper River region the great copper
deposits were actively developed and increasingly productive. The
Fairbanks camp in the Yukon Basin continued to lead all the placer gold
districts of Alaska, but the output there decreased from $4,500,000 in
1911 to $4,150,000 in 1912. The placer production of the Hot Springs
district of the Yukon declined from $785,000 in 1911 to $400,000 in
1912, but that of the Innoko-Iditarod increased from $2,900,000 in 1911
to $3,000,000 in 1912. Seward Peninsula is estimated to have produced
about $3,000,000 in 1912, against $3,100,-000 in 1911. Thirty-one
dredges were operated in Seward Peninsula,
