TOO MINERAL RESOURCES, 1916----PART I.
The
increase was due entirely to the placer mines, which yielded $872,517,
or $390,347 more in 1916 than in 1915. The output from deep mines was
almost entirely from siliceous ores. The deep mines of the State
produced $1,029,662, a decrease of $349,964. Of the placer output the
hydraulic mines yielded $164,548, or S49,535 more than in 1915. The two
dredges in the Cracker Creek district in Baker County and one dredge in
Grant County produced $670,450, and a few drift mines and surface
placers in Baker, Jackson, Crook, phine, and Malheur counties produced
the remainder of the placer gold. Baker County, with a yield of
$1,640,626, was the only county which produced more than $100,000 in
gold.
Silver.—The
mine production of silver in Oregon in 1916 was 231,342 fine ounces, a
decrease of 113,395 ounces. Of the total production 118,143 ounces came
from siliceous ores, 103,822 ounces from copper ores, and 128 ounces
from lead ores.
SOUTH DAKOTA.
The
total value of the production of gold in South Dakota from 1876 to the
end of 1916 is given by Charles W. Henderson, of the United States
Geological Survey, as $200,154,589, and the total output of silver for
the same period as 6,247,738 fine ounces.1
Gold.—The
mine production of gold in South Dakota in 1916 was $7,460,644, against
$7,406,305 in 1915. The output was almost wholly from siliceous milling
ores of low grade, of which about 64 per cent was recovered by
amalgamation and the remainder by cyanidation. The Homestake mines and
mills were operated continuously and produced $6,531,003 in bullion
from 1,600,220 tons of ore treated. The Golden Reward, Mogul, Reliance,
Trojan, and Wasp No. 2 mills were also operated steadily. The small
yield of placer gold came from Custer, Lawrence, and Pennington
counties.
Silver.—The
output of sdver, derived mainly from refining the gold bullion
produced, was 215,205 fine ounces, or 15,341 ounces more than in 1915.
SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN STATES.
The
total production of gold from 1799 to the end of 1916 in the southern
Appalachian States, as shown from data compiled by the Bureau of the
Mint and the United States Geological Survey, has been $50,978,188. The
figures credit Alabama with $763,277, Georgia with $17,810,987,
Maryland with $71,339, North Carolina with $23,614,595, South Carolina
with $5,180,346, Tennessee with $242,818, and Virginia with $3,294,826.
Gold.—The
combined mine production of gold in the southern Appalachian States in
1916 was $64,370, against $224,250 in 1915. North Carolina, with a
yield of $26,237, had the largest production; Georgia followed with
$22,539; Alabama, $8,650; Tennessee, $5 South Carolina, $320; and
Virginia, $885. The gold produced in Tennessee was from copper ores of
the Ducktown district. The gold production from 46 placer mines
amounted to $16,616. Nearly all the remainder of the gold was from dry
or siliceous ores.
i U. S. Geol. Survey Mineral Beseurces, 1916, pt. 1, p. 270, 1917.
