in
1917 and of $6,782,884 in 1916. A decrease of 2,602,441 ounces of
silver is shown, following a decrease of 8,209,645 ounces in 1917.
The
principal gold-producing States ranked as follows in 1918: California,
Colorado, Alaska, Nevada, South Dakota, and Arizona, and these six
States together made 85 per cent of the total output. The only notable
increase was Arizona, which produced about $367,-000 more in 1918 than
in 1917. The most notable decrease in gold was $2,977,506 in Colorado,
$5,176,401 in Alaska, $405,986 in Utah, $798,896 in South Dakota,
$3,558,551 in California, and $412,489 in Montana. Every State that
yielded more than $1,000 in gold, with the exception of Arizona, had a
decreased output in 1918.
The
principal silver-producing States in 1918 in order of output were
Montana, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Colorado, and Arizona, and these six
States together produced 93 per cent of the total for the United
States. The only large increase in 1918 was 3,669,337 ounces in Montana
and only five States had an increased output. There was large decrease
in output of silver—1,269,370 ounces in Nevada, 2,856,998 ounces in
Idaho, 611,944 ounces in New Mexico, 347,720 ounces in California,
240,799 ounces in Colorado, 297,761 ounces in Arizona, and 391,361
ounces in Alaska.
About
$34,200,000, or more than half of the entire output of gold in the
United States in 1918, was produced by 25 companies. The largest
producer was the celebrated Homestake mine in South Dakota. Sixteen of
the larger properties produced the gold from dry or siliceous ores,
four produced it from gravels by dredging, four recovered the gold in
the treatment of copper ores, and one from lead ores. Exclusive of the
output of gold of the large producing operators, about $33,500,000 came
from the operation of more than 6,000 placer and deep mines, many of
which produced between $100,000 and $400,000 each. Hundreds of mines,
especially placer properties in California, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska,
Arizona, and the Appalachian States, yielded very small quantities of
gold, and the average production of the smaller mines was less than
$6,000.
Larger producers of gold in the United States in 1918 in order of output.
