Prospecting Students Ready To Take
To The Hills After Local II. of A. Course
By Mary Morgan
if a commercial mineral loca
tion is not discovered on Kodiak
Island it won’t be because the
State and the University of AlasKa
haven’t done all they could to
help local rockhounds find a bon
anza. The prospecting course, con
cluded this week, will put 24 certi
fied amateur prospectors into the
field in the battle for develop
ment of one of the state’s great
est economic resources.
The intensive, four weeks’
course, directed by Leo Mark An
thony, has armed the members of
this class with the same practical
prospecting know-how that has led
to major mineral discoveries by
graduates of other classes in other
areas of the state. The course is
presented by the University Col
lege of Earth Sciences and Min
eral Industry to make Alaskans
aware of the still-great mineral po
tential of Alaska’s wilderness, and
the ways and means of finding
new mineral locations—the in
divual’s and the community’s pro
fit.
Even the small section of Ko
diak Island outside of the Nation
al Wildlife Refuge is little-known,
geologically. The geologic maps
are vague about the granite core
of the Island, the major fault and
contact zones. But mineral depos
its are known, have even had some
shipments of ore, along the out
er fringes of this 50-by-200-mile
piece of land that looks like a
delicate lace doily on a map. The
known mineral deposits might be
likened to a few jewels that have
escaped from the tangled mass of
the piled up, folded, knotted
“thread” of geologic events in
the core, These “jewels” include
gold, platinum, copper, lead, zinc,
tungsten and mercury.
Anthony, who wrote the text
“Introductory Prospecting and
Mining” and revised the manual
“Determinative Mineralogy for the
Alaskan Prospector,” sends his
students well-armed to face the
jumble of rugged cliffs and mas
sive mountain sides that are far
from delicate when seen at close
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PORTLAMD
SERVICE
CALL
486-2231
Pacific Northern
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range. Hours of laboratory work
in actual field assaying techniques
and copious notes from hours of
lectures have given the students
a familiarity with the major com
mercial ores of Alaska and the
means of recognizing ore indica
tions in the field. A 1000-foot
cliff is not as forbidding an ob
stacle to the prospector if he
knows how to recognize “float”
and “gossan” and how to use a
gold pan, a test tube, and a blow
torch flame—at the foot of the
cliffs.
There is a never-ending demand
for the prospecting course, which
was started in 1938, with Albert
S. Wilkerson, the author of the
“Determinative Mineralogy’’ man
ual which is still used. This gen
eral prospecting course, and an
other more specialized course in
geo-chemical prospecting, is a
full-time job for Anthony who has
had every type of rockhound in
the classes from professional min
ing engineers to part-time hobby
ists, and with every kind of re
sults, from more knowledgeable
'»'l"E",8"EaKING up?
sooDrairs
Phono nesJo,™' « »W„„„
F0R T«E WHOLE 5244
-
rock collecting to highly profit
able discoveries of gold, tungsten,
uranium, copper, etc.
The course, simplifying as it
does some of the most advanced
modern mining technology, has
been crowded into a brief four
weeks by means of two-hour ses
sions every weekday evening,
with two additional weekend field
trips. The first field trip, a gold
(ContLnued on Page 8)
. i"
Casual and
Dress-up Styles
in finest leathers,
constructed for
comfort and
long wear.
All sensibly
priced, too.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
PACIFIC NORTHERN AIRLINES
FOR THEIR 30 YEARS OF SERVICE TO ALASKA
KNUDSEN’S OUTFITTERS
Remember — You Can Find Anything You Need
YOUR HEADQUARTERS FOR SHOES
AND CLOTHING NEEDS
Phone 486—5122
journey in a CadiUac car is, without question,
the ivorld's most luxurious way to reach any destination.
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Fool •( Mote Kodiak, Alaska