ijij Passenger Train, Copper River & Northwestern Railway
stant producer, and the life of the different camps is estimated to be
:j:j from fifteen to twenty years yet.
|x The wide distribution of gold-bearing gravel in this section gives
rise to the belief that much pay dirt will yet be found. The district
•x tributary to Cordova, over which these placer camps are scattered,
is 300 miles east and west by 350 miles north and south. Much of the
•:*: territory has not been thoroughly prospected. In many creeks bed
rock has never been reached. For the legitimate prospector there is a
world of possibilities scattered over this section today.
Unlike placer mining, copper mining requires large capital. It
has been well said that the placer mine is the poor man’s mine, while
X; the copper mine is the rich man’s mine. One prominent operator once
estimated that a million dollars was the average capital required to put
$• a copper mine on a producing basis. Notwithstanding this, it is a rule
:X that poor men make the discoveries. Comparatively poor men dis
covered the copper that has made Cordova one of the largest copper
xj ports in the world. Men of small means discovered the Latouche, the
jx Ellamar, the Fidalgo and Midas mines, on Prince William Sound, the
Kennecott, Mother Lode, North Midas, Great Northern, Alaska Con
::j: solidated and other properties of the Interior, and each disposed of
X; his holding for what to him was a fortune.
U: It requires years to develop and equip a copper mine and place it
on a producing basis. Not until 1511 did Alaska take its place as a
:$ great copper producer. In that year the Copper River & Northwestern
x* Railway was completed to the world-famous Kennecott mines, and it
causing no end of trouble to others. Through one pretext or another,
the Interior Department finally canceled every coal claim in Alaska,
except three for which patents were finally issued. The withdrawal
of the coal and oil lands necessarily stopped mining development,
coal and oil being essential, not only in mining, but in smelting.
Therefore it naturally followed that if the ore in a claim was not rich
enough to pay for shipping to the Tacoma smelter, a distance of 1,600
miles by rail and water, development work had to cease. For eight
years the coal situation was discussed in and out of Congress. Finally
in 1914 a leasing law was passed, making the coal lands of Alaska sub
ject to lease under rules and regulations promulgated by the Interior
Department. The year 1915 was spent in making surveys, and an
other year was consumed in formulating rules and regulations under
which the coal was to bo mined. These rules and regulations were
so drastic that no capital could be found to engage in the industry.
In 1918 the rules were somewhat modified, and a lease of 2,560 acres
was taken by Falcon Joslin. A company was organized and began
development work in August of that year.
Under the leasing law any person or corporation other than a
railway company may lease from 40 to 2,560 acres of coal ground, pay
Cordova Wharf j:j:
Scene Along the Copper River & Northwestern Railway
Kennecott Copper Corporation Mine, Kennecott, Alaska
:]< began shipping ore to the Tacoma smelter. Since that time it has in
$: creased its production of copper until its monthly average is six and
:$ a quarter million pounds, making a daily production of over 200,000
•:j: pounds, an hourly production of over 8,000 pounds. Each minute of
each hour of the day there is produced from that mine 135 pounds of
copper, which at the present time amounts to $33.75.
:>* The ore from this mine is the richest known copper ore in the
world, and it will be a big producer for years to come. Much ore of
like nature is scattered over this district, and we predict that, while
no other mine may be found of equal value, there will yet be wonder
❖: ful discoveries made.
X* 0
:j:j The copper-producing area lies in the Wrangell range, and is over
*:•: 100 miles long and from 25 to 30 miles wide.
«:•: Coal
The Bering River coal field, lying 65 miles east of Cordova, covers
:j:j 57 square miles of known coal deposits. The veins range from 4 feet
*:•: to 35 feet in thickness. Anthracite, semi-anthracite, bituminous and
semi-bituminous are found, and large deposits of the best coking and
blacksmith’s coal in the world abound. The heating value of this coal
is not surpassed by any, not even by the Pennsylvania and West Vir
ginia coals.
*:•: Prior to 1906 the greater portion of this field had been located by
private individuals under the laws of the United States as they existed
*:•: at that time. During that year all unoccupied coal and oil lands in
;i;i Alaska were withdrawn from entry by executive order of the Presi
dent. A system of “gumshoe” persecution was then instituted against
claim-holders by the Interior Department. The coal fields of Alaska
*;:* became a political bone of contention which was dragged through
three administrations, almost wrecking the Taft administration and
x*
X: Bering Coal on the Dump
Oil Wells in Katalla Field
ing certain stipulated royalties to the government and expending
specified sums of money each year in development, subject to the
approval of the Interior Department.
The company operating the lease acquired by Mr. Joslin has a
force of 40 men employed, and has opened up and partially developed
some very promising veins of coal. This development work will con
tinue until next season, and should future developments prove satis
factory, a railroad will be constructed from Mile 39, on the Copper
River & Northwestern Railway, to the fields, and the coal brought out
by way of the Copper River Valley to tide-water at Cordova. Then,
and not until then, will Cordova reach her full measure of prosperity.
It requires no prophet to forecast the future. With the ores of the
Copper River Valley developed with cheap fuel and brought to tide
water to unite with the fluxing ores of Prince William Sound, smelt
ers must be erected and hundreds of new enterprises engaged in to
meet the growing conditions. This is Cordova’s future. We might
dwell at length on the possibilities, but it is not necessary.
V*V* M
Petroleum £:
At the time the coal lands of Alaska were withdrawn from entry
the oil lands were also withdrawn, but unlike the coal lands, no pro
vision had been made for their use either by lease or otherwise. On
February 11 Congress passed an oil land-leasing bill, which was signed
by the President on February 25, and immediately became operative. •>:
Since that time many oil claims have been located and there is every
indication that the development of this industry will go forward without
delay .
At the time of the withdrawal order several hundred claims had
been initiated under the law existing at that time, hut like the coal, :%•
all were canceled except one claim of 160 acres, to which patent was j:-:
granted. The Chilkat Oil Company is now operating that claim. Eight C:
small wells are being pumped and produce from two to twenty barrels
each per day. The oil is a high grade paraffin base oil, about 44 x*
degrees Bauine. The, gasoline and distillate are extracted and mar- :j:j
keted on Prince William Sound. The company is now putting in the
necessary machinery and equipment to work up the by-products, and :•:*
expects to produce good lubricating oils. Drilling is going ahead on
this one claim, but no effort is being made to reach the deeper sands, x*
because the company has not territory enough to justify sufficient in- in
vestment to properly prospect the ground. jij:
The oil-bearing district extends from the Copper River delta east :•>
along the coast for 110 miles, and is from 10 to 15 miles wide north j:;:
and south. Oil seepages are numerous over the entire area, and while
the formation is much broken and has been greatly disturbed, it is said :£
that drilling is not difficult. $:
Congress passed the oil land leasing bill on February 11, 1920, iji
which law is now effective, and there was immediately an exodus of x*
prospectors to the Katalla and Yakataga fields. Cordova, being the £:
natural supply point, will reap much benefit from the development of
this resource.
Other Minerals %•:
Fine showings of galena, carrying large percentages of silver, are Af
found in the Alaska range, at the head of the Copper River.
Platinum in small quantities, with stream tin, were discovered in
the Alaska Range several years ago, near Mount Wrangell, an active •>:
volcano.
Zinc in paying quantities is known to exist in the Spirit Moun- :j:*
tains, east of the Copper River. Antimony has been found at the head £:
of Chitina River, while iron in great quantities is reported from the
head of the Nazina. There are showings of asbestos near Chitina, on £:
the Copper River, while cinnabar is found in greater or less quantities
in the Alaska and Chugach Ranges.
In fact, dotted all over the vast area tributary to the Copper River
and Cordova, almost every mineral of commercial value is known to
exist. We do not claim that they have all been found in paying
quantities, but we do suggest that their presence is a good index to j:|:
guide the prospector.
We assert there is no field in the United States that offers to the £:
prospector a better opportunity to make a find than the section herein xj*.
mentioned. j:5
Take a map of Alaska and draw a line from the middle of Prince
William Sound north to the Yukon, east to the Canadian boundary, xj
south to Mount St. Elias and west to the point of beginning, and you
will inclose nine-tenths of the mineral wealth of Alaska.
The greater portion has not been prospected. It is true that men :§
have visited almost every section, but there is just as good chance to
make a valuable discovery today as there ever was, because the ter
ritory has not been prospected. It has simply been run over. :£
Tunnel to Bering River Coal Fields