Copper Mining in North America (open access)

Copper Mining in North America

From introduction: "In this paper are assembled and summarized many subjects relating to the copper industry in North America. Production of mines and districts, history of the industry in North America. Production of mines and districts, history of the industry, geology, of the principal deposits, and mining methods and costs are discussed."
Date: 1938
Creator: Gardner, E. D.; Johnson, C. H. & Butler, B. S.
System: The UNT Digital Library
United States Earthquakes, 1938 (open access)

United States Earthquakes, 1938

Report discussing earthquake activity in the United States during 1938. The report is broken down by regions and has sections for specific earthquakes.
Date: 1938
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Safety Cars of the United States Bureau of Mines (open access)

Safety Cars of the United States Bureau of Mines

Report issued by the U.S. Bureau of Mines discussing the mine stations and safety cars used to reach miners in distress. As stated in the report, "the purpose, equipment, personnel, and construction of its safety cars" is presented. This report includes an illustration, and a map.
Date: March 1931
Creator: Forbes, J. J. & Ankeny, M. J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Alaska-Yukon Caribou (open access)

Alaska-Yukon Caribou

Brief summary of the physical characteristics, general habits, breeding habits, food habits, migratory habits, and habitat of the Alaska-Yukon caribou.
Date: June 1935
Creator: Murie, Olaus J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Chakachamna-Stony Region, Alaska (open access)

The Chakachamna-Stony Region, Alaska

A report on the exploration and survey of the Chakachamna-Stony Region of Alaska.
Date: 1930
Creator: Capps, Stephen R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Upper Cretaceous Floras of Alaska (open access)

The Upper Cretaceous Floras of Alaska

From foreword: This report describes the upper cretaceous floras and rocks south of the Brooks Range in Alaska.
Date: 1930
Creator: Hollick, Arthur
System: The UNT Digital Library
Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1935 (open access)

Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1935

From introduction: The record of the Alaska mineral industry for 1935, here presented, is supplemented by records for earlier years, because in that way certain trends may be recognized which are not only of historical significance but are also useful in suggesting the course that the industry is likely to take in the future. This is a continuing service that has been rendered by the Geological Survey from almost the earliest years of active mining in Alaska, and the present report is the thirty-second of the series.
Date: 1937
Creator: Smith, Philip S.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Eska Creek Coal Deposits Matanuska Valley, Alaska (open access)

The Eska Creek Coal Deposits Matanuska Valley, Alaska

The coal deposits in the vicinity of Eska Creek, a small tributary from the north to the Matanuska River, are a part of the Matanuska coal field. One of the two commercial coal-producing districts in Alaska, this field is in the southcentral part of the Territory, at the head of Cook Inlet. It is 170 miles from Seward, the ocean terminus of the Government-owned and -operated Alaska Railroad, and is served by a branch line of that railroad.
Date: 1937
Creator: Tuck, Ralph
System: The UNT Digital Library
Past Placer-Gold Production from Alaska (open access)

Past Placer-Gold Production from Alaska

"To the end of 1930 Alaska, according to the records of the Geological Survey, had produced placer gold to the value of $258,962,000 from mines widely scattered throughout its length and breadth. The distribution of the placers from which the gold was recovered has been stated in more or less detail in the annual summaries published by the Geological Survey on the mineral industry of Alaska and also in its more complete reports on many of the individual mining districts. Although these summaries and reports have furnished information regarding the larger regions, they have not always given specific details regarding the smaller districts. Furthermore, there has been no recent attempt to assemble and publish in one place the scattered statistics regarding the placer-gold production by years and by regions and districts. The purpose of the present report is to set forth in condensed but comprehensive form a summary of the placer-gold production of Alaska so far as it can be determined from the available official records."
Date: 1933
Creator: Smith, Philip S.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Curry District, Alaska (open access)

The Curry District, Alaska

From abstract: The Curry district lies on the south flank of the Alaska Range, on the southeast side of Mount McKinley. Most of it is west of the Alaska Railroad. The eastern portion can be easily reached from several points along the railroad route, but the western portion is much more difficult of access, owing to the numerous glacial streams and the rugged topography. The relief of the area is great, the elevation ranging from 500 feet along the Chulitna River to 20,300 feet at Mount McKinley. The Chulitna River, a tributary of the Susitna River, drains the larger part of the area described. It flows in a broad valley in the eastern part of the district, and here the maximum relief is about 3,000 feet. The western part of the district is very rugged, with numerous peaks over 6,000 feet in elevation which have sheer slopes and almost unscalable pinnacles. Winding down through this maze of rugged mountains are four major valley glaciers-Eldridge, Buckskin, Ruth, and Tokichitna-and many tributary and smaller glaciers. Practically the entire district, with the exception of the higher peaks and ridges, has been glaciated. Timber grows along the main streams and extends to an elevation …
Date: 1934
Creator: Tuck, Ralph
System: The UNT Digital Library
Notes on the Geology of the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands (open access)

Notes on the Geology of the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands

Abstract: During the spring of 1932 an opportunity was offered by the United States Navy for a geologist to accompany an expedition organized to make a reconnaissance of the western part of Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands. This expedition visited several localities the geology of which was little known. It was found, as had already been expected, that the islands west of Unimak Pass are composed mainly of basic volcanic lavas and fragmental materials, into which have later been injected dikes, sills, and considerable masses of intrusive rocks, some of which are of acidic types and of granitic texture. These westward islands are bordered both to the north and south by depressions 2,000 fathoms or more in depth, and the islands have apparently been built up from that depth by the ejection and extrusion of volcanic materials since early Tertiary time. No rocks of proved pre-Tertiary age were seen, and the only sedimentary materials present may well have been derived from the erosion of the volcanic islands after they were built up above sea level. On the Alaska Peninsula pre-Tertiary sediments through which the volcanic materials broke to the surface are abundantly present. There is evidence that all the …
Date: 1934
Creator: Capps, Stephen R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Mineral Deposits Near the West Fork of the Chulitna River Alaska (open access)

Mineral Deposits Near the West Fork of the Chulitna River Alaska

From abstract: The area in the vicinity of the West Fork of the Chulitna River, Alaska, one of those examined in 1931 in connection with the study of mineral resources in districts tributary to the Alaska Railroad, contains numerous prospects but, as yet, no productive mines. Its placer deposits are negligible but some of its lodes may prove valuable for gold and silver and perhaps also for copper and arsenic.
Date: 1933
Creator: Ross, Clyde P.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Lode Deposits of Eureka and Vicinity, Kantishna District, Alaska (open access)

Lode Deposits of Eureka and Vicinity, Kantishna District, Alaska

From abstract: The Kantishna mining district is about 90 miles west of McKinley Park station on the Alaska Railroad. The part of the district covered by this report comprises an area of about 72 square miles in the form of a strip 6 miles wide and 13 miles long. The bedrock is mainly a metamorphic series of rocks which within the area has been differentiated into a quartz-muscovite schist and a calcareous faces that ranges from limestone to chlorite schist. A few small dikes of quartz porphyry and diabase intrude the schist. The general structure trends N. 700 E., and from an axis that extends from Eldorado Creek northeastward to Spruce Peak the schistosity dips to the northwest and southeast. It is along this axis that the heaviest mineralization has occurred.
Date: 1933
Creator: Wells, Francis G.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Moose Pass-Hope District, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska (open access)

The Moose Pass-Hope District, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

This report provides and in-depth description of the Moose Pass-Hope District in Alaska, including on overview of the general area, physical geology, and economic geology.
Date: 1933
Creator: Tuck, Ralph
System: The UNT Digital Library
Lode Deposits of the Fairbanks District, Alaska (open access)

Lode Deposits of the Fairbanks District, Alaska

From abstract: To help the mining industry of Alaska and to assist in the development of the mineral resources of the Territory have been the prime motives of the Geological Survey's investigations in Alaska during the past 35 years, in which nearly one half of the Territory has been covered by its reconnaissance and exploratory surveys. It was natural, therefore, that the Alaska Railroad, when it undertook intensive consideration of the problem of finding tonnage that would increase its revenues, should look to the Geological Survey to supply technical information as to the known mineral deposits along its route and to indicate what might be done to stimulate a larger production of minerals and induce further mining developments and prospecting that would utilize its service.
Date: 1933
Creator: Hill, James M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Some Lode Deposits in the Northwestern Part of the Boise Basin, Idaho (open access)

Some Lode Deposits in the Northwestern Part of the Boise Basin, Idaho

From abstract: The report is limited to the geology of lode deposits in the northwestern part of the Boise Basin which are in or near mines that were in operation at the time of visit, in 1930. Owing to the recent inactivity of the formerly rich placer (leposits, there is nothing essential regarding them to add to Lindgren's report published in 1898. The area studied is underlain by granitic rock of the Idaho batholith, which is cut by dikes of Miocene(?) age. These dikes are dacite porphyry (intruded early) ; rhyolite porphyry, granophyre porphyry, and granite porphyry (closely related in character and age) ; and several basic varieties (of which some, at least, are of relatively late origin). Diorite porphyry dikes, of undetermined age but probably older than all of those named above, are also present.
Date: 1934
Creator: Ross, Clyde P.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Core Drilling for Coal in the Moose Creek Area, Alaska (open access)

Core Drilling for Coal in the Moose Creek Area, Alaska

From abstract: The Moose Creek area is in the western part of the Matanuska Valley, in south-central Alaska, about 165 miles by railroad north of the coast at Seward. Coal deposits in the valley have been known since the early 1890's, and there have been producing mines since 1916, but the annual production is only about 40,000 tons, or less than one-third of the total amount consumed in the Territory. Early in 1931 Congress authorized the investigation of mineral resources in areas tributary to the Alaska Railroad, which is Government owned and operated, for the purpose of stimulating development and hence increasing the traffic and revenue of the railroad. The technical work of carrying on these studies was entrusted by Col. O. F. Ohlson, general manager of the railroad, to the United States Geological Survey. One of the investigations undertaken was that of the Moose Creek area, where small coal mines are in operation. Difficulties have been encountered in these mines, owing to the faulted character of the formation, which causes unproductive work in mining and also produces a large percentage of fine coal, which is unsuitable for sale in distant markets. Field examination indicated that more favorable mining conditions …
Date: 1934
Creator: Waring, Gerald A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Geology of the Chitina Valley and Adjacent Area, Alaska (open access)

Geology of the Chitina Valley and Adjacent Area, Alaska

From abstract: The Chitina Valley and adjoining area form part of a rugged alpine region in the southeast corner of the main body of Alaska and include a portion of the Chugach Mountains and most of the southern half of the Wrangell Mountains, to the north. The Chitina River is an eastern branch of the Copper River and rises in ice fields and valley glaciers occupying most of the country near the international boundary north of Mount St. Elias. The adjoining area described in this report includes the Hanagita and Bremner River district and the westward continuation of the north side of the Chugach Mountains as far as Valdez Arm and Klutina Lake. In addition, the geology of the upper White River district is described because of its relation to that of the Chitina Valley.
Date: 1938
Creator: Moffit, Fred H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Mineral Deposits of the Ruby-Kuskokwim Region Alaska (open access)

Mineral Deposits of the Ruby-Kuskokwim Region Alaska

From Abstract: "The following report is essentially a description of the mineral deposits that have been found in this region and of the status of mining in 1933."
Date: 1936
Creator: Mertie, John Beaver, Jr.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Kodiak and Vicinity Alaska (open access)

Kodiak and Vicinity Alaska

From abstract: Kodiak Island, although the site of the earliest white settlement in Alaska and the center of a vigorous fishing industry, is still largely unexplored, except for a strip immediately adjacent to the shores. The heavy growth of vegetation makes access to the interior of the island difficult, and few trails penetrate far from the coast. Mining activity in the past has been confined to somewhat desultory exploitation of beach sands, which in places carry gold, though some gold-bearing lodes have been staked, and a few unsuccessful attempts at lode mining have been made.
Date: 1937
Creator: Capps, Stephen R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Upper Copper and Tanana Rivers, Alaska (open access)

Upper Copper and Tanana Rivers, Alaska

From introduction: Two field parties, one topographic, the other geologic, were engaged in making surveys in the section of the Alaska Range between the Nabesna and Big Tok Rivers in 1934. Most of the area surveyed was on the northeast side of the range, within a drainage area that is tributary to the Nabesna and Tanana Rivers, but it also included a small part of the Copper River Basin.
Date: 1934
Creator: Moffit, Fred H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Kaiyuh Hills, Alaska (open access)

The Kaiyuh Hills, Alaska

From introduction: The present report states the results of an exploratory survey of the Kaiyuh Hills during the summer of 1934.
Date: 1937
Creator: Mertie, John Beaver, Jr.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Kodiak and Adjacent Islands, Alaska (open access)

Kodiak and Adjacent Islands, Alaska

From abstract: The Kodiak group of islands, having an area of 4,900 square miles, lie on the Pacific Ocean side of the base of the Alaska Peninsula. Although the town of Kodiak is the oldest continuously occupied white settlement in Alaska, the interior of many of the islands is still little explored and unmapped, for the heavy growth of vegetation makes inland travel difficult, and few trails penetrate far from the coast.
Date: 1937
Creator: Capps, Stephen Reid
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Girdwood District, Alaska (open access)

The Girdwood District, Alaska

From abstract: The Girdwood district has been known for about 35 years to contain placer gold, but the source of the gold in veins was not discovered until about 1909. When the Alaska Railroad was completed through Girdwood it was hoped that the improved transportation facilities would enable the lode mines to operate at a profit and also to furnish tonnage to the railroad. Production from the quartz veins, however, has been negligible, although one placer mine has been operating steadily for several years.
Date: 1933
Creator: Park, C. F., Jr.
System: The UNT Digital Library