. s33Jnos3H aoi|«AJ3sao3 381. ZLOO Ddo AdVdan y r Six Months Prospecting Along the Coast of Alaska FOR TICKETS WIRE MACDOUQALL= SOUtHWICK CO. AGENTS SEATTLE, - Wash For $300 Alaska Goast Exploration Gompanii \ 4 Wrangcl, Juneau i The Famous Treadwell Mine I The Gold Fields of Prince William Sound Copper River, Cook Inlet I Berners Bay ^6^0/5 F 909 .P32 Copy 1 ALASKA COAST EXPLORATION COMPANY. 'HE greatest, gold ni^ne in the world is the Treadwcll, in the coast district of Alaska. There are a do/.en other dividend-paying mines in the same bf^lt, and develoj)- ment is proceeding so fast that this nnml)er will he doubled (hiring the present year. Hundreds of Treadwells yet remain to be discovered, and the Alaska Coast F-.xploration Company offers prospectors the opportunit}' to discover them during the coming summer, at no greater cost than that of staying at home. They can avoid the long tramp overland to theYukon, with all its accompanying labor, expense and hard- shi[). They can avoid the intense cold of the interior and remain on the coast, always within hailing distance of the boat from which they will land, where the weather is mild and warm, during the long, cloudless days of the northern summer. They will have access to the mail and the outside world by means of steamers sailing up and down the coast daily. During the six months of the trip, they can thoroughly explore the great mineral belt of the Alaskan coast, find a fortune awaiting them by the water's edge and return home in the fall to ?nake arrangements for bringing that fortune to civilization by the development of a mine. ALASKA PROSPECTORS, LOOK AT THIS! The Alaska Coast Exploration Company will start a fast sailing-vessel, in charge of skilled and experienced navigators, from Seattle, on or about April lOth, with the tirst party of 50 prospectors and will keep the vessel at their service for six months, which will com})rise the period of open weather in Alaska. They will be given an opportunity to spend a con- 1 sitlerablo time in exploring the country contiguous toWrangel, Juneau, the famous Tread well mine, the rich districts of Ber- ners bay and Sum-Dum bay, Copper river. Cook inlet and the western islands — in fact, all the celebrated gold iields of the Alaska coast. The entire cost of transportation from Seattle to the gold fields and return, including provisions, will be only $300. All that the members of the party will have to provide is clothing, blankets and prospecting tools, with a light camp outfit for short excursions inland, if they desire it. On account of the mildness of the climate, it will not be necessary to pro- vide any heavy, expensive clothing, such as is required in out- fitting for the Klondike. HOW THE TRIP WILL BE MANAGED. The party will be in charge of Mr. R. C. Templeman, the manager of the company, who will give the passengers all the information and assistance hi his power. He has spent 20 years in prospecting in Alaska, British Columbia, Califor- nia and Colorado, and from his ripe and varied experience can give invaluable hints to those who place themselves under his guidance. Mr. Templeman is thoroughly informed as to the geology of the country, so that he can judge of likely places for discoveries, and will have a com[)lete assay outfit on board the vessel, enabling him to make tests of samples taken from any new finds. Under his instructions the vessel will put in at the principal points along the coast and cruise around each place for two to six weeks, landing parties of his passengers where they find promise of good mineral and wish to prospect. OBJECT OF THE VOYAGE. The prime object of tliose forming the expedition will be to discover and develop quartz mines, each person being at liberty to work in complete independence of the others, so that his find will be his own. At the same time, each man will have the advantage not only of his own finds, but of those made by every other member of the party, as he will have the oppor- tunity to take up contiguous claims. Thus he will share in tlic benefits of tlie woi-k of ')(> or 100 otlier men. In sndi cases the owners of a number of adjoining claims can, i)y (•(imbiiiing, form a large and desirable body of mineral ground, \vhi( li tliey can either develoj) themselves or sell in n block to advantage to a mining company. The territory of Alaska i^; subject to the United States mining laws, which allow a man to locate J 500 feet along and 600 feet across each quartz ledge he discovers, or 20 acres of placer ground. THE COAST MINERAL BELT. The mines of the Alaska coast are generally low grade quartz, though high gi'ade ore is frequently found, and the ore is free milling, so that the gold can be easily and chea{)ly saved. This mineral belt is sim[)ly an extension northward of the great mineral belt which extends north and south through the American continent. It is part of the same belt as the mother lode of California, which caused the great stam- pede of 1849, and which is still })ouring millions of dollars worth of gold into the mints. On the same belt are the i)lacer and quartz mines of southern and eastern Oregbn ; the great bodies of free milling and sulphide ore which veiii the Cascade and Gold ranges of mountains in Washington ; the rich gold mines of Trail creek, which have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in dividends; the famous silver-lead mines of Slocan, which have yielded profits amounting to millions; the cop})er and gold mines of the coastof British Columbia, which arejust beginning to attract notice ; and the famous gold fields of Phraser river. Cariboo and Cassiar. The rich silver-lead mines of the Coeur d'Alene country in Idaho; the gold, .«ilvor and cop- per mines of Montana ; the silver mines of Utah and Colorado and the gold mines of Cripple Creek are on this great belt. Richly veined with mineral of every variety, it extends from the tropics of Central America to the frozen regions of the Arctic circle. All the great mineral di.scoveries of the last oO years, including those of the Klondike, have been made along this line and it has recently been found to extend to Kotzebue sound, one of the main arms of Bering sea. 3 The gold oil the Klondike is placer, which is quickly worked out, but that of the coast of Alaska is iu low grade free milliTig quartz, whicli exists in such vast bodies that by system- atic working on a large scale it can l)e made to pay immense profits, and the mines will last for hundreds of years. The great Tieadwell mine on Douglas island, near Juneau, has a ledge of free milling (puirtz which in one i)lace is 421 feet wide and, though it only carries an average of $8 in gold per ton, it is mined in vast quantities and crushed at the rate of 700 tons a day in a 240-stamp mill, so that the cost of producing the bullion is only $1.15 per ton of ore. The production will be increased this year to 1500 tons a day by the addition of 300 stamps. This mine has produced $7,000,000 in gold, of which $4,000,000 has been paid in dividends. The Treadwell is one of four allied companies owning mines on Douglas island, which with the additions to be made this year will have 880 stamps in operation — a larger nun'ber than is owned by any other group of companies in the world. The Treadwell mines were producing gold long before the Klondike was heard of and will continue to produce it many years after the Klondike is an abandoned, worked-out camp. The Treadwell is only the greatest of many great mines which have for years produced large quantities of gold bullion, ior there is hardly an exception to the rule that every mine on the coast of Alaska having a stamp mill is a dividend-payer. For a distance of 60 miles north and south of Juneau a wide belt of slates runs northwest and southeast. In these slates are eruptive dikes of p >rphyry and greenstone, between which and the slates are contact veins of C[uar z carrying free gold and iron sulphurets. It is in this belt that the principal mines have been discovered. On Admiralty island, lying south of Douglas island, some large veins are being developed. On yilver Bow basin, directly back of Juneau, in the mountains, are several mines equippeii with stamp mills. On Sum Dum bay is the famous Bahl Eagle, which has produced in fourteen months about $250,000, enough to pay for the mine and all work and machinery. On Berners bay are the celebrated Jualiii, Comet and Kensinp;ton mines, all of wliicli are paying dividends. In some parts of the (,'omet mine the ore is so rich that, lest any of it be lost in blasting, it is carefnlly broken down by hand upon canvas. THE GOLD OUTPUT OF 1897. The best evidence of the mineral woalth of the Alaska coast is the following table j)nbli.slied in tiie Alaska Mining Record, showing the number of stamps and the bullion productofeach mine in the year 1897 : MINE STAMPS PRODU CT Nowell Gold Mining Co 50 ;f 275, 000 Beruers Ba}- Mining and Milling Co 40 20o,o