- Email: [email protected]
Mining in Alaska in 1938
770
CURRENT TOPICS.
[J. F. I.
Whitney Wouldn't Know His Cotton Gin Today.---One hundred and forty-five cotton crops have been harvested since Eli Whitney invented the gin. Improvements in the machine began almost immediately after W h i t n e y demonstrated it, and new parts, new attachments, and new processes have been added frequently since. T h e modern gin differs as much from the o r i g i n a l - - w h i c h was no more complicated than a kitchen meat grinder--as the present-day r o t a r y printing press from the old screw press. A recent Farmers' Bulletin, Modernizing Cotton Gins, put out by the United States D e p a r t m e n t of Agriculture, gives a good idea of what the gin has come to be in these days when the American cotton crop runs from 12 to I8 million bales. A real up-to-the-times gin has a drier to put green, damp, or wet cotton into proper condition for ginning. There are seed elevators and various ways have been devised to keep seed pure so farmers growing a certain variety can keep it free of contamination b y other seed. Not all of the more than 12,ooo gins are modern, but hundreds of t h e m have acquired the more recent improvements, including the seed cotton drier which, in the humid areas of the Cotton Belt, adds considerably to the value of the farmer's crop. R. H. O. Mining in Alaska in I938.--Mines in Alaska produced minerals worth $28,607,000 in 1938, as against $26,989,000 in 1937, according to an announcement made b y the United States D e p a r t m e n t of the Interior through the Geological Survey. T h e total value of the mineral o u t p u t of the T e r r i t o r y since 188o is $777,818,ooo or much more than one hundred times the $7,200,00o paid to Russia for the entire T e r r i t o r y at the time of purchase in 1867. T h e value of the o u t p u t of gold from Alaska mines in 1938 was more than a million dollars greater than in a n y other year in the entire history of gold mining in the Territory. T h e q u a n t i t y of platinum metals recovered from Alaska mines in 1938 was much greater than in any preceding year and amounted to more than 88 per cent. of the total q u a n t i t y of all" platinum metals t h a t have come from Alaska mines in all preceding years. In comparison with 1937 there was an increase in both the q u a n t i t y and value of the production of gold, platinum metals, and coal; an increase in quantity, but a decrease in value of the production of lead; and a decrease both in q u a n t i t y and value of the production of silver, copper, tin, and miscellaneous mineral products. R. H. O.
CURRENT TOPICS.
[J. F. I.
Whitney Wouldn't Know His Cotton Gin Today.---One hundred and forty-five cotton crops have been harvested since Eli Whitney invented the gin. Improvements in the machine began almost immediately after W h i t n e y demonstrated it, and new parts, new attachments, and new processes have been added frequently since. T h e modern gin differs as much from the o r i g i n a l - - w h i c h was no more complicated than a kitchen meat grinder--as the present-day r o t a r y printing press from the old screw press. A recent Farmers' Bulletin, Modernizing Cotton Gins, put out by the United States D e p a r t m e n t of Agriculture, gives a good idea of what the gin has come to be in these days when the American cotton crop runs from 12 to I8 million bales. A real up-to-the-times gin has a drier to put green, damp, or wet cotton into proper condition for ginning. There are seed elevators and various ways have been devised to keep seed pure so farmers growing a certain variety can keep it free of contamination b y other seed. Not all of the more than 12,ooo gins are modern, but hundreds of t h e m have acquired the more recent improvements, including the seed cotton drier which, in the humid areas of the Cotton Belt, adds considerably to the value of the farmer's crop. R. H. O. Mining in Alaska in I938.--Mines in Alaska produced minerals worth $28,607,000 in 1938, as against $26,989,000 in 1937, according to an announcement made b y the United States D e p a r t m e n t of the Interior through the Geological Survey. T h e total value of the mineral o u t p u t of the T e r r i t o r y since 188o is $777,818,ooo or much more than one hundred times the $7,200,00o paid to Russia for the entire T e r r i t o r y at the time of purchase in 1867. T h e value of the o u t p u t of gold from Alaska mines in 1938 was more than a million dollars greater than in a n y other year in the entire history of gold mining in the Territory. T h e q u a n t i t y of platinum metals recovered from Alaska mines in 1938 was much greater than in any preceding year and amounted to more than 88 per cent. of the total q u a n t i t y of all" platinum metals t h a t have come from Alaska mines in all preceding years. In comparison with 1937 there was an increase in both the q u a n t i t y and value of the production of gold, platinum metals, and coal; an increase in quantity, but a decrease in value of the production of lead; and a decrease both in q u a n t i t y and value of the production of silver, copper, tin, and miscellaneous mineral products. R. H. O.