The lead and copper ores contributed about $235,000 to the gold production of the State. The placers yielded $79,751, a considerably larger amount than that recovered in 1907. The larger part came from the gravel deposits of Round Mountain and Manhattan in Nye County.

The output of silver was 9,508,464 ounces, or 2,424,861 ounces more than the product of 1907. Nye County was, as usual, of paramount importance, having produced 7,632,813 ounces, of which all but 460,417 ounces came from Tonopah. The Comstock mines in Storey County yielded a greatly increased output of 542,017 ounces. Esmeralda County produced 438,588 ounces, of which one-half came from the new Lucky Boy district. Almost the entire production was from siliceous ores. The lead ores yielded 482,018 ounces, mainly from Esmeralda and Eureka counties. From copper ores only 29,321 ounces were obtained.

New Hampshire.-A small production of gold and silver was recovered from the copper ores of New Hampshire, and minor amounts derived from ores from Massachusetts and Pennsylvania have been included in the New Hampshire figures.

New Mexico. The gold produced in the mines of New Mexico was valued at $298,757, a decrease of $31,225. Owing to the closing of the Comanche smelter, the mines of Grant County only produced $45,682 in gold, mainly from smelting ores. Socorro is now the leading gold-producing county, its output having the value of $136,890, chiefly from the siliceous ores of the Mogollon district. No other county attained a production of $40,000. Otero increased its output to $35,690, this being due to the operation of the new smelter at Oro Grande. Lincoln County reported $29,712, which was somewhat less than the output of 1907. The placers yielded nearly $30,000.

The production of silver amounted to 405,044 ounces, a decrease of 300,500 ounces. Socorro and Grant remained the leading counties, with a production of 280,091 and 95,477 ounces, respectively. The production in the other counties was insignificant. Practically the whole output of Socorro County was derived from the siliceous milling ores of the Mogollon district. Only 10 per cent of the silver production of New Mexico is obtained from copper and lead ores.

Oregon. The production of gold in Oregon amounted to $865,076, a decrease of $264,185. Both deep mines and placers showed a material decrease in yield. Baker County led with an output of $507,929, most of which came from the siliceous ores of the Cracker Creek district, near Sumpter. Josephine County produced $152,722, of which the larger part came from placers.

The total yield of the placers was $272,593, a decrease of $58,813. Only an insignificant amount of gold was derived from copper ores. Southwestern and northeastern Oregon form two distinct mining regions, differing in character of deposits and ores. The southwestern region, of which Josephine and Jackson counties are the principal parts, produced $250,664 in gold, a reduction of $145,834 from the output of 1907. The placer gold from this region in 1908 amounted to $193,484. The northeastern region, of which Baker and Grant counties are the most important parts, yielded $614,432. The placer gold from this region was $79,109 in 1908.

The yield of silver was only 43,602 ounces, a decrease of 43,116 ounces as compared with that of 1907. To this Baker County con

tributed 17,495 ounces and Grant County 17,987 ounces, both counties being situated in the northeastern part of the State.

Southern Appalachian States.—Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia yielded together $254,775 in gold, an increase of $14,873 over the output of 1907. A considerable increase was reported from Alabama and North Carolina, while the other States reduced their production. The greatest output, $97,495, came from North Carolina; this was followed by Georgia, with $56,207; South Carolina, with $53,715; and Alabama, with $41,208. Tennessee yielded only $3,699. As usual, siliceous ores yielded the greatest amount, principally from the Iola mines, in North Carolina; the Haile mine, in South Carolina; the Franklin mine, in Georgia; and the Hillabee mine, in Alabama. The total output of placer gold was about $31,000.

Of silver 59,900 ounces were produced, a decrease of 24,674 ounces. The lessened production was mainly due to a decreased production of copper ores in North Carolina and Virginia. The only States which had a notable output of silver were Tennessee, with 57,696 ounces, and North Carolina, with 1,260 ounces. The production of North Carolina in 1907 was 21,667 ounces. Almost the whole output was derived from copper ores.

South Dakota.-South Dakota produced $7,657,376 in gold, an increase of $3,519,187 compared with the yield of 1907. After the misfortunes of 1907 the Homestake mine greatly increased its production and all of the principal districts of the Black Hills had a prosperous year. The silver production was 248,762 ounces.

Texas. Texas produced only a nominal amount of gold. The yield of silver was 444,336 ounces, an increase of 140,648 ounces as compared with that of 1907. The metal was largely derived from the siliceous oxidized ores of the Shafter mine, in Presidio County.

Utah. The mines of Utah yielded $3,701,387 in gold, a decrease of $1,420,259 as compared with the output of 1907. The decrease was general, affecting all the producing counties. As usual the Tintic and the Bingham districts, which nearly correspond to Juab and Salt Lake counties, were the most prominent producers of gold from smelting ores, which yielded, besides, silver, copper, and lead. The Tintic ores contributed $1,307,464; those of Bingham yielded $1,248,221, the figures in each case representing a greatly lessened yield compared with the output of 1907. The cyaniding ores of the Mercur district added $861,891. These three districts yielded 92 per cent of the gold production of the State. A small amount of placer gold was derived from the southern part of the State.

Of silver 8,451,338 ounces were reported, a decrease of 2,538,738 ounces as compared with the figures of 1907. This greatly lessened yield reduced Utah to the fourth instead of the second rank among the silver-producing States, its production being exceeded by that of Montana, Nevada, and Colorado. The bulk of the silver was derived from the lead-copper ores of Tintic, which yielded 4,118,440 ounces, or nearly one-half of the total; further, from the mixed ores of Bingham, which yielded 1,053,146 ounces; and from the lead ores of Park City, which produced 2,463,735 ounces. The combined silver production of these three districts was 7,635,321 ounces.

The

greatest decrease was recorded for the Tintic district, but the yield from Park City and Bingham mines was also greatly lessened.

Washington. From the mines of Washington a gold production of $242,234 was reported in 1908, a decrease of $16,840 as compared with 1907. The largest portion of this output came from the Pierre Lake district, in Stevens County. There was little activity in the Republic and the Mount Baker and the Monte Cristo districts. Stevens County produced $183,894 in gold, followed by Ferry County with an output of $17,333. Only a small amount of gold was derived from lead and copper ores. The placers yielded only $19,478.

The output of silver was only 88,823 ounces, most of which was derived from siliceous ores and copper ores of Stevens County, and from siliceous ores of Okanogan County.

Wyoming. The production of gold from Wyoming amounted to $7,959, a decrease of $1,385 as compared with 1907. Most of this gold was derived from copper ores of the Encampment district, but the mines were not continuously operated. The development of the new Copper Mountain district, in Fremont County, may increase the future production of the State.

The production of silver was insignificant; it amounted to 3,998 ounces in 1908.

Philippine Islands. The total production of gold in the Philippine Islands in 1908 was valued at $231,338, and the production of silver was 2,350 fine ounces."

As the gold production for 1907 was only $79,773, the production in 1908 was apparently trebled. The actual increase was below this, however, as some of the gold credited to 1908 was actually produced in 1907 but not accounted for in the Survey figures for that year.

The production of Mountain Province in 1908 was $139,328 in gold, as compared with $80,372 in 1907; that of Camarines Province was $71,731 in gold, as against $2,067 in gold in 1907; that of Sorsogon Province (Masbate) was only $620 in gold, as compared with $11,411 in gold in 1907; and the output of Surigao Province was $5,581 in gold, against nothing reported for 1907.

Gold is found in many islands of the group, but production was reported but from Luzon, Masbate, and Mindanao in 1908, and but from Luzon and Masbate in 1907. The producing provinces in 1908 were Mountain Province, in the northern part of Luzon, embracing the former provinces of Benguet (which furnishes the greater part of the gold), Lepanto, and Bontoc; Ambos Camarines, on the east coast of Luzon; Sorsogon, of which the island of Masbate is a part; and Surigao, in the northeastern part of Mindanao. In all of these but Sorsogon there is a considerable annual placer production by natives. The production mainly reaches small traders, mostly Chinese, and much of the gold goes to China. The average fineness of placer gold in the Philippines is not more than 0.850. In underground mining in a limited way, also, the Igorots of Mountain Province have long been adept.

The greatly increased production of the Philippines was due, however, to preparatory work of several years on the part of Americans, Europeans, and New Zealanders.

For information relating to the production of the Philippines, the United States Geological Survey acknowledges cooperation with the Division of Mines, Bureau of Science, Manila, Philippine Islands, to which direct returns are made from the mines, and which has published the results in reports for 1907 and 1908 entitled: "The mineral resources of the Philippine Islands."

Prospectors were early encouraged by their discoveries, but greatly hindered by many obstacles; only in 1908 have some tangible results finally appeared. Conditions at the close of 1908 were highly encouraging for a continued increase of production.

In Mountain Province, the Mancayan copper mines, in Lepanto, have remained idle, owing to failure of American capital to secure satisfactory terms for purchase.

At Suyuc, near the Lepanto-Benguet line in Mountain Province, gold occurs both free and with pyrite in narrow veins in diorite, and there is a small annual production, chiefly by natives. The main production of gold in the Philippines and the large increase noted in this province was from Antamok district, near Baguio, in the central part of Benguet. Here the Bua Mining Company and the Benguet Consolidated Mining Company have each done considerable development in pyritic gold-quartz ores, partially oxidized, found in veins. in basal diorite and later andesites. Each of these companies operated a 6-stamp Hendy mill with cyanide plants, and made an important production in 1908. Below the Bua mine, on the Antamok, is the Camote mine, which has yielded gold from oxidized siliceous Near Baguio, from underground and surface workings in partially decomposed andesites, there is a considerable yearly production of gold by Igorots. On Gold Creek development work has been done on the Naptung and other quartz veins carrying free gold, gold tellurides, and pyrite. Similar work was done on the Copper King mine and the claims of the Headwaters Mining Company also near Baguio.

ore.

In the Province of Ambos Camarines the production was from the Paracale district on the east coast of Luzon, and in 1908 was all of placer gold. There was a large increase, already noted, over the output of 1907. The chief producer was the Paracale Dredging Company, operating a dredge of the New Zealand type on Paracale River near the town. In the last six months of 1908 a little more than 50,000 cubic yards of gravel were handled by the dredge, according to the company reports, from which was recovered slightly over $1 in gold per cubic yard. The dredge yields free gold caught in the tables, gold in black sand concentrates stored or shipped to smelters, and gold in pebbles and broken vein. material which is reserved for future milling. The operations of the first dredge have been so promising that another of the same type was in course of construction, and an American dredge from Masbate was transferred to Paracale at the close of 1908. In addition to dredging, a considerable amount of placer gold is annually recovered by natives. The quartz mines of the district in metamorphic and igneous rocks made no production in 1908, but development work was done on the San Mauricio and Tumbaga mines recently acquired by American interests.

In Sorsogon Province the only producing district was at Aroroy in the northern part of the island of Masbate, where free gold is found in the upper parts of quartz veins in igneous rocks; below water level the gold is mostly in pyrite.

There have been repeated attempts to work the gravels of Guinobatan and Lanang rivers by dredging; but the Lanang dredge was wrecked in 1908, and the results on the Guinobatan have been discouraging and the dredge has been transferred to the Paracale district. The production of Aroroy district was less in 1908 than in

1907. The operators are chiefly doing development work. The three small stamp mills in the district were idle.

In Surigao Province, in northeastern Mindanao, there has been considerable mining in a small way of auriferous quartz stringers in andesite, and in gravel and decomposed rock in place near the contact of andesite and chlorite schist. The gravel is worked both by ground sluicing and by panning, and as some of it yields over $1.30 in gold per cubic yard natives have made a fair living by working it. This district has had a small but steady output of gold, particularly from placer mines, for many years; but figures of production were not available until 1908.

NUMBER OF MINES, ORE PRODUCTION, AND AVERAGE VALUES.

The following table indicates the number of producing mines in 1908, divided into placer mines and deep mines. In the former mines values, generally in gold, are extracted from gravels or sands; the "deep mines" work deposits in solid rock which have not been disintegrated and sorted by erosion. The total number of mines is of course much larger than the figures given, because many properties for various reasons are idle or are being developed without having yet attained a producing stage.

It is perhaps a little difficult, especially in the case of placers, to define what constitutes a mine. In some places a fairly large aggregate output is obtained, usually through traders and storekeepers, from transient or intermittent work of wandering miners which can not be credited to separate properties.

Number of producing mines in 1908 by States and Territories.a

The table shows the number of gold and silver producing mines in the United States. In the States of the Rocky Mountain region. and the Pacific slope practically every mine producing lead, copper, or zinc also yields the precious metals. The table, therefore, actually records the number of producers of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc in these Cordilleran States. It also records the gold and silver producing mines in Michigan and in the Eastern States. It has not been possible to trace the production of Illinois to individual mines. Compared with the corresponding table for 1907 notable additions are found. The placer mines operated in 1908 are 2,599 in number,