| Year | United States | Australasia | Transvaal [162] | Russia- Siberia | Rhodesia [162] | Mexico | Canada | British India | World [163] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880 | $36,000,000 | $28,765,000 | $1,993,800 | $28,551,028 | ... | $989,160 | $815,089 | ... | $106,436,800 | ||
| 1881 | 34,700,000 | 30,690,000 | 1,993,800 | 24,371,343 | ... | 858,909 | 1,094,926 | ... | 103,023,100 | ||
| 1882 | 32,500,000 | 31,955,017 | 1,993,800 | 23,867,935 | ... | 936,223 | 1,094,926 | ... | 101,996,600 | ||
| 1883 | 30,000,000 | 27,150,000 | 717,000 | 20,119,000 | ... | 951,000 | 954,000 | ... | 95,392,000 | ||
| 1884 | 30,800,000 | 28,284,000 | 830,000 | 21,874,000 | ... | 1,183,000 | 954,000 | ... | 101,729,000 | ||
| 1885 | 31,801,000 | 27,439,000 | 1,384,000 | 25.338,000 | ... | 867,000 | 1,116,000 | $135,000 | 108 435,000 | ||
| 1886 | 34,869,000 | 26,425,000 | 1,438,000 | 20,518,000 | ... | 614,000 | 1,330,442 | 421,600 | 106,163,000 | ||
| 1887 | 33,136,000 | 27,327,600 | 1,919,600 | 20,092,000 | ... | 824,000 | 1,178,637 | 320,000 | 105,774,900 | ||
| 1888 | 33,167,000 | 28,560,660 | 4,500,000 | 21,302,000 | ... | 974,000 | 1,111,959 | 685,720 | 110,196,000 | ||
| 1889 | 32,967,000 | 33,086,700 | 7,788,372 | 23,905,600 | ... | 700,000 | 1,295,000 | 1,502,600 | 123,489,200 | ||
| 1890 | 32,845,000 | 29,808,000 | 10,438,356 | 25,484,000 | ... | 767,000 | 1,666,000 | 2,000,000 | 118,848,700 | ||
| 1891 | 33,175,000 | 31,399,000 | 14,885,639 | 24,162,500 | ... | 1,000,000 | 930,666 | 2,495,000 | 130,650,000 | ||
| 1892 | 33,015,000 | 34,159,000 | 23,220,108 | 24,806,200 | ... | 1,129,200 | 907,600 | 3,318,300 | 146,651,500 | ||
| 1893 | 35,955,000 | 35,688,600 | 28,293,831 | 27,808,200 | ... | 1,305,300 | 927,200 | 3,813,600 | 157,494,800 | ||
| 1894 | 39,500,000 | 41,760,800 | 39,696,330 | 24,133,400 | ... | 4,500,000 | [164] | 1,042,100 | 3,882,900 | 181,175,600 | |
| 1895 | 46,610,000 | 44,798,300 | 43,893,300 | 28,894,400 | ... | 6,000,000 | [164] | 1,910,900 | 4,656,200 | 198,763,600 | |
| 1896 | 53,088,000 | 45,181,900 | 43,779,669 | 21,535,800 | ... | 8,331,700 | [164] | 2,810,200 | 6,130,500 | 202,251,600 | |
| 1897 | 57,363,000 | 52,665,700 | 57,633,861 | 23,245,700 | ... | 7,500,000 | [164] | 6,089,500 | 7,247,200 | 236,083,700 | |
| 1898 | 64,463,000 | 64,860,800 | 79,213,953 | 25,463,400 | 444,617 | 8,500,000 | [164] | 13,838,700 | 7,781,500 | 286,879,700 | |
| 1899 | 71,053,400 | 79,321,600 | 71,384,561 | 22,167,100 | 1,129,773 | 8,500,000 | [164] | 21,324,300 | 8,658,800 | 306,724,100 | |
| 1900 | 79,171,000 | 73,498,900 | 6,124,226 | 20,145,500 | 1,158,815 | 9,000,000 | [164] | 27,880,500 | 9,435,500 | 254,576,300 | |
| 1901 | 78,666,700 | 76,880,200 | 5,333,994 | 22,850,900 | 2,974,943 | 10,284,800 | 24,128,500 | 9,395,900 | 260,992,900 | ||
| 1902 | 80,000,000 | 81,578,800 | 34,901,140 | 22,533,400 | 3,366,561 | 10,153,100 | 21,336,700 | 9,588,100 | 296,737,600 | ||
| 1903 | 73,591,700 | 89,210,100 | 61,454,439 | 24,632,200 | 4,065,489 | 10,677,500 | 18,834,500 | 11,428,900 | 327,702,700 | ||
| 1904 | 80,464,700 | 87,767,300 | 78,004,559 | 24,803,200 | 4,794,208 | 12,605,300 | 16,462,500 | 11,722,900 | 347,377,200 | ||
| 1905 | 88,180,700 | 85,926,500 | 101,489,199 | 22,291,600 | 7,337,211 | 16,107,100 | 14,610,400 | 11,950,200 | 380,288,700 | ||
| 1906 | 94,373,800 | 82,391,400 | 119,618,507 | 19,496,500 | 10,082,747 | 18,534,700 | 12,023,900 | 12,087,700 | 402,503,000 | ||
| 1907 | 90,435,700 | 75,677,700 | 133,361,943 | 26,684,300 | 11,199,181 | 18,681,100 | 8,382,800 | 10,383,600 | 412,966,600 | ||
| 1908 | 94,560,000 | 73,327,300 | 145,862,971 | 28,052,200 | 13,022,460 | 22,371,200 | 9,842,100 | 10,598,500 | 442,476,900 | ||
| 1909 | 99,673,400 | 71,007,900 | 150,799,880 | 32,381,300 | 13,223,955 | 23,842,900 | 9,382,200 | 10,358,600 | 454,059,100 | ||
| 1910 | 96,269,100 | 65,470,600 | 155,597,202 | 35,579,600 | 13,590,658 | 24,910,600 | 10,205,800 | 10,718,400 | 455,239,100 | ||
| 1911 | 96,890,000 | 60,184,200 | 170,566,159 | 32,151,600 | 13,823,733 | 24,880,100 | 9,762,100 | 11,054,100 | 461,939,700 | ||
| 1912 | 93,451,500 | 54,509,400 | 188,293,100 | 22,199,000 | 14,226,900 | 24,500,000 | 12,648,800 | 11,055,700 | 466,136,100 | ||
| 1913 | 88,884,400 | 53,113,200 | 181,885,300 | 26,508,700 | 14,274,700 | 19,308,800 | 16,598,900 | 12,178,000 | 459,941,100 | ||
| 1914 | 94,531,800 | 47,569,023 | 173,559,940 | 28,586,392 | 17 663,686 | 4,788,175 | 15,983,004 | 11,378,400 | 439,078,260 | ||
| 1915 | 101,035,700 | 49,397,797 | 188,033,156 | 26,322,745 | 18,915,324 | 6,559,275 | 18,977,901 | 11,522,457 | 468,724,918 | ||
| 1916 | 92,315,363 | 38,213,328 | 192,182,900 | 22,300,000 | 19,232,200 | 7,690,700 | 19,235,000 | 11,206,500 | 454,176,500 | ||
| 1917 | 84,456,600 | 35,275,000 | 186,254,256 | 18,000,000 | [164] | 14,988,600 | 9,000,000 | [164] | 15,449,426 | 10,756,800 | 423,590,200 |
[161] Compiled from reports of the Director of the Mint, 1880-1917.
[162] Previous to 1898 production of Rhodesia and Mozambique included in Transvaal returns.
[163] Total production of world, 1492-1917, $16,916,735,394.
[164] Estimated.
Fig 19.—Production of gold in chief producing countries, 1880-1917, based on reports of the Director of the Mint.
With the discovery of gold in a mill race at Coloma, Eldorado County, California, by J. A. Marshall in 1848, the history of modern gold production began. The great rush to California followed and the state became the leading gold-producing region of the world. The output for 1860 amounted to $45,320,000, as compared with a total output of only $1,000,000 for the remaining states. For many years the gold production of California has been declining, the total yield in 1917 amounting to only $20,000,000, a decrease of almost $2,000,000 from the output of 1916. About three-fifths of the output comes from lode mines and the remainder from placers.
For a number of years Colorado was the leading gold-producing state, principally because of the output from Cripple Creek, Teller County, which was from 1893 to 1908 the leading gold camp in the United States. Recently the output has fallen below that of California. Over half of the yield of the state in 1916 came from Teller County.
The earliest discovery of gold in Alaska was probably about 1849 along the shores of Cook Inlet. In 1879 the gold-quartz veins near Sitka were discovered, and a year later the placers of Juneau. The discovery of the gold placers in the valley of the Yukon was made in 1886 and of those in the Klondike in 1896. Most of the Alaskan output is obtained from placer deposits, the richest being in the Seward Peninsula near Nome and in the Yukon basin. The largest producing lode mines have been those near Juneau; of these the Treadwell was for long the greatest gold mine in the world, but it is now inactive. During the past few years the working of large low-grade disseminated deposits of the Treadwell type near Juneau has been undertaken on a scale hitherto undreamed of, but thus far these ventures (Alaska Gold and Alaska Juneau mines) have not been financially successful.