A Bill has been introduced into Congress providing for the incorporation of the United States Platinum Corporation, with capital stock of $30,000,000, the object of which is to secure a concession from the Government of land areas in Alaska containing platinum sands, and to pay for such privilege, as a royalty or subsidy, one-eighth of the net profits obtained from the working of the concession[70]. _California and Oregon._—Platinum has been proved to exist over a wide area in placer deposits associated with gold, but the proportion of the platinum metals to the gold is usually small. Platinum is obtained from sands in streams rising in the belt of serpentine rocks in central California, and from the serpentine areas in the Siskiyou and Trinity counties in the north-west of the State, which continue north-east into Curry, Josephine and Jackson counties in south-western Oregon[52] p. 300. The sources of the platinum obtained along the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada were old stream channels on the western slopes of the mountains, which are now buried beneath lava several hundred feet deep. These “deep leads” are also mined by drifting for their gold and platinum contents, and in a few cases a fair amount of the metals is extracted from them. Some platinum is obtained by hydraulic mining, but this is carried on with difficulty, owing to the prevailing scarcity of water[50] p. 18. Platinum occurs in black sands found on the Pacific coast in the counties of Coos, Curry and Josephine, Oregon and Del Norte, California. Formerly these beach deposits were rich in platinum, but at the present small quantities only are obtainable after stormy weather. This area has recently been examined by the United States Bureau of Mines, but the results were disappointing. In California most of the output of platinum is produced by dredging for gold in the Butte, Calaveras and Stanislaus counties[50] p. 19. In Trinity county mining is in progress on the Trinity River, about 4 miles below Junction City, by the Valdos Dredging Co. The output from this source for sixteen months in 1916–17 was stated to be 1,950 gm. Platinum, with gold and osmiridium, is also obtained on the Yuba River, about 12 miles east of Marysville in Yuba county, by the Yuba Consolidated Goldfields[10] p. 540. Some alluvial platinum has been recovered at the Bean Hill Gold Mine, situated 12 miles south-east of Placerville, and this locality is at present under investigation[71]. Californian metal contains from 25 to 45 per cent. iridium. Its origin is believed to be the serpentine- and olivine-bearing rocks of the Sierra Nevada and other ranges. In Oregon, in addition to the platinum obtained from the beach deposits near Bullards and Marshfield[50] p. 20, it occurs in placer deposits, rich in chromite, in south-west Oregon, the principal output being derived from the Waldo district.