But just as countless hard-rock miners could testify, reserves in the ground were one thing, dollars in the bank after delivery to smelter or refinery were quite another. By one count, by 1968 the oil industry’s total investment in Alaska was approaching half a billion dollars, out of which it had seen a return of only fifty cents on the dollar. “Eighth largest oil-producing state” made for good chamber of commerce talk, but as bore1hole pressures on million-dollar wells declined, payout was frequently some years down the road.
