Bulletin No. 263 Series A, Economic Geology, 55

.DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

CHARLES iX WALCOXT, .DIRECTOR

METHODS AND COSTS

OF

GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING 

IN ALASKA

BY

CHESTER WELLS PURINGTON

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

1905

CONTENTS.

Page.

Letter of transmittal...................................................... 11

Introduction............................................................. 13

Itinerary ..........................--.----.-----...---- -- --- ----- 13

Field methods ....................................................... 14

Acknowledgments.................................................... 25

General statement of conditions ........................................... 25

Classification of alluvial gold deposits in Alaska ....................:... 27-

Methods of mining, and conditions .............--.- ---.--- ---------- 29

Cost of mining ....................................................... 34

Prospecting ........... .............:.......................-............. 39

Cost of prospecting in different localities............................... 41

Kesults of prospecting................................................ 42

Water supply............................................................ 43

Climatic conditions................................................... 43

Stream volumes..........:........................................... 49

The miner's inch..................................................... .51

Table of stream volumes.............................................. 52

Grades of streams .......................'... ........................... 53

Open-cut mining.......................................................... 55

Introduction......................................................... 55

Rocker and long torn ................................................. 55

Shoveling into sluice boxes ........................................... 56

Conditions for shoveling.......................................... 56

Dams......j..................................................... 56

Drains............................................................ 57

Cost of shoveling................................................. 58

Horse scraping into sluice boxes........................................ 60 .

Steam scrapers ....................................................... 61

Self-dumping carriers.................................................. 65

Derricking............................................................ '67

Tracks and inclines................................................... 71

Steam shovel ........................................................ 73

Drift mining............................................................. 82

Introduction......................................................... 82

Drifting and timbering................................................ 83

Thawing............................................................. 88

Hoisting............................................................. 94

Drifting in the Fairbanks district...................................... 96

Hydraulic mining ........................................................ 99

General remarks ..................................................... 99

Ditches, flumes, and reservoirs........................................ 103

South Coast province ............................................. 113

Interior ......................................................... 117

Seward Peninsula ................................................ 120

3
4 CONTENTS.

Hydraulic mining Continued. Page.

Storage reservoirs .................................................... 127

Pipelines...............--..-..-...-.----..-..-.-..............-..... 128

Giants and nozzles.................................................... 134

, Sizes and prices .................................................... 134

Methods of piping to sluice ....................................... 136

Bank-head water................................................. 137

Duty of miner's inch.............. ................................. 138

Handling of bowlders.................................................. 141

Sluices and gold-saving appliances in hydraulic operations............... 142

Tailings ....".......................................'.:................ 150

The hydraulic elevator. ...........................................*..... 151

Dredging --.----.--....-..----........................................... 157

Introduction..................-..---................-.-----.-----.--. 157

Description of operations .......-------.----..-.----..----.------.---- 160

Cost of dredging............................................__........ ] 67

Notes on dredging, by J. P. Hutchins.................................. 173

Sluices and gold-saving appliances, excluding hydraulic operations........... 190

Cleaning, retorting, and melting........................................... 205

Fineness of gold........-....-----..-,---.-...---..---.-.....---.-........ 207

Labor .................................................................... 210

Lumber and fuel....................._.....-..---------------.-..-.-.-... 212

Timber.....................-.--..--.--....---.-.--.-...-....-...-.-. 212

' Coal.-....-..---------....----.-.-.------,--....-..----..--...-....... 213

Roads and road building in Alaska ................:....................... 217

Introduction .......................................................... 217

Cost and method of constructing highways............-.--.------..--.. 220

South Coast province ............................................. 222

Atlin district and Yukon Territory ................................. 222

Central Yukon province ...............................-............' 226

Seward Peninsula province...-..-.....-...-.--...--.--..-..-.-.-.. 227

Freight rates.........................:................................... 228

Freight rates from the States.............._.........._................ 228

Local freight and passenger rates ...................'.. ................ 235

Customs regulations ...................................................... 242

Telegraph rates .......................................................... 245

Tables of distances and prices of mining supplies ........................... 246

Legal conditions in 1904 ............... .............................-.....' 255

Introduction......................................................... 255

Application of present mining law to Alaska..............:.............. 257

Discovery r............... 1..................................'..... 257

Subsequent annual labor.........................._............... 258

Boundaries ...................................................... 259

Bibliography.....................'........................................ 261

Index..-.-.....-.-.-.---..--.----------.------------..-....-----..---..- 263
ILLUSTRATIONS.

" Page. 

PLATE I. Rock-cut on Miocene ditch line, Seward Peninsula ..:........... 13

II. General map showing area traversed.............................. 14

III. A, Churn drill mounted on scow, Snake River; B, Winter dumps,

Klondike .................................................... 40

IV. A, Set-up of boxes for shoveling-in, American Creek; B, China

pump, Klondike ............................................ 56

V. A, Yukon placer miner; B, Dam for booming, American Creek... 58

VI. A, Steam scraping on Walker Fork, Alaska; B, Dumping to sluices,

Klondike ............. I...................................... 62

VII. A, Derricking at Fairbanks, dumping; B, Derricking at Fairbanks,

loading....................................................... 64

VIII. A, Skids for derrieking; B, Derrick bucket................i..... 66

IX. A, Dumping bucket; B, Rough bed rock and bowlders piled in

pit ......................................................... 68

X. Plan of derricking plant, Ophir Creek, Seward Peninsula..... i... 70

XI. A, Steam shovel, Anvil Creek; B, Steam shovel, Bear Creek, Klondike ......................................................... 74

XII. A, Stationary washing plant, Klondike; B, Cocoa matting and expanded metal riffle ......~..................................... 80

XIII. A, Adit to drifting operations; B, Thawing ahead of shovel, Eldorado Creek.................................................. 84

XIV. A, Old drift timbers in hydraulic pit, Klondike; B, Application of

the steam point in open-cut work............................. 86

XV. A, Drift mining on Fairbanks Creek; B, Hydraulicking, Silver

Bow basin .................................................. 92

XVI. A, Topography, South Coast province; B, Treadwell ditch line at

Lawson Creek, Douglas Island ............................... 114

XVII. A, Pressure box in Treadwell ditch; B, Method of staying pressure

box, Silver Bow basin ..............................:........ 116

XVIII. A, Flume of Jualpa Mining Company, Silver Bow basin; B, Typical

South Coast topography, Gold Creek ................... ...... 118

XIX. A, Typical interior topography, Mastodon Creek, Birch Creek district; B, Ditch building, head of Nome River, .Seward Peninsula. 120

XX. A, Miocene ditch, Glacier Creek; B, Flume of Hot Air Company,

Ophir Creek .................... 1 .......................... 124

XXI. A, Pier for trestle, Hot Air ditch line, Ophir Creek; B, Small storage dam, Bonanza Creek, Klondike........................... 126

XXII. A, Settling pond, Anvil Creek, Seward Peninsula; B, Pipe line,

Pine Creek, Atlin, British Columbia ......................... 128

XXIII. A, Set-up of hydraulic pipe line, McKee Creek, Atlin, British

Columbia; B, Hydraulic pit, Klondike benches ............... 132

5
ILLUSTBATIONS.

TLATE XXIV. A, Bed-rock sluice, Klondike benches; B, Blocks of frozen

gravel in hydraulic pit, Klondike ......................... 136

XXV. A, Sluice below elevator, Ophir Creek; B, Eetaining dams,

Bonanza Creek, Klondike ................................ 148

XXVI. A, Hydraulic elevator in pit, Glacier Creek; B, Gravel in pit,

GlacierCreek ............................................ 152

XXVII. A, Hydraulic elevator; J3, Open cut worked by tramming to

bed-rock sluices ......................................... 154

XXVIII. A, Single-lift dredge, 40-foot ground at Atlin, coarse gold; B, . Buckets, Atlin dredge.................................... 160

XXIX. A, Trommel and gold-saving tables, New Zealand type, 

Bonanza Creek, Klondike; B, New Zealand dredge, Bonanza 

Creek, Klondike..............-...,-....-...'............. 162

XXX. A, Dredge of New Zealand type at Oroville, Cal., Leggett No. 3;

B, Buckets, dredge at Council.......'..................... 168

XXXI. A, Digging on spud; B, Stacker, New Zealand type of dredge,

California No. I.......................................*-.. 176

XXXII. Buckets: A, California No. 3; B, El Oro; C, Indiana No. 2; D,

Lava BedsNo. 2.^.......................................1 178

XXXIII. A, Lower tumbler, California No. 3; B, Digging ladder at low

angle, Oroville, Cal...................................... 180

XXXIV. A, Uncompleted belt stacker, Oroville, Cal.; B, Troughed belt

stacker, Oroville, Cal .................................... 182

XXXV. A, Oroville, Cal., practice' in pond dredging; B, Pilot house,

upper deck, starboard side............................... 184

XXXVI. A, Winter dumps, showing previously erected sluice boxes,

Klondike; "B, Mud box, used in string of boxes............ 192

XXXVII. A, Mud box on Gold Run, Klondike; B, Oroville riffles used

at Atlin, British Columbia ................................ 194

XXXVIII. A, Koad in Fairbanks district; B, Road in Atlin district, British

Columbia............................................... 220

XXXIX. A, Ogilvie Bridge, Klondike River; B, Six-mule team drawing

8,000 pounds, Klondike .................. ................ 224

XL. A, Six-horse team drawing 3,300 pounds, Cleary Creek, Fairbanks; B, Creek topography, Fairbanks district........... 226

XLI. A, Pack train, Birch Creek district; B, Trestled flume in Eagle

district...-....:-....-............--.'.---....-........... 228

XLII. Topography, Seward Peninsula province .................... 240

FIG. 1. Map showing American Creek drainage, Eagle district............... 44

2. Map of part of Birch Creek district................................. 45

3. Map of part of Fairbanks district........................ '. .......... 46

4. Map of part of (Seward Peninsula................................... 47

5. Klondike rocker .................................................. 55

6. Small steam scraper, Klondike..................................... 61

7. Set-up of scraper, Klondike. .................'...................... 62

8. Bottomless steam scraper........................................... 65

9. Plan of track-and-incline system ......................i............ 71

10. Plan of steam-shovel operations, Anvil Creek........................ 74

11. Plan of steam-shovel operations, Galesburg, 111.............,......... 75

12. Pulling-up device for steam shovel................................. 76

13. Rig for small drifting operation..................................... 82

14. System of opening drift mine ...................................... 83

16. Hidden Treasure system of timbering drift mine .................... 84
ILLUSTRATIONS. 7

Page.

FIG. 16. Plan of drifting operations on Solomon Hill, Klondike.............. 85

17. Details of steam point and crosshead............................... 90

18. Dawson self-dumping carrier...................................... 94

19. Map of portion of Juneau district, Alaska.......................... 114

20. Section of ditch in construction ................................... 122

21. Map of Miocene ditch............................................ 124

22. Method of nesting rnade-up hydraulic pipe for shipment............ 129

 23. Various forms of pipe fittings..................................... . 131

24. Device for reenforcing joints of pipe............................... 132

25. Device for setting pipe by battering ................................ 132

26. Pipe wrench for setting and unsetting hydraulic pipe............... 133

27. Bracing hydraulic pipe on steep slope ............................. 133

28. Method of bracing giant............!............................. 136

29. Method of hydraulicking frozen gravel, Klondike benches.......... 137

30. Sluice box used on McKee Creek, Atlin, British Columbia.......... 143

31. Tightener used in making sluice boxes, Atlin, British Columbia..... 146

32. Rail riffle used in Seward Peninsula............................... 149

33. Hood in head box of tail sluice ................................... 153

34. Angles for upper tumbier......................................... 179

35. Tailings well stacked............................................. 183

36. Tailings poorly stacked........................ 1.................. 183

37. Spud digging .................................................... 185

38. Spud digging .................................................... 186

39. Spud digging ...............................:.................... 187

40. Mud box.. I..................................................... 192

41. Modified Caribou undercurrent................................... 194

42. Improved Hungarian riffle used at Oroville........................ 195

43. " Kulibinka" sluice and undercurrent used in Siberia............... 196

44. Modified Siberian pan for handling clayey gravel................... 198

45. Pole riffle fitted with knives for breaking clay....................... 200

46. Riifle to hold divided sheet of quicksilver.......................... 202

47. Special block riffle for saving porous gold.......................... 202

48. Iron grate riffle, Seward Peninsula................................ 203

49. Method of constructing road over frozen muck, Klondike........... 225

TABLES.

1. Average capacity and cost of gold gravel mining and operations in northwestern America..................................................... 38

2. .Rainfall in Alaska ..................................................... 48

3. Average dates of last spring and first fall frosts .................'.....-.. 49

4. Average dates of opening and closing of the Yukon...................... 49

5. Table of teiuperature...........................................1...... 49

G. Table of stream volumes .............................................. . '52.

7. Table of stream grades along important sections of their courses, Alaska.. 54

8. Table of ditches and flumes............................::.............. 104

9. Data necessary in ordering hydraulic pipe.............................. 130

10. Water required and effective work of double-jointed hydraulic giants, with

table of sizes, volumes and heads of water, weights, and prices......... 135

11. Duty of miner's inch in northern placer mining......................... 139

12. Water required in hydraulic elevators.................................. 155

13. Fineness of gold by districts and creeks ................................ 207

14. Scale of wages in Alaskan camps, including Dawson, Yukon Territory, and

Atlin, British Columbia .............................................. 211

15. Cost of firewood and flume lumber in Alaskan camps, including Dawson,

Yukon Territory, and Atlin, British Columbia........................ 215

16. Cost of road construction.............................................. 221

17. Ocean freight and passenger rates for 1904 from Seattle to Alaskan coast

points, including lightering when necessary .......................... 230

18. Through freight and passenger rates for 1904 from Seattle to interior Yukon 

points, via White Pass route, rail and water, season June 15 to September 15.......................................................... 233

19. Through freight and passenger tariff for 1904 between San Francisco,

Seattle, and Yukon, Koyukuk, and Tanana points via St. Michael ..... 234

20. Local freight and passenger rates for 1904 via river steamer from Dawson

to points on Yukon and Tanana rivers ................................ 235

21. Local passenger and freight rates on the Tanana ........................ . 235

22. Local passenger tariff on Koyukuk Eiver, 1904.......................... 236

23. Packing rates from Rampart, Alaska, to creeks, 1904.................... 237

24. Freight rates from Circle, Alaska, to creeks, winter and summer...:..... 238

25. Freight rates from Fairbanks, Alaska, to creeks, winter and summer..... 238

26. Local freight and passenger rates in Seward Peninsula, with rates of lightering cargo at Nome .................................................. 240

27. Distances between towns in Alaska, excluding Seward Peninsula......... 246

28. Local distances between points on Seward Peninsula.................... 247

29. Distances from main supply points in Alaska to neighboring creeks....... 247

30. Prices of mining supplies in the North ................................. 249

9

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,

Washington, D. 6*1, February 15, 1905.

SIR: I transmit herewith a report by Mr. C. W. Purington on 

Methods and Costs of Gravel and Placer Mining in Alaska, and recommend its publication as a bulletin.

Placer mining in Alaska is affected by conditions which are not 

combined in any other field familiar to American miners. Hence new 

methods of operating must be substituted for those which are employed 

in other regions if the greatest success is to be obtained. In too many 

cases this fact has not been sufficiently recognized and many enterprises have therefore, failed when they should have succeeded. These 

failures have tended to deter capital from entering a field which still 

presents many opportunities for profitable investment. Some of the 

factors which increase the cost of production of placer gold in Alaska, 

such as high rates for transportation, are changing for the better; 

others, such as the inadequate water supply and low-stream gradients 

which prevail in many localities, are permanent and must be met by 

properly applied methods of exploitation. It is these facts which led 

to the investigation so successfully carried out by Mr. Purington, the 

results of which are here presented.

It is believed that this report will stimulate the mining industry by 

making available, in compact form, the accumulated results of the 

experience of mining men in this field arid by directing attention to 

those mining methods developed in older districts which appear to be 

adapted to the conditions prevailing in Alaska. While many of the 

figures presented, showing cost of labor, transportation, and fuel, are 

subject to fluctuation, with a general tendency to decrease, yet, as~a 

comparative study of mining methods, this report will form a valuable 

permanent contribution to mining literature. 

Very respectfully,

. ALFRED H. BROOKS,

Geologist in Charge Division of AlasJcan Mineral Resources. 

Hon. CHARLES D. WALCOTT,

Director United States Geological Survey.

11

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

ROCK-CUT ON MIOCENE DITCH LINE : SEWARD P
METHODS AND COSTS OF GRAVEL AND 

PLACER MINING IN ALASKA.

By C. W. PURINGTON.

INTRODUCTION.

Owing to the fact that numerous requests have been received by the 

Geological Survey during the last three years for information regarding the cost of operating gold-bearing alluvial deposits in Alaska and 

the best means of working the claims in the various districts, the 

preparation of a report embodying such information, in so far as is 

possible from data at present obtainable, was decided on.

I was requested, in the spring of 1904, by Mr. Alfred H. Brooks, 

geologist in charge of the division of Alaskan mineral recources, to 

proceed to some of the most important placer fields of Alaska during 

the open season of 1904 and to collect data for an economic report. 

I was asked also to visit the neighboring British fields of Atlin and 

Klondike for the purpose of comparison. Mr. Sidney Paige was 

assigned as my assistant for the field and office duties, and has rendered 

most efficient aid during the entire progress of the work.

In the north the Juneau, Atlin, Klondike, Birch Creek, Fairbanks, 

and Seward Peninsula districts were successively visited, and on the 

return a short stay was made at the gold-dredging field of Oroville, 

Cal. (See PI. II, p. 14, general route map.) Data concerning the 

districts not visited the Porcupine, Chistochina, Cook Inlet, Fortymile, and Rampart, and remote parts of Seward Peninsula have been 

collected from reliable sources, especially from members of the Geo.- 

logical Survey who have made investigations in those portions of 

Alaska.

ITINERARY.

A start was made from Seattle May 26. Five days, from May 30 to 

June 3, were spent in the vicinity of Juneau, Alaska, where the placers 

of Silver Bow basin and the power plant of the Alaska-Tread well mines 

were inspected. Six days, June 11 to 16, inclusive, were spent in the 

Atlin district of British Columbia, where ten plants were visited on 

Pine, Willow, Boulder, Spruce, and McKee creeks and Gold Run. 

Twenty-two daj^s, June 25 to July 16, inclusive, were spent in the 

Klondike district of the Yukon Territory, where 32 operations were
14 GEAVEL AND PLACEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263.

visited on Gold Run, Sulphur, Upper Dominion, Bonanza, Eldorado, 

Hunker, Last Chance, Bear, and Gold Bottom creeks. Three days, 

July 17 to 19, inclusive, were spent in the vicinity of Eagle, Alaska, 

two operations on American Creek being visited. At Circle the 

regular route of transportation via Yukon River was departed from. 

On July 22 the party started west with a pack train and reached Deadwood Creek, in the Birch Creek district, on July 24. This day and 

the next were spent on Deadwood Creek, where 6 operations were 

inspected. On July 26, 5 operations on Mammoth and Mastodon creeks 

were visited. On July 27, 4 operations on Eagle Creek were visited.

The route was then pursued westward over the ridge trail to Fairbanks Creek. From August 1 to 5, inclusive, nearly all the operations 

in the recently opened Fairbanks district were visited, including. 35 

operations on Fairbanks, Chatham, Cleary, Twin, and Pedro creeks. 

On Fairbanks Creek a junction was made with Mr. L. M. Prindle's 

party, and it is due to the fact that the two parties worked 

together in the Fairbanks district that all the operations were visited 

in the few days available. During the few succeeding days as much 

information as possible was collected in the town of Fairbanks concerning the new gold finds of the Tanana, and my party then proceeded 

via the Tanana, Yukon, and St. Michael to Nome, arriving there 

August 20. From August 21 to September 4, inclusive, 21 operations 

were inspected on Anvil, Glacier, and Dexter creeks and Grass 

Gulch, and on Newton, Peluk, and Dry creeks.

On September 5 the party proceeded to Ophir Creek via Cheenik 

and Council, and from September 5 to 17, inclusive, inspected 29 

operations on Ophir, Crooked, Warm, Gold Bottom, Penelope, and 

Big Hurrah creeks and Solomon River.

After returning to Nome a week was consumed in completing at 

the offices of the mining companies the data already partially obtained 

on the creeks and in gathering all possible informatio'n concerning 

operations in portions of Seward Peninsula not visited. The party 

arrived in Seattle October 2,°and after a few days sp'ent at Oroville, 

Cal., returned to Washington.

FIELD METHODS.

Every operation in a district was not visited, but enough representative claims were examined to give a fair estimate of the cost, utility, 

and adaptability of each method of mining.

For assistance in obtaining the data necessary a blank, a copy of 

which is given on pages 17-20, was sent to all the placer miners of 

Alaska whose addresses were known. This blank was accompanied by 

a circular letter, and in many cases by a personal letter, explaining the 

purpose of the investigation. The fact that replies have been received 

from all parts .of the Territory, in many cases from the most remote
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 263 PL. II

174* 170* 166.* 162* 158° 154* 150 146* M2° 138° 134° ISO* 128* 122*

170° 188* 162* 158* Longiti'de 154* West 150* from __ 146° Greenwich____142°

GENERAL MAP SHOWING AREA TRAVERSED.
PUKINGTON.] INTEODUCTION. 15

caiups, shows that the mine operators take an interest in contributing 

to the preparation of the work in hand.

At the operations visited by myself or by Mr. Paige more detailed 

information was collected regarding costs, the handling of water, the 

setting up of the plant, and the mechanical appliances. Forms 1, 2, 

3, 4, or 5 (pp. 17-25) were used, according to the character of the 

operations. Photographs were taken of all the operations visited. 

Over 400 excellent photographs have been obtained by Mr. Paige, 

some of which are reproduced in this report.

In each district a stud}'- has been made of the water resources, the 

most important factor in placer and hydraulic mining, and of the cost 

of building and maintaining ditches, flumes, and storage reservoirs for 

the purpose of using water under pressure. The important development of ditch building in Seward Peninsula has been especially 

considered.

. The quantity and quality of timber in the mining districts has been 

considered with reference to its use for fuel, for building flumes and 

sluice boxes, and for timbering drift mines. It is an unwelcome fact 

that the important placer districts of the Northwest do not contain a 

great amount of timber, and the mining communities of the interior 

must use with discretion the scant supply of native timber at their 

command.

The questions of wages and cost of living have been considered from 

the standpoint of both the laborer and his employer. Temporary conditions govern wages in Alaska to a notable degree, and the. table of 

wages applying in 1904 must be understood to have only present value. 

While the rate of pay for miners appears attractively high, the cost of 

living and of transportation to and from the country must be considered, as well as the shortness of the active season and the low rate of 

winter wages. Alaska presents a small field for those whose aim is 

limited to the earning of a day wage. On the other hand, men who 

are willing to work for wages during the summer, and actively and 

intelligently prospect during the winter with the money so earned, 

have always the chance of finding and locating a pay streak for themselves.

The main object has been the determination of the cost and most 

expeditious means of getting out the auriferous material gravel, 

sand, or bed rock; of the cost of obtaining its valuable contents; of 

the best methods of hydraulic mining; of the cost of removing overburden under each set of conditions, and of handling the tailings; of 

the capacity and cost of installing mechanical methods; of the cost, 

capacity, and adaptability of the methods employed to thaw frozen 

gravel; and of the most feasible method of mining in little-developed 

districts.
16 GRAVEL AND PLACEE MINING IN ALASKA. . [BOLL. 263.

Care has been taken to avoid the publication of figures which were 

accompanied by the request that they remain confidential. It majr, in 

general, be said that the detailed data furnished have been used mainly 

for the purpose of compilation, and have not been herein specifically 

transcribed.

In addition to matters relating directly to the operation of placer 

mines, attention has been given to means and cost of freight and passenger transportation. Whoever contemplates engaging in mining in 

the northwest portion of America, especially in the interior Alaska 

country, can not devote too much attention to the study of the cost of 

transportation of supplies. For the benefit of those who must depend 

on local supply points in the north for their needs, a table is given 

showing present costs, at each principal point, of the articles most 

necessary to the miner.

As regards transportation facilities, care has been taken to collect 

and embody in this report all available data and statistics relating to 

the construction of wagon roads in the Northwest. The neighboringfields of British Columbia and the Yukon Territory, in Canada, have 

afforded excellent opportunity to obtain costs and methods of road 

construction applicable to the Alaska interior. Recommendations 

regarding the most practical and serviceable routes for road construction in Alaska have been made in a previous report by Mr. Alfred H. 

Brooks/' The need of these roads can not be urged too strongly, and 

the expenditure ,of $1,000,000, as suggested by Mr. Brooks, would be 

many times repaid by the resulting development and increased gold 

production. Already over 300 miles of wagon road have been built 

by the Canadian government in the Yukon Territory and the Atlin 

district of British Columbia, while over 600 miles of sled roads have 

been made in the Yukon Territory. The fact that, in the summer 

wagons and vehicles of all descriptions, and even bic}rcles, may be 

seen daily about Dawson, the Klondike creeks, and Atlin, in British 

Columbia, while the winter roads in Canadian territory afford continuous, easy routes for horse sleds down the Yukon to Dawson, is evidence of the success of the Canadian road-building enterprise. On 

the other hand, there are in Alaska less than 50 miles of well-built 

wagon roads, and these have been constructed by private enterprise.

No attempt has been made to give a detailed account of the topographic and geologic conditions in the districts visited, except where 

such conditions have a direct bearing on the method to be emplo}7 ed 

in working the ground. The Geological Survey has already published many exceedingly valuable reports and maps, most of which 

are distributed free of charge. A list of the Survey publications on 

Alaska is given at the end of this bulletin. Any prospector who is 

unprovided with the reports concerning the region in which he is 

working lacks an important part of his equipment.

a Placer mining in Alaska: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 225, 1903, p. 57.
PUBINGTON.] OIEOULAE LETTER SENT TO PLACEE MINEES. 17

It should be distinctly understood that the purpose of the expedition on which this report is based was not the sampling of gold-gravel 

deposits. Sampling is they business of the mining engineer acting in 

a private capacity, and is neither practicable nor permissible for officers 

of the Federal Government.

Information concerning the tenor of the gravels worked was frequently given by operators whose claims were visited, and such statements have been considered in the estimates of the average tenor in 

gold of the gravels.

On the following pages are reprinted the circular letter and the 

forms which were sent to miners in Alaska:

Circular letter sent to placer miners.

Your kind cooperation is earnestly requested in the preparation of the report on 

the placer mining methods of Alaska, which has been undertaken by this Office 

under the supervision of Mr. Alfred H. Brooks, geologist in charge of division of 

Alaskan mineral resources.

Mr. Chester AV. Purington has been detailed to investigate some of the principal 

.placer districts of the Northwest during the coming summer, and will personally 

obtain as much information as possible. It being impracticable, however, to visit 

each operator, you are requested to assist in the preparation of this report by furnishing such data concerning your placer and the methods employed in operating it 

as are asked for on the accompanying blank form. The information furnished will 

materially aid the investigation and will insure the inclusion of all the districts in 

the final report, which it is expected will be distributed in 1905.

Methods of. operating are improved and rendered more effective, by a community 

of interest, and while data furnished by you and made use of in the report may assist 

some other operator, you also may derive benefit from it through the suggestions of 

others.

The results already attained in placer mining in Alaska and neighboring territory 

Avill be made use of for the purpose of outlining the most advisable methods to be 

followed in each of the principal placer districts. Especial attention will be given to 

gold dredging, hydraulic placer mining, the employment of elevators for obtaining 

artificial grade, and the determination of the best methods for the thawing of frozen 

gravel. A special feature of the report will be a comparison of costs of operation by 

various methods in all parts of the placer fields. It is evident that for carrying out 

the plan full data are necessary concerning trie character of the ground, the local 

conditions, and the methods at present in use.

 As the value of these reports depends largely upon the promptness of their publication, .an early reply is earnestly requested. Please answer the questions on the 

schedule as far. as possible. If you can not give the exact figures in all cases, make 

the replies as approximately correct as possible.

A copy of the report will be sent to each operator furnishing a statement. An 

addressed envelope is inclosed, which requires no stamp.

Form No. 1, sent to gold-placer miners of Alaska.

It is hoped that even in cases where the operator does not care to give full data 

concerning his property and operations he will furnish at least a part of the information requested. Very few of the facts obtained will be embodied directly in the 

report, but from the sum of them will be drawn conclusions and suggestions which 

it is hoped will be of value to the gold-mining community as a whole, 

Bull. 263-05 2
18 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

1. What is the name and post-office address of firm, corporation, or individual 

making this report?

2. What is the name of mine?

3. What is the location of mine, and in what district? (NOTE. Give name by 

which district is commonly known, such as "Birch Creek," "Ophir 

Creek," etc.)

4. By whom is the property owned? 

Address:

5. By whom is the mine managed ? 

Address:

6. (a) How long has the mine b'een operated, and what was date of opening?

(b) How many ounces of gold has it produced ?

(c) What was the gold worth per ounce?

7. What is the character of the deposit? (Creek, bench, river bar, seabeach, or 

gravel plain.)

8. (a) How many acres does it contain? 

(b) What are its approximate dimensions?

9. How many men are employed, and how much are they paid?

10. How many shifts are worked, and how many men on each shift?

11. Between what dates is gravel extracted?

12. Between what dates is it washed?

13. (a) Is there timber on the property?

(b) If so, how much, and of what kinds and average size?

(c) What does sawed lumber cost per thousand?

(d) Where is sawed lumber obtained?

14. (a) If gravel is in a stream bed, what is the grade of the stream per mile, in

feet?

(b) How many miner's inches or cubic feet of water are used in mining operations, and for how many months in the year?

15. How much, in dollars or cents, must the gravel contain per cubic yard to pay?

16. How far below the surface does the pay gravel lie?

17. Will you please describe a section of the overburden, giving the succession and 

thickness of turf, soil, sand, round or angular gravel, clay, etc.?

18. (a) Does pay lie directly upon bed rock? {b) If not, upon what does it rest, 

and' what is beneath?

19. How wide and thick is the pay?

20. Does it follow any definite channel or channels?

21. Is there more than one pay streak?

22. Is the pay gravel sandy or clayey?

23. (a) Is the gravel rounded or angular?

(b) What is the usual diameter of the stones?

(c) What per cent are over 6 inches in diameter?

(d) What per cent are over 18 inches in diameter?

24. (a) Is ground frozen? 

(6) If so, to what depth?

25. (a) Is bed rock hard or soft?

(b) What kind of rock?

(c) If slate, or thinly bedded rock, what is its angle or dip?

26. (a) Is bed rock excavated in mining? 

(b) To what depth?

27. \a) Do you get coarse or fine, flaky or shot gold?

. (b) Are nuggets found? 

. . (c) Of what size?
PURINGTON.] FOEMS SENT TO MINERS. 19

28. (a) Is gold smooth or rough?

(b) Rusty or bright?

(c) Flat or chunky?

29. (a) Does nature of gold vary from grass roots to pay or in different parts of the

pay streak? 

(b) If so, in what way? Please describe.

30. (a) What amount of black sand is caught per cubic yard of gravel washed? 

(6) What amount of other materials?

31. (.a) Are other valuable minerals caught besides gold? 

(b) If so, what are they and in what amount?

32. Under which of the following heads do your operations come, and will you 

briefly describe the important features? (Operations: tundra, beach, creek, 

or bench mining.)

33. How many cubic yards of gravel are washed per day during the season?

34. How many cubic yards of overburden are stripped during the season?

,, PROSPECTING GROUND.

1. (a) Has ground been prospected by pits or by drill holes? . 

(b) If by pits, what was the size and depth?

2. (a) How many were dug? 

(b) What did they cost?

3. (a) Did they need timbering?

(b) If so, how closely and how heavily?

4. If ground was prospected by drilling, what size, depth, and number of holes 

were used?

5. (a) What was the cost per foot? 

(b) What was the cost of equipment?

6. What difficulties were encountered?

7. How did the results from mining compare with the probable results as indicated by prospecting?

HYDRAULIC OPERATIONS AND EQUIPMENT.

1. How much water is used, and how is it distributed in the operations?

2. What is the length, capacity, and grade of ditches, and head and tail flumes?

3. What is the length and size of pipe lines, and of what is pipe made?

4. Will you kindly describe giants, as to size, make,- capacity, effectiveness, etc.?

5. How are bowlders handled?

6. What and how much material is consumed, such as lumber, quicksilver, 

powder, etc.?

7. What is the effectiveness of a giant upon frozen gravel?

8. How much gravel is moved in 24 hours, and what does it cost?

9. Are elevators used, and if so, what has been your experience with them?

10. How much water do they use?

11. Of whose make are they, and will you kindly describe them?

12. How large stones will they handle?

DREDGING.

[NOTE. If blueprints or photographs are furnished, they will be returned if desired.]

1. Will you kindly give a general description of dredge; Maker, type, size, estimated capacity, cost, and some details of construction; especially of new 

features that have proved advantageous.

2. How are bowlders handled?
20 GKAVEL AND PLAOEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263.

3. How deep will buckets or dipper dig?

4. What is capacity of buckets?

5. What are arrangements for moving dredge and holding it in place?

6. How is gravel sized?

7. Are plates or quicksilver used?

8. What is the life of wearing parts?

9. What kind of power and engines are used?

10. What fuel is used, and what is its cost?

11. What type of pumps are used, and what is their capacity?

12. How many cubic yards of gravel have been handled in a given time from past 

record?

13. What special difficulties are encountered?

14. What is cost of dredging under local conditions?

15. Is frozen ground encountered, and if so, how does dredger work in it?

In case of special operations not covered by the above summary, will you kindly 

give brief descriptions, especially of apparatus which has proved successful in handling placer gravel under northern conditions?

The following space is left blank in order that any special description, of the 

property-may be given.

You are requested to fill out this schedule as soon as possible and return in the 

inclosed envelope which requires no stamps.

Forms 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, contained the first thirty-four questions in form 

1, and the questions in form 1 regarding prospecting ground. In addition the following data were asked for, a separate form being used 

according as the operations came under the heads of hydraulic mining, 

dredging, open cutting, or drift mining.

Form 2. Hydraulic mining. 

Size of head-gate.

Dimensions; grade, length, capacity, and cost of head ditch. 

Cost of maintaining. 

Length of flume, if any.

Dimensions, grade, and size of lumber in bottom, sides, and battening; size and 

length1 of posts and sills in head flume; number of collars to box. 

Amount of trestling and cost of same. Size of sills, posts, and stringers. 

Is flume or ditch covered to prevent freezing? Describe method. 

Number of relief gates in ditch line. 

Are inverted siphons used? If.so describe. 

Amount of water available. 

Size pressure box and size lumber used. 

Head of water in feet. 

Length of pipe line from pressure box. 

If more than one pressure box or pipe line, describe. 

Size, gage, cost, and nature of pipe employed. 

Where obtained.

Kind of joints. . Kind and number of air valves. 

Method of setting and unsetting pipe. 

Size of pipe at giant or giants. 

Is water diverted for other purposes beside giant? 

If so, how much, and for what purposes? 

Number and angles of elbows in main pipe line.
PURINGTON.] FOEMS SENT TO MINERS. 21

Size, make, and cost of giant or giants used.

Size nozzle used, with or without deflector.

How often is giant moved ? . What height of bank is operated on ?

What modifications adopted in system of piping owing to frozen gravel?

Does giant clean bed rock ?

If not, how is bed rock cleaned ?

How much gravel is moved per shift?

If bankhead or by wash water used, how much ?

How are bowlders handled, derricking or shooting?

Cost of handling bowlders.

Size, capacity, and cost of derrick and plant; cost to operate.

At what distance is head box of tail sluice from giant?

Dimensions, grade, and length of boxes in tail sluice.

Number of boxes.

Size of lumber in bottom, side, and lining boards.

Method of making sluice box, size of posts and sills.

Cost and time to make and put in place one box.

Life of lining boards.

Largest stones put through sluice. 

. Average cost of shooting bed rock to keep sluice on grade.

Kind of riffles employed in the sluice distribution.

Cost and life of same preference of riffles.

Amount of quicksilver used.

Amount of quicksilver consumed.

Are undercurrents used ? Description, number, distribution, area of each, grade, 

results.

Per cent of gold saved in different parts of sluice.

Per cent of gold saved in undercurrents.

Per cent of gold lost.

Is gravel forked in the sluice ?

Is dump moved after leaving end sluice box ?

If so, by what power and to what distance?

Are tailings impounded ? If so, for what reason ?

Method and cost of impounding.

Cost of breaking down, moving, and washing gravel per cubic yard.

Improvements contemplated or suggested.

If hydraulic elevator is used make, size, weight, and cost of elevator.

Depth of sump.

Effective lift of. elevator. 

'Pressure necessary to obtain lift.

Size of throat, upcast pipe, and nozzle.

Weight, thickness, material, life, and cost of throat.

Method of joining upcast pipe.

Shape, material, and life of hood.

Largest stones handled.

Amount of water handled by elevator.

Amount of gravel handled by elevator.

Amount of water fed to nozzle.

Are auxiliary water lifts used ?

Is any method beside piping used for feeding gravel to elevator? What method.

Describe sluice boxes before elevator, if any number of boxes, grade, dimensions, 

riffles.

Describe tail sluice length, grade, dimensions, riffles!
22 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BOLL. 263

Per cent of gold caught before and after elevator. 

Frequency, time, and cost of moving elevator. 

Difficulties encountered in its use.

Form 8. Dredging.

Make and cost of dredge.

Estimated and actual capacity of dredge in cubic yards per twenty-four hours.

Is dredge in a river or in self-made pond?

Depth to which buckets dig, and height of bank above water level.

Where was hull constructed and of what material?

Feet of lumber in hull and cost of hull.

Dimensions and draft of hull, loaded.

Weight of machinery.

Power used, nature, amount, cost per day.

Height, size, method of bracing, and inclination of gauntrees.

Size, weight, position, and description of spuds, if used.

Size, number, position, and use of winch drums.

Position of lever house.

Size, number, and length of cables.

Does dredge dig on spud or head line?

Length, width, weight, material, of digging ladder.

Material and weight of tumblers.

Number, capacity, arrangement, weight, shape, and cost of buckets.

Material, life, and cost of bucket lips, pins, and bushings.

Are teeth used on any buckets?

How far in front of bow will buckets dig?

What size of stones are handled?

Do buckets clean bed rock?

Describe save-all, if used.

Is nozzle used for cleaning buckets?

Is trommel or shaking screen used? Preference.

Dimensions and life of trommel; size holes.

Is side chute used for large stones? Describe grizzly.

Is sluice box with auxiliary float used? If so, describe.

Is stacking ladder used? Length, how driven, steel-link belt, or rubber belt, width,

Height and distance from stern stacked.

Life, efficiency, and cost of stacker belt.

Treatment of fines, area, grade, and description of tables; kind of riffles most successful, amount of quicksilver used.

Is sand pump used? How often?

Clean up, how often? State method used and time consumed.

Size, make, and cost of pump used for supplying sluice water; height of lift.

Distribution of power; how much to each operation.

Size and capacity of boilers and engines or dynamos used; describe connections 

pulleys, and clutches.

Special difficulties owing to northern conditions.

Most frequent breakages.

What kind of ground does dredge work best in?

What kind of ground does dredge have most difficulty in?

If in pond, is water pumped in? How much? From what source?

Cost per cubic yard of digging and washing gravel.
FORMS SENT TO MINERS. 23

Form 4. Open cut (not worked by hydraulicJdng).

Depth of overburden stripped.

Method of stripping; by ground sluicing, hydraulicking, scraping, or booming.

Cost per cubic yard of stripping; amount stripped in a given time.

Source of water.

Amount of water in miner's inches.

Length of ditch or flume and dimensions.

If water is pumped for sluicing, kind of pump used and cost of pumping per cubic 

yard of gravel handled.

Dimensions and grade of sluice boxes and number used.

Is mud box used? Dimensions.

Disposal of large stones.

Size of lumber used; one or more strings of boxes.

System of joining and setting up boxes.

Kind of riffles, cost and life.

Dimensions of pit worked with one set-up, frequency of new set-ups, and time consumed in changing.

How is seepage water handled, by pump or drain?

Dimensions, length, grade, capacity, cost, and method of constructing drain; difficulties with drain.

Is China pump used? Capacity; cost of pumping. 

Is power pump used? Capacity; cost of pumping. 

Describe system of dams, if used, method of construction and cost. 

How are tailings handled? If scraped by horses, cost of scraping. 

Per cent of gold saved in boxes, if known. 

The following special queries apply to open-cut work: 

If men shovel into boxes 

To what height do men throw?

Are platforms used?

Depth of ground shoveled in. .

Amount of ground handled per shift per man in cubic yards. 

If horse scrapers scrape into boxes 

How many cubic yards per day will one team scrape into boxes?

Cost per day of team and driver.

Per cent of gold saved. 

If steam scraping is employed, in handling pay or tailings 

Describe plant and cost, cost of operation, capacity, and difficulties encountered.

Amount and kind of fuel used.

Number of men required to scraper.

Distance to which material is conveyed, and height elevated. 

If derricking is employed 

Describe capacity of plant, give cost, system of operating, amount and "distribution of power and labor. 

If inclined track and car system is used 

Number and capacity of cars handled per shift; number and length of tracks 

in use.

Length of tram to bottom of incline.

Number of men to a car.

Length of incline and vertical height of dumping platform above bed rock.

Amount of power to elevate; system of elevating, automatic devices used. 

If steam shovel is used 

Size, make, capacity, and cost of shovel.

Power used, amount, and how generated.

Capacity of dipper.
24 GRAVEL AND. PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [ButL.263.

If steam shovel is used 

Length of boom.

Weight of machine.

On track or skids.

Height of bank on which it will operate.

Does it clean bed rock, or do men clean bed rock after it?

Efficiency in digging the material at hand..

Does it dump into cars or sluice boxes?

Is conveying system equal in capacity to shovel?

Difficulties encountered.

Cost per cubic yard of digging.

Elevation to which gravel is hoisted in cars, power necessary for hoisting.

Describe track system for returning empty cars.

If more than one of the above systems is in use for working open cuts on the same 

claim, give comparative efficiency and cost.

Form 5 Drift mining.

Dimensions of shaft. 

Cost and rate of sinking per foot. 

Is shaft timbered? Method of timbering shaft. 

Depth of shaft to bed rock. 

Unfrozen gravel 

Method of drifting.

What width of face is carried?

Are pillars left, what dimensions?

Height of posts, length of caps.

Are false sets used?

Method of filling or caving worked-out ground.

Are timbers recovered? 

Frozen gravel 

Rate and cost of sinking shaft by steam point.

Diameter of steam pipe entering shaft.

Length, diameter, and cost of points.

Pressure of steam, size of cross-head.

How far apart are points placed in face?

Is hot water used in starting points? Preference.

Horsepower per point.

How long are points left in face?

Cubic yards of gravel thawed by each point in given time.

System of mining and hoisting.

If gravel thawed by hot-water hydraulicking, describe method.

Size, capacity, and cost of pump.

Ppsition of pump.

Temperature of and method of heating water.

Amount of water used.

Size nozzle used.

Cubic yards of gravel thawed per shift. 

Boiler kind, make, cost. 

Kind, amount, cost of fuel burned per day. 

Distribution of power, to thawing, to hoisting and conveying. 

If gravel thawed by wood fires, describe method; give cost and capacity. 

Describe^ system of tramming, wheeling, or skidding to shaft. 

Describe system of hoisting. 

Is self-dumping carrier used? Kind, efficiency.
GENERAL STATEMENT OF CONDITIONS. 25

To what distance and height above the collar of shaft does it transport the gravel?

Capacity of the plant.

Cost per cubic yard of mining, hoisting, and washing.

What area of ground is worked from one shaft?

If winter dumps are taken out and washed in spring 

Size of dump.

Method of sluicing.

Cost of sluicing.

Is dump rethawed?

Method and cost of rethawing.

Method of sampling dump, if any.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

Acknowledgments for assistance rendered and courtesies extended 

to the party would, if made in detail, fill a volume of themselves. 1 

especially extend thanks to the operators of the Atlin arid Klondike 

districts, and to the officers of the British Columbia and Yukon Territory administration for their hospitable reception to a foreign expedition. To the citizens of Alaska, in whatever capacity they may be 

employed, the party is indebted for uniform courtesy and assistance 

as well as unstinted hospitality. Without the cooperation of the 

miners the work attempted "would" have been impossible. I also wish 

to express my thanks to members of the Geological Survey who have, 

furnished me with the valuable results of their Alaska investigations.

I wish to acknowledge indebtedness for assistance in preparing the 

description of ditch construction in Seward Peninsula to Messrs. G. 

A. R. Lewington, J. W. Davidson, A. H. More, and William West, 

of Nome.

Thanks are due to Mr. J. P. Hutchins, a gold-dredging engineer of 

long experience, who has contributed to the report an authoritative 

treatise on that subject.

The writer is indebted to Mr. Henry C. Perkins, of Washington, 

for many suggestions made during the final preparation of the manuscript, especially of that portion dealing with hydraulic mining.

GENERAL STATEMENT OF CONDITIONS.

Placer mining is that form of mining in which the surficial detritus 

is washed for gold -or other valuable minerals. When water under 

pressure is employed to break down the gravel, the term hydraulic 

mining is generally employed. There are deposits of detrital material containing gold which lie too deep to be profitabty extracted by 

surface mining, and which must be worked by drifting beneath the 

overlying barren material. To the operations necessarj^ to extract 

such auriferous material the term drift mining is applied.

As nearly all mining in alluvial deposits comes under the head of 

gravel mining, that term has been adopted in the main for operations 

described in the report of which the following chapter is a summary.
26 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

Occasionally, however, the precious mineral sought lies in a matrix 

of fine sand, or even entirely in the crevices of the bed rock on which 

the alluvial deposit rests. Obviously the term gravel mining does 

not cover the cases in which detrital gold is extracted from such 

matrices, and the general term placer mining" has been, therefore, 

added in the title of this report for want of a name which shall 

include all operations considered. b When in the subsequent matter 

the terms gravel deposit, gravel washing, and gravel mining are 

employed they must be understood, for the sake of brevity, to include 

the consideration of all classes of deposits in which gold of detrital 

origin is found.

The term ii elbuvial" has been applied to placer deposits formed by 

the rotting of rock in place to greater or less depth. c Such deposits 

do not occur in the portions of Alaska visited, and may be excluded 

from consideration.

In regard to the valuable contents of the deposits, it should be 

stated that in all the ca'ses here considered gold is the mineral sought. 

Platinum or any minerals of the platinum group have not been found 

in paying quantity in any part of Alaska. Alluvial tin has been 

found and mined in the western portion of Seward Peninsula. The 

deposits were not, however, visited by the present expedition.^

a Placer, according to a Spanish definition, is a place near the bank of a river where gold dust is 

found. Lindley on Mines, sec. 419, makes the following comments:

"Dr. R. W. Raymond (Glossary of mining and metallurgical terms, Trans. A. I. M. E., vol. 9, p. 

164) defines the word placer as a deposit of valuable mineral found in particles in alluvium or diluvium, or beds of streams. He adds to the definition the statement that, by the United States 

Statutes, all deposits not classed as veins or rock in place are considered placers. As was said by the 

Supreme Court of the United States (Reynolds v. Iron S. M. Co., 116 U. S., 687-695; 6 Sup. Ct. Rep., 

601), in distinguishing the two classes of deposits: ' Placer mines, though said by the statutes to 

 include all other deposits of mineral matter, are those in which this mineral is generally found in 

the softer material which cover the earth's surface, and not among the rocks beneath.'"

It is evident that the term placer mining as used in the present report covers a much more limited 

field than would be the case were the term placer used in its broad legal sense.

t> The term alluvial mining, used in Australia, is not generally employed in the United States. 

cEng. and Min. Jour., vol. 77, May 5,1904, p. 722.

<JSee the report of A. J. Collier (Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 229,1904) for an exhaustive account of 

the York tin deposits.
PURINGTON.] GENEBAL STATEMENT OP CONDITIONS. 27 

CLASSIFICATION OP ALLUVIAL GOLD DEPOSITS IN ALASKA.

The alluvial gold deposits of Alaska may be classified as follows:

Classification of alluvial deposits in Alaska.

Creek placers.. 

Hillside placers

Bench placers.... 

River-bar placers.

Gravel-plain (t u n d r a) 

placers.

Sea-beach placers .......

Lake-bed placers.

Placers in, adjacent to, and at the level of small streams.

Placers on slopes, intermediate between creek and bench 

claims.

Placers in ancient stream deposits from 50 to 300 feet 

 above present streams.

Placers on gravel flats in or adjacent to the beds of large 

streams.

Placers in the coastal plain of Seward Peninsula.

»

Placers adjacent to the seashore to which the waves have 

access. '

Placers accumulated in the beds of present or ancient 

lakes; generally formed by landslides or glacial damming.

The methods of working the alluvial gold deposits are shown in the 

following table:

Methods of working alluvial gold deposits of A laska.

Cliiss of placers.

Hillside placers c ........

Method of working.

Hydraulicking.

Hydraulicking with hydraulic elevator. 

Dredging. 

Open cutting, separate « stripping, and shoveling in. & 

Open cutting, separate stripping, and horse scraping. 

Open cutting, separate stripping, and steam scraping. 

Open cutting, separate stripping, wheeling, and cable tram. 

Open cutting, separate stripping, and steam shovel. 

Open cutting, separate stripping, track and incline system.

Open cutting, separate stripping, track system, with hydraulic elevator.

Open cutting, separate stripping, track system, with derricking.

Open cutting, separate stripping, skidding, with derricking. 

Shaft, drifting, and timbering. 

Shaft, thawing, and drifting.

By the same methods as creek claims.

aCharged to independent account. The stripping generally consists of frozen "muck," a mixture 

of silt and ice, which is ground-sluiced off. 

''Includes rocker work. 

o Detritus varying from 3 to 60 feet in thickness.
28 GKAVEL AND PLAOEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263. 

Methods of working alluvial gold deposits of Alaska. Continued.

Class of placers.

River-bar placers '' ......

i

Gravel-plain (tundra) 

placers. c

Sea-beach placers (l ......

Method of working.

Open cutting, separate stripping, and shoveling in. 

Open cutting, separate stripping, and horse scraping. 

Shaft or adit, drifting, and timbering. 

Shaft or adit, thawing, drifting, little timbering.

 Hydraulicking with hydraulic elevators.

Dredging. 

Open cutting, steam shovel.

Hydraulicking with hydraulic elevating. 

Open cutting, separate stripping, and shoveling in. 

Shaft, thawing, and drifting.

Digging shallow pits and shoveling in. «

Dredging. 

Special devices.

a Detritus varying from 5 to 150 feet in thickness; in parts of Seward Peninsula to 230 feet.

b Detritus from 3 to 60 feet in thickness.

c Detritus from 15 to 150 feet in thickness.

d Detritus from 1 to 6 feet in thickness.

eThe greater part of the gold from the beach sands has been obtained by rockers.

The above classes are based on operations actually seen during the 

season of 1904. Suggestions concerning the application of other 

methods to certain forms of deposits are given in the body of the main 

report.

In the districts (PL IT, p. 14) visited the deposits under exploitation 

as above classified were as follows:

Classes of deposits worked in districts visited.

Province. District.

Atlin...... .........

Eagle .............

Class of placer worked.

Creek and lake-bed placers.

Creek and bench deposits.

Creek, hillside, and bench placers.
PURINGTON.] CLASSIFICATION OF ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS.

Classes of deposits worked in districts visited Continued.

29

Province. District. Class of placer worked.

seabeach placers.

In the districts not visited the classes of deposits are as follows:

Classes of deposits worked in districts not visited.

Province. '

South Coast ........

Interior ............

District.

Nizina ............

Sunrise...... ......

Fortymile .........

Topkok .:.........

Fairhaven .........

Class of deposit worked.

Do.

Do.

Do.

cers.

Do.

Do.

METHODS OF MINING, AND CONDITIONS.

The mining of placer gold in Alaska is carried en for the most part 

during June, July, August, and September. The gold-bearing gravel 

mined during the remainder of the year by winter drifting does not 

exceed 15 per cent of the total annual amount extracted. The gold can 

not be washed from this gravel until the cessation of Avinter conditions 

liberates the water in spring for sluicing purposes. The sluicing of 

the "winter dumps" takes place during the latter part of May.

Many of the methods of mining have been developed within the last 

ten years to suit the unusual conditions existing in the northern gold 

fields. Gravel miners from other parts of the world found that in 

Alaska much of their previous experience proved of no special benefit. 

On the other hand, men Avithout previous experience in mining, but 

possessing ingenuity, have occasionally adopted devices which have 

proved efficient and adequate to meet the northern conditions. 

Methods which had been condemned or tried with ill success in other 

countries have given good results in Alaska, while the attempts to 

apply hydraulic or mechanical methods of established reputation elsewhere have frequently resulted in ignominious failure.
30 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.268.

Mining operations have been made difficult by the short available 

season, the lack of grade to the streams, poor water supply, poverty 

of timber resources, high cost of labor and transportation, concentration of gold on and in the bed rock, and comparatively large thickness 

of barren overburden, the frozen, or worse .still, half-frozen condition 

of the gravel, lack of wagon roads, and inadequate mining and police 

regulations. In spite of these obstacles the wide and fairly uniform 

distribution of alluvial gold over large areas of Alaska, hitherto unexploited, the uniformly healthy and even enjoyable climate of the 

country, and the near proximity of the phenomenally rich gold fields 

of the British Yukon Territory, offer a certain justification for the 

present energetic prospecting and mining for gold over so extensive 

an area.

The main impressions derived from an inspection of the placer gold 

fields of the north are as follows: (1) Operations requiring the installation of expensive plants are frequently undertaken before* adequate 

sampling of the ground has been done; (2) the methods of mining and 

conveying the auriferous material, .while often leaving much to be 

desired from the standpoint of economy, are', in the main, developing 

along favorable lines; (3) the gold-washing and gold-saving appliances 

in use are, in numerous cases, inexcusably crude and inefficient.

The winning of gold from alluvial material is a business difficult 

both to learn and to conduct successfully. The careful miner, like the 

careful manufacturer, will give as much attention to one part of his 

business as to another, irrespective of the scale on which it is conducted. 

The extensive but not remarkably rich gold-bearing area of Alaska 

offers a field for men who propose to conduct their operations with 

energy, intelligence, and economy. To others it can afford only 

ultimate poverty and despair,

The South Coast province is characterized hy heavy grades, abundant 

water supply, and good timber. Gold-bearing gravels are, however, 

distributed in small quantity and, however good the conditions for the 

installation of hydraulic plants, the province remains an unimportant 

producer of alluvial gold.

The Interior province promises to continue for many years a fairly 

important producer. Geographically considered, the phenomenal 

Canadian deposits of the Klondike come under this province. No 

gravels approaching the Klondike deposits in richness have been found 

on the American side, but a large area yet remains to be prospected.

Owing to the topographic conditions, low grades to creeks, and 

insufficient water supply at an available elevation, hydraulicking on 

any but the smallest scale is impossible. Many of the creek deposits 

are shallow, and, besides the primitive method of shoveling into sluice 

boxes so largely in practice, there is a considerable field for the installation of horse-scraping methods and the installation of simple mechan-
PUR1NGTON.] METHODS OF MINING, AND CONDITIONS. . 31

ical plants. Solidly frozen creek deposits exceeding 15 feet in depth 

can be most economically worked by drifting methods, as heretofore. 

Experience gained in the Klondike has been invaluable to the miners 

now developing the new Fairbanks field. There is room, however, 

for considerable improvement and reduction of expense in the methods 

employed.

The natural-conditions prevailing in the Alaska interior gold field 

imply great age and erosion subsequent to any deposition beneath sea' 

level. Topographic conditions exercise a remarkable control over the 

methods which can profitably be employed in gravel mining, and the 

prospective miner neglects a vital part of his preparation if he does 

not study the topographic features of a given district in detail before 

entering upon his operations. In California and Australia the geologic 

and topographic conditions favor the placer miner. In other countries, notably Siberia, Alaska, and the Yukon Territory, they are inimical to his success. In Alaska, as a rule, alluvial gold is almost entirely 

lacking where timber and water are plentiful, grades are steep, and the 

ground is unfrozen. Where gold is distributed in. paying quantity, 

water supply is inadequate, timber is poor or altogether lacking, the 

miner must provide grade for his boxes and dump for his tailings by 

artificial means, and must meet the formidable obstacle of solidly frozen alluvium. Bench deposits, where gravel can be moved on natural 

grade, occur in both the Forty mile and Kampart districts of interior 

Alaska, and have been made to produce a small amount of gold by the 

hydraulic method. Although it is not impossible that extensive and 

valuable bench deposits may yet be found, no deposit comparing either 

in extent or in richness with the famous "White Channel "of the 

Klondike has been discovered.

In that portion of the Alaska interior lying between Circle, on the 

Yukon, and Fairbanks, on the Tanana, the mountains rise to heights of 

from 1,500 to 2,000 feet above the level of the streams, have rounded 

tops, and slope to the intervening valleys at angles which do not exceed 

20 degrees, and often are not greater than 10 degrees. The streams 

and valleys are on a gently descending plain, the grade of which does 

not exceed 3 per cent, except in the upper one-half mile,, and frequently 

is not over 1 per cent. The mountains are referred to by the inhabitants as "domes," and the word fairly well describes them. They 

present what corresponds most nearly to the upper segment of a great 

ellipsoid except in places where the erosion has not been sufficient 

to accomplish the obliteration of a still more ancient topography. 

This ancient surface, remnants of which are visible on the tops of the 

highest mountains, was evidently a base-leveled plain, which was 

approximately 2,500 feet above the present drainage plain. Although 

the base-leveling is apparent to the eye, it is not evinced by the 

presence of rounded gravel on its surface. The lack of gravel is
32 GEAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263.

accounted for by the fact that the second denudation has progressed 

for a great period, and the comparatively small amount or vertical 

section of gravel which existed subsequent to the elevation has been 

v/orn away.

In the Klondike recent streams have cut the old Pleistocene channels and have reconcentrated the gold. a The gold is about equally 

distributed in the old and in the new gravels. From the miner's 

'standpoint, therefore, in the Klondike region there are two great 

classes of mining to be considered, namely, creek mining and bench 

mining. Outside of these two classes there is no mining in the Klondike of productive importance.

In the Birch Creek district, especially on Deadwood Creek, there is 

a very small amount of gravel in low benches which may be termed 

hillside deposits. The bulk of the mining, perhaps 90 per cent of it, 

is creek mining in its various forms. The terms bench deposit, hillside deposit, and the like are very loosely applied by the miners of the 

Northwest, and names are given to classes of mining to which they 

do. not in any sense apply. This looseness of nomenclature is apparent 

in the Fairbanks district, where the term bench mining is applied on 

Cleary Creek to operations in progress on the left bank.of the stream 

at a place one-fourth mile above the junction of Cleary and Chatham 

creeks. But whereas the depth to bed rock in the main creek at this 

point is 18 feet, the depth on the so-called bench, 700 feet to the left, 

is 53 feet, and the level of the bed rock at which the gravel is found 

is practically the same. In the one case, namely, in the creek working, the overburden is 6 feet of muck, while in the "bench" to the 

left the overburden is over 45 feet of muck. The gently sloping side 

of the valley at this point is unbroken in outline.

Observations along the various producing creeks and from "the 

hilltops have failed to distinguish any traces of bench topography 

in the Fairbanks district. Such placer mining as is carried on there 

comes under the head of creek mining. Geological evidence, however, suggests that bench deposits occur in the region lying between 

the Fairbanks and Rampart districts.

The methods applicable to bench mining at Dawson can not be 

used in the Fairbanks district, and all thought of applying them must 

be eliminated. The country being in every sense of more gentle 

topography, there is no room for the disposal of tailings from bench 

operations conducted by hydraulicking.

On Pedro and Twin creeks there are about 2 miles of ground less 

than 15 feet in depth which can be worked by open cutting, either by 

shoveling into sluice boxes or by derricking. On a portion of this 

ground it is possible to handle the water by bed-rock drain. Opencut mining has also been successful on Chatham Creek near its juncaSee McConnell, R. G., Preliminary report on the Klondike gold fields: Geol. Survey Canada, 1900.
PURINGTON.] METHODS OF MINING, AND CONDITIONS. 33

tion with Cleary. In all other' portions of the district, so far as 

developed, drift mining according to the Klondike system of thawing 

either by steam or hot-water hydraulicking, hoisting, and conveying 

by means of the self-dumping bucket on cable tram will probably be 

found most economical. I would suggest the method of underground 

hot-water hydraulicking to the miners of Cleary Creek, while on 

Fairbanks Creek steam thawing appears to be advisable. The 

efficiency of the hot-water method as used in the Klondike is from 5 

to 6 cubic yards per horsepower generated in the boiler as against 

3 cubic yards with steam. The method can, however, be applied only 

under certain favorable conditions.

In Seward Peninsula the greater rainfall, larger catchment areas 

at the heads of the long rivers, and the comparative cheapness with 

which ditches can be constructed has led to the investment of much 

capital in long water conduits. For example, a ditch system of 54 

miles, built at an expenditure of $300,000 and costing $15,000 annually 

to maintain, supplies 2,000 miner's inches of Avater at 360 feet head for 

four months in the year. Approximately 200 miles of ditches have 

been,built in various parts of the peninsula. Excav£&ons of earthwork for ditch building in the peninsula average $1 per cubic yard.

Hydraulicking without the use of hydraulic lifts is economically 

impossible, except in extremely rare cases. Bench gravels in the 

front of Anvil Mountain, facing the sea, can be hydraulicked if water 

at a sufficient head can be obtained at an expense which is not prohibitive. The remarkable ancient gravel channel which cuts the 

southern portion of the peninsula from east to west, extending from 

Fish River along Casadepaga and Kuzitrin rivers to Port Clarence, 

lies at so low a level that the present streams have not cut through 

it to bed rock. Except where subordinate pa}^ streaks exist in it 

above the present stream, therefore, the physiographic conditions 

will forbid its gravels being hydraulicked, while any other form of 

open cutting is manifestly impossible. It has been little explored, 

and portions of it may be found rich enough to drift.

Horse scraping, steam or power scraping, derricking, and the application of the mechanical shovel, accompanied in most cases by ground 

sluicing of the frozen muck, should receive consideration from the 

creek operators in Seward Peninsula, where the deposits are less 

than 15 feet in depth. The low price of winter labor ($2.50 a day and 

board) should permit of an increasing amount of winter drifting work 

throughout the peninsula.

It will doubtless eventually be found that the power of water under

pressure can be more successfully applied to the working of the

average Seward Peninsula placer by generating electric power and

applying it to various mechanical devices. While it can not be denied,

BulL 263 05 3
34 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263.

that some of the hydraulic elevator installations are handling the 

gravel at a profit, the contrivance is a makeshift, and its use forms no 

part of bona fide hydraulic mining.

COST OF MINING.

The average value of fuels in Alaska as shown by present operations

is as follows:

Cost of fuels available for use in Alaska.

Bituminous coal, price at Nome....................... $17 per ton (2,000 pounds)

Crude oil at Nome................................................. $3 per barrel

Spruce wood, average price in the interior........................... $12 per cord

Experience in the Nome district indicates that California crude oil is 

the most economical fuel available in the southern part of Seward 

Peninsula. In the interior of Alaska the price of imported crude oil 

renders its use prohibitive for mining operations.

The recently exhibited tests of the adaptability and efficiency of 

gas-producing engines should receive attention from operators who 

contemplate the installation of mechanical plants in any part of Alaska. 

There is no question that bituminous coal and lignite can be utilized 

for gas producers, giving proportionately better results than anthracite. An engineer operating a large pumping plant in the Klondike 

is of the opinion that even the poor spruce wood available for fuel in 

interior Alaska can be utilized in the gas-producer engine. The prejudices which exist againt the explosion type of engine in the United 

States are fast disappearing. They have been due to faulty construction of the engines and lack of knowledge of their principle among 

those who attempt to operate them. .The present valid objections to 

installing gas and gas-producer engines are that these engines are 

undergoing a process of evolution, and the standard has not been 

attained. According to Mr. M. R. Campbell, the Government coaltesting plant at St. Louis has demonstrated that a gain of from 30 

to 50 per cent of efficiency is attainable in the gas-producing as 

compared with the steam-producing engine.

The comparatively low cost of California crude oil at Nome renders 

it a valuable fuel for the mining operations in that vicinity. The satisfactory results from one type, of gas engine at St. Louis showed that 

crude oils of widely varying composition can be used with a higher 

efficiency in generating gas for explosive engines than in generating 

steam.

The purchase, of water for hydraulic or sluice purposes is not 

general in Alaska. In Seward Peninsula water under natural head 

or pumped water is sold to miners to a limited extent. The average 

price is $1 per miner's inch, twenty-four hours' service, for water 

under head and 50 cents for sluice water. The inch used corresponds 

to 1.2 cubic feet per minute. This measure of the miner's inch is 

not accepted in this report. The miner's inch, according to its best
PDRINGTON.] COST OF MINING. 35

definition, which is followed in this report, corresponds for all practical-purpose's to a flow of 1.5 cubic feet per minute. It is to be hoped 

that if the Federal Government ever succeeds in establishing an adequate code of mining law for its possessions a definition of the miner's 

inch will be included.

The data in the table on page 38 were compiled from statistics collected during an inspection made in the summer of 1904 of the placer 

fields in Alaska, Yukon Territory, and northern British Columbia. 

Of the statements furnished by operators, only those which are considered reliable have been used. The work attempted had no relation 

to the sampling or valuing of mining properties, and time did not 

permit, except in a few cases, the measuring of the ground.

Owing to the varying conditions governing the cost of mining in 

the North, the Territory has been divided into three provinces. The 

South Coast province includes the Juneau, Porcupine, and Sunrise 

districts of Alaska. The Interior province includes the Atlin district 

of British Columbia, the Klondike district of Yukon Territory, and 

the Fortymile, Eagle, Birch Creek, Fairbanks, and Rampart districts of 

Alaska. The Seward Peninsula province includes the Nome, Council 

and Solomon districts of Alaska.'

The Nizina district of the South Coast province and the Port Clarence, Fairhaven, and Kougarok districts of Seward Peninsula, none 

of which'were visited, are separately considered.

 In preparing the sheet the working costs of 118 different operations 

were first tabulated with reference to the method employed and to 

situation. A second table was then prepared, in which the working 

cost was augmented by an amount per cubic yard based on allowance 

for depreciation of plant. In general, six years was taken as the average life of an individual property, and, except in the case of winter 

drifting operations, one hundred and twenty days as the working season. It was then assumed that five annual payments are made to a 

depreciation fund. The fund is equivalent to the cost of plant and 

maintenance during the life of the property plus six years' simple 

interest on the investment at 5 per cent. Each annual payment was 

divided b}' the season's output in cubic yards, and the amount thus 

obtained was added to the daily working expenses, to get the total 

output cost per yard, as far as possible. Prices paid for mining 

property are not considered, as they represent an unknown factor.

In cases where expensive plants have been installed the amortization was calculated separately for each case.

In cases of shoveling-in and small mechanical plants, the installation 

and maintenance cost was taken at an average amount for a group of 

operations in each district. Where the operation implies an additional 

stripping of overburden, which is always separately charged, the cost 

was distributed and added to the gravel extraction cost.
36 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

From the second table, where the costs were reduced to one figure 

for each district, a third (table 1, p. 38) was prepared, giving as nearly 

as possible the average cost for each of the seventeen separate methods 

considered in one or more of the three provinces. Where the operations from which the averages are derived exceed two in number, 

the fact is so indicated in the table.

The attempt has been made to reject figures which were evidently 

not representative. The final figure arrived at is not, however, always 

satisfactor}7-. For example, under No. 5 (the method of working open 

cut by shoveling into wheelbarrows, wheeling to bucket, hoisting and 

conveying to sluice by self-dumping carrier on cable) $2.14 is representative for the Klondike, where seepage water is generally pumped 

from the pit, and many operators pump the water for sluicing. On 

the other hand, at a plant in the Birch Creek district of Alaska, mining 

only 22 cubic yards per day and handling the water by a drain, the 

cost of operation was $1.50 per cubic yard. In No. 13 (drifting 

solidly frozen ground, steam or hot-water thawing $ hoisting and conveying with the use of the self-dumping bucket) the cost in the 

Klondike is $1.95, while the higher figure given is" arrived at by 

combining the expensive American camps of Fortymile and Fairbanks, 

where the cost is $4.63 and $3.56, respectively.

The high cost of hydraulicking with use of hydraulic lift in Seward 

Peninsula is caused by the difficulty of moving the gravel to the 

bed-rock sluice a and the expense of the ditches and installations. 

Hydraulicking by means of water under natural head without the use 

of the hydraulic lift, or some other means of elevating the material, 

was not seen by me in Seward Peninsula. It is understood that a 

hydraulic plant is in successful operation at Bluff, 50 miles to the east 

of Nome, but there are no data at hand concerning it.

In the interior only bench gravels are hydraulicked. Steeper grades 

for sluices can be obtained, and the gravel is more easily moved. The 

high duty of the miner's inch in the Klondike is a large factor in bringing down the cost of No. 1 and No. 16.

It should be distinctly understood, if hydraulicking-costs in the 

interior appear attractively low, that the water supply is exceedingly 

variable, and that no reliable estimate can be made beforehand of the 

output of a given season's operations. Furthermore, while much of 

the bench gravel was originally rich, the pay streaks have been largely 

drifted out, and the gold is not disseminated through the upper portion of the gravel to the extent that it is in the California gravel 

banks. With regard to the pumping of water for hydraulicking purposes, the practice can not be too strongly condemned. He is a bold 

man who attempts it, and a singularly fortunate one who makes a financial success of it.

a This is caused not only by the exceedingly gentle grades of the streams, but also by the shingly 

character of the material handled.
PURINGTON.] COST OF MINING. 37

Mr. Stephen Birch, operating in the Nizina district of Alaska, has 

courteously furnished for this report a summary of the costs of working placer ground on Dan Creek. These figures are given separately 

(p. 39) after the table, as they imply a total charge of invested capital 

in addition to working costs against one season's operations. They 

are worth the attention of prospective placer miners.

The cost of shoveling into sluice boxes in the remote parts of Seward 

Peninsula is at present from $3 to $5 per cubic yard. Some drifting 

operations have been carried on in the Kougarok and Fairhaven dis- 

'tricts, on which figures are not at hand.

Dredging estimates furnished by reliable interior operators place 

the cost at 80 cents per cubic yard where gravel must be thawed by 

points ahead of the dredge. In Seward Peninsula it is estimated that 

if the property is sufficiently large for a ten-year life, a dredge can be 

operated at the cost of 30 cents per cubic yard. The field for dredges 

in placer mining in Alaska is extremely limited. In Seward Peninsula 

it is not impossible that some of the wide, shallow creek deposits will 

be worked successfully by means of the steam scraper. The cost of 

an experimental operation on Ophir Creek was reported to be under 

20 cents per cubic yard.

The costs of operating by two mechanical systems in Seward Peninsula (involving the labor of men in shoveling into cars and tramming to the bottom of an incline, or into a bed-rock sluice leading to 

hydraulic elevator throat) are unfortunately not available for publication. The derricking system, No. 7, however, both in the interior 

and in Seward Peninsula, appears to be superior in point of cost to 

either of the above mentioned methods for working the average 

Alaska open cuts.

Frozen ground can not be attacked with success by the steam shovel. 

Even where it digs the gravel successfully, if men follow it to clean 

bed rock by hand, the cost of operating is sometimes doubled. The 

steam shovel has, however, a field-in northern placer mining.

Regarding mechanical operations in general, the important principle-should be emphasized that the main expense is getting the material into the receptacle which conveys it to the sluice or washing plant. 

Tramming even for a long distance, and to a considerable elevation, 

adds a very small proportionate amount to the total cost of working. 

The establishment of a permanent washing plant, economically situated 

as regards water supply and dump, should be considered by every 

Alaskan miner who proposes working the shallow creek deposits 

which characterize that country. The isolation of the washing operations, together with the adoption of the most economical system of 

tramming possible, will go far toward attaining the ends of adequate 

grade and room for tailings, which are the essential features of successful gravel mining.
o the Lostfrm time, pricesaid 

and estimates intobase account, any 

t> Dollars cubic per yard.

not takenhan arend costother that ofoactual miningg., roads, ining(e. railways, wagon equipment property, relating etc.)

these lion for thecosts here willlow. these mutake deallowance befound two otherwise givenfigures expenses; 

" c d"ice. silt andfrom Muck andfine 50 centto75 Muck"or ice; top gravel. per 

INTERIOR PROVINCE. of Number considered. operations 

in cubic24 hours.yards, Capacity, of ........ Thickness feetdeposi, Thickness offeet. gravel worked, Costb....... ...................... PENINSULA SEWARDPROVINCE. of Number considered. operations cubic inhours. 24yards, Capacity, Thickness'bf feet ........ deposit, of Thickness feet.gravel worked, Costb.............................

^ : : : : : 

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COAST PROVINCE. SOUTH of Number considered. operations 

in cubic 24hours. yards,Capacity, of ........ Thickness feetdeposi, of feet.Thickness worked, gravel 

b ............................. Cost 

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of pumping no Hydraulicking, 

water.

hy- of use with Hydraulicking 

elevator. draulic 

sluice into shoveling cut; Open 

top stripping including boxes, 

pumping. no dirt; 

scraping. horse cut; Open 

to wheeling shoveling; cut; Open 

sluice. to tram cable bucket; 

cars; into shoveling cut; Open 

sluice. to incline and track 

buckets into shoveling cut; Open 

tramming, or skidding skips; or 

sluice. to derricking and 

sluice; into shoveling cut; Open 

lift. hydraulic by tailings 

excavat- steam-shovel cut; Open 

sluice. to incline and track ing; 

gener- scraping; steam cut; Open 

tail- or work stripping on ally 

ings.

Dredging.

thawed or frozen partly Drifting 

timbering. requiring ground 

'solidly thawing and Drifting 

tim- no or little ground; frozen 

bering.

slui- spring and drifting Winter 

dumps. of cing 

overburden stripping or Mining 

sluicing. ground by 

of means by Hydraulicking 

water. pumped 

wa- self-dumping with Booming 

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PUKINGTON.] PKOSPECTING. 39

Mr. Stephen Birch, in a letter, gives the cost of placer work on Dan 

Creek, Nizina district, Alaska, as follows:

By ground sluicing through 20-inch flume: 6,803 cubic yards, $8,781.44, or $1.143 

per cubic yard.

By use of 8-inch cotton pressure-hose and nozzle through 20-inch flume: 1,600 

cubic yards, $1,457, or $0.91 per cubic yard.

By use of pick and shovel only, through 10-inch sluice box: 2,320 cubic yards, 

$5,100, or $1.875 per cubic yard.

A 273-foot tunnel, 6 feet by 6 feet, timbered: $1,017, or $3.725 per running foot, or 

407 cubic yards of gravel removed, which costs $2.50 per cubic yard.

While the cost given above may seem high, it is because of the fact that it includes 

the cost of the tools and material now on hand, which were necessary to remove 

this gravel. Now, if this work is continued on for a number of years, the depreciation of the tools, etc., could by charged proportionately. These prices may not be a 

criterion for future operations in that country but were our first cost of operation, 

and any strangers going into that section of country would be apt to run up their

costs to these figures.

PROSPECTING.

Creek claims must be prospected by shafts, open cuts, or drill holes. 

Shafts are generally used and are most practicable for the Alaska miner. 

Open cuts are not practicable, except in very shallow ground. Drilling requires expensive equipment, the machines costing from $3,500 

to $4,000 delivered in Alaska. As a means of prospecting auriferous 

gravels drilling is very satisfactory, but it is generally employed only 

in deep gravel beds, where dredging is contemplated. a In such ground 

excess of water prohibits the sinking of shafts. The cost of drilling 

with a 6-inch core churn drill is $2.50 per foot in California, and the 

tests of the deep gravels of tHe coastal plain have shown it to be 

practically the same in the vicing of Nome, on Seward Peninsula. 

The cost of drilling depends on the price of labor and fuel, and will 

probably be about $3.50 per foot in the interior of Alaska. Unless 

contractors are found already equipped to do the work, drilling is more 

expensive than sinking pits, the cost of which varies from $3 to $8 in 

Alaska placer fields.

In the solidly frozen ground encountered in northern placers it is 

not necessary to sin'k the casing around the pipe as in ordinary drilling. In .partly frozen ground, where the casing is necessary, much 

difficulty has been found in pulling it up. A driller of the churn type 

is shown in PI. Ill, A (p. 40), mounted on a scow for prospecting 

the bed of Snake River, Seward'Peninsula. 6 The results obtained by 

drilling when compared with actual tenor of the ground are variable. 

In testing the bed of Solomon River the results were found to run 7

a See a further description of prospecting by drill holes, by Mr. J. P. Hutchins, in the chapter on 

dredging, later in this report.

& For description of drilling operations in testing placer ground see Knox, N. B., Dredging and 

valuing dredging ground at Oroville, California: Trans. Inst. Mining and Metallurgy, June 18, 1903. 

Also Smith and Stebbins, Gold dredging at Oroville: Eng. and Min. Jour., Dec. 8,1904.
40 GRAVEL AND PLACEB MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

per cent lower. In all parts of Alaska drill holes should be not less 

than 100 feet apart, on account of the unequal distribution of the gold. 

Geologic conditions at Oroville, or in other dredging fields of floodplain character, are radically different. .There the ratio of holes is 1 

to an acre or 1 to 5 acres.

Shallow bench gravels can occasionally be prospected by diverting 

a high stream or water from, a ditch in a direction transverse to the 

gold-bearing channel. The water will ground sluice a trench to bed 

rock, thus crosscutting the ground. Such prospecting is done in the 

Fortymile district, and an example.of it was seen on Gold Bottom 

Creek, in the Council district of Seward Peninsula..

Bench gravels covered by heavy overburden are usually prospected 

by drifts. Drifts require timbering and are more expensive than 

shafts, but give a more satisfactory test of the ground. In rich pay 

streaks the running of prospect drifts often more than pays the cost. 

Owners of claims sometimes get their ground partly prospected by 

letting out the right to drift to two or more men, who pay a royaltj' 

on the gold they take out. In the Nizina district a 20 per cent royalty 

is charged on prospect work.

When ground is prospected by shafts the distance between the shafts 

varies, although the variation is not so great as when the prospecting 

is none by drill holes. The practice in Alaska varies according to the 

work, the resources of the owner, and the depth .of the ground. Where 

the gold has not traveled far and in consequence the values are spotted, 

shafts should be sunk 30 to 50 feet apart, but such close work is never 

done. Twenty shafts to a 20-acre claim are common. Shallow ground, 

6 to 18 feet deep, can be well and cheaply prospected in the winter 

months. Deep ground, as in the Fairbanks field, is expensive to prospect, and the prospect shafts do not average four to a claim. The

cost of sinking shafts in the various camps is given below.

Twenty shafts, 3£ by 6 feet and 12 feet in depth, timbered in thawed 

ground, or untimbered in frozen ground, cost from $1,200 to $2,000. 

If steam thawing is employed, the outfit, consisting of a 6-horsepower 

boiler, three or four steam points, steam hose, and pipe connections, 

will cost from $300 to $500. Hot stones, hot water, and wood fires 

are more generally employed in prospecting ground in the remote 

camps. The hardest ground to prospect is that which is partly frozen. 

For example, in the Birch Creek and Fortymile districts shafts 15 

to 25 feet in depth penetrate frozen ground and require no timbering 

until they are within 5 feet of bed rock, when a rush of water is frequently encountered. The entire labor of sinking the shaft through 

the overlying barren material may be lost, as the shaft may be flooded 

before pay gravel is reached.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 263 PL. IN

A. CHURN DRILL MOUNTED ON SCOW, SNAKE RIVER, ALASKA.

7;?, WINTER DUMPS, KLONDIKE.
PURINGTON.] PROSPECTING. 41 

COST OF PROSPECTING IN DIFFERENT LOCALITIES.

In the Juneau district prospect shafts must be square set, and cost 

on an average $6 a foot, and in heavy landslide $20 a foot. In the Porcupine district the cost of a cut 25 by 12 feet and 40 feet deep is $50 per 

foot, and that of an 8- by 8-foot shaft is $20 per foot. In the Sunrise 

and Chisna districts ground is prospected by open cuts. A cut 50 feet 

in length is reported to cost $2,000.

At Atlin ground is-prospected mostly by drifting. On McKee Creek 

tunnels, timbered and lagged, cost $3.50 per foot. On Spruce Creek 

the cost of posts and caps, 10 inches thick and 6 feet long, is 50 cents 

each; lagging, 10 cents each. On Gold Run thirty 6-inch holes are said 

to have been drilled to a depth of 32 feet by a churn drill (cost, $3,500, 

laid down), at the rate of $1 a foot.

In the Klondike drifts to prospect the bench gravels cost $7 to $8 

a foot, timbered, and shafts from $5 to $10 a foot. In timbering, three 

sets of posts, sill, cap, and lagging are put in for" $6, and as one-half 

cord of wood is used to a set the whole cost is $7 per set. In frozen 

creek ground two men, working three shifts, sunk a pit 5 feet square, 

28 feet deep, using about 2-horsepower steam during thirty hours.

On Fortymile Creek, thawing ten hours, two men take out on an 

average 4 feet a day, the shaft being 5 feet by 3i feet in dimensions. 

On American Creek prospecting is very difficult, as running water is 

always encountered at bed rock, even in the coldest weather.

In the Fortymile district shafts averaging 3£ by 6 feet, untimbered, 

cost from $3 to $5 per foot. Seven shafts 4 by 8 feet and 23 feet deep 

cost $2,000. A shaft 7 by 3i feet and 20 feet deep cost $5 per foot, 

the thawing being effected by means of wood fires and steam.

In the Birch Creek district' shafts thawed down by wood fires to a 

depth not exceeding 20 feet cost $5 per foot. On Mastodon Creek, in 

this district, 11 pits 3 by 6 feet and 20 feet deep cost $650. Twenty 

pits 3 by 6 by 13 feet cost $7 per foot. The differences in cost here 

are due to the varying amount of permanent frost in the ground, prospecting always being cheapest in solidly frozen ground. On Mammoth 

Creek 100 pits 10 feet deep cost $5 per foot. Wood fires were used, 

2 feet being sunk each day. No timbering was required, and labor 

was paid $10 a day.

In the Fairbanks district the prospect shafts cost from $7 to $10 per 

foot. Timbering is generally necessary, but very light poles are used 

either as lagging or cribbing. The best S}rstem is to put in 6-foot sets 

of 3-inch poles, and outside of these to lag with 2-inch poles vertically, 

filling in solidly between the poles and the muck or gravel with moss. 

Shafts cribbed with poles horizontally are more likely to get out of 

plumb. Four shafts sunk on lower Fairbanks Creek cost $5 per foot, 

and were 32, 44, 53, and 54 feet deep. On Cleary Creek a shaft 4 by 

6i feet and 75 feet deep (hillside claim), cribbed with 3-inch poles, cost
42 GKAVEL AND PLAOEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263.

$560. Wood fires were used in thawing. On Pedro Creek 19 pits 

3^ by 7 by 12 feet cost $1,140, and on an adjoining claim pits 3 by 6 

feet and 18 feet deep cost $6 per foot. The light timbering and moss 

filling used in the Fairbanks mines is to prevent the muck walls from 

thawing and caving.

In the Eampart district. 30 pits 3 by 6 feet and 20 feet deep cost 

from $75 to $100 each. The ground was partly thawed, but required 

no timbering.

In the Nome district, on account of the entire lack of native timber, 

shafts are cribbed with 1 or 2 inch planking, set close together, no sets 

being used. On the Snowflake bench claim, on Anvil Creek, the cribbing was reenforcedby 2 by 4 inch posts in the corners. Five dollars 

per foot is the average cost of 4 by 5 shafts, timbered, in unfrozen or 

partially frozen ground.

On Bonanza Creek, near Nome, pits in the shallow creek bed, 3 by 7 

feet and 7 feet deep,-are said to cost 50 cents per foot. a The ground is 

only lightly frozen and requires no timbering. On Ophir Creek, in 

the Council district, it costs on an average $5 to sink pits 7 feet deep.

In the northern part of Seward Peninsula the ground is solidly 

frozen. In the Kougarok district pits 35 feet in depth, with steam 

thawing, cost $8 per foot, and require no timbering.

In the Candle or Fairhaven district, adjacent to Kotzebue Sound, 28 

pits 12 to 15 feet deep cost $4 a foot. It was necessaiy to thaw to 

bed rock. The equipment cost $500.

RESULTS OF PROSPECTING.

Numerous reports from many parts of Alaska indicate that the 

amount of gold obtained per cubic yard from prospect shafts does not 

equal that extracted ~by subsequent actual mining. The reverse is very 

rarely true. It is difficult to assign a reason for this discrepancy other 

than that, owing to the frozen condition of the gravel, some of the 

gold escapes when small lots are washed in the winter. Frozen gravel 

does not easily disintegrate, even in hot water, and unless the residue 

from panning or rocking is saved and rewashed, losses very likely 

occur.

It is needless to urge the importance of prospecting ground in a 

thorough manner before expensive machinery is installed. The many 

failures through the long history qf mining which have resulted from 

precipitate expenditure to exploit supposed valuable properties present 

an open page of admonition to him who cares to read.

The sampling of winter dumps as they are extracted does not appear 

to have received the attention which it deserves. A method used by 

Mr. Kelley, of Dominion Creek, in the Klondike, is as follows:

The ordinary conical dump of frozen gravel, PI. Ill, jB (p. 40),

a This work is probably done in the winter with labor at 82.50 a day and board.
PURINGTON.] WATEE SUPPLY. 43

assumes a somewhat steeper angle than that of loose material. One 

measured in the Klondike had a slope of 40°. From experience it has 

been found that if the ground is of uniform richness, 80 per cent of 

the values are contained in the upper two-thirds of the dump, which 

has a content of approximately 8,000 cubic yards. The apex of the 

dumps is generally 30 to 40 feet above the base. Four times each day 

5 pans are taken in sampling one from each quadrant of the dump 

one-half way down from the top and one pan from the apex. The 

results of the 20 pannings are put together before weighing, and 50 

per cent of the result is taken for the average value of what has been 

taken out during the day.

Neglect to apply some form of sampling to the dumps has caused 

many lamentable failures in the Klondike. Winter operators of the 

Fairbanks district should keep themselves assured by constant sampling that the gravel they are getting out at such a cost carries values.

WATER SUPPLT.

CLIMATIC CONDITIONS.

Land areas in high northern latitudes are characterized by distribution of their natural resources that is unfavorable to economic use. 

In Alaska the great forests that characterize the south coast are 

replaced by stunted growths of spruce in the gold fields of the interior 

and by willow copses in Seward Peninsula. During a normal year the 

rainfall at Juneau, as may be seen from table 2 (p. 48) compiled by 

Dr. Cleveland Abbe, jr., is over eight times as great as at Eagle, 

on Yukon River. The catchment area at Juneau is only 4 square 

miles, and, as the grades of the hillsides are precipitous, the rainfall 

quickly runs off. A small amount of the water is used for power in 

connection with milling operations and for mining placer gold. The 

short, steep creeks and rivers of the south coast have small catchment 

basins, and even were there any use for the water for placer-mining 

purposes, there would be difficulty in impounding it after the melting 

of the snows in June and July.

Large catchment basins exist in the interior of Alaska, but the water 

to fill them is unfortunately lacking. At Eagle, where the annual 

rainfall is 11.4 inches in a normal year, the drainage area of Mission 

Creek and its tributaries which flow into the Yukon is nearly 200 square 

miles. Of the amount of water caught in a given area, however, very 

little is available for mining purposes. As an illustration take the 

case of American Creek, a tributary of Mission Creek. The only 

placer mining on it is done at a point about 12 miles distant from its 

mouth, atan elevation of 1,600 feet. As the use of water for hydraulic 

mining requires a head of 200 feet, and as the height of the divides 

which surround American Creek does not exceed 3,000 feet, it is evident that the only catchment area available is that lying between 1,800
44 GRAVEL AND PLA-CEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263;

and 3,000 feet, and between the mine and the head of the creek, or its 

short tributaries. Of a total catchment area of nearly 75 square miles 

for American Creek, only 15 square miles are available for the operations at the point referred to. If it were possible to catch all the 

water, say 11.4 inches in depth, which fell on this area during a 

season, and use it in hydraulic mining, it would amount to 1,500 

miner's inches available for one hundred an,d twenty days, and would 

move gravel at the rate of 1 cubic yard to the inch of water. As in 

practice it is not possible to utilize at head over one-third of that 

theoretically available in the catchment area, the capacit}'' of the water 

power available is reduced in proportion, (See fig. 1.)

FIG. 1. Map showing American Creek drainage, Eagle district.

In certain parts of the Fortymile region it is not impossible that 

water conduits from 10 to 15 miles in length can be constructed to 

bring water to the placer diggings. The Glacier Mountains, lying 

west of the upper portion of Mission Creek, rise to heights of 6,000 

feet, or 3,000 feet higher than the general level of the interior country, 

and should afford a more promising water suppty than any other area 

adjacent to the interior placer mining districts. The great drainage 

system of the South Fork of Fortymile Creek may also be available 

to a less extent for obtaining water under pressure. Miners should
PURINGTON.] CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 45

bear in inind, however, that even if the water is at hand and the gravel 

deposit extensive, the attempt to work by the hydraulic method where 

a grade of 6 inches to 12 feet can not be obtained will probably fail. 

In the Fairbanks and Birch Creek districts the rainfall may be assumed to be no greater than that at Eagle. The catchment area that 

lies at an elevation sufficient to supply the placer ground with water 

at a proper head for hydraulic operations is insignificant. Even were 

the auriferous gravels in that district so situated as to be hydraulicked, 

water for that purpose could not be obtained. The small amount of 

water which runs in the creek bottoms is available at heads not exceeding 25 feet, by means of ditches, for sluicing purposes. It is of 

variable quantity, however, and must be husbanded with the greatest 

care. The promiscuous cutting of timber and stripping of moss, 

which are the inevitable accompaniments of the exploitation of the

FIG. 2. Map of part ol Birch Creek district.

placers, will tend to gradually diminish the supply of water. (See figs. 2 

and 3.)

.Of the interior districts the Rampart and Forty mile appear to be 

most copiously supplied with water, and these are the only districts 

in the hitherto developed interior where considerable bench deposits 

have been found. It seems not improbable that a survey with reference .to locating the larger catchment areas at sufficient elevation may 

result in obtaining water for hydraulicking the bench gravels.

No data are at hand with reference to the rainfall in Seward Peninsula. It may be assumed to be larger than that of the interior, and 

is probably fairly represented by the figure given for St. Michael, 

18.1 inches, which fell during the summer of 1904. This amount, 

however, was much less than that of the year before, and the gold 

product of the peninsula was thereby materially reduced. The facilities for making use of the water for mining purposes are better on
46 GEAVEL AND PLACEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULX. 263.

Seward Peninsula than in the interior. The available catchment areas 

on the peninsula are larger, and the construction of water conduits, 

owing to peculiar conditions which will be described, can be undertaken more cheaply. The Kigluaik Mountains and the Bendeleben 

Range, lying roughly parallel to, and at a distance of 25 miles north 

of, the important gold fields of the South Coast, rise to heights ranging 

from 2,000 to 4,000 feet, and afford, as has been proved, a fairty continuous water supply during the open season. The York Mountains,

FIG. 3. Map of part of Fairbanks district.

in the western portion of the peninsula, will doubtless furnish a similar water supply should occasion require. Already the extensive 

ditch systems of Nome River, Ophir Creek, and Solomon River afford 

an aggregate of 5,000 miner's inches of water in the drier portions of 

the open season. (See fig. 4.) The expenditure for this work already 

made will probably not fall far short of a million dollars. Projects 

for the construction of water conduits are in contemplation which 

compare favorably with, and even exceed in magnitude, those already 

completed.
PURINGTON.] CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 47

That the expense attendant on ditch construction in Seward Peninsula is justifiable in certain cases is not to be denied. That the most 

profitable method of converting- the water into power has always 

been applied is, however, decidedly open to question. The subject 

will be further discussed under the head of "Hydraulic mining."

The average annual rainfall in California at various points on the 

west slope of the Sierras is approximately as follows:

Inches. 

Sacramento................................................................ 19

Auburn ............. '.^.................................................... 20

Colfax........._...........................--......-......---.-........... 54

Cisco...................................................................... 60

Summit ................................................................... 48

Fm. 4. Map of part of Seward Peninsula.

Toward the north the rainfall increases in amount, and toward the 

south it decreases.

 Table 2, giving the rainfall in Alaska, shows that there is a difference 

in rainfall between the coast and the interior gold districts that is too 

striking to need comment. Comparison of the interior rainfall may 

be made with that at St. Michael's station, which is the nearest point 

available representing Seward Peninsula conditions, yet the annual 

amount of rainfall at St. Michael is still.very small compared with 

that iu California.
48 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

The accompanying tables, compiled by Cleveland Abbe, jr., on the 

dates of opening and closing of interior water navigation and of temperature, are here inserted because they have a direct bearing on 

mining operations. In general, though the fact is contrary to popular opinion, it can be stated that climatic conditions, so far as temperature is concerned, form the least of the hardships with which the 

miner has to contend. It is safe to say that no more generally healthy 

climate can be found in any portion of the known world. Data in 

regard to the length of season available for use of running water will 

be found in the tabulated list of water conduits. (See table 8, p. 104.)

TABLE 2. Rainfall in Alaska.

[Compiled by Cleveland Abbe, jr.] . 

RAINFALL IN INCHES.

Station.

Juneau ...........

Fort Liscum ......

St. Michael......:.

Camp Davidson . . . 

Eagle .............

Fort Gibbon ......

Nulato ............

Jan.

10.6 

.9 

9.7 

.8 

.9

.6

.4

.7

1.7

.7 

1.3

.7

Feb.

4.9 

.6 

1.0 

.7 

.2

.9 

.6

9 1

9

.9

-.4

.4

Mar.

6.6 

.6 

5.5 

1.0

.5

.2 

.4

,8

7

1.5 

1 4

?

Apr.

5.3 

2.4 

4.5 

.8 

.4

.6

.8

.1

4

>.2 

5

78

May.

7.4 

.8 

2.3" 

1.0 

1.3

.6

.8

.6

1.5

.4 

.6

.58

June.

5.0 

.6 

.7 

. 7 

1.5

2.2 

1.4 

.5

.3

1.71

July.

5.6 

1.7 

4.2 

1.7 

2.5

1.7 

2.2 

2.0

Aug.

7.5 

1.5 

12.4 

'3.3 

3.3

3.0 

2.0 

9 7

2.2

2 8

1.1

Sept.

12.2 

3.5 

14.2 

2.5 

4.0

2.4 

1.1

1.5

2.0

.7

Oct.

10.1 

3.2 

14.3 

2.1

1.7

.2

.8

2.5 

1 fi

1.4 

1 9.

2.0 

1 95

Nov.

10.5 

2.2 

6.6 

1.1 

1.2

.7 

.6

.4 

2.3 

.1

1.2 

1 4

1.5 

45

Dec.

8.2 

3.8 

6.0 

.9 

.8

.3 

.5

1.2

.8 

1 4

1.4

_2 

65

Year.

93.1 

21.8 

81.3 

16.6 

18.1

[13.4] 

11.4

> 6.1 

>15.5

> 7.5 

>11.7 

> 5.3

Length

of 

record.

Yr. mo.

13 11 

0 30 

2 0 

5 26 

7 6

0 13 

0 52 

0 5 

0 8 

0 26 

0 3 

0 10 

0 26 

0 5 

0 19

"Authority: Inspector of Fisheries, Yukon Territory. 

NUMBER OF RAINY DAYS.

Station.

Fort Liscum......

Camp Davidson . .

Camp Colonna . . .

Fort Adams ......

Fort Gibbon ......

Nulato............

Anvik ............

Copper Center....

Jan.

18.1

7.5

17.5

5.3

8.1

16.0

6.2

14.0

11.0

5.0

15.6

Feb.

11.2

2.5

5.0

4.4

5.5

14.0

5.8

16.0

8.6

7.0

6.0

Mar.

18.7

3.0

14.5

7.4

7.4

6.0

4.8

12.0

13.0

12.5

15.3

AprlS. 0

10.6

9.0

6.4

7.8

9.0

8.6

4.0

3.5

>2.0

7.6

May.

16.7

4.7

9.0

6.4

9.1

7.0

6.5

4.0

12.0

4.0

7.0

June.

14.6

5 0

8.0

5.1

10.4

11.0

9 5

4 0

5.0

July.

i^ f\

5.7

14.5

8 Q

14.0

13.0

8.5

Aug.

15.6

8.5

28.5

13.4

16.7

16.0

13.0

9.0

16.0

13.0

12.0

Sept.

18.4

13.5

22.5

11.7

18.5

16.0

9 8

14.0

11.0

7.0

Oct.

19.8

12.0

22.0

10.0

11.4

6.0

7.8

16.0

17.0

8..0

12.6

8.0

Nov.

18.4

8.0

11.5

7.4

11.4

13.0

7.0

8.0

12.5

2.0

6.0

13.3

4.0

Dec.

19 8

11.7

13.0

6.0

6 9

7.0

5.7

14.0

10.0

14.0

8.0

2.0

Year.

Ofll Q

175.0

92.4

1 Ofi Q

[151. OJ

97 7

.> 75.0

> 116.0

> 52.5

>101.4

Numbers in [ ] are totals made up from months in different year 

Numbers preceded by > are known to be too small.
I'lJRINGTON.] CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 49

TABLE 3. Average dates of last spring and first fall frosts. 

[Computed by Cleveland Abbe, jr. 'Dates marked (?) are from a single observation.]

Place.

Fort Liscum ..........................

St. Michael. . .......................................:.

Eagle .................:...............................

Last killing frost.

(?)

Apr. 10 (?)

(?)

(?)

June 1 (?)

(?)

(?)

' June 15 (?)

May 10 (?)

(?)

(?)

Last spring 

frost.

Apr. 15 (?)

June 1 (?)

(?)

(?)

(?)

Apr. 30 (?)

(?)

(?)

(?)

(?)

First fall 

frost.

(?)

Aug. 15

Sept. 13 (?)

(?)

(?)

Sept. 1 (?)

Aug. 20 (?)

Sept. 30 (?)

First killing frost.

'Sept. 5 (?)

Sept. 29

Aug. 30

Sept. 30 (?)

Oct. . 15

Oct. 15(?)

Aug. 15 (?)

Sept. 2 (?)

Oct. 1 (?)

TABLE 4. Average dates of opening and dosing of Yukon and Kenai rivers.

[Dates marked (?) are from a single observation.]

Place.

Yukon River:

Circle

Fort Gibbon. . .....................................

Kenai River:

Ice breaks.

May 10

May 11

May 13

May 15

(?)

May 15

May 20

'May 15

Mar. 18 (?)

River 

clear.

(?)

May 15

(?)

(?)

May 20

(?)

May 22

Mar. 29 (?)

Ice running.

Oct. 20

Oct. 5

(?)

Oct. 3

Oct. 25(?)

Oct. 15

(?)

Oct. 25

Dec. 5 (?)

River 

closed.

(?)

Oct. 26

Nov. 6(?)

Nov. 6 (?)

Oct. 20

Oct. 31

Dec. 15 (?)

TABLE 5. Table of temperatures, Fahrenheit.

Station.

Valdez ......... 

St. Michael .....

Jan.

34.2

23.8 

7.4 

-24.8

Feb.

33.0

15.5 

-2.3 

-6.0

Mar.

37.2

30.8 

8.9 

13.0

Apr.

41.9

31.6 

19.9 

29.3

May.

46.9

39.4 

33.1 

42.2

June.

51.6

49.6 

46.3 

52.6

July.

54.4

50.5 

53.6 

56.9

Aug.

56.6

46.6 

51.9 

49.1

Sept.

52.3

43.9 

40.4

Oct.

45.7

30.5 

20.1

Nov.

39.8

22.4 

15.6 

-10. 0

Dec.

36.0

21.6 

4.8 

-7.4

Length 

record.

Yrs. Mos. 

5 "18

0 10 

11 «12 

1 0

a Nonconsecutive months.

STREAM VOLUMES. 

THE MINER'S INCH.

Before discussing the matter of stream volumes it will be necessary 

to consider the unit of measurement, the "miner's inch," which has 

received so many varying definitions in "different mining districts. 

Bull. 263 05 4
50 GEAVEL AND PLACEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

On this subject" Mr. Hamilton Smith makes the following statements: '

Soon after the discovery of gold in California in 1848 associations or incorporated 

companies were formed for the purpose of building ditches and storage reservoirs for 

the supply of water to the placer mines. The amount of capital invested in these 

hydraulic works aggregated many millions of dollars, and a single company often sold 

water to hundreds of mining claims. The cost of water was by far the most important item in the miner's bill of costs, and hence it became necessary to have a standard measure, not only accurate but also so simple that the amount of discharge could 

be readily computed by the common miner.

This was accomplished by the discharge of the stream of water sold to each customer through a rectangular, square-edged, vertical orifice, with free discharge into the 

air and having a constant head. In different parts of the State the standard opening varied, the width varying from 2 to 4 inches and the head above the top pf the 

opening from 4 to 7 inches. Each square inch of the opening was called "a miner's 

inch;" hence in a locality where the standard opening was 2 inches wide, if the 

miner wished a flow of 50 miner's inches, the orifice was 25 inches long, and if only 

10 inches was needed the length was reduced to 5 inches.

This method is analogous to the pouce d'eau used in southern France, and was 

probably first introduced or suggested in California by some French or Mexican 

miner; the simplicity of this mode of measurement, combined with a sufficient degree 

of accuracy, soon brought it into general use on the Pacific coast wherever water was 

sold for mining, irrigation, etc.

The standard which had been in use since 1852 or 1853 in the mining districts 

supplied by the Eureka-Lake, Bloomfield, and Milton water companies in Nevada 

County, Cal., was an opening 50 inches long, 2 inches wide, with constant head above 

opening of 6 inches; the flow from this was called 100 miner's inches. * * . * 

Generally the miners bought water for ten hours per diem at an agreed price per 

inch; for example, a miner using 350 miner''s inches, for ten hours each day, at the 

rate of 15 cents per inch, paid the water company $52.50 per diem, and received the 

amount of water which would flow through an orifice having an aggregate length of 

175 inches, a width of 2 inches, with a head of 6 inches above the top of the opening, during a period of ten hours.

When water was used for the whole twenty-four hours of the day the flow was 

termed "a miner's 24-hour inch," and, of course, meant 2.4 times the amount of discharge of "a miner's 10-hour inch."

In California, as larger amounts of water came into use, wider openings were adopted, one being 12 inches high, 12f inches long, with a 

constant head of 6 inches above the top of the opening.

Experiments made in California by A. J. Bowie, esq., 6 to determine 

the value of the miner's inch, defined as the one two-hundredth part 

of the quantity of water which would flow through the last-named 

aperture in a 1^-inch board under head of 6 inches above the top of 

the discharge, showed that 1 miner's inch discharged in 

Cubic feet. 

1 second.......................;................................-... 0.02499

1 minute........................................................... 1.4994

1 hour............................................................. 89. 9640

24 hours........................................................... 2,159.1460

a Hydraulics, 1886, p. 277.

<>Bowie, A. J., jr., A Practical Treatise on Hydraulic Mining, 1885, p. 126
PURINGTON.] STREAM VOLUMES. 51

Experiments on a single aperture of this form, used in determining 

the North Bloomfield standard made by Hamilton Smith, ji\, a gave a 

discharge (a mean of two different openings) of 302.7 cubic feet per 

minute, or 2,179.4 cubic feet per miner's inch in twenty-four hours.

The miner's inch used in this report is one two-hundredth part of 

the amount of Avater which will flow through an opening 12 inches 

high by 12f inches wide in a 1^-inch plank, under a constant head of 

6 inches above the top of the discharge. This may be taken for 

all practical purposes as equivalent to 1.5 cubic feet of water per 

minute, or, in other words, 1 cubic foot per second equals 40 miner's 

inches.

A simple means of ascertaining the approximate number of miner's 

inches in an open conduit is to select a straight portion of the ditch or 

flume where the water runs quietly and where no accelerated velocity 

has been imparted to it. One hundred and ten feet measured along 

the bank should be called 100 feet. Floats made by- weighting empty 

cartridge shells with shot or small stones and fitting into them cylindrical wooden plugs 4 or 6 inches long are then placed in the canal as 

quietly as possible. Note the average time which it. takes several of 

them to traverse the distance, divide the distance in feet by the average time in minutes, and the result will be the velocity in feet per 

minute; this multiplied by the area in square feet will give the number of cubic feet of water flowing per minute. ' To get the number of 

miner's inches, multiply the cubic feet per minute by 2 and divide 

by 3.

California, 6 Colorado, and Montana have, by State law, made the 

definitions shown below:

Value of second-foot (= cubic foot per second) in miner's inches.

Miner's 

inches.

California................................................................. 40.0

Colorado ....................... 1......................................... 38.4

Montana.................................................................. 40.0

The measure is of great value and should be defined by Federal law, 

since at present it is used in an indefinite sense. The placer miner 

generally assumes, when he is buying water, that he is getting 1.5 

cubic feet per minute for each inch, or the inch measured under 6-inch 

head above the top of the discharge, whereas, in reality, the inch sold 

him is equal'Only to 1.2 cubic feet per minute, being measured under 

a head of 4 inches above the center of an orifice 2 inches wide. c

a Hydraulics, p. 282.

6Stover, A. P., California Journal of Technology, quoted in Eng. and Min. Jour., May 26,1904.

cThe legal definition of the miner's inch in use .in the Yukon Territory, as given to the writer by 

Mr. A. J. Beaudette, the Government mining engineer, is one-twelfth the amount of water that will 

go through an orifice 2 inches high by 6 inches wide under a constant head of 6} inches al»ove the 

center of the orifice.
52 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

TABLE OF STREAM VOLUMES.

Table 6, below, showing stream volumes in miner's inches, represents an attempt to combine at least approximate data relating to the 

amount of water which flows in northern auriferous streams during 

the open season. The few gagings that were made during the course 

of the trip were b}7 Price current meter. It was found that variations 

from day to day in all parts of the counti1 }7 were exceedingly frequent, 

the volume on one day being sometimes from one-third-to one-half 

that of the succeeding dajr after rain. Where a range between two 

amounts is given, the smaller figure may be taken as representing the 

most frequent condition.

TABLE 6. Approximate stream volumes, in miner's inches.

District and stream.

Juneau district: 

Gold Creek ..............

Atlin district:

Klondike district:

Gold Run................

Eagle district:

Circle district:

Deadwood Creek ........

and Mastodon Fork. 

Rampart district:

Hunter Creek

Itubv Creek

Pioneer Creek ...........

Gagings.

868

220

582 

322

255

Volumes in 

miner's inches.

500-20,000

4, 000-8, 000

1,000

500-2, 000

1,000

500-15, 000

55,000-300,000

820

156

65

400

300

120

70,000

600

1, 000-10, 000

50-1, 000

0-200

600-4,000

500-3, 000

200-2, 000

200-2, 000

100 1, 000

200-1.000

Time.

son. 

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

..:..do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

July......

.....do....

July...... 

.....do....

July ......

son. 

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

Authority.

.....do...............

.....do...............

-.. ...do.. .............

.....do...............

.....do......'.........

Canadian goverriment engineer. 

.....do...............

.....do'...............

.....do...............

.....do...............

. ....do....... .........

Canadian government engineer.

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do............... 

.....do...............

.....do...............

Members of Geological Survey. 

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do...............

Remarks.

Do.

BeloAV mean.
PUKINGTON.] STKEAM VOLUMES. 53

TABLE 6. Approximate stream volumes, in miner's indies Continued.

District and stream.

Rampart district Cont'd.

Fairbanks district:

Wolf Creek ..............

Nome district:

Drv Creek...............

Buster Creek

Council district:

Solomon district:

Shovel Creek

Gagings.

117

400

10

110

450

Volumes in 

miner's inches.

0 500

10-200

50-500

50-500

25-500

10-500

25

100-400

300-1, 000

2-200

12, 000-20, 000

8, 000-18, 000

10-100

25-500

500-2, 000

100-1, 000

250-2, 000

10-50

3, 000-20, 000

200-1,000

50^200

100-500

800-4, 000

100-500

(i, 000-50, 000

500-2,000

1, 000-5, 000

Time.

son. 

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

son. 

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do....

.....do ....

Authority.

ical Survey. 

.....do...............

.....do............:..

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do....:..........

.....do...............

.....do...............

...'..do...............

.....do...............

ical Survey. 

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do..:............

.....do...............

.....do...............

....Ido. ..............

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do...............

.Remarks.

Creek.

Gilmore and 

Pedro. .

GRADES OF STREAMS.

No subjects are of greater importance for the consideration of the 

placer miner than the grade available for moving his gravel and the 

vertical space which he can obtain for a tailings dump. Neglect to 

carefully consider the natural grade of the ground on which the proposed operation is to be undertaken will generally result in financial 

failure.

Alaska is not characterized by steep grades in the parts which are 

rich in alluvial gold. In fact, with the exception of the relatively 

small placer districts of the South Coast province, the long-continued
54 GKAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263.

conditions of erosion have produced surprisingly low gradients in the 

streams. Table Y, below, gives the grades of streams in the goldproducing districts of the north. For the sake of showing the defects 

of Alaska in the important requirements of grade, the lowest figure in 

the table gives what is frequently referred to by gravel miners as 

"sluice-box grade." If the sluice boxes are carried on a grade lower 

than 6 inches to the 12-foot box, the gravel can not be economically 

moved through it except by employing an excessive quantity of water. 

By comparing the sluice-box grade with those of the various Alaska 

creeks, it becomes evident, that in nearly every case the material, either 

before entering or after leaving the tail sluice, must be artificially, 

elevated in order that the sluice may have sufficient grade. The 

various devices in use for accomplishing this elevation will be discussed under proper headings.

TABLE 7. Stream grades along important sections of their courses.

Average fall 

JUNEAU DISTRICT: in feet per mile.

Gold Creek............................................................. 292

NIZINA DISTRICT:

Dan Creek............................................................. 200

ATLIN DISTRICT:

Pine Creek............................................................. 50

McKee Creek .......................................................... 430

KLONDIKE DISTRICT:

Eldorado Creek .............................^.....,...................' 50

Bonanza Creek......................................................... .45

Gold Run.........4 ..............;..,.................................. 50

FORTYMILE DISTRICT:

Wade Creek ........................................................... 75

Chicken Creek......................................................... 80

Walker Fork........................................................... 100

EAGLE DISTRICT: . . American Creek.................................................... .>... 90

CIRCLE DISTRICT;

Dead wood Creek ........................................................ .70

Mastodon Creek.......................,.:........:..................... 75

Mammoth Creek............................... .........'................ 60

Eagle Creek ......................................................... WO

FAIRBANKS DISTRICT:

Fairbanks Creek ....................................................... 75

Chatham Creek ......................................................... 250

Cleary Creek...........'.,............................................... 60

Pedro Creek ......................................'...................... 65

RAMPART DISTRICT:

Little Minook Creek.................................................... 90

Hunter. Creek......................................................... 75

NOME DISTRICT:

Anvil Creek ........................................................... 100

Glacier Creek.......................................................... 50

Dexter Creek .......................................................... 120
PURINGTON.] OPEN-OUT MINING. 55

_, . Average fall 

COUNCIL DISTRICT: in feet per mile.

Ophir Creek ............................................................ 25

Melsing Creek................................:......................... 50

SOLOMON DISTRICT:

Solomon River......................................................... 20

Shovel Creek .......................................................... 90

AVERAGE SLUICE-BOX GRADE. ......................... 220 (or 6 inches to 12 feet).

OPEN-CUT MINING. 

INTRODUCTION.

Under this heading will be discussed the various methods of mining 

by which gravel is taken out of open cuts either simple pick-andshovel methods or methods involving the use of mechanical contrivances. Hydraulic methods will be considered in a later section. The 

simplest of the open-cut methods dominated throughout the province 

up to within a few years, to the practical exclusion of all others except 

winter drifting, which will be considered below. To-day probably 60 

per cent ofc the placer-mining operations in Alaska are confined to

FIG. 5. Klondike rocker^.

open-cut methods, and this investigation has brought the proof that, 

when combined with proper mechanical devices, these form often the 

most economical mode of exploitation.

Open-cut methods can be conveniently grouped under various headings, but the underlying principle of excavating and transporting the 

material to the washing apparatus, either by hand labor or by some 

mechanical means, remains the same. It therein differs from hydraulic 

mining, where the gravel is moved by water under pressure. There 

are, of course, various intermediate processes, which will not require 

separate consideration.

ROCKER AND LONG TOM.

The simplest method of work which the miner adopts after he has 

passed the stage of panning is that of shoveling from the bank and 

washing the-gravel in a rocker. The use of the rocker is too well 

known to need description. The form employed in the Klondike, 

where its use has been nearly discontinued in mining, is shown in
56 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263.

fig. 5. Two men are necessary to use the rocker properly, while 

only 3 to 5 cubic yards of gravel can be washed in ten hours.

At no place was the long torn seen in use in the north, although it 

was formerly employed to some extent in washing the Nome beach 

placers.

SHOVELING INTO SLUICE BOXES. 

CONDITIONS FOR SHOVELING.

Conditions throughout many of the northern placer districts favor 

this well-known, simple, and cheaply installed method of placer mining, for in many localities the pay streaks are thin, ranging from 2 to 

4 feet in thickness, rarely exceeding 5 feet. It is often applicable 

where conditions of transportation prohibit the installation of more 

elaborate plants.

When the total depth to the bottom of the pay streak does not 

exceed 12 feet, the overlying barren material can generally be 

"ground sluiced" off, even where the grade does not exceed 1 per 

cent, at an expense varying from 7 to 20 cents per cubic yard. The 

frozen muck which composes this overburden is from 50 to 75 per 

cent water, and the solid residue of silt or' fine clay is easily carried 

away at any time of slight rise in the stream. The method of groundsluicing the muck is described under the heading "Hydraulic mining," on page 141. PI. IV, A, shows, the ordinary method of setting 

up a string of sluice boxes on a creek placer. This method is used 

in an elaborate form on Anvil Creek, where 5 strings of boxes and 

120 shovelers give a twenty-hour capacity of 1,080 cubic yards.

The handling of the water is important. Even when the gravel has 

been solidly frozen previous to stripping and sun thawing, there are 

generally from 15 to 25 miners' inches of seepage water, which work 

into the pit floor. This must be disposed .of either by draining or by 

pumping. If sufficient water (50 miners' inches) is available, a "China 

pump" can be rigged up, as shown in PL IV, B< This device is 

not economical in its use of water, for the water is generally of more 

value for other purposes in Alaska mining.

DAMS.

As in all other forms of creek mining, great care must be taken to 

keep the creek water out of the working pits by means of dams. 

Dams constructed of sod walls lined with sacks have been found 

cheaper in the Klondike than those built of sod and brush. Pile 

driving is not advisable in the north, but in case timber is abundant 

cribbing is desirable, as illustrated in PL V, JB, showing a dam built 

across Discovery Fork of American Creek to impound water for 

" booming." The ends of the logs were set in frozen ground on both 

sides and the muck was allowed to refreeze around them. The dam, 

40 feet long, consists of 12-inch timbers, from 9 to 18 feet long, laid 

up in two rows, 5 feet apart, earth and rock filled, and braced with
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 263 PL. IV

A. SET-UP OF BOXES FOR SHOVEL! NG-l N, AMERICAN CREEK

B. CHINA PUMP, KLONDIKE.
PURINGTON.] OPEN-CUT MINING. 57

cross timbers as indicated. The dam, self-dumping gate, and accessory 

flumes were built by two men, and are said to have cost, in"labor and 

time, only $300.

The self-dumping gate shown in PI. V, .Z?, was not in use when 

the visit to Discovery Fork was made. It had been used during the 

month of June, 1904, in " booming" the overburden from the area of 

pay ground which it was desired to uncover. The action of the gate 

is apparent from the illustration. Swinging on its horizontal axle, 

set two-thirds the distance from the top to the bottom of the gate, it 

releases the water when the reservoir becomes full and regains its 

closed position when the reservoir is nearly empty. During a period 

.of three weeks a block of overburden consisting of muck and barren 

gravel, 5 feet thick by 25 feet wide by 900 feet in length, had been 

removed by the booming process before the shoveling operations commenced, the total cost, including the construction of the dam and gate, 

not exceeding 7 cents per cubic yard.

The process of booming by means of automatic water gates was formerly generally in use in California, and is employed even to-day in 

southern Oregon. Pliny mentions the process as having been in 

extensive use in Spain before the Christian era. As a rule it is inapplicable to mining or stripping in Alaska, because the stream grades 

are gentle and because the debris carried down by the torrential stream 

will damage property situated farther down the creek.

On Hunker Creek, in the Klondike, a dam of moss, brush, and 

gravel, 90 feet long and 18 feet high, built for the purpose of keeping 

the water from an open cut, cost $500. Dams in Seward Peninsula 

are successfully built of sod, the material which overlies the frozen 

muck to the depth of 2 feet. Sacks of sand are also successfully used.

DRAINS.

Below the proposed pit a backwater dam, generally 4 feet in height, 

is built across the creek, and the end of the sluice is extended beyond 

this dam a feAv feet. PJ. IV, A (p. 56), shows the system of damming 

to keep the water but of a small shoveling pit, and PI. V, A (p. 58), 

shows backwater dam and the standpipe erected to receive water 

for the bed-rock drain. Assuming that the ground is to be worked 

upstream, the method of laying off the drain, commonly called the 

"bed-rock drain," is as follows: In 12-foot ground take a level and 

sight downstream from the prospect pit to a point where 12 feet vertical distance above the water in the stream is obtained. The sight 

should be taken at a point 2 feet above the surface of the ground, to 

allow for .the height of the backwater dam. The point where the 

drain is to be started is the distance downstream obtained by the sight 

plus 12 feet, allowed as a safety factor. On a 2 per cent grade this 

would necessitate a drain 612 feet long. The drain is dug and left 

open until after the first cut is made. Its dimensions are generally
58 'QEAVEL AND PLACEK MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263.

2 by 2 feet and it is lagged inside with poles horizontally, these being 

held by posts with 4-foot centers, into which shoulders are cut for 

caps. After the first cut the drain must be covered by logs and moss 

laid on top of the caps. For small operations a box drain made of 

sawed 1-inch lumber, the inside dimensions being 12 by 10 inches, is 

used. There should be a standpipe bored with auger holes in the 

drain at the lower end of every cut. The drain should have a very 

slight grade, as low as H inches to 100 feet being used. At first the 

drain will handle only seepage water, but if one cut of 100 feet in 

length after, another is successively worked upstream, sluice water 

may have to be run through-it to prevent backing up. Some operators recommend keeping the main drain large and giving it the bedrock grade, while a smaller drain, 8 by 8 inches, is kept parallel to it 

on a less grade. This will handle the seepage water and will gain 

depth upstream, thus allowing for inequalities in the bed rock, which 

are very frequent.

Drains are expensive to make but are generally preferable to pumps. 

On Mastodon Creek, in the Birch Creek district, a bed-rock drain, 

500 feet long, dug 4 feet wide, lagged inside with 4-foot cord wood, 

making it 2 feet in the clear, and covered with poles and moss, was 

dug through cemented and frozen gravel and bed rock, and cost $7,000, 

its construction consuming all of one season. In the Fairbanks district an open drain, not lagged, 3 feet deep and 3 feet 6 inches wide, 

took the labor of 2 men six weeks, costing nearly $900.

In excavating for drains the ground should be cut in terraces, so 

that when it commences to thaw it will not run and clog the canal. 

Pumping seepage water from the pit is to be condemned in general as 

strongly as pumping water for sluicing. In Bonanza Creek,. Klondike, 

an operation involving the handling of several thousand yards was 

said to be more expensive by 40 cents per cubic yard when pumping 

of the seepage was done than when the water was handled by drain. 

The pumping of seepage water by any form of pump may be estimated 

to add at least 25 cents per cubic yard to the expenses of handling the 

gravel. The use of overshot wheels operating China pumps is cheap 

where water is plenty. The small one illustrated by PI. IV, B, 

was using 20 inches of water to lift about one-third this amount a 

height of 10 feet. Such a pump in the Klondike, with 5-foot wheel, 

costs $100 to build.

COST OF SHOVELING.

The cost of a plant, including that of constructing a seepage-water 

drain, sod dams, and a string of 10 sluice boxes, with a ditch to lead 

the water to the sluice, varies from $500 to $2,000, according to the 

conditions. As stated in the cost sheet (table 1, p. 38), the expense 

of handling gravel by this method is from $1.25 to $2.50 per .cubic 

yard, reaching $5 to-$7 in remote districts.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 263 PL.V

1. YUKON PLACER MINER.

Ji, DAM FOR BOOMING, AMERICAN CREEK.
PURINGTON.] OPEN-OUT MINING. 59

The duty of a man shoveling is variously estimated in different districts of the North. This form of mining having been nearly discontinued in the Klondike region, very little information concerning it 

was obtainable. The extensive shoveling operations on upper Bonanza 

Creek were not visited. In one case, where a platform was used, 2 

men shoveling, in two stages, a total of 9 feet lift, 2 feet of pay were 

shoveled into the boxes at the rate of 3£ cubic yards per ten-hour man.

In the Birch Creek district the duty of a man shoveling from an 

average of 12 operations is. 5 cubic yards in ten hours, the depth of 

pa^y averaging 4.41 feet, and the lift never exceeding 6 feet.

In American Creek, where the bowlders were large and men had to 

stop work to get them out of the way, the duty was 2| cubic yards. 

On Discovery Fork of this creek the duty was 4 cubic yards, the 

depth being 5 feet.

In the Fairbanks district, where shoveling-in operations are few, 

owing to the depth of ground, the average of three seen was 7£ cubic 

yards duty, the depth shoveled being 3 feet of pay, part gravel and 

part bed rock. In no case was there a lift of over 5 feet.

In the Nome region 5.76 cubic yards duty is probably very near 

the average on a bank from 5 to 7 feet in height. In the case of the 

large operations of the Pioneer Mining Company, on Anvil Creek, 

the work has been so systematized that on the 3-foot bank handled the 

duty is 9 ciibic yards per ten-hour man.

One operation on Solomon River, where the lift was high, and the 

bed rock irregular, 3.75 cubic yards was the duty on a 3-foot bank.

In the Council district of Seward Peninsula, including operations 

on Ophir, Crooked, Warm, Gold Bottom, Camp, and Penelope creeks, 

the duty of a man averages 6.63 cubic yards on an average height of 

bank of 3.5 feet. This average is affected by one case where on a 

limestone bed rock, with double lift, the duty was 3.5 yards; also by 

another where with eight-hour shifts, working on 3-foot bank with 

5-foot lift, the extraordinary duty of 12 cubic yards per man was 

vouched for.

The method of working shallow placers by shoveling into boxes has 

much to commend it, especially when the water is drained from the 

cut, either with or without a covered drain. In Alaskan gravels 

exceeding $3 in gold tenor to the cubic yard of material handled by 

shoveling, frequently from one-half to two-thirds of the gold lies in 

the crevices of the upper 18 inches or 2 feet of the bed rock. Men 

directly shoveling this material can thoroughly clean the bed rock by 

the shoveling-in method. On the other hand, if horse scrapers, steam 

scrapers, or steam shovels are used, the bed rock is frequently not 

cleaned, and a gang of men must go over the ground a second time to 

pick up the auriferous material which has been left. This point is
60 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

of the first importance. No operator should contemplate the installation of mechanical excavators for working gravel without taking full 

account of it.

In considering methods of mining by water or mechanical power, 

the cleaning of bed rock by men may be permissible from an economic 

standpoint in exceptional instances, as, for example, where a .thick 

overburden is cheaply removed by hydraulicking and a very thin'-idch 

pay streak remains. When, however, a mechanical method of removing overburden and low-grade gravels costs from 50 cents to $1 a 

yard, and the whole area has to be gone over again by men to wheel 

the rich pay to the sluice, the gravel must be extraordinarily rich to 

pay a profit. The lowest cost of handling gravel by the method of 

shoveling in was found to be $1 per cubic yard on one of the. creeks 

of Seward Peninsula, while the cost may reach $5 on some of the 

isolated interior creeks of Alaska." From 10 cents-to $1 per square 

yard of area worked must be generally added to the shoveling cost to 

cover the cost of stripping muck or overburden. Ground which 

exceeds 12 feet in depth of combined stripping and pay will rarely 

pay if handled by the method of shoveling into the sluice.

HORSE SCRAPING INTO SLUICE BOXES.

Ground which can be worked by men shoveling into sluices can, 

under certain conditions, be worked satisfactorily by horse scraping, 

and at an expense of one-third of that necessary to shovel in. The 

most important governing condition is the degree of looseness in the 

gravel and in the underlying auriferous bed rock. Two horses, or, 

better, mules, hauling a scraper, with driver, will cost from $17 to 

$23 a day, and in the ordinary small gravel of the Alaska placers, 

with soft schist bed rock, the team will scrape into the boxes from 

30 to 40 cubic'yards of gravel a day over a distance of 75 feet. On 

Penelope Creek, in Seward Peninsula, it was said that the team would 

handle as much as 10 men could shovel, the cost per cubic yard being 

30 cents.

One common breaking plow with a team of horses suffices to break 

up enough ground for four scrapers. The method requires an inclined 

platform built up to a height of 10 to 15 feet above the bed rock, over 

the head box of the sluice. A rectangular opening in this platform 

serves as a chute to the dump box. Generally the horses travel in 

an elliptical track, passing the end of the tail box and scraping the 

tailings from it, then entering the pit, scraping up the pay, and afterwards delivering it to the sluice. In Seward Peninsula the cost 

of this method can be brought as low as 25 cents per cubic yard, and 

in no part of the interior will it exceed 50 cents, exclusive of top 

stripping.

"See cost sheet, table No. 1.
PUKINGTON.] OPEN-OUT MINING. 61

able

Many deposits were seen now worked by shoveling into sluices 

where at least an experimental trial of this method is to be recommended. One of the strongest points in its favor is the cheapness of 

installation and the mobility of the apparatus used.

STEAM SCRAPERS.

In view of the economical showing which the steam scraper has made 

in handling tailings from the creek-mining operations of the Klondike 

it is remarkable that so few attempts have been made with it 

to scrape the alluvium from its 

original position. The ordinary 

scrapers used in steam-scraping 

operations on tailings in the 

Klondike have a capacity of from 

one-third to one-half cubic yard, 

operated by double drum, 2-cylinder hoist; 16-inch drums, 25 to 

30 horsepower capacity, handling 

on an average 250 cubic yards 

of loose material in twenty-four 

hours, at an average expense of 

49 cents per cubic yard. The 

manipulations of the scraper, considered as a unit of the plant, take 

3 to 4 men on shift a fireman, a 

hoistman, and either 1 or 2 men to 

fill, guide, and dump the scraper. The form and rigging up of 

the scraper, with the system of 

sheaves, pulling, and drawback 

cables, is shown in figs. 6 and 7. 

In the practice seen the scrapers 

drag the material from the pit to 

the dump, a distance measured

horizontally from 100 to 300 feet FlG (. _Sraall Btoam scraper Klomlike 

and vertically from 20 to 50 feet.

The scrapers are not always provided with teeth like the one shown 

in the figure, but this is advisable. A rigid bale should never be 

used, as flat stones catch between it and the body of the scraper. 

The plants average $3,500 in cost.

The rig shown in PI. VI, A (p. 62), is situated on Walker Fork, Fortymile district, Alaska, where a body of gravel 60 feet in width and 5 

feet in depth, with little or no stripping, was being mined. According to information obtained by Mr. L. M. Prindle the gravel was only
62 GEAYEL AND PLACEJJ MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

partially free, and little or no stripping was required. As a rule the 

scraper was found to clean the schist bed rock satisfactorily. The 

scraper used had a capacity of one-fifth cubic yard, being an ordinary 

horse scraper rigged for steam with pulling and drawback cables. A 

6-horsepower hoist operated the scraper, giving a capacity of 100 cubic 

yards in twenty-four hours. The 10"-horsepower boiler also furnished 

steam to operate the bucket elevator which lifted the gravel to the 

sluice from the hopper, to which it was dumped by the scraper. A 

conservative estimate places the cost of handling gravel with rig, 3

'sheave with I2"conical 

plate beneath

Position- of scraper can be

, altered by lengthening or

^shortening line to anchor

Anchor

FIG. 7. Set-up of scraper, Klondike.

men being employed and one-half cord of wood burned in ten hours, 

at 40 cents per cubic yard. The operations were meeting with financial success.

The plant contains the elements of a device which, it is not unlikely, 

may be applied to the working of the wide, shallow creek deposits of 

Seward Peninsula, or of such creeks of the interior as Mammoth, in 

the Birch Creek district, or-lower Tedro, in the Fairbanks district. 

If circumstances warranted, the sheave anchor (a rock-filled crib) 

shown in PI. VI, A, could be made more easily movable by mounting 

it on a truck running on track, it being made fast by cable and dead-
U. 6. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 263 PL.

A. STEAM SCRAPING ON WALKER FORK, ALASKA,

B. DUMPING TO SLUICES, KLONDIKE.
PUKINGTON.] OPEN-CUT MINING. f 63

man when occasion might require. The bucket elevator employed is 

not recommended, as the use of such contrivances for handling gravel, 

unless they are specially and expensively constructed as on large 

dredges is condemned by experience. In place of this, the scraper 

should be dragged entirely to the point of final discharge to the sluice 

on an inclined platform. The operation will necessitate the building 

of a more elevated sluice or washing plant, surmounted by a hopper, 

the gravel being fed from this in order that the feed may be as nearly 

continuous as possible. Assuming that the elevation of the head box. 

of the sluice shown in the illustration is 12 feet above the surface of 

the ground, the scraper could be dragged to double this elevation at a 

cost not exceeding 10 per cent above that necessary to haul it up to 

the 12-foot elevation. One of the types of washing plants described 

on pages 193 et seq. would be applicable with modifications to a steam 

scraping plant.

. It may be well to consider here the reasons why, in wide, shallow 

creek deposits, steam scraping appears to be preferable to other 

mechanical methods. In general, it may be said that this method is 

applicable to operations on schist bed rock, but is entirely impracticable on limestone or other hard bed rock. This is also true of the 

steam-shovel and dredging methods. Grant that bed-rock conditions 

are suitable, and consider a solidly frozen deposit of characteristic 

small gravel with, inuck and moss overburden, 150 feet width of pay 

and 7 feet in total depth from grass roots to bottom of pay. After 

the moss is plowed up, the 3 feet depth of muck can be ground sluiced 

off in the ordinary manner at an expense of, say, 15 cents per cubic 

yard. The ground sluicing should be done at the earliest possible 

moment in the open season or, preferably, late in the fall. The 

operator now has to deal with a stripped block of frozen gravel and 

auriferous bed rock 4 feet in depth, carrying pay, or the material 

which it is desired to sluice. A vertical bank of this material can not 

be attacked by any mechanical appliance yet devised, but if left 

uncovered for six weeks it will thaw to bed rock. The operator, 

however, wishes to take advantage of the continual thawing of the 

surface by the sun, and to do this he must attack not a vertical but 

a horizontal surface. The rate of natural thawing varies from 6 

inches to 1 foot a week. The scraper armed with teeth rigged so as 

to make a series of transverse cuts, say for 300 feet lengthwise of the 

channel, will attack the ground, scraping off the thawed material 

better than any other mechanical appliance.

The sluice boxes or washing plant built to a height of,25 feet above 

the surface of the ground can now be approached by a broad incline 

platform, or, if desired, the scraper m&y dump to cars which convey 

the material by gravity to an isolated and conveniently situated washing plant. The system adopted will depend on the magnitude of the
64 GRAVEL AND PLAOEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263.

operations. In only very exceptional cases should the expense of 

handling, after the material is once dumped from the scraper, be 

allowed to exceed 5 cents to the cubic j/ard.

The plant above suggested implies the use of a scraper of large 

capacity and should handle the gravel at a total cost, including depreciation charge and added cost of stripping, not to exceed 40 cents per 

cubic yard in Alaska, provided that 700 cubic }7 ards of gravel a day 

are sent to the sluice. In order to accomplish this a scraper, preferably of the bottomless, self-dumping type, of 6 }rards theoretical capacity, should be used. It will be found that actually 3£ yards will be 

delivered each time by such a scraper. The operations will require a 

60-horsepower boiler and double-drum hoist, and the services of seven 

men on a shift. The total running expense of the plant should not 

exceed $150 a day of 24 hours.

The double-drum hoist operating the scraper will have a position on 

the side of the sluice opposite that of the cut, and can be mounted 

on skids so that it can be easily moved by means of a sheave and deadman if necessary. The sheave through which the drawback cable runs 

may be anchored to a weighted car running on 200 feet of track laid 

parallel with the cut on the side opposite that occupied by the sluice 

and hoist. If it is desired to keep the drawback cable out of the way 

it may pass through two sheaves, one anchored to traveling anchor and 

one to deadman, the cables thus forming a triangular arrangement, 

two of whose angles will vary as the car is moved to cover various 

 parts of the ground. The car may be moved as often as desired, and 

thus one furrow after another may be made by the scraper over a triangular area as the ground thaws. By means of a rearrangement of 

the sheaves it is found that nearly all of the ground can be covered. 

A plant erected for the Klainath River Gold Mining Company a is provided with two li-yard scrapers, which travel back and forth alternately, both cables acting as pulley and drawback cables. Two sheaves 

are used on the side of the excavation opposite to the washing plant. 

"These sheaves are attached to a spreader which keeps them spaced a 

given distance apart, and to each end of the spreader is attached a 

tackle which runs back at an angle to deadmen to which they are 

securely anchored."

The type of bottomless scraper shown in fig. 8 (p. 65) was seen in 

successful operation stripping loam at a reservoir excavation near 

Portland, Oreg. It has a theoretical capacity of 6 yards, and actually 

handles a little over half this amount. Measurements of a spoil bank 

showed that in seven ten-hour days, stripping to 4 feet in depth, 400 

cubic yards per shift had been handled. The scraper was making 

furrows over 300 feet in length. A 60-horsepower boiler was used,

a Yeatman, J. A., Automatic excavator for placer mining: Min. and Sci. Press, Dec. 17,1904,
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 263 PL. VII

A. DERRICKING AT FAIRBANKS, DUMPING.

U. DERRICKING AT FAIRBANKS, LOADING.
PUKINGTON.] OPEN-CUT MINING. 65

but only one cord of wood at $2 per cord was burned. The doubledrum hoist was provided with 10 by 12 inch cylinders and was geared 

6 to 1. Four men, a winchrrian, a fireman, and two scraper men were 

emplo}red, at $2.50 a day. It was said that under these conditions 

the operations cost 5 cents per cubic yard. It was estimated that in a 

haul of from 150 to 200 feet the scraper would deliver loam to the 

spoil heap at the rate of 2 cubic yards per minute.

The above suggestions regarding the use of self-dumping scrapers 

in northern placer mining will doubtless be looked on with considerable skepticism. No direct. application of the method has, so f#r 

as known, been made in Alaska. The form of plant outlined is inexpensive as compared with many already installed in Alaska, having a 

capacity not exceeding 700 cubic yards. The sum of $10,000 should 

be ample to install an entire scraper and washing plant in Seward 

Peninsula. Even should some form of steam scraping be found appliFIG. 8. Bottomless steam scraper.

cable to the wider shallow deposits, the installation of elaborate cableways, traveling towers, and the like, is not advisable, as in most cases 

their cost would be prohibitory.

SELF-DUMPING CARRIERS.

The conditions in the Klondike district appear to have necessitated 

the adoption of this expensive method of placer mining. Outside the 

Klondike field the method was not seen except at one place on Mastodon Creek, in the Birch Creek district. The method is adopted to 

work rich gravels where conditions do not permit working by ordinary 

shallow open-cut methods, and where drifting is impossible or 

inadvisable.

In considering the economic success of this method, a study of the 

cost sheet given in this report (table 1, p. 38), is most instructive. In 

the first place the average depth from eight Klondike operations considered, namely 17.5 feet, is greater than that economically advisable 

Bull. 263 05 5
66 GEAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263.

(namely, 15 feet) for open-cut operations in general. The operator 

adopts this method because there are thawed streaks and channels 

in his deposit. If such ground is drifted, the chances are that he will 

increase his expense to a prohibitive amount through excessive timbering and through pumping of seepage water, whereas by the opencut method the water is handled by drain. The cost sheet shows that 

whereas $2.14 is the average cost of the above-mentioned 8 operations 

in the Klondike, 7 drifting operations in similar deposits, with an 

average depth of 25.3 feet, gave an 'average cost of $1.95 per cubic 

yard, the depth of the pay or thickness of gravel actually sent to the 

sluice being almost exactly the same in both cases, and the capacity in 

the drifting being only 17.5 cubic yards less in twenty-four hours. 

Granting,.however, that in a given deposit carrying $3 to the cubic 

yard of pay, the depth being 16 feet, drifting is impossible, and the 

rich pay, 75 feet in width, must be worked by open cut. Whatever 

method be adopted the moss' must first be plowed up and about 6 feet 

of muck ground sluiced off at a cost of 17 cents per cubic yard. Next 

6 feet of barren gravel or sand must be removed, either by horse 

scrapers at 60 cents per cubic yard, or, if the plant warrants the operation, by steam scraper at 49 cents per cubic }^ard: The 4 feet of pay 

being laid bare, what method shall be adopted to get it into the sluices? 

On account of the necessarily short life of the operations, a plant 

whose first cost exceeds $5,000 is out of the question. The greatest 

expense will then result from the hand shoveling in the pit. The getting of the material into the receptacle in which it is conveyed to the 

sluice is the principal item of expense in the operation. It is therefore necessary that the high-priced shovelers get^as much gravel into 

the wheelbarrows or buckets as possible. The bucket, 37 inches square 

on top, 35 inches square on bottom, and 25 inches deep, holding twothirds of a cubic yard, is dropped into a crib built in the bottom of

the pit, to which the shovelers wheel their dirt in wheelbarrows. 

From 4 to 6 wheelbarrows are necessary to fill the bucket. There 

is no mobility to the bucket; it must always rise and fall to the 

same spot. Men instead of occupying all their time in shoveling are 

emplo}7 ed nearly half of it in wheeling and dumping. Five operations 

are necessary to get the gravel from the bank to the sluice, namely, 

(1) shoveling into wheelbarrows, (2) wheeling to bucket, (3) dumping 

to bucket, (4) raising bucket to carrier. a (5) conveying and dumping to 

sluice. (See PI. VI, B.} '

This may now.be compared with the derricking system. On Pedro 

Creek, Fairbanks district, an open cut 15 feet of depth with 9 feet of 

pay gravel is worked by derricking. The plant has a capacity of 233 

cubic yards a day, which is handled at a cost of $1.75 per cubic }^ard. 

The plant costs no more than the average price of a self-dumping

a The Dawson self-dumping carrier and its use is described under the heading " Drift raining," p. 94.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

A. SKIDS FOR DERRICKING.

B. DERRICK BUCKET.
PURINGTON.] OPEN-CUT MINING. 67

carrier plant of daily capacity not exceeding 200 yards. The first cost 

of all, including a 30-horsepower boiler, was said to be $4,500. Here 

the gravel is shoveled into buckets holding 8 cubic feet. These buckets are trammed on small trucks running on wooden tracks, hooked, 

onto by the derrick cable and lifted and conveyed at same time to 

the sluice. The derrick boom has a radius of reach of 40 feet, and a 

much smaller proportion of time is consumed by the shovelers in 

tramming than when the fixed bucket on cable is used/' The expense 

was increased in this plant by the necessity of continually thawing with 

24 points. PI. VII, A and E (p. 64), shows the operation of the derricking plant.

As against the 5 operations of the cable tram system, there are 

only 3 in the derricking system if properly handled.' The proof 

that the derricking system is superior to the wheeling and cable

tram system is evident from the comparative cost. The services of a

man at the dump box are generally necessary in all cases under the 

present sluicing practice, so that the self-dumping arrangement of the 

bucket helps but little.

It should be noted that the Fairbanks operator was working under 

higher prices generally than the Klondike miners, both for labor (at 

|10 a day, as against $7.50 a day) and for general supplies, and he also 

had an excessive amount of steam thawing. His lower cost depended 

primarily on his increased capacity, resulting for the most part from 

the increased duty of each shoveler, owing to the expeditious and 

adaptable system of hoisting and conveying afforded by the derrick. 

A derricking system in use on Seward Peninsula will be separately 

described.

' The conclusion is that while the cable tram system, using the Dawson carrier, is excellent for drifting work, it is not to be recommended 

for open-cut work where it is possible to'obtain space for installing a 

derrick.

DERRICKING.

The plant described below is located on Ophir Creek, in the Council 

mining district of Seward Peninsula. The stream has been turned 

aside and work is proceeding in the old bed. The distinctive feature 

of the plant is the use of derricks in overcoming exceptional difficulties 

encountered in the character of the deposit. Hand labor is used in 

excavation, while transport of material to be washed and disposal of 

tailings are accomplished by derricks.

The pit in which work is being done depends for its shape and size 

upon the method of working and length of the derrick boom.. An 

area of 30 feet beyond the end of the derrick boom is worked. A pit, 

roughly circular, having a diameter of 140 feet, is the result, since the

a See also special description of derricking, pp. 67-71.
68 GKAVEL AND PLA'CEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

boom reaches approximately 40 feet in its sweep, and the buckets are 

hauled 30 feet from the bank. Under a stratum of sand and soil, 

varying from 4 to 5 feet in thickness, the gravel, in places considerably 

, mixed with sand and clay, descends to bed rock, usually 30 feet below 

the surface. The gravel is entirely unfrozen, rounded, and for the 

most part small, not over 10 per cent'exceeding 6 inches in. diameter, 

while no bowlders are found above 18 inches. Bed rock is a massive 

limestone, extremely irregular in its position, and causes the greatest 

difficulty in the extraction of much of the gold, though this same feature 

must have played an important part in the enrichment of the claim. (See 

PL VIII, J., p. 66.) In places deep holes have been made by action of 

water, and the depth to which work is carried in the recovery of the 

gold depends entirely upon the economy with which it is extracted. 

There is no doubt that much gold remains below, to obtain which 

would not be profitable under present conditions.

Excavation is accomplished entirely by pick, the gravel being shoveled into the derrick buckets. These buckets are hauled by the derrick line, guided by hand, upon wooden skids (see PL VIII, .A), to a 

point directly beneath the end of the boom, where they are hoisted 

and carried to the dump box.

The buckets are of 11 cubic feet capacity, and are so practical as to 

warrant detailed description. They are made of crude oil drums or 

gasoline tanks, cut to a height of 2 feet 8 inches, and are 2 feet 5 

inches across the top. (See PL VIII, B.} Two lugs to hold the 

bale are set opposite each other one-fourth distance up from the bottom. The bale is made from the original hoops of the drum. The 

bottom edge is strengthened by the original flange of the tank, while 

on the upper edge has been riveted the flange originally at the top of 

the tank. The bale is supplied with a catch which, when the bucket

is traveling, rests in a' notch constructed on its edge, which holds the 

bucket in an upright position. On reaching the dump box, a man on 

the platform with his shovel frees the catch, and the bucket dumps 

in turning bottom upward. (See PL IX, A.) In fitting the lugs holding the bale, a piece of iron 9 inches square is riveted to the inside of 

the material composing the drum, which is one-eighth of an inch thick. 

To the outside of the drum a strip 9 inches long, 2£ inches wide, and 

One-half inch thick is also riveted, and to this the lug (2 inches long) is 

welded, making a very strong construction. These buckets weigh 140 

pounds* and, including labor, blacksmith fuel, and original price of 

drum, cost about $25.

The skids upon which the buckets are hauled are ordinary smoothed 

timbers, and are not fastened down. This admits of rapid change in 

accommodating the hauls to the advancing work. It is desirable to 

have these timbers as much as possible in a radius of the circle 

described by the derrick, as this gives a straight haul on the boom.
BULLETIN NO. 263 PL. IX

A. DUMPING BUCKET.

Si. ROUGH BED ROCK AND BOWLDERS PILED IN PIT.
70 GEAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

which catches any gold that may have passed the preceding string. 

Such an arrangement, though of considerable use when gold is generally coarse, will not serve when fine gold is encountered. An undercurrent of greater surficial area and greater grade, carrying the water 

in a thin sheet, would then be demanded.

In washing the gravel 150 miner's inches are used. The water is 

brought from Ophir Creek in a ditch 1£ miles long. It is 6 feet on 

the bottom, 9 feet on top, and has a grade of one-tenth inch to 100 

feet. It cost $8,000.

Tailings are handled by a derrick and a self-dumping scraper. 

Power is supplied to the latter by hauling directly from the derrick 

boom, and its operation is directed by two men. In this case the derrick leans toward the dump pile, to which it carries its load by gravity, 

being hauled back by the steam winch. To the scraper is attached a 

rope which, on tightening as the derrick swings, dumps the load at its 

destination. (See PI. X.) Both the derrick boom and mast are 40 

feet long and are arranged like the excavation derrick, except that 

the mast leans in the opposite .direction. A 15-horsepower boiler and 

8-horsepower winch are used, and there are three men on each shift. 

The tailings derrick is not occupied more than one-fourth the working 

time of the pit derrick. »

In all from 55 to 60 men are employed about the plant. A man is 

continually needed at the mud box to trip the bucket and to feed the 

gravel as regularly as possible to the sluices from the platform. A 

winch man is needed at each derrick. A man in the pit devotes his 

entire attention to the snubbing line, while two men are necessary on 

the scraper. The latter*feature could possibly be improved by some 

mechanical method not requiring the hand labor. Wages are 50 cents 

an hOUl', With board, and work is continued eleven hours each shift.

Besides the derrick plant above described another, seen on Ophir 

Creek, made use of iron skips'of 1£ cubic yard capacity, which were 

run on trucks to the working face and, after loading, were trammed 

within reach of the derrick and lifted to the sluice. As nearly as 

could be learned, while the capacity of this plant was from 15 to 20 

per cent higher than the one previously described the work was not 

being done so cheaply. In the last case it was necessary to pump the 

seepage water from the pit, while in the first case all seepage water 

was naturally disposed of by draining into the peculiar cavernous 

limestone bed rock. In derricking plants in general, large rather 

than small buckets or skips are to be recommended, but the various 

elements of the plant should be so coordinated that the capacity of 

the derrick is not above that of the shoveling and tramming or of the 

sluice.

The derricking plant seen on Pedro Creek, in the Fairbanks district, 

has been described, in connection with the method of using the cable
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 263 PL, X

^^/y Capacity ZSOoibic yards

-

IIcubic rfeet\bucM

i To engine 

Elevation to show arrangement of tackle

'' "'' 7bengine v''-'-''-'--:-'''. ' .' '.' '! '!'V'-':'V-1''' 

Elevation to show arrangement of tackle

PLAN OF DERRICKING PLANT, OPHIR CREEK, SEWARD PENINSULA.
PURINGTON.] OPEN-CCT MINING. 71

tram and self-dumping bucket in open-cut work. Its efficiency was

found to be high and its cost low in comparison with this well-known

Klondike method. In general it

may be said that derricking is a

simple, efficient, adaptable, and

comparatively cheap method of

working open cuts whore gravel

must be shoveled into the first

receptacle b}r hand and the bed

rock cleaned by men.

TRACKS AND INCLINES.

The track and incline working 

at No. 8, Anvil Creek, Nome district, is fairly representative of 

open-cut work by this system. 

(See fig. 9.) A special feature of 

the plant, however, is the removal 

of the overburden, in all 7 feet 

of muck and 5 feet of barren 

gravel, by hydraulicking. Seven 

hundred miner's inches are used 

through a giant, under a pressure 

of 200 feet obtained by pumping. 

After the barren ground has been 

removed the remaining gravel, 

averaging about 6 feet in depth, 

is shoveled into cars, pushed to 

the foot of an incline, elevated, 

and washed. The tailings are 

impounded on the claim, being 

scraped from the end of the 

sluices by 2-hoi\se scrapers.

At the time of observation 6 

cars were in use, though this 

number can be varied to suit the 

conditions in hand. Two men 

are employed with each car. 

They take turns in shoving the 

car to the incline, one remaining 

at the bank with pick. The cars 

iii this plant were of a capacity q 

of 22^ cubic feet, though larger ^ 

ones might be found more eco- "*- 

nomical. From 250 to 300 cars are run up each 10-hour shift.

The material is lifted 30 feet to the mud box and there dumped by
72 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

hand. A man is continually employed for this duty. He also watches 

large bowlders and prevents jamming in the flume. However, very 

few large stones are allowed to pass through, for in the work of excavation the larger rocks are piled at one side of the track.

One man is employed at the hoisting winch and does his own firing. 

Three 114-pound sacks of coal are consumed each shift. A 15-horsepower boiler is used with vertical engine, and a five-eighths inch cable 

hauls the cars.

The dump box is 24 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 3 feet high, and has 

a grade, of 1 inch to 1 foot. Following this are 240 feet of boxes with 

a grade of three-fourth inches to 1 foot. The boxes are 16 inches 

wide and 14 inches high, and are supplied with cast-iron grate riffles. 

These are 16 inches square and can be used either as Hungarian or. 

longitudinal riffles. In washing, 125 miner's inches are used, all 

obtained by gravity from a claim above. After being used the water 

is caught in a retaining dam, settled, and carrried by flume to a lower 

claim, where it is sold. Two 2-horse scrapers are used to keep tailings clear, and all gravel is impounded by a brush dam upon the claim.

A little gold is caught in the entire string, though by far the greater 

proportion is retained in the mud box and that following. In the 

mud box a perforated iron sheet laid over the riffles aids the moving 

of material and prevents clogging. In the center of this sheet is 

placed a heavy iron plate which receives the heavy fall from the cars 

and saves the bottom of the mud box.

Bed rock on this claim is mica-schist, though in places the pay is 

underlain by a stiff clay. The gold sinks in the broken schist about 

2 feet, but not at all in the clay.

A bed-rock drain, 250 feet long, has been cut nearly level, which is 

joined by small drains from various parts of the pit. Only about 15 

miner's inches of water were running from the drain at the time of 

observation. Men are paid $5 a day, with board.

The advantages of the car-and-incline system are not especially 

pronounced. The method of stripping used in the above-described 

plant, or at any plant where water under pressure is available can 

hardly be improved upon. Where the overburden is thawed or where 

frost is encountered only in spots, as in the claim under discussion, 

hydraulicking has been found the most economical and efficient means 

of removing material. The car system, however, has little of solid 

economic'ad vantage to recommend it. In order to increase capacity 

more men must be employed to shovel. In this system an undue 

proportion of time is consumed in tramming the cars to the top of the 

incline. A mechanical system, such as derricking or steam scraping, 

has many advantages over the track-aud-incline. In the Klondike, so 

far as could be learned, the track-and-incline system does not make so 

economical a showing as other methods of working open cut, although 

the opportunity for comparison of efficiency was limited.
PTJRINGTON.] OPEN-CUT MINING. 73 

THE STEAM SHOVEL.

Where the ground exceeds 12 feet in depth and is unfrozen, certain 

conditions justify the installation of a mechanical excavator of large 

capacity, say 1,000 cubic yards or more in twenty-four hours. It will 

seldom be found advisable to install so large and so cumbersome a 

machine as the steam shovel in the creek diggings of Alaska, for the 

ground is rarely deep enough to justify the expense of installation. 

On bench diggings, however, where the pit can be drained by gravity, 

the steam shovel has a value which has probably been underestimated. 

The fact that water under pressure is difficult or impossible to obtain 

for the hydraulicking of benches raises the question whether these 

bench gravels can not be excavated by other means. The value of the 

steam shovel lies in the fact that it performs for the earth worker that 

portion of his, work which would otherwise be most expensive.

The ground which the shovel is to move must possess certain 

favorable conditions. In the first place, it must be entirely free from 

permanent frost when the dipper lip of the excavator attacks it. If 

the ground holds a certain amount of permanent frost and this can be 

thawed by ground-sluicing the muck off at a period far enough ahead, 

the shovel may still have a profitable field, but its operations are likely 

to be more expensive. Heavy gravel and bowlders are easily handled 

by the mechanical excavator. It is safe to say that no quality or state 

of the Alaska gravels makes them unfit to be dug by the dipper except 

the frozen condition.

The bed rock must be of sufficient softness to allow the dipper 

lip to dig far enough into it to recover all the gold; otherwise a 

gang of men will have to follow the shovel to clean bed rock, and a 

large part of the value of the shovel will be lost. In one attempt to 

operate with a steam shovel in the interior of Alaska it was found 

that as many men had to be employed in cleaning .the bed rock as in 

the entire remainder of the plant.

A prime essential to success, as has been proved by experience, is 

that the washing plant shall be isolated, the gravel being conveyed 

from the dipper to the sluice by some form of tramming. If cars are 

used, they should be large 2 yards capacity, or even larger. Under 

ideal conditions the dipper will dump into cars which run by gravity 

to the hopper of the washing plant, the water being brought to the 

sluice also by gravity. The full cars would in this case carry the 

empties back to the pit. It is rarely possible, however, to find an 

auriferous gravel deposit in which such eminently fit conditions exist 

for work. The tramming, even when it must be up an incline to a 

height of 35 feet above the pit floor, adds proportionately little to the 

expense, as will be seen by figures following. It is a common fault in 

all steam-shovel operations that the shovel is ahead of the car discharge.
74 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

A partly idle steam shovel, however, is not so serious a fault as idle 

men, since the shovel draws no pay.

As to capacity, it is likely that a 2-yard shovel, fitted with extra 

long boom and 1^-yard dipper, will be found most economical. A 25- 

i oot bank can be dug and caved. If the sluice and tramming capacity is 

700 cubic yards a day, the shovel will easily supply the material if no 

frost is encountered.

PI. XI, A, shows one of the steam shovel plants in Alaska, operating on' Anvil Creek. The work done by this shovel is considered 

satisfactory, though its installation is experimental, and a larger one 

is planned. It supplanted a hydraulic-elevator system which was 

condemned. The 25-ton shovel (three-fourths-yard dipper) is working 

on an 18-foot face. It has not reached the bottom of the gravel, and 

must make another cut 7 feet lower vertically before all the pay is 

extracted. It is said that from July 23 to September 1, 1904, 25,000 

cars of li cubic yards capacity were dug and moved to the sluice 

boxes at a working cost of 12 cents a yard. The low bench is sufficiently above the level of the present creek to permit the pit to be

. . , . Grade sluice 8 to IB for 1^30, remainder? -tot' IS - ! S-horse

scraper

FIG. 10. Plan of steam-shovel operations, Anvil Creek.

drained, the seepage water being handled by bed-rock drain, The 

workings were visited a second time three weeks after the present cut 

was made. A complete section of the bank to bed rock is given below:

Feet. 

Muck.---.-----...--...--................................_..._....._......_ 3

Fine gravel and sand ......................................... .............. 5

Fine subangular gravel...................................................... 5

Large subangular schist and limestone fragments, stained with iron oxide, with 

a few bowlders up to 3 feet in diameter .................................... 15

The upper 3 feet of muck was ground-sluiced; the remainder was 

moved by the steam shovel.

This frozen ground illustrates the peculiarly trying conditions with 

which the Alaska placer miner has frequently to deal. None of the 

ground encountered in 1904 was frozen. In the early part of the 

season of 1903, however, on account of the light snowfall during the 

preceding winter, the sides of a cut operated on were frozen to a depth 

of 8 feet and to a distance of 15 feet into the bank. This was annual
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 263 PL. XI

A. STEAM SHOVEL, ANVIL CREEK.

/>'. STEAM SHOVEL, BEAR CREEK, KLONDIKE.
PDRINGTON.l OPEN-CUT MINING. 75

and not permanent frost. Had the attempt been made to work the 

ground at that time with the shovel the operations,would have been 

greatly delayed. In PI. XI, J., one of the frequent defects of the 

steam-shovel system is apparent the shovel idle and waiting for cars. 

I:\ this plant, after the shovel had worked to a considerable distance 

from the bottom of the incline, the li-yard cars, 3 in number, were 

trammed to the bottom of the incline by horses and hoisted to sluice 

by a 15-horsepower hoist. The tramming may be more cheaply 

accomplished, where there are several years' work ahead, by a small 

locomotive in the pit running to the bottom of the incline or, under 

favorable conditions, directly to the washing plant. Fig. 10 shows a 

plan of the operation under discussion.

The tramming system illustrated by fig. 11, used at Galesburg, 111, 

in one of the shale pits of the Purington Paving Brick Company, is

considered highly economical in steam-shovel work, As may be

Fro. 11. Plan of steam-shovel operations, Galesburg, 111.

seen, the locomotive occupies a position intermediate between the 

two trains of cars, which deliver two ways to the bottom of two 

inclines leading to the hoppers of the clay machines at each end 

of the pit. In placer operations, if conditions admit of dividing 

the water to two washing plants, this system is to be recommended, as it allows of rapid delivery of the cars from the shovel. 

In this plant the locomotive keeps. 20 cars going, each of 2 

yards capacity, tramming them alternately, in trams of 6 and 4, 

two ways to the ends of the pit, whence they are hauled, two at a 

time, to the hoppers. When empty they run down and are switched 

automatically to the empty tracks. The 90-ton shovel, of-5-yard dipper capacity but fitted with 2-yard dipper, is ahead of the capacity of 

the clay machines, but must be used owing to the difficulty of digging 

the firm shale which composes the bank. The actual yardage moved, 

working nine hours a day, is 670, or at the rate of 1,488 yards in
76 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BUM,. 263.

twenty hours. It is estimated that this is less than one-half the amount 

that could be handled were the shovel digging loose gravel. As it 

now works, the shovel is digging only one-third the time.

For moving up the cars within reach of the dipper as each one is 

filled the device shown in fig. 12 is used. This was devised by Mr. 

W. S. Purington, and has been in. successful use at this plant for five 

years. The long cylinder, made with casting to attach to the shovel, 

here shown on the near side, contains a piston of equal length, which 

is supported on suspended track and wheel as it leaves the end of the 

cylinder. To the near end of the piston a cable passing over a sheave 

is attached. The other end of the cable is hooked to the corner of 

the gravel car, steam is turned into the near end of the cylinder, and

Exhaust-*

< Steam

Body of steam shovel

/ Steam

 - 14 feet 

Trolley

PIG. 12. Pulling-up device for steam shovel.

as the piston travels back toward the forward end of the shovel car 

the gravel car is hauled by the cable an equal distance, from 5 to 7 

feet, as may be required. Steam is then turned into the cylinder, 

allowing the piston to return and the cable to free itself; the cable is 

unhooked and pulled by the car man to the following car and hooked 

in readiness to pull it along. The amount of steam and the time consumed in the operation are so small as to ,be almost negligible. By 

passing the cable around the body of the shovel car over a second 

sheave the cars on the opposite side of the shovel can be moved, when 

the relative position of the shovel is reversed.

Dipper chains are generally preferable to cables in placer operations, as illustrated by the experience of the shovel dredge in Solomon
OPEN-OUT MINING. 77

River, elsewhere described. A link in a chain can be repaired where 

a wire cable can not.

The moving of the shovel as the digging progresses must be 

brought down to the most economical and rapid system possible. In 

the Galesburg operations wooden skids of 6-inch timber, 3 by 3 inches 

in dimensions, are hung from the jack frames by chains, and thus 

require no attention when the shovel is moved up. On these skids 

rest 6-inch blocks, 2 by 2 feet, on which the jack shoes bear.

In the Anvil Creek plant the present arrangement for dumping the 

cars at the sluice is unsatisfactory, and will be changed. Self-tripping 

two-way dumping cars will be substituted for the man who trips the 

cars. The sluice presents no new features, it is 500 feet long by 32 

inches wide, by 36 inches high at the dump box, and narrows to 26 

inches wide by .24 inches high, in 10-inch grade, and is furnished with 

angle iron riffles. The cost of digging, tramming, and dumping the 

gravel to sluice is said to be 12 cents per cubic yard.

The cost of steam-shovel operations in Alaska is not evident from 

the cost sheet (table 1, p. 38), as the figures there given cover the sluicing, often with purchased water, stripping, amortization, etc. In the 

Anvil Creek operation the actual working cost of digging the gravel, 

tramming and hoisting, and tripping the cars to the sluice box is given 

below, as estimated by the superintendent, the figures covering 810 

yards in twenty-four hours, and including superintendence on the 

ground, labor, crude oil fuel at $3 a barrel, lubricants, etc.

Cost of steam-shovel work at Anvil Creek, Alaska, per cubic yard.

Digging................................................................. $0.045

Tramming to incline .................................................... . 025

Hoisting. ............................... ....^........................... .018

Dumping ............................................................... .Oil

Proportionate superintendence on ground, and incidentals ................. . 021

Cost per cubic yard................................................ . 120

Figures showing the cost at the Galesburg plant, above referred to, 

are available in detail, for handling 17,422 cubic yards of shale per 

month of 26 nine-hour days, digging from 50-foot bank with a shovel 

fitted with 2-yard dipper, delivering to 20 two-yard cars trammed 2 

ways, 1,500 and 2,000 feet, respectively, to bottom of 2 inclines, 

hoisted by cable to hoppers at elevation of 20 feet above the track and 

dumped to hoppers.

Cost per month of steam-shovel ivork at Galesburg, III.

1 engineer, shovel....................................................... $110.00

1 crane man ........................................................... 85.00

1 fireman, at 22£ cents per hour.......................................... 52. 65

3 trackmen, 17£ cents per hour (shovel)......................... i....... 128. 85

1 locomotive engineer ...............................^.................. 80.00
78 GKAVEL AND PL A GEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

Cost per month, of steam-shovel work at Oalesburg, III. Continued.

1 switchman, at 20 cents per hour..................... _\................. $46. 80

2 hoist men, at 20 cents per hour (hoist men dump the cars) .............. 93. 60

1$ tons coal for shovel, at $2 ............................................ 78.00

£ ton coal for locomotive................................................ " 26.00

1 ton coal for 2 hoists......'.............................................. 52. 00

Total............................................................ 752.90

Cost per cubic yard...................................................... . 0432

Charges for superintendence, oil, waste, and incidentals are omitted 

from the above. Including these the cost is practically 5 cents a yard. 

The comparison below, however, is based on the figure of $0.0432.

If two of the trackmen be charged to the shovel, the digging operation and transfer from bank to car costs $0.0236, or 54.6 per cent 

of the operation considered. In other words, the digging here costs 

little more than the long tram, hoisting, and dumping, and thus 

the object of using mechanical appliances is attained. A striking 

comparison is afforded by the cost of operating a placer which uses 

the car-and-incline system and the labor of men to fill the cars. If 

the duty of a man shoveling gravel into a car is taken at 12 cubic 

yards in nine hours, and the men are paid the lowest wage given in 

the above tables, namely $42.85 per month, 56 men, say, would be 

employed filling the cars, and the monthly cost would be $2,305, or 

$0.132 per cubic yard, 5.6 times as .great as that with the shovel, or 

84.8 per cent of the entire operation considered. In Alaska where 

wages for shovelers are from four to six times as great, the percentage of cost would be much greater.

Although the cost of 12 cents on Anvil Creek appears attractively 

low, it must be remembered that it does not take into account the 

labor of shovelers cleaning bed rock after the shovel. This operation, unfortunately, can rarely be dispensed with, at least in portions of the ground, and it ^ will naturally increase the cost of 

getting the auriferous material into the cars. In some places in 

Alaska the slabs and. leaves of bed rock must be scraped with 

brooms in order to recover all the gold. The prospective steamshovel miner should keep in mind the fact that a machine which will 

handle a large quantity of material, however cheaply, is of no avail 

unless it can succeed in extracting a large percentage of the values.

The steam-shovel plant at the junction of Bear Creek and Klondike Elver occupies the flood plain of the latter stream, a fact that 

influences greatly the economical excavation and disposal of material, 

since both lack of grade for washing gravel and dump for disposal of 

tailings must be supplied artificially.

This steam shovel (see PI. XI, J3) digs in a pit 20 feet below the surface of the flat. The dipper empties into cars which are pushed by 

hand to the foot of an incline and raised by steam winch to the plat-
PURINGTON.] OPEN-CUT MINING. 79

form of the washing frame, where they are dumped by hand into a 

hopper. The material passes through a trommel, and the oversize falls 

into a self-dumping carrier and is elevated to dump. The undersize 

passes over tables and through sluices, and the fines are also raised by 

steam, a scraper being employed to secure dumping ground. There 

are, therefore, four distinct elevations, viz, by the shovel, the gravel by 

the tram, the coarse tailings by the bucket, and the fine's by the steam 

scraper.

The pit in which the shovel works varies in depth from 20 to 24 

feet. The gravel lies beneath 3 feet of muck, is generally mixed with 

considerable sand, and extends to bed rock. The material is well 

rounded and contains very few stones (but 1 per cent) that are^over 18 

inches in diameter. Considerable black sand is found in the clean-up. 

In spots the ground is frozen, necessitating the occasional use of steam 

points. Steam is conveyed across the cut in a covered steam pipe 

hung from a stretched cable. A schist bed rock, generally hard, is 

excavated for about 2 feet by the shovel.

The shovel weighs 35 tons and revolves 360° upon a turntable. The 

dipper holds 1 cubic yard, and the machine has a capacity of 1,000 

yards in ten hours, though this can not be obtained owing to inadequate 

tramming facilities. Its cost on the ground is about double that 

charged by the manufacturer. The boom, when horizontal, reaches 

22 feet beyond the bow, but when at level of track only about 14 feet. 

Three-quarter-inch cables are used in transmitting power. The faults 

of cables in steam-shovel practice in inaccessible localities have been 

commented on above. The dipper contains no new features. Prongs 

are added to save lip, the central one being longer than those adjacent. The machine has 3 engines and uses in all about 40 horsepower.

For conveying material three cars of 2 yards capacity each are used, 

running on a 3-foot gage track with 16-pound rails. The cars are pushed 

by hand to the foot of an incline, which has an angle of 22° and extends 

100 feet, and thence elevated by cable connected to a 40-horsepower 

hoist. Two hundred and fift}^ cars are usually raised in ten hours. 

On reaching the platform the cars are dumped by hand and returned 

by gravity to the foot of the incline.

From the hopper into which the cars dump the gravel is fed into a 

revolving trommel 16 feet long and 3 feet in diameter supplied with 

a worm upon the inner surface and punched with holes varying from 

one-half to li inches in size. The rate of feed is regulated by hand, 

a gate being raised and lowered when necessary. Water is supplied 

to the trommel by a 6-inch longitudinal pipe. All oversize passes 

directly over a sheet-iron chute into a square hopper, from which it 

falls by gravity into a self-dumping carrier and is elevated approximately 40 feet upon a dump. A 10-horsepower winch does this duty. 

The hopper is furnished with a heavy iron gate, raised by the steam
80 GKAVEL AND PLACEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 268.

winch running the self-dumping carrier, and is lowered by its owii 

weight. The fines (the material passing through the trommel) fall 

directly on gold-saving tables similar in design to those used on many 

gold dredges. These tables (see PL XII, -4), which are fed by two 

4-inch pipes, are six in number (three on each side of the trommel) 

and have a gold-saving surface of 80 square feet. They are fitted 

with expanded metal and cocoa-matting riffles, which prove to be v&ry 

efficient, the greater part of the gold being caught near the upper 

end of the first table. (See PI. XII, B.} The material then passes 

to a longitudinal sluice, which consists of eight boxes 22 inches wide 

furnished with Hungarian riffles constructed of 1- by 3-inch inclined 

cleats capped with three-sixteenths-inch iron. The tailings are 

removed by a steam scraper and elevated upon a dump. The winch 

for the scraper is 30 horsepower and elevates 400 4-wheelbarrow units 

15 feet in ten hours, s'even-eighths-inch cable being used. It will be 

seen that the above double elevation of material must be costty, using, 

as it does, not only .much power, but also additional men on separate 

winches.

The greater part of the water for sluicing, 300 inches, is brought 

by flume from Bear Creek. The remainder, amounting to 100 inches, 

is raised from the pit by a series of pumps. A No. 6 centrifugal 

pump raises the water to the foot of the washing apparatus, from 

which it is lifted 25 feet by a No. 8 centrifugal and used for sluicing. 

A 35-horsepower engine does the latter work. An additional pulsonieter pump is occasionally used in the pit.

The power.plant contains two 60-horsepower boilers and one 50- 

horsepow;er boiler, wood being used for fuel. Sixty men are employed 

about the plant, the daily wage of the laborer being $4 and board. 

The men work two 10-hour shifts throughout the working season.

The above-described plant will undergo considerable change in the 

near future, improvements designed to effect greater economy being 

contemplated. It is planned to haul all material excavated a distance 

of 2,000 feet \>y locomotive, in trains of 6 cars, to a washing plant 

on the banks of Klondike River, where the ground is 8 feet below 

the upper edge of the pit, and then wash it by gravity water from 

Bear Creek. High water in the Klondike will greatly economize the 

handling of tailings, and it ^is hoped the full capacity of the shovel 

may be utilized.

A machine run on principles radically different from those described 

above is illustrated by a steam shovel on Eldorado Creek, in the Klondike region. In this case the use of a tramming system is entirely 

avoided by so arranging the plant as to allow direct dumping by the 

dipper into the sluice boxes. In this case the shallowness of the 

ground and the use of a 50-foot boom permit such an arrangement. 

The work lies in the creJk bed proper and cuts are made longitudi-
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 263 PL. XII

.-I. STATIONARY WASHING PLANT, KLONDIKE.

COCOA MATTING AND EXPANDED METAL RIFFLE.
PUKINGTON.] OPEN-CUT MINING. 81

nally along,the stream, the sluice boxes being moved every three or 

four days, following the progress of the shovel. This practice alone 

involves both good and bad features. The practice of dumping 

directly into the sluice is, theoretically, much to be desired, embodying, as it does, only one elevation of the gravel, an arrangement which 

consumes the least power and time two all-important factors. The 

moving of the sluice boxes, however, in this case consumes much 

time from one to two days for each move and, wages being $6 a 

day and the season very short, constitutes a serious drawback, greatly 

reducing the capacity of the plant. The boom of the machine, as 

stated, is 50 feet long and hoists the gravels 30 feet above the cut. If 

an arrangement facilitating the moving of the boxes could be devised, 

so as to avoid the long delays caused by this operation, a very satisfactory result might be effected. Such a system requires a relatively 

shallow bank, however, and it is doubtful whether it is available for

steam-shovel operations in general.

In this instance the gravel to be taken out is frozen, and continuous 

thawing must accompany the advancing work. In this work 15 steam 

points are driven into the bank to bed rock, where- they remain 

twent}r-four hours, the process consuming during that time 3 cords of 

wood. A 25-horsepower boiler is used for this duty. (See PI. XIII, J5.)

Water is very scarce at this plant and is used repeatedly, being raised 

from the pit by a centrifugal' pump and carried back to the sluice 

boxes in a flume. The pump also serves to drain the pit. The sluice 

boxes have a grade of 9 inches to 12 feet, but, with the water at hand, 

are unable to keep pace with the capacity of the machine.

The shovel carries a one-yard dipper operated by chains. It is 

claimed that 1 cubic yard is moved every two minutes. Bed rock of 

a slaty nature is taken up to a depth varying from 2 to 5 feet.

The problem of disposal of tailings is a difficult one and has not 

been solved .economically. A steam scraper is used and all tailings 

must be scraped to one side and elevated. Not only is the expenditure 

for wood'an item, but a man must be constantly attending the scraper 

while another handles the steam winch.

A tramming system which would convey the material to be washed 

to such a point as would admit of the disposal of tailings by gravity, 

even if a thousand feet or more distant, would be a more economical 

arrangement, saving, as it would, not only all elevation of tailings, 

but also all delay in moving the washing apparatus.

Ten men are employed about the plant each shift, occupied in 

scraping tailings, forking gravel in' dump box, running shovel, 

attending steam points, and in cleaning bed rock at places where the 

dipper could not effectually work. 

Bull. 263 05 6
82 GRAVEL AND PLACEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

The shovel is moved by rollers running on skids, power being 

obtained from the shovel winch. The dipper is furnished with soft

steel prongs which wear very 

rapidly.

DRIFT MINING. 

INTRODUCTION.

Northern gold-gravel deposits, 

that are sufficiently rich to warrant the method, can generally be 

exploited by drifting beneath the 

overburden at all times of the 

year. In drift mining creek deposits the gravel is hoisted through 

shafts, and where bench gravels are 

worked it is generally trammed 

through adits. In all portions 

of the interior of Alaska and in 

the Klondike the drifting of auriferous gravels has been carried 

on with fully as much activity in 

the winter as in the summer. As 

may be seen by the cost sheet, 

the expense of winning the gold 

by winter drifting and spring thawing is greater by over $1 per cubic 

yard than that of summer work. 

This increase is due to the necessity

of rehauling and, in many cases, of 

rethawing the dumps in the separate process of sluicing. In consequence, only the richer ground, 

running from $6 to $10 to the 

cubic yard, can be profitably 

drifted. The price of labor during the winter in the interior is 

only 25 per cent less than in summer, so that this does not afford a 

great offset to the increase of cost 

from other causes. In Seward 

Peninsula, where the price for 

winter labor is only $2.50 a day 

and board, as against $5 in summer, 

it would seem that winter drifting can be undertaken more generally 

than heretofore. A reliable operator of Nome is of the opinion that
PUJUNGTON.] DRIFT MINING. 83

winter drifting operations should be continued in that vicinity where 

timbering is necessary but thawing is not, and where the gravel can 

be trammed to surface through adit for $3 per cubic yard, including 

all expenses of extraction and sluicing-up in the spring. This is less 

than double the cost of drift mining in the Forest Hill divide region 

of California, where conditions are eminently favorable.

Neglect to sample is the worst possible practice, as many lamentable 

failures have resulted from overconfidence in the value of the ground 

taken out, and the miner who confidently waits for the big wash-up 

before thoroughly knowing the amount of gold in the material he is 

handling is frequently doomed to disappointment. The method of 

sampling the dump, given under the heading "Hydraulic mining" 

(p. 118), is to be highly recommended for all work of this nature.

Where timber is scarce and costly, and wood for fuel has to be 

.hauled from a distance, it is advisable to consider the entire abandoni

Breast

^Breast

i n

LJ U

Main adit

FiG. 14-. System of opening drift mine.

ment of attempts at winter work. The amount of gravel which can 

be hauled is less, and the cost per cubic yard is greater. The time 

spent in sluicing the winter dump may frequently be more profitably 

employed in preparing for the summer. The ordinary small rig for 

drifting operations without timbering is shown in fig. 13.

DRIFTING AND TIMBERING.

Drift mining, whether the workings are approached by shaft or 

adit, can be most economically conducted by adopting the system 

which proved so successful in California. The mine is opened by a 

main tunnel or runway, 6 by 6 feet, which generally requires timbering, with logs 8 by 8 inches, 6 feet long, the sets having 5-foot centers. 

This runway is continued out to the end of the block of ground which 

it is proposed to work, say from 50 to 100 feet in ordinary Alaska 

operations. It is assumed that the runway occupies the longer dimension of the ground and approximately the center of the pa}^ streak, 

say 75 or 100 feet in width. From the main tunnel drifts are run 

transversely each way to the outer edges of the pay. These generally 

do not require timbering in frozen ground. Fig. 14 illustrates the 

system of main runway and drifts. The gravel can now be breasted 

out, a face being carried the full width of the pay and the work being 

continued in two or more of the drifts, as desired, the breasts being 

always carried toward the shaft or adit mouth. The drifts may be
84 GKAVEL AND PLAOEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

timbered either with sets, where ground is heavy, with single posts 

and caps in moderately firm ground, or left entirely untirnbered, as 

in solidly frozen ground. Fig. 15 shows the manner of timbering 

closely and rock filling behind when breasting out faces of loose 

gravel in the Hidden Treasure gravel mine in California. The 

sketch is made up in part from report of Mr. Ross E. Browne, a 

and in part from the writer's own observations. The system of 

filling behind with quartz stones is impracticable for Alaska1 mining; instead of this timbers should be pulled and the ground allowed 

to cave. This form of timbering is in use in the drift mines of Solomon Hill, Klondike, except that instead of separate base blocks sills 

are used. Fig. 16 shows a portion of the drift operations which were 

prosecuted on Solomon Hill in the early years of the Klondike exploitation. The plan of the workings is here reproduced by courtesy of Mr. 

George T. Cofi'ey, manager of the Anglo-Klondike Mining Company's

Sfo/yes are rock 

filled behind as 

exhausted

Floor of channel 

FIG. 15. Hidden Treasure system of timbering drift mine.

operations. The drifting operations in the southern portion of the 

ground are still in progress. PL XIII, B, shows the 'mouth of One 

of the adits leading to the operations.

The main adits are timbered with 4-inch timbers, in sets with 5^-foot 

centers, at a cost of $1.75 for framing and putting in per foot of tunnel run. The entire cost of driving the tunnel 5^- feet high, including 

steam thawing, excavating, tramming, timbering, and laying track of 

12-pound rail, was $6.25 per foot. Transverse drifts were run from 

the main adits, and the ground was always breasted out in the direction 

of the adit mouth. The irregularity of the workings in a portion, of 

the ground is accounted for by the fact that a certain amount of unsystematic work had been done previous to the purchase of the ground by 

the present company.

The ground is solidly 'frozen and had to be thawed by steam points. 

The rate of speed with which the work was carried on may be judged 

from the fact that two men, working a shift in running a straight

aThe ancient river beds of the Forest Hill divide: Tenth Ann. Kept. State Min. Gal., 1890, p. 452.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 263 PL. XM|

A. ADIT TO DRIFTING OPERATIONS.

Ji. THAWING AHEAD OF SHOVEL, ELDORADO CREEK.
PURTNGTON.] DRIFT MINING. 85

tunnel after the points had been left in fourteen hours, averaged 5£ 

feet, including- taking out the points, putting in timbers, keeping up 

the track, and driving in other points to a distance of 5 feet. The 

average height to which the gravel was taken out in a representative 

block was 4 feet. PI. XIV, A (p. 86), shows the remnants of old drift 

timbers in ground which has been hydraulicked subsequently to the 

drifting of the rich bed-rock pay. The cost of mining was $5.50 per

FIG. 16. Plan of drifting operations on Solomon Hill, Klondike.

square yard of area worked. In drifting out the ground it was found 

that three points in a face 6 feet wide, allowed to thaw twelve hours 

and then withdrawn, the ground being "sweated" twelve hours longer, 

would thaw all the ground. The sluicing was conducted in the ordinary way of piling up the dump and afterwards caving and hydraulicking with a nozzle into the boxes. The actual working cost of washing 

was about .18 cents per square yard of area worked.
86 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

In drifting operations on a bench of Anvil Creek, Seward Peninsula, 

a main long adit was run 4 by 6 feet 6 inches in the clear, at a cost of 

$4 a foot, untimbered, for the entire width of the ground in a direction 

transverse to that of the creek. This was 500 feet in length and was 

10 feet below the surface of the schist bed rock. The average depth 

of the ground was 20 feet, being 2 feet of muck, 11 feet of wash gravel 

containing almost no gold, and 7 feet of pay dirt, the last consisting 

of 5 feet of pay gravel and 2 feet of bed rock, which contained the 

best pay. This was the thickness drifted. The adit served as a drain 

for the workings. The ground was only partially frozen, and it is 

likely, as has been found in parts of the Alaska interior, that the constant draining of the ground assisted in a gradual thawing of the 

frozen parts. From the end of this main adit, a long tunnel (600 feet) 

was run for the length of the ground which was to be drifted, at a 

level of 8 feet above that of the adit floor. This was timbered with 

6- by 6-inch posts, 8- by 8-inch caps, sets with 4-foot centers, lagged 

with 2- by 6-inch plarik, top and sides. From this long drift cross drifts 

were run in a direction parallel to that of the main adit, at intervals 

of 100 feet, and with lengths of 40 feet on each side of the main longitudinal drift. The ground was then breasted, carrying a 40-foot face 

toward the adit. The Hidden Treasure system of timbering, using false 

sets, was employed. Track was laid both in the main adit and in the 

upper workings, and cars of 21 cubic feet capacity were employed in 

tramming, 4 in the main adit and from 15 to 20 in the upper workings. 

The stopes never exceeded 20 feet in back and forward dimensions. 

The timbers used were 8- by 8-inch posts. 7 feet long; 10- by 10-inch 

caps, 11 feet long; 5-foot centers, all ways, between posts. Boards 

were laid down to shovel on. The ground was so heavy it was found 

impossible to save the timbers, but the track was all recovered. In 

extracting 21,000 cubic yards, timbering cost 114,000, with lumber at 

$50 per thousand.

The gravel was trammed to surface and distributed on a long dump 

40 feet on each side of a'previously constructed 24-inch sluice 500 

feet long. As usual, planks were laid on top of the sluice, and when 

spring opened the gravel was caved and horse scraped into the sluice. 

In distributing the gravel on the dump 3 men and a horse scraper had 

to be employed most of the time in keeping the snow off, on account 

of especially heavy snowfalls when the work was being done. When 

completed, the dump measured 700 by 80 by 20 feet, approximately. 

The drifting work consumed nearly eleven months, and the sluicing 

about two months, being delayed on account of frost in the gravel.

Labor employed averaged 45 men in two shifts of ten hours, at 

winter wage of. $2.50 a day and board. A shift in the drifting operations consisted of 10 men shoveling into cars, averaging 8 cubic }^ards 

to the man; 3 to 4 trammers took care of the dirt shoveled. In sluic-
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY IULLETIN NO. 263 PL. XIV

B. APPLICATION OF STEAM POINT IN OPEN-CUT WORK.
PUKINGTON.] DRIFT MINING. 87

ing, 10 men and two 2-horse scrapers were used to a shift. The 

product of the operations was $160,000; and the cost, including preliminary prospecting, was 59 per cent of the output. The work was 

done in 1901-2, and the opinion was given by the operator that the 

cost could be decreased 20 per cent under present conditions.

In drifting operations on high benches lying between Anvil and 

Dexter creeks near Nome the gravel must be hoisted through shafts. 

It is said that powder is efficient in extracting the frozen ground. 

This is contrary to experience in the Alaska interior, and is doubtless 

due to the fact that the gravel is not nearly so solidly frozen. In fact, 

it is said that the powder is used for only a portion of the time. 

From the main shaft, which must be in some cases 230 feet deep to 

reach the second pay streak, a drift is run the length of the pay 

ground. From this, transverse drifts are run at alternate intervals of 

50 feet in each side of the main drift. Some operators sink the shaft 

on the side rather than in the center of the ancient channel, as by this 

method the shaft is less likely to "squeeze." The shafts are 3 by 6 

feet, timbered with 2- by 12-inch plank laid up on the sides, with 2- by 

4-inch timbers set vertically on the corners inside.

The face can be carried from 50 to 100 feet in length in the winter, 

as the constant slight freezing renders the gravel less heavy. In summer, on the other hand, the ground must be worked in small blocks. 

With the methods of timbering in use, 6- by 6- to 10- by 10-inch sawed 

posts are put in, on base block, and with a short 4- by 12-inch plank 

cap, posts having 3-foot centers in all directions. A space of 3 sets in 

width is generally carried before the ground is allowed to cave. When 

the ground is ready to cave a bulkhead is nailed to the second set, the 

timbers are pulled with ropes from the third, and the caved ground is 

caught by the bulkhead. The breast is then carried forward as before. 

No lagging is used except in the shaft and the main runway. In summer work the area of bed rock exposed in one stope rarely exceeds 10 

feet square.

In sluicing the dumps from winter operations on the high Anvil 

benches, the expedient is adopted of building small dams of sod and 

erecting snow fences behind them to catch snowdrifts, so that sluicing water may be afforded in the spring from the melting snow. The 

remarkable phenomenon of deep-lying pay streaks on the Anvil 

benches has been considered by Mr. A. J. Collier a in his geological 

account of the Nome district.

On Eagle Creek, in the Birch Creek district, an interesting drifting 

operation was seen. It is especially difficult to work the creek claims 

by. drifting on account of the partially thawed character of the gravel. 

A bed-rock drain was run in winter at one side of and parallel with the

a The placer deposits of Seward Peninsula: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey, In preparation.
88 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BUM,. 203.

pay streak, and low enough to drain all the ground which it was proposed to work. The drain was covered and lagged with poles and 

thus rendered permanent. A shaft was then sunk at the lower end of 

the ground, 4 by 8 feet in dimensions and 20 feet deep. This was 

timbered only for the upper 14 feet, and was sunk in three days by 2 

men. A tunnel was then run upstream the length of the ground, 

wide enough to admit 8-foot caps. Posts were 5 feet long, all timber 

being 9 inches square. Sets had 4^-foot centers, and the tunnel was 

lagged overhead with 2£-inch flattened poles. A set of timbers delivered cost $4, there being 34 caps to a cord of wood. Lateral drifts 

8 feet wide were driven at intervals of 8 feet, 4£ feet in thickness of 

gravel being taken. The gravel was wheeled to the shaft and windlassed to surface, about 25 cubic yards being raised in ten hoursThe lamentable lack of any tramming arrangement for transporting 

the gravel to a distance resulted occasionally in the caving in of the 

ground from the added weight of the dump. The gravel so laboriously 

raised was thus lost. Some idea of the difficulties.of operating on Eagle 

Creek may be seen from the folio wing figures: Wood was $10 a cord, 

not excessively high; lumber, $180 a thousand; and freight-packing 

rates from Circle on the Yukon, 25 cents a pound in summer and 8 

cents in winter. Considering the remoteness of the district, the work 

carried on was remarkably good and systematic.

THAWING.

One who has never visited the interior of Alaska finds it difficult 

to conceive the formidable condition of solidly and perpetually frozen 

alluvium which is there encountered by the placer miner. The quantity of water in the form of ice which occurs in the frozen gravel 

averages about 25 per cent; while in the overlying fine, black silt 

which forms the overburden the quantity of ice varies from 50 to 75

per cent. Whatever ma}^ be the physical composition of the material, 

it forms a mass as solid and as difficult to penetrate as solid stone, and 

can be disintegrated only by exposure to the sun's rays or by the longcontinued application of some form of energy artificially applied.

In any open-cut operations the dense blanket of moss, from 12 to 

18 inches in - thickness, which covers the frozen ground, must be 

broken into and turned over either by adzes or plows before the action 

of sun and water can take any effect on the underlying muck. As has 

been said, this effect is remarkably rapid when the water is allowed to 

run over the exposed black and icy mass.

A curious condition exists in the treeless areas of Seward Peninsula. 

Wherever a growth of stunted willows occurs, the ground beneath is 

found to be thawed, and wherever the willows are replaced by moss 

the ground is frozen solid. The rule is not without exceptions, but 

has been found to have rather general application. The distribution
EDRTNGTON.] DRIFT MINING. 89

of the willows and moss-covered patches in. the creek bottoms and 

along the low valleys appears to be entirely irregular. For further 

notes on the frozen and half-frozen conditions existing in the interior 

reference may be made to the matter presented under the heading, 

"Prospecting."

Drifting operations in the creek deposits of the Klondike, Birch 

Creek, Fortymile, and Fairbanks districts of the interior are nearly 

always carried on in solidly and perpetually frozen ground. A necessary accompaniment of the work is the thawing of the ground by 

artificial means. Mr. Greenleaf W. Pichard has thoroughly investigated for this report the possibilities of using any form of the electric 

furnace for thawing the frozen gravel, and has reached the conclusion 

that electric thawing is impracticable. The thawing of ground which 

lies open to the air, by the combined agencies of sun and water, will 

be considered under the heading "Hydraulic mining," Artificial 

power, through the agency of the steam point, is only in rare cases 

applied in open-cut work. The Klondike district afforded a few examples of this application of power, notably in connection with dredging operations on Bonanza Creek, the steam-shovel operations on 

Bear Creek, and in two open cuts on Upper Dominion and Hunker 

creeks. ' PL XIV, B (p. 86), shows an application of the steam point 

to open-cut mining on Hunker Creek. It is difficult to determine 

the efficiency in open work, as, naturally, a portion of the thawing is done \>y the sun. From the data collected, however, it does 

not appear to be any greater than its underground efficiency, which 

will be presently discussed.

The method of thawing gravel underground by wood fires is 

expensive and, unless the conditions are very exceptional, is not used 

in those districts where transportation facilities permit the bringing 

in of boilers.

According to experience on Deadwood Creek, Birch .Creek district, 

the efficiency of a wood fire in creek ground was as follows: A fire 

taking three-fifths cord of wood (at $12 a cord) is built against the 

face of the bank. The pile of wood will be 18 inches wide, 2 feet 

high, and 25 feet long. Stones are laid up over the pile and a space 

is left to light the fire. The fire is lighted at 5 p. m. and left to burn 

until 8 a. m. the next day. The stones, which quickly get hot, are 

regarded as most efficient in thawing. On a 4-foot thickness of pay 

this amount of fire will thaw, in the time specified, from 5 to 6 cubic 

yards of gravel. This is at the rate of 9.2 cubic yards thawed to the 

cord of .wood, which is considerably less efficient than the method of 

thawing with steam. Time, delays, and awkwardness of the method, 

moreover, make wood-fire thawing the most expensive that can be 

adopted. The figures per foot for shaft sinking range from $3.16 to 

$7.50 in taking gravel from prospect shafts. The efficiency given in
90 GBAVEL AND PLAOEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

the above-cited case on Deadwood Creek appears to be very nearly 

the same as that given by Mr. E. D. Levat" for the operations in 

eastern Siberia.

The direct application of jets of dry steam to the gravel bank 

through the agency of driven pipes has been found to be the most effiaL'Or en Siberie orientale. The formula used is: Each breadth of 1 inch of wood applied at the 

foot of the face thaws an equal width 6i gravel.
PUHINGTON.] DRIFT MINING. 91

cient method in general practice for thawing frozen gravel. [The 

amount of moisture contained in steam can be judged by the color of 

a jet of steam issuing from a small brass pet cock. If it is transparent or whitish near the orifice it contains less than 2 per cent of 

moisture; if pure white, the moisture is above 2 per cent.

Fig. 17 shows the details of the steam point and some of the fittings 

which its use entails.

In creek claims exceeding 15 feet in depth where solidly frozen 

ground occurs, as, for example, in the new Fairbanks district of 

Alaska, the method of drifting with the use of the steam point is as follows: A 20-horsepower boiler, capable of running 10 steam points, is put 

on the ground, and frequently one or two extra long points are provided 

for sinking holes. These long points, from 10 to 12 feet in length, are 

not so strongly made as the 5-foot points used in the drifting operations. In some cases pieces of one-half-inch hydraulic pipe are used. 

The point is set up on the ground and steam or hot water is turned 

on. . The time for sinking a hole by this method to bed rock is from 

twenty-four to forty-eight hours. If large, flat stones are encountered in the gravel underlying the muck it is sometimes advisable to 

use strong, specialty made points to prevent breaking. The average 

radius of a vertical shaft thus thawed by a single point is 2 feet, and 

the hole when cleaned out has a cylindrical or tube shape.

If timbering is required after the shaft is sunk it is generally found 

that the hole will thaw sufficiently to allow the shaft to be carried 4 by 

5 feet or 4 by 6 feet inside the timbers. As a rule, however, winter 

shafts are not timbered. When bed rock is reached a tunnel or runway is run for a distance varying from 50 to 100 feet from the tunnel 

lengthwise of the claim. From this central drift, which is generally 

timbered, lateral drifts are run to a distance not exceeding 50 feet, or 

from this down to 10 feet, or the width of the pay streak. Two tunnels parallel with the central runway are carried at the ends of the 

cross drifts and connections made from them to the shaft. These are 

rarely timbered.

The frozen condition of the overburden allows a firm roof to stand 

without timbering while the gravel is being extracted. This is a great 

advantage and in part offsets the difficulties attending the breaking 

up of the frozen gravel. The ground is now ready for working. The 

drifts and main ways are run as low as possible in cases where the pay 

is thin, but a height of 3i feet is the lowest that can be worked with 

economy.

During the night shift sufficient gravel is thawed to occupy the 

men in extracting it in the daytime. In handling, not only the picking and shoveling from the bank must be allowed for, but the wheeling 

to the shaft, the time of return to the face, and the hoisting of the
92 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BUU, 263.

gravel to the surface and convejdng to the dump. The face exposed 

by the cross drift at the far end of the runway is worked back toward 

the shaft, and the gravel is trammed in wheelbarrows toHhe1 shaft and 

hoisted. Points 5 feet in length are used to thaw the gravel, and are 

generally used in "batteries" or "crossheads" of four (see fig. 17, 

p. 90). The points are supplied with steam from a crosshead of iron 

gas pipe, three-fourths inch in diameter, fitted with elbows and short 

pieces of one-half inch pipe leading to the steam hose, to which the 

points are attached. The valves are generally set in these short pieces 

of pipe. The points are driven in with a mallet by the point man 

working on the night shift. The points are left in the bank from ten 

to fourteen hours. The thawing is nearly always done on the night 

shift, the only men occupied being the point man below and the fireman 

at the boiler above. Each point thaws a block of gravel on an average 

6 feet into the bank, 18 inches on each side of the point and 4 feet high. 

The crosshead is laid on the floor of the drift, at a distance of 10 feet 

away from the face, and the steam hose connecting each cock of .the 

crosshead with the individual points must be long enough to reach the 

desired distance for placing the point in the bank. The cross pipe <?, 

to which the hose clamp attaches the hose, should be carried through 

the steel head and brazed on the opposite side so that it will not break 

off by a chance blow from the mallet.

It is considered good practice as. a rule to start the points with hot 

water turned through the hose. The points must be driven carefully 

and slowly, and for 10 points distributed along a face the average 

time needed is from one to three hours. The amount of steam 

required for each point has been found to vary in amount from 1 to 2 

boiler horsepower. One and one-half may be takon as a safe average. 

The amount of gravel which a. point will thaw appears to vary with 

the length of the point, and this is regulated somewhat by the character of the gravel. The 5-foot point has been found the most 

economical size for the small operator.

A typical illustration of the efficiency of the points in the Fairbanks 

district is the experience at No. 8, below Fairbanks Creek. Points of 

Dawson manufacture, 5 feet long, costing $15 each laid down, were 

used in crossheads of four. They were put in at distances of from 2 

feet 6 inches to 3 feet apart. The points were started with hot water, 

and it took three hours to drive them in. A 12-horsepower boiler 

supplied the steam for 10 points, three-fourths of a cord of wood being 

burned on the night shift, when the thawing was done. In twelve 

hours the 10 points thawed a block of gravel 30 feet in length by 5 

feet in height by 6 feet into the bank an average of 3.3 cubic yards 

to the point.

The above is a little high for the average duty in the Fairbanks district, but is low for the Klondike creek drifting operations. A typical
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 263 PL. XV

A. DRIFT MINING ON FAIRBANKS CREEK.

J. hYDRAULICKING, SILVER BOW BASIN.
PURINGTON.] ' DRIFT MINING. 93

result on Hunker Creek, where li to H horsepower was used for each 

5^-foot point running ten hours, was 4£ cubic yards. PI. Ill, B 

(p. 40),' shows a winter drifting operation in the Klondike, and PL 

XV, A (p. 92), shows a drifting operation during summer on Fairbanks Creek. PL XIV, JB, shows a battery of steam points thawing 

ground in the open in preparation for excavating by a steam shovel. 

Three cords of wood, at $13 per cord, were burned in twenty-four 

hours to generate steam for operating 15 of these points 10 feet long. 

These thawed ground 14 feet deep to bed rock. As 4 cords of wood 

were burned in addition on the steam shovel, and 20 men, at $6 a day, 

were employed in the twent}'-f our hours to get out less than 500 cubic 

yards a day, the operations were not economical. In connection with 

a dredging operation the thawing by means of steam conducted through 

gas pipe in 11-foot lengths was estimated to add 40 cents per yard to

the cost of working the ground.

The only drifting and steam-thawing plant at Nome gave an efficiency for each point of only 1£ cubic yards. The points were using 

in this case a little less than 1 horsepower each and were run only for 

eight hours. Moreover, the gravel was small and was mixed with 

much ancient beach sand, which in a frozen condition is extremely 

difficult to thaw with steam.

The method of thawing with hot water by means of a force pump 

set in the underground workings, which forces hot water through a 

small nozzle against the bank, has been tried successfully in the Klondike district. At a claim on Gold Run, where it was desired to extract 

a 3-foot pay streak of gravel capped by 27 feet of barren gravel at a 

depth of 50 feet below the surface, a small force pump of the ram pattern, with outside packed valves, was placed in the main runway near 

the shaft. It drew water from a 6-foot sump near at hand, to which 

the workings drained. The pump had 4-inch intake, 3-inch discharge 

choked to 2^-inch, and the water was pumped to the face by means of 

cotton hose and discharged through a 1-inch brass nozzle at 40 pounds 

pressure. Six thousand gallons of water were 'used over and over, 

and by discharging the exhaust from the pump into the suction the 

water was kept at a temperature of 150° F. In a shift of ten hours 

the pump, using 30 horsepower, thawed and broke down ready for the 

shovelers 175 cubic yards of gravel. This is vastly superior to the 

average Klondike duty of the 1^-horsepower steam point, even allowing 4 cubic yards to the point, as the 30 horsepower would supply only 

20 points and the maximum duty would be 80 cubic yards.

Only under certain very favorable conditions, however, can the hotwater method be used. There must be no silt in the gravel, otherwise 

the water becomes thick and can not be settled in the sump. If the 

bed rock is in large flakes, and the pay sinks into it, the hydraulic
94 GEAVEL AND PLACEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.'

method is inefficient in thawing the valuable ground. The method is 

worthy of the serious attention of the Fairbanks placer miners, however, as will be pointed out in the discussion of that district (p. 97).

HOISTING.

For hoisting and conveying, say to a distance not-exceeding 200 feet, 

the Dawson self-dumping carrier, with accompanying bucket, cables, 

etc., and steam hoist, must be used in order that the most economical 

work per man employed can be done. This device, which is shown in 

fig. 18, is without doubt the best system of handling gravel from a 

shaft of shallow depth now in use in the Northwest. It is strong and 

compact, and is simple in operation. Those parts which by their position receive the most strain and iar can be made sufficiently durable to 

withstand hard usage.

FIG. 18. Dawson self-dumping carrier.

No springs are used in the construction, for the reason that at low 

temperature, say of 40° F. below zero, metals are very brittle, and 

the constant jar, a necessary accompaniment of the work of this 

apparatus, renders springs and any^ light metallic member unsafe.

As fig. 18 shows clearly the construction of the carrier, only a few 

words need be said of its operations.

It may be stated that three distinct operations are accomplished, 

two of which are performed by the carrier, the third being effected by 

an auxiliary rope used in dumping the bucket. The first consists in 

engaging the bucket as it arrives from the shaft and carrying it to the 

dump box, the second in returning the bucket to the head of the shaft 

and there dropping it to the bottom. As the carrier returns down
PUKINGTON.l DETFT MINING. 95

the seven-eighths inch cable, the hook to which is attached the bucket 

occupies the position indicated by the solid line. The cam, A, lies 

horizontally and is held firmly in this position by the dog, B, the 

weight of the bucket pressing the notch of the cam against the point 

of the dog, f. When the carrier reaches the head' of the shaft the 

end, c, of the dog strikes the block, D, and frees the point of the dog 

from the notch of the cam. The front of the cam now occupies the 

position indicated by the dotted line, and, as the bucket sinks into the 

shaft, is pressed against the block, since the carrier tends to move 

backward. Thus as the bucket sinks with the hook on the one-half 

inch cable the carrier is held firm.

As the bucket rises from the shaft or pit, the strain is toward the 

engine, and the lower end of the dog, <?, still prevents the apparatus 

from moving.

When, however, the earn, A, by the upward movement of the

bucket, reaches the horizontal position indicated by the solid lines, 

the point of the dog, /, jumps into the notch, lowering at the same 

time the point, <?, which allows the carrier to move up the seveneighths inch conveying cable, and also once more secures the cam in 

its horizontal position.

The block attached to the cable is held in a vertical position by a 

suspended log or block, which insures its engaging with the dog.

By this system of working, if the self-dumping rig handles 250 of 

the 30-pan buckets in ten hours or, roughly,- 60 cubic )7 ards, the plant 

will necessitate the employment of 12 men, namely, 2 firemen, 1 hoist 

man, 1 point man, and 6 men shoveling and wheeling, beside the foreman. The ordinary set-up of the self-dumper is shown in fig. 13. 

The boiler used for generating the steam for points at night is used 

for running the hoist in the daytime. In running from 15 to 20 

points at night it will burn a cord of wood, and in hoisting in the 

daytime will burn from one-half to 1 cord more. The total daily 

twenty-four-hour expense can not be brought below $130 and will 

probably amount to $150. It is evident that with such a plant the 

tenor of the gravel must amount to at least $2.60 to the cubic yard to 

pay any profit at all, exclusive of washing in the spring, and should 

be 4 cents to the pan, or $5.20 to the yard, to pay a profit which compensates for operating in so remote and expensive a country. The 

cost of washing in the spring is in general from 50 cents to $1 per 

cubic yard.

The winter dumps are piled in a conical heap around the gin pole, 

to which the trolley cable of the self-dumper has been attached while 

the dumping is in progress. In laying out the space for the dump, 

the string of boxes in which the gravel is to be washed during the 

following spring is so laid that it will bisect the proposed cone, having 

its proper grade and length. When the spring opens the dump is
96 GRAVEL AND PLACEK MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

easily shoveled in to the boxes, from both sides, beginning at the lowest 

point and working upward. Boards are generally laid over the top 

of the boxes, and a portion of the gravel rests on these. The boards 

are taken off as the work of .shoveling in progresses.

The expenses of winter work are much greater than those for summer, and the tenor of the gravel must in consequence be much higher. 

In the first place it is to be remembered that the gravel dumped in 

winter must be all rehandled in the spring. In thawing also the 

amount of steam used in winter is greater than in summer, and all 

pipes and hose conveying steam both above and under ground must be 

coated with asbestos or other nonconducting material. On the other 

hand, labor is generally cheaper in winter than in summer, and the 

possibility of striking thawed streaks of ground is much less.

DRIFTING IN THE FAIRBANKS DISTRICT.

As has been stated, the only mining practiced at Fairbanks is creek 

mining. In the open season, although the bulk of the ground can be 

worked by drifting, a smaller proportion is workable by open cutting. 

By far the larger portion of the ground must be worked by drifting 

on account of the depth to bed rock and, in many cases, the thinness 

of the pay. The ground is in the main frozen, but thawed streaks 

occur. The gravels are of the angular and subangular character 

which marks all the gravels deposited in recent time in the northwest. 

The angularity is more pronounced than in the Birch Creek district 

or the Klondike.

One characteristic feature of the Fairbanks gravel has an important 

bearing on the method of thawing the frozen gravel. This is the fact 

that while the layer of so-called muck is comparatively thin, from 2 

to 7 feet in the workings on the creeks themselves, exclusive of the

slopes, the gravels, which are from 6 to 15 feet in thickness, do not 

carry pay throughout their section, but only in the lower part. The 

pay is sometimes as thin as 6 inches in the gravel, and rarely exceeds 

3 feet. It is then frequently necessary to take only a portion of the 

"gravel down, and to run the drifts as low as possible, i. e., not to 

exceed 3i feet. To do this economically, and so that the top and barren gravel will not be continually caving and falling during the drifting, the ground must either be timbered or the method of steam 

thawing must be abandoned. Another reason why the method, of 

steam thawing has a limited application in the Fairbanks district is the 

fact that the gravel is very argillaceous in its pay portion, and the 

thawing and drying with the steam result in a baking of the ground. 

Thus the gravel which was frozen becomes in its dry state cemented, 

and the difficulty of getting it out is not avoided but only lessened.

Thawing by means of hot water driven through a force pump and 

conducted to the bank by means of cotton hose and piped against the
PURINGTON.] DEIFT MINING. 97

bank by means of a small fireman's nozzle is the most successful method 

which has been so far tried to thaw ground under the above-mentioned 

conditions. As regards the heating of the water, the S}^stem adopted 

at Fairbanks is to conduct the exhaust steam of the pump back into 

the suction of the pump as it draws water from a sump alongside of it. 

This has been found more effective than simply turning the exhaust 

pipe directly into the sump itself. The water used is sometimes supplied in sufficient quantity from the mere seepage from the ice mixed 

with the thawed gravel. But sometimes it will have to be introduced 

in the pit in small quantity. On the other hand, especially where 

thawed streaks.occur naturally in the gravel, the water must be pumped 

out. This is done by the same pump used for the hydraulicking, without changing its position.

This method of thawing by hot water piped against the bank has two 

advantages. The strongest appears to be the fact that gravel thawed 

by this method can, as it were, be selected in the face, and no higher 

gravel than may be profitable need be taken down. The portion of 

the gravel above the part taken down remains solidly frozen, and consequently the roof of the drift or wide stope does not cave any worse 

than does the roof of solid muck in drifting operations where all the 

gravel in its complete vertical section is extracted. Another advantage is that the gravel is moved from its original position farther than 

by steam, and if it contains clay the clay has less, opportunity to bake 

and cake than with steam thawing, and the amount of hand work in 

picking down the gravel is lessened.

A serious objection to thawing by hot water may justifiably be raised 

in cases where the bed rock consists of large slabs of schist, into which 

the gold sinks from 1 to 4 feet and even more. In such a case the 

water can not be piped to reach all the frozen gold-bearing material. 

Although I am not aware that a combination of the hot-water and 

steam-thawing methods has been tried in such a case as the above, it 

seems not impossible that such a combination would be the most economical. On the other hand, where the bed rock consists of finely 

comminuted schist or softened, thoroughly rotten rock, even should the 

gold be found in it to the clepth of 2 feet, there can be no valid objection to the hot-water hydraulicking method. In the Nome district 

of Seward Peninsula, where the hot-water method was- tried, it was 

found that the water finally became too thick with sediment to be used 

in the pump, and the system was abandoned.

A minor recommendation for the use of the hot-water method is the 

fact that all the unpleasantness of the steam method, which fills the 

workings with steam, creates dampness, etc., is obviated, and the walls 

and roof of the drifts are dry, while ditches cut in the bed rock on 

grade to the pump sump can be so cut as to prevent the floors from

Bull. 263 05 7
98 GKAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

being wet. The obscurity of the air in the workings by steam, especially in the early part of the day shift, is frequently a source of danger, as the roof can not be watched so closely as it could were the air 

clear, and consequently slabs of the roof that are read}r to-fall can not 

be easily seen, so that the liability that men will be crushed is greater.

I should especially recommend the method of hot-water thawing 

to the consideration of the miners of Cleary and Pedro creeks, while 

on Fairbanks Creek, as hitherto- developed, the method of thawing 

with steam points seems more applicable.

In the Fairbanks district shafts sunk for work in the summer time 

are in nearly all cases timbered, either wholly or partially. In very 

deep shafts, as, for example, on the left bank of Cleary Creek near 

the junction with Chatham, where 40 feet or more of solid muck is 

encountered, timbering does not appear to be always necessary throughout the whole of the shaft. The muck forms a wall which resembles 

in its consistency a wall of solid ice, and in working throughout a 

season of four months, with the shaft in constant use, there will be 

little caving of the walls. All shafts that extend 20 feet or less, however, especially where gravel composes half or more of the section 

shafts intended for working out a block of ground, conducting steam 

connections, pump connections, and connections for hoisting should 

be securely timbered.

In view of the local conditions, the following method of timbering 

appears the most satisfactoiy. After the hole is sunk to the required 

depth by thawing, a square set with 6-foot centers or should the shaft 

be 4 by 6 feet, of this dimension is put in at the bottom. Threeinch pole lagging, with cross sets of 6-inch timbers inside at 6-foot 

intervals, is carried up to the collar. Inside the sets 6- or 12-foot 

poles, 3-inch, are nailed in the four corners to the cross sets. Moss is

laid up outside the pole lagging, as dry as possible, and packed against 

the gravel or muck walls. In cases where it is impossible to sink without timbering as the shaft is sunk the timbering is carried down, and 

the lagging is driven as each set progresses, the square set being put 

in at the bottom on the completion of the shaft. Shafts timbered in 

this manner have been found to stand for periods of from one to two 

years, as long as the work in the Fairbanks district has been in progress, and there is no reason why they should not stand much longer. 

Timbering of this sort can be done for the most part with the ordinary 

cord wood delivered for fuel, and this is much the cheapest method 

available.

The cribbing method is sometimes adopted, accompanied by the same 

packing, with moss outside the cribbing. It is, however, more expensive, and in a shaft of considerable depth is much more likely to get 

out of plumb in this frost-ridden country.
HYDRAULIC MINING. 99

In the Fairbanks district it has not yet been found necessary to 

timber the underground workings to any great extent. The main 

runway, if it is to be used for the whole season or for a period exceeding a month, should be timbered for safety. Six-foot sets of posts and 

caps only, with lagging over the roof, are generally sufficient. Pole 

lagging is cheaper and more advisable than split lagging. The caving 

system, working always toward the shaft, allows the faces to be carried 

forward without timbering of the stopes. The elaborate timbering 

methods necessary in the Klondike benches and in many parts of California in drifting operations are happily not needed in this portion of 

Alaska, and are not likely to be required in any extension of the 

Tanana area. No case has been seen in the operations, as thus far 

developed, where false sets were carried in taking out the gravel. 

When the operations at Fairbanks become more extensive, however, 

and drifting is carried on more systematically with wide faces, it is 

very likely that the workings will require timbering. At present it 

is not possible to give the cost of this work, as the figures were not 

obtainable.

HYDRAULIC MINING.

. GENERAL REMARKS.

The hydraulic method of working gold gravel deposits is the most 

economical method from the standpoints of power, capacity, and labor.

It is, on the other hand, exceedingly wasteful of water, and the topographic conditions under which it may be successfully and profitably 

conducted are not of common occurrence, even in mountainous districts."

The hydraulic method of mining was invented by Edward E. Matteson, a native of Sterling, Conn., and applied by him to the auriferous 

gravels in California in 1852.* One or more jets of water under 

pres&ure are thrown from a pipe or pipes with great velocity against 

the face of a gravel bank, and the gravel is loosened by the stream so 

that it falls or "caves." The gravel js struck with sufficient force to 

be disintegrated and broken up so that it can be carried by the current 

into the sluice if the bed rock has a sufficient grade. For assistance in 

moving and washing the gravel after it leaves the bank, additional

« The amount of water used in hyclraulicking is shown by the following illustration: Three hundred million gallons of water a day are used at present for the supply of Greater New York City, or 

26,660 miner's inches, of twenty-four-hour service. Taking the duty of an inch at 2 cubic yards, and 

a tenor of 15 cents in gold per cubic yard, the above amount would supply only 13 hydraulic mines, 

each using 2,000 miner's inches under head. The total amount of gravel washed would be 52,000 

cubic yards per day, and the product $7,800; or (with a season of one hundred and twenty days) 

annually, 6,240,000 cubic yards, and a product of £936,000, an amount not startlingly large, considering the magnitude of the operations involved.

It is to be expected that persons with a limited knowledge of hydraulic mining will object to the 

low capacity and short season assumed in the above, but operators of long experience will realizethat the conditions and results are assumed, if anything, more favorable than is found in average 

practice.

fcWhitney, J. D., The auriferous gravels of the Sierra Nevada of California: Mem. Mus. Coinp. 

Zool. Harvard Coll., vol. 6, LSSO.
100 . GBAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

water is frequently used under slight head, and is known as "bank 

head" or "by-wash" water. Various devices for more easily disintegrating the bank and for disposal of the large bowlders and of tailings 

where natural grade is lacking will be later discussed.

In California the application of hydraulic mining spread with great 

rapidity, especially within the drainage basins of San Joaquin and 

Sacramento rivers. This method was adopted also in other portions 

of the western United States and in other parts of the world, particularly in Australia and New Zealand. In the part of California referred 

to, extensive operations ceased, not because the gravel deposits were 

exhausted, but because of economic considerations other than those of 

mining. The passage of an act of Congress in March, 1893, entitled 

"An act to create the California Debris Commission and regulate 

hydraulic mining in the State of California," sounded the death knell 

of the huge mining operations which had changed tlie topography and 

blanketed many square miles of arable lands in the San Joaquin and 

Sacramento valleys with gravel tailings.

The comments of J. D. Whitney,ft written in 1880, concerning the 

application of hydraulic mining to Californiaconditions, areas fellows:

It is owing to a happy combination of favorable circumstances that the system of 

hydraulic mining has been so successful on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada. That 

the peculiar set of conditions which makes hydraulic mining possible is not often 

met with is sufficiently proved by the fact that this system, which seems so admirably adapted to the needs of the California!! gravel miners, has hardly been at all successful in any other region. It has been tried again and again in the southern 

United States with almost unvarying loss; and even in Australia, where the mode of 

occurrence of the gold is in many respects so similar to what it is in California, there 

are few districts where the hydraulic method can be applied.

The first great need of the hydraulic miner is an abundance of water and with a 

considerable "head," so that the stream may issue with sufficient velocity from the 

pipes.

An abundance of water can not be secured without extensive engineering operations and the expenditure of a large amount of money. Extensive reservoirs must 

be constructed by building dams across the outlets of the mountain valleys, so as to 

impound the water coming from the" melting of the winter's snow on the high 

Sierra, and the necessary canals or ditches, as they are universally called by the 

miners must be excavated to carry the water to the points where it is needed for 

use. The long, rapid, and rather uniform slope of the Sierra, in the mining districts, makes it possible almost everywhere to carry the ditches with such a grade 

and in such a position as to allow the water to be- taken from them at a sufficient 

elevation to give the necessary head at the point of working. The great elevation 

of the important gravel masses and the deep canyons into which the whole mining 

region is cut up, afford, in almost every locality, the necessary facilities for arranging the sluices and disposing of the tailings.

A need equally as great, not sufficiently emphasized'by Whitne.y, is' 

adequate grade or slope of the bed rock for the moving of material. 

Experience has shown that the lightest grade of stream bed upon

aLoc. cit., p. 62.
PORTNGTON.] HYDRAULIC MINING. 101

which l^draulic operations may safely be undertaken is 220 feet to 

the mile.

The above statements regarding hydraulic mining are as worthy of 

consideration to-day as when they were written. Bench deposits, as 

already defined, are those above all others to which the hydraulic 

method is most likely to be successfully applied, because adequate 

grade for the disposal of tailings can be secured. Deposits in the 

beds of present streams, on the other hand, are exploitable by 

hydraulicking to a far less extent. In Alaska extensive bench deposits do not occur, even in the alpine districts of the south coast, and, 

moreover, where auriferous benches are found they are not backed by 

high mountains from which the water under pressure can be obtained. 

The bench deposits of Alaska are not characterized by great thickness 

as are those of California. A depth of 10 feet of auriferous gravel 

with 20 feet of overlying barren silt, or a total of 30 feet, is a not 

uncommon condition in Alaska, while in California gravel banks of 75 

to 500 feet in thickness occur and have been worked by hydraulicking. The hydraulic operation shown in PI. XV, B (p. 92), is on a lake 

bed, locally formed in a portion of Silver Bow basin, Juneau district.

The hydraulic principle implies the breaking down of all the allu- 

 vial material by water under pressure, the cheapest power. It is evident that unless the gold is distributed throughout the vertical section 

of the alluvial deposit, as well as on and in the bed rock, the greatest 

amount of material is hydraulicked off at a loss. In general the pay 

dirt in Alaska composes less than 15 per cent of the bank, measured 

vertically. In California gravels, on the other hand, much more frequently a small amount of gold occurs throughout the whole bank.

In Alaska attempts have been made to work very shallow ground, 

in some cases of 5 feet section, by hydraulic methods involving the 

construction of ditches and installation of machinery at a .cost of 

$100,000 and over. Unless the gravels worked were much richer than 

previous workings in the vicinity, it was impossible to see how the 

enterprise could by any means be profitable. Simple mechanical 

plants, requiring a comparative^ small investment, could have handled 

the small body of gravel fully as fast and in the long run more cheaply. 

It is undoubtedly true that many men are deterred from installing 

realty economical plants of a mechanical nature by the desire to apply 

the spectacular methods of the hydraulic miner, without regard to the 

existing conditions.

A word should be said about the application of power to produce 

pressure for hydraulicking. a Several plants where this principle is 

applied have been visited in Alaska and the neighboring British territory. Nine plants were seen and it was not clear that any plant pumpa These statements do not refer to the hot-water method of hydraulicking frozen gravel.
102 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263.

ing water for hydraulic mining was making expenses. Some Nome 

operators are of the opinion that if crude oil can be obtained for $2 a 

barrel the gas engine can be profitably used to hydraulic certain rich 

patches of the coastal plain gravels, using 50 to 60 pounds pressure at 

the nozzle. Only under the most exceptional conditions would such 

an application of the hydraulic method be profitable. It may be truly 

said that 95 per cent of all attempts to pump water in hydraulic gravel 

raining, in whatever portion of the world they have been tried, have 

been failures. The miner who contemplates such an operation in a 

remote region where coal costs $30 a ton or wood $15 a cord had better 

first exhaust the possibilities of all other methods of m'oving gravel 

which circumstances or ingenuity can suggest.

It must not be assumed that the tenor of the gravel in Alaska is 

greatly above that of the auriferous gravels formerly worked so 

extensively in California, especially where it is necessary, as in Irydraulicking, to distribute the value contained in the thin-bottom pay streak 

throughout the whole of the vertical section of gravel which must be 

moved. 05 There is a widespread opinion, amounting to a dictum, that 

the hydraulic method should be installed in preference to others 

wherever there is the slightest chance for its success. That this chance 

is small in the hitherto developed portions of Alaska the present 

account will make clear. Capital invested by the miner in expensive 

water conduits in Alaska is not recoverable except from the profit on 

his operations. The ditch builder can not enter the domain of commerce and sell his water or the power generated thereby, as do man}*- 

of the water companies in populous agricultural and industrial communities. In rare instances only can he even sell it to miners. On 

the exhaustion of his own auriferous ground, his ditch and plant 

becomes practically valueless.

While hydraulicking river and creek beds in Alaska with the necessary accompaniment of some form of lifting operation for the tailings 

is not to be entirely decried, it should be undertaken with extreme 

caution. The ever-present danger of floods and the expense of wing 

dams must be considered. The tailings will be raised by the water lift 

primarily, and the method of using this in gravel mining will be fully 

described. The operator should bear in mind, however, that the 

introduction of the water lift decreases by over 60 per cent the dut}^ 

of the unmodified hydraulic method as above described; also that the

«For example, Whitney states (loc. cit., p. 118) that the area hydraulicked off at Todds Valley, 

Placer County, Cal., was 1 mile by one-fourth mile in area, and the gravel from 35 to 75 feet in thickness, a total of nearly 9,000,000 yards, with an estimated yield of 84,000,000, or about 44 cents per cubic 

yard.

At the Excelsior claim, near Placerville, Eldorado County, Cal., 20 acres of ground' were washed 

off with an average thickness of from 40 to 60 feet of pay gravel. The yield was estimated at 

$5,000,000, about half of which was taken out by drifting and the other half by hydraulicking. Mr. 

Alderson, the principal proprietor, estimated that the yield of the Excelsor gravel was'$1 per cubic 

yard. A single placer claim of 20 acres, containing so large an amount of gold as the Excelsior claim, 

has yet to be discovered in Alaska.
PURFNGTON.] HYDRAULIC MINING. 103

use of the ingenious device entails a new set of difficulties with which 

his previous experience in hydraulic mining will hardly have fitted 

him to deal. An unfortunate instance was seen in one of the remote 

districts of Alaska, where a hydraulic elevator of 5 tons weight had 

been imported at a cost of nearly $2,000 and was found useless because 

insufficient water to operate it was obtainable, although a ditch and 

flume line had b£en constructed at a cost of $15,000. The elevator 

lay on the bank, and a makeshift had been improvised-from a piece of 

sheet-steel pipe and a fireman's brass nozzle.

That hydraulic operations are and have been successfully prosecuted 

in Alaska is not to be denied. The cautionary remarks which have 

been made will serve as a reminder, however, that the moving of large 

bodies of gravel by water under natural head is not always as cheaply 

accomplished as a casual inspection of such operations would induce 

one to believe. In any event, a hydraulic installation, under'conditions where the cost of leading water runs into the thousands of dollars 

per mile, should not be undertaken until due consideration as to the

possibility of using other methods has been given. (>

DITCHES, FLUMES, AND RESERVOIRS.

In table 8 an attempt has been made to show in concise form the principal facts regarding the construction of water conduits in Alaska and 

the North. So great was the extent of territory covered that opportunity for measurements and calculations was only occasional. The 

statements of operators were generally accepted; they were rejected 

only when they were palpably misleading. When not otherwise indicated, the data shown were supplied by the operators. When the data 

were based on subsequent estimates, the figures are starred.

It can not be too strongly stated that the tables in this report are 

based on statements of operators and are not the result of detailed 

investigation of properties. The collection of data for this report 

necessitated the covering of a vast extent of territory in four months' 

time. The data are as complete and as nearly accurate as the circumstances allowed. Estimates based on the cost of water conduits 

as given below, and the amount of water available, should take into 

consideration the degree of authority which attached to the compilation.
TABLE 8. Water conduits in Alaska and the 

Locality.

South Coast Alaska:

Gold Creek ..........

Do...............

Windfall Creek o . . . .

Sunrise district:

Atlin, B. C.: 

Pine Creek .......... 

Do ...............

Do...............

Do...............

McKcc Creek

Do...............

Do...............

Do...............

Porcupine district: 

Porcupine Creek a...

Ditches.

Length earth 

work.

4i miles.. .....

3,300 feet......

Length rock 

work.

Grade per 

mile.

18 feet ........

26 feet ........

S feet .........

8 feet.........

5 feet.........

26 feet........

Width.

Top.

Feet.

5

12 

9

7

9

7

9

Bottom.

Feet.

3

6 

4 

4

4

4

3

Depth.

Feet.

2

4 

3 

3

5

2i

2i

Average 

amount 

of water 

used, 

miner's 

inches 

(1.5 cu. ft. 

permin.)

*

1,500

1.500 

1,000 

700

900 

1,200

1,000

G

h

F
Dawson district, Y..T.: 

Miller Creek a .......

Do...............

Bonanza Creek ......

Do...............

Do.;.............

Do...............

Do...............

Eagle district:

Fortymile district:

Do...............

Birch Creek district:

Do ...............

Do...............

Fairbanks district:

Do...............

Do.........:.....

Do...............

Rampart district:

Nome district:

Do...............

Do...............

3,500 feet .....

5 miles........

,

1,800 feet . . .

8 feet .........

8 to 9 inches..

2 to 13 inches.

3 feet. .........

3 feet .........

3 feet .........

3.37 feet......

6.5 feet .......

81

oi

-

5

6&'

3

3

2

5

3

3

'3

8

5

11

14

11

34

2 1

3

" 2

3

4

2

2

2

4

2

2

2

6

4

8

10

8

3*

U

li

3

2

3

2

14

1

14

14

14

 14

14

14

3

3

3

1,200

600

100

120

150

100

12C

200

120

120

100

150

50

50

350

300

1,000

<*2,000

2,000

1

1

I 3

a Not visited. & Ditch and flume. cSee special description of the Miocene ditch (pp. 123-126). A O
TABLE 8. Water conduits in Alaska and the North 

Locality.

Nome district Cont'd.

Glacier Creek .......

Cripple River. ....... 

Council district:

Do...............

Do............... 

Do...............

Do ...............

Do...............

Solomon district: 

Solomon River ...... 

Do...............

Port Clarence district:

Klondike River .....

Ditches.

Length earth 

work.

5 m?les.. ......

4 miles.. ......

6 miles.. ...... 

1J miles.... ...

8 miles. .......

9 miles........

41, 500 feet.....

Length rock 

work.

5 miles ..... 

400 feet .....

..............

1,000 feet ...

Grade per 

mile.

5 feet .........

4.5 feet ....... 

4 feet .........

3.3 feet ..:.... 

3.3 feet ....... 

5.3 feet ....... 

3.3 feet .......

5 feet .........

4 feet .........

5 to 8 inches . .

Width.

Top.

Feel. 

74 

4 

5

8

9 

16 

8 

9 

9

3

12 

16

15. 

7

Bottom.

Feet. 

4 

3 

3 

6

6 

10 

5 

6 

6

2

10 

12

12 

4

Depth.

Feet. 

2 

1 

1

1

2- 

3 

2 

2 

3

14

3 

5

11 

2*

Average 

amount 

of water 

used, 

miner's 

inches 

(1.5cu. ft. 

permin.)

250 

115 

120

775

1,000 

£3,300 

600 

150 

1,500

100

1,200

2,000 

500

Gr

e

he

F

"Ditch; rock cut,811,500.

&On September 11,1904, did not exceed 1,600 miner's inches.

cDitch; rock work, $8,000.
TABLE 8. Water conduits in Alaska and the North 

Locality.

South Coast Alaska:

Do...........

Silver Bow basin . 

Windfall Creek a. 

Lemon Creek a . . 

Sunrise district:

Atlin, B. C.:

Do...........

Do...........

Birch Creek ..... 

Spruce Creek .... 

Do...........

McKee Creek .... 

Do...........

.Flumes.

Length.

4,600 feet ... 

1,000 feet ...

3,000 feet . . . 

5,000 feet . . .

2 miles .....

1,960 feet . . . 

2,500 feet . . .

Short sections.

3,000 feet . . . 

3,000 feet . . .

d

£

A 

"a

 23

a

1 

O

34.'30 

36.90

27.50 

14.00

26.00

10.00 

5.00

42.20 

36.90

Width.

Ft. in.

4 8 

4 0

4 0

5 0

3 6

4 0 

4 0

2 6 

3 4

a, 

o 

Q

Ft. in.

. 4 8 

2 0

3 0

3 0

1 7 

2 8 

3 0

2 6 

2 8

Si/e ofboards.

Inches.

2 by 12 

1 by 12

2 by 12

1 by 8

HbyS

'55

 O

5

1

"3 

o

CO

Inches.

4 by 6, 4 by 4 

2 by 4

. 6 by 6, 6 by 4

2 by 4

4 by 6 

3 by 4, 4 by 4

t '

1

"3

a

CO

4 by 8 inches 

by 12 feet.

4 by 4 inches 

by 12 feet.

4 by 4 inches 

by 12 feet.

Average amount ofwater used, minr's inches (1.5 cu. ft.

per min.).

200

750

Greahea

Fe

600 

900 

1,200

c2,000 

2,000

"Not visited. b Bottom boards and side boards. cMay 20 to September 1, 2,000 
w

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mile. per feet in Grade 

Width.

Depth.

boards. of Size 

f

sills. and posts of Size 

stringers. of Size 

of amount Average 

miner's used, water 

ft. cu. (1.5 inches 

min.). per 

head.. Greatest 

construction of Cost 

mile. per 

mainte- cost Annual 

mile. per nance 

M. per lumber of Cost 

11 " 

CD O 

Po o

3

c£

-

aB

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SOT GMIN^IK $.1 vasviy 
Eagle district:

Tortymile district:

Do...........

Birch Creek district:

Do...........

Do ...........

Fairbanks district:

Do...........

Do...........

Do...........

Rampart district :

Koine district:

Do...........

Do...........

Cripple River....

7,300 feet ...

800 feet .....

 2,000 feet....

1,110 feet....

J1.50

17. 50

3.33

3.33

9.00

2 8

3 0

2 6

6 0

8 0

2 0

1 0

1 4

2 9

1 bv 8

2bvS

IbyS

H by 12

2 bv 4, 4 bv 4

4 by 4

2 by 4

4bv6p,2bv8s

250

120

60

q^A

2,000

150

20

360

« Not visited.

i> Bottom boards and side boards.

< Posts, sills, and stringers, not sawed. 

'(Data estimated.

e Ditch and flume.

/See special descri
Do........... 

Clarence dis-Fort 

trict: 

'>. . Sunset Creek . 

Klondike River .

feet.... 2,600 

to

0

to

01

J,

1

£

s

o 

g

s

o . 

o

1,000 feet....;

00

8

o 

o

OS

o

to

cf

«H

:

M 

Oi

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8

2

district: Solomon 

Snlnmnn "Rivpr

D

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2 

 £

3

June 10-Oct June 25-Oct

.....do.....

o o. 

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feet 1,000 

^

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June 10 . 10-Oct. 

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^

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Inches.

Inches.

S.

' 3 BOg'2. "c 2*2 ff M s"-

sills 1 8 a ! 1 I

2 2, £ o » 01 

* "" 5" 3 s j* of " £ 

C 3 ^ n 5 3^3 

2 §. ST ®J ^X' 

1 to 

o

1 tS

permile. infect Grade 

Width.

Depth.

boards. of Size 

sills. and posts of Size 

stringers. of Size 

of amount Average 

miner's used, water 

ft. cu. (1.5 inches 

min.). per 

head. Greatest 

construction of Cost 

mile. per 

mainte- cost Annual 

mile. per nance 

M. per lumber of Cost 

lifl> o 

Do

ro

1

Flumes.

Oil

IDNINIW
PUHINGTON.] ' HYDEAULIC MINING. Ill

Long conduits are used in order that the difference in elevation 

between the source of the water and the point where it is used may 

afford the pressure. The length of the conduit will depend on the 

slope or grade of the surface. In regions of low mountains and gentle 

slopes, long ditches or ffume lines are necessary. In steep mountain 

regions the same results are attainable with short conduits.

In the gravel-mining districts of Alaska examples of the two 

extremes are found. It is an unfortunate, but at the same time 

natural, result of the governing geological conditions, that to obtain 

the use of water under head ditches must be the largest in the richest 

and most promising placer districts of Alaska. A long head ditch is 

expensive both to construct and to maintain. That the expense of 

such undertakings has not deterred miners from attempting them is 

evidenced by early California operators, where single companies sometimes built more than 100 miles of ditch line. Each mile of ditch

line or other form of conduit adds from, $2,000 to $15,000 to the initial 

capital necessary to start the hydraulicking operation, and increases 

the annual cost of ditch maintenance.

Some of the precautions which apply equally well to any country 

regarding the construction of water conduits, found in the text-books 

on hydraulic mining, may well be repeated here.

Van Wagenen" says:

When the miner has measured the stream from which he is to draw his water 

supply, and has determined the point where he will tap it, he is prepared to consider the question of water channels. These'may be of three kinds the ditch, the 

wooden flume, arid the iron pipe. * * * It is generally desirable to have the 

least possible fall in a water channel, or, in other words, to bring the water to as high 

a point of the ground to be worked as circumstances will allow. As the friction of 

the sides and bottom of a channel retards the flow, and necessitates a higher grade' 

than would be necessary if there were none, it becomes of importance to decrease 

this element as much as possible. On this score wood and iron waterways present 

decided advantages, owing to their comparative smoothness. In any case,' however, the quantity of friction developed depends upon the wet perimeter of the 

channel used. The following law will therefore be found to be of service:

The least web perimeter that will hold or carry a given volume is attained when the width 

of bottomis from one and three-fourths to two and one-fourth times the depth of the sides.

For example, a channel having a cross section of 510 square inches will develop the 

least amount of friction when its dimensions are 15 by 34 or 17 by 30, or somewhere 

between these measurements. A knowledge of this fact will be found serviceable in 

constructing flumes. The least perimeter, of course, requires the least lumber, and 

many thousand or million feet may be saved in a long flume by building in the correct proportions.

Bowie 6 says:

All water courses on the'line of the ditr.h should be secured. Their supply partially counteracts the loss by evaporation, leakage, and absorption, and frequently 

furnishes an additional quantum of water during several months of the year.

a Van Wagenen, T. F., Manual of Hydraulic Mining, 1880, p. 51.

t>J3owie, A. J., jr., A Practical Treatise on Hydraulic Mining in California, 1886, p. 185.
112 GKAVEL AND PLACEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BUU-. 263.

At proper intervals waste gates should be arranged, so as to discharge the water 

when necessary without risk of damage'to the ditch. In regions of heavy snow 

these wasteways should be provided at intervals not greater than one-half mile.

* * * Ditches poorly built in the beginning subsequently require large and constant expenditure, and lose considerable amounts of water

George H. Evans a says:

At the different points along the line of race where fluming has to be resorted to, 

allowance should be made for an increase in grade, in order that the flume can be constructed of much smaller dimensions than the ditch and yet carry all the water 

required. * * * It will be well to remember that practical results have demonstrated that in ordinary ground the water should travel at the rate of from 180 to 200 

feet per minute. Then the grade will be determined by the dimensions of the ditch 

and its intended carrying capacity.

The above quotations may be considered as of general application, 

but many modifications in the hitherto accepted practice of ditch 

building have been found advisable in Alaska, and will be referred to, 

especially in the description of the practice in Seward Peninsula. 

Regarding the capacity of open conduits, -Bowie makes the following 

statement:

In the mining districts of California ditches are constructed badly, with steep 

grades and on irregular lines with numerous sharp curves. The cross sections, originally uniform, became more or less varied. Absorption, percolation, evaporation, 

and leakage reduce the flow. A distinct, reliable factor for each of the sources of 

loss can not well be incorporated in the coefficient of discharge. * * * The simple formula Q,=ac\/rs expresses more fitly the result of experience in such cases, 

wherein:

Q is the quantity of water which the ditch is capable of carrying in cubic feet per 

second.

a, the effective area of cross section of ditch, as originally constructed, in square 

feet.

 r, the hydraulic mean depth in feet. 

s, the fall of surface in a unity of length, 

c, a coefficient covering all common losses.

Statistics derived from experience on the Milton, La Granger, and Bloornfield 

ditches in California led to the adoption of values of the coefficient c varying from 

31 to 45, in estimating the capacity of ditches in heavy grades of 40 miles' length 

flowing from 60 to 80 cubic feet per second.

The Texas Creek branch ditch (of the North Bloomfield ditch) is about seventenths of a mile long. Its sectional area is 13.5 feet and the grade is 20 feet per mile. 

The sides are rough and the curves sharp. With a flow of 32.8 cubic feet per second, 

the ditch runs about full. The value of c=33. In connection with this ditch there 

is a rectangular flume 2.67 feet wide by 2.83 feet deep, made of unplaned boards, set 

on a grade of 32 feet per mile. The flume has some sharp but regular curves, and 

the water from the ditch runs nearly full at these points. With the discharge 32.8 

cubic feet per second, c=59.

Although the losses in leading water in Alaska have not been determined by exact experiments, it is likely that they are less than in California. In the interior the value of c for ditches would be slightly

a Evans, G. H., Practical Notes on Hydraulic Mining, San Francisco, 1$98.
I'UKINGTON.] HVDKAULIC MINING. 118

higher than in California, while in the ditches made on gentle slopes 

in Seward Peninsula c would be considerably higher. Its value can 

not be known until accurate experiments have been conducted on the 

various ditch lines.

Ex'amples of the discharge of ditches in California, given by Bowie, 

arc as follows:"

Locality.

North Bloomfield . . . 

Dutch Flat.........

Length.

Miles. 

55

13

20

Grade.

16 feet per mile .... 

13£ feet per mile . . .

Size.

8.65 feet top 

feet bottom 

feet deep. 

6£ feet top by

deep.

bottom by 

deep.

by 5 

by 3*

4. fppf

4 feet

Discharge.

Miner's 

inches. 

3,200

3,150

2,400

In considering ditches and ditch building, the three provinces of 

Alaska, namely, the South Coast, Interior, and Seward Peninsula, will 

be taken up in succession.

SOUTH COAST PROVINCE.

In the South Coast province of Alaska the topography permits a 

rapid increase of head in short distances. (See PI. XVI, A, p. 114.) 

The ditch line of the Alaska-Treadwell Gold Mining Company, 14 miles 

in length, delivers water from the penstocks above the mill to which 

it supplies power at an elevation of 480 feet. As may be seen from 

the map (fig. 19), the ditch heads in Fish Creek 1,000 feet above the sea. 

The'water at the upper penstock, midway on the ditch.between Douglas and Treadwell, is taken out at an elevation of 600 feet above the 

sea. The distance from the penstock to the nozzle is only 1,500 feet 

on slope, and it may easily be seen what advantage is gained from the 

steep topography. The grade of the mountain, -nearly 30 feet in 100, 

is such that were a sufficient amount of water available in one of the 

near-by creeks no ditch at all would be required. The water could be 

led out by a few hundred feet of flume to a penstock, and a pipe line 

led directly from this to the mill. The Treadwell ditch line is composite, so far as its contained water is concerned, since it taps successively Fish, Eagle, Cowee, Lawson, Paris, Bullion, and .Ready 

Bullion creeks. Its length is not extreme considering the amount of 

water obtained, but it is considerably greater than would have been 

necessary if all the water could have been obtained from a single creek 

or river.

i Bowie, op. cit., p. 139,
114 GKAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 268.

The apparent extraordinary fall of the Tread well ditch (over 20 feet 

to the mile) may be accounted for by the fact that it has, at each creek 

which it taps in its course, a drop off of 6 to 7 feet, and reservoir, in 

which are relief gates, as illustrated in the photograph of the ditch at 

Lawson Creek. (See PL XVI, JB.} One of the waste gates shown 

on PL XVI, B, is 5 feet 4 inches wide; the other is 6 feet 7 inches 

wide and 3 feet 3 inches deep. There is a smaller auxiliary gate 

4 feet 6 inches wide and 2 feet deep.

The Tread well main ditch is 14 miles in length, a'nd is supplemented 

by 4 miles of subsidiary ditches/' The main ditch heads in Fish 

Creek, and its supply of water is obtained successively from Eagle, 

Cowee, Lawson, and Paris creeks, while an additional ditch brings water

FIG. 19. Map' of portion of Juneau district.

from Ready Bullion and Bullion creeks. In summer the water is used 

for running 760 of the 880 stamps of the mills, but in winter it is not 

used for power purposes. b

The main ditch has a width of 7 feet on top and 6 feet on the bottom, and a depth of 5 feet. In 1904 construction was going on in 

portions of the ditch line as follows: Twelve-inch posts, in sets with 

5-foot centers, were being placed along the inside of the ditch, leaving 

space 5 feet in the clear at bottom and 4i feet in the clear at top, with 

7-inch cap logs 4£ feet -between shoulders. Lagging split 3 inches 

thick and 1£ feet wide was laid inside the posts. Moss and sod were

aSee Kinzie, R. A., The Treadwell group of mines, Douglas Island, Alaska: Trans. Am. Inst. Min. 

Eng., vol. 34, 1904, p. 374. 

bit is to be regretted that full data regarding the Tread well diteh arc not at hand.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 263 PL. XVI

A. TOPOGRAPHY, SOUTH COAST PROVINCE.

B. TREADWELL DITCH LINE AT LAWSON CREEK, DOUGLAS ISLAND.
PURINGTON.] HYDEAULIC MINING. 115

then filled in between the lagging and the side of the ditch, poles laid 

lengthwise over the caps, and sod laid over the whole. Fluming has 

been found very unsatisfactory at the Treadwell. The flume was 

banked with sod on sides and top. Anchor ice in winter collected in 

the bottom of the flume, and was removed with great difficulty.

The Treadwell ditch for long distances is bridged with poles and 

brush, which in many places are covered with sods. Sodding is said 

to be the best preventive against freezing, not only here, but in all 

parts of Alaska.

. The pressure boxes are connected with the ditch by flumes 35 feet 

long, 5 feet wide, and 3 feet deep. The water first enters a gravel 

tank which is cleaned twice a year. This tank is built of 2-in.ch lumber and is 8 feet wide by 9 feet long and 14 feet deep. From the tank 

the water flows through a 4-foot section of flume 3 feet 3 inches wide, the 

bottom of which is only 5 feet below the top of the tank, into the main 

penstock. This is 11 feet long by 9£ feet wide, inside measurement, 

and 14 feet deep. It is built of 3-inch lumber, with 8- by 10-inch posts, 

sills, and caps, with 4-foot centers. The penstock is fitted with a 

wooden inclined grizzly to catch any leaves or refuse that pass the 

gravel trap. The penstock and sand trap combined make a structure 

20 feet 6 inches long by 10 feet 10 inches wide by 14 feet deep, outside measurement. The penstock, as illustrated in PL XVII, J., is 

banked halfway up the sides with sod, and the pipe line leading from 

it is covered with sod. The sand trap is provided with a sluicing-out 

gate on the side opposite that shown by the photograph. 65

PI. XVII, .B, illustrates a method of guying the pressure box on 

steep slope, in use by the American Gold Mining Company in Silver 

Bow basin, Alaska. The intake of the pipe line is protected by shed 

from heavy snows.

As water is in use for placer mining only during the open season, 

few instances were seen in Alaska of attempts to sod up the ditches 

and connections to prevent freezing in winter. At the Treadwell, 

however, the water is used -for generating power. Pipe lines, 

especially, in Seward Peninsula, are frequently sodded over, as much 

for protection against rust as to prevent freezing.

In Silver Bow basin, east of Juneau, ditching has been found impracticable and all conduits are flumed. In general'in southeastern Alaska 

fluming will be found cheaper than ditching, as ditches would have to 

be cut in solid rock for the most part, and in numerous places the 

mountain slopes are so steep as to render their construction impossible.

"See Bowie, A. J., jr., A Practical Treatise on Hydraulic Mining in California, 1885, p. 177, for plan 

and elevation of North Bloomfield pressure box.
116 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BOLI,. 263.

The flume of the Jualpa Company." one-half mile northeast of 

Jurieau, is shown on PI. XVIII, A. The water is taken from Gold 

Creek, the head gate being 9 by 8 feet. The flume is 4,600 feet in 

length, and has a grade of li inches in 16 feet, or 34.3 feet to the 

mile. It is 4 feet 8 inches square, inside measure; the bottom and 

side boards are 2 inches thick, planed inside, and battened with 3- by 

^ -inch lumber; there are 4 collars to a tiox of 12 feet; each alternate 

collar consisting of a 5- by 5-inch sill, 8 feet long; two posts 4 by 

6 inches by 5£ feet high, with a gain of one-half inch into sill, and 

two caps of 2- by 4-inch pieces nailed to the sides of the posts above 

the cover boards. The yokes are braced with 2 by 12's. These collars have 6-foot centers, and alternately between them are yokes consisting of a 3- by 5-inch sill, and two 4- by 4-inch posts, uncapped. 

The flume is covered with boards 1£ by 12 inches by 5 feet, laid crosswise, and nailed. Each -box contains approximately 425 board feet of 

lumber. The cost of the flume is said to have been $2.20 per foot, or 

$11,616 per mile, including lumber and labor. This did not include 

the cost of shooting rock for the flumeway, which was as high as $5 

per foot in places. A head of 225 feet is obtained, and the capacity 

of the flume is said to be 5,000 miner's inches.

The pressure box to which the flume leads is 12 by 18 feet by 11 

feet deep. It is built of l^--inch lumber, and has collars of 8- by 8-inch 

timber. The pipe at the intake end is 36 inches in diameter.

In building flumes about Juneau trestling frequently has to be 

resorted to, thus adding greatly to the expense. In general it may be 

said that the cost of building a 4-foot flume in the Sojth Coast province will not fall greatly below $10,000 per mile, and will occasionally 

be double this amount.

For small flumes, Bowie gives the following specifications: b

Specifications for flume 2$ feet wide, %$feet deep; 12-foot box.

Feet. 

3 caps, 4 feet by 3 by 4 inches............................................. 12£

6 posts, 3 feet by 3 by 4 inches............................................ 18

9 planks, 12 feet by 1$ by 6 and 12 inches.................................. 135

3 sills, 4£ feet by 4 by 4 inches ............................................ 18_

2 stringers, 12 feet by 4 by 6 inches...........:................._..._....'... 48

6 battens, 12 feet by 3 inches by 1 inch .................................... 14

1-foot plank, 12 feet by 10 by 1£ inches .................................... 15

Total lumber in one box... i........................................ 264£

Number of boxes per mile, 440.

a Recent information (Mining and Scientific Press, December 31, 1904), states that elaborate preparations for operating this property were made the last summer. These include the interception 

of the water of Gold Creek above the property by a dam, and its diversion to a flume to carry it past 

the hydraulic pit. The flume is 20 feet wide by 9 feet deep, and 4,250 feet long, 2,250 feet being trestled. It contains 1,200,000 feet of lumber, 6,000 linear feet of hewed timber, and 20 tons of nails and 

bolts.

f>0p. cit., p. 149.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 263 PL. XVII

A. PRESSURE BOX IN TREADWELL DITCH.

METHOD OF STAYING-PRESSURE BOX, SILVER BOW BASIN.
PURTNGTON.] HYDRAULIC MINING. . '117

Reckoning the cost of lumber for a box at $4 and the labor- of 1 man 

at $5 for one day to each box, such a flume would cost $4,000 per 

mile, exclusive of survey, rock work, and trestles. It is difficult to 

see how the cost of building even small flumes can fall below $7,000 

per mile in the South Coast province of Alaska.

INTERIOR.

In the interior Yukon and Tanana fields ditching is practicable and 

is recommended in preference to flumes. There are difficulties, but 

they are not insurmountable. In the interior no large ditch enterprise similar to those of Seward Peninsula has beei\ undertaken. 

The Atlin field has afforded data regarding building of ditches, but 

conditions are hardly comparable with those in the Yukon region. 

With the exception of the small amount of bench mining in the interior only a small amount of gravel is handled daily, and ordinarily 

water under very low heads is used.

The future of hydraulic mining in the Klondike, Birch Creek, Fortymile, Eagle, and Tanaua mining districts is not promising. The gentle 

slopes of the mountains, the low grade of the creek valleys, and the 

sparse amount of water are unfavorable to obtaining a sufficient amount 

of water for hydraulicking at a working head. A peculiar drawback, 

depending on the geological history of the region, is the fact that the 

level tops of the Yukon and Tanana mountains represent a partially 

eroded peneplain of very wide extent 300 miles from east to west and 

200 from north to south, approximately. This area, in which the 

placer fields of the Yukon-Tanana rectangle are situated, is, as it were, 

a table-land, the top of which tilts slightly to the south, and into which 

the modern streams have cut, founding off the residual parts between 

them into low dome-shaped mountains, averaging 3,000 feet in height, 

and varying from 6,000 to 2,000 feet.

A comparison of the topography of the South Coast province with 

that of the interior is illustrated by Pis. XVIII, B, andXIX, A. In 

the interior there are no sharp declivities, no waterfalls, no sudden 

descents in the surface. The grades of creek valleys are seldom over 

3 feet in 100 and are commonly 1 foot in 100. (See table 8, p. 104.) 

Jf 2 per cent is taken as an average grade and it is assumed that a ditch 

must be three times as long as the creek on which it is to furnish 

water under head at a lower point, it is evident that only 300 feet 

head would be obtained by 10 miles of ditch. Such a ditch taken 

from one stream would afford only 200 miner's inches of water, a fair 

average for the region during the four months of the summer season.

Within leading distance there are no high mountains from which to 

draw a supply. The alpine peaks of the Alaska Range lie to the south 

of the Tanana, and could not by any possibility be made to afford 

water to be used for hydraulicking. (See PI. XLI, B.)
118 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. (BULL. 203.

Ditches and il nines for conveying Avater' must- as hitherto, be of 

small size. They will deliver a small amount of water at a low head, 

100 miner's inches of water at 75-foot head being about what may be 

obtained under favorable conditions.

Special difficulties encountered in the interior of Alaska and the 

North generally have been found to be as follows:

At Atlin the action of frost causes the ditch to enlarge after construction. The opinion was expressed that steel-pipe conduits do not 

freeze as quickly as flumes. In a 19- by 40-inch flume of 1,960 feet in 

length it was found that the frost heaved the flume and put it out of 

grade each season, but even then it was regarded as more economical 

than a ditch. The flumes on McKee Creek have to be gone over, every 

spring to restore the grade. Sills are set in 4 inches of blocking on 

the stringers so that the grade can be regulated. It was also said that 

the native Atlin lumber is preferred for the flumes and sluices, as 

imported Pacific coast lumber warped badly. If native lumber is 

used, 8 inches is the greatest width available. Notwithstanding the 

cost of maintenance, ditches are much used at Atlin, one company 

operating 10 miles of ditch.

In the Klondike district, where nearly all ground is solidty and permanently frozen, it is said that three years after construction must be 

allowed to get a ditch into condition to stand. Various estimates have 

been made and projects formulated in this field for bringing in water 

from a distance for the purpose of working the remaining gravels of 

the benches (the so-called "White Channel") which lie at an average 

elevation of 270 feet above the rich bottoms of Bonanza, Eldorado, 

and Hunker creeks. The building and maintenance of a ditch having 

its source in some of the higher tributaries of Klondike River and 

affording water at a sufficient head is not regarded as an impossible 

engineering feat, but up to the present the cost has been considered 

prohibitive. Dry seasons alternate with wet ones, and in consequence 

the amount of water available during a given season might vary 

from, say, 1,000 inches to 5,000 inches. No calculations based on the 

full capacity of the ditch could be made in advance, therefore, 

regarding the season's product.

Recent information concerning the Acklen ditch, led along the north 

side of Klondike River near Dawson for the purpose of hydraulicking high benches bordering that stream, has been embodied in the 

table. It is stated that the cost of the earth excavation of this ditch, 

7 by 4 by 2£ feet deep' and 41,500 feet in length, was $34,000.

Small storage reservoirs are used by many of the Klondike operators 

to impound the small and variable amount of water available for 

working the benches of the White Channel. On Hunker Creek a 

small ditch 3 by 2 feet and 4 miles long is in excellent condition after
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

A. FLUME OF JUALPA MINING COMPANY, SILVER BOW BASIN.

Jl. TYPICAL SOUTH COAST TOPOGRAPHY, GOLD CREEK.
PURINOTON.] HYDRAULIC MINING.

four years' service. The annual cost of maintenance is $1,000, or 10 

per cent of the original.cost.

In ditching in bad ground it has been found beneficial not to remove 

the moss carpet, but to cut it in 4-foot lengths, transverse to the line 

of ditch, then to roll it back along the lower edge, and after the ditch 

is dug to let it drop so as to cover the side of the ditch.

In the region adjacent to Eagle, Alaska, it has been found that 

where the topography did not admit of ditching the maintenance of 

flumes is very expensive and that the use of steel-pipe conduits is 

preferable.

. .A useful suggestion for flume building was obtained on Deadwood 

Creek, in the Birch Creek district. Flat timbers obtained in the 

neighborhood were used, and the flume, 3 feet by 1 foot, was calked 

with moss inside. The cost was only 25 cents a foot, and the flume is 

said to be good for ten years. In this locality it is almost impossible 

to secure sawed lumber at any price unless the operators whipsaw it 

themselves. In all northern latitudes the moss is an excellent calking 

material.

Through the interior country it has been found that ditches on the 

south slopes of the mountains can be made with much more success 

than on the north slopes. In fact, the north slopes are frequently 

bare rock, while on the south slopes a good deposit of earth has 

accumulated. . fc

The presence of crystosphenes/' which are found on the slopes as 

well as in the creek valleys in all parts of the north where perpetual 

frost prevails, is the ditch maker's greatest obstacle. Mr. Tyrrell 

sa}'s: u As a rule they [the crystosphenes, or so-called ' glaciers'] occur 

as more or less horizontal sheets of clear ice, from 6 inches to 3 feet in 

thickness, lying between layers of 'muck' or fine alluvium, usually 

where the 'muck' is divided horizontally by a thin bed of silt or sand; 

and most of them, as far as my observation goes, are from 2 to 4 feet 

below the surface, though some are deeper. They approximate closely 

to-the slope of the surface", under which the}' lie." These sheets are 

from 25 to 150 feet in diameter, generally somewhat oblong. They 

are explained by Mr. Tyrrell as due to the freezing of seepage water, 

causing a gradual accretion to the mass annually. Mr. I. P. Tolmachof 6 has examined similar occurrences in northeast Siberia, and 

explains them as fossil snowbanks. Whatever their explanation, they 

are exceedingly common both in the interior and in Seward Peninsula. 

They are found not only in creek beds, but on the slopes, and show 

no regularity in distribution.

aTyrrell, J. B., Crystosphenes, or buried sheets of ice, in the tundra of northern America: Jour. 

Geol., vol. ]2,1904. 

^Ground ice of Berezovka River: Proc. R. Russ. Min. Soc., St. Petersburg, 1903.
120 OBAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 203.

Where such a mass of ice is met sod and moss must be extensively 

used, and both the first construction and annual maintenance will be 

much greater than in other portions of the ditch. For an account of 

the method of dealing with such ice sheets see the description of ditch 

building in Seward Peninsula.

In the Fairbanks district so little ditching has been done that no 

results gained from experience were available. The frozen ground 

has, however, been found so bad for ditching that the cost of annual 

maintenance is from one-fourth to one-half as much as the first cost of 

construction. Such expedients as patching with canvas have been 

adopted as a temporary makeshift. The small ditches which have 

been constructed are run with as flat a grade as .possible to avoid cutting out. Here as elsewhere in the interior the use of sod for lining 

the sides of the ditches can not be too highly recommended.

Small reservoirs in the creek beds for impounding sluice water are 

in use and will be described in connection with open-cut mining.

SEWARD PENINSULA.

The following notes regarding the building of ditches have been 

contributed by Mr. Guy A. R. Lewington, of Nome, Alaska, manager 

of the mining properties belonging to the North American Transportation and Trading Company:

Ditch building in Seward Peninsula has become one of the most serious questions with reference to economical mining and the general stability of the whole 

mining industry. Water under pressure for hydraulic mining is the all-important 

condition, and to this end I submit the following, which may be of some interest to 

those contemplating investment in this section.

The necessary equipment consists of plows, scrapers, and graders of the usual kind 

in use in the States, and, of course, a camp outfit of tents, both for living and stable 

purposes.

The conditions to be contended with in this country are different in almost all 

respects from those which have come under my observation elsewhere. The most 

serious of these is the building of a tight and strong ditch over "glacier," « of which 

much is encountered wherever ditches have been constructed. Under this condition 

it has been found best to dig as shallow and broad a ditch as possible, not diggingmuch below the moss, and to build the outer bank of the ditch up to the required 

height by the use of the sod which covers the whole country. This sod in a short 

while settles and knits itself together, and trms becomes a very serviceable bank. It 

will not cut or wear out, and the older it gets the better it becomes. When, however, 

it becomes evident that the bottom of the ditch is cutting and wearing away, sod again 

must be resorted to, and by lining the bottom of the ditch with it the trouble may 

soon be overcome. In this way a ditch can be made over perpetually frozen ground 

where otherwise it would be impossible. Much ditch has to be constructed over 

loose stones with little or no sediment between them. In this case the ditch must 

be lined with sod and all holes must be filled by tamping sod into them as far as 

possible. This being done it will be found that the water traveling through the

a The buried ice sheets.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVE'

A. TYPICAL INTERIOR TOPOGRAPHY, MASTODON CREEK. BIRCH CREEK DISTRICT.

. DITCH BUILDING; HEAD OF NOME RIVER, SEWARD PENINSULA.
PURINGTON.] HYDRAULIC MINING. 121

ditch will deposit sediment over the sod and level it up, and that after a little while 

.it will become tight. Puddling, of course, will help any ditch here or elsewhere. 

Those two conditions are the only serious ones to be contended with in ditching 

ground.

A strong plow drawn by 2-horse team is the first implement used. (See PI. XIX, 

B, p. 120.)

All being ready, the driver is instructed to plow a single furrow, following as 

closely as possible from one survey peg to the next, following the natural contour of 

the country. This he does for say a distance of one-half mile, thus establishing the 

ditch line. The plowing is continued to a width sufficient so that, allowing plenty 

of slope for the inner bank, the required depth of ditch may be obtained. The 

grader is next used for the purpose of removing what has been plowed to the outer 

bank of the ditch. This being done the ditch will look much like a wagon road. 

Then the plow is used again, plowing as before a single furrow, following as nearly 

as possible the first furrow plowed, which is plainly visible. This second plowing 

being done, the scraper is resorted to, and the loose plowed material is scraped from 

the ditch to the outer bank, building it up. This work is repeated until the ditch is 

almost completed. All that remains to make an excellent ditch is to level up the 

bottom and to slope the ditch to required dimensions. This work is done by hand 

with pick and shovel. The plow and scraper should do almost all the work, however, so that as little as possible remains to be done by hand. After completion of 

the ditch only a small head of water should be allowed to flow through it for a few 

days, until it has become well soaked; then the head may be gradually increased a 

little.daily until the full capacity is reached.

All water should be turned out of the ditch before the freeze-up in the fall, and 

the ditch, made as dry as possible by the opening of all waste gates, of which there 

should be one at least every one-third of a mile. These waste gates should be left 

open, to enable the water during the spring thaw to run out of them instead of filling the ditch with water and overflowing its banks. These waste gates should be 

cleared of all snow and ice at the first approach of a thaw in the spring, in order 

that the water may have a free outlet. This is very important. In the spring no 

water should be allowed to run through the ditch until at least 2 to 3 inches in depth 

of the ditch has thawed, and then only a small head to start with, as frozen ground 

cuts very rapidly. If this work is carefully done I have no doubt that the ditch will 

be ready for work by the time it becomes possible to mine.

Considering the remoteness of the country and its high latitude, ditch building 

can be done at a cost surprisingly low. The entire absence of timber, small amount 

of rock work, generally good soil, and gentle slopes of the hillsides are conditions 

which make ditch building very feasible in the auriferous portions of Seward 

Peninsula.

Fluming should not be employed unless absolutely unavoidable, as frost and snow 

in winter play havoc with flumes, and the swelling and contracting of the ground, 

due to alternate freezing and thawing, continually keep the flume off grade. There 

are. few instances where it is necessary to use a flume.

Much of the ditch construction at Nome is now done by contract. 

The following information was supplied for this report by one of the 

ditch, contractors at Nome:

In the construction of ditches on Seward Peninsula the following 

three types of machines are used, all being drawn by horses:-The 

ordinary road grader, the horse scrapers, which are so extensively 

used in California, and an ordinary breaking plow.
122 GBAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BDU-. 263. 

After the ditch line has been surveyed and staked 30 men and 20 

horses, for example, with plows and scrapers, are put to work. The 

plows proceed ahead of the grader, and the cutting is continued until 

the uphill side of the ditch bottoni is nearly cut to grade. At this 

stage, which is represented ideally by fig. 20, it will be seen that the 

contents of the cut A, B, C has been thrown up to form the bank 

C, D, E on the outer side of the proposed ditch. The remaining work 

consists in removing the earth in the portion B, F, H, which is partially uncut and partially built up by the grader. The most economical work is done when the portion removed by the grader is so 

balanced as to demand the least cutting \)y the scrapers in throwing 

up the necessary bank. It will be seen from the above statements 

that the burden of the work falls on the first plows and on the grader, 

though the subsequent work of the scrapers and hand finishing is just 

as important.

Four horses and 1 man are usually used to a grader, though 8 horses 

are often used. The scrapers use from 2 to 4 horses, depending upon

FIG. 20. Section of ditch in construction.

the size of the ditch. Four horses are not generally used to a scraper 

unless the ditch is to be 7 feet or more wide. The plows breaking 

first ground usually need 4 horses each. It may be said that where a 

slope is steep very little or no cutting is needed on the lower side of 

the ditch, since the dirt necessary for the bank can all be obtained in 

reducing the upper side to grade.

Special methods are necessary when the ditch passes through sections underlain by ground ice, as previously described, or runs over 

sections of rock. Very careful work is needed when the rock is 

broken and fractured. It has been found bad practice to cut through 

the stringy moss which overlies the masses of ground ice, generally 

referred to as "glacier;" in fact it is disastrous to the permanency 

of that section of the ditch, and- is the beginning of never-ending 

repairs, since the ice continues to thaw, causing constant leakage. The 

best practice is to build sod walls on the lower side, leaving the moss 

undisturbed. All rock work must be done by hand, and where the ditch
PURINOTON.] HYDRAULIC MINING. 123

passes through fractured material all cracks must be filled with moss. 

Too much care can not be observed in the latter detail, and, especially 

during the first weeks of use, men must be kept constantly traversing 

and repairing those sections where leaks are apt to occur. The stirring 

up of the water by men walking along the bottom of the ditch is a good 

practice in the early stages, for silt, in addition to the sod, is a most, 

valuable factor in filling the cracks.

A scraper will work to great advantage in decayed schist, which needs 

no lining, as it holds water better than any other ground encountered 

and cuts out less. Fluming does not pay when there is a possibility 

of ditch building. In fact, it has been often stated by men familiar 

with ditch construction, that where possible, it is profitable both as 

regards first cost and subsequent maintenance to build a ditch in place 

of fluming, even if the distance necessary to be covered by the former 

be ten times that of the latter. Many slopes apparently not permitting a ditch cut, owing to the presence of broken rock and talus slides, 

on close examination are found to be favorable, for if 2 or 3 feet of 

this loose material is moved there are. excellent opportunities for 

comparatively cheap rock cuts.

When, however, it is deemed impracticable to construct a ditch, and 

where a flume must be built crossing a gully, a very efficient foundation can be made by digging shallow holes, filling with gravel, and 

placing on top a wide plank to distribute the load. If the trestle rests 

on such foundations, and the underlying ice is not disturbed, much 

trouble from settling will be avoided. The following are a few of the 

costs representative of ditching in various materials:

Cost of ditching in various materials.

Soft muck and tundra, per cubic yard ................................. $0. 75

Gravelly dirt, per cubic yard.......................................... .65

Decayed schist, per cubic yard .... -.................................... . 40 to . 60

Rock work, fairly solid, per foot.................................... .. 1. 75

Schist in place, per cubic yard......................................... 1. 00

Loose rock, per cubic yard............................................ 1. 25

Ditching in muck which heaves is very expensive, and no general 

figure can be given.

A ditch carrying 1,000 miner's inches will cost, under fair conditions, $2,000 per mile. One with the capacity of 4,000 miner's inches 

will cost between $4,000 and $5,000 per mile. Though much affected 

by vaiying local conditions a conservative estimate for general work 

is $1 per cubic }rard throughout.

The following account of the construction of the extensive water 

conduits built by the Miocene Ditch Company was obtained from . 

Mr. J. W. Davidson, the company's consulting engineer.

The water is taken from Nome River and its tributaries for the most 

part, although a small portion is taken from Snake River. At the
124 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BUI.I.. 203.

intake near the head of Nome River the elevation is 572 feet/' At

Hobson Creek a large head 

dam has been constructed 

entirely of sod. The dam 

was started at bed rock and 

is 20 feet in width by 130 

feet in length and is provided 

with a waste gate 10 feet wide 

and 10 feet deep in the center. 

It has been found entirely 

satisfactory. The ditch,with, 

its branches and laterals, is 

54 miles in length. Of this, 

the main ditch is 31£ miles 

from Hobson Creek to the 

tunnel. This ditch, as far 

as the "X," was made 10 

feet on the bottom, 14 feet 

on top, with a depth of 3 

feet. It has a grade of 3.37 

feet to the mile. Seventeen 

miles of ditch were made 

from the head of Nome River 

to Hobson Creek, with the 

dimensions 8 feet wide on the 

bottom, 11 feet on the top, 

and 3 feet in depth, with a 

grade of 4.5 feet to the mile. 

From the "X" to the tunnel, as represented on the 

map, the ditch has the same 

dimensions as the upper end, 

and a grade of 6.5 feet to the 

mile. The ditch was constructed to carry 3,000 

miner's inches of water below Hobson Creek, and at 

the upper end to carry 2,500 

miner's inches. The actual 

amount of water available 

under average conditions is 

said to be 2,000 inches. The 

ditch was begun on July 6, 

1901, at the "X." (See fig.

21.) The following year 75 horses and the necessary equipment 

Fin. 21. Map of Miocene ditch.

"According to levels by U. S. Geol. Survey.
U. 3. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY lULLETIN NO. 263 PL. XX

A. MIOCENE DITCH, GLACIER CREEK.

B. FLUME OF HOT AIR COMPANY, OPHIR CREEK,
PUBINGTON.] HYDEAULIO MINING. 125

plows, graders, and scrapers were brought in and the ditch was 

completed to Hobson Creek. In 1903 the ditch was completed to 

the head of Nome River and a branch ditch was constructed to tap 

Snake River. Sixty-eight days were consumed in building the ditch 

from Hobson Creek to Dexter Creek, forty-eight days from Hobson 

Creek to Nome River. This latter figure includes the enlargement of 

the originally built Hobson ditch and the building of the Snake River 

ditch.

The method of construction has been described above. A plow was 

used for breaking the furrows and the grader was used for bringing 

the cut to grade, 4 horses being used to a team. The ditch making 

was carried on at the rate of one-half mile per day, taking the triangular section off down to a level. This operation was followed by 

a second plowing. The grade stakes were set at a certain distance 

down the hill from the lower bank, and tne men were directed to push 

the dirt so as not to reach beyond the line of stakes. From 60 to 70 

men were employed all the time, and the number of horses varied from 

50 to 100. The cost was reckoned at $400 for each horse for a period 

of eight months, and the wage of a man was reckoned at $7.50 per 

day. Two 4-horse teams were employed all the time to haul feed. 

(See PI. XX, A.)

The grading gang consisted of one 4-horse breaking plow and a 

grader, with 2 men and 8 horses. A scraping gang consisted of 2 

plows and 9 scrapers. There are thus 11 drivers, 2 men plowing with 

2-horse plows, 9 scraper men, and a foreman, beside the grader. The 

general cost of .the smaller ditch is given at $2,300 per mile. It is to 

be noted that in this construction the upper bank was not sloped at 

all, as it was found that this sloping is very little use in the northern 

regions, the soil standing very well at various angles.

The difficulties with ground ice were very great. At one place 800 

feet of such an ice sheet was found, and here the cost of maintenance 

is exceedingly high. The only way to maintain the ditch is to haul 

clay down the ditch in boats and dump it in. It is found that if sufficient clay is dumped on top of the ice it stops thawing, but this 

operation has to be annually repeated. At another point 1,100 feet of 

flume (8 feet by 33 inches, with double grade) were built over an ice 

sheet, and so far the ground has settled very little. One and one-half 

inch lumber is used in construction, at a cost of $200 per thousand 

feet. For each mud sill cuts were made into the ice from 2£ to 3 

feet. After the sills were in position the moss and tundra were 

rammed back over the ice. The cost of construction of this flume 

was $1,500, exclusive of the lumber. It is stated that the construction cost much more than it would at present.

At another point, across Manila Creek, an inverted siphon 1,000 

feet in length, of hydraulic riveted steel pipe, 40 inches in diameter, 

14 gage, is used for 1,000 feet, at a cost of $10,000. It has a dip of
126 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

150 feet in the center, and the difference between the ends is 4 feet 

vertically. The allowance for friction made in this siphon was for 

3,000 miner's inches of water. At the upper end the water discharges 

from a penstock 12 by 12 by 14 feet. Another inverted siphon line' 

300 feet in length, of 24-inch, 14-gage, riveted steel pipe, is laid across 

Dorothy Creek.

Around Cape Horn there was a considerable stretch of rock work, 

1,300 feet in marble. This had to be blasted with powder, and cost 

$12,000. There are 5 miles of rock work in all along the ditch line. 

Between Snow Gulch and Glacier Creek a tunnel 1,800 feet in length 

has been run through the divide to carry the ditch water. Its dimensions are4'b}r 6 feet, and it is timbered in places. The top of the 

tunnel is level with the top of the water on the entrance side, the bottom of the tunnel being run at a low level so as to completely fill the 

tunnel. All the rock work in the tunnel was done by hand drilling, 

and in the winter. The rock was found to be frozen 90 feet vertically 

below the surface. The elevation of the penstock for '' No. 1 Below Discovery," Glacier Creek, where the bulk of the water was used in 1904, 

is 413 feet, th,e surface of the water being about 2 feet lower, the 

available head at No. 1, below Glacier, being 330 feet. The greatest 

head of water attainable by this ditch on ground now being worked is 

said to be 360 feet on No.-2, below Glacier Creek.

The complete cost of the ditch and all accessories, including maintenance for four years, is stated to be upward of $300,000. It is the 

practice to keep 15 men on the whole length of the ditch system during the four months of the working season. This company, besides the 

use which it makes of the water for its own mining operations, sells 

some of its water to the miners on Glacier, Anvil, and Dexter creeks 

at the rate of $1 per miner's inch under pressure, and at 50 cents per 

inch for water that has been once used/' According.to measurements . made with a Price current meter August 23, 1904, the Miocene ditch 

afforded 1,074 miner's inches above the No. 1, below penstock on Glacier 

Creek, and 1,752 miner's inches at a point on Glacier Creek above the 

tunnel leading a portion of the water to Anvil Creek, the inch equal 

to 1.5 cubic feet per minute.

In the whole of Seward Peninsula there are approximately 175

miles of water conduits, for the most part ditches actually con-

- structed, and fully 100 miles more are reported as under construction

or in contemplation. It is safe to s&y that the work has averaged in

cost over $4,000 to the mile, although it is undeniable that with the

advantage of experience the operators can build their ditches for less

, money in future.

Ophir Creek, in the Council district, has been the scene of the greatest activity in ditch construction, as may be seen by the table. There

aThe minc.':'s inch in this case is reckoned as equivalent to 1.2 cubic feet per minute.
A PIER FOR TRESTLE, HOT AIR DITCH LINE, OPHIR CREEK.

IS. SMALL STORAGE DAM, BONANZA CREEK, KLONDIKE.
1'uniNGTON.] HYDEAULIC MINING. 127

is estimated to be a total of 55 miles of ditches in this basin, including 

the ditch which taps Pargon River, across the divide. The largest 

ditch on this creek carries from 1,200 to 3,000 miner's inches, and is 

through rock and earth for over 18 miles. It was commenced in o

August, 1901, and work has been done on it at intervals up to the 

beginning of the season of 1904. It is estimated by the Wild Goose 

Mining and Trading Company that on Ophir Creek, in ordinary ground, 

a mile of ditch a week of this size, 16 by 10 by 3 feet, can be built 

with 32 head of horses and 70 men. In the 5 miles of rock work which 

were made along the line black powder was used for blasting. The 

sod walls were found preferable to rock walls in this ditch, as in the 

one built by the Miocene Company. The water is used for working 

several claims, a portion being distributed to each; the head attained 

varies from 170 to 200 feet in the different operations.

In the construction of the Hot Air Company's ditch line on Ophir 

Creek several long trestles (see PL XX, B] were found necessary where 

the ditch crossed and recrossed the many meanders of the creek. It 

was necessary to sink the posts of the trestling in rock-filled cribs or 

piers in the creek bed, as shown in PI. XXI, A.

The use of inverted siphons is common in many of the Alaska ditch 

lines, but presents nothing new over the California practice. The 

ordinary rules to be observed in conducting water under pressure in 

pipes, the use of large-diameter pipe to prevent excessive friction, 

the calculation of the pressure, resistance, the loss of head, and the 

distribution of air valves are as important as in the case of all pipe 

lines.

STORAGE RESERVOIRS.

Lack of water and of sites at a sufficient elevation to afford head 

render the building of extensive storage reservoirs in Alaska impracticable. The broad, flat valleys, frozen soil, impervious schist bed rock, 

and the excellent sod material for dams offer conditions which appear 

attractive. On the other hand, the small and variable amount of rain 

and snow (see table 2, p. 48) makes it certain that the expensive 

surveys and construction necessary for reservoirs whose capacity runs 

into the millions of cubic feet would never be justified by results.

Small storage reservoirs have been successfully.built and have given 

satisfactory results. The capacity of one built by the Anglo-Klondike 

Mining Company is 400,000 cubic feet, or sufficient to supply 300 

miner's inches for fifteen hours for hydraulicking at a head of 150 feet. 

The dam is 15 feet high and the reservoir is filled from the supply ditch 

in from a few hours to three days, according to the rains, which are 

exceedingly variable. This reservoir, which is built at the elevation 

of the top of the ancient base-level above the highest gravels, is representative of the best that can be accomplished in this line in the interior
128 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263. 

»

Yukon-Tanana field. Mr. J. P. Hutchins a states that during- the summer of 1904 a reservoir was built in the Klondike which has a 

capacity of 26,000,000 gallons and requires a dam 40 feet in height.

Many small reservoirs (see PI. XXI, B) are used in the .North, 

affording from 50 to 100 inches of water for a run of a few hours. 

Reservoirs for the providing of sluicing water for winter dumps have 

been built on Anvil Creek for catching snow water. In some cases 

even snow fences have been erected behind the dams to increase the 

size of the snowdrifts.

The Alaskan miner has at hand the vegetable sod or peat, a material 

which has proved efficient under Alaska conditions for the building of 

small dams. The construction of dams is discussed on pages 56-57. 

In building small storage reservoirs for hydraulicking, it is as necessary 

in Alaska as elsewhere to determine the proper 'elevation, to select as 

large a catchment area as possible, and to take into consideration 

absorption, evaporation, and the character of the ground and underlying bed rock. The angle of slope for a peat dam, as given by J. T. 

Fanning, 6 is 2.75 horizontal to 1 vertical. Experience has shown that 

in Alaska, owing to the permanent frost, such dams will stand at a 

smaller angle, especially if brush is laid alternately with sod. The 

cost of storage dams in the interior may be reckoned at $1.75 per cubic 

yard of earthwork, and in Seward Peninsula at $1 per cubic yard.

The expedient of building settling ponds must be resorted to in 

places where a small amount of sluice water is used over and over 

for successive operations, as on Anvil Creek, in Seward Peninsula. 

Two such darns for retaining sediment, one of which is shown in 

PI. XXII, A, are in use on Anvil Creek. The water is drawn off 

from these as often as possible. In the second case it is drawn off at 

intervals of ten hours to the supply flume.

PIPE LINES.

In hydraulic mining the water is distributed from the pressure box 

to the monitors and elevators by means of wrought-iron or, more generally, steel-riveted pipe, usually made up in sections 17 to 19 feet 

in length. Sheet steel is used, from 8 to 16 U. S. standard gauge, 

bent, each plate, 30 or 36 inches in length, being riveted in double 

ivws lengthwise and single on the ends. The sizes used in Alaska 

vary from 8 to 36 inches. The pipe is shipped by the manufacturers 

either made up and riveted, as above, ready to be laid with slip joints, 

or the material is supplied in short plate sections, bent, punched, and 

furnished with necessary rivets, baled and nested for transportation, 

ready to be cold riveted on the ground. Fig. 22 shows a form of ship-

 «Eng. and Min. Jour., Jan. 5,1905.

^Treatise on Water Supply and Engineering, p. 345.
,4. SETTLING POND, ANVIL CREEK, SEWARD PENINSULA.

B. PIPE LINE, ATLIN CREEK, BRITISH COLUMBIA.

V
PUKINGTON.] HYDRAULIC MINING. 129

ping made-up pipe of different diameters which renders it secure from 

bending- or injury in transport. The iron bolt can afterwards be used 

in the blacksmith shop.

Pipe made up beforehand, is coated by immersing it in a bath of 

asphaltum preparation. This is highly important, and if the operator 

rivets his pipe on the ground he should dip the pipe in such a bath 

before laying. Bowie gives the following formula for a bath:

Per cent. 

Crude asphaltum........................................................... 28

Coal tar (free from oily substances).......................................... 72

The advantages of using sheet steel, commonly called "hydraulic" 

pipe, are its cheapness of construction, adaptability for crossing 

depressions (as in inverted siphons), the facility with which its position 

can be changed, and, when slip joints are used, the ease with which the 

line can be laid. Many engineers do not recommend the use of slip 

joints that is, the slipping of the end of one length of pipe 3 inches 

into the end of the next to form the joint. With average tooography,

.wood cap

i

I

/ '*' ~~1

....... .. V..,,... .................. / -'' "\ x> . ., ., .. ........ ...... ...... .

Threaded \ron rodA ,' / f' \ \ '«'

I \ \ \ ,-' / /' / " \V *S/~ ------ -^*- ----- ^-* - -^ -----

/ v >- ,''

22

~\

I

i

 i

FIG. 22. Method of nesting made-up hydraulic pipe for shipment.

however, experience has proved that such joints stand great pressure, 

and the practice is nearly universal among hydraulic miners. 

Pipe is used for the three following purposes:

(1) As a water conduit, replacing ditches and flumes. Pipe is not 

recommended for this purpose except where siphoning is necessary or 

where conditions are particularly difficult for ditching and fluming.

(2) For leading water from the pressure box to the claim.

(3) For leading the water from the gate of a Y to its various points 

of discharge, as to giants, elevators, and impulse or "hurdy-gurdy" 

wheels.

The discharge pipe is generally a nozzle, either manipulated by 

means of a swivel-jointed tapering pipe called a giant or monitor or 

fixed within a larger pipe (the contrivance known as an elevator), or 

acting on the buckets of a wheel.

The'thickness of the iron or steel employed is determined b}' the 

pressure of the water and the diameter of the pipe. Table 9 gives 

information concerning a few of the sizes used in Alaska. Prices are 

those prevailing in San Francisco. 

Bull. 263 05 9
130 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BUI,L.-2G3. 

TABLE 9. Double-riveted slieet steel slip-joint hydraulic pipe.

Diameter 

in inches.

6

6

8

8

11

11

11

15

15

15

15

18

22

22

24

24

30

30

Thickness, 

U. S. gage.

18

16

16

14

1614'°

12

18

16

M

12

10

16

12

16

14

16

14

Thickness in 

fractions of 

an inch.

_i

_!__.

TV

A

iV

6?

6T

itr

T(T

T&

6?

9

rV :

<TT

T«

<PT

TTT

A

Head, in 

feet, pipe 

will safely 

stand.

480

600

450

563

325

408

572

191

240;

300.

420

450

164

286

150

187

120

150

Pressure in 

pounds per 

square inch 

due to head.

208

260

195

244

141

177

248

83

104

130

182

195

71

124

65

81

52

65

Weight per 

foot in 

pounds.

3.80

4.85

6.30

7.75

8.50

10.50

14.50

8.50

10.75

13.00

19.00

30.00

15.75

28.50

18. 00

22.00

21. 00

27.00

I'rice per 

foot, San 

Francisco, 

1904.

$0.23

.25

.32

.35

.37* -

.44

.60

.46

.50

.55

.85

1.50

.70

1.20

,80

1.00

.90

1. 10

Pipe-reducing sections, Y's, forks, and elbows, and the method of 

"nesting" pipe for shipment are illustrated by fig.-23 (p. 131). Sections of pipe are put together,'as above stated, by slipping, or by flange 

or lead joints. If it is advisable to reenforce a slip joint, the simple 

device shown in fig. 24 (p. 132), which can be made quickly in the 

blacksmith shop, will be found useful. The sleeve, lugs, and key 

should be made of soft steel.

The disadvantage of diverting water from a straight pipe line may 

be illustrated by the experience of one of the Alaska operators. It 

was found that diverting the water from an 18-inch plugged pipe 

by means of 6-inch Y branch gave an efficiency°of 2, while in using 

the same water through the direct 18-inch pipe choked to 6 inches the 

efficienc}7 was 3.

In laying pipe from the pressure box to the claim the line should 

be started at the lower end and the joints slipped in down the slope. 

Various methods of "setting" the pipe are in use. The device shown 

in fig. 25 is used by Mr. F. H. Brackett, of Atlin, British Columbia. It 

consists of a square block of timber 3 by 3 feet Ivy 9 inches, faced with 

one-sixteenth inch steel plate, to which is bolted a disk-like wooden 

plug the diameter of the pipe inside. Two men batter the timber with
PURING.TON.] HYDRAULIC MININC4. 131

the mallet. Another device used in Oregon for assistance in setting 

and unsetting pipe is shown in fig. 26. -The wrench is made with 

reversible parts, so that the position of the leverage can be changed 

for the different operations. Either of these devices can be easily 

made on the ground.

In cold climates it has been found good practice to lay the pipe line 

in a slight lateral curve 

down a slope, so that subsequent contraction of the 

units may be remedied by 

pushing the pipe into a 

more nearly straight line.

In laying the pipe line a 

funnel-shaped section of 

pipe for the water to run 

into is usually provided at 

the pressure box. This is 

of light gage and is 6 feet 

long and from 40 to 30 

inches at its larger end. 

From this the pipe is generally of uniform diameter 

as far as the Y or iron gate, 

from which the water is 

distributed to various parts 

of the operations. The 

pipe should be laid as 

nearly straight as conditions will allow, and elbows 

and bends of small radius 

should be avoided.

Lead joints are seldom 

necessary in Alaska operations, but where there are 

sharp declivities pipe

joints must be braced and FIG. 23. Forms of pipe fittings. -I, Pipe cut, formed, nnu 

tih'pncrf hpripd bv mpnn«j of Pun«hecl . to be rivited on ground; 2, pipe nested for sliip- stiengtnerieo. ^ oy means 01 ment; 3> reducjng length; 4> circular bencl . 5> ,lllg(llar bend .

lugS and wiring', aS ilklS- Ci,sliortangularbeiid;7,Tdischarge;8,angularTdischarge;

trated in fig. 27. It is sel- 9' two'way Y; 10' threw Y - 

dom possible to lay pipe on the "hydraulic grade line."" This is "an 

imaginary straight line, extending from a point on the side of the 

Avater box or reservoir, denominated the velocity head, to the mouth 

of the nozzle." When the pipe line departs greatly from the hydraulic 

grade line, allowances based on formulas given in the various textbooks on hydraulic mining must be made for the difference in pressure.

a Van Wagenen, op. cit., p. 69.
132 QEAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

Where 22- to 30-inch pipes are used it is not advisable to employ less 

than 14 gage, even under- low heads, as lighter pipe will not bear 

handling. The practice of burying pipe, or at least sodding it over, 

where the line is to be in place for more than a 

season, is recommended in Alaska even more 

than in other countries.

Air valves, which can be simply made of 

leather, hinged to the inside of 3-inch openings 

in the pipe, should be not more than 300 feet 

apart. These allow the air to escape when the 

pipe is being filled and prevent the collapse 

of the pipe when suddenly emptied of water. 

Leakage in joints may frequently be stopped by 

slowly feeding sawdust or manure in at the 

upper end. In case of collapse of a pipe line, 

experience has shown that by turning on the 

water slowly, after closing the lower end, the 

collapsed sections may be restored to shape for 

temporary use. The experiment is risky.

PI. XXII, J?, shows the set-up of a hydraulic 

pipe line on 'McKee Creek, Atlin. As may be 

seen, the line is well braced and rock ballasted, and on steep places 

the joints are held by lugs and wire guys. The line, which is one of 

three in use on this property, is of 12-gage steel, is 1,200 feet in length, 

has a 30-inch mouthpiece at the penstock, and is successively reduced 

to 18, 16, and 12 inches, the last discharging through the giant.- 

At full capacity the discharge was said to be TOO miner's inches at 

170-foot head. The discharge was through a No. 4 Vancouver giant, 

using 6:inch nozzle, the average twenty-four hour duty being 4 cubic 

yards of gravel. Along the pipe line side ditches were cut for a short 

distance to take care of leakage. PI. XXIII, J., shows a pipe line 

led down a hillside on Pine Creek, Atlin.

FIG. 24. Device for reenforcing joints of pipe.

FIG. 25. Device for setting pipe by battering.

An important fact regarding the flow of water in pipes is the loss 

of effective pressure at the nozzle due to friction, owing to the use of 

pipes of too small diameter. The friction of water in pipes increases
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY :ULLETIN NO. 263 PL. XXIII

A, SET-UP OF HYDRAULIC PIPE LINE, McKEE CREEK, ATLIN, BRITISH COLUMBIA.

/;. HYDRAULIC PIT, KLONDIKE BENCHES,
PURINGTON.] HYDRAULIC MINING. 133

as the square of the velocity and also depends on the condition of the 

pipes. Even the rivet heads in a pipe line cause friction and consequent loss of head. As Mr. George H. Evans "points out, it makes 

no difference whether the water is flowing up hill or down, or the 

pressure great or small, the total friction will be materially the same.

FJG. 26. Pipe wrench for setting and unsetting hydraulic pipe.

In wooden pipes the friction is nearly double that in iron or steel 

pipes. Cox's formula for finding the friction head, which mtast be 

subtracted from the actual head to give the effective head, is as 

follows:

H =frictioii head in feet. 

(Z=diaineter of pipe in inches. 

L = length of pipe in feet. 

V= velocity of water in feet per second.

Fro 27. Method of bracing hydraulic pipe on steep (slope.

The loss in head of a pipe line 12 inches in diameter, discharging 

400 miner's inches, and 5,000 feet in length, is computed by Mr. Evans 

to be 246.44 feet. Or, if the actual head is 500 feet, the effective head 

is reduced to 253.56 feet, or an original pressure of 217 pounds per 

square inch to 110 pounds. To find the velocity in feet per minute in

"Practical Notes on Hydraulic Mining, San Francisco, 1898, p. 25.
134 GEAVEL AND PLACER MINING- IN ALASKA. [ECU, 263.

a pipe, multiply the number of cubic feet of water discharged per 

minute by 144, and divide the product by the area of the pipe in 

square inches. The velocity in feet per second can then be found.

Experiments by Mr. Hamilton Smith a appear to demonstrate that 

with new and carefully coated pipes, with velocity as high as 11 feet 

per second, the loss of head is not significant. Nevertheless, the 

numerous conditions which enter into the laying of pipe lines on placer 

mines render the rule that the velocity should not exceed 3 feet per 

second in the pipe a veiy safe one to follow. It is a common fallacj^ 

among men inexperienced in hydraulicking that an increase in head 

will increase the amount of gravel which can be moved to the sluice. 

It must be remembered that the force of the water imparted by head 

is entirely expended in piping against the face, while the sluice is the 

governing factor in the moving of gravel after it leaves the face. The 

aid given by the water in moving gravel to the sluice, and in it is 

dependent on the grade over which .it runs. In small hydraulic operations water is conducted to the pit from the head ditch or penstock 

by means of canvas hose, known as flume hose, which is from 6 to 14 

inches in diameter and weighs from 8 to 15 ounces per foot. This is 

used mainly on account of its cheapness and, as a less important consideration, because of the ease with which it may be moved about. 

It is used also for conveying water with very low head, for sluicing 

purposes.

Flume hose is at best a makeshift and its use is not recommended, 

except in operations of primitive character in very remote districts. 

It should never be used to handle more than 100 inches of water or 

for a head greater than 50 feet.

GIANTS AND NOZZLES. 

SIZES AND PRICES.

The practice in using hydraulic discharge pipes, known as monitors, 

giants, and nozzles, does not differ in Alaska from that pursued elsewhere.

Table 10 gives the principal facts necessary for the miner to know 

about hydraulic giants of the size most applicable for Alaskan work.

a Smith, Hamilton, Hydraulics, 1886, p. 314.
PURINGTON.] HYBEAULIO MINING.

TABLE 1Q. Water required, effective work, sizes, volumes, and. heads of water, 

prices of double-jointed hydraulic giants.

[Prices include two nozzles to each machine and are subject to discount,.

135

weights and

S03 'So

o

o

y<

0

' 1

2

3

4

1

73

4)

P, '3,

 4-*

0

2

0)

a03

5

In,

5

7

9

11

11

.g

' 'd

" Jj

1| "o-o

l- O) Dr-3

-M N

0) N

S

7w..

2^

4

5

6

7

"3

0

a

«+H

0

N

CO

In.

1,1*

2,3

3,4

3,4

4,6

&

A

0

-a .

03 1) 01 K

 ^ w

>

 rrl

0

a>ww

Feet.

100

150

200

100

200

300

. 400

100

200

300

. 400

100

200

300

400

100

200

300

400

Volumes of water necessary for

effective work.

Miner's incites.

1-inch nozzle.

20

25

30

2-inch nozzle.

80

115

140

160

3-inch nozzle.

185

260

320

365

3-inch nozzle.

185

260

320

365

4-inch nozzle.

325

460

565

650

Miner's inches.

1^-inch nozzle.

45

55

65

3- inch nozzle.

185

260

320

365

4-inch nozzle.

325

460

565

650

4-inch nozzle.

325

460

565

650

6-inch nozzle.

730

1, 000

1, 270

1, 460

O)

«

° p,

w

s

.5?

|<B

^

7,6s.

100

120

150

210

225

-J2

.60

SO

'3.

a,

2

CO

LbS.

330

390

520

890

1, 075

List price,

1904.

|i.s

o S

Voi

<p ,0

3-H

0,0

p

$100

140

J.95

250

275

1

'o s

'S3

3 a

s 

o

$85

125

175

225

250

About 70 giants of several different makes were in operation in the 

territory visited during the summer, of which 58 per cent were of 

size No. 2, using commonly a 3-inch nozzle. In the Juneau and Atlin 

districts size No. 4, using 4- and 6-inch nozzle, is used as a rule, while 

in the interior and Seward Peninsula the sixes 0, 1, and 2, using from 

2- to 4-inch nozzle,-are preferable. The double-jointed, ball-bearing:

/ L J i O

giant is the favorite type. Deflectors are not commonly used with
136 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

sizes below No. 2, while in working on the Klondike benches the practice is in favor of butt ends even with larger giants.

The giants used in Alaska are almost exclusive!}7 of California manufacture, although in the Atlin and Klondike districts some of Canadian make are used. The importance of using water as free as 

possible from solid matter in suspension should be considered and 

great care should be taken to trap all foreign material at the pressure 

box. The rifling in the barrel of the monitor and the boring of the 

nozzle are also of the first importance, and operators will find it 

expensive to use other than standard and well-tried makes of giants. 

A method of bracing giant is shown in fig. 28. In soft schist bed rock, 

however, it is frequently necessan7 to brace with deadman and cable.

Scale

bed rock

FIG. 28. Method of bracing giant.

METHODS OF PIPING TO SLUICE.

It has been found that some operators in the north are in favor of 

setting the giant on the top of the bank and piping downstream. This 

is the practice on McKee Creek, Atlin district, and in the Nome and 

Council districts. Although the duty attained by the miner's inch 

does not prove this to be advantageous, it should be remembered that 

the height of bank to be operated on is generally small from 15 to 50 

feet. There is little caving to be done with the pipe, and except in 

the case of the rounded gravels of the Klondike " White Channel," it 

is thought that the water under pressure assists in moving the material 

to the sluice. Experience does not indicate that the attempt to drive 

the gravel with the nozzle is very effective.

The various precautions concerning keeping the gravel bank square, 

the prevention of dangerous caves, and the necessity of continuous 

work during the short season are well known to the hydraulic miner 

in any country. In working the shallow gravel banks of Alaska it 

should be borne in mind that the giants must be frequently moved 

and the tail sluice extended. These operations consume time, and the 

most expeditious system possible for performing them should be 

adopted at the commencement of the short season.

Fig. 29 shows the method of rigging up a hydraulic mine on one 

of the narrow benches of White Channel gravel bordering Bonanza 

Creek in the Klondike, and PI. XXIII, /?, shows a portion of the 

ground which has been worked as indicated in the sketch.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY SULLETIN NO. 263 PL. XXIV

,1. BED-ROCK SLUICE, KLONDIKE BENCHES.

^, BLOCKS OF FROZEN GRAVEL IN HYDRAULIC PIT, KLONDIKE.
PURINGTON.] HYDRAULIC MINING. 137

In piping against a 40-foot bank of frozen gravel, as here illustrated, 

it has been found good practice to use the giant against a certain part 

of the bank from two to six hours a day, and allowing the gravel to. 

thaw the remainder of. the twenty-four hours. Piping continuously 

against a frozen bank is a waste of water and power. (See PI. XXIV, 

B.} The use of powder is of no avail. Even if the gravel is broken 

oft' and moved to the sluice in frozen chunks it can not be washed nor 

can the gold be extracted from it. A combination of water under 

pressure and of the action of the sun, rightly adjusted, is most effective 

in thawing frozen gravel. Mr. J. P. Hutchins says that for 200 to 250 

miner's inches of water a face covering 50,000 square feet should be 

allowed on the shadj^ side of Mils, while a much less surface will 

suffice on a sunny slope..

V

Supply pipe

Tail race 

FJO. 29. Method of hydraulicking frozen gravel, Klondike benches.

It will be noticed that in the Klondike operations here figured deep 

trenches or u ground sluices" are cut in the bed rock leading from the 

face to the head of the tail sluice. The cutting and constant extension 

of such trenches is a necessity in almost any hydraulic operation, to a 

greater or less extent, and forms a considerable item of expense. At 

the time here figured four men in twenty-four hours were employed 

all the time in blasting out the bed-rock cuts, the expense amounting 

to not less than $50 a da}'. In some cases the bench miners have 

sunk a shaft at a central part of' the ground and run a long tunnel on 

the grade of the sluice, to which all the gravel is moved. Although 

such tunnels carrying the tail sluice will be from 200 to 500 feet in 

length, and will cost from $3,000 to $10,000, they will generally be 

found less expensive than the constant cutting of trenches to connect 

with the main sluice carried as shown in the plant.

BANK-HEAD WATER.

In no case seen in the North has the amount of bank-head water been 

excessive. This is a useful accessory to the mining operations, and 

where it is available should be used. The width of tail sluices should 

be great enough to allow for excess water, as at times of local rains 

'such water can frequently be obtained and a larger amount of gravel 

thereby assisted in reaching the sluice.
138 GEAVEL AND PLACEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BOLI,. 268.

PI. XV, B (p. 92), shows hydraulic operations in Silver Bow basin, 

Alaska, and illustrates the use of the bank-head water.

DUTY OF A MINER'S INCH.

This term is applied to the quantity of material moved by 1 inch of 

water in twenty-four hours. It depends on quantity of water, character of material washed, height of bank, size and grade of sluice, and 

kind of riffle. In many mines the gravel may be easily broken down 

and carried to the sluice, but may be very hard to move through the 

sluice on account of a light grade, disproportionate width of box, or 

the use of obstructive riffles. Thus, according to Bowie, in the North 

Bloomfield mine the duty varied fro'm 3.86 to 4.8 cubic yards, with 

100 to 265 feet of bank, sluice 6 feet wide by 32 inches deep, grade 

6^ inches in 12 feet. At La Grange mines, on the other hand, the duty 

was from 1.08 to 1.82 cubic yards, height of bank 50 to 80 feet, sluice 4 

feet wide, 30 inches deep, and grade 3 inches in 12 feet. In both cases 

the riffle pavement was principal!}1; blocks.

Table 11 (p. 139) is instructive as showing the variation in duty of 

the miner's inch under the different governing conditions in the North. 

The duty of the miner's inch in the Klondike is large, estimated at 8 

cubic yards in twenty-four hours in the operation described on page 

137, with water under 130-foot head and a grade of 12 inches to 12 feet 

in the sluice boxes, a variable amount of bank-head water from 25 to 

100 miner's inches being used. The high duty is accounted for by the 

fact that the material washed is well rounded, by the absence of large 

stones, heavy grades to sluices, and the fact that block riffles are generally employed.

The low duties at Nome are accounted for principally, by the fact 

that one-half to two-thirds of the water is generally diverted for use 

in the hydraulic tailings lifts, and partly by the fact that the gravel is 

flat and rough. Iron riffles are generally used, but this factor plays 

little part on account of the short sluices in use.
TABLE 11. Duty of the miner's inch in northern plac

[The estimates are based on statements made by the ope

Locality.

Junean: 

Windfall Creek.... 

Gold Creek ........

Silver Bow basin . . 

Atlin:

Do............

Do.............

Do.............

Dawson: 

Bonanza Creek .... 

Do.............

Do.............

Do .............

Do.............

Eldorado Creek. . . .

Do .............

Hunker Creek.. . . .

Kome:

Do.............

Do.............

Height 

of 

bank.

Feet. 

16 

, 200 

80

40 

85 

25 

29 

20 

20 

60

20 

25

2

£

35 

75 

60 

46 

25

15

S

30 

20 

12

Grade.

4£ inches : 12 feet. . . . .

8 inches * 12 feet

5£ inches : 12 feet. .... 

5 inches * 12 feet

5i inches: 12 feet..... 

3 inches ' 1*^ feet

12 inches: 12 feet..... 

12 inches : 12 feet.....

12 inches : 12 feet. .... 

12 inches : 12 feet..... 

11 inches : 12 feet. .... 

12 inches: 12 feet.....

13 inches : 12 feet..... 

12 inches : 12 feet.....

4 1 inches ' 12 feet

4| inches : 12 feet. .... 

9 inches : 12 feet......

Miner's 

inches 

of water.

1,000 

4,000 

2,500

700 

1,200 

1,200 

1, 200 

900 

700 

3,500

250 

125 

150 

200 

266 

160 

230 

120 

150 

125

500 

400 

100

Cubic 

yards 

duty.

2 

2

2

H 

3 

£ 

1 

i

i 

§

5 

(?)4 

10 

'6J 

8 

7 

7 

5 

2 

2|

If 

10

Sluice dimensions.

Width.

Inches.

72 

50

32 

32 

30 

40 

48 

36 

60

24 

20 

24 

24 

24 

(?)24 

24 

20 

14 

17

33

16

Depth.

Inches.

60 

55

32 

40 

30 

36 

32 

 36 

40

20 

16 

24 

24 

30 

24 

18 

20 

14 

14

IS

'14

Riffles.

.....do...............

.....do...............

.....do..............

.....do...............

Blocks ...............

.....do..............

.....do........ .......

Iron, Hungarian, and 

Pole, iron-shod, and b

.....do ...............

.....do ...............
TABLE 11. Duty of the miner's inch in northern placer min

Locality. .

Nome Con ti nued(

Newton Creek .....

Council:

Do.............

Crooked Creek b . . . 

Solomon: 

Solomon River ....

Height 

of 

bank.

Feet. 

4i 

20

40 

8 

20

12 

S 

4

5

Grade.

6i inches: 12 feet..... 

7 inches * 12 f GGt

10 inches: 12 feet..... 

10 inches: 12 feet..... 

4£ inches: 12 feet.....

10 inches : 12 feet. ....

Miner's 

inches 

of water.

100 

760

100 

150 

250

600 

750 

55

600

Cubic 

yards 

duty.

3 . 

1.32

(?)2 

,3J 

.6

It 

1 

3.45

.8

Sluice dimensions.

Width.

Inches.

(«) 

36

16

24' 

18

24 

24 

(«) 

37

Depth.

Inches.

(«) 

24

16 

24 

18

16

lf? 

(«) 

24

Riffles.

.....do...............

Rails and angle iron 

.....do...............

a Ground sluice. b Ground sluicing of frozen " muck " materi
puBfNGTON.] . HYDEAULIO MINING. 141

The duty given above is based entirely on statements made by the 

operators, and owing to the short amount of running time which has 

furnished the data, no particular case can be considered of high 

authority. It will be seen, however, that the different operations in 

each separate province present a certain amount of agreement.

In stripping operations where the "frozen muck" is removed by 

water, ground sluicing appears to be nearly as efficient as the use of 

water through the nozzle, both in the interior and Seward Peninsula. This peculiar material, from '50 to 75 per cent ice, is easily 

thawed when exposed to the atmosphere and to flowing water. It 

appears rather to be melted than cut away, therefore the impact of a 

hydraulic stream adds little to the efficiency of a given quantity of 

water.

It is stated by the Klondike operators that were the "White 

Channel" gravels unfrozen the duty of the inch would be twice as 

large. This is not impossible, as the bench gravel presents most 

favorable characteristics for easy handling. In its frozen state, however, the bank has the consistency of fresh granite.

In Seward Peninsula the instances tabulated are mostly those where 

hydraulic lifts are employed. The duty has been given in terms 

of the total amount of water used, including bank head, monitor, and 

elevator water. In the cases where elevators .are used the grade and 

dimensions refer to the bed-rock sluice leading to the throat, and do 

not refer to the tail sluice.

HANDLING OF BOWLDERS.

The handling of large bowlders in northern hydraulic operations 

does not present serious problems. Where hydraulicking is possible 

it is generally found that all the material is small enough to go 

through the sluice. In the districts visited during the season's work 

the Atlin district, of northern. British Columbia, was characterized by 

gravels containing large bowlders, which had to be derricked out or 

sledged in the pit. The practice of "bulldozing" or "plastering" 

bowlders to break them, by placing sticks of powder on top, covered 

with a mud cap, is not to be recommended on account of the expense 

of powder. Sledging into pieces.small enough to be sent to the sluice 

will generally be found the cheapest method, especially as bowlders 

consisting of hard and tough rocks are not frequently encountered.

Mr. J. D. Hauer, in a recent article/ states that in general contract 

work under given conditions the cost of sledging sandstone bowlders 

varied from 1 to 9 cents per cubic }7 ard; " mud capping" or "bulldozing" costs from 18 cents to as much as 51 cents; "blocking," or 

breaking by drilling and blasting, costs from 11 to 18 cents; while the 

method of placing the powder charge under the bowlders costs from

a Engineering News, quoted in Mining and Scientific Press, Feb. 9, 1905.
142 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BOLL.253.

15 to 17i cents per cubic yard. He recommends the method last 

mentioned as against bulldozing, or placing charge on top, as powder 

is saved and there is the additional advantage that much of the rock 

is thrown out of the cut.

The practice of installing large and expensive derricks as an adjunct 

to hydraulic mining is not generally recommended for Alaskan work.

SLUICES AND GOLD-SAVING APPLIANCES IN HYDRAULIC

OPERATIONS.

In the South Coast region the plant of the American Gold Mining 

Company in Silver Bow basin is characteristic. This sluice, while not 

in use during the season of 1904, has been operated since 1901, and is 

typical of the most favorable conditions under which hydraulic tail 

sluices can be constructed in southeast Alaska.

A 9- by 10-foot tunnel, 3,300 feet in length, was driven through a 

spur of the mountain from the bank of Gold Creek to tap the gravel 

pit at the proper depth for reaching the lowest sag in the bed rock. 

The grade of the tunnel, like that of its contained sluice, is 4 inches 

to 12 feet. It was driven with air at the rate of 8 feet a day in slate, 

at a cost of $20 per foot. No timbering is used, with the exception 

of a few sets near the ends.

The sluice running through the tunnel is 4 feet wide and 4 feet 10 

inches deep, inside measure, of 2-inch native lumber, lined with 1-inch 

"sand" or lining boards, all lumber planed and sized. The sills are 

laid on bed rock, and are 6 inches square and 5 feet long, the posts 

being also of the same size. Posts and sills are braced by 1 by 8 inch 

pieces. The sluice is 3,700 feet long from the tunnel entrance and 

extends for 900 feet up the bed of the pit through the worked-out 

ground. Bowlders as large as 10 inches in diameter are handled in 

this sluice without difficulty. The amount of water used varies 

according to the season, but averages 2,500 inches. Riffles are 12- by 

12- by 12-inch spruce blocks set on end, separated by !$ - by 2-inch 

strips, set on edge and nailed with headless nails. The duty of a 

miner's inch of water is 2 cubic yards per twenty-four hours. The 

amount of lumber necessary for constructing one box of a sluice, such 

as the above, approximately 1,100 feet, is probably excessive for the 

needs of the case. Local conditions in the North frequently result 

in increased expenditure for the sake of hastening work. About 25 

pounds of nails were consumed to each box, and $10 worth of labor. 

The cost will not fall greatly below $30 per box of 12 feet, exclusive 

of cost of tunneling and shooting out the bed rock to grade in carrying up the boxes through the pit. The annual cost of maintenance, 

including renewal of riffle blocks, which last two years, and renewal 

of lining boards, is approximately $1,000 a year.
PUrUNGTON.] HYDRAULIC MINING. 143

In the saving of the gold, which is line and rough, 23 flasks of quicksilver are distributed in the boxes. One flask of quicksilver is consumed per month.

Six undercurrents are placed near the end of the sluice, within a 

length of from 300 to 500 feet of the end. They are transversely 

arranged, 24 by 14 feet in dimensions, and on a grade of 10 inches 

to 12 feet. They are furnished with Hungarian riffles wooden strips 

with flat strap iron nailed to the top.

The first 600 feet of the 

sluice are cleaned up monthly,,and in this length 75 per 

cent of the gold is said to be 

saved. The remainder of 

the sluice is cleaned up once 

a year. The experience with 

the undercurrents was not 

satisfactory, as very little 

gold was caught in them.

It should be especially 

noted that in the South 

Coast province the placer 

gold is of recent origin, is 

not removed more than a 

mile from its original source, 

is low in fineness (in the 

present case $16.50), and is 

bright and rough. However finely divided, such gold 

is easy to save, and the advantage of undercurrents 

may be questioned. In the 

interior of Alaska the case 

is different, as will be seen.

In the Atlin district of 

British Columbia the grades 

attainable in the tail sluices 

are generally low, from 3 to 

5 inches to the box length of 12 feet. McKee Creek forms an exception to this rule, the grade being 8 inches in the sluices of both the 

plants now operating there. The practice of the Amalgamated McKee 

Creek Mining Compan}r on this creek is as follows:

The sluices, of which there are two, are 600 and 700 feet long. The 

grade is 8 inches to 12 feet, and the inside dimensions of the sluice, 

exclusive of lining boards, are 29 inches wide by 3S£ inches deep, as 

illustrated in fig. 30.

FIG. 80. Sluice box used on McKee Creek, Atlin, British 

Columbia.
144 . GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN" ALASKA. [BULL.'263.

The amount of lumber in a sluice box like that figured is as follows:

8 posts, 4 by 4 inches by 3^ feet.

4 sills, 4 by 6 inches by 6 feet.

16 braces, !*} by 4 inches by 1 foot.

1 top rail, H by 8 inches by 12 feet.

16 post straps, 1|- by 2 by 4 inches.

3 bottom boards, 1*} by 8 inches by 12 feet.

1 bottom board, 1£ by 4 inches by 12 feet.

4 side boards, 1 by 8 inches by 12 feet.

6 side boards, 1£ by 8 inches by 12 feet.

2 lining boards, 1$ by 8 inches by 12 feet.

48 riffle blocks, 8 by 8 by 12 inches.

16 riffle strips, 1 by 3 by 28 inches.

Each box, with riffle blocks, contains approximately 540 feet of 

lumber.

The use of 8-inch lumber, is a necessity if native timber is used, 

12-inch lumber being very scarce and the expense of employing it 

prohibitive. The cost of each box, including riffles, averages $25, 

sluice lumber being $45 per thousand and the riffle blocks costing $6 

per box length. The setting of the riffle blocks with alternate spacing, as represented, is said to be advantageous, causing a cross circulation and consequent stirring action. The riffles are nailed in sets 

of three to a riffle strip outside the flume, and are piled up ready to bo 

put in position as occasion demands. Pole riffles, 12 feet in length, made 

of 3- by 3-inch strips, set with a right-angle uppermost and shod with 

angle iron, are used in a portion of the boxes. A space is left between 

the lowest angle and the bottom of the box, the long strips being set 

with a gain into cross strips, 6 feet apart. The blocks are being gradually replaced by this type of pole riffle. The gold is coarse, and it 

is said that undercurrents would be of no advantage. In the first box 

85 per cent of the gold is caught. In the first five boxes all the 

gold is caught which pays to clean up. In one clean-up $25,000 was 

caught in the first box, as against $1,900 in the remainder of the 700- 

foot sluice. The clean-up of the upper two boxes takes place once in 

two weeks. In this sluice the miner's inch is said to have a duty of 4 

yards. Anew box is put on the end of the tail sluice every two 

days. When the end of the sluice is spread into Y's, a hinged gate, 

with steel plates on both sides, is used for diverting the water and 

tailings into one or the other branches.'

Experience on McKee Creek appears to show that the gold is saved 

in a comparatively short distance. Yet gravel miners in California 

maintain, and with apparent reason, that the longer the sluice the 

more gold will be saved. For example, at the Hidden Treasure drift 

mine, in Eldorado County, Cal., it was stated to the writer that the 

2,500 feet of sluice boxes, 19 by 21 inches in the clear, with iron car 

wheel and rack riffles, and an undercurrent attached, were insufficient
HYDRAULIC MINING. 145

to save the gold. The sluice has a grade of .14 inches to 12 feet, and 

90 pounds of quicksilver were used in charging the sluice.

The percentage of gold in the upper 120 feet of the sluice was as 

follows:

Per cent. 

In upper 1 foot............................................................ 75. 0

In upper 10 feet..................;........................................ 8. 4

In next 50 feet............................................................ 9. 6

In next 60 feet .....'................................................. .... 2.0

This portion of the sluice was cleaned up monthly, and was furnished with old car wheels, regarded as the best riffle, and with iron 

Hungarian riffles.

The upper 1,000 feet of the sluice was cleaned up once in three 

months, and the whole sluice and undercurrents annually. Five per 

cent of the total product was obtained from the lower 2,380 feet paved 

with quartz stones, and it is estimated that an amount equal to 2 per 

cent of the total product escaped into the canyon below. It was stated 

that one-half mile of this canyon was leased to the Chinese for $5,000 

per annum, who cleaned up at a profit the gold which had escaped. 

The undercurrent was not regarded as of great value, except for the 

saving of excessively fine gold and free quicksilver and gold with 

quartz attached.

Mr. W. M. Johnson informed the writer that in Nevada County, 

Cal., in the case of a sluice li miles in length, the first five out of a 

total of seven undercurrents proved an economic success, the last two 

hardly paying to clean up. It was found best to clean the five undercurrents at intervals of two weeks.

The experience on Pine Creek, Atlin, in the matter of saving gold 

is riot so satisfactory as on McKee Creek, according to operators' 

statements. PL XXIII, A (p. 132) shows one of the 120-foot sluices of 

the Pine Creek Power Company. It is 5 feet by 40 inches, has a grade 

of 5 inches in 12 feet, and is paved with block riffles. The undercurrent, 14 by 24 feet, on a 10-inch grade, was one of the few installations of the kind seen in the northwest. It was understood to be 

but the beginning of experiments aiming to save the fine gold that 

escaped with an excessive amount of black sand. The amount of gold 

recovered is 43 cents per cubic yard, as stated, and the opinion was 

expressed that a large percentage of fine gold escapes. The undercurrent itself had not been installed a sufficiently long time to 

determine its efficiency.

The Atlin gold is derived from older gravels through which the 

present streams cut. The gold is for the most part coarse, but is well 

rounded. That a certain percentage of it is fine, specimens collected 

show. It is very probable that an undue proportion of such bench 

gold will escape from a sluice of the short dimensions figured. 

Bull. 263. 05 10
146 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. '263.

Drop-otfs are not used in any of the sluices seen in Alaska or the 

North. Grade is lacking, it is true, yet in the case above mentioned 

there was a space of 25 feet vertically between the end of the sluice 

and the creek bed which served as the floor of the dump. One or two 

drops of 6 inches in the short sluice would seem entirely practicable, 

and would certainly be advisable. Ceniented gravel does not occur 

generally at Atlin, but layers of clay are found in the pay streak. 

Such clay can not be properly disintegrated in a short sluice, but will 

roll in balls through the entire string of boxes, carrying with it not 

only the gold inclosed in its mass, but picking up gold already lying 

at rest.

A useful device to tighten the bottom boards of sluice boxes 

before nailing is. shown in fig. 31. It is claimed that no tongue and 

groove are necessary with this appliance.

In the Atlin district the mining operations are hindered by heavy 

floods in the early part of June. At the property of the Societe 

Miniere on Bowlder Creek, it is the practice to cover the sluice with

FIG. 81. Side-board tightener used in making sluice boxes, Atlin, British Columbia.

a series of small protective dams, so that the debris brought down

by the annual flood may not injure the .boxes. This debris is afterwards piped off, at the cessation of the high water, and the dams 

are then removed.

The following details of this plant were kindly furnished by 

M. Henri Maluin, of the Societe Miniere de la Colombie Britannique, 

and will be of interest:

The property on Bowlder Creek operated by the Socie'te' Miniere de la Colombie 

Britannique is situated in the Atlin mining division of the Cassiar district, British 

Columbia, 12 miles from the town of Atlin, on Atlin Lake. Operations were started 

in June, 1901, and the property has been worked continuously during the open 

season up to the present time. The product of gold has been 3,440 ounces, worth 

$16.63 per ounce. The gold is rather coarse, and nuggets up to 10 ounces in weight 

are found. Work is carried on both in the present bed of Bowlder Creek and on 

benches lying at approximately the same level as the creek bed. The gold-bearing 

channel is about 150 feet wide, the grade of the creek bed varying from 6 per cent 

to as high as 10 in the upper end. Where work is now carried on it is 6.1 per cent. 

The depth of ground averages from 25 to 50 feet, of which the lower 6 feet is consid-
PUBINGTON.] HYDKAULIC MINING. 147

ered the pay. The bed rock is a soft slate of greenstone variety, although granite 

occurs at the head of the creek. The gravel to be moved is rather heavy in character, stones from 18 to 30 inches in diameter composing 50 per cent of the mass, 

though the usual diameter of the stones approximates 6 inches.

In the season of 1904, a season being reckoned at 100 days, with 400 miner's inches 

of water available, 40,000 cubic yards of gravel were moved, at a cost not'far from 

50 cents per cubic yard. It is expected that mining will be done in the future for 

40 cents per cubic yard, including all expenses. Mr. Maluin states that 35 cents 

would be a low estimate for the Atlin district, in general, for hydraulic work under 

the conditions obtaining on Bowlder Creek. Dirt is occasionally moved for 10 cents 

a cubic yard, and again patches of hard gravel are encountered which cost over a 

dollar.

An average of 25 men are employed during the summer season at wages of $3 per 

day of ten hours, and board. The season is open from June 1 to September 15. 

Spruce and pine are obtainable on the property, though it is difficult to obtain boards 

Avider than 8 inches. Sawed flume lumber costs $40 per thousand.

The water for hydraulicking purposes is brought to the claim from higher up in 

Bowlder Creek by a flume 3,000 feet in length, she 24 by 24 inches, having a grade 

of 1 inch in 12 feet. It has an estimated capacity of about 700 miner's inches, but 

actually 400 inches is generally available at 150-foot head. The pipe line is 16-inch 

steel to the Y, then 14-inch to the two giants. Vancouver pipe is used, but the giants 

are California make. The average height of bank is 50 feet, and the giants have no 

difficulty in cleaning bed rock.

The sluice is 1,400 feet in length and cost $6,000. It is 24 inches wide on a grade 

of 4 per cent, corresponding very nearly to 6 inches to the 12 feet. Bottom boards 

are l£ inches thick, sides IJ inches thick, while sills and posts are 4 by 6 inches. 

It is possible to keep a' drop below the end box of 35 feet for dump. In piping, 

the head box is kept within 30 feet of the bank, and four men for one-half day are 

needed to place a new box at the head. Block riffles are used at the head of the 

sluice followed by rails. Very little quicksilver is necessary, and it is found that no 

gold is recovered beyond 250 feet of boxes. Undercurrents are not used. Bowlders 

are removed from the pit by flat hand cars running on a steel track. If too large for 

this, which is seldom the case, they are plastered and shot with 75 per cent dynamite. The company is now in good shape to operate for a period of years, and estimates that the cost will not exceed 40 per cent of the product.

The company leases a portion of its ground where the situation is not advantageous 

for hydraulicking, and this is drifted. Although the drifting operations are carried 

on under great difficulties and require close timbering, the work is said to have been 

profitable.

In the hydraulic raining of the "White Channel" bench gravels of 

the Klondike, the small amount of water available, generally from 100 

to 200 miner's inches, necessitates steep grades to the sluices. The 

gold is recovered with comparative ease because the bench gravels, 

after being thawed, are easily disintegrated and washed, and clay is 

absent from the pay streaks. The sluice shown on PI. XXIV, A, is 

carried in a cut in the outer rim-rock, on a grade of 12 inches to the 

box length of 12 feet. Twelve to fourteen boxes are ordinarily used. 

The details of the sluice are as follows: 24 inches wide by 20 inches 

deep, bottom of 2-inch and sides and lining of l^-inch lumber; posts 

and sills 2 inches square; sills set in bed rock; riffles of spruce blocks 

5 inches high and 9 inches square. These cost 25 cents apiece and last
148 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

one season. Through this sluice 1,000 cubic }^irds are washed in 

twenty-four hours with 250 miner's inches of water. It is stated that 

90 per cent of the gold is saved in the upper 6 boxes, only 1 per cent 

of the total gold being lost. The gold is mostly coarse and rough, tint 

very fine gold is found.

In the case of another operation working the Bonanza Creek benches 

it was stated that gold was found the entire length of a 2,000-foot 

bed-rock sluice, followed by 500 feet of 2-foot wooden sluice, on grade 

of 11 inches to the box length. Block riffles were used in the wooden 

sluice. A small nugget was picked up 2,000 feet from the head of the 

sluice. Another operator, using 360 feet of 20-inch sluice boxes, on 

12-inch grade, with iron-shod pole riffles, said that 2 per cent of his 

gold was escaping, and he was of the opinion that the installation of an 

undercurrent would pay.

In" a hydraulic operation using 500 feet of boxes, 2 feet wide, 12- 

inch grade, with block riffles, and working a portion of the "White 

Channel" gravels where the gold is very fine, bright, and smooth, it 

was said that 80 per cent was caught in the top box, 85 per cent inside 

the first 15 boxes, and that none was found in the two end boxes.

In a bench hydraulic operation on Last Chance Creek, Klondike, a 

small undercurrent with cocoa-matting riffles had been put in after 400 

feet of 2-foot sluices, with 12-inch grade, using block riffles. The 

undercurrent had given very satisfactory results, and a larger one was 

being constructed in addition. a

The above data indicate that where hydraulicking is possible in the 

Klondike, the gold-saving appliances are fairly adequate to the needs 

of the operations. As all hydraulic mining in that region is limited to 

ancient channels lying1 at an elevation of 200 feet or more above the 

present streams, water is exceedingly scarce, and sluicing methods 

must be adapted to this condition. These methods also depend on the 

necessity of impounding tailings on steep hillsides (see PI. XXV, JS), 

the high cost of labor ($7.50 a day), and of lumber ($80 per thousand 

feet), the necessity of making quick and frequent clean-ups, and the 

different economic ratio which obtains in recovering gold from small 

patches of rich gravel as distinguished from large bodies of low-grade 

gravel. When it is well established, therefore, that no great percentage of gold is escaping, it is likely that the extra cost of installing 

and maintaining complicated saving appliances would overbalance the 

increase in gold recovered. The use of drops in the sluices, and 

lessening of grade, might, it is likely, result in an increased saving, 

with no extra expense of maintenance, except in the wear of riffles at 

certain points in the sluices.

«See Bowie, A. J., jr.: A Practical Treatise on Hydraulic Mining in California, p. 231, for full 

description of undercurrents and the method of leading gravel to them from the/main sluice.
BULLETIN NO. 263 PL. XXV

A. SLUICE BELOW ELEVATOR, OPHIR CREEK.

11. RETAINING DAMS, BONANZA CREEK, KLONDIKE.
PURINGTON.] HYDRAULIC MINING. 149

In hydraulic elevator practice as pursued in various parts of Seward 

Peninsula, Alaska, short sluices are in use. Here, as elsewhere, a sluice 

is generally set in bed rock on a grade of 10 inches to 12 feet, or near 

this grade. \ On Ophir Creek, in the Council district, Alaska, the practice is to use from 10 to 12 boxes of 12 feet length, 24 inches wide and 

1C inches deep, with wooden rail or pole riffles, shod with strap iron. 

This leads to the elevator sump, 10 feet deep. The position of the 

elevator with reference to the sluice below it is shown in PI. XXV, A. 

The tail sluice following the1 elevator in the case specified is 28 feet 

higher than the head sluice. The tail sluice consists of five 24-foot 

boxes, 4 feet wide, and the practice is to give the first box either no 

grade, or a grade not exceeding 2 inches. The other boxes are graded 

from 2 to 5 inches successively, a 5-inch grade being retained for all 

below the fifth box, if more are added. On Ophir Creek, where there 

are six elevator plants in operation, iron riffles are generally used in 

the discharge sluice. A type of riffle which is used in the head box 

is made of railroad iron, cut in short pieces and set transversely in

p ......

 1

H

1 1

£_ ^~ 3

k::::-^:::::::"^^v^-""-":----v!l: * = = rn

, if

1 i!

6ft . - 4

Sca,le 

I zfeef

FIG. 32. Rail riffles used in Seward Peninsula.

the box, forming a Hungarian riffle. Another kind in much favor 

throughout Seward Peninsula is composed of a set of T rails, in sets of 

4 laid lengthwise (see fig. 32). These are made with a locking attachment, and are put in the sluice upside down. T angle-iron riffles, 

made in 1-foot square castings, laid in the sluice so that the slots set 

longitudinally, and with the flat side uppermost, are also very satisfactory and durable, and on account of their lightness facilitate the 

clean-up.

The proportion of gold caught in the head and tail sluices varies 

according to the practice. At Claim No. 2, below Glacier Creek, the 

gravel is run through 250 feet of iron boxes, only the two lower of 

which, next the elevator sump, contain riffles. These iron boxes are 

10 feet long, 31 inches wide at the top, 27 inches at the bottom, and 8 

inches deep, of a single bent sheet of iron, lapping 2 inches at the ends 

and fastened together with two bolts. The material slides easily 

through the cut in these, which are laid on 6-iuch grade to the elevator. It is said that 50 per cent of the gold is caught in the last two of 

these, and 50 per cent is caught in the tail sluice after the elevator.
150 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BDLL. 2f«.

In the. elevator operations on Ophir Creek and on Basin Creek, in 

the Nome district, it is said that 75 per cent of the gold is caught 

before the elevator, and in one case no gold was caught below the first 

four boxes of the tail flume. The experience in Seward Peninsula 

has shown that the gold is for the most part rough, and even crystalline, and even when finely divided is saved with ease. One marked 

exception was seen at Anvil Creek, where a 500-foot string of boxes 

on tt^-iuch grade caught gold for the entire length.

TAILINGS.

' I

It has been said that the most important part of the equipment of 

a hydraulic mine is the dump. It has been found that the amount of 

material which can be moved is governed primarily by the grade of the 

sluice boxes. Reference to table 11 (p. 139), shows that there is a fairly 

constant ratio between the grade of the tail sluice and the amount of 

gravel moved through-it per twenty-four hours per miner's inch of 

water used.

Since it is a prime necessity in hydraulic "mining operations that as 

large an amount of gravel as possible shall be delivered through the 

tail sluice and disposed of on the dump, it is evidently of the highest 

importance that a steep grade, 12 inches in 12 feet if possible, and on 

no account less than 6 inches to 12 feet, should be available for the 

sluice. It is manifestly impossible to secure this grade if the natural 

slope of the ground or creek bottom over which the material is run is 

less than that required for the sluices. The grade of the surface must 

in fact be more than that of the sluice, in order that there may be 

ample vertical space below the end of the lowest box for the tailings.

In hydraulic operations on bench gravels, as, for example, in the 

Klondike region, the conditions for obtaining grade for the sluices are 

more favorable than in any other hydraulic operation of the North. 

The gravels of the Klondike White Channel benches are easily moved 

after they are thawed. This is fortunate, as on account of the small 

amount of water available hydraulic mining on the benches would 

otherwise be impossible. The expense of keeping up dams for 

impounding tailings, however, is considerable. Naturall}7 the barren 

tailings, consisting of white quartz stones of the size of paving stones, 

can not be allowed to wash and slide down to the creek bottom. Were 

this permitted, the creek miners would soon find their cuts flooded and 

their ground covered with thousands of tons of useless debris. Therefore impounding dams for tailings must be constructed of the strongest 

available materials, in order to resist the weight of the stones. The 

cost of building tailings dams of brush and poles, 20 feet high, in the 

Klondike, is $5 per linear foot.. Retaining dams along Bonanza Creek 

in the Klondike are shown on PI. XXV, B.
PURTNGTON.] HYDRAULIC MINING. 151

In California hydraulic mines the dump, even after a series of dropofl's 25 feet in height, was sometimes in a canyon hundreds of feet 

vertically below the end of the sluice. The remarkable topographic 

conditions which allowed of such a phenomenal dump probably can not 

be found in another placer country, and certainly not in those portions 

of Alaska here considered. Even in California, however, it was often 

found necessary to distribute the dump by means of Y's near the end 

of the tail sluice. One such system is in practice on McKee Creek, 

Atlin, and has already been referred to. In hydraulic operations 

where 1,000 cubic yards or more a day are handled with low dump 

two carpenters have frequently to be employed at least half of the 

time in adding boxes to the tail sluice. If the dump be properly 

spread in delta form, the operation can be carried on in places where 

otherwise it might be impossible.

 Where hydraulic operations are conducted in creek beds of low 

grade, below the so-called:"sluice-box grade," or 6 inches in 12 feet, 

some expedient must be adopted to get rid of the accumulation of 

tailings below the end of the sluice. If the topography is such that 

the water runs off and only the solid residue of the tailings accumulates, the expedient is sometimes adopted of "piping" the dump away 

with an extra giant set in a convenient position for the work. This 

giant generally requires the services of one man, and, although used 

only a portion of the time, may be figured under Alaska conditions 

to add from 2 to 5 cents to the cost of handling the gravel. The efficiency of the plant is detracted from by so much power as is 

required to push the taijings out of the way. It can not be too strongly 

insisted on that when this or any other device is used to move or elevate the tailings, the strict principle of hydraulic mining is departed 

from. The use of the steam or horse scraper in removing the tailings 

of small plants is discussed on pages 7.0-72. ' 

If the grade of the creek bed is lower than that necessary for the 

sluice, the tailings must be elevated and the water pumped from the 

pit. Mechanical elevators with the addition of a bed-rock drain are 

sometimes used, though not with success, so far as known. In one 

case on Mastodon Creek of the Birch Creek district the installation of 

a steam scraper for lifting the tailings from the hydraulic pit was contemplated, the water being bandied by a bed-rock drain, which had 

been installed at great expense.

THE HYDRAULIC ELEVATOR.

The hydraulic elevator is too well known to need elaborate description. The principle is the same as that of the injector. Water under 

pressure discharged through a nozzle set within a steel jacket creates 

a vacuum and causes water about one-half the quantity used by the 

elevator and accompanying solid material to rise to a height corre-
152 GRAVEL AND PLACEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BUM,. 263.

spending to approximately 10 per cent of the head under which the 

water acts. Many elevators have been used, and they all act on the 

same principle. One of the necessities is the constant admission of air 

with the tailings, which, by being compressed, aids in the elevating 

process. Those elevators are considered best which admit air most 

freely.

An exceedingly simple form of hydraulic elevator the so-called 

"open" elevator is in use in southern Oregon. The gravel is piped 

directly into an inclined box 8 by 30 feet in dimensions, which has a 

false bottom of punched iron plates. All the fines run back on the 

plank floor of the box to the undercurrent, the oversize falling to the 

tailings pile at the raised end of the box. The contrivance is a makeshift, but is said to be successfully used in the flat stream beds of 

southern Oregon.

A hydraulic elevator will sink a pit in a flat piece of ground containing no large stones. In starting new work on placer ground it is, 

in fact, the practice to sink the pit with the elevator. The portion of 

the hydraulic elevator shown in PI. XXVI, J., is in position in the 

bottom of a pit 40 feet deep," on Glacier Creek, Seward Peninsula. 

This pit, which is 90 by 60 feet in dimensions, was sunk in ten days 

by a 7-inch elevator, smaller than the one shown in the picture, using 

325 miner's inches of water at 360 feet head. At the claim next higher 

up the creek a similar elevator was in use, and a description of its 

operation will be of interest. Seven hundred and sixty miner's inches, 

under 330 feet pressure, were used in the operations. The water is 

afforded by the Miocene ditch, described on pages 123-126. The grade 

of Glacier Creek does not exceed 50 feet to the mile in its lower portion, where this property is worked. The gravel deposit, which is 

wide and 20 feet in depth to bed rock (see PI. XXVI, £), can not be

worked by the hydraulic method on account of the impossibility of 

disposing of the tailings. Therefore a long cut is ground-sluiced off 

to the depth of 6 or 7 feet below the surface. The elevator sump, 

which must be about 5 by 5 feet and 10 feet into the bed rock, is sunk 

in the bottom of the large pit. The elevator, which, with the head 

above given, lifts 36 feet, is set in position. For this ground a No. 1 

elevator, having a 10-inch throat and using 4^-inch nozzle, is employed. 

The hydraulic elevator, like the one shown in the photograph, is by 

no means simple. It consists of 15 large parts, some of them very 

heavy, and a number of rods, bolts, bands, and wooden staves. The 

cost of the one shown is approximately $750 in San Francisco, and the 

weight is 2,000 pounds. A pipe is led from the supply pipe to feed 

the nozzle of the elevator. ,,lt is connected to this by means of the 

ball joint. This joint, shown in the photograph, is exceedingly convenient, as it allows the pipe to enter the pit from one of several directions. Where the upcast pipe joins the top casting of the elevator it
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

A. HYDRAULIC ELEVATOR IN PIT, GLACIER CREEK.

Jl. GRAVEL IN PIT, GLACIER CREEK.
PURINOTON.j HYDRAULIC MINING.

'153

should be made to fit over and outside of this casting, so that there 

will be no leak. The casting should be rimmed outside to a depth of 

2 inches. The jacketing of the nozzle is considered very good practice, as it prevents smothering with gravel. In the type of elevator 

here shown the advantage is claimed that the various parts, lining, 

backing, first section above throat, top section, etc., are separate and 

merely fit together, being held by a ring of wooden staves, as shown in 

PI. XXV, A. This obviates the use of heavy castings. The upcast 

pipe is made of lap-welded steel, one-eighth inch in thickness, and 

either lead or flange joints can be used. In the plant described the 

pipe was in 1 Si-foot lengths and the joint was made by bolting together 

wooden blocks, 10 by 12 by 24 inches, with a half-round cut made to 

admit the pipe. The upcast pipe should be set at an angle of 60°.

By far the most important parts of the elevator as regards wear are 

the throat and the hood which receives the impact of the gravel in the

zfeet

FIG. 33. Hood in head box of tail sluice.

head box of the tail sluice above. These two parts are manganese steel 

castings, and if the gravel is very sharp and siliceous may Avear out in 

one season. For the 10-inch elevator the throat weighs 400 pounds and 

the hood 600 pounds (price 16 cents per pound in San Francisco). The 

manner of setting the hood in the head box of the tail sluice is shown 

in fig. 33. The upcast pipe is laid against an inclined framework of 

four lengths of 2-inch plank 2 feet wide, and extends directly into the 

bottom of the tail sluice. (See PI. XXVII, A.) Leading to the throat 

of the elevator directly above the nozzle is a sluice box, which conducts 

the gravel either from the boxes preceding it or from a bed-rock 

sluice, which is carried back on grade in the pit bottom as fast as the 

gravel is piped down. On Glacier Creek the gravel is led to the elevator in 24-inch iron boxes on 6-inch grade, with or without rail 

riffles. After leaving the discharge of the upcast pipe the gravel 

passes through eight or nine 36-inch boxes, with T-rail riffles. The first
154 GRAVEL AND PLACET* MINING IN ALASKA. [BUU,. 263.

two boxes have 4-fpot sides, reinforced inside and out with sheet iron, 

and are set high on a trestle to give the desired elevation for maintaining the dump. The grade is either 0 or 1 inch in 12 feet for the head 

box, 2 inches for the second, 3 inches for the third, 4 inches for the 

fourth, and 5 inches for the succeeding boxes. It is proposed to supplant wooden sluice boxes on this claim with iron boxes 8 to 10 feet 

long and from 2 to 3 feet wide, of one-fourth-inch sheet iron, weighing 

from 500 to 600 pounds each and costing from $15 to $20 in San Francisco. Five hundred and twent}' miner's inches of water are used 

for the elevator and 240 inches are used through the 3-inch nozzle of 

the giant. The water is distributed from the supply pipe by 11-inch 

pipe to the two nozzles. By this arrangement 500 cubic yards of 

gravel can be handled in ten hours. It is said that the elevator is 

not handling over one-half the gravel that could be put through it 

if the larger amount could be moved to the throat. Experiments 

with scrapers operated by water power are in progress.

The practice here is first to run back with a narrow cut 250 feet up 

the creek from the elevator-throat, then to come forward toward the 

elevator, breaking down the sides.

If the cut is 150 feet wide, 250 feet long, and 25 feet deep, a new 

set-up must be made every thirty-four days, assuming that the plant 

is run all the time at its full capacity. To make the new set-up of 

boxes and to build the trestle requires $400 worth of'lumber and the 

labor of 5 men for five days. In addition, it takes the whole crew of 

the placer one day to take the elevator from its old position and place 

it again. The total extra expense is, then, nearly $1,000 in money and 

at least one full day out of the short working season each time that 

the elevator is moved.

In Seward Peninsula the handling of bowlders gives little trouble 

with the elevator. A 10-inch throat will take a 9f-inch bowlder. It 

is not uncommon to see the men near at hand throwing small stones 

down at the throat of the elevator. This is because stones are jammed 

in the throat. The elevator for the moment is not clearing the pit, 

and the small stones artificially fed will act as .small cannon balls to 

break the obstruction.

It should be rioted that a very large amount of water is used for the 

elevator as compared with that used for the giant. It has been found 

most economical to distribute the water one-third to the giant and 

two-thirds to the elevator. If the elevator is too large for the water 

used, the employment of a choked nozzle or smaller nozzle will obviate 

the difficult}', while the larger throat does no harm. One of the most 

common difficulties with the hydraulic lift is the fact that it will choke 

if required to raise too much seepage or pipe water.

Elevator practice in l^draulic mining has been so limited in its 

application, and has met with so little success, that definite rules for
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY ULLETIN NO. 263 PL. XXVII

A. HYDRAULIC ELEVATOR.

OPEN CUT WORKED BY TRAMMING TO BED-ROCK SLUICES.
PURINGTON.] HYDEAULIC MINING.' 155

the guidance of the miner have not been formulated. The best that 

can be done is to cite examples of the results of actual practice and to 

enumerate the difficulties experienced. It is.a common saying- among 

users of hydraulic elevators that the machines will handle all the gravel 

that can be got to the throat. »

The table for use in hydraulic-elevator operations is as given b}' the 

manufacturers:

TABLE 12. Water required in hydraulic elevators. fNumber.

1............................. ..............

2.......... ................................

8...........................................

Water required.

Miner' s inches. 

300 to 500......

50010750,..:..

750 to 1,000....

Size of nozzle.

Inches. 

3* to4£....

.4Jto5.....

5 to5|.....

Sine of 

throat.

Inches. 

10

12

16

The above heads are those which are generally available in Alaska. 

The amount of water that can1 be handled successfully, in addition to 

that coming through the nozzle, does not in practice exceed one-third, 

if there is a large quantity of seepage water the excess must be taken 

care of by means of an auxiliary water lift. One of these is shown in 

position in PI. XXV. A. it takes an 8-inch supply pipe, choked to 

2-inch nozzle in 4-inch throat, with 70 inches of water at 100-foot head, 

to lift 80 inches of water 26 feet. This lift weighs 350 pounds and 

costs $140 in San Francisco. Whether such a lift is needed for continuous operation or not, it is convenient to have it at hand for assistance in temporary pumping of water from the pit during the time of 

clean-up and other periods when the main elevator is not acting. 

Double elevators are sometimes used in preference a much more 

expensive installation.

All the hydraulic elevators seen in Alaska were of small capacity, 

carrying 10-inch throat or less. It should be remembered that the. 

tables and estimates of percentage of lift to head are generally based 

on the assumption that the throat piece of the uptake pipe is double 

the diameter of the nozzle employed. In northern practice it is generally the experience that a smaller nozzle must be used than the theoretical size, and in consequence the lift is decreased.

The type of plant illustrated in PL XXVII, B, is not advisable 

except as a necessity, where surplus water from a head ditch is available. The gravel is shoveled from the cut by hand into cars which 

are trammed and dumped into the bed-rock sluice running to the elevator. The operation has no relation to hydraulic mining proper. 

The plant figured has a capacity of 700 cubic yards in twenty-four 

hours, the working expenses being no less than on a neighboring
156 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

claim, with almost precisely similar geological conditions, where gravel 

was being handled by shoveling into l^-yard derrick skips trammed 

on trucks to the derrick, lifted to a sluice, and washed with gravity 

water. Now, grant that the cost of the derrick plant was $10,000 

while that of the elevator plant was only $5,000. The water for the 

elevator, however, 500 miner's inches, represented one-fifth of that 

obtained by an elaborate ditch system, the proportionate charge of 

installation of which was $60,000. It is very unlikely that the life of 

either of these properties will exceed six years, and it can be easily 

seen that the amortization charge for cost of plant must be, less 

interest allowance, $17,000 in the elevator plant, as against $10,000 in 

the derrick plant.

It would be unfair to entirely decry the use of the hydraulic elevator in Alaska. On the other hand, it is a deplorable spectacle to see 

cases where expenditures of from $25,000 to $200,000 have been made 

to secure the use of water at a head, where the elevator is installed, 

and where it finally becomes apparent that loss will result in the 

operations because gravel can not be moved to the elevator in sufficient 

quantity.

To take a very typical Alaskan case, assume a body of material wT hich, 

handled at the rate of 700 cubic yards a day, can be worked out in six 

seasons; that the section consists of 2 yards of muck and of H yards 

of gravel which has a tenor of $3 per cubic yard. This material can 

be all handled by the hydraulic method at an expense of 50 cents per 

cubic yard, actual working cost, including superintendence. In order 

to make this hydraulic method available a ditch carrying 1,000 miner's 

inches of water at lowest stage must be built at a cost of $100,000. 

Let this cost include the hydraulic equipment. Simple interest charge 

on the investment and maintenance of ditch and plant will amount to

$90,000 additional. Allowing nothing for purchase of property, the 

five annual payments to amortization of plant fund will amount each 

to $38,000. Allow one hundred days each season actual working 

time. Then the amount per cubic yard which must be added to cover 

payment to the sinking fund will be 0.542 cents per cubic yard, or a 

total of $1.042.

This cost will not be regarded as extreme by those who have had 

experience in similar undertakings. The operator has a choice of 

mechanical plants, by using one of which he could work the ground 

with great economy. In other words, the use of the h}^draulic elevator in Alaska frequently defeats the object for the attainment of which 

the hydraulic method of mining is employed.
ruuiNGTON.] GEAVEL AND PLACEK MINING IN ALASKA. 157

DBEDGING.

INTRODUCTION.

The opportunities for gold dredging in the far Northwest are not by 

any means numerous. Perhaps no part of the gold-mining industry 

is dependent on so .many conditions for its financial success as the 

dredging of auriferous gravel deposits for gold. Some years ago, in 

connection with Mr. J. B. Landfield,0 I published a review, "setting 

forth the geological conditions which are necessary for the success of 

gold dredging, the consideration of which is frequently neglected by 

those contemplating the installation^ dredges. The portions of that 

paper which deal with the present case are here quoted. The prime 

consideration is that conditions of a peculiar character are a necessary 

accompaniment of the values in any locality where it is proposed to 

win gold by dredging. Recent experience has proved that the 

greatest attention must be given to topographic and geologic conditions in the country in which the enterprise is to be inaugurated, 

otherwise success in the operations is not to be looked for. The 

following explanation of the conditions necessary for dredging is 

therefore pertinent:

Taking the country about Oroville, Cal., as the best example in the United States, 

let the geological conditions be considered. To the north and east the erosion of a 

vast extent of mining country, .whose rocks are penetrated by gold-bearing veins, 

 lias contributed little by little through geologic ages to the mass of detritus now 

occupying the bed of Feather River. The wearing down of mountains, originally 

very much higher than at present, through a vast amount of time has caused the 

forVnation of a valley of extraordinary width but of no great depth. The massing of 

stream detritus is also responsible for a decrease in the gradient and a slowing down 

almost to a topographical equilibrium of the formerly swift current of the river. 

The stream, unable under these conditions to cut its way by virtue of the material 

which it carried in suspension, has for a long time been depositing its load, filling its 

wide valleys with sand and gravel, together with the less destructible of the metallic 

particles, and notably gold. Geologically speaking, the rate of deposition of the 

river's material may be said to be on the increase and the current of the water, still 

of considerable velocity, to be greatly lessening in swiftness. Later in its geologic 

cycle Feather River will doubtless assume, on a smaller scale, the present character 

of the Mississippi, forming oxbow curves, cut-offs, and, as it were, losing its way 

among'constantly shifting sand bars.

The accompanying residual gold, as it travels to a greater and greater distance from 

its original source in the veins of the mountains, becomes more and more finely 

divided, even to microscopic dimensions, and increases in purity, and the degree of 

evenness with which the particles are distributed in the gravel becomes a phenomenon of constantly increasing definiteness and importance.

Such a set of conditions as that obtaining on Feather River is the exception 

rather than the rule in the western part of the United States, and even in California. 

The above explanation has been entered into in order to present in some measure 

the reasons why, on the California river referred to, the conditions are not only favorable but eminently suited to gold dredging. Shallow gravels that is, those less than

"Puringlon, C. \V., and Lundfleld, J. B., jr., The gold:dredging fields of eastern Russia: Eng. Mug., 

vol. 22, 1901, pp. 398-407.
158 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

40 feet in depth are an essential in dredging enterprises/' Thus broad rather than 

narrow, gorge-like valleys must be sought. Bed rock of a soft, decomposed character, 

which can be easily cut into by the dipper or bucket of the dredge, is a necessity, 

since placer gold, by virtue of its gravity, often sinks from 1 to 2 feet into the crevices 

of the rock underlying. It is hardly necessary to state that the amount of gold 

increases in geometrical ratio the lower it lies in a given bed of gravel. Thus old 

rather than young valleys are favorable for dredging.

Additional reasons of great weight why geologically old valleys should be looked 

for are that the size of bowlders is greatly decreased, gravel becomes by long abrasion 

uniform in size, the angularity of the fragments disappears, and a bed of pebbles, 

round and easily handled, is the result.

The even distribution of the gold which, as mentioned above, is an invariable 

accompaniment of old and wide valleys, is a point in favor of this sort of mining, 

looked at from the standpoint of a business enterprise. At the same time it is evident that the finely divided state in which such gold is found necessitates the 

highest skill in recovering it. For example, at Orovi.lle, although some of the operators are saving gold the subdivision of whose particles is almost microscopic, it is 

thought with good reason that a considerable percentage of values is lost in the water 

used for the washing.

The conditions on Yuba River in California are, from the dredging standpoint, as 

favorable as those at Oroville.

The conditions above mentioned as important to the success of gold 

dredging should be taken account of as much by the men who contemplate installing dredges in Alaska, as in any other part of the world. 

While it is true that there are in Alaska broad valleys, such as those 

of Yukon River and its larger tributaries, and that they have been 

found to be to a certain extent gold bearing, yet peculiar and formidable conditions serve as a barrier to the exploitation of these streams 

by dredging. A remarkable, illustration of this fact came to my notice 

during the last summer. In a small island facing the settlement of 

Eagle, in the interior Yukon country, a shaft sunk through rolled 

stream gravel to a depth of about 40 feet in winter penetrated perpetually frozen ground until near the limit of its depth. At this point an 

underflow of water was encountered so strong as to prevent further 

prospecting. It was said that good values in gold, even up to $1 to 

the yardj were found in sinking this shaft. If this be true it would 

imply that considerable areas of the underlying immensely wide 

gravel flats of Yukon River are gold bearing. Under other conditions 

portions of the ground might be found workable by gold dredges. 

Experience has shown that in Alaska the permanent frost which exists 

in much of the river country renders the exploitation of the gravel by 

ordinary mechanical means absolutely impossible. It is the opinion 

of those who have attempted the dredging of frozen gravel in the 

Klondike that, while the devising of a dredge strong enough to dig 

frozen gravel is not impossible, the undertaking has not yet reached

a Since the above was written the enlarging and strengthening of dredges has resulted in successful digging (on Yuba River, California) to the depth of 60 feet. It should be noted, however, that the 

upper 25 feet of the Yuba gravel section consists of loose tailings.
1-uiuNGTON.] . DREDGING. 159

even the experimental stage. In the interior the cost of dredging 

unfrozen ground is 40 cents per cubic yard, while the dredging of 

frozen ground by thawing ahead of the dredge with steam points 

requires an expenditure of 40 cents additional. It will be recognized 

by those familiar with dredging that such a cost is prohibitive of the 

exploitation of the average dredging gravels.

River-bed gravels seldom average over 20 cents to the cubic yard in 

gold, locally enriched area from side tributaries necessarily being 

excluded. It has been frequently stated by engineers that the average 

tenor of the Oroville gravels is not above 15 cents to the cubic yard. 

I see no reason to believe that the graveis of the Alaska rivers, the 

Yukon, Tanana, Koyukuk, Kuskokwim, and their larger tributaries 

should be any higher. It is likely that only in very restricted areas 

will the tenor in gold of these streams be as high as 15 cents. It 

should be distinctly, understood that Solomon River, Snake River, 

and streams of similar size in Seward Peninsula are not properly 

called dredging streams. They do not by any means fulfill the conditions implied in the foregoing geological description. While it is 

undeniable that in certain isolated cases streams having the character 

of Solomon River may be profitably dredged, the enterprise must 

be considered as lying outside the legitimate province of the golddredging industry as developed in California and New Zealand.

A recent study of the dredging fields of California has led to the 

conclusion that while dredging is possible to a greater depth than 

formerly (60 feet in Yuba River), there has been little reduction in 

the general costs of work. Eight cents per cubic yard is the lowest 

cost which may be safely counted ou at Oroville, the principal field.

No special devices have been put into practice for breaking up 

cemented gravel, and some of the dredgers at Oroville are compelled 

to use powder to shake the bank in front of the dredge. Such practice would have no beneficial effect in handling frozen gravel. The use 

of hydraulic nozzles attached to the ladder frame at the lower tumbler 

seat has several times been suggested by engineers for assistance in 

thawing frozen gravel as the dredge operates." Experience in hydraulicking frozen bench gravels in Alaska has proved that such a device 

would be of no avail, since it is mainly the action of the sun and not 

that of the water which thaws the gravel face. The possible method 

of steam thawing is to drive long pipes from the surface into the 

ground ahead of the dredge (the practice in Bonanza Creek in 14-foot 

ground). The cost of this would probably be prohibitive when the 

depth of the ground exceeds 15 feet.

The only manner in which heat can be applied directly to the part of 

the gravel face where the buckets are digging is by means of elecaLevat, E. D., L'Or en Sibgrie orientale.
160 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

trically heated water thrown against the bank. The fact that hydraulicking with water heated to 50° and applied directly to the face 

through a nozzle in Klondike drifting operations is remarkably effective 

in thawing frozen gravel suggests possibilities in regard to dredging. 

This possibility is extremely remote, but might under certain circumstances be applicable where-the dredge is operated by electric 

power generated by water under head.

The fact the dredge is the only appliance used in placer mining 

which transports its sluices and continually provides new room for its 

tailings renders it attractive in the consideration of the shallow northern placers.

In Seward Peninsula there are some river deposits which, contain 

gold sporadically distributed and in which frozen and unfrozen areas 

alternate. Extensive prospecting has resulted in the discovery of a 

certain amount of ground which appears to warrant the installation 

of dredges of special design. More of these areas may be found, and 

it is probable that some of them may be in the interior. It is not 

believed that dredges can be operated successfully in any of the area 

included in the South Coast provinces, as there the geological conditions are almost the exact opposite of those outlined at the beginning 

of this section.

DESCRIPTION OF OPERATIONS.

Notwithstanding the difficulties encountered in the interior of 

Alaska, the possibility of dredging in this field under certain favorable conditions is not to be denied. A small dredge for prospecting 

purposes was being operated cheaply in Stewart River in the Yukon 

Territory, not far from the international boundary, during the season 

of 1904. It subsequent!3^ operated in Klondike River. This dredge 

has 39 open connected 2i-foot buckets, and handles 750 cubic yards 

in twent}r-four hours. It digs to. 30 feet, and in Stewart River ven7 

little frozen gravel was encountered. A crew of 6 men is employed 

and the daily working cost alone is said to be 7 cents a cubic yard. 

The hull was built at White Horse, of 4-inch planks of imported 

Vancouver fir, and cost $5,000. .

A complete description of this dredge has been published by the 

designer, Mr. A. W. Robinson."

A dredging installation was also visited on Gold Run, in the Atlin 

district of British Columbia. The power plant was situated on Pine 

Creek, 5 miles below the dredge. A flume and ditch line 1£ miles 

in length supplied 1,500 inches of water, at 187 feet head, to 2 Victor 

turbine wheels of 500 horsepower each. It was said that 80 per cent 

of this efficiency was available at the dredge. The current was 

delivered at 1,100 volts to the transformer and this was stepped up to

aThe Stewart River gold dredge: Canadian Mining Institute, March 4, 1903.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVE :ULLETIN NO. 263 PL. XXVill

A. SINGLE-LIFT DREDGE, 40-FOOT GROUND AT ATLIN, COARSE GOLD.

B. BUCKETS, ATLIN DREDGE.
PURINGTON.] DREDGING. 161

225:, 000 volts before its conduit over No. 6 copper wire 3-phase system 

to the dredge transformer, where a step-down to 500 volts was made. 

The turbines have 24-inch intake and 30-inch discharge, and the gates 

weigh 2£ tons each. The water is available from April 1 to November 

15. The power plant cost $50,000, not including an outlay of $10,000 

for a 5-mile pole line, 3 copper wires, and 20 telephone wires.

The pole line was built by contract requiring that the poles should 

be 6 inches in diameter at top, 24 feet above and 5 feet below the 

ground, and that timber should be cut for a width of 40 feet, all at a 

cost of $2,250 for 7 miles.

A general view of the dredge is shown in PI. XXVIII, A. The 

costj installed on the ground, was $200,000. It is of the close-connected, 

3-foot bucket, single-lift type, arranged with trommel and pivoted 

sluice box, and tables carried On separate float. This type of dredge 

was considered necessary on account of the presence of coarse gold in 

the deposit. That by all dredging engineers the occurrence of coarse 

gold is not thought prohibitive of the use of the stacker dredge is apparent from Mr. Hutchins's remarks on this subject (see pp. 173-190). 

The arranging of the entire tail sluice to turn in an arc, operated 

by stern lines, permits the distribution of the dump. The system of 

digging is against a spud and not a headline. Operations had only 

begun when the dredge was visited; its estimated capacit}' is 2,500 

cubic yards in twenty-four hours, digging to an average depth of 44 

feet. The dredge is equipped with 5 motors, and a total of 200 horsepower is used. The total weight is 400 tons.

The hull was built in a pit on the ground, of Vancouver fir, and 

afterwards floated in the pond shown. It has a draft, loaded, of 3| feet, 

and is 90 by 36 feet in dimensions.

The winches are controlled by levers directly above in the pilot 

house on the starboard side of the upper deck. The 7 drums operate 

the 4 side lines, main ladder line, and 2 spud lines.

The digging ladder is 90 feet long, 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep in 

the center, and is braced by steel trusses. The tumblers are of pentagonal form and of steel, with manganese steel plates riveted on, with 

8-inch shaft. There are 96 buckets that hold 3 cubic feet each, have 

the shape shown in PI. XXVIII, J3, and are equipped with manganese steel lips, pins, and bushings. As shown by PI. XXVIII, J, a 

bowlder weighing 1,500 pounds rode one of the buckets and was taken 

off on the upper deck. The buckets will dig 40 feet in front of the 

bow, and a bank 8 feet above water can be handled. The rate of wear 

in bucket lips had not been determined. A nozzle is used to clean the 

buckets as they- pass the upper tumbler. No save-all is used. The 

sprocket wheels and chain are of steel, the diameter of the upper< 

wheel being 10 feet. 

Bull. 263 05 11
162 GKAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BUU,. 263.

The motors are of the following rated capacity:

Horsepower. 

For digging................................................................ 100

For 10-inch centrifugal' pump ............................................... 50

For 6-inch centrifugal pump ................................................ 20

For screen ................................................................. 20

For raising ladder and operating lines ....................................... 30

The gravel is raised 27 feet abov7 e the water. The trommel is 5 by 

12 feet on 8 per cent grade, punched with holes that are 1| inches in 

diameter in the upper plate, 4^- by 7 inches in the middle plate 

(enlarged from smaller size), and 4-inch holes in the lower plate. 

Thirty-five per cent of the material is oversize and is dumped directly 

from the end of the trommel into 2 side chutes overboard. The trommel has 6-inch spray pipe, supplied by the 6-inch pump with water 

under 40 pounds pressure. It is estimated that the trommel plates 

will last one season.

From the trommel the undersize falls directly to a sluice connected 

by means of a pivoted box to the main sluice in the auxiliary float. 

This sluice is 4 feet wide, ,120 feet long, and 2 feet deep, is of steel, has 

a grade of 8 per'cent, and is provided with Oroville Hungarian riffles 

and grizzlies to allow the material to pass to undercurrent tables, which 

have an area of 1,000 square feet (see p. 195). The dump of the main 

sluice is 8 feet above the water. Two hundred pounds of quicksilver 

are kept in the sluice and tables.

The cost of dredging at this plant is estimated at 8 cents per cubic 

yard for the capacity above given, only actual labor, supplies, and 

superintendence on the ground considered.

A dredge of the New Zealand type was operating on Bonanza Creek 

in the Klondike district. It is shown in PL XXIX, B. The boat 

had been in service for several years, having been first installed 

on Lewes River. It had then been towed and hauled by cables down 

Yukon River to the mouth of the Klondike and then taken apart 

and reerected on Bonanza Creek, where its operations have continued 

during the open months since July 1, 1903. A crew of 24 men operate the dredge and thaw the gravel in front of it. The thawing is 

done by means of 11-foot pieces of gas pipe, 12 in number, driven 

vertically into the ground. The bed rock here is a sericite-schist and 

the dredge is said to clean it well. The capacity of the dredge working under present conditions is 500 cubic yards in twenty-four hours. 

The bucket line is equipped with thirty 3^-foot buckets, open con-, 

nected. The ladder is 50 feet in length and will dig 28 feet below 

the surface of the water. At present the dredge is digging to a depth 

of 14 feet and 8 feet in front of the bow. The stacking ladder canying a steel-bucket conveyor is 38 feet long, and carries all material 

over li inches in diameter, the size of the largest holes in the trommel. 

The lips of the digging buckets are of manganese steel and last four
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

'A. TROMMEL AND GOLD-SAVING TABLES, NEW ZEALAND TYPE, 

BONANZA CREEK, KLONDIKE.

B NEW ZEALAND DREDGE, BONANZA CREEK, KLONDIKE,
PURINGTON.] f DBEDGING. 163

months in use. New buckets cost $22 landed. The dredge digs on a 

1-iuch headline with five-eighths inch side lines, no spuds being used, 

and appeared to dig the gravel very satisfactory after it was thawed. 

There is not over 2 per cent of the gravel which is over 18 inches in 

diameter. The hull is 71 by 30 feet in dimension and draws 4 feet of 

water; 55,000 feet of Oregon fir was used in its construction. The 

bow and ladder gauntrees are 15 feet high and are built of timbers 12 

inches square. The dredge is operated by steam power. One vertical 

engine of 50 horsepower operates the dredge exclusive of the winches, 

which employ a separate 10-horsepower engine. The boiler carries 

1.10 pounds of steam and in twenty-four hours burns 3 cords of native 

spruce wood, which costs $10 a cord. The winches are on the starboard bow side, the winchman's position being on the lower deck.

Since the trommel was built its length has been increased and is 

now about 15 feet, with ^-inch holes in the upper plate and 1^-inch 

holes in the lower. The trommel was extended so that none of the 

nuggets, which are worth from $12 to $200, would be lost. The 

trommel distributes the fines to 8 tables, 42 by 30 inches in dimensions 

(see PI. XXIX, J.), the distribution being regulated by iron gates. 

The tables, fitted with cocoa matting and expanded metal, have a grade 

of H inches to the foot, and are followed by 2 sluice boxes 20 feet 

long by 2 feet wide, with angle-iron riffles, which discharge at the 

stern, as shown in the illustration. An inevitable difficulty with the 

dredge is the banking up of this material at the stern. Three thousand gallons of water per minute are pumped b}^ a 10-inch centrifugal 

pump. The tables are cleaned up every day; sluices, once a month. 

The season for operating is from May 15 to October 1. It is understood that the dredge was successfully operated during the season of 

1904 on ground which had been previously drifted.

The cost of the dredge laid down originally in Lewes River was 

$125,000. ' 

A shift sheet used in this dredge, devised by Mr. J. M. Elmer, is 

here appended and may be of interest to those engaged in or contemplating dredging operations.
164 GEAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA.

Shift sheet of Lewes River Kining and Dredging Company.

[BOLL. 2ti3.

Date, . 

Number of shift, 

Winchiaan, 

Lost time.

Ladder and bucket line .........

Lines ..-........:..............

Koiler

Materials used. Remarks.

^

,

Hours. Minutes.

Character of ground, Total lost time,

Total running time,

Depth of ground, feet, 

Foreman, .

No dredging operations were in progress in the interior of Alaska 

during the summer of 1904.

In Seward Peninsula two dredges were operated in Solomon River 

and two land dredges were in operation in the vicinity of Nome, while 

another dredge was being constructed in Snake River near Nome, and 

a dredge was operating in a small way in Niukluk River, 1 mile above 

Council.

About one-fourth mile east of the town of Nome a small land dredge 

was operating on beach sand in the maritime strip. The section on 

which the dredge operated was 12 feet in thickness, and consisted of 

6 feet of beach sand, 4 feet of c\a.j, 2 feet of gravel, and 2 feet of 

underlying broken schist.

The dredge, which cost $5,500 in Seattle, was operated with a 6- 

horsepower gasoline engine. In addition, power was furnished to a 

centrifugal pump, which had the suction pipe led 60 feet out into the sea 

water. Eighteen gallons of gasoline, costing 40 cents a gallon, were 

burned in ten hours. The dredge was mounted on trucks surmounted 

by a turntable, allowing it to turn on a circular track. The average 

capacity was said to be 200 cubic yards a day. This represents one 

of the many attempts which have been made to dredge the Nome beach 

sands, none of which, so far as known, have met with any success. 

This material is unfrozen, but many difficulties are encountered. 

Storms which render the beach uninhabitable are causes of long delay, 

and the attempt to pump the sea water is a cause of constant trouble on 

account of the seaweed and wreckage which clogs the screen,
PURINGTON.] DREDGING. 165

A small land dredge running on a 40-foot track, and digging a canal 

beneath for the purpose of laying a long bed-rock drain, was operating on Bourbon Creek, one-fourth mile north of Nome. The work 

was in an experimental stage, and a large dredge of the same type, of 

500 cubic yards daily capacity, was under construction.

A floating dredge of the dipper type, with sluices arranged on a separate hull, was under construction in Snake River, one-half mile from 

Nome, but the data relating to it are not available for publication.

A small bucket dredger so arranged that the digging ladder can turn 

through an angle of 20° has been operating in Solomon River, 3 miles 

north from the coast for the last two seasons.

In the operations of 1903. a 60-foot width of the channel of Solomon 

River was worked and was found to be unfrozen; the gravel averaged 

5 feet in thickness and rested on schist bed rock. The tenor is said to 

have been $1.13 per cubic yard. The greatest thickness encountered 

from the surface of water to bed rock was. 12 feet. One and one-half 

feet of the schist bed rock was taken up by the dredge. The bed 

rock is generally soft, but has hard reefs. The largest stones found 

were 1 foot in diameter. The dredge was operated by 5 men on 2 

shifts, the amount of running time being from twelve to twenty hours 

out of the twenty-four. The men are said to have made a profit, 

paying a royalt}^ of 25 per cent on the output. The dredge is of 16- 

horsepower capacity and handles an average of 150 cubic yards in 

twenty-four hours. The operations consume two j;o three cases of 

gasoline a day, the average for fuel being $12.50. The total expense 

is figured at $30 a day. The experience with the pay is that the ground 

is very spotted, being in places rich and in places barren. There are 

32 buckets of 1 cubic foot capacity on the ladder. A cut of 30 feet 

across is made in one setting. The ladder is made of 4-inch cast-iron 

pipe and can be lengthened by adding pipe and buckets. In 1904 

the dredge was being operated by 2 men on a shift, one man running 

the winches, and one man attending to the engine and picking out the 

large bowlders and throwing them overboard. The bucket lips are 

. made of tool steel.

The sluices into which the buckets dump directly are fitted with 

punched-i ron screen of the "Caribou" pattern, described elsewhere, 

followed by Hungarian rifiies. The sluice is 64 feet in length, 23 

inches wide, and 12 inches deep, with a grade of 15 inches in 12 feet. 

The end of the sluice is 3 feet above the deck, and extends 6 feet 

beyond the end of the boat. Quicksilver is used in the upper boxes. 

Seventy-five per cent of the gold is caught in the first 6 feet, and the 

balance in the next 8 feet. The tailings are frequently panned, but 

no gold found.

The description of this dredge, the cost of which should not exceed 

$25,000, laid down, is given in detail, as it is reported on good author-
166 GRAVEL AtfD PLACER MINING IX ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

ity to have been successful in its operations. It presents a strong 

confirmation of the views expressed by Mr. Hutchins concerning the 

advisability of installing prospecting dredges for Alaska practice.

During the season of 1903 and 1904 a dredge of the dipper type was 

operated in Solomon liiver, near the one above described. The dredge 

was constructed originally with a stacker, but this system was abandoned and a separate hull was built on which a hopper and sluice were 

erected.

The dredge cost $33,000 on the ground, and weighs, barges and all, 

400 tons. It is equipped with one }7 ard dipper, which digs three-fourths 

cubic yard of material each time on an average. During 1904 the 

dredge was in operation fifty days of twenty hours each, and handled 

21,000 cubic yards, or an average of 420 cubic yards a da}^.

The ground dredged is 9£ feet in average depth, and was all handled 

by the dipper. No permanent frost was found in the river bed, but 

the annual frost did not leave the ground until July 15, delaying the 

commencement of operations until that date. Thirty days at the end 

of the season 'were lost on account of the breaking of the main cable 

operating the dipper, and there was no chance to repair it.

The experiences with the ground in this dredging operation were 

especially interesting. It was found that in places the gravel in the 

river itself was frozen all summer. On July 20 there were 1 inches 

in depth of frost within 2 feet of the surface. This disappeared with 

the first heavy rain. The dipper cleaned the bed rock successfully 

where it was black schist. Where the bed rock was limestone the 

ground was drifted in the winter with much more satisfactory results 

than the dredging gave.

The dredge employed in the two shifts seven men, at $7 a day, and 

one man, at $9.50 a da}^, without board. In twenty hours 3 tons of 

coal, costing $26 per ton, were consumed.

The cost of dredging in 1904, including repairs to and maintenance 

of plant, was 50 cents per cubic yard. As in the case of the small 

dredge, the pay over a width of 200 feet, which was worked in places, 

was found to be spotted, varying from 30 cents to $12 to the cubic 

yard.

It is said that the cla}7 in the gravel prevented the water from sluicing gold from the bottom of the dipper, and tests showed that a saving 

of 95 per cent was made. The sluice was paved with Hungarian riffles, 

,and quicksilver was used.

The general opinion expressed by these operators was that dredges 

having a capacity of not to exceed 1,000 cubic yards daily will pay 

in Solomon and similar rivers of Seward Peninsula if operated by 

electricity generated from a central water-power plant. The employment of gravity-sluicing water was made'a necessary condition. While
PUHINGTON.] - DKEDGDSTG. 167

this is possible, it should be borne in mind that the employment of 

gravity-sluicing water on a dredge entails numerous and largely 

untried difficulties.

Some of the special difficulties actually experienced in the operations 

above described were distance from any repair shop, sudden rises of 

the river after two days' storm that prevented persons from crossing 

and endangered the dredge, and repairs which were necessary at the 

beginning of the season, and which included chopping ice out of the 

inside of the hull.

The dredge shown on PI. XXX, J3, in Niukluk River, was operating only in prospecting work during the season of 1904. It has 

5-foot buckets, open connected. Its rated capacity is 2,000 cubic yards 

in twenty-four hours, but the actual capacity can not be given. The 

dredge was fitted with a rubber belt conveyor for the stacker. This 

is said to give much trouble, as when it begins to freeze aty night in 

September the belt continually slips. It was said that in previous 

operations the dredge in ten hours used 5 cords of spruce wood, costing $12 a cord, and handled 800 cubic yards of material. Eight men 

were employed at $7 a day, gross. In the Niukluk River banks the 

bed rock, which is schistose limestone, is 10i feet below the surface, 

and is overlain by 1 foot of moss or willow roots, 2£ feet of sand or 

muck, and 7 feet of rounded river wash mixed with angular limestone 

fragments. Willows grow on the unfrozen ground and moss covers 

the solidly frozen ground. No regularity in the distribution of the 

two is apparent.

The success of dredging operations in the Niukluk appears to be 

extremely problematical. So far as the physical nature of the gravel 

goes, no difficult}^ should be experienced. Frozen areas, hard bed rock, 

uneven depth, and irregular distribution of the alluvial gold are, however, serious if not insurmountable obstacles to the success of a dredging ' O O

operation which in a superficial examination of the ground may appear 

attractive.

COST OF DREDGING.

It is manifestly impossible to give detailed statements of operating 

expenses in a work of this character, especially when dredging has 

been conducted in a desultory fashion and for a limited period. The 

costs given on page 38 include a certain amount each year for the 

amortization of the plant and the ground. Bearing this in mind, those 

having the slightest familiarity with the subject will probably admit 

that the figures, namely, 49 cents per cubic yard for unfrozen, 80 

cents for frozen ground in interior Alaska, and 43 cents per cubic j^ard 

for Seward Peninsula, are not excessive.

For purposes of comparison there is given the following statement 

of the cost at Oroville, Cal, quoted in the Mining and Scientific Press, 

February 18, 1905, from the report of the Oroville Dredging and
168 GEAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

Exploration Company to the stockholders for the year ending December 31,1904, by F. W. Bradley, president. The figures given represent 

merely operating expenses, and do not include allowance for depreciation of the plants and of the ground. It should be remembered, however, that even adding these items of expense to the operating cost per 

cubic yard the number of yards handled per season is so large, as compared with that possible in northern operations, that the total California 

cost is not greatly increased. Eight cents per cubic yard is believed 

to be a safe estimate for the present total cost of gold dredging at 

Oroville.

The table of lost time in the following quotation is especially interesting as showing that even under the favorable California conditions 

the actual dredging time of a presumably representative dredge 

amounted to only 67.2 per cent of the whole.

DREDGING AT OROVILLE, CAL.

Our No. 1, or $45,000 dredge, made the following record: 

Cubic: yards dredged..................................... 493,150

CJold yield per cubic yard, $0.1232; operating costs', $0.0562; operating 

profit, $0.067, or................................................... $32, 905. 79

Improvement, taxes, insurance, legal, and all other working expenses

(except construction of No. 2 dredge)............................... 7,166. 88

Surplus......-.......-....:............................-......:....- 25, 738. 91

Our-No. 2,. or $75,000 dredge, should be ready to begin work next month (January-, 

1905). Figuring on the data now available, the two dredges should make the following average annual record:

Dredge No. 1 (first cost $45,000) .....

Dredge No. 2 (first cost $75,000) .....

Total or average ..............

Improvements, taxes, and all other 

working expenses. ................

Total ........................

Dredged.

CiMc yards. 

520, 000

780, 000

1,300,000

Operating 

cost.

Per en. yd. 

|0. 0530

.0500

. 0512

.0088

.0600

Probable 

yield.

Percu. yd.

$0. 095

Surplus.

|0. 035

Or a yearly surplus of $45,500. Our prospect information indicates that after rejecting that portion of our land of doubtful value the property should have a life of 

from thirteen to fourteen years at the above estimated rate of dredging.

C. H. Munro, superintendent, makes a detailed report of the company's operations, from which the following is taken:

Extraction. The prospect value of the area dredged, based on the average value 

of the holes in and near the dredged area, was 16.64 cents. 1 The extraction table 

herewith attached, which is computed on these figures, makes the extraction 74 per 

cent of the prospect value.

The extraction amounted to 76.37 per cent of the prospect value, based on the 

proportional or fractional areas as influenced by each prospect hole.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY iULLETIN NO. 263 PL. XXX

A- DREDGE OF NEW ZEALAND TYPE AT OROVILLE, CAL, LEGGETT NO. 3.

S. BUCKETS, DREDGE AT COUNCIL.
PtJRINGTON.] DREDGING. 169

It would therefore be fair to call the extraction 75.18 per cent of the prospect 

value, which is the average of the two methods of computation above referred to.

During the year just ended, Biggs No. 1 dredged 11.85 acres, handling 493,150 

cubic yards, which yielded a gross bullion return'of $60,738.52, or an average yield of 

12.32 cents per cubic yard, as compared with a gross bullion return of $36,525.25, 

or an average yield of 8.45 cents per cubic yard for 1903.

Costs. The operating cost has been 5.62 cents per cubic yard, and the total .cost, 

including all improvements, repairs, taxes, insurance, legal, office, and other 

expenses (excepting Biggs No. 2 construction account), has amounted to 7.06 cents 

per cubic yard.

Comparing the capacity of the dredge and the cost of operation for 1904 with 1903, 

the capacity has increased from 39,551 cubic yards per month to 41,096 cubic yards 

per month, while the cost of operation has decreased from 6.48 cents per cubic yard 

to 5.62 cents per cubic yard, and the total expense from 7.71 cents to 7.06 cents per 

cubic yard.

The bullion yield lias increased from 8.45 cents per cubic yard to 12.32 cents per 

cubic yard. . . - . .

Repairs. Aside from the ordinary repairs on the dredge, a new revolving screen 

was installed at a cost of $1,600, and the 1-horsepower motor used for priming the 

water pumps and cleaning up was replaced by a 3-horsepower motor at a cost of 

$127.55.

Fut.mie. repairs. During the floods last February 500 feet of the flume and trestle 

were washed away. The rebuilding of the flume and trestle and repairs at the pump 

station cost $357.40.

Improvements. The blacksmith shop equipment has been enlarged at a cost of 

$547.45 by installing a 5-horsepower motor, with transformer, a forge, blower, emery 

wheels, grindstone, and small drill press.

Biggs No. 2 construction. The hull of Biggs No. 2 is completed and the dredge was 

floated the first of the year. The contractors are now installing the machinery, and 

the dredge will probably be ready for operation about the middle of February, 1905.

Bullion table.

Month.

May ..............

July ..............

October ...........

Totaloraveronrp

Cubic yards 

bank measurement 

dredged.

20, 340

32, 000

41, 160

' 50, 760

47, 700

40, 750

44, 380

39, 300

41,600

48, 460

' 40, 300

46, 400

493, 150

Bullion yield.

$3, 120. 87

3, 408. 59

7, 732. 62

9, 600. 10

8, 072. 17

3, 704. 36

4, 271. 03

4, 273. 31

4, 265. 74

4, 645. 08

3, 374. 92

4, 269. 73

60, 738. 52

Operating 

expenses.

$2, 677. 00

2, 205. 07

2,418.94

1, 854. 69

2, 233. 41

2, 013. 97

2, 272. 36

2,471.91'

2, 392. 09

2, 620. 83

2, 340. 96

2, 331. 31

27, 832. 53

Yieldper 

cubic 

yard.

Cents. 

15. 38

10. 65

18.78

18. 91

16.94

9.09

9.62

10. 87

10.25

9.58

8.37

9.20

12. 32

Operating 

cost per 

cubic 

yard.

Cents. 

13. 16

6.89

5.88

3.65

4.68

4.94

5. 12

6.29

5.75

5.40

5.81

5.02

5.62

Operating 

profit per 

cubic 

yard.

Cents. 

2.22

3.76

12. 90

15. 26

12. 26

4. 15

4.50

4.58

4.50

4.18

2.56

4.18

6.70
Total or 

average..

to

f

CO

00 

en

>£ 

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o 

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en en -en en oenj^-rf^c

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co ai.--i toi 'tocio

H* o en coto>£-co 

oa-.o'Q^o^-Q'G^ai^-c^orQi^crq-^Oo1 X 0^^ o?° o c?

-^ § s;= ^g - <^E |s ^ lil PS is H

P -rf! ' i°! -i-i ' PI &sv ri.J ^: |

^S S-- 0 § 00. go'* Sa-g §S^ &S 0 fT

-5 " g-^r JLS-.-r ao^g aSJr (^^ 2" s-

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-2 s | aag^^o a'pi s§§ 1-2 § 3

as, j?a& o?g? si ««»=:&«« g § « a^
tURINGTON.] DREDGING. 171

The figures for the several items of expense in the following tables varied from 

month to month throughout the year, and the averages for the entire year only are 

given:

Operating and all other costs.

Operating expense Biggs No. 1 and superintendence .......

General expense, Oroville and San Francisco ..............

Bullion expense ..................................... i ...

Taxes ..................................................

Warehouse. .............................................

Legal ...................................................

Total .............................................

Total for year.

$27, 832. 53

1, 788. 62

1, 262. 78

251.34

1, 942. 66

401. 18

450. 00

1, 070. 50

34, 999. 41

Total expense per 

cubic yard.

Cents.

5.62

.36

.26

.05

.39

.08

.09

.21

7.06

Details of operating costs.

Labor: 

Operative. ................................

Power: 

Dredge ...................................

Pumps ...................................

Hardware:

Repair parts, etc ..........................

Freight, express, and hauling ..............

Steel cables ...............................

Lumber ..................................

Sundry expenses ..........................

Total ...................................

Total for year.

$6, 435. 20

4, 690. 41

1,875.00

4, 902. 81

68.20

1, 109. 77

6, 768. 23

504. 69

336. 03

28.06

285. 67

794. 40

34. 06

27, 832. 53

Percent of 

total.

Per cent. 

22.9

16.8

6.8

17.7

.3

4.0

24.4

1.8

1.2

.1

1.0

2.9

.1

100. 0

Cost per 

cubic yard.

Cents. 

1.290

.943

. . 380

1 . 000

.014

.220

1. 370

.100

.070

.006

.060

.160

.007

5. 620
GRAVEL AND PLACES MINING Itf ALASKA.

Repair table showing cost of labor and material on different parts of the dredge.

Ladder: 

Labor ..............................................

Material ............................................

Bucket line: 

Labor ..............................................

Material ............................................

Stacker: 

Labor ..............................................

Material ............................................

Winches: 

Labor ..............................................

Material ............................................

Screen : 

Labor ..............................................

Material ............................................

Pumps: 

Labor ..............................................

Material .... ..............................'.......'..

Power: 

Labor ............................................:.

Material ............................................

Lines: 

Labor ..............................................

Material ........ .~ ..................................

Gold tables and clean-ups:

Material ............................................

Contingent repairs:

Total for year.

$492. 63

596.43

 1,328.07

3, 237. 35

*894. 66

1, 125. 04

138. 73

84.05

772. 42

1, 498. 57

125.50

16.80

311. 80

541.59

333. 43

361.48

152. 03

74. 71

800. 56

1, 307. 59

Grand total.

$1,089.06

4, 565. 42

2, 019. 70

222. 78

2, 220. 99

142.30'

853. 39

694. 91

226. 74

2,108.15

Table of lost time.

Ladder.........................................................per cent.. 10. 7

Bucket line...................................................... ...:do.

Stacker.............................................................do.

Winches .................................................... ...... do.

Screen .............................................................do.

Pumps ............................................................. do.

Power..............................................................do.

Lines ..............................................................do.

Clean-up .......................................................... .do.

Other causes-..--...................................................do.

20.5

10.7

3.5

9.9

2.6

7.9

9.0

3.5

21.7
PURIW3TON.] DREDGINC4. 173

Total lost time ................................................ .per cent.. 32. 8

Dredging time .... ....^........................................... ..do... 67. 2

Average number of cubic yards dredged per day of running time............. 2,005

Actual average number of cubic yards dredged per day of twenty-four hours.. 1, 347

Summary of costs in cents per cubic yard, 1904-

Dredge crew and power.................................................... /!. 69

Repair labor ......................................................:....... .94

Repair supplies. ............................................................ 1. 61

Superintendence .......................................................... .38

Oroville and San Francisco general expense .................................. .36

Taxes and insurance.........................................._.. .......... .48

Bullion expense...........................................................' .05

Grand total, all costs ........................................._.............. 6. 51

For three $45,000 dredges these items would have been as follows: 

Dredge crew and power.................................................... 2.69

Repair labor.............................................................. .66

Repair supplies..........'...............................-............-...... 1.61

Superintendence ........................................................... .17

Oroville and San Francisco general expense................................. .12

Taxes and insurance....................................................... .27

Bullion expense........................................................... .05

Grand total, all costs....................................................... 5. 57

Mr. J. P. Hutchins, of San Francisco, who has had long experience 

in the dredging- fields of Oroville and has recently worked in the 

Klondike, has courteously furnished for this report an account of the 

present status of the industry, with suggestions regarding the forms 

of dredges most applicable to Alaska conditions.

NOTES ON DREDGING. 

By J. P. HUTCHINS.

Dredge mining of placer gold has been one of the most attractive 

fields for investments of capital in recent }7 ears. Prospecting methods 

in use to determine the values of the areas thought to be available for 

profitable exploitation by dredging are not complicated. Until recently 

well-drilling machines have been used almost exclusively in this work, 

and in many cases the results of such sampling have led to large 

investments of capital in dredging ground and dredging machinery. 

These drilling machines have much to recommend them. They are 

cheap and mobile, can be operated on floating scows to sample river, 

lake, or sea bottoms (see PL III, A, p. 40), or used to sample a deposit 

where a large volume of water near the surface would make shaft 

sinking very costly. Numerous holes can be drilled in a short time 

and at a comparatively small cost. In many cases shafts have been 

sunk with the drill holes for centers, and the results of the two methods 

of prospecting checked well.

It was first held that the results of dredging could be relied upon to 

equal about 50 per cent of what drill prospecting would indicate the
174 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263.

values to be. The disparities were in part accounted for by attributing them to spilling, leakage, faulty discharge of buckets, incomplete 

excavation by apparatus, incomplete disintegration during washing in 

screening, and to losses in the gold-saving apparatus. It seemed, 

however, as if these losses should be only about 10 per cent, and the 

other 40 per cent was explained by the well-known general statement 

that "prospecting results are always high."

Up to the time that considerable areas previously prospected with 

numerous drill holes were dredged, the results of drill prospecting 

were believed to be absolutely reliable, making the allowance, however, of about 50 per cent for values to be recovered by the dredge. 

After these areas had been worked, however, the dredge managers 

found much to surprise them, for where ground had prospected well 

it had dredged poorly, and vice versa. It is asserted that in these 

instances both the drilling and dredging were so conducted that no 

great reliability could be attached, to the results, but this explanation 

is far from satisfactory.

In the use. of the drilling machine to sample alluvion, as in all other 

prospecting, unusual care must be exercised to obtain results that 

shall give a correct idea of the values and of the other characteristics 

of the ground under examination. It is unquestionably true that 

careless sampling has been the cause of man}7 failures in dredging 

operations. The seeming simplicity of this prospecting method has, 

as in other apparently simple determinations, resulted in crude manipulation and misleading results. In some instances there has been a 

misleading affectation of accuracy in tabulating results of drill prospecting. Careless location and distribution of drill holes have given 

faulty results. Nevertheless, the percussion drilling machine is peerless for testing most areas that may be available for exploitation by 

the dredging method.

The drilling machines are used for several purposes. It is necessary 

to determine whether the material is too hard to make dredging 

profitable, and for this purpose drilling machines are not entirely 

satisfactory. In several areas prospected by drilling machines and 

.thought suitable for. dredges the material proved to be so hard that a 

machine different from the one designed was required for successful 

exploitation. If the prospecting had been done with more care this 

unfavorable condition Avould have been learned.

Reliable results call for the determination of the presence and distribution in the vertical section of an}7 considerable content of tenacious 

clay and large bowlders, and here again the drill does not yield entirely 

satisfactory results. The depth of material must be ascertained and, 

where the bed rock is a so-called "false," the greatest care is necessary in order to determine its position. The character, hardness, and 

roughness of the bed rock must be learned, and the drill unfortunately
PUKINGTON.] DKEJDGING.. 175

still leaves much to be desired in connection with this phase of the 

investigation.. In spite of these drawbacks the percussion drilling 

machine has no superior as a preliminary means of prospecting alluvions thought to be suitable for working by the dredging method, and 

this is particularly true where large volumes of water may be encountered near the surface. The sinking of shafts is to be preferred, however, where not too costty.

In several projects, where a large expenditure of money is in con> 

templation, so-called prospecting dredges have been used. These 

machines are small but complete dredges, and perform, on a small 

scale, the functions of the ordinary type. Their design is such that 

the}7 may be readily moved, for they are equipped with lightly constructed machinery and hulls and are of light draft. If, as is frequently the case, the area to be prospected is traversed by*a river or 

sloughs, such a light dredge is easily moved from place to place. 

Where there are no waterways, a still smaller dredge, to be moved on 

rollers or skids, can be employed.

Though the cost of installation and operation of such prospecting 

dredges is considerably more than that of drilling machines, the reliability of the results will often justify the additional expenditures, particularly where large areas are being prospected. By their use the 

values per cubic yard, character of material, presence of large bowlders and clay, and depth and character of bed rock can be accurately 

ascertained. There is an additional advantage of great importance 

in the fact that the cost of operating a large dredge can at the same 

time be closely determined.

The number of gold dredges in successful operation in the United 

States has greatly increased during the past decade, and especially in 

the last six years.,. The first successful one was operated at Bannock, 

in Montana, and was of the so-called "double-lift" type. The material 

Avas excavated by a chain of buckets and discharged from an elevation of about 15 feet above the deck into a trommel, which had perforations about 5 inches in diameter. Stones of larger diameter were 

discharged over the side of the dredge; the "fines" were elevated by 

a 12-inch centrif rugal dredging pump to a sluice and discharged about 

100 feet astern. This type of dredge is still advocated by some managers, and unquestionably has a number of advantages over other 

types. It is especially good for handling material which has a clay 

content or which is so tenacious that gold is lost by. incomplete disintegration and insufficient washing in the screens and sluices of the 

other types of gold dredges. The passage of the fines through the 

centrifugal pump of the double-lift dredge tends to disintegrate the 

material thoroughly and to completely liberate any particles of gold 

held in clay or other tenacious substances,
176 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

The particular problem at Bannock was to evolve a dredging pump 

to stand the wear and tear of handling the fines of about 2,000 cubic 

yards every twenty-four hours. The first pump was worn out after 

seventy hours' use, but another of excellent construction, designed by 

the dredge manager, was installed and used for several years. After 

a seven months' run, when the fines of over 400,000 cubic yards had 

passed through it, it was estimated that the costs of repairs and 

 renewals of the pump had been only about $150.

With a view of eliminating the dredging pump the so-called singlelift dredge was designed by Montana men. This t}rpe discharges the 

material about 28 feet above the deck into a trommel with perforations 

5 inches in diameter. As in the "double-lift" dredge, the coarse 

material was deposited over the side, while the fines dropped into a 

sluice and were discharged about 100 feet astern. The greater height 

of discharge of buckets made a secondary lift of the fines unnecessary. 

This form of construction introduced a new set of problems, as the 

higher position of the upper tumbler necessitated longer ladders, more 

and heavier buckets in a longer bucket chain, larger hulls, and heavier 

construction throughout. Some of the first "single-lift" dredges 

were very unstable because of the high position .of center of .gravity. 

This type of dredge is now in more general use than the "double-lift" 

machines.

The dredge which had been used so successfully in New Zealand 

was not introduced into the United States until after the extensive 

operation of these two types. The first New Zealand dredge was 

installed in the Oroville district of California, and after a few modifications to suit local conditions was and is still operated successful!}7 . 

This was followed by the building of a number of similar dredges in 

California, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and elsewhere (see 

Pis. XXX, A, and XXXI, £).

These dredges were essentially different in design and manipulation 

from those of the double and single lift types. While the bucket 

of the New Zealand t}7 pe was evolved entirety for gold-dredging purposes, the bucket previously used in this country was but a slight 

modification of the one used for harbor and canal dredging. In both 

types, but more notably in the bucket evolved in harbor and canal 

dredging, the first made were deficient in the strength of the digging 

apparatus.

The New Zealand t}rpe of gold dredge discharges the material about 

16 feet above the deck into a trommel, the largest perforations of 

which are about one-half inch in diameter. A stacker (see PL 

XXXI, B) made of a chain of steel buckets elevates all material not 

passing through perforations of trommel and discharges it astern of 

the dredge at a height sufficient to allow for the expansion of the 

tailings. The fines pass over the gold-saving devices and are dis-
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 263 PL. XXXI

A. DIGGING ON SPUD.

11. STACKER, NEW ZEALAND TYPE OF DREDGE, CALIFORNIA NO. 1.
PUBINGTON.] , DREDGING. 177

charged about 10 to 15 feet astern of the dredge. On the double and 

single lift dredges no stackers were necessary, because the larger perforations of the trommels allowed the comparative^ small percentage 

of stones'to be discharged over the side without shoaling the water 

too much.

The gold-saving apparatus introduced with the New Zealand type 

was also essentially different. The hydraulic mining undercurrent, 

which is a wide sluice with steep grade, and which spreads the material 

over a broad surface in a shallow sheet after all stones of diameter 

greater than 2 inches have been removed by a grizzly, was evolved 

in California but had been successfully used in New Zealand in hydraulic operations. A very slightly modified form of this device was used 

on a number of the dredges, with the difference that cocoa matting 

instead of riffles charged with quicksilver was used to catch the gold 

(see PL XXIX, A, p. 162).

The double and single lift gold dredges depended principally, and 

in some cases entirely, on a comparatively narrow sluice with riffles 

charged with quicksilver. The material passed over the riffles in a 

deep sheet, a condition not conducive to a high percentage of saving, 

where the gold is in the form of very finely divided particles.

There is a marked difference in the manipulation of the several 

types of dredges. The New Zealand boat in digging is held to the 

face of the bank by a headline run out over the bow to an anchorage, 

and the buckets are lowered in a vertical plane, the material being 

caved by undermining at the bottom. The other types are held to 

the face by a pivotal stern spud (see PI. XXXI, J.), the buckets being 

side fed horizontally through an arc of 120°. The cut is begun at the 

surface and the digging ladder lowered about 1 foot at the completion of each arc, no attempt being made to undermine or cave the 

material excavated.

Several shovel dredges were built at Oroville at about the time the 

New Zealand type was installed. On these the hydraulic-mining 

undercurrent, almost the same as tha.t of the hydraulic miner in California, and a shaking screen, similar in action to the rocker of the 

early-day California miner, are' used. Belt stackers were also 

installed. The shovel dredges proved costly of operation and have, 

with few exceptions, been discarded.

Next in order of development came a dredge with the bucket 

evolved in canal and harbor dredging. The machine was very much 

strengthened, however, and was provided with shaking screen, belt 

stacker, and hydraulic-mining .undercurrents, called "gold-saving 

tables." In this type is found a combination of the better features of 

the double and single lift and shovel gold dredges. Small buckets 

were first used, but the tendenc}^ had been toward increased capacity. 

This dredge was an improvement, but it had a fault common to all the 

Bull. 263 05 12
178 GKAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [.BULL. 263.

dredges at that time and still often found a lack of coordination of 

capacity in the-four processes of which gold dredging consists, namely, 

excavating, screening, sluicing, and tailing.

The next improvement was the building of a dredge in which coordination of capacities received more attention, for in this the screens, 

tables, stacker, and pumps were enlarged. It was designed to work 

either on spud or headline, with a slightly higher discharge of material 

to permit of a greater elevation of coarse tailings and a stacking of 

them at a distance from the stern. The pivotal spud was placed 

inboard so as to make the .digging and the tailing arcs of more equal 

lengths when working on a spud. The difficulties encountered when 

these arcs were of very unequal length were thus eliminated. The 

disposition of the tailings had formerly been a continual source of 

difficulty and expense, but this improved dredge was so designed as to 

allow both working on a headline and side feeding through an arc of 

long radius. This permitted the working of a wide cut and the disposition of tailings without covering adjacent virgin ground, for previously much untouched territory had been Avasted by being covered 

with tailings. Impact riffles charged with mercury, i. e., those where 

the fines are dropped to efi'ect amalgamation, and larger gold-saving 

areas were also introduced.

There have been no radical changes in the design or construction of 

gold-dredging machinery of late, and efforts have been directed toward 

the strengthening and bettering of machinery and hull and the lowering of operating expenses.

The excavating apparatus (see PL XXXII; PL XXVUI, B, p. 160, 

and PL XXX, _Z?, p. 168) used in gold dredging has been very much 

improved since the first installations. Bucket forms have been 

modified so as to prevent losses by spilling. This is accomplished by 

reducing the angle made by the bucket lip with the line through the 

centers of the two bucket pins. With the earlier design a considerable 

loss by spilling, except when buckets were working at maximum depth, 

was noticed. In the earlier design the bucket was long, narrow, and 

deep, and a clean discharge was not effected, especially when working 

in sticky or sandy material. Recent design provides a short, wide, 

and shallow bucket which discharges more perfectly. The use of jets 

of water to wash any adhering material from both inside and outside 

of buckets into the hopper and save-alls is now common and accomplishes a Considerable increase in the gold saving. The capacity of 

buckets has been largely increased, but the economical limit has not 

been reached nor will it be reached in the near future.

With the increase of size of buckets there has not been a proportionately greater strength, but this defect is being gradually remedied. 

The use of various alloys of steel in bucket parts, as well as in other
U. S. GEOLOGI

BUCKETS. 

A, California No. 3; H, E! Oro; C, Indiana; D, Lava Beds No. 2.
PURINGTON.] DREDGING. 179

parts of the dredging machinery where there is severe wear and tear, 

has been in most cases successful.

The design of the upper and lower tumblers has been modified and 

all parts subject to wear are now easily replaceable. In earlier installations the tumblers were of such design and construction that the 

wearing out of one part sometimes necessitated the loss of the whole. 

Some trouble has been caused by the working loose of the "wearing 

plates." Tumblers with more numerous faces are now also used. In 

early practice the square upper tumbler was supposed to be superior 

to the one with more faces, it being assumed that the square tumbler 

was more capable of firmly holding the buckets and preventing the 

danger of its revolving without moving the bucket chain. The hexagonal upper tumbler is now in successful operation, and it is safe to 

predict that heptagonal and possibly octagonal upper tumblers will be

FIG. 34. Angles for upper tumbler.

used, particularly on the smaller dredges. The objection that they 

will not hold is not good. Even if true, an arrangement making the 

relation of bucket to tumbler that of chain to sprocket would solve the 

difficulty. The use of the heptagonal and octagonal upper tumblers 

introduces'a new set of problems, involving larger tumblers and shafting, different arrangement of chute to hopper, and modified forms of 

save-alls. These modifications are necessary because of the resulting 

longer period of discharge of the bucket. It is probable, however, 

that saving in wear of the bucket pins and bushings due to lesser deflection in turning tumblers of more numerous faces will compensate for 

the extra expense involved in construction.

Fig. 34, above, shows the relative size and different deflection angles 

made by the "b'uckets in turning the square, pentagonal, hexagonal,
180 GBAVEL AND PLACED MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

heptagonal, and octagonal tumblers and per cent of saving of wear 

over the square type. The wear and tear of bucket pins and bushings is almost entirely the result of the deflection of the buckets in 

rounding the tumblers. A slight amount of wear is occasioned Iry 

deflections back of the lower tumbler as the buckets come in contact 

with the material. These last deflections, however, would be prevented 

by rollers such as are suggested in a paragraph on page 184 discussing 

the respective merits of the spud and headline.

If, instead of square upper and lower tumblers, pentagonal, hexagonal, heptagonal, or octagonal tumblers are used the saving of wear of 

bucket pins and bushings would be approximate!}r. 40, 66, 86, and 100 

per cent, respectively. . There is but one serious objection to the use of a lower tumbler of 

more numerous faces, i. e., greater size and weight. The great saving 

in wear of the bucket pins and bushings will, when fully appreciated, 

result in the use of .both upper and lower tumblers of more numerous 

faces. (See PI. XXXIII, A.)

One dredge manager of much experience has 'suggested the use of 

a round lower tumbler of large diameter with buckets of short pitch, 

claiming that buckets seldom lie flat on tumbler faces when excavating, but frequently ride the corners between the faces. This difficulty 

has been observed by the writer on many occasions. A too rapid 

feeding of buckets resulted in considerable spilling of material upon 

the buckets about to round the lower tumbler. The spilled material 

lodged between the buckets and the tumbler faces and destroyed, temporarily, their proper relation. The use of the round lower tumbler 

would have the additional advantage of preventing surging (see 

p. 184).

Until recently it has not been generally regarded as good practice 

to lower the digging ladder to more than 45° from the horizontal 

because of supposed disadvantages in such manipulation. Recent 

installations provide an idler at the rear end of the well to prevent 

the buckets from dragging on the chutes and the save-all gratings as 

the ladder is lowered more than 45° from horizontal. This device 

permits greater working depths with a given length of ladder and 

makes deeper ground available for the dredge. PI. XXXIII, B, 

illustrates diggings at a low angle. There is a marked diversity of 

opinion among managers as to the relative merits of the trommel and 

shaking screen. The trommel advocates have claimed better mechanism, cheaper maintenance, more efficient .screening when material is at 

all tenacious, and economy in power. The advocates of the shaking 

screen have claimed larger capacity with given weight, higher percentage of gold saving because of better opportunities for amalgamation by impact, and easier and better distribution of material over the 

gold-saving surfaces.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

A. LOWER TUMBLER, CALIFORNIA NO. 3.

11. DIGGING LADDER AT LOW ANGLE, OROVILLE, CAL.
PUHINGTON.] DREDGING. . 181

The trommel (see PI. XXIX, J.,' p. 162) is a better mechanism, 

requires less power for operation, and gives much less trouble in 

maintenance than the shaking screen and does cleaner screening, particularly when the material is at all indurated or tenacious. Trommels 

have almost Avithout exception been too small, and all late installations are larger. Amalgamation by impact is now accomplished by 

a special arrangement of the gold-saving apparatus, and distribution 

of water is no longer a difficult problem on dredges where trommels are used. One of the most recent installations by a company 

which has extensively emplo}7 ed both devices includes a trommel. At 

present in most cases the trommel is in high favor among Oroville 

operators.

Where there is an overburden of any considerable depth the use of 

a device to blank the trommel or screen will be a distinct improvement. By its use all barren material can be stacked well back of dredge 

and usually at a more rapid rate than if handled in the ordinary way. 

Overburdens, which it is always necessary to dispose of as quickly and 

cheaply as possible, usually consist of a-fine loam or sand which can 

be run but slowly, over the gold-saving devices because of clogging 

when handled rapidly. A blanking device was used for a time at Oroville and worked well, but, because of bad design, required too much 

time in blanking and unblanking the screen. Its use, however, allowed 

the beginning of dredging operations, on interior ground, without the 

use of a sand pump and the immediate excavation to a depth of 30 

feet, with a consequent minimum wasting of dredging ground. The 

use of such a device involves a large discharge of material from screen 

or trommel to the stacker where a troughed belt is used. The incline 

of the stacker must not be so steep as to permit the material, which is 

often a thin mud, to run back to the end.

The use of a device to blank the hopper which shunts the material 

into the well has been tried, but has not been entirely successful. In 

this case also, bad design rather than bad principle was responsible 

for failure. The disposition of an overburden by this method is to be 

heartily recommended, especially where dredges work on headlines, as 

they are thus enabled to distribute the barren material across most of 

the width of the cut.

The gold-saving apparatus, after many experimental modifications, 

including the introduction of various magnetic and intricate devices, 

has returned to the hydraulic-undercurrent type with the mercury 

riffle. For saving clean gold the mercury riffle is probably best. 

When, however, for any reason there is imperfect amalgamation, the 

use of some form of woven material to enmesh particles of rusty gold 

is good practice.

The increase of the area of gold-saving surface has met with good 

results. Steeper grades are now used for gold-saving tables than for-
182 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 260.

merly, and arrangements are such as to allow a-better distribution of 

sluicing water to various parts of the gold-saving areas. Gold-saving 

surfaces are now generally arranged in a number of drops, and the 

material impinges upon riffles charged with mercury and is amalgamated by impact.

Much thought has been recently given to the perfecting of save-alls, 

and a surprisingly large amount of gold, sometimes 10 per cent of all 

saved, is recovered in this way. The design of save-alls in the earlier 

practice was somewhat neglected, but in the general refinement 

of working methods a considerable improvement is being effected. 

A device for keeping under lock and key parts of the gold-saving 

apparatus where, the largest proportion of gold is caught has been 

introduced.

The troughed belt stacker seems to be generally regarded as superior to the bucket stacker (see PI. XXXIV, B) because of greater 

economy of operation and less weight for a given length'. Stacker 

belts are a source of large expenditure because of the rapid wear due 

to the insufficient thickness and inferior quality of the material which 

covers the woven part of belt and which gives the belt its wearing 

qualities.

Nearly all the recently installed stackers have the driving pulley on 

the outboard end, and electric dredges have the driving motor, as 

well, on the outboard end. (See PI. XXXIV, A.} This arrangement 

has eliminated a number of troublesome features. If the stacker is 

driven by rope or sprocket chain from a motor on the dredge, there 

is much trouble due to wear, slipping, and stretching of ropes and of 

sprocket chains. If the driving pulley is at the inboard end of the 

stacker, the load is pushed uphill on the slack side of the belt, and 

there is much trouble from slipping and stalling. A belt stacker 

driven \)y the inboard pulley requires more power than one operated 

by the outboard pulley.

At one time it was generally thought that when coarse gold occurred 

in the material dredged, either the double or single lift type of dredge 

must be used. Stacker dredges are now used and have at the lower 

end of the trommel perforations large enough to pass material up to 

1^ inches in diameter. This material and water run through a sluice 

where gold is saved and are then deposited in the stacker buckets. 

With such a device under ordinar}^ conditions a troughed belt stacker 

could not be used, as it could not handle the water. Any device that 

would remove water and deposit pebbles on the belt without too many 

complications would allow the use of the belt stacker. (See PI. XXXV, 

J., p. 184.) It would not be expedient to use a double or single lift 

dredge where ground is deep. To effect disposition of tailings while 

operating the double and single lift dredges it is necessary to keep the 

pond nearly full and to use very long digging ladders.
A. UNCOMPLETED BELT STACKER, OROVILLE, CAL.

K. TROUGHED BELT STACKER, OROVILLE, CAL.
DBEDGlNGk 183

Stackers and tail sluices .are of greater length than formerly. In 

early installations, without a single exception, stackers and tail sluices, 

were too short, and difficulties due to improper disposition of tailings 

were of constant occurrence. Considerable areas of rich dredging 

ground, particularly when deep, have not been thoroughly worked, 

and much virgin ground has been covered by tailings to such a degree 

as to make it unworkable. The short stacker does not allow the coarse 

tailings to be discharged at a sufficient distance from the stern and at 

the proper height. There is consequently lack of room for fine tailTop of tailings

Surface of ground

FIG. 35. Tailings well stacked.

ings. In consequence the sand pump was brought into use, and the 

fines were discharged in such a way that much adjacent ground was 

covered by them. Valuable dredging ground, even now, is being 

wasted in this way, as also by faulty manipulation of the dredge. The 

tailings have not been stacked with enough care to keep them well away 

from the sides of the cut when there is virgin ground on one or both 

sides.

Fig. 35 shows the cross section of tailings so piled as to waste no 

ground. It is assumed that the side slope of the cut is 45°, but this is

Top of tailings

Surface of groundFIG. 36. Tailings poorly stacked.

the case only when ground is very free. "B" in the sketch is the 

boundary of the cut on bed rock. "A" is the boundary of slope to 

4:5°. F G is equal to 2 F H. Tailings, as a general rule, should be 

so stacked that the distance from the tailings to the side of the cut at 

the surface of the water is about twice as great as the depth to which 

the dredge is digging.

A cross section showing the result of stacking tailings badly is 

indicated in fig.v 36. . This cut has been filled with tailings to point A', 

the boundary of the cut at the surface. In excavating the cut, of
184 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN. ALASKA. [BUU. 263.

which A', L, K, J is a part of cross section, it would not be possible 

to dredge beyond the point L in the direction of B' without having1 to 

dig tailings in section B', A', M, N. If the material in the triangular 

section is assumed to be loose and to stand at an angle of 45°, angle 

A', L, B', the undredged ground in section B',,L, A' would be lost. 

At first the relative merits in the use of a pivotal spud or a headline 

were considered almost wholly from the standpoint of actual excavation, and the difficulties of disposing of the tailings did not receive 

nearly the attention their importance demanded. In the opinion of 

the writer the pivotal spud should be used only by dredges of the 

double and single lift type whose sluices are sustained by auxiliary 

scows. Several dredges of these types in Montana, having broken a 

number of pivotal spuds while dredging a tenacious material, have 

substituted a system of rope anchorages which does not recommend 

itself to the writer, as it. appears better to make use of stronger spuds. 

The rigging consists of four wire ropes leading from a high frame at 

the stern to anchors ashore. The pivotal spud appears to be more 

effective in holding the dredge when excavating indurated material 

and prevents its surging and ramming the bank. Attempt has been 

made to prevent this movement in headline dredges by placing the 

buckets closer together and thus bringing about greater continuity of 

contact between the buckets and the dredging surface. This, however, has not been entirely successful. It is possible that the introduction of a number of rollers on the lower side of the bucket ladder 

and behind the lower tumbler would result in holding several buckets 

Hrmly against the material being excavated and prevent surging, as 

it is probable that this movement,, in digging hard material, is caused 

by the alternate taking hold and letting go of the buckets, as only one 

bucket at a time is held firmly by the lower tumbler. The buckets 

behind the lower tumbler dig by their weight only, which is insufficient to force them into hard material. The use of some such device 

as above suggested, if successful, would probably make it possible for 

a headline dredge to excavate indurated material with the very important advantages of mobility and the better distribution of tailings.

The use of lower tumblers of more numerous faces causes more 

buckets to dig at a time and results in less surging. It is possible' 

that the use of a round tumbler of large diameter might entirely eliminate the surging, for there would then be no raising and lowering of 

the buckets as there is during the revolution of the tumbler of few 

faces.

The use of the pivotal spud introduces a number of problems in the 

disposition of tailings. The spud should! be so located as to make the 

radius of the arc described by the buckets in digging as long as possible, thus permitting the excavation of a wide cut an'obvious advantage. This demands the placing of the spud at or near the stern. The
U, S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY ULLETIN NO. 263 PL. XXXV

A. PRACTICE IN POND DREDGING, OROVILLE, CAL.

B. PILOT HOUSE, UPPER DECK, STARBOARD SIDE.
PORINGTON.] DREDGING. 185

older boats were provided with short stackers and tail sluices, which 

resulted in the narrow distribution of all the tailings, but more particularly the fines. Under these conditions the stern of the dredge 

was frequently aground, unless kept clear by the use of a sand pump. 

This difficulty has been remedied to a certain degree by the lengthening of stackers and tail sluices, but will always be much more serious 

for the pivotal-spud dredge than for the headline dredge. The headline dredge can use the maximum amount of tailing area. For example, in unusual cases, as in dredging a pay streak of defined boundaries, 

tailings can be deposited on barren ground outside of the cut. To 

. accomplish the same result with a pivotal-spud dredge numerous 

changes of position would have to be made, an expedient likely to 

result in much loss of time and 

some loss of ground because of the 

difficulty of relocating the pivotal 

points. The wasting of un worked 

ground by the faulty discharge of 

tailings is well illustrated by fig. 

37. In this the distance from the 

pivotal point to the lower end of 

bucket ladder excavating at the 

maximum depth, called the digging 

length, is 90 feet. Here P x and 

P y represent the distances from 

the pivotal point to the point of 

discharge of the stacking ladder 

and are called "tailing lengths." 

Here the discharge is at points 

marked z and z', which are, respectively, only 18 feet and 5 feet from 

boundaries of cut, whereas they 

should be not less than 40 feet 

away, if the dredge be digging in 

ground 20 feet deep. It also shows 

that in some methods of manipulation too long a stacker is detrimental. 

This illustration is taken from two dredges now in operation.

In fig. 38 a method in general use is shown to prevent the covering 

with tailings of unexcavated material adjacent to cut. To bring this 

about it is necessary to move the dredge from P to P' as often as the 

distances from C and C' to #, while moving ahead in excavating arc 

A, B, C, and in the advancing of tailings in arc a?, y, z^ become so short 

as to make it difficult, as x1 approaches P, and x approaches P', to 

move to and dig in the other half of the cut. The changing of the 

dredge from one half to the other half of the cut is generally made 

every few days and consumes considerable time. There is, moreover,

FIG. 37. Spud digging with tailings piled too 

near unworked ground.
GRAVEL AfrD PLACER MINING Irf ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

the constant danger of the dredge not being located with the pivotal 

point in the right place and thus, when changing from one half cut to 

the other, there is a consequent loss of ground. In this figure it is 

assumed that the dredge is digging 20 feet below the surface of a 

pond on a bank 30 feet deep.

In fig. 39 the result of keeping the lines of advance of the pivotal 

points too close together is shown. The dumping of tailings at x' and 

x would result in grounding the dredge. In this case the distances 

from z and z' to sides of cut are unnecessarily great. It is evident 

that if the lines of advance of the pivotal points are kept too far apart 

ground adjacent to the cut will be wasted. In general, it may be said 

that where the material to be dredged is free, the headline method is

FIG. 38. Correct spud digging from two pivotal spuds.

superior, and also, if by the introduction of some device, surging can 

be prevented, the headline method would be superior in dredging 

indurated material, for there the problem of the disposition of the tailings is much simpler. This permits of the use of shorter stacker and 

tail sluices and, therefore, smaller hulls and lighter construction.

There is a marked tendency now toward stronger hull construction, 

and longitudinal bulkheads or fore and aft keelsons are often introduced. Traverse water-tight bulkheads at the bows would be advantageous in dredges working in torrential rivers where there is danger 

of collision with floating trees; or, in rivers like those in Alaska, where 

ice may be encountered.

In some instances machinery too heavy for the size of the hull has 

been installed, and, as a result, there has been a lack of stability of the
PURINGTON.] DREDGING. 187

dredge, with consequent disturbance of the grades of the gold-saving 

devices. Hulls are now generally made with overhanging houses, 

which give more deck room and permit of the location on board of a 

small though very convenient shop. The crowning of decks has 

resulted in cleaner and drier dredges.

Stronger gauntrees have been introduced in the late installations. 

The bow gauntree, at first considered merely as a support for the outboard end of the digging ladder, is made much heavier, as it is now 

designed also to tie together the bow pontoons.

The main gauntree, on which are sustained the upper tumbler and 

its driving gear and the inboard end of the digging ladder, is made 

much stronger than formerly, particularly when the upper tumbler has 

a gear drive and a good alignment becomes therefore essential, in

FIG. 39. Sketch showing danger of grounding boat in tailings when pivotal points are too close

together.

dredges recently constructed the main gauntree has been made the vertical post in longitudinal and transverse trusses which tend to prevent 

the distortion of the hull, due to the great weights of the digging and 

tailing machinery, which are sustained respectively at extreme bow 

and extreme stern. Stern gauntrees have not been much modified, 

but have been strengthened and made somewhat higher, so as to sustain 

longer stackers.

The introduction of some form of derrick or crane, at the bow, 

to move stumps and other obstructions and to hoist machinery, is 

now common. The use of traveling cranes over driving and other 

machinery is not so general as it should be, for such devices save time 

and labor when, as is frequently the case, renewals or repairs are 

necessary. The machinery is now generally housed.
188 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.'

The location of operating levers, controllers, and switches is still a 

mooted question. Some operators prefer them on the lower deck 

close to the driving machinery; others in- the pilot house, which is 

located near the forward end of the upper deck. In some installations 

they are placed in a pilot house just aft. of the upper tumbler. With 

the first arrangement the winch man is among the driving machinery 

and can watch it, but unless he leaves his station he sees little of anything else and gets a poor view of the whole length of buckets. With 

the second arrangement the winch man can see the buckets better, all 

bowlines, but little else. With the third arrangement the winch man 

sees the buckets, the lines at bow and stern, the hopper, the screen, 

and enough of the gold-saving apparatus to know whether the riffles 

are clear, and with the aid of mirrors can also see the stacker and tail 

sluices. The objection to this arrangement and, in a measure, also to 

the second is that the winch man is isolated and therefore inaccessible 

(see PI. XXXV, j5, p. 184). The type of dredge and height of upper 

tumbler should determine the position of the operating levers, controllers, and the switches, but in general it would appear that the 

advantage would lie with a location behind the upper tumbler.

Loss of time has always been a serious factor in the use of gold 

dredges. The first installed in the United States operated less than 

50 per cent of the time. This was due to several causes, but principally to the time consumed in making repairs and renewals and the 

difficulties brought about by the faulty arrangements for disposition 

of tailings. Minor causes, such as lack of cranes and derricks, can be 

overlooked, being unimportant by comparison. The writer, however, 

has seen the removal of troublesome stumps consume hours when, 

almost without exaggeration, it may be said that minutes should have 

sufficed for this purpose. It is noteworthy that many operations are 

hampered by lack of a sufficient number of lights for doing night 

work on or near the dredges.

All dredges should be equipped with devices for hoisting and moving the driving, screening, and pumping machinery, but these are now 

often lacking. The belting, both for stacking and driving, has caused 

much loss of time a result due both to the poor quality of belts and 

to the attempt to make belts -do work for which they were not 

intended. Friction clutches, hoppers, and screens of bad design and 

inaccessibility of parts of equipment have also brought about a serious 

loss of time. This is specially true of renewals of such parts as baffle 

plates of hoppers and perforated sheets of screens.

Cleaning up also consumes much time, and any arrangement that 

will permit continuous running during clean-ups of riffles charged 

with quicksilver will be of great value. Of late some managers have 

employed rather large crews to minimize lost time, though many 

dredges are still operated with but two men per shift.
IHJJUNGTON.] DREDGING. 189

The now general use of variable-speed motors on electric dredges 

has had good results. Constant-speed motors on headline dredges 

working in indurated material had brought the headline method of 

dredging into bad favor, whereas variable-speed motors permit a 

chain speed suitable for indurated material, with less surging and 

breakages. Under these conditions about the same amount of material is excavated, as a slow chain speed with low theoretical capacity 

has often in tenacious gravel a greater actual capacity than a high 

chain speed with high theoretical capacity. This is due to the incomplete filling of the buckets when running at too great a chain speed.

In Alaska, where much frozen ground is encountered, the conditions 

are not favorable for the successful operation of gold dredges, especially as the long winter reduces the number of working days to about 

one hundred and thirty a year. Nearly all the deposits of auriferous alluvions are frozen, though some areas, notably in the .beds of 

rivers, are unfrozen. Such unfrozen zones are easily dredged and 

large volumes can be cheaply handled. The depths to bed rock are 

moderate, but the bed rock is generally unfavorable for easy excavation, and the ground is characterized by a great concentration of 

values near and in it. Lateral concentration also is great and the pay 

streaks are often narrow. High costs of installation and operation 

are other drawbacks in regions far from the coast, to which freight 

charges are high. Considerable areas of so-called "worked out" 

ground in this northern field, particularly in the Klondike district of 

the Yukon Territory, would furnish excellent dredging ground if the 

material were not frozen. . Steam thawing now costs about 40 cents 

a cubic 3rard, but a cheaper method of thawing would make much 

ground available for highly profitable dredging. It is probable that 

if wide cuts were made the banks might thaw as rapidly under exposure to the sun as they could be removed by the dredge. Another 

factor which may be of importance is that ground which has once been 

worked does not freeze to any .great depth? It is evident that the chief 

problem of gold dredging in this northern province is in the thawing of 

the material, for many of the other conditions are favorable for profitable exploitation by this means.

Had gold dredges been used in tne North when the first mining was 

done on the richer creeks much more gold would have been recovered 

and the cost would have been less, for the earlier methods were exceedingly Avasteful and costly. The overburden of muck could have been 

easily sluiced off and the thawing of the underlying gravels would 

have been easy when aided by exposure to sun and air.

In this northern region, because of the small vertical section and 

absence of much fine sand in the gravels, dredges with short digging 

ladders and stackers can be used. This equipment demands only small, 

light hulls and machinery. Large volumes of thawed material can be
190 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

handled, but screening devices for saving coarse gold are essential. 

Bucket rather than belt stackers are preferable, for ice on the faces of 

the driving pulleys would cause slipping. The climatic conditions 

demand that the dredges should be completely housed, and that those 

driven.by electricitj^ should be equipped with electric heaters to supply hot water to the gold-saving appliances and thus permit continuing operations after cold weather has put a stop to hydraulicking 

and open-cut mining.

Open connected buckets will do-better work in the heavy bed rock 

usually encountered in Alaska, and teeth on bucket lips will probably 

be effective. The use of several powerful digging teeth in the bucket 

chain, instead of toothed buckets, to excavate heavy bed rock, was 

suggested by a manager of wide experience, and has worked well in 

several instances. A larger factor of .safety should be allowed in 

designing dredging machinery intended for Alaska, and strenuous 

efforts made to minimize lost time in every feature of the construction, 

so that full advantage may be taken of the short available season.

SLUICES AND GOLD-SAVING APPLIANCES, EXCLUDING 

HYDRAULIC OPERATIONS.

Creek miners in the Klondike and Alaska placer fields have met, 

with extraordinary vigor and a considerable amount of success, the 

peculiarly difficult conditions attendant,on mining operations in the 

Northwest. Inventive genius has been called largel}7 into play, since, 

except in parts of Seward Peninsula, hydraulic mining in working 

the creek deposits is not practiced. It is evident, however, to one 

who visits the Klondike district, that the methods there in vogue 

for working the rich creek deposits have been developed with special 

attention to the economical mining and conveying of the material to 

the sluice, while the washing of the gravel in the sluice is not, as a 

rule, conducted with a view to the saving of the greatest economic 

amount of the gold. Whereas in the hydraulic-sluicing methods the 

benefit of long experience has resulted in generally commendable 

practice, the smaller hand and mechanical creek operations frequently 

exhibit gross carelessness in the matter of gold-saving appliances.

The method of shoveling by hand into a string of sluice boxes is 

naturally the one first tried by the miner in a remote district, working 

in shallow ground, after he has passed the panning and rocking 

stage. In these operations the cost, even under present northern conditions, varies from $1.25 to $2.50 per cubic yard (averaging $1.63), the 

capacity per man per shift averaging 5| cubic yards. The most primitive appliances are the most economical. From three to six boxes, 

12 or 14 inches in width by 12 inches deep by 12 feet long, on a grade 

of 6 or 7 inches to the box length, fitted with 6-foot 3-inch pole riffles 

made of saplings, form the customary rig in the interior where timber
PUBINGTON.] SLUICES AND GOLD-SAVING APPLIANCES. 191

is at hand. From 30 to 60 miner's inches" of water are used. Operations of this kind, where from three to twenty men shovel in, are to 

be found on all the gold-bearing creeks exploited in Alaska, though 

in the Klondike they have been largely supplemented by methods 

employing less hand labor. As none but rich gravel can be so worked, 

exigency permits a loss of fine gold. It is rare that placer miners will 

admit that they are losing gold, but it is safe to estimate that in the 

interior, where two to five boxes are in use for saving, and where 

drop-offs are not used, or are only such as are caused by the telescope 

connection of the boxes, from 10 to 20 per cent of the gold lifted into 

the boxes is allowed to return to the creek bed.

It would seem that heavy losses must occur in connection with the 

sluicing of the winter dumps taken out in drifting operations. The 

strings of sluice boxes are erected at as small an elevation as possible, 

in order that the greater proportion of the material will not have 

to be rehandled when the spring sluicing is done. PI. XXXVI, A, 

shows one method of dumping, in the winter, over previously erected 

sluices. Boards are laid over the sluices, and when sluicing is resumed 

the water is turned through the sluice, and, beginning at the lower 

end, the boards are successively removed. As much of the gravel as 

possible is caved in, sometimes with the assistance of a nozzle, and 

the remainder is shoveled, wheeled to, and dumped into the sluice. 

Small bunkers or hoppers are sometimes built over the sluices, but no 

hoppers of large capacity, like those in use in Plumas County, Cal., 

were seen in the north. On Anvil Creek, in Seward Peninsula, a 

large winter dump was handled in this way, with the exception that 

those portions which could not be caved to the sluice were conveyed 

to it and dumped in by means of horse scrapers. Though loss of gold 

may be permissible in primitive operations of small capacity, it should 

become proportionally less when larger mechanical installations are 

made and the capacity of the plant is increased.

One of the early difficulties which the miner in the interior encountered was the presence of sticky clay and mud in the rich pay dirt. 

The difficulty was partly overcome by the introduction of the mud 

box, or puddling box, which was set in the middle or at the upper 

end of the string. Into this the men shoveled, or a bucket or car 

dumped. PI. XXXVII, A (p. 194), shows the form of the mud box 

used in the Klondike, and fig. 40 shows its position in the line of 

boxes. Its grade is generally made steeper than that of the rest of 

the string; 12 inches is common. The services of an extra man as 

stirrer, who also forks out the large stones, are required.

Where men shovel into boxes the mud box is used merely as a 

wide part of the sluice. In larger plants, where buckets, cars, or

a The term miner's inch used in this paper signifies an amount of water equivalent to It cubic feet 

per minute.
192 GEAVEL AND PLACEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

derrick skips dump into the mud box, a platform, inclined at an 

angle of about 50°, 9 feet square, and built up of timber floored with 

rough scantling, is erected on the side of the box for the gravel to 

fall on.

The capacity of the sluice is cut down rather than increased by the 

use of the mud box, and the expense is increased by the cost of the 

man. A greater saving of gold is made, but at best the operation is 

expensive and of small and variable efficiency. In some shoveling-in 

operations the use of the mud box is advisable, but where mechanical 

self-dumping buckets are used, it is possible that some other form of 

agitator might be advantageous^ employed.

The developments of. the open-cut and drifting methods of gravel 

mining have necessitated an enlarging of the sluicing capacity. With

Plan

TUT inr m.

Grade, 6"to 12 "in 12' 

Side elevation

Rear elevation

Scale ifeet

PIG. 40. Mud box.

the enlarging of the capacity, however, there has not been a proportionate improvement in the construction of the gold-saving appliances. 

In other words, instead of drawing on the experience of the hydraulic 

miner and the dredge miner for the adoption of gold-saving methods, 

the creek miners of the Klondike have continued the method of the 

long, narrow sluice used for shoveling-in operations, amplifying its 

error and suffering the inevitable losses of fine gold which its use 

entails. ;

The average capacity of a small placer operation where hand labor 

is employed is 40 cubic yards a day of ten hours. . Grant that the narrow sluice of 36 feet in length with pole riffles is most economical for 

the needs of such a mine. Now take an average summer drifting
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 263 PL. XXXVI

A. WINTER DUMPS, SHOWING PREVIOUSLY ERECTED SLUICE BOXES, KLONDIKE.

U. MUD BOX, USED IN STRING OF BOXES.
PURINGTON.] SLUICES AND GOLD-SAVING APPLIANCES. 193

plant, where the gravel is dumped into the mud box by means of the 

cable tram and self-dumping carrier, like that illustrated in PI. 

XXXVII, A., The capacity is 175 cubic yards in twenty-four hours, 

and the cost is approximately $1.50 per yard. After it is hoisted from 

the shaft the material is elevated to a height of 25 feet above the surface of the ground. Water is pumped to this height for sluicing. 

The sluice consists of a mud box 16 feet long and 30 inches wide, on 

a 12-inch grade, tapering to the 14-inch sluice boxes which follow. 

There are eight of these, set on grade of 10 inches to 12 feet, furnished with pole riffles, which last three weeks only and cost $3 per 

box length to renew. The man forking in the mud box costs $6.50 a 

day of ten hours. At this plant the gold is in part very finely divided, 

and it is impossible to believe that the sluice in use is operating with 

economy.

Proof of the losses now going on in the Klondike was seen on a neighboring creek. At a plant somewhat larger than the one above described, 

where 240 cubic yards a day were handled at a cost of $1 a cubic yard, 

a small undercurrent had been installed, at the end of ten 16-inch 

boxes, 12-inch grade, pole riffles. The undercurrent was fed through 

a small iron grizzly, and consisted merely of one 16-inch sluice box, 

12 feet in length, with a riffle of cocoa matting and expanded metal. 

It cost $20 'to construct this device, which was saving an average of 5 

per cent of the product each day. A sample of the gold was taken, 

and although some of it is too fine for handling, such particles as 

could be weighed and counted gave a result of 280 colors to the cent, 

the gold being worth $15.60 per ounce. Gold of finely divided but 

never flaky character was seen in all the large producing creeks of the 

Klondike, and at the new Fairbanks district of Alaska.

The plants above referred to represent the average capacity of the 

creek mines of the interior of Alaska, where the hoisting of material, 

and frequently the pumping of sluice water are necessary. It costs 

from $3,000 to $5,000 to rig up such plants, which are used for three 

seasons or longer. To install a washing plant in such a case as the 

above would add little to the first cost, and the additional expense 

would probably be justified by the results.

Before entering on suggestions as to the use of washing plants, I 

wish to emphasize the fact that the methods of sluicing in use in 

Alaska, especially in the Birch Creek, Fortymile, and Fairbanks districts, and to a certain extent in Seward Peninsula, have been, and 

will continue to be, influenced by the Klondike developments. Though 

many of the methods developed in the Klondike are excellent and are 

worthy of imitation in any country where conditions are similar, at 

the same time the Alaskan miners should note the wrong principle of 

the primitive sluice box whiph has been continued there. The entire 

Bull. 263 05 13,
194 GEAVEL AND PLACEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

absence of screening or use of grizzlies, other than the rough, expensive hand method employed, renders valueless much ground which 

could be worked. A plant costing $5,000, designed to thaw, excavate, 

hoist, convey, and wash 150 cubic yards a day at a cost of $1 a yard, 

could, by an addition of from $500 to $2,000 to the first cost of the 

plant and an addition of 10 cents per yard to the cost of washing, 

recover at least 10 per cent more value in gold from a cubic yard of 

material. 

It may be said that the fine gold found in the Klondike does not 

occur in the Alaska creeks. This is disproved by experiments made 

on small parcels taken from pannings on the various creeks. Fine 

gold from Fairbanks Creek, in the Tanana district, runs 500 colors to 

the cent, the gold being worth $17.70 per ounce. A small proportion 

of gold from Ophir Creek, in Seward Peninsula, was found to run

Punched holes tya'' Punched holes tys" 

No.3 iron orsteel

Grade, 18"to Z4inlZ' Top

FlG. 41. Modified Caribou undercurrent.

1YO colors to the cent, the gold being worth $18.50 per ounce. No 

means of knowing the proportionate amount of this gold is possible, 

as with the methods at present employed very little of it is recovered. 

Five per cent is considered a fair average of the total gold represented 

by the above fineness of division. This gold, which is not flaky in 

spite of its fine character, could easily be saved with the proper appliances, and there is no doubt that much coarser gold is lost.

The question will be asked, Can a cheap and efficient washing plant 

be installed, where gravel must be elevated by power, which, will not 

add greatly to the cost, and the parts of which can be easily and 

quickly made with the materials at hand?

On the principle that gold is best saved in the thinnest sheet of water 

which will carry the tailings away, it is evident that for fine gravel 

a wider sjuice is better t^n a n^rrgw one, In narrow slu,i<je, boxes,
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 263 PL. .XXXVII

A. MUD BOX ON GOLD RUN, KLONDIKE.

B. OROVILLE RIFFLES USED AT ATLIN, BRITISH COLUMBIA.
PURINGTON.] SLUICES AND GOLD-SAVING APPLIANCES. 195

full or nearly full of water running with great velocity, fine gold will be 

carried along. Lengthening the sluice will not help matters. In fact, 

a short sluice with drops or undercurrent attachment is frequently 

more effective than a long sluice without it.

In a given case assume that the ordinary 14-incn boxes are widened 

to 24 inches, and that 5 boxes, with a grade of 9 inches to the box, 

fitted with the ordinary sapling-pole riffles, as at present, are succeeded by 3 boxes with the form of screen represented in fig. 41, 

the grade being made adjustable by means of blocking. An addition 

of 19i inches to each of the 3 boxes would compensate for the loss of 

grade consequent on the uptilting of the screens. The 

whole drop in the string of 

boxes would be 103.5 inches 

as against 108 inches were 

12 boxes used with 9-inch 

grade. Under the punched 

iron plates riffles of one or 

more kinds as described 

below, charged with quicksilver, should be used. 

The riffle shown in fig. 42 

will be found satisfactory. 

Mats, plush, or blankets 

may under certain conditions be found more economical. A short transverse table following the 

last box, arranged under a 

grizzly from which the 

large material is discharged to the dump, will enable 

the operator to determine 

whether losses are occurring in the main sluice and 

screening boxes.

The above installation is in principle a series of undercurrents combined in the main sluice. Its advantages of cheapness, adaptability to 

conditions, and simplicity recommend it. No extra power or water is 

required. On the other hand, the use of the mud box is not obviated.

Regarding the use of punched plates in working New Zealand 

gold-bearing marine deposits, Mr. H. W. Young" says:

The best size of perforation for hopper plates has been a matter for experiment by 

myself and others, variations from one-fourth inch to five-eighths inch having been put

Scale of feet

FIG. 42. Improved Hungarian riffle used at Oroville.

a Report of JJe.w Zealand. Minister of Mines, 1902, p. 21,
196 GRAVEL AND PLACEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

to working tests. It is proved that holes of less than three-eighths inch diameter 

unduly limit the discharge through the plates, are liable to choke, and that there is 

no advantage whatever to be gained by their use. The discharge through sevensixteenths inch holes is sufficient in amount, and the fine shingle particles which 

pass through with the sands and seldom exceed one-fourth.inch in diameter are not 

troublesome in their size and quantity. In fact, many consider that they are of 

benefit in keeping lively the sands on the tables. With holes exceeding sevensixteenths inch in diameter, the size and quantity of small shingle become excessive, and the water passes away so rapidly as to prevent material from being carried 

forward over the plates.

The above remarks are of somewhat general application for the use of 

punched iron screens in any form of undercurrent where it is assumed 

that a portion of the gold, including any nuggets which may occur,

Plan

Pole 

riffles

Punt, 

iron j

%"h

hed 

ilate 

oles

Pole riffles

.

Punched 

iron plate 

3/g holes

II II

10

V

Q1

\ .

,

Hungarian riffles (see fig. 14)

Longitudinal section of both main sluice and undercurrent 

Grade

Scale effect

o i z a * 

Section on line A-B .

FIG. 43. Kulibinkii sluice and undercurrent used in Siberia.

has been previously saved. In northern deposits where dredges have 

been installed, as in the Klondike and on Stewart River, punched 

iron screens used in revolving trommels have large holes, up to 1^- 

inches, even when a tailings stacker is used, while the average size 

in Oroville dredging practice is three-eighths inch.

A screen installed in one box of the main sluice of a plant on Ophir 

Creek, Seward Peninsula, consisted of a number of longitudinally disposed round iron rods, acting as a grizzly, fitted above the bottom 

of the box, the gold being saved on mats below. This box, which was 

placed at the end of a 120-foot sluice, was said to save much fine gold.

When it is desirable to introduce the principle of the undercurrent,
SLUICES AND GOLD-SAVING- APPLIANCES. .197

separate from the main sluice, the following device, adapted from one 

used in Siberia, as described by Mr. E. D. Levat," may be adopted. 

Its capacity is given as 172 cubic yards per shift. The principle of 

the undercurrent is here introduced, but the discharge, of both coarse 

' and fine, is to the same heap. This contrivance uses no power, and 

the method of handling accumulations of tailings will be more expensive than in plants already in use. Where the steam scraper is so 

generally employed, however, as in the Klondike for handling tailings, the innovation of the modified "kulibinka" here figured (fig. 

43) would not add over $1,000 to the expense of installation, while the 

efficiency in saving the values would be greatly increased.

It has been shown that the Klondike sluice generally necessitates a 

man forking. The object of this forking is to take out the stones, 

from 6 to 18 inches in diameter, after their surface is washed. 

Mechanical devices for accomplishing this would be advantageous. 

Experience with gold dredges has proved that the revolvinjg screen or 

trommel, inside of which play powerful jets of water, accomplishes 

this screening process most successfully. The trommel is, however, 

expensive, and its various parts and castings must be specially made 

at elaborately equipped works. Therefore it is worth while to consider whether simpler and cheaper devices will not accomplish nearly 

as good results for the Alas ban miner.

A plant to accomplish good Avashing results with sticky clay and 

gravel, and which can be built of materials at hand, is shown in fig. 

44. This type of plant, founded on the idea of the Siberian pan, has 

a capacity of from 100 to 200 cubic yards in ten hours, and can be 

built in the winter months. Assuming that steam power is already at 

hand, it requires no outside material beyond the iron shoes and simple 

castings and the punched steel plate which forms the floor of the pan. 

Its operation will require 10 horsepower, and if the material is conveyed to it by the self-dumping carrier, the services of two men are 

sufficient to take care o.f the tailings. The machine will not only 

break up and thoroughly wash clayey gravel, but with properly 

arranged tables below will save the bulk of the fine gold which has 

been set free from its matrix. The cost of a pan of the dimensions 

here figured will not exceed $2,000, including the tables and sluices. 

The device for automatically clearing the bottom of the pan of large 

stones is not used in Siberia, where hand labor is cheap enough to 

dispense with it, the large stones being periodically removed by the 

lifting of gates in the periphery of the pan. The amount of water 

used in such a machine does not exceed ordinarily 125 miner's inches.

The drawing of this machine is made diagramatically, since the manner of its construction will depend on local conditions. A four-armed 

casting, keyed to the shaft and bolted to the horizontal timbers, is

aLevat, E. D., L'Or eu Sib6rie orientale, Paris, 1897.
Ida AND PLACEft M1NIN& IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

advisable. As used in remote districts in Siberia, the central shaft is 

frequently a wooden beam, and instead of the iron shoes, heavy stones 

dragged with chains, as in the arrastre, may supplant them.

The above suggestions are made with reference to working the rich 

gravels of the shallow northern placers. Gravel containing less than 

$2 to the cubic yard is rarely worked by the method of the cable and

» Perforatedpipe

Sections on line Y-Y

ith grade of3"in 8 'and 

d with '/s"to I "holes

FIG. 44. Modified Siberian pan for handling clayey gravel.

traveling bucket. Lack of natural grade makes it necessary that the 

miner shall elevate his material, and the impossibility of getting water 

under head makes the use of steam power imperative. The point is 

that when such elevation is attained, it should be made available to 

thoroughly wash the gravel. At present this is not done. Perhaps 

the suggestions here offered may be of benefit to some operators.
PURIKOTON.] SLUICES AND GOLD-SAVING APPLIANCES. 199

In the construction of washing plants of a larger and more expensive kind, the operator has the benefit of the experience developed in 

gold dredging. This now rather important industry has brought into 

service devices for gold saving, in the use of which one of the main 

objects is to utilize to the best advantage all available vertical and 

areal space.

The employment of large mechanical excavators for placer mining 

has a field in the Northwest. Such operations necessitate one or more 

permanent washing plants to receive the gravel from each machine. 

It has been demonstrated that the dredge is the only form of excavator which can economically transport its sluices as it moves. 

Therefore a plant, situated as safely as possible with reference to 

danger from floods, and economically with reference to tramway, 

dump, and water supply, must be constructed frequently at a considerable expense.

The shaking screen, although it has received a thorough trial on 

gold dredges, does not find as much favor as the trommel. It is not 

impossible that modifications of the principle of the shaking screen 

and of the shaking table may be developed which will act more efficiently in saving gold than the trommel. Mr. Felix Francois" has 

recently figured and described a " shaking sluice-box " system of gold 

saving, for installation either in stationary washing plants or in 

dredges. He claims a very high percentage of saving, and as additional advantages the elimination of the use of quicksilver and the 

employment of a small amount of water. He does not give the cost 

of the plant, however, nor any actual results of its operation in practice.

The use of the trommel in a stationary washing plant is illustrated 

in PI. XII, A (p. 80), a plant erected in the Klondike in connection 

with a steam shovel and incline operation. A short description ofthis plant is appended, but it should.be understood that for the average 

miner the installation of such a plant is impracticable on account of 

first expense and the difficulty of getting the complicated machinery. 

The plant used 125 miner's, inches of water, led by a ditch from Bear 

Creek; the capacity was said to be 500 cubic yards in ten hours. The 

material elevated to the platform at the upper end of the trommel was 

dumped into a hopper feeding the trommel. The water was led into 

the lower end of the trommel and fed through a perforated pipe. The 

largest holes in the revolving screen were 1 inch in diameter, and all 

oversizes passed through and into the hopper below the lower end, 

whence the tailings were hoisted in a self-dumping carrier, on a cable, 

for a horizontal distance of 200 feet and a vertical distance of 60 feet. 

The fines passed over 80 square feet of riffle tables, floored with 

expanded metal and cocoa matting, on a grade of 12 inches to 12 feet, 

followed by sluices with iron Hungarian riffles. PI. XII, .Z?, shows the

"Bull. Soc. de 1'industrie min6rale, vol. 8,1894, p. 785.
200 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

expanded-metarforin of riffle table, which has given good satisfaction. 

The £nes were, after passing out of the 96 feet of sluice boxes following the tables, elevated by a steam scraper to a pile 200 feet distant 

and 15 feet high. The expense of installation of such a plant will be 

not less than $5,000, and will more likely be $10,000 in any part of the 

interior of Alaska.

In arranging a number of gold-saving tables to receive the discharge 

from a screen, great care should be taken to distribute the material 

equally to these tables, so that the duty of each may be the same. 

This in the best Oroville practice is done by leading a small sluice 

trough from the main receiving sluice beneath the screen to each of 

the tables. In case of a second sizing, as in the Atlin dredge described 

below, the distribution is necessarily accomplished b}^a series of grizzlies in the main sluice. If small ducts or troughs are used, they 

should- be provided with gates, the whole made of wood, like those 

used for distributing the pulp to the tables in concentrating mills. 

The attempt to distribute the fines directly from the trommel by means 

of iron gates is considered less satisfactory.

Riffles for the saving of fine gold in sluices are of many kinds and 

are of very ancient origin. Humboldt (Asie Centrale) refers to the

Scale of feet

FIG. 45. Pole riffle fitted with knives for breaking clay.

method in use of working the placers of Colchis that of employing 

wool in the sluices as a possible explanation of the legend of the 

"Golden Fleece." It was in fact known that the kings of Imeret in 

the eighteenth century used wool for collecting gold in Tskinitskali 

and Abacha rivers in the Caucasus, while Turkish gypsies use goatskin 

for gold saving on Belichta River. ^

The pole riffle made of saplings, with or without strap iron nailed 

to the top, has long been in favor in small placer operations in the 

United States, and is to-day employed in the primitive shoveling-in 

operations throughout the northern territory. An improvement on 

this riffle, simply made, aiding in the disintegration of claj7 , was seen 

by Mr. Frank L. Hess in the Rampart district of Alaska, and a sketch 

furnished by him is shown in fig. 45. Small squares of sheet iron 

one-sixteenth inch by 2 by 2 inches are driven cornerwise into the 

poles.

A development from the wooden pole riffle is the iron or steel rail, 

laid longitudinally in the sluice box. One type of rail riffle used in 

Seward Peninsula is shown in fig. 32. It will be noted that the T 

lies with its horizontal extension uppermost, that the rails are joined
PURINGTON.] SLUICES AND GOLD-SAVING APPLIANCES. , 201

in gangs of four, and that a locking device is emplo}red to prevent the 

gangs from coming up. Rail riffles of this kind are primarily intended 

for hydraulic operations and give excellent satisfaction, but can be 

recommended for creek placers only where the capacity warrants 

expensive installation.

At the present day the saving of fine gold is receiving marked 

attention on gold dredges, as the product of these machines frequently 

consists largely of gold in an exceedingly fine state of division. 

Fig. 42 and PL XXXVII, B, represent a sluice table now in use at 

Oroville, Cal. The grade of the table on the dredge at Atlin, British 

Columbia, is 12 per cent, corresponding nearty to 18 inches to 12 feet. 

These tables are set transversely beneath the main sluice, which is fed 

directly from the trommel, the main sluice having a grade of 12 inches 

to 12 feet. The quicksilver charge of the sluice and table is 200 pounds. 

The largest material passing over the sluice is 4 inches in diameter, 

while grizzlies do not permit over £-inch sizes to go over the undercurrent tables. The total area of sluices and tables is from 600 to 1,000 

square feet, from 500 to 700 miner's inches of water being used for an 

amount of material which will probably average 1,500 cubic yards per 

twenty-four hours.

The type of riffle here figured is used extensively at Oroville at 

present. It is stated by one of the operators who has experimented 

with the gold in that field, that from 15 to 20 per cent of the gold 

recovered with quicksilver, using this riffle, will pass 150-mesh sieve.

The expanded metal and cocoa matting riffle is also used with success at Oroville.

The Oroville gold contains a much larger proportion of fine colors 

than the northern fields. From the undercurrent sample of Klondike 

gold above described, assuming that this represents 5 per cent of the 

total recovery, screening tests appear to indicate that under 1 per 

cent of the Klondike gold,'-and under 2 per cent of the Fairbanks 

Creek gold, will pass 150 mesh.

The fineness of the gold on Sulphur Creek is shown by the table 

below:

Fineness of gold from Sulphur Creek. 

Mesh. Per cent.

Under 150---...-...---. ...--...-.-...----.----..---....-.-......-...-...... 10

150-100...............................................................'..... 60

100-80..... .T............................................................. 20

80-60...................................................................... 10

Moreover, the gold, whatever its fineness of division, is generally 

round and shot-like and not flaky. Under such conditions, in view of 

the Oroville experience, losses such as undoubtedly occur in the 

northern practice are inexcusable.

The riffle shown in fig. 46 is designed to hold a divided sheet of 

quicksilver. Another form is made by boring 1^-inch augur holes to
202 GKAVEL AKD PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

the depth of one-half inch. Some operators claim that a recurring 

quick jar imparted to the fine gold tables by means of an eccentric or 

other device aids the saving of the gold. The efficiency of this principle is questionable.

I I

I I

L_ w __ __ __ _ _ __ 

 

p ^ FAB+ I-CC?v ~_ _ _ _ _ ^^^ _ " __ J^1

FIG. 46. Riffle to hold divided sheet of quicksilver.

On the Snowtiake claim, a bench claim, worked by drifting, situated 

between Anvil and Dexter creeks, much of the gold sluiced from the 

winter dump was porous, occurring in lumps one thirty-second to onefourth inch in diameter, resembling dentist's gold. A peculiar riffle 

shown in fig. 47 was devised, consisting of sawn blocks nailed to riffle 

strips.

V \

\

ScaJe 12 inches

FIG. 47. Special block riffle for saving porous gold.

This riffle used in M-inch boxes, on 8-inch grade, with 50 miner's 

inches of water, was said to be the only one of many tried which would 

catch this gold.
PURINGTON.] SLUICES AND GOLD-SAVING APPLIANCES. 203

Fig. 48 shows an excellent iron riffle used in the smaller sluices of 

Seward Peninsula for saving gold of average fineness. The castings 

are light; can be easily handled, and can be set in the sluices so that 

the long dimension of the slots lies either transversely or longitudinally. The longitudinal arrangement has been found to be the better.

The use of quicksilvered copper plates is not likely to give increased 

saving in Alaska placer operations. Blankets, mats, or other fabrics 

are not generally used on account of their expense.

Mr. H. W. Young a has designed for the Waiwhero Sluicing Company, of New Zealand, a form of apparatus for the saving of fine 

gold which is used in New Zealand beach deposits where the gold 

is accompanied by an excessive 

amount of black sand. A few of 

Mr. Young's remarks are here 

quoted:

The modern fine gold washing plant, 

as used on the West Coast, consists of 

three main essential parts. The first is 

the hopper box with stone shoot, which 

receives the water and gravels from the 

tail race connecting with the sluicing 

face, and separates the stones and shingles from the water and sands. The 

second comprises the "sand box" or 

"boil box," with its discharge ducts 

and other accessories, intermediate between the hopper and the tables. The 

third comprises the washing tables and 

their accessories. The three essential 

parts deal with the stuff from the face, 

and reduce it to concentrated gold and 

heavy sand ready for amalgamation.

The introduction of a sand box or agitation box, in which the material is kept in agitation by being made to pass over and under a system 

of baffle boards before passing to the tables, as described by Mr. 

Young, is of obvious advantage in connection with the plant described. 

The principle will undoubtedly be of use in some of the washing plants 

of Alaska, as it provides a moderate stirring action without the use of 

mechanical power. The quantity of water economical for such a plant 

as the one described, with material screened to seven-sixteenths inch 

size on tables with a grade of 12 inches to 12 feet, is in the proportion 

of 40 miner's inches to each 10 feet of width of table. As at Oroville, 

the value of separate ducts from the feeding or sand box to each table 

has been proved.

The clearing of the gold from the accompanying minerals of high 

specific gravity is often difficult. In the creek workings on Bonanza

IIif

i!

!! ->r"

i!

.JU

||i'i_

!!

JL. ""if"

!| 

11

-.1 L_ -If"

il

._'L-

-,-,rii

.

_.».

II

 if

.

 \r-

""-

"""

_ 

 1 "

1

~1 L.

Il

II

 

II '

"\ 

.L"~ir

i

i

II

 ir-

!i _ ,,_.

!

Ju....

!

1 "if

JL. \r-

.iil

6 inches

FIG. 48. Iron-grate riffle, Seward Peninsula.

"Report of the New Zealand Minister of Mines, 1902, p. 20.
204 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. (BOLL. 263.

Creek, Klondike, for example, of the total weight of gravel handled, 1 

per cent of black sand, mostl}' magnetite, is caught with the gold in 

the clean-up. In American Creek, Alaska, the clean-ups are impeded 

by the presence of large quantities of barite pebbles. In the Fairbanks district red garnets and rutile, in some cases in quantity up to 

one-third of 1 per cent of the total material washed, are caught with 

the gold. In the Birch Creek district there is enough rutile in the 

auriferous sand to cause trouble in the clean-up: In Seward Peninsula the magnetite is in comparative^ small amount. Garnets occur 

in the creek diggings up to 5 pounds to the cubic yard of gravel. In 

the beach and so-called "tundra" gold sands of the coastal plain from 

3 per cent up to as high as 61 per cent of garnets occur."

The use of quicksilver in the northern operations of America is limited. Even allowing for the extra expense and time consumed in the 

use and recovery of quicksilver, it is surprising that this important 

agency for saving fine gold is not more generally employed. It has 

been shown that the proportion of fine "gold in the interior fields is 

large. The neglect to use quicksilver in attempting to save such gold 

can be considered only as a penny-wise-pound-foolish policy. It is 

needless to say that in all of the appliances above suggested for the 

saving of fine gold the use of quicksilver is imperative. Carelessness 

in the use of quicksilver, howeveiymay result in increasing rather than 

diminishing the loss of fine gold. According to Bowie, 6 float quicksilver containing microscopic gold particles has- been taken from the 

surface of the water 20 miles from the place where the amalgam entered 

the stream. A single flask of quicksilver is ample for the needs of the 

average creek operation of the Klondike or interior Alaska, and even 

with wasteful handling would last a season.

Whether quicksilver is used or not, it will be found advantageous to 

get the gold and amalgam as clean as possible on the floor of the sluices 

or tables before removing the valuable product. The comparatively 

small amount of heavy concentrates accompanying the creek gold of 

Seward Peninsula makes this possible in the frequent clean-ups of 

the tailrace. Skillful manipulation will accomplish the same result 

in the interior except where excessive quantities of magnetite occur. 

In one case on Bonanza Creek, Klondike, the fine concentrates which 

could not be removed with the magnetite after drying were skillfully 

separated b}^ dry-panning.

Black sand or other concentrates have occasionally been found rich 

enough to pay for sacking and shipping to smelters after cleaning. 

Exaggerated reports of high assays in gold obtained from black sand 

frequently find credence. Nevertheless, whenever this concentrate

a Brooks, A. H., Mendenhall, W. C., Collier, A. J., and Richardson, G. B., Reconnaissances in the 

Cape Nome and Norton Bay regions, Alaska, in 1900, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1901, p. 87. 

t> A Practical Treatise on Hydraulic Mining in California, 1885, p. 244.
PUKIWTON.] CLEANING, EETOETING, AND MELTING. 205

accumulates in the sluices or tables in any considerable amount, it 

should be sampled and assayed to ascertain the amount of finely 

divided gold which still remains in it.

CLEANING, RETORTING, AND MELTING.

If amalgam is to be treated, it should be well stirred, either in 

buckets or large porcelain mortars, and the base material sand, scraps 

of iron, etc. which comes to the surface should be skimmed off.

This residue (which holds considerable amalgam) is concentrated by washing in 

pane or rockers, and the concentrations ground in iron (or porcelain) mortars and 

treated with more quicksilver. Any base material which floats on the surface of the 

bath is melted by itself to a base bullion. The remainder is added to the fine amalgam. The amalgam is strained from the quicksilver through drilling, and the dry 

amalgam is retorted in iron retorts/'

In cleaning the placer gold, when no quicksilver is used, a magnet 

inside a cotton sack passed through the dust will remove all the magnetite. Minerals of high specific gravity not attractable by the magnet are not easily removed by mechanical means. Rutile, garnets, and 

ilmenite are examples of these occurring in Alaska. In small operations the gold dust is roughly cleaned from these minerals by blowing 

and dry-panning. Where the amount of gold is considerable, a melting plant is advisable. In retorting amalgam, small hand retorts will 

in general be found adequate.

Before the amalgam is put in the retort the interior is coated with a thin wash of 

clay, which prevents the amalgam from adhering to the iron.

The amalgam should be carefully introduced and evenly spread. The iron pipe 

.which connects the back end of the retort with the condenser must be clear of all 

obstructions, and under no circumstances should the amalgam be spread so that the 

pipe can possibly become choked, as in that case an explosion would probably ensue.

To avoid any danger arising from this source .after the cover has been put on, lined 

with either clay or a mixture of clay and wood ashes, and securely clamped, the fire 

is lighted and the heat gradually raised, a dark-red heat being all that is necessary 

to thoroughly volatilize the quicksilver. Toward the end of the operation the heat 

is raised to a cherry-red color, at which it is kept until distillation ceases. The 

retort is allowed gradually to cool, and when cold is opened.''

A stream of cold water should be always flowing through the jacket 

which incloses the condensing pipe, so that by no possibility can mercurial vapor pass into the receiving vessel in which the lower end of 

the pipe terminates. The discharge end of the pipe should be kept 

under water during the retorting operation.

When gold accumulates in sufficient quantities to make the shipment 

of the dust inconvenient, the metal m&y be melted on the ground and 

molded into bricks. .Both for convenience of shipment and facility 

in guarding against losses, this practice is to be recommended. A 

brief description of the essential features of this work follows.

aBQwie, op. cit., p. 249. f'Bowie, op. cit.
206 GEAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

In melting, a gasoline 2-jet furnace may he used. Gasoline under 

a pressure of 30 pounds enters a heating coil attached to the burner. 

The heating coil is so arranged and fed that liquid gasoline burning on 

the outside of the main feed vaporizes the gasoline which is used 

within the furnace. With the 30 pounds pressure used a very hot 

flame is the result. The gasoline supply should be- stored without the 

building and brought in through pipes, so as to reduce the danger of 

explosion. An air barrel connected with the supply line and supplied 

with a small hand pump serves to keep the gasoline pressure as high 

as may be necessary. The furnace is made of sheet iron and lined with 

fire brick. A cover of asbestos and iron serves to retain heat. This 

should be so constructed as to allow the bolting on of new. iron plates, 

as they burn off with the great heat generated. The operator should 

be supplied with asbestos gloves.

Crucibles are of various sizes. A No. 30 crucible, costing between 

$2 and $2.50, will hold from 900 .to 1,000 ounces of impure gold or 

bullion with the necessary fluxing charge. They are composed of a 

mixture of fine clay and graphite, and to prevent breaking certain 

precautions should be observed. A new crucible should stand near 

the furnace, at least during two melts, and when first used should be 

heated gently. This precaution is not necessary when a crucible has 

once been used. After a crucible has been used five or six times it can 

not be depended on and it would be economy to discard it, as breaking 

during a melt is a source of great inconvenience and loss of time.

It is necessary to have an iron table near the furnace, upon which 

can be placed gold pans, shovels, tongs, etc.

Before the gold is placed in the crucible it should be accurately 

weighed and cleaned with a magnet, as above described.

.In melting 900 to 1,000 ounces, three-fourths of a pound of borax 

should first be melted in the crucible as a flux. After the dust is 

poured in, one-fourth pound of soda with one-half pound of borax 

should be placed on top. The soda unites with the silica of the sand, 

but in perfectly clean gold is not needed. The borax unites with the 

iron occurring with the gold. When the dust is mixed with considerable iron pyrite it is well to add a small quantit}^ of scrap iron. This, 

in uniting with the sulphur, forms iron sulphide, which comes off in 

the slag. If this precaution be not taken a hard matte, very difficult 

to remove, forms upon the brick.

During the melt it is necessary several times to skim the slag from the 

gold. A special instrument is used for this purpose, essentially a long 

rod bearing at its lower end an enlargement to which the slag' will stick. 

After gathering a small quantity upon the skimmer it is brought 

out, and by rolling on the iron table is made into a smooth, diskshaped mass upon the end of the rod. This operation is continued 

until the slag collected upon the skimmer becomes unwieldy, when it 

is cooled by plunging it in water and broken off, When the gold is
PURINGTON.] FINENESS OF ALASKAN GOLD. 207

reached it may be readily detected by its greater weight. A second 

flux of borax alone is then added, and when this has melted the 

product is ready for pouring.

A small crane to lift the crucible from the furnace and to pour the 

gold into the mold should be rigged overhead. Special tongs for lifting the crucible are made.

Though the mold should not be heated too much, it should always 

be raised to such a temperature that oil will burn on contact with it.

On removing the bullion brick from the mold it is placed in a pickle 

of three to four parts of water to one of nitric acid, which serves to 

clean the gold of surficial deposit. By using a hammer and a 

slag brush the brick is made ready for shipment.

FINENESS OF GOLD.

The following table shows the fineness of Alaskan gold: 

TABLE 13. Fineness of gold by districts and creeks.

District.

Jnneau :

Windfall Creek ...........

Lemon Creek .............

Porcupine:

Nizina: 

Chittitu Creek ............

Chisna: 

Miller Gulch..............

Slate Creek ...............

Head waters of Copper River 

Sunrise: 

Sixmile Creek .............

Atlin:

Willow Creek .............

McKee Creek .............

Birch Creek. ..............

Gold Run.................

Klondike: 

Bonanza. Creek; 

(a) High bench .......

(6) Creek ,,. ,, ,,,

Fineness.

Per ounce. 

$17. 50

17.50

14.00

. 16. 80

17.20

18. 71

18. 87

18.41

18.47

17. 80 

17.34

14.80

16.43

15.65

16.50

17.31

16. 23

16.00

15.28

 16.43

Authority.

Do.

Do.

%

Do.

Operator.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do..

Do. "

Do.

Do. "

Bank British iNqrth. America. Do.'
208 GKAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BOLL. 263. 

TABLE 13. Fineness of gold by districts and creeks Continued.

District.

Klondike Continued. 

Hunker Creek:.

(b) Creek ............

Gold Run.................

Last Chance Creek : 

(a) Bench ............

 (b) Creek ............

Fortymile: 

Wade Creek. .............

Walker Fork. .............

Stone House Fork .........

Irene Gulch ...............

Eagle: 

American Creek ...........

Mission Creek ............

Circle district: . 

Dead wood Creek ..........

Mastodon Creek ..........

Mammoth Creek ..........

Miller Creek ..............

Eagle Creek ..............

Mastodon Fork ...........

Woodchopper Creek ......

Fairbanks: 

Fairbanks Creek ..........

Cleary Creek .............

Pedro Creek ..............

Chatham Creek ...........

Twin Creek ...............

Rampart: 

Little Minook Creek .......

Little Minook, jr., Creek .. 

Hunter Creek. ............

Baker Creek ..............

(a) Bench ............

Thanksgiving Creek .......

Glen Gulch..............;

Gold Run ................

Fineness.

Per ounce.

$17. 75

17.46

16. 93

17. 53

16.48

14.61

14.12

15.35

. 17.72

18.03

17.54

17.40

17.40

17.61

17.57

16.73

17.00

17.38

17. 25

18.93

18.50

18.32

17.76

17.24

18.40

17.60

18.40

19.24

19.00 

19.00

14.88

15. 17

16.00

16.00

Authority.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

. Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Bank British North America.

Do.

Do.

Operator.

(") T"*£* f*£l t AT

Members U. S. Geological Survey. * 

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.
PURINGTON.] FINENESS OF ALASKAN GOLD.

TABLE 13. Fineness of gold by districts and creeks Continued.

209

District.

Nome:

(a) Bench............

 (ft)'Creek. ............

Glacier Creek. . ...........

(b) Bench............

Beach diggings. ...........

High benches .............

Grass Gulch ..............

Peluck Creek .............

Basin Creek ..............

Council: 

Ophir Creek ..............

Crooked Creek. . ..........

Mystery Creek ............

Solomon: 

Solomon River. ...........

Big Hurrah Creek. ; .......

Port Clarence: 

Gold Run Creek ..........

(a) Bench ............

(b) Creek.............

Anikovik River ...........

Fairhaven: 

Bear Creek ...............

Hannum Creek ...........

Inmachuk River ..........

Candle Creek .............

Kougarok: 

Gold Run ................

Alder Creek ..............

Kougarok River. ..........

Homestake Creek .........

Fineness.

Per ounce.

$18. 60

18.75

18.60

18.60

18. 39

17.30

17. 98

18.70

18.60

18.19

18.19

18.00

18.59

18.49

18.49

18.70

18.60

18.39

18.35

18.55

19.00

17.50

19.20

18. 25

18.39

17.77

18.39

18.39

18.60

18.75

Authority.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Bank of Cape Nome.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Operator.

Do.

Bank of Cape Nome.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

. 263-05 14
210 GEAVEL AND PLACEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

LABOR.

The following table (14) shows the average wages paid for labor 

in the mining districts of Alaska and adjacent Canadian territory during 

the summer of 1904. When the prices for winter work were available 

such have been added. The prevailing wages have been placed under 

the names of the districts as these are generally known, it being 

understood that the name of the nearest town, as, for example, Nome, 

stands for the creeks in the vicinity. Timbermen, carpenters, blacksmiths, and others whose pay is generally higher than that of ordinary 

laborers in the United States, are rarely paid more in Alaska. In districts where steam-thawing methods are employed engineers include 

pointmen. Hoistmen are not classed as skilled laborers, and where 

special prices for engineers obtain the men are usually in charge of 

large engines or pumps.

Two shifts are worked on most of the mines, especially in the summer. In hydraulic operations at night only one-third or one-fourth 

as many men are employed as on the day shift. In steam-thawing 

operations, where thawing is done at night, one or two pointmen and 

a fireman on the night shift generally take care of all the thawing, 

which will employ from ] 0 to 20 men in excavating, tramming, hoisting, and washing during the following day shift.

Ten-hour shifts are the rule throughout the northern placer fields. 

In large hydraulic operations the pipemen, as in other regions, 

generally work twelve hours. At only a few places were men seen 

working an eight-hour shift. At one of these, where men were shoveling into sluice boxes, it was proved by actual measurement of the 

ground that the number of yards shoveled per shift per man was 

greater than on adjacent claims where ten-hour shifts were in practice. 

In one instance on Ophir Creek, in Seward Peninsula, two elevenhour shifts were worked, the men being paid 50 cents an hour and 

board. Experience has proved that the eight-hour shift for hard 

physical work is most economical in the operations in Alaska, where 

a large number of men are employed in shoveling and where every 

moment of the short season is valuable, and it would seem that the 

division of labor into three shifts of eight hours cheapens rather than 

increases the cost of handling material.

In some of the camps of Seward Peninsula a hospital fee of $2 

per man per month is charged. This gives the laborer the services of 

a competent physician in case of sickness. Alaska is a singularly 

healthy country at all times of the year, and, although detailed statistics are not available, the proportion of deaths and illness to the total 

population would seem to be remarkably small.
PURINGTON.] LABOE. 211

TABLE 14. Scale of wages in Alaskan camps, including Dawson, Yukon Territory, and

Atlin, British Columbia.

Laborers. Foremen. Engineers.

Juneau 

Chisna .

Nizina:

Copper Creek.

Dan Creek....

Sunrise...........

Porcupine ........

Atlin.............

Dawson

Fortymile ..........

Eagle ..............

Kainpart ...........

Birch Creek:

Dead wood Creek 

Birch Creek ....

Fairbanks ........

Some claims on 

deary Creek.

Some claims on 

. Fairbanks 

Creek.

Nome

Council

Solomon.. 

Kugruk .. 

Fairhaven

Port Clarence.

3.50 to $4, without board; 

pipemen, $5.

5 to $10 a day; some 

$12.50; some $90 to $150 

per month.

$100 a month and board. 

$7.50 a day .........'...

$4 a day, no board ..... 

$3 and board...........

3, without 

board.

$5 a day, without board.

and board...

$3.50 to $4.50 and board; 

$5 to $6.50, (pipemen), 

without board.

$3.50 to $5 and board; 

winter, $3 and board.

$5 and board; $8, no board 

$5 and board.............

$5 a day and board.......

LO a day, 

board.

no

$4 and board.

1 to $6 and 

board.

$10 a day, no board.......

$8 a day, no board; $6 to 

$8 a day, no board, is 

average.

$10 a day, no board, general wages.

$5 and board 

$6 and board

$14 a day, no 

board; some 

$6 and board; 

some $10 and 

board.

$12, no board; 

some $8 and 

board.

Summer, $5 a day and 

board; winter, $2.50 a 

day and board.

Summer, $5 a day and 

board; winter, $3 a day 

with board.

$5 and board ............

$6 a day and board.......

$5 and board; some at $100 

per month.

$5 a day and board; $8 

without board.

to $200 a 

month and 

board.

$10 a day and 

board.

$7.50and board.
212 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

LUMBER AND FUEL.

TIMBER.

The'areal distribution of timber in Alaska does not by any means 

coincide with that of the placer gold. The South Coast region, in 

which there are extensive forests,a does not contain the most extensive 

alluvial gold deposits. The Juneau, Porcupine, and Sunrise districts 

are the only placer-gold fields developed within the area of heavy timber. In these three districts the large timber may be taken advantage 

of for local use. Under present conditions of transportation, however, 

this coastal timber forms no more of an asset in the .consideration of 

the interior and the Seward Peninsula placer fields than as if it did 

not exist.

Spruce is commonly the timber on which the gold miner of the 

interior has to rely. It is very poor, both for fuel and for lumber, 

and in steam-producing quality a cord is the equivalent of not more 

than 700 pounds of Pennsylvania bituminous coal. The diameter of 

the spruce of the interior Yukon Valley rarely exceeds 18 inches, and 

averages 10 inches. The timber line varies from 2,000 to 3,000 feet 

above the sea, and many of the low-lying river valle}7 s are fairly well 

forested. In the Tanana Valle}^ and its tributaries near Fairbanks is 

found an exceptionally good growth of spruce timber, up to 18 inches 

in diameter, while birch, aspen, and cottonwood occur in less amount.

In the Fortymile district spruce trees up to 18 inches in diameter 

occur, but in general the growth does not differ from that found along 

the Yukon and Tanana bottoms.

At the head of the Tanana and White rivers the timber line reaches 

3,000 feet, and there is a fairly good growth of spruce, birch, aspen, 

and cottonwood. The Kuskokwim and Koyukuk River valleys are 

also timbered with spruce.

The Sunrise and Chisna districts, which are nearer to the coastal 

strip than the regions mentioned above are better supplied with timber, spruce from 18 to 24 inches being common.

Those portions of Seward Peninsula which have attained importance 

from a placer-mining standpoint possess no timber except stunted 

willows. Allmining operations must therefore depend on a foreign 

supply.

The prices for lumber in table 15 are for native or imported lumber, 

according to the timber resources of the district. In general all the 

interior camps make use of the native lumber. One of the difficulties 

experienced is to get good clear bottom boards for sluice boxes.

Sawmills are in operation at all the principal centers, Atlin, Dawson, 

White Horse, and Fairbanks. At Central House in the Birch Creek

a Brooks, A. H., The geography and geology of Alaska: Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. (in 

preparation), forestry map, PI, ,
PURIXOTON.] LUMBER AND FUEL. 213

district a sawmill was formerly in operation, but has been abandoned. 

At Fairbanks, in the summer of 1904, two sawmills with a total daily 

capacity of 25,000 board feet were in operation.

Timber fires are frequent in the interior and are sometimes very 

destructive in dry seasons. There being no system of policing the 

forests for purposes of fire protection, the probability is that an 

increasingly large amount of timber will, as the population increases, 

be annually destroyed by fire.

COAL.

Though there are extensive a coal fields in Alaska, practically none 

of them have been exploited. Much of the coal is of a lignitic character, but some very good bituminous coals have been found. In the 

South Coast province good coal occurs 20 miles from the coast near 

Controller Bay 6 and in the Matanuska basin c 50 miles from the head 

of Cook Inlet. Neither of these fields are yet within reach of transportation. Lignitic coals are present at many localities along the 

Pacific coast, but these, too, are undeveloped.

In the interior coal has been mined "along the Yukon, but has not 

yet furnished a local fuel supply. The Yukon a coals include, the lignite beds of the upper river and a better grade of bituminous coals 

which outcrop along the Yukon below Nulato. Lignite coal has also 

been found along the Koyukuk and on the Cant well, a southern tributary of the Tanana. Though these coals may in the future furnish fuel 

for placer-mining operations they are an unknown factor.

Lignite has been found in the eastern part of Seward Peninsula, 

but its commercial value is unproved. A small mine has, however, 

been in operation in the Fairhaven district near Kotzebue Sound, 6 

and has found a ready market for its output, which is of .a lignitic 

character:

Near Cape.Lisburne, 200 miles north of Nome/ bituminous coal 

occurs in commercial quantities, but has not yet been mined to any 

extent. It is still an open question whether it can compete with the 

imported coals.

The fuel question in Alaska may take a new phase with the introduction of gas-producing engines, for these lignites are found to be 

very effective power producers.

The following brief statement concerning recent tests with the gas 

producer at the-United States Geological Survey coal-testing plant,

«Brooks, A. H., The coal resources of Alaska: Twenty-second Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt.3, 

1901, pp. 515-571.

6Martin,G.C., Petroleum fields of Alaska and Bering River coal fields: Bull.U.S.Geol.Survey No. 

225, pp. 371-376.

eStone, E. W., Coal resources of southwestern Alaska: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 259, pp. 151-171.

rf Collier, A. J., The coal resources of the Yukon: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 218.

eMoffit, F. H., The Fairhaven gold placers, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Bull.U.S.Geol.Survey No. 

251, p. 67.

/ Collier, A. J., Coal fields of the Cape Lisburne region: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 259, pp. 172-185.
214 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BOLL. 263.

St. Louis, has been courteously furnished for this report by Mr. 

Marius R. Campbell:

The results of tests made during the past season at the "United States Geological 

Survey coal-testing plant at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis proved 

conclusively that producer gas of such a quality that it may be used directly in a gas 

engine can be made from bituminous coals and lignites as well as from the highly 

carbonized fuels, such as anthracite, coke, charcoal, and wood, that alone have been 

used in the past for this purpose, and strange as it may appear, the lignites and 

lignitic coals have yielded better results than those ordinarily classed as bituminous. 

This means that the low-grade coals of the.,western half of the United States may 

have a value for the production of power equal to that of the best West Virginia 

coal as it is used at the present time.

The equipment by which these results were obtained consists of a Taylor gas producer with economizer, scrubber, tar-extractor, purifier, and gas holder, furnished 

by R. D. Wood & Co., of Philadelphia, and a gas engine of 235 B. H. P., furnished 

by the Westinghouse Machine Company, of Pittsburg. The great difficulty in the 

past in using bituminous coals in the producer has been the extraction of the tarry 

matter from the gas. With the above equipment the tar and sulphur in the gas is 

almost completely removed, so that these substances give little or no trouble in the 

gas engine.

It appears, then, that the interior must for the present depend for 

fuel on its timber resources, such as they are. The camps of Seward 

Peninsula will probably adopt crude oil as the most economical fuel if 

the price can be brought down to $2 a barrel delivered at Nome. There 

appears to be a need at Nome and some of the other large camps of an 

oil-tank and pipe-line system by which the oil can be cheaply transferred from steamers, stored, and pumped to the various producing 

creeks adjacent to the coast. The native spruce timber will afford a 

fuel supply to the region east of Niukluk River, if gold discoveries 

are made there.

For any of the camps in the South Coast region there is an abundant supply of fuel, as wood may be had for the cutting, and coal can 

be had at a comparatively low cost.
PUR1NGTON.] LUMBER AND FUEL. 215

TABLE 15. Cost of firewood an:l flume lumber in Alaskan camps, including Dawson, 

Yukon Territory, and Atlin, British Columbia.

Fuel.

Lumber per M,

planed on one side

unless otherwise

stated.

Juneau district:

Windfall Creek...............

Gold Creek ..................

Chisria district:

Headwaters of Copper River ..

Slate Creek ..................

Daisy Creek..................

Nizina district:

Chititu Creek ................

Copper Creek ................

Dan Creek ....................

Sunrise district:

Crow Creek..................

Resurrection Creek...........

Porcupine district:

Porcupine Creek .............

McKinley and McCoon creeks. 

Atlin district:

Pine Creek...................

Boulder Creek ...............

Spruce Creek.................

McKee Creek ................

Birch Creek...... ............

Dawson district:

Bonanza Creek...............

Eldorado Creek ..............

Gold Run....................

Sulphur Creek ...............

Upper Dominion Creek .......

Hunker Creek................

Fortymile district:

Wade Creek..................

Walker Fork.................

Chicken Creek ...............

Eagle district:

American Creek..............

Discovery Fork...............

Rampart district:

Gold Run Creek..............

Spruce wood, $7 cord.

Spruce wood, $15 cord..

Spruce wood, $9 cord... 

Spruce wood, $9.50 cord. 

Spruce wood,$11.50cord. 

Spruce wood, $11 cord..

$10.00 

12.50-15,00

150.00

150.00

150.00

100.00

150.00

150.00

25.00-35.00 

25.00

20.00

50. 00

40.00-50.00

40.00-50.00 

35.00-40.00 

35.'00-40.00

70.00-90. 00

70.00-100. 00 

80.00

60.00-90.00

«175.00

«100. 00

200.00-250.00

a 75.00

120.00

a Rough.
216 GEAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263. 

TABLE 15. Cost of firewood and flume lumber in Alaskan camps, etc. Continued.

Circle district: 

Deadwood Creek ..................

 Mastodon Creek ...................

Eagle Creek. ......................

Miller Creek ......................

Fairbanks district: 

Fairbanks Creek. ..................

Cleary Creek ......................

Chatham Creek ...................

Pedro Creek. ......................

Gold Stream ......................

Nome district: 

Anvil Creek .......................

Dexter Creek ......................

Bourbon Creek ....................

Dry Creek ........................

Peluk Creek .......................

Basin Creek. . .....................

Council district: 

Ophir Creek. ......................

Crooked Creek ....................

Solomon district: 

Solomon River ....................

Kassan Creek .....................

Kougarok district: ' 

Homestake Creek. . ..'..............

Fairhaven district: 

Candle Creek ......................

Inmachuck River. . ................

Kugruk River .....................

Port Clarence district:

Gold Run .........................

Fuel.

Spruce wood, $12 cord..

Spruce wood, $10 cord. .

Spruce wood, $10 cord..

Spruce wood, $10 cord..

Spruce wood, $7 cord. . .

Bituminous coal from

$17 to $30 per ton.

Crude oil at Nome, $3 

per barrel.

Gasoline distillate at

Nome, $3.50 per' 10-

gallon case.

Wood, $12 cord on the 

Niukluk River.

/

Lumber per M, 

planed on one side 

unless otherwise 

stated.

$100. 00-125. 00

125. 00

180. 00

70. 00

220. 00-250. 00

225. 00

225. 00

100. 00-150. 00

/' 50. 00

50. 00-60. 00

50. 00-60. 00

45. 00

50. 00

70.- 00

60. 00-100. 00

125. 00

150. 00

100.00-150.00

70. 00

150. 00

60.00

125. 00

50.00

a Rough.
PURINGTON.] GKAVEL AND PLACEK MINING IN ALASKA. 217

ROADS AND ROAD BUILDING IN ALASKA.

INTRODUCTION.

The means of getting from one part of the Territory to another and 

from the various towns and supply points to their tributary mining 

camps are very bad. The data concerning road construction, which 

were courteously furnished me by officers of the Canadian government 

based on Klondike experience, indicate that road building on an extensive scale is entirely feasible in the northern latitudes, and that roads 

can be constructed and maintained at moderate cost. In all probability Alaska is worse equipped with those improvements which contribute to progress and prosperity than any other area of like size 

lying in the domain of a civilized people.

Highway construction in Alaska is of the highest importance to the 

development of the Territory. The product of the gold-bearing gravels which have been already exploited is sufficient to support a considerable number of persons and to maintain towns of important size. 

The gold mining which has been done in the interior of Alaska has 

been conducted in spite of difficulties of transportation which would 

hardly be credible were they not substantiated by figures obtained in 

many parts of the Territory from responsible men.

It must not be assumed that the ordinary miner of Alaska is of a 

provident disposition. Many men of great energy, to whom is due 

the credit of having developed and opened large portions of this hostile country, are little disposed to take care for the future; yet they 

possess pluck and determination which is deserving of the highest 

praise. Outside of geologic and topographic exploration and making 

of excellent maps, and the furnishing of postal and telegraphic service, 

the miner, until the present session of Congress (1905), has been very 

little assisted.

An act of Congress was passed April 27, 1904, authorizing the 

appointment of road overseers and the creation of road districts in 

the Territory of Alaska, but this proving impracticable after a year's 

trial Congress.has met the urgent demands for road building by the 

recent enactment of a statute which in two of its sections provides for 

the limited building and maintenance of wagon roads and trails. a Following are the first two sections of the said act:

Be it enacted by the Senate and'House of Representatives of the United Stales of America 

in Congress assembled, That all moneys derived from and collected for liquor 

licenses, occupation, or trade licenses outside of the incorporated towns in the district of Alaska shall be deposited in the Treasury Department of the United States, 

there to remain as a separate and distinct fund, to be known as the "Alaska fund," 

and to bewholly devoted to the purposes hereinafter stated in the district of Alaska.

«An act to provide for the construction and maintenance of roads, the establishment and maintenance of schools, and the care and support of insane persons, in the district of Alaska, and for 

other purposes.
218 GKAVEL AND PLAOEB MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

One-fourth of said fund, or so much thereof as may be necessary, shall be devoted to 

the establishment and maintenance of public schools in said district; five per 

centum of said fund shall be devoted to the care and maintenance of insane persons in said district, or so much of said five per centum as may be needed; and all 

the residue of said fund shall be devoted to the construction and maintenance of 

wagon roads, bridges, and trails in said district.

SEC. 2. That there shall be a board of road commissioners in said district, to be 

composed of an engineer officer of the United States Army, to be detailed and 

appointed by the Secretary of War, and two other officers of that part of the army 

stationed in said district, and to be designated by the Secretary of War. The said 

engineer officer shall during the term of said detail and appointment abide in said 

district. The said board shall have the power and it shall be their duty, upon their 

own motion or upon petition, to locate, lay out, construct, and maintain wagon roads 

and pack trails from any point on the navigable waters of said district to any town, 

mining or other industrial camp or settlement, or between any such town, camps, 

or settlements therein, if in their judgment such roads or trails are needed and will 

be of permanent value for the development of the district; but no such road or trail 

shall be constructed to any town, camp, or settlement which is wholly transitory or 

of ho substantial value or importance for mining, trade, agriculture, or manufacturing 

purposes. The said'board shall prepare maps, plans, and specifications of every road 

or trail they may locate and lay out, and whenever more than five thousand dollars 

in i he aggregate shall have been expended on the construction of any road or trail, 

contract for the work shall be let by them to the lowest responsible bidder, upon 

sealed bids, after due notice, under rules and regulations to be prescribed by the 

Secretary of War. The board may reject any bid if they deem the same unreasonably high, or if they find that there is a combination among bidders. In case no 

responsible and reasonable bid can be secured, then the work may be carried on 

with material and men procured and hired by the board. The engineer officer of 

the board shall in all cases supervise the work of construction and see that the same 

is properly performed. As soon as any road laid out by the board has been constructed and completed they shall examine the same and make a full, detailed 

report of the work done on the same to the Secretary of War, and in such report 

they shall state whether the road or trail has been completed-conformable to the maps, 

plans, and specifications of the same. It shall be the duty of said board, as far as 

practicable, to keep in proper repair all roads and trails constructed under their 

supervision, and the same rules as to the manner in which the work of repair shall 

be done, whether by contract or otherwise, shall govern as in the case of the original 

construction of the road or trail. The cost and expenses of laying out, constructing, 

and repairing such roads and trails shall be paid by the Secretary of the Treasury 

out of the road and trail portion of said "Alaska fund " upon vouchers approved and 

certified by said board. The Secretary of the Treasury shall, at the end of .each 

month, send by mail to each of the members of said board a statement of the amount 

available of said "Alaska fund" for the construction and repair of roads and trails, 

and no greater liability for construction or repair shall at any time be incurred by 

said board than the money available therefor at that time in said fund.' The members of said board shall, in addition to their salaries, be entitled to receive their 

actual traveling expenses paid or incurred by them in the performance of their 

duties as members of said board.

It will be of interest to state that during the twelve months ending 

June 30, 1904, the total amount collected from license fees outside, of 

incorporated towns was $145,043.65. a

aMacLennan, M. F., Receipts and disbursements'of the United States for the fiscal year ending 

June 30,1904, Treasury Department, p.14.
BO ADS AND EOAD BUILDING IN ALASKA. 219

As a little less than three-fourths of this amount is available for 

roads, it is evident that the work can not be pushed very rapidly.

It is probable that not more than 40 miles of standard road could 

be built and maintained in any one year in the central Yukon province, and not more than 20 miles of standard road in the South Coast 

province. Moreover, it is not likely that the fund will increase 

rapidly, as the number of incorporated towns is growing.

Though a beginning was made in the construction of a military 

horse trail from Valdez over Thompson Pass, the project was only 

partially .successful on account of lack of funds for maintenance.

The recommendation of Mr. Alfred H. Brooks, of the Geological 

Survey, of an appropriation of $1,000,000 to be spent for wagon roads 

in Alaska is amply justified by the necessities of the case. It is probable that for this sum 900 miles of roads (300 of the Dawson standard 

wagon type and 600 for sleds) could be built in those parts of the 

country which would be most assisted by their construction. Provision 

should, however, be made for their annual maintenance. The inhabitants of Alaska would be as appreciative of such Federal aid as those 

of any portion of the American possessions, and, by such improvement in transportation facilities, the annual Alaskan product in gold 

would be greatty increased.

A serious detriment to the making of a road in Alaska is the thawing of the ground beneath the moss. It has been the universal 

experience that wherever the moss is cut into thawing immediately 

commences, and the trail which was passable becomes a filthy, slimy 

mass of mud, roots, and broken stones, a difficult route for men on 

foot, a slow and tiresome road for loaded animals, and an impassable 

obstacle to any sort of vehicle. In regions farther south, under 

temperate conditions, trails frequently are developed into fair wagon 

roads by much usage. Such developments can never take place in 

any part of the Northwest.

In the Northwest, where the ground is always subject to slight disturbances from alternate freezing and thawing, the roads can not be as 

durabl}7 constructed as in portions of the United States where similar 

topographic conditions prevail. The table of expenses furnished by 

the Canadian government for this report shows that the cost of maintenance does not exceed 15 per cent of the original mile-cost of the 

road. A feature that can not be too strongly impressed on those who 

have never seen the interior of Alaskan country is the extraordinary 

difference between the topography of the southeast coast, which is 

most often visited by tourists, and the portions of the country in 

which the rich placer deposits have been developed. In the coast 

region about Juneau, Admiralty and Baranoff islands, and in Prince 

William Sound (see PI. XVI, A, p. 114) the needle-like peaks, precipitous slopes, cataracts in summer, avalanches in winter, and all the
220 GEAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [suLL.263.

formidable conditions characterizing an alpine district make road 

building very costly. There is much rock work, and expensive bridges, 

trestles, and culverts are necessary. The cost of the wagon road from 

Juneau into Silver Bow basin was $3,750 a mile, and that of the wagon 

road built in 1.898 from Skagway to the summit of the White-Pass was 

$6,000 per mile. Compare this with the Yukon-Tanana gold"district. 

In the vicinity of Fairbanks 13 miles of passable wagon trail, over 

what is known as the Ridge Trail going to the creeks, have been built 

at a cost of less than $100 per mile." This road (see PI. XXXVIII, A) 

was made through a stretch of birch and aspen timber; the trees were 

cut out and many of the stumps removed; no ditch was made along the 

sides and the road was wide enough for oi\\y one wagon. But it is 

passable, and freight rates have already been reduced from 25 and 30 

cents per pound to 10 and 15 cents.

It may be objected that transportation sufficient to meet the needs 

of the miner can be accomplished in winter when the freight rates are 

very .much cheaper. This is far from being the case. The winter 

transportation itself would be greatly assisted by good roads on which 

sleds of 4 and 5 ton capacity could travel. As to winter freighting, it may be stated that in the winter of 1903 a man contracted to 

transport a boiler weighing 5,600 pounds from the town of Fairbanks 

to Pedro Creek, a distance of 20 miles, for $2,000, and lost $300.

Furthermore, 75 per cent of the work of exploiting the gold-bearing 

gravels is carried on in the four months of the open season, and then 

the miners are in need of the bulk of their supplies. In summer the 

prices of commodities in the towns are frequently lower than in winter. The period during which supplies for the winter are generally 

brought in is from August 1 to September 1.

COST AND METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING HIGHWAYS.

Considered from a highway standpoint, Alaska, owing to its varying topography and natural conditions, may be divided into three 

provinces the South Coast province, the central Yukon province, and 

the Seward Peninsula province. Opportunity^ was had to inspect the 

excellent wagon roads which have been built in the northwest portion 

of Canada by the Canadian government. The figures courteously 

given by the officers of the Canadian department of .public works relative to the cost of highway construction in the Yukon Territory are 

considered representative of the probable cost of such construction in 

the central Yukon province of Alaska. This and other information 

is embodied in table 16, and portions of it are elaborated in the succeeding paragraphs. The object of the table is to show, in a form 

easy for comparison, the costs of road building in the.Northwest as 

exemplified -by and estimated from previous experience.

«So low a cost would not have been possible had not teamsters hauled all necessary supplies gratis.
BULLETIN NO. 263 PL, XXXVIII

A. ROAD IN FAIRBANKS DISTRICT.

B. ROAD IN ATL1N DISTRICT, BRITISH COLUMBIA.
PURINGTON.] BOADS AND EOAD BUILDING IN ALASKA. 221

The portions of Alaska represented by Alaska Peninsula and neighboring islands, and the Copper River basin, north of Prince William 

Sound, have not been especially considered, as there appears to be no 

present need there of expensive routes of communication. In general 

it may be said, however, that the cost of construction in Alaska Peninsula is the same as in Seward Peninsula, and the cost in the Copper 

River basin the same as in the central Yukon province.

TABLE 16. Cost of road construction.

Locality.

South Coast province:

Juneau .......

/

S k a g w a y 

White Pass. 

British Columbia: 

Atlin.........

Yukon Territory:

Dawson and 

vicinity.

Do...........

Seward Peninsula:

Nome and vicinity.

Do...........

Central Yukon :

Tanana, Birch 

Creek, and 

Koyukuk 

districts.

Do...........

Authority.

Private constructors. 

.....do ..........

B. C. Atlin, gold

commissioner.

»

Canadian department of public 

works of Yukon 

Territory.

.....do .........

Estimates based 

on cost of railways already 

constructed.

Private railway

enterprises now 

in operation.

Estimate based 

on work done 

by Canadian 

government in 

Yukon Territory.

.....do ..........

Construction, cost 

per mile.

$3, 750

6,000

300-1, 000

1, 500-3, 300 

250-350

3, 000-4, 000 

6,000

1, 200-3, 000 

300

Annual maintenance, cost 

per mile.

$350 

25

500

350 

25

Notes.

Good road built

under great topographic difficulties.

Road no longer

used.

built, very little 

corduroy.

Standard highways constructed as described 

below.

trails; rarely 

used in summer.

Standard highways constructed as described 

below.

Eailway 3-foot

gauge, 20-pound 

rail, 2,600 ties 

to mile.

Standard highways constructed as described 

below.

Sled or winter

trails.
222 GRAVEL AND PLACES MINING IN ALASKA. [fluLL.268. 

SOUTH COAST PROVINCE.

Wagon roads, while extremely useful in this portion of Alaska, cost 

so much that it is not likely they will be built except as heretofore, by 

private enterprise, to accommodate individual mining properties or 

groups of mines. The province is likely to prove in the future, as it 

has proved in the past, more important from the standpoint of quartz 

mining than of alluvial mining. The construction of roads is none 

the less desirable on this account, and should any large area capable of 

producing mineral be found at a point remote from the coast, a highway to it over which freight could be handled all the year round would 

be highly desirable. Winter conditions are exceedingly severe in the 

higher mountains. In the construction of the White Pass and Yukon 

Railway, 110^ miles in length, 1,500 men were employed for twentysix months. Train service is maintained throughout the winter under 

considerable difficulty, both heavy winds and heavity drifted snow 

being frequently encountered. Rotary snow plows have to be run 

daily, encountering drifts from 15 to 35 feet in depth. The average 

cost of handling snow for a season is $75,000. Characteristic South 

Coast province topography is illustrated by PL XVI, A, p. 114.

ATLIN DISTRICT AND YUKON TERRITORY.

In the Atlin district of British Columbia, which 'was visited during 

the present investigation, the topography is comparatively favorable 

to road construction, and it will be noticed from the table that the 

cost is low. PI. XXXVIII, J5, p. 220, shows a characteristic view of 

an Atlin road.

The Yukon Territory of Canada offers the most instructive lesson in 

practical highway construction in the north, and affords a striking 

contrast in this respect to the adjacent American domain. The officers 

of the department of public works of the Yukon Territoiy, notably 

Mr. S. A. D. Bertrand, the superintendent, and Mr. W. Thibaudeau, 

the Territorial engineer, were kind enough to place at my disposal the 

data relative to the building and maintenance of the public roads. 

The following summary can not fail to be of interest in this connection:

The longest road in the .Territory is from Dawson to White Pass, 

342 miles. Its history dates from 1899.

Prior to 1899 all freight from Dawson was transported to the mining creeks by pack animals in summer, and sledded either with dogs 

or horses over the ice and snow in winter.
PURINGTON.] EOAD8 AND ROAD BUILDING IN ALASKA. 223

The following table shows the wagon roads and sled roads constructed:

Roads constructed from 1899 to 1908.

Sled roads. ............. '. ....

1899.

Miles. 

45

160

1900.

Miles. 

32

10

1901.

Miles.

63.00

80.25

1902.

Miles. 

85.81

372. 00

1903.

Miles. 

26

4-

Total.

Miles. 

251. 81

626. 25

Amount expended from 1899 to 1908 in constructing and maintaining roads and bridges 

in Yukon Territory, Canada.

1899......................................... ,\...................' $50,000.00

1900...............................:..............:............... 205,609.72

1901......................-..-.-..-...---.------------------------ 147,174.90

1902.............................................................. 228,543.88

1903 ......................................................1....... 398, 789. 95

Total....................................................... 1, 030,118.45

Average cost of construction for wagon road was $1,500 to $3,300 

per mile. Average cost of construction for sled or winter trail was 

$250 to $350 per mile. The cost of repair and maintenance of wagon 

roads was $350 per mile per annum. The cost of repair and maintenance of sled roads was $25 per mile per annum.

The following comparative statement shows transportation charges, 

per 100 pounds between Dawson and a few of the important mining 

centers in 1899, previous to the construction of the wagon roads, and 

in 1904. The improved condition means a direct benefit to the miners 

of at least 600 per cent on all supplies and machinery freighted by 

wagons over first-class roads:

Transportation charges, per 100 pounds, from Dawson to important mining centers in 

Yukon Territory, Canada.

From Dawson to 

Grand Forks. .........................................

Gold Bottom .........................................

Caribou ......................................... ....

Discovery Sulphur ....................................

Gold Run ..............................................

Distance.

Miles. 

12

20

33

35

55

1899.

$7.00

8.00.

12.50

12.50

18.00

1904.

$1.00

1.50

2.00

2.00

3.00
224. GEAVEL AND PLACEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263.

The following is a statement of the localities served by wagon roads:

Localities served by wagon roads, with mileage, in Yukon Territory, Canada.

Miles.

Bonanza Creek.......................................................... 18. 00

LovettGulch............................................................ 1. 50

Adams Gulch ........................................................... 1.75

Eldorado Creek .......................................................... 7. 65

Calder Creek............................................................ 5. 60

Gold Hill..............'................................'................. .50

Quartz Creek............................................................ 5. 00

Indian Eiver and Eureka Creek .......................................... 18.00

Hunker Creek ........................................................... 24.35

Bear Creek.............................................................. 3. 00

Last Chance Creek ...................................................... 2.50

Gold Bottom Creek..........^........................................... 5.40

Dominion Creek......................................................... 16. 25

Sulphur Creek .......................................................... 9. 56

West Dawson 1 ........................................................... .41

Henderson Creek................................................ ........ 13. 00

Duncan Creek (Stewart River district).................................... 20. 00

Livingstons Creek (Big Salmon district) .................................. 16. 00

Copper King mines (White Horse district)................................ 4. 20

Grafter copper mine..................................................... 5.44

Ridge road and spurs to Grand Forks, Gold Bottom, Caribou, and Gold Run. 73. 70

Total............................................................. 251.81

Following is a statement of the localities served by sled roads:

Localities served by sled roads, with mileage, in Yukon Territory, Canada.

Miles. 

Old River cut-off from Lake Labarge to Hutchi, cut out in 1899............. 160.00

Dawson-White Horse, overland mail route................................ 350. 00

Glacier-Miller Creek, Sixtymile district................................... 58. 25

Bucher Creek, Sixtymile district......................................... 20.00

Lepine Creek, quartz mines.............................................. 14.00

Lower Sulphur.......................................................... 8.00

Last Chance (upper end) ................................................ 3.00

Lower Dominion ..............".......................................... 6. 00

Cut-offs, Stewart River................................................... 20. 00

Duncan Creek (upper part) .............................................. 4. 00

Total............................................................. 643. 25

Less Eureka end of Dawson-White Horse trail (covered into wagon road).. 17.00

626. 25

The estimate for the amount required for maintenance of roads and 

bridges in the Yukon Territory for the year ending June 30, 1904, is 

$103,190.

The men employed in road construction are paid $5 and board per 

day of ten hours. A team of horses, used in scraping or carting, is 

reckoned at $25 per day, including wages of the driver, Foremen are 

paid $6 and board per day of ten hours,
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 263 PL. XXXIX

A. OGILVIE BRIDGE, KLONDIKE RIVER.

7?. SIX-MULE TEAM DRAWING 8 : 000 POUNDS, KLONDIKE.
JPUJUNGTON.1 EOADS AND EOAD BUILDING IN ALASKA. 225

Several bridges of a permanent character have been built in the 

Territory, the principal of which is the Ogilvie steel bridge over 

Klondike River, the cost of which was $35,000. It is seen in PI. 

XXXIX, A.

The method of constructing the road in'the Yukon Territory, where 

frozen muck and gravel flats are traversed, is illustrated in fig. 49. 

This section was drawn from information furnished by Mr. W. Thibaudeau, Territorial engineer of the Yukon Territory. It has been 

the experience that over frozen ground this type of road, costing 

$3,200 per mile, can be maintained with much less expense than roads 

running along the hillsides. With roads of the kind here illustrated 

it has been found best to leave the moss intact under the bed of poles, 

for it protects the ground from thawing; the black frozen muck, having the consistency of solid stone, remains as a firm bed. . The inside 

faces of the side ditches are not always banked with sod,.but such banking affords additional protection. The ditches are cut either entirely

[§j$|] Broken stone,orgrare/ D/MEMS/ONS

b.Mao«-t . 16 feet across top ofroacf Brush laid crosswise 3 feet depth ofd/tc./i

I I D , / -, / J.L 6 inches cfe/ot/i of stone or [a o o | Potes /ate/ /enyrtwse / foot cfe/otn of 6rusn

rt-ol n 3inches diameter ofpo/es

I TavT~- MOSS . r

?U Frozen muck

FIG. 49. Method of constructing road over frozen muck, Klondike.

in muck or partly in muck and partly in underlying gravel. These 

conditions vary with the thickness of the muck.

On .the other hand, when the moss blanket is cut into, as is necessarily the case in all side-hill cutting, the sun and the seepage water 

gradually thaw the frozen muck, which becomes a soft, slimy mass. 

The cost of maintenance of such roads has been found so much greater 

than that of roads on flat ground that the latter are now constructed, 

even if the distance between terminal points is greater.

PL XXXIX, B, shows a 6-mule team hauling 8,000 pounds with 

a trailer on an upgrade stretch of road in Hunker Creek, near Dawson. 

PI. XL, A (p. 226), from a photograph taken in August, 1904, shows a 

6-horse team endeavoring to haul a load of 3,300 pounclsf rom Fairbanks, 

on Tanana River, to Cleary Creek, in the Fairbanks district of Alaska. 

Not half a mile from the point where this picture was taken, on the 

road to Cleary Creek, a cart bearing a 15-horsepower boiler was seen 

broken down, its wheels buried in mud and water. 

Bull. 263 05 15
226 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263.

Two miles from the town of White Horse, Yukon Territory, on the 

road to the copper deposits, is an excellent stretch of cordunyy road 

extending over a marshy piece of unfrozen ground. The 6-inch timbers used for lagging have all been flattened on the upper side for a 

width of 15 feet in the central portion, so that a rough wagon track is 

formed. Thus a much evener wear on the lagging is maintained than 

would be the case if the timbers were left in their original round 

condition.

CENTRAL YUKON PROVINCE.

Mr. Alfred H. Brooks, in his article entitled "Placer Mining in 

Alaska in 1903," a has suggested the following routes for Government 

roads in the central Yukon province of Alaska:

(1) A road from Eagle to the Tanana, the Chistochina, and 4g. Valdez, on the 

coast, a distance o£ approximately 400 miles. This probably should tallow the present 

well-established trail, which is used as winter and summer mail route. The most 

important part of the road would be that between Eagle and the camps of the Fortymile region. An alternate route would be to Fairbanks, on the Tanana, from Copper 

River by way of the Delta River valley, a distance of about 300 miles. (2) A road 

to extend from Circle, on the Yukon, through the Birch Creek and Fairbanks district to the Tanana, a distance of about 150 miles. (3) Rampart, on the Yukon, to 

be connected with the mouth of Baker Creek, on the Tanana, by a road which would 

open up the Minook and Baker districts, a distance of less than 50 miles. (4) A 

hundred miles or so of road to be built in the Koyukuk region to connect the goldbearing creeks with the head of steamboat navigation on Koyukuk River. It is 

believed that these roads would form a system of main arteries by which most of the 

placer fields could easily be reached, and that the production of the mines would 

thereby be so much increased as to fully justify the expense.

Well-constructed roads following the above routes would result in 

making freight rates in the placer districts which the roads would 

traverse one-fourth less than at present. The operations in the Birch 

Creek and New Fairbanks placer districts, for example, are directly 

dependent on prices of supplies laid down on the claims. The pay 

streaks in the broad creek valleys frequently become wider and wider 

as freight rates become lower. Such a statement would appear absurd 

if applied to regions where the charge for freighting represents only 

a small percentage of the original cost of the commodities. Where, 

however, the cost of material, especially machineiy, is rendered double 

or more by freight charges, transportation facilities become a highly 

important factor in considering whether a given piece of ground is or 

is not workable. Prices for mining supplies in the town of Fairbanks, 

the supply point for the new gold-placer region on tributaries of 

Tanana River, are by no means cheap. As compared with prices on 

the claims which lie from 15 to 25 miles inland, however, they are

a Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 225,1904, p. 57.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 263 PL. XL

A. SIX-HORSE TEAM DRAWING 3,300 POUNDS, CLEARY CREEK, FAIRBANKS.

B. CREEK TOPOGRAPHY, FAIRBANKS DISTRICT.
PUIUNGTON.] ROADS AND KOAD BUILDING IN ALASKA. 227

strikingly low. For example, a hundred feet of 8-inch 16-gage 

hydraulic riveted steel pipe costs in Fairbanks $175. On Fairbanks 

Creek, 20 miles away, the same 100 feet of pipe, with freight at 20 

cents per pound, costs, if transported in summer, $301, representing a 

freight charge of $126. In the Klondike, where the topography is 

nearly the same, the same pipe would be landed on a claim 20 miles 

from Dawson for a freight charge of $9.45.

Anything worse than the present condition of the trails in the 

interior of Alaska is difficult to conceive. Men ignorant of the use of 

a map and compass are frequently lost in the vast maze o'f rolling 

mountains and undergo hardship and starvation. It is a curious fact, 

dependent on the peculiar frozen conditions, that the great river flats, 

where the present trails are at their worst, are the very places where 

wagon roads of the Dawson type can be most easily maintained. As 

for the hill country, the roads can, in many cases, be led almost.continuously for distances of from 5 to 20 miles along the crests of gently 

rolling divides.

PI. XL, B, shows one of the important producing creeks of central 

Alaska, where a road is badly needed, 'and PI. XLI, J., illustrates the 

present mode of transportation in that district.

SEWARD PENINSULA PROVINCE.

In the central and western portions of Seward Peninsula, namely, 

the Nome, Solomon, Council, Topkok, Kougarok, Teller, and York 

districts, any projects of installation of roads must take into account 

the entire absence of native timber. The region so defined is the one 

which has attained importance as a gold-producing area, while the 

eastern portion of the province, where scant growth of spruce does 

occur, is not at present productive. PI. XLII illustrates typical 

Seward Peninsula topography.

Owing to these conditions wagon-road construction which employs 

the use of timber in any form will be expensive, and as seen by the 

table given previous^ in this paper, the cost of building the narrowgage railways which have done excellent service in Seward Peninsula is $6,000 per mile, exclusive of rolling stock, while a wagon road 

of the Dawson type will rarely fall below $i,000 per mile. The rates 

for hauling on these railwaj^s may be reckoned at $1 per ton per mile. 

In summer, wagons with broad tires now haul freight over roads which 

have, as it were, made themselves, at rates of $1.50 to $3 per ton per 

mile, varying according to the nature of the country traversed.

It is questionable whether wagon roads, extensively built and 

aiming at permanency, will ever be constructed in Seward' Peninsula 

to supply the needs of the gold-mining communities. The Nome
228 GEAVEL AND PLACEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

Arctic Railway, from Nome to Anvil Creek, 12 miles long, the ties of 

which are laid for a portion of its length on a 2-inch plank bed, appears 

to serve a useful purpose. Only seventy days were consumed in the 

construction of the 12 miles. The Wild Goose Railway, also of 3-foot 

gage, from Council to Ophir Creek, has been constructed in a similar 

manner. Sixteen miles of a standard-gage railway, the Council City 

and Solomon River Railway, have also been completed. Considering 

the comparative cheapness with which railway material can be hauled 

at various points in Seward Peninsula, it is likely that short .lines 

of railway will continue to be built by private enterprise to supply 

the several inland mining communities.

The suggestion is here made that narrow-gage pole tramways laid 

over the tundra might in some cases be used in parts of Seward 

Peninsula for long hauls. They would be expensive to construct and 

maintain, but would not, of course, compete with winter transportation.

In view of the small cost of narrow-gage railways in Seward 

Peninsula and the small annual maintenance cost, as compared with 

what it would probably cost to maintain wagon roads, the Federal 

Government should aid in tramway rather than wagon-road construction in that portion of Alaska. The light industrial railwaj^s now 

manufactured by various firms could be constructed with special 

modifications for the tundra country, and could be shipped, knocked 

down, to different portions of the peninsula.

In conclusion, I would say that of the three provinces of Alaska 

above specified, the central Yukon province is most in need of Federal 

aid for highway construction. By this means placer districts now 

lying idle could be made to support a numerous population, and it is 

doubtful whether any other form of assistance would prove as beneficial as stimulating prospecting for new placer fields.

FREIGHT RATES.

FREIGHT RATES FROM THE STATES.

The present freight and passenger rates from Tacoma, Seattle, and 

San Francisco to the main supply points of Alaska accessible by oceangoing steamers are given in table 17 (pp. 230-231).

Freight rates are fairly constant from year to year, but passenger 

rates vary from one season to another, according as the different 

steamship companies are competing or temporarily combined. Return 

passenger rates may be reckoned at generally 25 per cent higher than 

north bound, but occasionally rise to 100 per cent higher. During 

1904 the return rates from Nome were double those outgoing. It
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 263 PL. XLI

A. PACK TRAIN, BIRCH CREEK DISTRICT.

TRESTLED FLUME IN EAGLE DISTRICT.
PURINGTON.] EOADS AND ROAD BUILDING IN ALASKA.^ 229

should be noted also that' the return rates are 'higher on the last 

steamers than on those returning early in the season.

Service is maintained all the year round, with the exception of the 

Seward Peninsula service, St. Michael, and points far up Cook Inlet. 

Between these points and Seattle, service can be reckoned on from 

May 15 to October 15 only.
230 GEAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALAvSKA. [BULL. 263.

TABLE 17. Ocean freight and passenger rates for 1904 from

w

Ju 

Sk 

Ya 

Va 

Se 

He 

Sa

"3

0 

0

O

OJ

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Teller

York .................................

Bluff.........................:........

and ironmachinery Loose weigh- articles inpieces 

than less2, 000 ing 

pounds.

Per ton. 

89.00

10.00 

11.00 

13.00 

11.00 

16.00 

19.50 

18.00

15.00 

15.00 

15.00 

15.00 

25. 00 

25.00 

25.00 

45. OC

Machinery, singlepieces 

weighing 2,000-4,000 

pounds.

Per ton. 

$11.00

12.00 

13.00 

15.00 

13.00 

18.00 

21.50 

20. 00

15.00 

15.00 

15.00 

15.00 

 25.00 

25.00 

25.00 

45.00

Machinery, singlepieces 

weighing 4,000-6,000 

pounds.

$14.00 

15.00 

16.00 

18. 00 

16.00 

21.00 

24. 50 

22. 50

20.00 

20. 00 

20.00 

20.00 

30.00 

30.00 

30.00

Machinery, singlepieces 

weighing 6,000-8,000 

pounds.

Per ton. 

818.00

19.00 

20.00 

. 22. 00 

20.00 

25.00 

28. 50 

27. 50

20.00 

25.00 

25.00 

25.00 

35.00 

35.00 

35.00

single Machinery, pieces weighing 8,000-10,000 

pounds.

Per ton. 

$22. 00

23.00 

24.00 

26.00 

24.00 

29.00 

32.50 

32.50

35.00 

35.00 

35.00 

35.00 

45.00 

45.00 

45.00

single peces Machinery, 

pounds. 10,000 over 

Special 

contract.

....do... 

....do... 

....do... 

....do... 

....do... 

....do... 

....do...

$50 and 

higher.

....do... 

....do... 

....do...

SCO and 

higher.

....do... 

....do...

Coal is shipped from different points to Alaska, and the local price is given in tables for different 

Alaska towns.

Coal in sacks per ton, 2,240 pounds, Seattle to St. Michael or Nome, $12.

Freight and passenger rates from San Francisco to any of the above points do not exceed 5 per cent 

above Seattle rates.

The winter passenger trip between Seattle and Nome, via White Pass and Dawson, includes steamer, 

rail', horse-stage, and dog-sled travel, consumes three months, and costs about $1,000.
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232 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263.

In table 18 are given the through freight and passenger rates from 

San Francisco or Seattle to Dawson, in Yukon Territory, and to Eagle, 

Circle, Fort Gibbon, and Fairbanks, in Alaska, via the White Pass 

route.

Table 19 gives the through rates from San Francisco or Seattle to 

the above-named points, via St. Michael and Yukon and Tanana rivers.

While during the open or summer season the all-water transport of 

freight via St. Michael is cheaper, the river steamboat service has not 

yet been developed to a sufficient extent to insure prompt and regular delivery. Should the Tanana gold fields prove important, however, 

the all-water route will probably be the one most practical for the 

transportation of supplies. It has the additional recommendation that 

by means of it the crossing and recrossing of the Canadian frontier is 

avoided. On the other hand, via the White Pass route, freight can be 

landed at Fairbanks much earlier than via the all-water St. Michael 

route.

It should be stated, in the consideration of table 18, that the White 

Pass and Yukon Railway has established three classifications of freight 

for through shipments, the regular rates for which, on less than 10 

shipments from Seattle to Dawson for the summer season, are as 

follows:

Class A, including mining tools and articles bulky and not easily 

destructible, $65 per ton.

Class B, including more fragile articles, 180 per ton.

Class C, including small supplies, $95 per ton.

Shippers should remember that a package containing any article 

coming under a higher class than that comprising the bulk of the 

package is charged at the highest rate. This applies also to unspecified packages.

A list of mining supplies, on which a special reduction is made for 

transport from Seattle to Dawson between July 1 and August 15, is 

given following table 18.

The winter freight rates, via the White Pass route, exceeding $560 

per ton from Seattle to Dawson need not be considered, as they are 

prohibitive, except in emergency cases. This route necessitates a 

haulage of nearly 300 miles by sleds.
PURINGTON.] FREIGHT KATES. 233

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Eagle to Circle
234 GRAVEL AND PL ACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

The following rates from Seattle to Dawson, via the White Pass 

route, on commodities especially applicable to placer mining, are 

also given for summer traffic between July 1 and August 15:

Freight rates from Seattle to Dawson, via White Pass route, from July 1 to August 15.

Lumber, rough (including flume lumber or lumber dressed on one side 

only).....................................................per M feet.. $48.75

Oats and feed, in straight or mixed carloads...................... per ton.. 55. 00

Hay (compressed to at least 22 pounds per cubic foot) 7 tons or over. ...do.... 52.50

Blacksmith's coal, 20,000 pounds and over.......................... do.... 47. 50

Coal oil, 20,000 pounds and over....................................do.... 47.50

Candles, 20,000 pounds and over ...................................do.... 55.00

Nails, horseshoes, bolts, nuts, and spikes, 20,000 pounds and over... .do.... 47. 50

Flour, 20,000 pounds and over ......................I.............. do.... 52. 00

Beef in barrels.................................................... do.... 62.50

Iron and iron articles: Angle, band, bar, boiler, rod, hoop, sheet and galvanized iron, sheet steel, T rails, wire rope, bolts, anvils, nuts, nails, chains, 

per ton ............................................................... 52.00

Hardware supplies: Asbestos cement, asphaltum, axle grease, bags and bagging, cement, clay (fire), handles, oil (lubricating in cases), pulleys, iron 

pumps (hand), rope and cordage, tar, tin plate, varnish, wheelbarrows, 

per ton ....... ^ ................s...................................... 55.00

TABLE 19. Through freight and passenger tariff for 1904, between San Francisco, Seattle, 

and Yukon, Koyukuk, and Tanana River points, via St. Michael.

Anvik .............. 

Nulato .............

Koyukuk mouth .... 

Fort Gibbon........

Fort Yukon ........

Circle ..............

Eagle ..............

Dawson ............

o

Passengers.

Firstclass.

$103. 00 

112. 50 

112. 50 

125. 00 

150. 00 

127. 50 

135. 00 

135. 00 

140. 00 

140. 00 

140. 00 

150. 00

165. 00

Second 

class.

$70. 00 

80.00 

80.00 

88.00 

110. 00 

90.00 

95.00 

95.00 

100. 00 

100. 00 

100. 00

Freight per ton 

of 2,000 pounds, 

or 40 cubic feet, 

ship's option.

$40. 00 

50. 00 

50.00 

55.00 

100. 00 

57.00 

62.00 

65.00 

70.00 

70.00 

70.00 

100. 00 

135. 00

Passengers.

First 

class.

|97. 00 

105. 00 

105. 00 

112. 50 

125. 00 

115. 00 

120. 00 

120. 00 

125. 00 

125. 00 

125. 00 

130. 00 

140. 00

Second 

class.

$66. 00 

70.00 

70.00 

75.00 

90.00 

77.50 

85.00 

85.00 

90.00 

90.00 

90.00

Freight per ton 

of 2,000 pounds, 

or 40 cubic feet, 

ship's option.

$35. 00 

40.00 

 40.00 

45.00 

75.00 

48.00 

53.00 

55.00 

58.00 

59. 00 

60.00 

75. 00 

95. 00
1'URINGTON.] FREIGHT BATES. 235

Heavy pieces. On shipments to and from all river points, single pieces or packages 

weighing between 750 and 1,000 pounds, add 20 per cent; between 1,000 and 1,500 

pounds, add 30 per cent; between 1,500 and 2,000 pounds, add 40 per cent; between 

2,000 and 3,000 pounds, add 60 per cent; between 3,000 and 4,000 pounds, add 80 

per cent; between 4,000 and 5,000 pounds, double rate; over 5,000 pounds taken 

only by special contract.

LOCAL FREIGHT AND PASSENGER TARIFFS.

TABLE 20. Freight and passenger rates, for 1904, via river steamer from Dawson to 

points on Yukon and Tanana rivers. Return rates from 10 to 30 per cent higher.

Dawson to 

Fortymile, 53 miles .................................

Eagle, 102 miles. ....................................

Circle, 292 miles ....................................

Fort Yukon, 377 miles. ..............................

Fairbanks, 1,000 miles ............-....-.-..:........

Fort Gibbon, 700 miles .................... ^.........

Anvik, 1,196 miles ..................................

St. Michael, 1,601 miles. .............................

Freight per 

ton of 40 

cubic feet or 

2,000 pounds.

$10. 00 

12.00 

18.00 

21.00 

 26.00 

70.00 

28.00 

35. 00 

39.00 

48.00

Passengers.

First 

class.

$7.00 

9.00 

17.00 

21.00 

31. 00 

70.00 

34.00 

45.00 

54. 00 

70.00

Second 

class. 

$5.00 

7.00 

13.00 

16.00 

23.00 

50.00 

25. 00 

34.00 

41.00 

50.00

Lumber, one and one-half the above rates per 1,000 feet B. M. 

 Horses and cattle, 1 to 5; one and one-half the above rates for each head; 6 to 10, 

one and one-quarter rate each head; over 10, one rate each head.

See footnote table 19 in regard to shipment of heavy pieces.

TABLE 21. Local passenger and freight tariff on Tanana River:

PASSENGER TARIFF.

Upstream.. Downstream.

Miles from Tanana. . .

Neenana ........

Chena ...........

Baker Creek.

80

$?0

Tolovana.

115

$25

10

Neenana. 

180

$30

20

13

Chena.

285

$40

30

9,0

20

Fairbanks.

300

$40

35

30

95

10

^v From 

To \,

Miles from Fairban ks

Baker Creek ....

Chena.

15

$5

Jfeena'na.

120

$15

10

Tolovana.

185

$20

15

10

Baker Creek.

220

$25

20

15

5

Tanana.

300

$25

25

20

15

10
^

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Koyukuk mouth.

Dagitli Eiver.

Dulbi River.

Seattle Point.

Hog River.

Rock Island Point.

Red Mountain.

Bergman.

Alien River.

Peavy.

Settles.
PUKINGTON.] FREIGHT BATES. 237 

TABLE 22. Local passenger tariff on Koyukuk River, season 1904 Continued.

DOWNSTREAM.

^ ^ From 

To ^\^

Bettles...... ..................

Rock Island Point .............

Hog River. . ...................

Koyukuk mouth. ..............

>>

oS ® p-t

m

$5

"

Alien River.

70

$9

5

a

03

a a>

a>

«

so

$10

6

3

Red Mountain.

llfi

$15

1?

8

5

Rock IslandPoit.

150

$20

17

13

9

fi

Hog River.

Wf>

$26

W

18

14

10

8

Seattle Point.

300

$34

30

9!fi

?.?,

18

14

8

Dulbi River.

365

$38

34

30

M

m

18

1?:

6

Dagitli River.

388

$40

36

3?

29

94

9,0

15

7

4

Koyukuk mouth.

590

$50

47

43

40

34

30

94

17

14

11

o

 &"3.

'K

540

$51

48

44

41

35

31

25

18

15

12

5

TABLE 23. Packing rates per 100 pounds from Rampart, Alaska, to various points

in 1904.

Hunter Creek. ....................................

Little Minook Creek. ..............................

Over divide to Pioneer Glen, Rhode Island, Omega,

Distance.

Miles. 

4

' 6

8

10

13

25 to 32

Winter.a

$2.00

2.00

2.00

2.00

2.00

6.00

Summer.

$4.0C

4.0C

4.0C

6.0C

8.00

15. 00

alt should be said in regard to winter transportation that horses are gradually replacing dogs in 

all parts of Alaska. The dog is theoretically cheaper to feed than the horse. He gives more trouble, 

is more likely to give out on the trail, and experience has shown that in regions where horse feed can 

be obtained, and where much sledding is done, horses are cheaper.

Circle-Fairbanks packing rafes. The town of Circle, being the 

nearest point on Yukon River to the placer districts of Birch Creek 

and Fairbanks, has some importance, especially in winter, as a distributing center for those districts. The rates for packing in summer 

by horses and in winter by dog sleds from Circle are given in table 24.
238 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263. 

TABLE 24. Packing rates per 100 pounds from Circle to various points.

Eagle Creek ......................................

Fairbanks Ci eek ..................................

Fort Gibbon to Cleary Creek. ......................

Distance.

. Miles. 

60

80

135

150

Winter.

$3.00

6.00

15.00

35.00

60.00

Summer.

$25. 00

30.00

75.00

100. 00

Packing rates at Fairbanks. These summer rates are continually 

being reduced as the trails are improved, but the following may be 

regarded as those that will obtain in 1905:

TABLE 25. Packing rates per 100 pounds from Fairbanks to various points.

Pedro Creek ......................................

Chatham Creek ...................................

Cleary Creek ......................................

Lower Fairbanks Creek ............................

Distance.

Miles.' 

15

20

22

23

25

Winter.

$2.00

2.50

2.50

3.00

3.00

Summer.

$10. 00

10.00

15. 00

20.00

25.00

In the summer of 1904 six-horse teams were engaged in hauling loads 

not exceeding li tons from Fairbanks to the creeks. The conditions 

under which this hauling was done may be seen from PI. XL.

The nearest American supply point to the creeks of the Fortymile

region is Eagle, but this town, on account of its remoteness and the 

absence of good roads, is at present of only subordinate importance 

to the miners. Dawson, although in Canadian territory, is a more 

convenient place to procure supplies. These are bought generally in 

the fall and freighted to the creeks on sleds with dogs or horses during 

the winter, either by way of Sixtymile Creek or Fortymile Creek. In 

the summer freight is carried by pack train from Eagle or by boats 

from the Yukon up Fortymile Creek. The winter rates from Eagle 

in 1903 averaged about $5 per 100 pounds; the summer rates about $25. 

Freighting to the new placer district of the Porcupine is done by 

wagon haul across Chilkat River to Portage Point, thence to Klukwan in canoes, which are poled upstream, sometimes under great difficulties. From Klukwan the supplies are hauled up the Klehini, 15 

miles, to the town of Porcupine. The rate from Haines Mission to 

Porcupine is $3.50 per 100 pounds, and to Pleasant Camp, 6 miles 

beyond Porcupine, it is $5 per 100 pounds.
PURINGTON.] FEEIGHT EATES. 239

Freight for the Chistochina district must be packed on horses from 

Valdez, via the military road to the Chistochina, and then up the river. 

The rate in 1903 was, in summer, $10 per 100 pounds, and in winter 

$3.50 per 100 pounds.

A railway has been projected from Resurrection Bay on the Alaska 

coast up the Sushitna and down the valley of Cantwell River to the 

Tanana, thence across to the Yukon at Rampart. A few miles of 

the road have actually been constructed from the Resurrection Bay 

terminus. There is little doubt that a railway following either this 

route or one following the already surveyed route from Yaldez to 

Tanana Crossing would pay as an investment. The benefit of such 

lines of railway to the south interior portion of Alaska, including the 

Hope and Sunrise, Chistochina, and Fairbanks placer districts, is 

unquestionable.

Freight rates from Hope and Sunrise to the mining creeks in the 

vicinity are as follows:

Supplies are freighted from Sunrise to Mills Creek, about 18 miles, 

for 5 cents per pound.

From Sunrise to Lynx Creek, between 20 and 25 miles, for about 

the same. This is contract work.

Supplies are boated from Sunrise to mouth of Glacier Creek (7 to 8 

miles) and there packed to Crow Creek (6 to 7 miles) for 3 to 3| cents, 

but this is by private yearly contract. The miners usually bring their 

own supplies over the snow in the winter time so that there is not much 

freighting.

The transportation of supplies from supply points on Seward Peninsula to the mining creeks is done mainly.by hauling in wagons; in 

some cases, as from Cheenik to Council, by flatboat, and in three 

cases, Nome-Anvil Creek, Solomon-East Fork, and Council Number 

15, Ophir Creek, by railway. Between points on the coast the summer 

transportation depends on small ocean-going boats, for the most part 

gasoline launches, whose trips are not regular, as landings at Nome, 

Solomon, Bluff, and York depend on the weather. All supplies larger 

than those which can be transported in dories must be lightered at the 

above-named points. Charges for lightering at Nome are included in 

table 26. It should be understood that the ocean rates to Seward 

Peninsula points given in table 17 include the charge for lightering in 

every case.

The wagon haul is fairly easy at some times of the year in the broad, 

gravel-filled river beds. These streams are subject to flood, however, 

and such teaming is impossible at times. From White Mountain, on 

Fish River, to Council, Ophir Creek, Gold Bottom, and as far as Goose 

Creek, on the Casadepaga, a useful type of flatboat, drawn by a strong 

horse, draws 5 tons during favorable conditions of water. Such hauling, when possible, reduces the freight over the wagon haul by about 40
240 GEAVEL AND PLACEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

per cent. Such horse boats can ascend the Casadepaga only during 

June and early July.

The freight rates from Teller to the creeks of the Kougarok district 

were not available in detail for this report. Freighting by wagon 

haul is, however, carried on from Teller, York, and some of the other 

more distant coast points of Seward Peninsula, and the rates may 

be figured as higher than at Nome in proportion to the increased cost 

of supplies at those coast points.

On Ophir Creek, in the Council district, it has been shown that the 

larger companies can reckon on obtaining their supplies direct from 

San Francisco via ocean steamer to Cheenik;' flat steamers, Cheenik to 

mouth of the Niukluk; horse boat, Mukluk mouth to Council, and 

railway from Council to the creek, at a cost of approximately 2 cents 

a pound in excess of San Francisco prices. 'Table 26 gives the local 

freight rates from the main supply points to the creeks.

TABLE 26. Summer local freight and passenger rates from Nome to various points in

Seward Peninsula, 1904-

Point.

Bluff «.... ............

Teller 6 ...............

York«...... ..........

Kiwalik ...............

Deering « .............

Anvil Creek ..........

Cooper Gulch .........

Moonlight Gulch ......

Bourbon Creek ........

Dry Creek ............

Hoi yoke Creek ........

Dexter Creek .........

Buster Creek. .........

Osborne Creek ........

Seattle Creek..........

Washington Creek ....

Moss Gulch Creek. . . . .

Method of transportation.

.....do..........

.....do..........

boat.

ftf"PQTTlOT

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do..........

Wagon haul, railway. c 

Wagon haul .....

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do.... ......

.....do..........

General freight.

Per ton. 

$15. 00

15.00

15.00

27.50

15.00

20.00

30.00

30.00

$10. 00-15. 00

10.00

10. 00

10.00

5. 00-10. 00

10. 00-15. 00

2.00

30.00

30.00

30. 00-40. 00

37.50

30.00

30.00

Lumber

Per Mft. 

4590 en

22.50

22.50

35.00

99 ^n

30.00

15.00

45.00

Horses 

and 

cattle.

Per head. 

 Rift oft

18.00

22.50

35.00

99 £.0

30.00

45.00

45.00

Passengers.

$7.50

10.00

15.00

20.00

15.00

20.00

30.00

30.00

a No harbor. &Nome to Lftne.s lading via Kuzitrin. JUver, §50 per ton. c Wagon haul, H-ton rates.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

TOPOGRAPHY, SEWARD PENINSUL.. PROVINC
PUEINGTON.] FREIGHT BATES. 241

TABLE 26. Summer local freight and passenger rates from Nome to various points in 

Seward Peninsula, 1904 Continued.

Point.

Otter Creek...........

Martin Creek .........

Glacier Creek .........

Eock Creek...... .....

Prospect Creek. .......

Alpine Creek. .........

Sledge Creek..........

Bolto Creek. ..........

Bangor Creek .........

Twin Mountain Creek .

Pioneer Creek .........

Last Chance ..........

Penny River ..........

Willow Creek. . .......

Oregon Creek .........

Nome River, head .....

East Fork Solomon to

Council.

Method of transportation.

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do.....:....

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do:.........

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do..........

.....do..........

Stage line .......

General freight.

Per ton. 

$5. 00-10. 00

10. 00-15. 00

10. 00-15. 00

30.00

30.00

40. 00

 40. 00

40.00

40. 00

50.00

60. 00

60.00

60.00

60.00

20. 00-30. 00

30.00

100. 00

100. 00

40. 00-50. 00

100. 00

30.00

Lumber.

Per Mfl.

Horses 

and 

cattle.

'Per head.

Passengers.

$12. 50

Rates for lightering cargo at Nome.

General merchandise, including small machinery ..................per ton.. $5. 00

Machinery:

Two- to three-ton pieces. ...................................... .do.... 7.50

Three- to four-ton pieces. ...................................... .do.... 10. 00

Four- to five-ton pieces.........................................do.... 15. 00

Five- to six-ton pieces..........................................do.... 20. 00

Six- to seven-ton pieces.........................................do.... 25. 00

Seven- to eight-ton pieces........................................do.... 30.00

Double-compressed hay ........................................... .do.... 5. 00

Coal in sacks ......................................................do.... 3. 50

Coal put on beach and piled up .....................................do.... 4. 00

Lumber......................................................per M feet.. 5. 50

Live stock ..................................................... per head.. 6.00

Winter freighting, by means of horse and dog sleds, may be reckoned at about one-half the summer hauling rates. 

Bull. 263 05 16
242 GEAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263.

From Nome to Council, 85 miles, winter haul is 

Warm-storage rate, per ton........................................... $60.00

Cold-storage rate, per ton............................................ 40.00

Passenger rate, forty hours........................................... 15.00

Summer local freight rates from Solomon to various points.

Per ton.

Mouth Shovel Creek............................................... $8.00-|12.00

Hurrah Creek «........................................................... 10. 00

Willow Creek .......................... ....,....... ..:...-................ 90. 00

Ruby Creek.............................................................. 80. 00

Mystery Creek. .......................................................... 15.00

West Creek .............................................................. 12. 50

East Fork Creek.......................................................... 15.00

Down coast to Spruce Creek.............................. 1............'.... 12. 50

Summer local freight rates from Council to various points.

Per ton.

No. 15, OphirCreek (railway) ........................................... $10.00

Gold Bottom (horse boat) ............................................... 30. 00

Gold Bottom (wagon haul) .............................................. 50. 00

Lower Casadepaga........................................................ 75.00

CUSTOMS REGULATIONS.

 Considerable delay and confusion have been caused in the past by 

shippers not understanding the requirements of the United States and 

Dominion customs departments. The following information is given 

for the guidance of- shippers, and the instructions herein. contained 

must be strictly adhered to:

Shipments of goods from United States ports via Skagway, destined to Eagle City and other lower Yukon River points in transit 

through British Columbia and Yukon Territory, must be accompanied 

by 4: certified copies of invoices and 2 copies of bills of lading. All 

of these papers are necessary for customs purposes at Skagway.

Goods shipped from United States ports, destined to points in 

Alaska via Skagway and Yukon River, are bonded through Canadian 

territory duty free.

Charges for preparing customs papers by the customs agent of the 

White Pass and Yukon route will be as follows: For preparing shipper's manifest, 50 cents; transportation and exportation entries will 

be charged for on basis of actual cost to the White Pass and Yukon 

route.

The customs agent will notify the agent of the White Pass and 

Yukon route at Skagway station of the amounts to be assessed on 

above account, and the same will be placed against each shipment as a 

back charge.

a Under exceptionally favorable conditions large lots have been landed San Francisco-Little Hurrah Creek as low as $17 per ton.
PURINGTON.] CUSTOMS REGULATIONS. 243

Difficulties of a peculiar nature are experienced by the placer miners 

of interior Alaska owing to the configuration of the international 

boundary between the Territory, of Alaska and the British possessions. The town of Dawson, being the largest settlement of the interior, is naturally the point where mining supplies are most easily and 

quickly obtained by the placer miners of the neighboring American 

camps of Birch Creek and Forty mile,-the Rampart district, and others 

of the Yukon and Tanana. During the season of 1904 the rapid and 

to a certain extent justifiable development of the town of Fairbanks, 

on Tanana River, gave promise that this settlement would eventually 

become as well equipped to supply the needs of the Tanana miners as 

is Dawson. The American Yukon camps must, however, for a considerable number of years be locally dependent on Dawson as a source 

of supplies.

Theoretically the miners are supposed to buy their mining supplies and machinery either at points in the United States or at towns 

on the Yukon in American territory. Such supplies, of course, if 

shipped down the Yukon, come through the Canadian territory in 

bond free of duty. In practice, however, owing to the necessity of 

obtaining supplies quickly, purchases are made in Dawson, and unless 

the supplies can be proved to be returned American goods the American miner must pay duties to the United States custom-house at 

Eagle according to the rates given in the following list. Frequently 

duties must be paid even on supplies made in the United States and 

returned, since there is no manufacturer's mark by which the customs 

inspector can identify them. This especially applies to such important mining supplies as small parts of boilers, tubes, pipe, pipe fittings, 

elbows, T's, unions, grate bars, sledges, drill steel, picks, shovels, 

pump plungers, buckets, valves, small car wheels, strap iron, rails, 

bar and rod iron, and small castings. Even larger pieces, such as 

parts of hydraulic giants, are frequently unstamped. These supplies, 

kept for sale by the machinery firms of Dawson, frequently pay 

customs duties both to Canada and the United States before reaching 

the Alaska camps. Dawson is frequently sought by the American 

miners in the midst of the short season for the purpose of repairs 

to various mining machinery, it being the only place accessible on the 

Yukon where machine shops exist. It may easily be seen how burdensome on the miner is the imposing of a duty on his machinery which 

he brings back into American territory after repairs, and on which he 

must pajr a duty because it has been improved or changed in foreign 

territory.
244 GEAVEL AND PLACEK MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

Below are given the United States customs duties on small mining 

supplies:

United States customs duties.

Articles.

Boilers and engines, first and second hand ........

Points (steam), sluice forks, picks, shovels, axes..

Hydraulic pipe. .:...............................

Gas pipe. .......................................

Rubber hose ....................................

Coke................................... ......

Black powder. ..................................

Fuse ...........................................

Candles .........................................

Nails, wire. .....................................

Nails, wrought iron .............................

Wire cable. . ....................................

Centrifugal pumps. ..............................

Sawed lumber. .................................

Wheelbarrows, iron ...................... 1 ......

Eope ...........................................

Asphalt coating. ................................

Lubricating oils ...................................

Quicksilver. ....................................

Iron castings. ...................................

Iron castings, ground and fitted ..................

Duty.

45 per cent ad valorem.

45 per cent ad valorem. 

1£ cents per pound.

4. 7 cents per pound.

20 cents per pound.

2 cents per pound.

6 cents per pound.

$2.36 per thousand.

One-half cent per pound.

Seven-twentieths cent per

pound. 

1 cent per pound and 40 per

cent ad. valorem.

for each side dressed.

$3 per ton. '

25 per cent ad valorem.

45 per cent ad valorem.
PUKINGTON.] TELEGKAPH BATES. 245

It should be stated that there is a duty on all horses, cattle, sheep, 

and dogsffl entering Alaska. Thus a dog team coming down river from 

Dawson in the winter is dutiable.

During the season of 1904 a United States customs inspector 

accompanied the Yukon steamers from Dawson with shipments from 

that point to Fairbanks, in order to obviate the long delays which had 

previously been necessary for appraisement at Eagle.

Owing to the export duty on gold which is charged by the Canadian 

government, some difficulties have been experienced by Americans 

who bring gold mined in Alaska Territory through Canadian territory, via Dawson, en route to the United States. The Canadian government naturally assumes that all gold found on south-bound passengers leaving Canadian territory at White Pass has been mined in 

Canada. Such gold is therefore liable to confiscation by the officers 

in charge of collection of royalty unless the bearer is provided with a 

properly ratified certificate stating that the gold is of foreign production. American miners should obtain such a certificate at Eagle from 

the United States authorities (fee, 10 cents) and have the same ratified 

at Dawson by the Canadian police (fee, 50 cents for gold from 1 to 

25 ounces, $1 for 25 ounces and upward). All individuals leaving 

Yukon Territory for United States territory are strictly searched for 

gold.

The regulations in regard to boats coming down the Yukon into 

United States territory must also be taken into consideration. No 

boat or scow, not a regular carrier, can, for example, make the journey 

from Dawson to Circle, carrying, over 5 tons of freight. This is 

especially burdensome on settlers who wish to outfit at Dawson and 

float their goods down the Yukon. The situation, owing to th'e conditions, is undoubtedly a burden of extra expense on the miner, but is 

unavoidable, and must be reckoned with in any estimate of expenses 

attending the prosecution of placer mining in the Alaska interior.

TELEGRAPH KATES.

Bjr means of the United States military telegraph line in Alaska, 

including the wireless system from St. Michael to Port Safety and the 

Seattle-Sitka-Valdez cable with connection to Juneau and Skagway, an 

all-American service is now maintained from all important points of 

Alaska (except Circle) to the outside world.

The rates for the military service in Alaska are based upon a tariff 

of 2 cents per word for each 100 miles or fraction thereof, address and 

signature not counted, a message of less than 10 words being charged 

for as a 10-word message. During the month of September, 1904, a

"Horses, value 8150 or less, 830 per head; over S150, 25. per cent ad valorem. Dogs, 20 per cent ad 

valorem; cattle, 82 per head, under 1 year old; others, 27£ per cent ad valorem.
246 QEAVEL AND PLACEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

cable line was completed between Sitka and Valdez, which, with the 

Sitka-Seattle cable, completes the American telegraph service to all 

parts of Alaska. Through 10- word rates from Seattle are as follows:

Telegraph rates from Seattle to points in Alaska.

Sitka ............................................................... $2.50

Juneau ........................... ....................................... 2. 75

Skagway . . ........................................................;...... 3. 00

Valdez ................................................................... 3. 50

Nome .................................................................... 4. 00

Eagle. ................................................................... U 3.QO

Rampart .............................................. 7 ................. «3. 50

Fairbanks............................................................ .... «3.50

DISTANCES AND COST OF SUPPLIES.

Tables Nos. 27, 28, and 29 give approximate distances in Alaska. 

TABLE 27. Distances, in miles, between towns in Alaska, excluding Seward Peninsula.

Vfl1rtA7

St. Michael .......

Fort Gibbon ......

Juneau.

580

100

1,880

1,140

963

203

1,268

878

745

695

fi47

Valdez.

600

1,300

1,720

1,543

1,783

1,848

2,003

1,458

1,325

1,275

1 997

Haineg.

1,900

1 249

864

984

1,049

t 1,204

I 6920 

779

646

596

548

Michael. St. 

485

990

750

685

| 840

1,075

1,208

1,253

1 9Q8

Nulato.

505

265

200

355

590

723

768

813

Fort Yukon.

240

305

455

85

218

263

308

 e .&

65

220

325

458

503

548

Fort Gibbon.

155

270

523

568

fiis

Fairbanks.

e150

c283

328

373

£

135

180

225

4) "I 

S

45

90

Fortymile.

45

"35 cents each additional word. 6 Taking trail at Circle. By trail.
PURINGTON:] DISTANCES. ' 247 

TABLE 28. Distances, in miles, between points on Seward Peninsula.

Nome. Cheenik.

Council. Bluff, Solomon. Teller. York. Kewalik.

BlosCheenik ............. 90

Council.............. 135 45

Bluff ................ 65 25 70

Solomon............. 34 56 101 31

Teller................ 100 190 235 165 134

York ................ 110 200 245 175 144 45

Kiwalik'............. 345 435- 480 410 379 280 235

Blossom ............. 310 400 445 375 344 245 200 55

Candle............... 360 450 495 425 394 295 250 7 62

TABLE 29. Distances from main supply points in Alaska to neighboring creeks.

FROM CIRCLE..

Miles.

Diggings on Deadwood Creek .............................. .............. 40

Mouth of Boulder Creek.................................................. 35

Junction of Mastodon and Independence creeks............................ 47

Mouth of Miller Creek.................................................... 46

Junction of Mastodon Fork and Eagle Creek ............................... 53$

FROM FAIRBANKS.

Gilmore at crossing of trail................................................ 14

Junction of Twin and Pedro creeks ........................................ 18

Junction of Wolf and Cleary creeks......................................... 24

Fairbanks Creek at mouth of Alder Gulch.................................. 27

FROM NOME.

Discovery on Anvil Creek................................................. 4

No. 3 above on Glacier Creek-............................................. 7$

Junction of Grass Gulch and Dexter Creek................................. 7

Cooper Gulch............................................................ 4

Bourbon Creek (passes through Nome).

Holyoke Creek........................................................... 2£

Dexter Creek ............................................................ 7

Buster Creek. .............. J~.................................. ^......... 9

Lillian Creek............................................................. 11

Osborne Creek .............. I................-.............'.............. 7

Seattle Creek............................................................. 22

Washington Creek........................................................ 6

Moss Gulch.............................................................. 6$

Peluk Creek ............................................................. 2

Otter Creek.............................................................. 3£

Martin Creek ............................................................ 2$

Rock Creek.............................................................. 3|

Prospect Creek........................................................... 12

Lindebloom Creek ....................................................... 11

Alpha Creek............................................................. 11J
248 GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263.

	Miles.

Sledge Creek............................................................. 13

Balto Creek.............................................................. 12}

Bangor Creek ............................................................ 17

Twin Mountain Creek .................................................... 15

Last Chance Creek.. ...................................................... . 20

Penny River............................................................. 11

Willow Creek............................................................ 10

Oregon Creek..............;............................................. 19

Nugget Creek ............................................................ 18

FROM SOLOMON.

Mouth of Shovel Creek.................................................... 5

Mouth of Kasson Creek..'..............................................'... 10

Mouth of Big Hurrah Creek............................................. r .. 8£

Mouth of East Fork ...................................................... 11

Mouth of Coal Creek .:...................................... ............ 15

Head of Ruby Creek (Casadepaga drainage)... ............................ 20

Head of Penelope Creek (Casadepaga drainage)............................ . 21

Mouth of Goose Creek (Casadepaga drainage)......-.'...................... 25

FROM COUNCIL.

Mouth of Ophir Creek.................................................... 2£

Mouth of Dutch Creek.. .................................................. 8

Mouth of Crooked Creek.................................................. 11

Mouth of Basin Creek ........................ 1.......................... 1 2

Junction of Gold Bottom and Warm Creek................................. 8

Mouth of Mystery Creek......... ........................................ 4

FROM TELLER.

Bering Creek............................................................. 13

Mouth of Right Fork of Bluestone River................................... 15

Mouth of Alder Creek .................................................... 17

Mouth of Ruby Creek .................................................... 13

Mouth of Sunset Creek.................................................... 3

Marys Igloo.......................................;._.................... 50

PROM MARYS IGLOO.

Quartz Creek ............................................................ 24

Angeles Creek............................................................ 33

Goodall Creek...................'.......................:................. 43

Hoinestake Creek ........................................................ 52

Macklin Creek........................................................... 56

North Fork of Kougarok River............................................ 21

Harris Creek............................................................. 20

Mouth of Baldy Creek.................................................... 20

Mouth of Portage Creek................................................... 22
PURINGTON.] COST OF SUPPLIES. 249

I

Fairbanks.

post-office, Birch 

;k region.

Winter.

Mastodon ]Crec

Summer.

Circle.

Dawson.a

Juneau.

"3 § g

| ft ft 

« § S

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CJ

a C

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= = :::::: : Sa*25| ^1

M MUM

m i i : : : s§ t"<s'i<i> <^'3 W i. . . > % r£ l~t ^1 -cj:*^

O <D . S^to.-Oo'cS'NS : c : : : w^o-d«j3So^g % '3 '3>5'.7:o,2'o 0- 0 'go 

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TABLE 30. Prices of mining supplies in the North Co

Engines:

Fittings (steam-pipe) . ............. '. ...

Gasoline (distillate). ..................

Hoists, steam:

8-horsepower single-cylinder vertical.

15-horsepower double-drum and 

engine.

12-horsepower double-drum and 

engine.

Hose, steam:

j-inch 6-ply ........................ 

Hose, hydraulic, 12 ounces:

Hose, fire 2£-ply ...................

Hydraulic pipe:

K. D., 6-inch. . .....................

K. D:, 8-inch. ......................

Juneau.

 -

65 cts. per 100 feet. 

S3. 75 per case.. ... 

S3 toS3.35perdoz.

46 cts. per ft ......

60 cts. per ft ......

Dawson.

81,000'. ..............

8650...'...... ........

$500.................

$300.................

20 cts. per Ib. .......

$9 per 10-gal ........

81,200...............

8800. .................

SI. 25 per ft..........

ftl ^ft T-»or ft

Sl oer ft ............

Circle.

81.50 per 100 ft....

$9 to $10 per case . 

$7.50 to 89 per doz.

Mastodon 

Cre

Summer.

.............
Hydraulic giants: 

No. 0 ..............................

No.2 ....:.........................

Iron: 

Sheet..............................

Bar, galvanized ...................

Lumber:

Oil, lubricating:

relston; St. Michael.

Pipe, cast-iron: 

Hnch .............................

3-inch '..............:.............. 

1-inch ........................... 1 .

Pumps: 

Force 

2-inch ..........................

3-inch .........................

4 cts. per Ib.......

5 cts. per Ib....... 

812 per M .........

813 per M .........

5£ cts. per ft ...... 

7 cts. per ft .......

875... .......:.......

S150.. ...............

12 cts. perlb........

10 cts. perlb........

15 cts. per ft........ 

20 cts. per ft ........

S350. ................

15 cts. perlb......

15 cts. perlb......

25 cts. per I

8110 per M .

$1. 50 each .

..............

a 25-horsepower double drum, hard to get, 81,250; 8 to 10-horsepower, 8350 to 8600.

b Small fittings same as Seattle; j-inch pipe, 10 cents a foot; 1-inch, 124 cents: IJ-inch, 16 cents; IHnch. 20 ce

c Made in San Francisco for self-dumpers, 50-pan steel bucket. A 6-horsepower weighs 1,000 pounds, costs 

15-horsepower weighs 5,500 pounds; 12-horsepower weighs 3,200 pounds.

d Barge, 100 by 26 feet by 6 feet 6 inches, Oregon fir, good for 200 tons at 4 feet draft, costs between $4,000 and 

e Manufactured in Dawson, 35 ounces, 9 to 14 inches diameter, for 15 to 30 cents a foot. 

/See prices of hydraulic machinery in San Francisco, under " Hydraulic mining." 

a 750 pounds and 1,050 pounds.
 * TABLE 30. Prices of mining supplies in the North Co

Pumps Continued. 

Centrifugal 

8-inch .........................

Powder:

Quicksilver. ........................... 

Rockers (frame built in Dawson) .....

Rope: 

Manila ............................ 

Wire-^ 

I'inch ......................... 

1-inch .........................

finch.........................

J-inch .........................

Shafting...............................

Shovels ................................

Steel rails, T, 8-pound .................

Thawing points, one-half and threefourth inch steel head.

Wheels for cars. .......................

Juneau.

60 per cent, 18 cts. 

per Ib.

65 cts. per Ib ......

13 cts. per Ib......

$8.50 per doz......

9 to 20 cts. per Ib.

Dawson.

$200.................

$250.................

$500. ................

$2.75 per keg of 25 

Ibs.

$1 per Ib.. ..........

$2.75, plates ........

30 cts. per Ib........ 

16 cts. per ft........

12 cts. per Ib........ 

10 cts. per Ib........

$17.50 per set .......

Circle.

75 cts. to$l perlb.

$30 to $35 per cwt.

$20 to $24 per doz

15 cts. perlb.....

Mastodon 

Cre

Summer. 
Bolts .................................. 

Nuts ...................................

Scrapers: 

No.l....... ........................

No. 2...............................

No. 3...............................

steel, 515.)

Self-dumping carriers:

Flour ..................................

Ham ..................................

Fresh beef by side

Coffee ............'.....................

Salt....................................

6 cts. per Ib.......

$1.65per27-lb.box.

82.90 per 100 Ibs...

sack.

sack.

16 cts. perlb......

up. 

15 to 35 cts. perlb.

2i cts .............

up. 

81.75 per 100 Ibs...

20 cts. perlb........

820 each ............

$12.50 ...............

si6o to 8180..........

875..................

86.50 per 100 Ibs.....

25 cts. per Ib........

40 to 65 cts. perlb...

9 to 10 cts. perlb....

812 to 815 per case...

15 cts. per Ib...... 

15 cts. per Ib......

87.50 to 812.50.....

840 per cwt .......

50 cts. per Ib......

818 per case of 30

doz.

20 cts. per 

20 cts. per 

60 cts. per 

81. 25 perlb

a5-inch pump, weighs 1,131 pounds; 6-inch pump, 1 

bMade with self-lubricating sheave, extra hammer

,417 pounds; 8-inch pump, 1,990 p

$7; extra sheave, 85.
TABLE 30. Prices of mining supplies in the North 

t,

Hay ...................................

Overills

Leather miners' slices .................

Duck ..................................

Juneau.

$35 to $40 per ton..

$3.75 per pair .....

$3 per pair ........ 

$2. 50 to $10 per pair 

12ito20cts.peryd. 

$1.50 to $3.50 each.

 $0.75 to $1.50 per 

pair.

Dawson.

$1.25................

$1.50................

'$4 to $6 per pair.....

$3. 50 per pair ....... 

$10..................

25 cts. to $1.25 per yd. 

$2.50 to $6...........

$3.50................

Circle.

$10................

$4.50 ..............

Mastodo

C

Summe
PTIRINGTON.] QEAVEL AND PLAOEE MINING IN ALASKA. 255

LEGAL CONDITIONS IN 19O4.«

INTRODUCTION.

After an investigation of the present conditions in the new so-called 

Fairbanks district of Alaska, situated on Tanana River, I was forcibly impressed with the urgent need of a change in the present location 

law, which allows the location of placer tracts by representation. An 

individual holding twenty or fifty powers of attorney from other citizens of the United States may go alone into a wild and unknown district and, by staking claims, each of 20 acres, tie up whole creek 

valleys which are by this process withdraxvn from the area of public 

lands for a period generally amounting to eighteen months.

The location of the claims is then recorded in the nearest, recording 

office in the names of the men who may be in San Francisco, Chicago, 

or New York. The ownership of the claims may afterwards be changed 

ad libitum by the passing of quitclaim deeds. The locator can have, 

under the law, but one claim by right of location on each creek; but 

by exercising the right of representation he withdraws from the public domain as many miles of creek beds as he can traverse and stake. 

On each claim he is required to do no work, beyond sinking a small 

discovery shaft, for the remainder of the year in which the location is 

made and up to the end of the ensuing year. Thus in any placer 

district in which the auriferous gravels have an economic value, and 

into 'which prospectors are continually pouring, as in the new Fairbanks district, many bona fide miners willing to search for gold to the 

extent of their physical and financial resources are rendered powerless 

through circumstances which they can in no way control or by any 

possibility foresee.

These men, willing to undergo the discomforts of an inhospitable 

countiy, either find themselves idle in a remote community, where living is expensive, or are compelled to make journeys of four or five 

days' duration from the base of supplies, and pack their provisions, 

blankets, and tools on their backs to find ground that has not been 

staked.

It may be objected that each man has an equal opportunity to reach 

a given piece of ground first. This, however, is hardly the case. The 

resources of the men who unite to send an individual to locate for them, 

by power of attorney are generally greater than those of the individual who singly goes out with the purpose of locating one claim for his 

own operations. The power-of-attorney man, equipped with a better 

outfit and very likely dogs of horses, can go farther and stay longer 

than the prospector of limited resources.

a I have discussed at some length the legal conditions of mining and the abuses prevailing under 

the present law in Alaska in a report made to the "Public Lands Commission," recently appointed 

by the President. In the same report I have embodied suggestions for a revision of the present law 

as far as it pertains to placer mines in Alaska.
256 GEAVEL AND PLACEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263.

Furthermore, the man who locates for others, if he does not repre-. 

sent persons living altogether at a distance, is frequently aent out by 

men whose interests are entirely inimical to the proper development 

of the region^-namely, saloon keepers, nonproducers, "tin horns" 

(gamblers), or other riffraff such as are generally found in the new 

American mining camp. They have rarely the intention of operating 

the .claims located in their names and thus producing gold. They hold 

the claims in the hope that the camp will boom, that inexperienced 

outsiders will come in, and that in the ensuing excitement they may sell 

at a figure based on the supposed value of the unprospected ground.

In the Fairbanks district portions of 3-mile stretches on three creeks 

re producing gold. Other portions within this producing area, as

ell as lengths of from 3 to 10 miles on six other creeks, are hardly 

prospected, are not producing, and are entirely withdrawn at present 

from exploration or exploitation through the process of the empowered 

staking above referred to. It is estimated that 2,000 persons will 

spend the winter in the district. Of these at least 1,200 will be ablebodied workingmen. The operations will afford work for possibly 

600 men. One-half the remainder at least would prospect and develop 

new territory were it not for the nearly insuperable difficulties. The 

provisions of the present location law are, in my opinion, largely 

responsible for these difficulties.

In the portion of the Alaska interior lying between Yukon and 

Tanana rivers the auriferous gravels occupy a wide area. The overcoming of the purely physical obstacles to exploration is arduous, 

and many miles of creek valleys will be located as means of communication become established. If this large area and other areas yet 

to be explored are allowed to be progressively withdrawn from possible gold production, the result will be a distinct detriment to the 

development of Alaska.

A confirmation of the annoying and injurious effects of the law is 

afforded by the early history of the Nome gold district of Seward 

Peninsula, where the conditions were as follows:

Nearly every individual located not only for himself but also for his many friends 

by power of attorney. To such an extent was the power of attorney here abused 

that more than 7,000 acres of ground were located, so that the several thousand 

Americans who arrived later, finding no unstaked ground anywhere in the vicinity, 

justly raised a somewhat bitter complaints

The practice of exercising the power of attorney is increasing in 

Alaska at present, and its abuse warrants the summary suspension of 

it if this be possible.

In September I visited the principal creeks on which gold-mining 

operations are being prosecuted in the Nome, Solomon, and Council

aSchrader, F. C., and Brooks, A. H., Preliminary Report on the Cape Nome Gold Region, U. S. Geol. 

Survey, 1900, p. 32.
PURINGTON.] . LEGAL CONDITIONS IN 1904. 257

districts of Seward Peninsula. Although the investigation of the 

legal conditions pertaining to gold mining was not called for by ray 

instructions, certain facts regarding these conditions were impressed 

upon me. Indeed, it is impossible for an observer, impartially disposed, to go about the mining districts of Seward Peninsula and 

not seriously question the applicability of the present location law to 

Alaska conditions.

It is true that $100 worth of work is by law actually required on 

each 20 acres, but the statute is so loosely framed that the $100 worth 

of work is now done universally on each 160 acres, not only in Alaska 

but in all parts of the United States where placer mining is conducted. 

Moreover I have observed that this $100 worth of assessment work in 

all mining territory is little more than a farce. The suggestion that 

$100 on each 20-acre tract be used in making survey and plat of the 

claim the first year is worthy of consideration.

APPLICATION OF THE PRESENT MINING LAW TO ALASKA.

The following order- of the- Secretary of the Interior, dated July 

28, 1885 (Laud Office Decisions, vol. 4, p. 128) extended the regulations of the General Land Office to Alaska.

In pursuance of the eighth section of the act of Congress, approved May 17, 1884, 

entitled "An act to provide a civil government for Alaska" (23 Stat., 24), it is hereby 

prescribed that the rules and regulations of the General Land Office and Department 

of the Interior governing the administration of the mining laws of the United States 

be adopted for and extended to the district of Alaska, so far as the same may be 

applicable.

It is evident that the various provisions in "Revised Statutes, Title 

XXXII, chapter 6, defining the United States mining laws, apply 

fully to Alaska.

SEC. 2329. Claims usually called placers, including all forms of deposit, except 

veins of quartz, or other rock in place, shall be subject to entry and patent under 

like circumstances and conditions as are provided for vein or lode claims.

Lindley on Mines says (vol. 1, sec. 432) that this has been construed 

to mean:

(1) That there must be a discovery upon which to base the location.

(2) The location must be marked upon the ground so that its boundaries can be 

readily traced.

DISCOVERY.

According to the accepted interpretation of the law in the mining 

States of the United States, gold must be found on the ground in a 

discovery shaft before the claim can be validly held by location.

That many of the Alaska locations are illegal may be judged from 

the fact that veiy often three men have staked from ten to twenty 

160-acre tracts of placer ground within periods varying from twentyBull. 263-05 17
258 GEAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL.263.

four to seventy-tw.o hours. On ever}7 one of these tracts under the 

correct interpretation of the law, a shaft or drill hole at least 15 feet 

in depth would have been necessary in order to find one color of gold. 

Yet the same men have immediate!}7 recorded their staked ground as 

locations, swearing that they discovered gold. Lindley states (sec. 

437): "The Land Department has uniformly held that discovery is 

essential in the case of placers, going so far at one time as to hold that 

such discovery was essential in each 20-acre tract within a location of 

160 acres located by an association of persons." He further says: 

"Discovery is just as essential in case of placers as it is in lode 

locations." 

The regulations of the General Land Office include the following:

No lode claim shall be located until after the discovery of a vein or lode (or in a 

placer of gold) within the limits of the claim, the object of which provision is evidently to prevent the appropriation of presumed mineral ground for speculative purposes to the exclusion of bona fide prospectors before sufficient work has been done 

to determine whether a vein or lode (of gold) really exists. a

The nonobservance of the above requirement, and, in fact, the impossibility under the present law of its enforcement is the cause of the 

very evil in Alaska which the law aims to avert. I regard the promiscuous location and illegal holding of land on which gold has not 

been discovered as one of the most serious detriments to Alaskan 

development.

SUBSEQUENT ANNUAL LABOR.

Regarding subsequent labor Lindley (sec. 624) makes the following 

statement:

While a timely resumption of work may prevent a relocation, the law contemplates 

that the labor or improvements, actual and valuable, to the amount of $100 in each 

year, computed from the 1st day of January next succeeding the date of location, 

should be performed in good faith. There is probably no single provision of the law 

which is evaded to a greater extent than this one. While, of course, there are many 

exceptions the average locator exhausts his ingenuity in attempting to avoid this plain 

and wholesome requirement. The courts are disposed to deal with these drones in the 

hive with much more leniency than they deserve. The statute is too frequently applied 

on sentimental lines. Forfeitures, say these tribunals, are odious, and in many cases 

the reluctance with which they enforce the law encourages rather than deters the 

systematic evasion of it.

The statute is extremely liberal as to the time in which the specified amount of 

work shall be performed. A location made on January 1, 1897, may, in the absence 

of State laws or local rules requiring development work to be performed as an act of 

location, & be held without a stroke of labor until December 31, 1898, and in no case

« Mining laws and regulations, General Land Office, 1903, p. 27, §8.

bit should be borne in mind that the principal Western States where mining is conducted have, by 

State legislation, so enlarged upon the rather bare fabric of the Federal mining law that, within the 

boundaries of these States many of the abuses which are permissible under a liberal interpretation 

of the Federal law, have been done away with. On the other hand, the excellent restrictions in 

force in the placer-mining States have no force in Alaska, and in consequence decisions rendered 

by the courts must be much more liberal, and are productive of the evils for the obviation of which, 

the State statutes were long ago enacted, C. w. P.
PURINGTON.] LEGAL CONDITIONS IN 1904. 259

is the period less than a full year. It would seem that a more rigid enforcement of 

the rule would not only command more respect for the law, but would in a great 

degree tend to promote the general object and intent of the mining statutes the 

development of the mining resources of the country.

The above quotations are made because the opinions so: close,!}' bear 

on the deplorable conditions in Alaska. The climatic conditions are 

so formidable on the 31st of December of each year (the datev of expiration of the time in which a miner may do his. annual assessment 

work) that $100 might be expended by him in work on the claim in 

merely shoveling snow. Naturally, all traces of the work so, done 

would be obliterated in a short time; yet it would be actual and valuable work, for otherwise he could not reach the ground beneath. This 

feature is so well understood in Alaska that a man who makes affidavit 

to work done holds his claim from year to year unquestioned, and it is 

undoubtedly true that the bulk of the territory held as placer ground 

is not only unworked but unvisited by the claimants after first location. Should, however, an individual relocate or "jump" a given 

claim so held, the first holder goes into court and swears that he has 

done his annual representation work, thus maintaining his title. 

Should the relocator maintain that he has searched the ground and 

found no traces of any previous work, he still has a weak case, and the 

verdict is usually against him. It is needless to say that this relocator 

has, in the great majority of cases, the better right to the ground.

I have endeavored to make clear a few of the reasons why the production of gold is actually retarded in Alaska, rather than assisted, by 

the present administration of the mining law.

BOUNDARIES.

Of over a thousand prospectors in California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska whom I have known, talked with, and 

been in the field with, I have never seen ten who included a compass in 

their equipment, to say nothing of surveying instruments more nearly 

approaching precision. These men, generally known among themselves as ''practical miners," are of the class by which mineral locations are generally made. Is it fair to assume that such men are competent to make a location which shall conform to the mining regulation ?

His location notice should give the course and distance as nearly as practicable 

from the discovery shaft on the claim to some permanent well-known points or 

objects, such, for instance, as stone monuments, blazed trees, the confluence of 

streams, point of intersection of well-known gulches, ravines, or roads, prominent 

buttes, hills, etc., which may be in the immediate vicinity, and which will serve to 

perpetuate and fix the locus of the claim and render it susceptible of identification 

from the description thereof given in the record of locations in the district, and 

should be duly recorded. a

c U. S. Mining Laws and Regulations General Land Office, 1903, p. 27, sec, 9,
260 GEAVEL AND PLACEE MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

In Alaska, at least, the provisions called for by the above have 

become practically a dead letter, as is instanced by the case of the 

prospectors who during the season of 1903 were allowed to locate a 

group of claims defined as,.being on "Midas Creek, a tributary of a 

tributary of -Koyukuk River." Midas Creek and the supposed loca-" 

tions afterwards proved to be entirely mythical.

The location law requires that the "location must be distinctly 

marked on the ground, so that its boundaries can be readily traced." 

How can the following decision of the Supreme Court of the United 

States, in the case of the McKinley Creek Mining Co. v. Alaska United 

Mining Co., a which sustained the validity of a placer location where no 

attempt was made to actually mark the boundaries, be reconciled with 

the above? Lindley says:

All that was done was to post notices on a snag or stump in a creek, claiming a 

certain number of feet running with the creek, and 300 feet on each side of the center of the creek, and referring to the claim as "the east extension of a certain-named 

claim and the west extension of another." Unless some facts or circumstances 

were represented to the court which can not be gleaned from the official report .of the 

case, such a location would seem to fall short of the requirement that the claim shall 

be "distinctly marked on the ground, so that its boundaries may be readily traced."

I have no hesitation in sajdng that in Alaska, especially in Seward 

Peninsula, no attempt is ordinarily made by the locator to mark 

the boundaries of claims beyond the setting of stakes at the four corners averaging 3 feet in length by li inches in diameter. These are 

generally overturned by the wind or uprooted by the frost within six 

months of the time of setting. And yet the burden of proof in case 

of subsequent dispute always'rests on the relocator or the jumper.

1 will call attention to the fact that the suggestions leading to modification in the present placer-mining law are directed to the reforming 

of the principal abuses which have been cited. Had time permitted, 

instances of abuse and misinterpretation of the present laws might 

have been indefinitely multiplied. Enough has been said to shoAV that 

changes of a radical nature are needed in the laws and their administration, in order that the undoubtedly valuable mineral resources of 

Alaska may be exploited to the best advantage.

Much fault has been found in past years with the Territorial administration in the Klondike. That conditions affecting title have at times 

left much to be desired is undoubtedly true. At present efforts are 

being made to remedy the abuses' which exist. In Alaska, on the other 

hand, each rich discovery of gold brings forth one or more lawsuits, 

and each new camp that is developed affords a profitable field of 

exploitation for swarms of parasites who, too indolent or too ignorant 

to devote themselves to bona fide mining, ingeniously strive, by manifold ways of trickery, to live b}' the labor of others.

« Cited by Lindley, sec, 373.
PURINGTON.] GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. 261

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

The works consulted in the preparation of the present report, in 

addition to the files of technical journals, manuals, and catalogues 

relating especially to placer mining, are as follows:

BOWIE, A. J., jr. A Practical Treatise on Hydraulic Mining. New York, 1885, 

pp. 1-313. Illustrated.

BRITISH COLUMBIA. Annual Report of Minister of Mines.

BROOKS, ALFRED H. Placer gold mining in Alaska in 1902. In Bull. U. S. Geol. 

Survey No. 213, 1903, pp. 41-48.

BROOKS, ALFRED H. Placer mining in Alaska, 1903. In Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey 

No. 225,. 1904, pp. 43-59.

BROOKS, ALFRED H. Placer mining in Alaska, 1904. In Bull. IL> S! Geol. Survey 

No. 259, 1905, pp. 13-31.

BROOKS, ALFRED H. A reconnaissance of the Cape Nome and adjacent gold 

fields of Seward Peninsula, Alaska, in 1900. Assisted by Richardson, G. B., and 

Collier, A. J. In a special publication of the United States Geological Survey 

entitled, Reconnaissances in the Cape Nome and Norton Bay Regions, Alaska, in 

1900, pp. 1-180.

COLLIER, A. J. The Glenn Creek gold-mining district, Alaska. In Bull. U. S. 

Geol. Survey No. 213, 1903, pp. 49-56.

COLLIER, A. J. A reconnaissance of the north western portion of Seward Peninsula, 

Alaska. Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 2, 1902, pp. 1-70.

COLLIER, A. J. The gol:l placer deposits of Seward Peninsula. Bull. U. S. Geol. 

Survey No. . (In preparation.)

De BATY, R. Les gisements auriferes de Sibe"rie. Paris, 1898.

EVANS, GEORGE H. Practical Notes on Hydraulic Mining. San Francisco, 1897, 

pp. 1-48.

FANNING, J. T. A Treatise on Hydraulic Mining and Water Supply Engineering. 

New York, 1889, pp. 1-644. Illustrated.

GWILLIM, J. C. Report on Atlin district. In Annual Report Geol. Survey, Canada, 1900, pp. 52-62.

LEV AT, E. D. L'Or en Sibe"rie orientale. Paris, 1897.

McCoNNEL, R. G. Preliminary report of the Klondike gold fields, Yukon district, Canada. (Separate.) Geological Survey of Canada, 1900, pp. 1-44. (Map and 

illustrations.) . . . MENDENHALL, W. C., and SCITRADER, F. C. The mineral resources of the Mount 

Wrangell district, Alaska. Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 15, 1903, pp. 1-71.

MOFFIT, FRED. H. The Fairhaven gold placers, Seward Peninsula, Alaska. Bull. 

U. S. Geol. Survey No. 247, 1905, pp. .

MOFFIT, FRED. H. The gold fields of Kenai Peninsula, with a description of the 

coal fields of the Kachemak Bay region. Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. . (In 

preparation.)

MOFFIT, FRED. H. The gold placers of Turnagain Arm. In Bull. U. B. Geol. 

Survey No. 259, 1905, pp. 88-99.

NEW ZEALAND. Annual reports, Minister of Mines.

POOLE, H. The Calorific Power of Fuels. New York, 1903, pp. 1-269. Illustrated.

PRINDLE, Louis M. The gold placers of the Fortymile, Birch Creek, and Fairbanks 

regions, Alaska. ' Bull. U. S.^Geol. Survey No. 251, 1905, pp. 1-85.

PRINDLE, Louis M, and HESS, F. L. The Rampart placer region. In Bull. U. S. 

Geol. Survey No. 259, 1905, pp. 104-119.

ROSE, T. K. The Metallurgy of Gold. London, 1898, pp. 1-514. Illustrated.
262 GJJAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA. [BULL. 263.

SCHRADER, F. C. Preliminary report on a reconnaissance along the Chandler and 

Koyukuk rivers, Alaska, in 1899. In Twenty-first Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, 

pt. 2, 1900, pp. 441-486.

SCHRADER, F. C. A reconnaissance in northern Alaska across the Rocky Mountains, along Koyukuk, John, Anaktuvuk, and Colville rivers and the Arctic coast to 

Cape Lisburne, in- 1901. Schrader, F. C., and Peters, W. J. Prof. Paper U. S. 

Geol. Survey No. 20, 1904, pp. 1-139.

SCHRADER, F. C., and BROOKS, A. H. Preliminary Eeport on the Cape Nome Gold 

Kegion, Alaska; with maps and illustrations. 1900, 56 pp., 3 maps, and 19 plates. 

A special publication of the United States Geological Survey.

SMITH, HAMILTON, jr. Hydraulics, the Flow of Water through Orifices, over 

Weirs, and through Open Conduits and Pipes. New York, 1886, pp. 1-362. Illustrated.

SPENCER, ARTHUR C. The Juneau gold belt. Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey; No. . 

(In preparation.")

STATE MINERALOGIST OF CALIFORNIA. Annual reports.

STRETCH, R. H. Prospecting, Locating, and Valuing Mines. New York, 1900, 

pp. 1-372, with cuts.

TOVE and RIAZANOF. Statistical Reports of the Amur Gold Region. St. Petersburg, 1902.

\7 AN WAGENEN, T. F. Manual of Hydraulic Mining. New York, 1880, pp. 1-95.

WHITNEY, J. D. The Auriferous Gravels of the Sierra Nevada of California. 

Cambridge, Mass., 1880, pp. 1-569.

WRIGHT, C. W. The Porcupine placer district, Alaska. Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey 

No. 236, 1904, pp. 1-31. (Maps and illustrations.)
I N D E X.

Page.

A.

Abbe, Cleveland, jr., rainfall table compiled

by .............................. 43,48

river tables compiled by ............... 49

Acknowledgments to those assisting....... 25

Alaska, map of............................. 14

roads in ........................... 16,217-228

' ' views of .......................... 220,226

Alaska-Treadwell Gold Mining Co., ditch 

of............................. 113-115

ditch of, plate showing................. 114

pressure box on, plate showing .... 116

investigation at mine of................ 13

Alden Creek, gold on, fineness of.......... 204

Allenkaket, freight and passenger rates to

and from..................... 236-237

Alluvial mining, definition of.............. 26

Alpine Creek, freight and passenger rates

to.........................'.....- 241

Amalgam, cleaning and retorting of....... 205

melting of............................ 205-207

Amalgamated McKee Co., sluices of..... 143-144

American Creek, barite on ................. 204

booming on, dam for, plate showing... 58 

ditches on ............................ 105,109

drainage basin of, figure showing ...... 44

gold on, fineness of..................... 208

investigation on ........................ 14

prospecting on, cost of................. 41

shoveling on, duty of man in .......... 59

sluice boxes on, plate showing......... 56

stream conditions on............. 43-44,52,54

wood on, price of....................... 215

American Gold Mining Co., ditch of....... 115

sluices of............................. 142-143

Anglo-Klondike Mining Co., reservoir of... 127 

Anikovik River, gold on, fineness of....... 209

wood on, price of..........:............. 216

Anvik, freight and passenger rates to.... 233-235

ice at................................... 49

rainfall at.............................. 48

stream conditions at.................... 49

temperatures at........................ 49

Anvil Creek, d rifting on.................... 86-87

freight and passenger rates to.......... 240

gold on, fineness of..................... 209

investigation on........................ 14

prospecting on, cost of.................. 42

reservoirs on............................ 128

settling pond on, view of............... 128

shoveling on, duty of man in........... 59

rage. 

Anvil Creek, sluicing on .............. 56,150,191

steam shovel on ........................ 74,77

figure and plate showing.............. 74

stream conditions on ................... 53-54

track and incline on.................... 71-72

figure showing...................... 71

wages on ............................... 71

wood on, price of... .\.................. 216

Anvil Mountains, mining in, methods of... 33 

Assessment work, abuse of............... 257-259

Atlin, riffles at, view of..................... 194

Atlin Creek, B. C., pipe line on, plate showing .............................

Atlin district, B. C., bowlders in ........... 141

ditches in................. 104,107-108,117-118

dredges and dredging in ............. 160-162

view of............................. 160

duty of miner's inch in................. 139

gold of, character of.................. 145,207

investigation in ........................ 13

mining in, methods of.................. 28

pipe line in, view of.................. 128.132

prospecting in, cost of.................. 41

protective dams in.................... 146-147

roads in................................. 221

view of............................. 220

sluice box in, plate and figure showing ........................... 143,194

sluicing in............................ 143-147

stream conditions in.................... 52,54

*wages in................................ 211

wood in, price of....................... 215

Australia, comparison of conditions in

Alaska and ..................... 30

B.

Baker Creek, gold on, fineness of........... 208

freight and passenger rates to........ 235-236

Bangor Creek, freight and passenger rates

to...................J........... 241

Bank-head water, use of................... 138

Bannock, Mont., dredging at ............ 175-176

Barite, occurrence of....................... 204

Basin Creek, ditches on .................. 106,109

gold on, fineness of..................... 209

sluicing on ............................. 150

stream conditions on ................... 53

wood on, price of....................... 216

Bear Creek, Alaska, gold on, fineness of... 209 

Bear Creek, Y. T., gold on, fineness of..... 208

investigation on........................ 14

steam shovel on ..................... 78-80,89

263
264 INDEX.

Page. 

Bear Creek, Y. T., steam shovel on, plate

showing........................ 74

stream-conditions on ................... 52

Beaudette, A. J.. information from'......... 51

Bed rock, cleaning of ................... 59-60,78

Bed-rock sluice, view of.................... 136

Bendeleben Mountains, location and altitude of ......................... 46

Bergman, freight and passenger rates to and

from...................... 234,236-237

Bertrand, S. A. D., information from....... -222

Settles, freight and passenger rates to and

from.......................... 234,237

Bibliography.............................. 260-261

Big Hurrah Creek, gold on, fineness of..... 209

investigation on........................ 14

stream conditions on................... 53

Birch, Stephen, information from.......... 37,39

Birch Creek, Alaska, stream conditions on. 52 

wages on ............................... 211

Birch Creek, B. C., ditches on............ 104,107

gold on, fineness of..................... 207

stream conditions on .................... 52

wood on, price of....................... 215

Birch Creek district, ditches in ...... 105,109,119

drift mining in......................... 87-88

hydraulic mining in ................... 117

ice in................................... 89

investigation in ........................ 14

map of........................ -.......... 45

mining in, cost and methods of........ 28,36

pack train in, view of.................. 228

physical conditions in............... 32,36,89

prices in.............................. 249-254

prospecting in, cost of.................. 41

roads in ................................ 221

rutile in ................................ 205

shoveling in, duty of man in........... 59

stream conditions in .................... 45

topography of, plate showing .......... 120

wages in................................ 211

wood-fire thawiug in................... 89-90

Black sand, occurrence of.................. 204

Bluff, freight and passenger rates to . 230-231,^40 

Boats, use of................................ 239-240

Bolto Creek, freight and passenger rates to. 241 

Bonanza Creek, Y. T., black sand on.'.... 203-204

dam on, plate showing............... 126,148

ditches on............................ 105,108

drains and pumps on, relative cost of.. 58 

dredges and dredging on............. 162-164

plates showing ..................... 162

gold on, fineness of..................... 207

investigation on........................ 14

prospecting in, cost of.................. 42

shoveling on, duty of man in........... 59

sluices on............................... 148

plate showing ......................

steam point thawing on................ 89

stream conditions on................... 52,54

wood on, price of....................... 215

Bonanza Gulch, gold on, fineness of....... 209

Booming, character and use of............. 57

cost of.................................. 38

dam for, plate showing ................ 58

Bourbon Creek, dredging on............... 1C5

Page. 

Bonrbon Creek, freight and passenger rates

to............................... 240

stream conditions on ................... 53

wood on, price of....................... 216

Bowie,A. J.,on hydraulic mining. 111-113,116,138

on use of mercury ...................... 204

Bowlder Creek, B. C., investigation on .... 13

stream conditions on................... 52

wood on, price of....................... 215

Bowlders, handling of ....:.......... 141-142,154

occurrence of........................... 141

plate showing...................... 68

Brackett, F. H., pipe-setting device of... 130,132 

Bridge over Klondike, view of............. .224

British Columbia, investigation in..;...... 13

roads in, comparison of American roads

and............................ 16,219

views of.......................... 220,224

Brooks, Alfred H., letter of transmittal by. 11

on Alaska roads ................... 16,219,226

on legal abuses......................... 256

Buck Creek, wood on, price of............. 216

Buckets,mining,platesshowing. 66,68,160,168,178 

Buster Creek, freight and passenger rates to. 240

stream conditions on................... 53

C.

California, comparison of conditions n

 Alaska and.................... 30,101

ditches in .............................. 113

dredging in .......................... 157-158

cost of............................ 167-173

drifting in............................... 83-84

hydraulic mining in .................. 99-102

miner's inch in......................... 50-51

rainfall in .............................. 47

sluices in, length 6f.................. 144-145

tailings in.............................. 151

use of water gate in _................... 57

Camp Colonna, rainfall at ................. 48

temperatures at......................... 49

Camp Davidson, rainfall at................ 48

temperatures at........................ 49

Campbell, M. R., on gas-producer engines. 34,214 

Candle Creek, gold on, fineness of.......... 209

wood on, price of....................... 216

Candle district. See Fairhaven district. 

Cantwell Creek, coal on.................... 213

Carriers, self-dumping, cost and use of..... 65-67

Casadepaga River, freight and passenger

rates to.......................... 242

Chain, relative value of wire cable and.... 76-77

Chatham Creek, conditions on ............. 32-33

freight and passenger rates to .......... 238

gold on, fineness of..................... 208

stream conditions on................... 53,54

wood on, price of....:.................. 216

Cheenik, freight and passenger rates to. 230-231,

240 

Chenai freight and passenger rates to.... 235-236

Chicken Creek, gold on, fineness of......... 208

stream conditions on ................... 54

wood on, price of....................... 215

China pump, use of......................... 56

use of, plate showing................... 56
INDEX. 265

Page.

Chisna district, gold on, fineness of ........ 207

mining in, methods of.................. 29

prospecting jn, uo.'tof.................. 41

wages in................................ 211

wood on, price of..................... 212,215

Chistochina district, freight and passenger

rates to ......................... 239

Chittitu Creek, gold on, fineness of ........ 207

wood on, price of....................... 215

Churn drill, plate showing................. 40

Circle, distances from ...................... 247

freight and passenger rates to and

from.................. 233-235,237-238

ice at................................... 49

prices at.............................. 249-254

rainfall at............................... 48

stream conditions at.................... 49

temperatures at........................ 49

Circle district, gold in, fineness of.......... 208

stream conditions in ................... 52,54

wood on, price of........................ 216

Circular letter, form of..................... 17-25

sending of.............................. 14-15

Cleaning bed rock, cost of............... 59-00,78

Cleary Creek, conditions on................ 32

ditches on ............................ 105,109

freight and passenger rates to.......... 238

gold on, fineness of..................... 208

hot-water thawing on .................. 98

prospecting in, cost of.................. 41-42

road on, view of....................... 226

stream conditions on................... 53,54

wages on ............................... 211

wood on, price of....................^... 216

Climate, character of....................... 30,4g

effect of, on mining .................... 29-30

on water supply.................... 43-49

Coal, occurrence of....................... 213-214

price of............................ 34,213-214

Collier, A. J., on Nome district............. 87

on tin................................... 26

Colorado, miner's inch in .................. 51

Controller Bay, coal at..................... 213

Cooper Gnlch, freight and passenger rates

to..............'................. 240

Copper Center, rainfall at.................. 48

temperatures at ........................ 49

Copper River, gold on, fineness of.......... 207

wages in................................ 211

wood on, price of....................... 216

Cost of livine:, investigation into........... 15

Council, distances from .................... 247

dredging buckets at, plate showing.... 168

freight and passenger rates to and

from.......................... 240,242

Council City and Solomon River Railway,

construction of................. 228

Council district, ditch'esin............... 106,110

duty of miner's inch in.................. 140

gold in, fineness of..................... 209

hydraulic giants in...................... 136

mining in, methods of.................. 29

shoveling in, duty of man in........... 59

stream conditions in ................... 53,55

wages in................................ 211

wood in, price of....................... 216

Page.

Cripple River, ditches on................. 106,109

freight and passenger rates to......... 241

Crooked Creek, gold on, lineiies.s of........ 209

investigation on........................ 14

stream conditions on................... 53

wood on, price of....................... 216

Crow Creek, ditches on .................. 104,107

freight and passenger rates to.......... 238

gold on, fineness of..................... 207

wood on, price of....................... 215

Crystophenes. See Ice, buried.

Customs, United States, rates and regulations of............................... 243-245

D.

Dagetkaket, freight and passenger rates to

and from ..................... 236-237

Daisy Creek, wood on, price of............. 216

Dams, construction of.............. 56-58,124,128

cost of................................. 57,150

plate showing ..................... 58,126,148

Dams, protective, construction of........ 14G,.147

Dan Creek, gold on, fineness of............ 207

mining on, cost and methods of........ 37,39

stream conditions on................... 54

wages on ............................... 211

wood on, price of....................... 215

Davidson, J. W., acknowledgments to ..... 25 

on ditch building ...................... 123

Dawson, Y. T., freight and passenger rates

to and from .................. 233-235

prices at.............................. 249-254

rainfall nt.............................. 48

source of supply at..................... 243

temperatures at........................ 49

Dawson carrier, description of ............. 94-95

figure showing ......................... 94

Dawson district. See Klondike district.

Dead wood Creek, conditions on............ 32

ditches on........................ 105,109,119

freight and passenger rates to.......... 238

gold on, fineness of..................... 208

investigation on........................ 14

stream conditions on................... 52,54

wages on ............................... 211

wood-fire thawing on................... 89-90

wood on, price of....................... 216

Deering, freight and passenger rates to .... 240

Derricking, apparatus for, plates showing.. 66,70 

plate showing.......................... 64

use and cost of......................... 66-71

Dexter Creek, ditches on................. 106,109

f reigh t and passenger rates to.......... 240

gold on, fineness of.................... 209

investigation on........................ 14

stream conditions on................... 53,54

wood on, price of....................... 216

Discovery Fork, shoveling on, duty of man

in............................... 59

stream conditions on................... 52

wood on, price of....................... 215

Distances, tables of....................... 246-247

Ditches and flumes, construction of...... 103-126

construction of, diagrams and plates

showing.............. 116,120,122,126

cost Of.................... 119,121,123,125-127
266 INDEX.

Page. 

Ditches and flumes, data concerning..... 104-110

in Interior province.............. 104,117-120

in Juneau district, map showing....... 114

in Seward Peninsula....;......... 15,120-127

in South Coast province.............. 113-117

views of....................... 13,114,124,228

Domes, location and character of.......... 31

Dominion Creek, gold on, fineness of...... 208

stream conditions on................... 52

Douglas Island, ditches on................ 104,107

ditches on, plate showing.............. 114

Drains, construction and cost of....:...... 57-58

Dredges, buckets of, plates showing.. 160,168,178 

parts of, figures showing ..... 176,179,180,182

types of............................... 175-188

views of.......................... 160,162,168

Dredges, electric, use of.................... 189

Dredging, advantages of ............. 173,189-190

conditions essential for............... 157-158

cost of...................... 37-38,159,162-173

extension of............................ 175

. loss of time in ........................ 168,188

obstacles to, in Alaska................ 158-159

operations of ................. 160-167,183-186

prospecting by .............. i........ 173-176

view of, plates showing .............. 176,184

Drift mining. Sec Mining, drift.

Drifting, cost of ............................ 40-41

prospecting by ......................... 41

prospecting rig for, figure showing..... 82

Drill, churn, plate showing................. 40

Drilling, prospecting by, costandresultsof. 39-41,

173-175

Dry Creek, freight and passenger rates to.. 240 

gold on, fineness of ..................... 209

investigation on........................ 14

stream conditions on................... 53

wood on, price-of....................... 216

Dublikaket, freight and passenger rates to

and from..................... 236-237

Dumping, method of, plates showing...... 62,64

Dumping bucket, plates showing .......... 40,68

Dumps, plates showing.................... 40,192

sampling of, necessity for........... 42-43,83

methods of......................... 42-43

Eagle, freight and passenger rates to..... 233-235

ice at................................... 49

investigation at........................ 14

rainfall at.............................. 43,48

stream conditions at.................... 49

temperatures at........................ 49

underground conditions at............. 158

Eagle Creek, drift mining on............... 87-88

freight and passenger rates to.......... 238

gold on, fineness of..................... 208

investigation on........................ 14

prices on ............................... 88

stream conditions on................... 52,54

wood on, price of....................... 216

Eagle district, ditches in................. 105,109

flume> in, view of....................... 228

gold in, fineness of ..................... 208

hydraulic mining in ................... 117

mapof ................................. 44

Page. 

Eagle district, mining in, methods of ...... 28

pipe lines in............................ 119

stream conditions in ........:.......... 52,54

wages in..........................:..... 211

wood on, price of....................... 215

East Fork Creek, freight and passenger rates

to............................... 242

Eldorado Creek, Y. T., ditches on........ 105,108

investigation on........................ 14

steam shovel on ........................ 80-82

stream conditions on................... 52,54

thawing on, plate showing............. 84

wood on, price of....................... 215

Electric power, use of.................. 33-34,159

Elevators, hydraulic, cost of ............. 152,156

parts of, .figures showing ............... 153

principle of........................... 151-152

types of............................... 152-156

use of................................... 155

views of.............................. 152,154

water needs of........................ 154-155

Elluvial mining, definition of.............. 26

Elmer, J. M., drift sheet devised by...... 163-164

Eureka Creek, stream conditions on ....... 52

Evans, G. H., on hydraulic mining ........ 112

on pipelines............................ 133

F.

Fairbanks, derricking at, plate showing... 64 

distances from.......................... 247

freight and passenger rates to and from. 233-

235,237-238 

prices at...................... 226-227,249-254

source of supplies at..................... 243

Fairbanks Creek, ditches on ............. 105,109

drift'mining on, plate showing......... 92

freight and passenger rates to.......... 238

gold on, fineness of................... 194,208

hot-water thawing on .................. 98

investigation on........................ 14

legal abuses on......................... 256

stream conditions on................... 53-54

wages on ............................... 211

wood on, price of....................... 216

Fairbanks district, ditches in ........ 105,109,120

drain in, cost of........................ 58

drifting in.............................. 96-99

garnets in .............................. 205

gold in, fineness of..................... 208

ice in................................... 89

investigation in........................ 14

map of part of.......................... 46

mining in, cost and methods of......... 28,36

physical conditions in............... 32-33,96

prospecting in, cost of.................. 41

rainfall in ...........^.................. 45

road in,plateshowing................ 220,226

shafts in, cost of........................ 98

shovelirfg in, duty of man in........... 69

steam-point thawing in ................ 91-92

stream conditions in ................ 45,53,54

timbering in ........................... 98

topography in, view of................. 226

wages in............................... 67,211

wood in, price of....................... 216

Fairhaveii district, coal in .............. 213
INDKX. 267

Page.

Fairhaven district, gold in, fineness of.-.... 209

mining in, character of................. 29

prospecting in, cost of.................. 42

wages in................................ 211

wood in, price of....................... 216

Firewood, prices of.................... 34,212-216

Flumes. See Ditches.

Fort Adams, rainfall at.................... 48

temperatures at........................ 49

Fort Gibbon, freight and passenger rates

to............................. 233-235

ice at................................... 49

rainfall at.............................. 48

temperatures at........................ 49

Fort Liscum, rainfall at.................... 48

temperatures at........................ 49

Fort Reliance, ice at....................... 49

Fort Yukon, freight and passenger rates

to............................. 233-235

Fortymile, freight and passenger rates to. 233-234

Fortymile Creek, prospecting on, cost of... 41 

stream conditions on................... 44

Fortymile district, ditches in............. 105,109

hydraulic mining in.................... 117

icein................................... 89

fineness of gold in...................... 208

freight and passenger rates to.......... 238

mining in, cost of................'..-...- 36

methods of......................... 29

prospecting in, cost of.................. 41

stream conditions in ................ 44,45,54

wages in................................ 211

wood in, price of..................... 212,215

Fountain Creek, freight and passenger

rates to......................... 241

Freighting, cost of ................ 88,226,228-242

investigation of........................ 16

routes of.............................. 232-242

Frost, occurrence of........................ 49

Fuel, prices of.................. 34,88,102,212-216

G.

Galesburg, 111., steam-shovel operations at. 75-78 

steam-shovel operations at, figures

showing........................ 75, 76

Garnets, occurrence of...................... 204

Gas-producer engines, efficiency of......... 34

use of................................... 34

Geological Survey, United States, publications of, on Alaska ........... 261-262

Geology, influence on placer mining of.... 31

Giants, hydraulic, bracing of, figure showing ............................. 136

data concerning...................... 134-135

method of use of ..................... 136-137

Glacier Creek, ditch on, plate showing..... 124

ditches on ............................ 106,109

elevators on.......................... 152-153

plate showing...................... 152

freight and passenger rates to.......... 241

gold on, fineness of................ .... 209

gravel on, plate showing............... 152

investigation on........................ 14

sluicing on ............................. 149

stream conditions on................... 53,54

wood on, price of....................... 216

Page.

Glacier Mountains, location and altitude

Of............................... 44

Glen Gulch, gold on, fineness of............ 208

stream conditions on................... 53

Gold, cleaning of........................... 205

export duty on ......................... 245

fineness of............................ 207-209

loss of ........................ 144-145,191,193

Gold, fine, occurrence of......... 193-194,207-209

Gold Bottom Creek (Council district)

ditches on.................... 106,110

freight and passenger rates to.......... 242

investigation on........................ 14

stream conditions on .................... 53

Gold Bottom Creek, Y. T., investigation on 14

Gold'Creek, ditches on................... 104,107

gold on' fineness of..................... 207

stream conditions on................... 52,54

topography on, plate showing. ........ 118

Gold deposits, alluvial, classes of.......... 27

classes of, distribution of............... 28-29

methods of working of................. 27-28

Gold Run, B. C., dredging on............. 160-162

gold on, fineness of................:..... 207

investigation on........................ 13

prospecting in, cost of.................. 41

Gold Run (Kugruk district), gold on, fineness of.......................... 209

Gold Run (Rampart district), gold On, fineness of.......................... 208

stream conditions on................... 53

wood on, price of....................... 216

Gold Run, Y. T., gold on, fineness of....'... 208

hot-water thawing on .................. 93

investigation on........................ 14

mud box on, view of................... 194

wood on, price of....................... 215

stream conditions on ................... 52,54

Gold Run Creek, fineness of gold on ....... 209

wood on, price of.....:................. 215

Gold-saving devices, character of.... 142-150,193

inefficiency of Alaskan types of........ 190

plates showing ........................ 80,162

Gold Stream, stream conditions on......... 53

wood on, price of....................... 216

Grades of streams. See Streams, grades of.

Grass Gulch, investigation on.............. 14

Gravel, frozen, hydraulicking of, diagram

of............................... 137

view of................................. 136

Gravel mining, definition of ............... 25-26

H.

Hannum Creek, gold on, .fineness of........ 209

Hauer, J. D., on handling bowlders........ 141

Hidden Treasure mine, timbering method

in, figure showing.............. 84

Hobson Creek, dam on..................... 124

Hog River, freight and passenger rates to

and from..................... 236-237

Hoisting, cost and methods of.............. 94-96

Holyoke Creek, freight and passenger rates

to............................... 240

Homestake Creek, gold on, fineness of..... 209

wood on, price of........................ 216

Hoosier Creek, ditches on................ 105,109
268 INDEX.

Page. 

Hoosier Creek, freight and passenger rates

to................ ............... 237

stream conditions on ................... 52

Hope, freight and passenger rates to and

from...................... 230-231,239

Horse scraping, cost and advantages of.... 61

Hospitals, fees for .......................... 210

Hot Air Co., flume of, plates showing.... 124,126

Hot water, thawing by............ 33,93-94,97-98

Hunker Creek, Y. T., dam on .............. 57

ditches on.................... 105,108,118-119

gold on, fineness of..................... 208

investigation on........................ 14

steam-point thawing on................ 89-93

stream conditions on................... 52

wood on, price of.......................' 215

Hunter Creek, freight and passenger rates

to.....................'.......... 237

gold on, fineness of...................... 208

stream conditions on................... 52,54

Hurrah Creek, freight" and passenger rates

to............................... 242

Hutchins, ,1. P., acknowledgments to ...... 25

on dredging.......................... 173-190

on reservoirs............................ 128

on thawing............................. 137

Hydraulic mining. See Mining, hydraulic. 

Hydraulic pit, old timbering in, plate showing ............................. 86

I.

Ice, occurrence of, time of.................. 49

Ice, buried, occurrence of....,.........:... 119

Independence Creek, wood on, price of.... 216

Information, circular letter requesting..... 17-25

Inmac'huk River, gold on, fineness of...... 209

wood on, price of....................... 216

Interior province, districts in ........... 28-29,35.

ditches in..................... 104-105,107-108

dredging in, cost of..................... 167

fuel in, cost of.......................... ' 34

mining in, methods and cost of..... 28-29,38

physical conditions in.................. 30-33

roadsin............................... 219-226

topography of........................... 117

plate showing...................... 120

water supply of...................... 36,43-45

Investigation, itinerary of.................. 13-14

methods of.............................. 14-25

Irene Gulch, gold 'on, fineness of........... 208

Itinerary, map showing....................

remarks on I............................ 13-14

J.

Jualpa Mining Company, ditch of.......... 116

flume of, plate showing ................ 118

Juneau, freight and passenger rates to... 230-231 

investigation at.......................... 13

prices at.............................. 249-254

rainfall at.............................. 43,48

temperatures at......................... 49

Juneau district, ditches in................ 115-116

duty of miner's inch in................. 139

gold in, fineness of...................... 207

map showing........................... 114

Page. 

Juneau district, mining in, methods of.... 28

prospecting in, cost of.................. 41

roads in ................................ 221

stream conditions in ................... 52,54

wages in................................ 211

wood on, price of.-.................... 212,215

K.

Kassoii Creek, wood on, price of............ 216

Kelley, , method of sampling of........ 42-43

Kenai, rainfall at............'............... 48

stream conditions at....................

temperatures at ........................ 49

Kenai River, opening and closing of....... 49

stream conditions on................... 49

Kigluaik Mountains, location and altitude

of............................... 46

Kiwalik, freight and passenger rates to.. 230-231

Klondike district, dam in, plate showing. 126,148

ditches in ......................... 105,108,118

dredges and dredging in ............. 162-164

plate showing ...................... 162

drift mining in......................... 84-85

figure showing ..................... 85

dumping in, plate showing............. 62

dumps in, plate showing............... 40

duty of miner's inch in ................ 139

frozen gravel in, view of.......'........ 136

gold .in, fineness of................... 207-208

hydraulic mining in ................... 117

plate showing..... 1........... 86,132,136

ice in................................... 89

investigation in........................ 13

mining in, cost and methods of........ 28,36

physical conditions in ................. 32,89

prices in................................ 227

prospecting in, cost of.................. 41

pumps in, plate showing............... 56

roads in................................. 221

view of ............................. 224

sluices and sluicing in................ 147-148

plate showing ................ 136,192,194

steam shovel in .....'................... 78-82

plate showing ...................... 74

steam-point thawing in ................ 89,93

stream conditions in ................... 52,54

wages in............................... 67,211

washing plant in, plate showing....... 80

white-channel deposits of............. 38,118

wood in, price of....................... 215

Klondike River, bridge over, view of...... 224

ditches on............................ 106,110

dredging on............................ 160

steam shovel on............'............ 78-80

stream conditions on................... 52

Koksuktapaga River. See Casadepaga. 

Kotzebue Sound, coal on................... 213

Kougarok district, mining in, character of. 29 

Koyukuk district, freight and passenger

rates to......................... 234

roads in ................................ . 221

Koyukuk River, coal on.................... 213

freight and passenger rates to and on.. 233-

234,236-237

Kugruk district, prospecting in, cost of .... 42

wages in................................ 211
INDEX. 269

Page. 

Kngruk River, gold on, fineness of ........ 209

wood on, price of........................ 210

L.

Labor, character and rates of pay of..... 210-211

Landh'eld, J. T.,on gold dredging.......... 157

Last Chance Creek, Y. T., freight and passenger rates to.................. 241

gold on, fineness of..................... 208

investigation on........................ 14

Law, status of............................ 255-260

Lawson Creek, ditch on, plate showing..... 114

Lemon Creek, ditches on ................ 104,107

gold on, fineness of..................... 207

Levat, E. D., on sluicing................... 197

on thawing in east Siberia ............. 90

Lewington, G. A. 11..acknowledgments to. 25

on ditch building ...................... 120

Lignite, occurrence of...................... 213

Lillian Creek, freight and passenger rates

iO............................... 240

Lindbloom Creek, freight and passenger

rates to......................... 241

Lindgren, W., on California rainfall....... 47

Lindlcy, C. H., on mining law........ 257-258,260

Lisburne, Cape, coal near .................. 213

Little Minook Creek, freight and passenger

rates to ......................... 237

gold on, fineness of..................... 208

stream conditions on................... 52,54

Little Minook, jr., Creek, gold on, iineness

of..........'..................... 208

Living, cost of, investigation into.......... 15

Location, laws of......................... 255-2GO

Long torn, character and use of............ 55-5G

Lumber, character of....................... 212

prices of..................... 41-42,88,212-216

Lynx Creek, freight and passenger rates to. 239

M.

McCoon Creek, wood on, price of.......... 215

McKee Creek, B. C., ditches on ...... 104,107,118

gold on, fineness of..'................... 207

hydraulic giants on..................... 136

investigation on........................ 13

pipe line on ........................... ; 132

view of............................. 132

prospecting on, cost of ................. 41

sluicing on ........................... 143-144

stream conditions on................... 52,54

tailings on............................ f . 151

wood on, price of.'...................... 215

McKinley Creek, gold on, fineness of....... 207

wood on, price of....................... 215

McKinley Creek Mining Co. v. Alaska

United Mining Co., reference to. 260 

Maluin, H., on-protective dams ............ 146

Mammoth Creek, gold on, fineness of...... 208

in vestigation.on........................ 14

prospecting on, cost of ................. 41

stream condi tions on................... 52,54

wood on, price of....................... 216

Map of Alaska, showing itinerary ......... 14

Martin Creek, freightand passenger rates to. 241

Page. 

Mary's Igloo, distances from ............... 247

Mastodon Creek, ditches on.............. 105,109

drain on, cost of........................ 58

gold on, fineness of..................... 208

investigation on........................ 14

prospecting on, cost of ................. 41

self-dumping carriers on ............... 65

stream conditions on ................... 52,54

tailings on.............................. 151

topography on, plate showing.......... 120

wood on, price of....................... 216

Mastodon Fork, gold on, fineness of........ 288

stream conditions on ................... 52

Matanuska basin, coal in................... 213

Matteson, E. E., invention of hydraulic

mining by...................... 99

Meking Creek, stream conditions on....... 53,55

wood on, price of....................... 216

Melting amalgam, method of ............ 205-207

Mercury, use of............................. 204

Miller Creek, Alaska, ditches on......... 104,107

gold on, fineness of..................... 208

wood on, price of....................... 216

Miller Creek, Y. T., ditches on........... 105,108

Miller Gulch, gold on, fineness of .......... 207

Mills Creek, freight and passenger rates to. 239 

Miner, typical, plate showing .............. 58

Miner's inch, definition of............ 34-35,49-51

duty of ............................... 138-141

Mining, classes of, definitions of...... 25-26,34-39

cost of, investigation of................. 15

Mining, alluvial, definition of.............. - 26

Mining, dredge. See Dredging.

Mining, drift, ad it for, plate and figureshowing ............................. 84

cost of ............................... 38,82-85

definition of............................ 25

methods of ............................. 82-99

plate showing.......................... 92

rig for, figure showing ................. 82

sampling in ............................ 83

system of, figure showing .............. 83

Mining, elluvial, definition of ............. 26

Mining, gravel, definition of............... 25-26

Mining, hydraulic, cost of ......... 33,38,101-102

definition of............................ 25

essentials for ......................... 100-101

invention of............................ 99

methods of............................ 99-156

plates and figures showing ......... 92,

132,136,137,152,154 

use of.............................. 33,100,102

water for ............................... 99

Mining, open-cut,'cost of................... 38,56

economy of............................. 55

methods of ............................. 55-82

steam point in, use of, plate showing .. 86 

view of................................. ]54

Mining, placer, definition of............... 25-20

methods of............................. 29-34

conclusions concerning ............ 30

Mining law, abuses of.................... 255-260

extension of, to Alaska................. 257

requirements of...................... 257-260

Mining supplies, prices of................ 249-254
270 INDEX.

Page. 

Minook Creek, stream conditions on....... 52

Miocene Ditch Co., ditch of, map of:....... 124

ditches of .............................. 123

view on ........................... 13,124

Mission Creek, gold on, fineness of......... 208

Montana, miner's inch in .................. 51

Montana dredge, type of................. 175-176

Moonlight Gulch, freight and passenger

rates to......................... 240

More, A. H., acknowledgments to .......... 25

Moss, effect of .............................. 88-89

Moss Gulch Creek, freight and passenger

rates to......................... 240

Mud box, character and use of........... 191-192

. cost of.................................. 193

plates and figure showing............ 192,194

Munro, C. H., on cost of dredging ....... 168-173

Mystery Creek, freight and passenger rates

to................................ 242

gold on, fineness of..................... 209

stream conditions on ................... 53

N.

Neenana, freight and passenger rates to.. 235-236 

New York, water supply of, theoretic 

capacity of, for hydraulic mining ............................. 99

New Zealand, dredge, type of............ 176-177

view of ........................... 162,168,167

Newton Creek, investigation on............ 14

Niukluk River, dredge on.................. 167

Nizina district, gold in, fineness of......... 207

mining in, methods and cost of ..... 29,37-39

prospecting in, cost of.................. 40

stream conditions on................... 54

wages in................................ 211

wood on, price of....................... 215

Nome, beach diggings at, gold at, fineness

of............................... 209

distances from ....................... 247-248

freight and passenger rates to and

from................'.......... 240-241

fuel at, cost of........... I.............. 34

gold at, fineness of...................... 209

lightering at, cost of................. 239,241

prices at.............................. 249-254

Nome Arctic Railway, construction of..... 227

Nome district, ditches in................. 105,109

drift mining in......................... 87,93

duty of miner's inch in............... 138-140

gold in, fineness of...................... 209

hot-water thawing in .................. 97

hydraulic giants in..................... 136

mining in, methods of......*............ 29

prospecting in, cost of.................. 42

roads in ................................ 221

shoveling in, duty of man in ........... 59

steam thawing in .....................'. 93.

stream conditions in ................... 53,54

wages in................................ 211

wood in,'price of....................... 216

N.ome River, ditches and ditch buildingon. 105,

109 

ditches and ditch-building on, plate

showing........................ 120

freight and passenger rates to....... :: . 241

Nome River, stream conditions on......... 53

water supply of......................... 46

Nugget Creek, freight and passenger rates

to............................... 241

Nulato, freight and passenger rates to and

from.......................... 233-236

ice at................................... 49

rainfall at.............................. 48

stream conditions at....................

temperatures at ........................ 49

0. 

Oil, price of................................ 34,214

Omega Creek, freightand passenger rates to. 237 

stream conditions on................... 53

Open-cut mining. See Mining, open-cut.

Ophir Creek, derricking on................. 67-70

plate showing ...................... 70

ditches on.................... 106,110,126-127

 plate showing ...................... 126

flume on, view of....................... 124

investigation on........................ 14

mining on.............................. 37

freight and passenger rates to........ 240,242

gold on, fineness of................... 194,209

prospecting on, cost of.................. 42

sluicing on ............................. 149

plate showing...................... 148

stream conditions on................... 53,55

wageson......".......................... 210

water supply of......................... 40

wood on, price of....................... 216

Oregon, use of water gate hi ............... 57

Oregon Creek, freight and passenger rates

to.................. ............. 241

Oroville, Gal., dredges and dredging at.... 157-

158,176-177 

dredges and dredging at,cost of...... 167-173

views of .................. 168,180,182,184

investigation at........................ 14

Osborn Creek, freight and passenger rates

to............................... 240

stream conditions on ................... 53

Otter Creek, freight and passenger rates to. 241

P.

Pack train, view of......................... 228

Paige, Sidney, acknowledgments to........ 13

work of................................. 15

Pass, Siberian, view of...................... 198

Passenger service, character of........... 228,232

rates of............................... 228-241

Peavy, freight and passenger rates to and

from.......................... 236-237

Pedro Creek, conditions in ................. 32-33

derricking on, cost of............. 66-67,70-71

freight and passenger rates to.......... 238

gold on, fineness of..................... 208

hot-water thawing on .................. 98

prospecting on, cost of.................. 42

stream conditions on................... 53,54

wood on, price of....................... 216

PeluK Creek, freightand passenger rates to. 241 

investigation on........................ 14

wood on, price of....................... 216

Penelope Creek, horse scraping on, cost of.. 60 

investigation on........................ 14
INDEX. 271

Page.

Penny River, freight and passenger rates to. 241 

Perkins, H. C., acknowledgments to........ 25

Pichard, G. W., on electric thawing......... 89

Pine Creek, B. C., ditches on.............. 104,107

gold on,fineness of................ '..... 207

investigation on....... ^..........'...... 13

pipe line on, view of ................... 128

stream conditions on................... 52,54

wood on, price of....................... 216

Pine Creek Power Co., sluices of.;......... 145

Pioneer Creek, ditches on................. 105,109

freight and passenger rates to.......... 241

stream conditions on............'....... 52

Pioneer Glen,freight and passenger rates to. 237 

Pipe line, construction of............ 119,128-134

construction of, figures and plate showing ........................... 132-133

prices of................................ 130

sections and parts of, figures showing.. 129,

131,132,133

shipping of, method of................. 129

view of................................. 128

Placer mining, character of................ 27

definition of............................ 25-20

kinds of, distribution of ................ 28-29

methods of working of............. '.... 28

Placers, bench, character of............. '... 27

distribution of....................... 28-29,101

method of working of.............. 28,40,101

Placers, creek, character of................ 27

distribution of.......................... 28-29

method of working of.................. 27

Placers, gravel-plain, character of ......... 27

distribution of.......................... 29

 method of working of.................. 28

Placers, hillside, character of.............. '27

distribution of.......................... 28-29

method of working of.................. 27

Placers, lake-bed, character of............. 27

distribution of.......................... 28

method of working of.. ^............... 28

Placers, river-bar, character of............. 27

distribution of.......................... 28-29

method of working of.................. 28

richness of.............................. 159

Placers, sea-beach, character of............ 27

distribution of.......................... 29

method of working of.................". 28

Placers, tundra. See Placers, gravel-plain. 

Plati num., occurrence of ................... 26

Porcupine Creek, wood on, price of........ 216

Porcupine district, ditches in ............ 104,108

freight and passenger rates to.......... 238

gold in, fineness of...................... 207

mining in, methods of..'................ 29

prospecting in, cost of.................. 41

wages in................................ 211

wood on, price of...................... 212,215

Port Clarence district, ditches in......... 106,110

gold in, fineness of....................'.. 209

mining in, methods of.................. 29

wages in................................ 211

wood in, price of....................... N 216

Powers of attorney, abuse of.............. 255-257

Pressure box, plates showing............... 116

Prindle. L. M., information from,.......... 61

Page. 

Prindle, L. M., mention of ................. 14

Prospect Creek, freight and passenger rates

to............................... 241

Prospecting, cost Of...................... 39,41-42

methods of............... i............. 89-40

results of ............................... 42-43

Pump, China. See China pump.

Pumping, cost of .......................... 58,102

Punched plates, use of.................... 195-196

R.

Railways, construction of............ 227-228,239

Rainfall, statistics of ....................... 48

Rampart, freight and passenger rates to and

from...................... 233-234,237

Rampart district, ditches in.............. 105,109

gold in, fineness of.."................... 208

mining in, methods of.................. 29

prospecting in, cost of.................. 42

stream conditions in................. 45,52-54

wages in................................ 211

wood in, price of ....................... 215

Red Mountain, freight and passenger rates

to and from................... 236-237

Reservoirs, storage, construction and cost

of..............................:...... 127-128

Resurrection Creek, wood on, price of..... 216

Rhode Island Creek, freight and passenger i 

rates to......................... 237

stream conditions on................... 53

Riffles, improved, figures and plates showing ................ -80,195,200,202,203

types of............................... 200-203

Riffles, rail, figure showing ................ 149

Roads, act of Congress concerning ....... 217-218

construction and character of.......... 16,

217-220,225-226 

figure showing..................... 225

cost Of.................... 219,220,223-225,227

in Interior province.................. 226-227

in Seward Peninsula ................. 227-228

in South Coast province................ 222

in Yukon Territory................... 222-220

suggested routes for.................... 226

views Of .......................... 220,224,226

Robinson, A. W., on dredging.............. 160

Rock Creek, freight and passenger rates to. 241 

stream conditions on................... 63

Rock Island Point, freight and passenger

rates to and from............. 236-237

Rocker, character and use of............... 55-56

figure showing ..............'........... 55

Ruby Creek, freight and passenger rates

to. ............................ 237,242

stream conditions on................... 52

S.

St. Michael, freight and passenger rates

to..................... 230-231,234-235

rainfall at.............................. 48

temperatures at........................ 49

Sampling, necessity for.................. 42-43,83

method of.............................. 42-43

Sand PQint, freight and passenger rates

to.................. ... ,,,,... 230-231,
272 LNDEX.

Sawmills, location of..................... 212-213

Seattle Creek, freight and passenger rates to. 240 

stream conditions on ................... 53

Seattle Point, freight and passenger rates to

and from ..................... 23G-237

Settling pond, view of...................... 128

Seward, freight and passenger rates to... 230-231 

Seward Peninsula, derricking in, plate

showing........................ 70

distances in, table of............... i... 247

districts in.............................. 29,35

ditches and ditch building in .......... 15,

33,46-47,105-106,109-110,119-127 

plates showing..................... 120

dredging in ...................... 160,164,167

drifting in.............................. 87-88

gold in, fineness of..................... 194

horse scraping in, cost of............... 60

machinery in, use of ................... 121

magnetite in ........................... 205

map of part of .......................... 47

mining in, methods and cost of.. 29,33,36-38 

moss in................................. 88-89

physical conditions in............ 33-34,88-89

roads in .............................. 219-221

settling pond in, view of............... 128

sluicing in............................ 149-150

wages in................................ 82

water supply in................... 34-35,45,47

wood on................................ 212

Shafts, prospecting, cost of................. 39-42

ShovelCreek,freightand passenger rates to. 242 

stream conditions on................... 53,55

Shoveling in, advantages of................ 59-60

cost of..................... 37-38,56,59-60,190

duty of a man in ....................... 59

Silver Bow basi n, d i tch es i n.......... 104,107,115

flume in, view of......... ............. 118

hydraulicking in, plate showing....... 92

investigation in ........................ 13

pressure box in, plate showing......... 116

sluicing in.............................. 143

Sixmile Creek, gold on, fineness of..:...... 207

Skagway, freight and passenger rates to . 230-231 

rainfall at.............................. 48

temperatures at......................... 49

Slate Creek, freight and passenger rate^ to. 237 

gold on, fineness of..................... 207

stream conditions on................... 52

wood on, price of....................... 216

Sledge Creek, freight and passenger rates to. 241 

Sluice, bed-rock, view of................. 136,148

Sluice-box grade, definition of ............. 64

Sluice boxes, cost of........................ 197

. character arid use of.................... 56-57

defects of............................. 193-194

dumping into, .plate showing .......... 62

figures and plate showing... 143,153,196,198,

194 

grade of................................ 195

making of, tools for, figure showing ... 146 

set-up of, plate showing................ 56

types of............................... 195-199

use of, cost of.......................... 56,190

Sluicing, cost of......... 39,56,57,137,142,144,148

efficiency of..........,,..,.,,..,, 141,144-145

Sluicing, methods of..................... 142-152

Smith, Hamilton, on miner's inch ......... 50

pipe-line experiments by............... 134

Snake River, drilling on, plate showing ... 40 

stream conditions on................... 53

Societe Miniere, plant of.... ............ 146-147

Sod, use of................................. 124,128

Solomon, distances from .................... 247

freight and passenger rates to and from. 230-

231,240,242

Solomon district,'ditches in.............. 106,110

duty of miner's inch in ................ 140

gold in, fineness of..................... 209

mining in, methods of................. 29

stream conditions fn................... 53,55

wages in................................ 211

wood in, price of....................... 216

Solomon Hill, drifting on, figure showing.. 85 

Solomon River, dredging on.............. 164,166

gold on, fineness of..................... 209

gravel on, tenor of ..................... 165

investigation on........................ 14

shoveling on, duty of man in .......... 59

stream conditions on................... 53,55

water supply of ....'.................... 46

South Coast province, coal in .............. 213

districts in .......................... 28-29,35

ditches in ................ 104,107-108,113-117

dredging in ............................ 160

gold of, character of.................... 143

mining in, methods and cost of..... 28-29,38

physical conditions in................. 30

roads in .............................. 219-222

topography of, plate shelving .......... 114

water supply of......................... 43

wood in ................................. 214

Spruce Creek, B. C., ditches on .......... 104,107

gold on, fineness of.........;........... 207

investigation on........................ 13

prospecting in, cost of.................. 41

stream conditions on................... 52

wood on, price of....................... 215

Steam, use of............................... 33,37

Steam point, details of, figures showing.... 90

use of, in thawing........... 89-93,90,159,189

plate and figure showing........... 90,86

Steam scraper, advantages of ............... 63-65

figures showing ..................... 61,62,65

use of................................... 63-65

plate showing...................... 62

Steam shovel, advantages of............... 73

cost of.................................. 77-78

operations of, description of............ 73-82

figures showing ................. 74,75,76

plates showing......................... 74

Stewart River, Y. T., dredging on.......... 160

Stonehonse Fork, gold on, fineness of...... 208

Streams, freezing and opening of, time of.. 49 

grades of ............................... 53-55

volumes of............................. 49-53

Sulphur Creek, Y. T., fine gold on ....... 201,208

investigation on........................ 14

stream conditions on................... 52

wood on, price of....................... 215

Sunrise, freight and passenger rates to and

from...................... 230-231,239
INDEX. 273

Page.

Sunrise district, ditches in ............... 104,107

gold in, fineness of..................... 207

mining in, methods of ................. 29

prospecting in, cost of.................. 41

wages in................................ 211

wood on, price of..................... 212,215

Sunset Creek, ditches on................. 106,110

gold on, fineness of..................... 209

Tables, gold-saving, view of............... 162

Tailings, disposal of.............. 150-151,183-186

disposal of, figures showing...... 183,185,187

Tanana, freight and passenger rates to .. 235-236 

ice at................................... 49

Tanana district, gold in, character of...... 194

hydraulic mining in.................... 117

roads in ................................ 221

wood on, price of....................... 212

Tanana River, freight and passenger rates

to and on............:.... 234,235-230

gold fields on, information concerning. 14 

Telegraph charges, rates of .............. 244-245

Teller, distances from ...................... 247

freight and passenger rates to and

from...................... 230-231,240

Temperature, records of ..................... 49

Thanksgiving Creek, freight and passenger

rates to......................... 237

gold on, fineness of..................... 208

stream conditions on ................... 53

Thawing, cost of ....................... 41-42,189

methods of ...................... 33,40,89,137

necessity for............................ 40,88

plate showing.......................... 84

Thibaudeau, W., information from......... 222

Timber supplies, investigation of .......... 15

Timbering, cost of............... 41-42,88,212-216

method of, figure showing ............. 84

remains of, plate showing.............. 86

Tin, occurrence of........................... 26

Tolmachof, I. P., on buried ice............. 119

Tolovana, freight and passenger rates to. 235-236 

Topkok district, mining in, methods of.... 29

Topography, influence on mining of....... 31

mention of ............................. 16

views showing ............... 114,118,120,226

Track and incline system, advantages of.. 72 

figure showing ......................... 71

use of................................... 71-72

Tramming system, cost of.................. 37,73

description of........................... 75-76

view of................................. 154

Transportation, cost of, investigation of ... 16 

Trommel, use of............................ 19S

use of, plate showing................... 162

Twin Creek, conditions on ................. 32

gold on, fineness of..................... 208

Twin Mountain Creek, freight and passenger rates to..................... 241

Tyrrell, J. B., on buried ice ................ li9

U.

Undercurrent, figures showing........../194,196

use of, in sluicing .................... 196-197

Page.

Upper Dominion Creek, Y. T., investigation on ......................... 14

 steam-poin t thawing on................ 89

wood on, price of....................... 215

Valdez, freight and passenger rates to ... 230-231 

Van Waagenen, T. P., on hydraulic mining. Ill

Wade Creek, ditches on .................. 105,109

gold on, fineness of..................... 208

stream conditions on................... 54

wood on, price of....................... 215

Wages, investigationanto .................. 15

rates of...................... 33,82-83,210-211

Walker Fork, gold on, fineness of.......... 208

steam scraper on, use of................ 61-62

use of, plate showing.:............. 62

stream conditions on................... 54

wood on, price of....................... 215

Warm Creek, investigation on ............. 14

stream conditions on................... 53

Washing plant, necessity for........... 37,73,193

plate showing .......................... 80

Washington Creek, freight and passenger

rat;es to ......................... 240

Water, underground, difficulty from....... 40

Water gate, use and cost of............... . 38,57

Water supply, data concerning ............ 43-55

investigation into...................... 15

West, William, acknowledgments to....... 25

West Creek, freight and passenger rates to. 242 

Whitney, J. D., on hydraulic mining.. 99-100,102 

Wild Goose Railway, construction of .... 227-228

Willow Creek, B. C., freight and passenger

rates to ..... .'................. 241,242

gold on, fineness of..................... 207

investigation on........................ 13

Windfall Creek, ditches on............... 104,107

gold on, fineness of..................... 207

wood on, price of........................ 215

Wire cables, relative value of chains and .. 76-77 

Wolf Creek, stream conditions on.......... 53

Wood, prices of........................ 34,212-216

Wood fires, thawing by..................... 89-90

Woodchopper Creek, gold on, fineness of... 208 

wood on, price of....................... 216

Wrangell, freight and passenger rates to. 230-231

Yakutat, freight and passenger rates to.. 230-231 

York, freight and passenger rates to ....... 240

York Mountains, location of............... 46-

water of ................................. 46

Young, H. W., on gold-saving devices.... 195,203

Yukon River, coal at.'...................... 213

freight and passenger rates to.......... 234

opening and closing of................. 49

stream conditions on ................... 49

Yukon Territory, Canada, investigation in. 33-14 

miner's inch in......................... 51

roads in .............................. 222-226

views of............................ 224

Bull. 263 05 1.8 O