The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-10-12

not include the "snipers" who are working upon exposed pieces of bed rocK' At least four hundred men arc now actively washing upon claims rom the mouth of Six Mile creek up to US various heads, and large number are out in the field prospecting. (As to what amount of gold this district will produce at the close of the worlSing. season, even an estimate could not be placed upon it, but it will certainly reach fifty thousand dollars. Some of these four hundred claim workers ara growing, while others are iubilant The "snipers" inform us that they tackle a new piece of bedrock when their work drops to one dollar per day The Apollo Mining company, located at the forks of Canon and Mill creeks. last week cleaned up seven hundred and sixty nine dollars, which was their cleanup for one days run with force of eight men, working nine-hour shift, and shovelling into one sting of sluices. The company cleans up every night The other claims are producing immediate results. In the early part of the season but few claims had been opened up and ready to commence washing, and so far most of the work done has been opening up claims in the shape of whip-sawing lumber, running dltches, and putting in wing dams to turn the streams, and washing upon all of them will be commenced by the flrSt Of the month In this district the largest nugget taken out this summer weighed SLIGO, which came from Ta- tum claim near the head of Mill creek. being weighed at sixteen dollars per ounce. The largest nugget found in the country came from the Bede claim on Bear creek, weighing $4280.
 Geologically speaking of the country. it's rocks from the mouth of Six Mile up to it's headwaters are composed of alternate strata of green basalt and slate, with general trend in a north- east and northwest direction. The slate strata split easily into laminae transversely to their beds Along the banks of the stream are high gravel bars, and the country throughout is marked with extensive glacial deposits. The pebbles and boulders are exceed ingly smooth through long periods of moving and washing, some of them be- ing of foreign matter to the country rocks, showing evidences of having come long distances, and together with the clay deposits bore hither much of the gold In their train. Passing through the country the markings of an old river channel are still visible to the geologist, which wound it's way from the far interior southwest to the coast. It might have been either the Copper river or the Lushitna, which large streams to-day run tranquilly upon either side, and in ages past were shipped into their present beds by earthquakes and violent volcanic erup- tions. A chain of smooth, round knobs and rolling hills mark the general trend of the gold belt, while walling it on the east is the highest and most rugged chain of peaks imaginable The origin of the gold here is in the high gravel banks, but scattered through them is not sufficiene quanti- ties to make them paying propositions, at least by shovelling into sluices, al- though the indications are favorable, for hydraulic workings; at least such is the case where the banks lay yet un- disturbed by later and present wash of streams. Six Mile creek and a number of it's tributaries form an intestine run ming through the auriferous gravel body, and the washes of years have made ground sluices and concentrated the gold upon low bars, in crevices of the bedrock and upon other points where it could find permanent lodge- ment. Associated with the gold, and 1 found in the pannings and in large numbers in the clean-ups are large and small pebbles of "ironstone," smoothly, of a dark reddish brown col or, and having the appearance of smelter slag when broken open. The gold on Six Mile creek is identical with the character of that found on Forty Mile creek, on the Yukon. In the main it is coarse" gold, but having the ap- pearance of being much struck and fattened by rolling boulders, as if hit with a hammer. Some of the pieces, too, are somewhat round and of rough surface appearance, but when taken as a whole it is generally classed by miners as "mealy" gold. Pieces from fifty cents to five and six dollars weight are numerous. This character of gold is undoubtedly all foreign matter. However, there are also parti- cles of gold of local origin mixed with it, which are readily distinguished by rtheir rough, sharp and bright appear ance. In fact, the schistose rocks are laced with small stringers of quartz, in which specimens carrying free gold have been found In the main the gold in the low bars is carried in pay streaks. Chicken feed" gravel at grass roots sometimes carries rich pay streak, and strata of clay a few feet underground form a bedrock with a rich covering. Away from the old river channel nothing of any great inn portance has been struck, although on small side creeks that head in the old
 channel paying bars are now being worked.
 At certain period the whole coun-
 try was subjected to violent volcanic eruptions that changed the whole sur- face of the country, and the subterra- mean fires are not extinguished even at
 the present date, as the frequent earth quakes and smoking volcanoes yet in-
 dicate. On the 9th of May last We had
 violent shock of earthquake at Sun
 rise City, which caused the spruce
 boughs to dance as if in demoniac glee,
 and the roar of the earth's artillery
 was something appalling. It seemed as
 if the earth was cracking open, and one