The silver star., 1897-04-22
MINING MATTERS.
MINING UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
Peculiar Method OF Drifting In Alaskan
Mines.

|
Peculiar Method OF Drifting In Alaskan
Mines.
| When gold was first discovered in
| the Yukon valley the great drawback
in successfully operating the rich plac-
| er mines was found to exist In the au-
riferoSs gravel being frozen into SOL
i'd, compact, adamantine mass which
the rays of the summers sun could
never melt, and with which the meth
DDS usually employed in washing out
gold were totally ineffective. There
seemed to be no end of the depth to
which the frost penetrated the earth's
surface, as the deepest shaft or pros
| pect hole has yet to reach unfrozen
gravel except in certain localities, and
| In such places no one has been able to
account for the strange phenomenon.
Various ways were tried by the min
ers Of ten years ago to expedite the
slow work of the sun in thawing out
the congealed mass. Picks were found
to be Of no avail as the heaviest blow
would produce but little more impress
| sion than 1t would have done on SOL
i'd block of granite. Dynamite was ex-
perimented with, but heavy shot re-
suited In blowing out only pot hole"
and had no effect whatever in loosen
ing the surrounding gravel. Hydrau-
lies were proven equally futile. the
stream from the giants serving only to
bore hole in the bank against which
1t was directed. In fact, the only man
ner by which the shallow or summer
diggings could be worked ut all was to
strip or burn on the heavy coating of
moss covering the earth. thus allowing
the sun to reach the gravel beneath.
| This in q day would thaw to depth
Of three or four inches and that
amount could then be shovelcd into
the sluices and another like amount
would be workable the day following.
The summers were short. however.
and 1t was an unusual season that
would permit of more than ninety
days work at the sluices. and claims
that would not pay an ounce to the
shovel were abandoned. Then came
the discovery of the Birch creek mines,
and the problem of profitably operat-
ing the mines i'm the winter time solved
itself as simple matter of necessity.
With the pay streak located from fif-
teen TO twenty-five feet beneath the
surface it would have been impracti-
cable and almost impossible to remove
the barren earth lying above it.
Prospecting was done by burning
holes in the gravel. A huge pile of
logs would he fired on the spot where
1t was proposed to sink and allowed to
burn over night. In the morning n
foot in depth would he found to have
been thawed out and this was shoveled
aside and a fresh fire kindled. BY
continuing this operation Il number of
days the shaft would finally reach the
pay streak and then it became COM
paratively easy matter to ascertain the
probable worth of the claim. If the
gravel panncd an ounce or two day
more fires were built mt the bottom of
the shaft and drifting" was begun
with the pay streak, the latter being
followed the same as in quartz lode.
During the night is the time employed
to ''burn.' the fires being heaped up
with logs just before the days work is
finished. They last all night, and by
morning. IL the amount of fuel has
been properly gauged. nothing re-
mains hut the dying embers and hot
ashes. the smoke and gases have all es-
capped and the work of shoveling the
looscned gravel begins without delay.
A windlass has already been erected
over the shaft and as fast as the buck
ct is filled the contents are hauled to
the surface and dumped in convent
ent place for washing the following
season. When the drift has reached a
short distance underground the bitter
ly cold weather of the winter has no
terrors for the placer miner, and he
prosecutes his work In comparative
ease and comfort. As distance from
the shaft Is gained. a wooden track is
laid on the floor of the tunnel and n
car pushed by hand is employed to
convey the gold-bearing gravel from
In rnnoItusv uct ~ ho drff tx,
the primitive hoisting works.
The pay streak on Mastodon creek.
which Is the principal producer in the
Birch creek section. varies from three
to four feet thick and from fifteen to
one hundred feet wide. In running n
| drift n uniform size In the tunnel IL
maintained Of five to five and half
feet In height and one cut sixteen feet
wide. though some have been driven
but little over four feet high. Several
claims have worked out the pay streak
for width Of over forty feet and 80
solid IL the frozen roof that no timbers
or other supports are necessary to hold
1t up. Indeed. old miners assert that
the solid Ice and muck above them IL
much firmer and safer than It would
he were the roof OF granite. After u
sufficient time has elapsed from the dy-
iHG out oI lnc ioS Hrfs. tHe AIR uflueT-
ground Is pure and wholesome. There
Is a marked pecullarlty about some of
the claims on Mnstodon creek. the
cause of which no one has vet ven.
tured an opinion. In many instances
the pny streak IL found free from ice
md the gravel can be taken out with
pick and shovel, though MastoiOn II
the only creek that II known where
such conditions exist. 1t can not be
that the gravel In these claims lie be.
low the frost line as on other creeks in
close proximity 10 Mastodon are shafts
double the depth In which the pay II
frozen as hard as concrete. Timber
ing IL necessary In the drifts where nc
frost IL found, roughly hcwn logs and
often mounds built OF the loose b0ul
ders cxcavated In the course OF burn
ing being employed as roof supports
In following the pay streak the miner
often leaves the channel OF the creel
ns II now exists, and finds himself un
der a bench or perhaps side hill afte,
having proceeded hundred feet, and