The Nome nugget., 1900-01-01

feet of water, but is not adequate for the accommodation of deep-sea going vessels. In front of Nome the sea is so shallow that the larger vessels can not approach the shore, but are obliged to discharge their cargOes by means of boats and lighters, method which is very precariOus on account of the combers and breakers that usually sweep the coast. \
 The mountains thus far examined are composed of mica-schists and lime stone, alternating in layers and beds with each other They are thin or medium bedded rocks and strike and tend northeastward and southwest ward and dip sOutheastward at an angle of about 45 degrees. The lime stone is bluish gray and comparative ly fine grained arI more or less well metamorphosed often becoming crystalline marble. The mica-schist is sometimes slaty, but it also shows con siderable metamorphic action and is garnetiferous. Locally the rocks are sometimes folded and traversed by quartz veins ands veinlets. of both quartz and calcite. with also some iron and copper pyrites. Pyrites are also disseminated sporadically in the schists. The quartz veins and vein lets traversing the rocks are supposed to be the source Okthe gold. Far back in the mountains granite is said to occur but may be represented merely by grantoid diys some pebbles of which occur in the beach gravels.
 Form"tioI of Gr"vels.
 The tundra is snposed of apparent ly marine gravels, derived from the rocks in the mountains, and is almost exclusively mica-schist and limestone. Toward the moun,ains the gravels are often coarse. carrying boulders of con- siderable size, but along the beach they have been largely reduced to fine gravel and sand by wave action. It is in this reduced material that the beach gold occurs,
 The first discovery of gold in the Nome district was made in September, 1898, when a party of Swedes found it on the creeks andsin the gulches; but not until July, 1899. was the discovery of the beach gold uIade. In the gulches along the edge of the mountains the diggings are coarse gold, the largest nuggets found being about $35O each. Here the gold occYrs on the bedrock" under the creek gfavels, which are six or eight feet in thickness
 Along the beach the gold is quite fine, having been reduced by wave ac- tion along with the gravel and sand to the size of birG-shot, or even finer. Its occurrence here is for the most part under two or three feet of gravel and sand, on bottom layer of clay or argillaceOus sand. called bedrock" by the miners. Thin layers of ruby sand interstratified along with the gravel. near the sO-called bedrock" are also often found to be richly auriferOus. Beach diggings have been operated during the past sammer and fall for about thirty or more miles, from Cape Nome to near Synrock. Coarse gold is being mined in Anvil, Glacier, Dexter and Osborne creeks, and along Penny and Cripple riverA
 In the gulches he work is carried on by stripping, sfuicing, and to some extent by rocking while on the beach J the. .-rp z, bod -as~s1 ftins tIe gold has thus far been exclusively by rocking. Here theywater used for rock ing is generally tHat of the ocean. In few cases howev4r, the sea water has been raised byNsteam power and sluices constructed along the beach. In the rocker the gold is caught on blankets and to some extent on copper plates coated with mercury. In many instances. where the supply of copper plate could not equal the demand, the bottom of the rocker was covered by United States silLer coin. principally One-dOllar pieces. and these coated with the mercury caught the gold. During the latter part of summer and in the fall it is estimated that an aver age of 2,000 men were working along the beach, and that they took out an average of about S20 per day per man. In many cases tie abount taken out was much greater. The tundra be- tween the beach and the base of the mountains has also been prOspected to some extent and has not infrequently yielded from 10 a nts to 30 cents per pan. Capital, however, will doubtless be required to handle the tundra with profit; also the be lches above referred to in the lower -Tegion of the noun tains have been fo' md to be auriferous and have largely been staked
 Late Discoveries of Gold.
 The country about the head of Sol omon and Bonanza rivers, forty miles northeast of Nome. reports good pros, poets. In the Golofnin bay country on Fish river and its tributaries coarse gold was taken out during the past summer. On Ophir creek, one of the chief tributaries, single claim is said to have yielded, $75,O00. Prospects have also been reported on the west ern slope of Norton bay. Late in the fall it was rumorSS that gold had been found at Cale Yotk by native en- ployed in herdf fhg the government reindeer. 'Thes&s!.,nmors have since been more than Verified by Capt. Jar wis. who visited this region with the United States revenue cutter Bear. There is no timber in the Nome dis trict. The nearest approach to it is a scanty growth of very stunted willow or elm along some of the waterways.