The Nome nugget., 1902-05-28

Dawson, Y. T., March 2l.-The most comprehensive account of the koyukuk district ever published has just been received here. It is from Frank F. Lischke, who was for a number of years Q resident of Dawson, where he held q responsible position on the Yukon Sun, and that which adds additional value to the article is the fact that the utmost reliance ccn be placed upon the state .mentS made. The article, which is given in Mr. Lischke's own words upon perusal will be found to be full of information interesting alike to the explorer, prospector and capitalist:
 Geographically, the Koyukuk district is located we'll within the confines of the Arctic Circle. The river is 500 miles in length and drains an area of 44,000 square miles. For the first r60e m.les from its confluence with the Yukon it is deep, sluggish and con fined to one channel. After this point is reached numerous large tributaries head in the rugged mountain peaks and have considerable fall, and are ob- structed by shallow rlpples and bars, which make them unnavisabe for any thing outside of a polling boat. The first white men to enter the region went over the divide from the Panama and discovered fairly rich diggings in | l., s..l,l lo,. of o1 ,t.,s. In 1889 another party of five entered the wilderness but were driven out by hostile Indians. one of the miners named Drummer, being murdered by the savayes. Those who escaped dropped down the Koyukuk on d hastily con- ~strlncted raft and returned with a party of p well-armed miners. who forced the Indians to give up the murderer, who was promptly hanged. Up to the year 1894 from to 20 men went to that ds- trict each summer and worked bar dig gings, getting fair returns. In 1891 the Birch creek stampede taking place, stlae miners deserted tthe lower Yukon country, and until the year 1898 the Koyukuk basin remained ungraced by the presence of single white man.
 When the mad tidal wave .of ogold seekers overran the Yukon and Alaska during the Klondike stampede, about 1.200 men went mp the koyukuk. They We're mostly in parties and among them they had 53 steamers of every degree of worthlessness. These people were, with the exception of a dozen or so. in experienced in prospecting. with the result that no discoveries were made and the crowd left the couatry dis couraged and roasting the district at every opportunity. That they were wrong in their statements thatno gold existed there has been shown by the subsequent discovery of gold in many localities and in paying quantities. Since the exodus from tine country in 1899 there have been on an average of about POO men in the country, the great majority of whom have done but little prospecting with the result that but Comparatively little lIas been found in the country, where the indications of kOlu StIc Ol CNCLy SiCCh auu Dul.
 GeUlogically, the country is of a recent formation. Some gigantic con- vulsion of nature has changed the sur face of the country. In many places are the zones of diilerC nt epoch, ln- the earth, formation, which originated in the misty past, far beyond the ken of man. In some sections stratiicatiOns of the earliest ages, which in other sec etions of the globe remain hidden far down in the innermOSt recesseS of mother earth, are exposed on the sur face. In other sections the AzOic, Devonian, teptiliHn and Carboniierous formations are thrown together in every imaginable disorder. At present qall the coarse gold is being found in d belt of mica schist which crOss-cuts the country from northwest to southeast for a distance of 200 miles in the shape of high, abrupt, clear-cut mountain peaks. Below the schist belt is formation of semi-granite, which in places has been .meLalnorphosed by water action into pure marble. Below this belt are vast reefs of conglomerate, composed of smooth wash gravel. Below this in the flats are the auriferOus gravel banks and beds. All of these formations con tain gold which was sluiced from the slate belt, the gold becoming fiaeras the distance from the schst belt in- creases. The contact on the other side of the schist is gray granite, which in turn has a contact of limestone. On .4his contact Guartz lodes Esab been sfonnd in various localities throughout the section.
 The gold in the country is of fine quality, mint assays giving $l9 to the O.Ace. The principal operations in the country were during the past season conducted on Gold Bench, Myrtle, Emma and Gold creeks, although some money was taken out on bars and other creeks. The coming season the scope of production will be enlarged, as new ground ot a pay character has been re- gently nnearthed on Union gulch, Con federate guich, Hammond river, Kelly S Mistake, Merriman, Slate, Boulder, Glacier, California, Vermont, Buckeye, and Swift creeks.
 The most important discovery thus I