The Farmington times and herald. (Farmington, St. Francois Co., Mo.) 1902-1905, 1904-03-25
CENTRAL ALASKA SURVEYED
Travelling Exceedingly Difficult, Game
Numerous and Climate More
Kindly Than Supposed.

Two parties from the United States
! geological suN"y spent the summer
Of 1908 in General Alaska one party.
under the leadership of MIR. T. G. Ger
dine assisted by Mr. Il. y. Oliver
effected a topographic survey of the
district, and the other. headed by Mr.
l.. NJ. Prindio, made geologic recon
naissance Of the same field
The Topographic party. which in
| Guided nine men and - horses, lef,
Eagle city. on the Yukon river, on
June ~. and Travelled westward for
about Ina miles The trail leads up
the valley OF the middle furh OF Forty
mile river To Joseph creek. then up This
crocl, 10 its source Here the divide Is
crossed and he trail contiuaes down
the Goudpasiurr river On leaving the
Goudpasluro river the party continued
westward, crU3sin" the ncldwatprs ~
the &.urha ami Cinema rivers. unN' tn
'ranana was reached 4 few days o.
fore they arrived al Fairbanks on the
fanaua river whore are the newly
discovered dipgings forest ilc was
encountered hat proved a serious OBJ
staclc to progress In wuri. and tray i
This iro had been raging for several
weeks and had burnt over hundreds Of
square miles in area From Fairbanks
the party proceeded in n nOrtheastward
direction passing through the Fair.
ftt. q 4 I..I
ending their iahors AT Circle City, on
the Yukon river
Triangullliuu was carried westward
along this route from longitude III
degrees to the Tanana river and oh
s"ryatiOnS and data were collected that
will enable N" survey to compile
map Of a large area lying between the
Yukon and Tanana rivers in central
Alaska
The geologic party included Mr.
Prindlc a cook, a packer and seven
horses Work was begun at Eagle.
on the Yukon river, on June lG. aEl
finished At Fairbanks on September II.
The purpose Of he work was to get
rs clear an idea as possible ~ the pres
cnt condition and future possibilities
of the country from an economic view
point and at the same time to learn
something definite of the geology of
specific collaborating formations with
this object in view all the active min
Ing camps were visited and many To-
calitics were examined whore prospect
ing is in progress
The region visited includes the min
ing districts Of Fortymilc, Scventymile.
Birch Creek and Tanana The Forty
mile and Birch Greek pulches were
worked long before the days of Daw-
son and Nome and many miner after
failure At the latter places has re-
turned to make living at the old dig
glngs The Tanana district Is a COM
paratyely new field for mining en-
deavor and has attracted men from all
the older camps,
Travelling in this region presented no
serious difficulties The country is of
a plateau-llke character. furrowed BY
canyons BY keeping on the broad
uh'h'u IluE'N D'l"ftH the stream
courses. good progress was made and
the mobility of the pack train was
greatly increased. The water was low
most of the season and the streams
were usually forded without difficulty.
There are many caribou In the hills
during the fall and winter months
Hundreds Of them were seen along the
trail from Eagle To Birch Creek, and
from there TO Fairbanks Creek, and It
was most interesting to watch them
feeding quietly In the green mountain
valleys and exhibiting only curiosity
IN the presence of men. In some camps
these animals are killed in the winter
and kept in cold storage during the hot
summer months In the old mine shafts,
where, at depth OF 20 feet. the frozen
walls sparkle with ice crystals and the
conditions are most favorable for the
preservation Of the meat. The climate
OF central Alaska Is much more kindly
than is generally supposed. The gulch
life Of the miner is every year becom-
ing more comfortable, by reason OF tho