Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1906-03-11
Lille Creek Only Three Miles From
he Metropolis Of Alaska
Is a Rich Field.
WINTER .1|eBlHGs DISCOVERED
Pay Dirt Runs Thick and Is About IS
Feet From the surfaee--Mucl, Of the
| Dust Is in the shape of Small Mug:
| gets Worth Five to Ten Gents and
Up TO Dollars Each. !.

WASHINGTON, March ,1o.-some
interesting data regarding the gold
strike on Little Creek, Alaska, has lust
been furnished to the Geological Sur.
vey by essrs. Moffat and Hess, who
spent the last summer in the Seward
Peninsula for the survey. It was lit.
tie over a year ago-1n the fall of 1904
that the productive claims Of Little
Creek first came into prominence.
Since then they have yielded near.
~ s1,50O,oO0, Much the greater part
OF the gold taken out came from their
claims located within an area little
greater than one-tenth Of a square
mile.
Near Railroad Line.
Little Creek is a tributary of Snake
River, at the mouth of which Nome is
situated. The bonanza claims Of 1904.
'05 are near the tracks Of the Nome
Attic Railroads, only three miles north
of Nome. The gold deposits lie deep.
Shafts have been sunk as far as fifty
feet. but the average workings are
between thirty and thirty-five feet be-
low the surface.
: Frozen muck and moss, varying in
thickness from twelve to twenty-three
feet, form a heavy covering for the
gold bearing gravels. Some of the
sra9els are apparently we'll washed
beach sands, others without doubt de.
posted by streams.
Beds containing powders, some of
which weigh a ton, frequently top the
workable. grayels and are a constant
source of danger in mining, especially
during the summer months. when the
roof is weakened by thawing. These
powders occur sometimes on bed rock
and are sometimes found In the muck
that overlies the gravels
i; Gold Way Below the Surface.
Nearly all the deposits. from surface
to bed rock, carry gold, but the rich
Eravels are found well down. In some
places they rest directly on the
schist, In other places they rise to a
height Of five or six feet above 1t. The
gold bearing gravels of present econ
omic importance have thickness of
between four and five feet. which in
creased to sixteen feet In one instance
where the material removed formed a
lenticular mass.
Thin elongated lenses or beds OF
reddish sand, called ruby sand, the
color of which Is due at times to small
grains OF red garnet and at times to
HOH OklQe, occur throughout the pay
gravel and often contain so much gold
that It can easily be detected. even in
careless handling.
Bed Rock Of Mica. Schist.
Mica-schist. in which there are &C.
casional thin limestone beos, forms
the true bed rock. but the socalled
"hed rock" on which the gold lies Is
sometimes the schist, sometimes a
clay streak, and in one place it is grav-
Ell cemented with calcite deposited by
circulating waters. Part of the gold is
fine bright, and flaky, but part of 1t
is coarser and contains many nuggets
worth 8 and 10 cents apiece and &C.
casional ones worth several dollars.
One important result Of the Little
Creek discoveries is that they have
led to more active prospecting in the
tundra gravels. 1t has been known for
some time that small amount of gold
Is almost always present there but the
occurrence and position of any other
beach line back of Nome can be deter
mined only by actual investigation 1t
is. safe to predict that the Nome tun-
ORA will be the scene of more extern
sive operations during the present
winter than in any previous year.