Seward weekly gateway., 1907-06-29
MINERS BUSY ON CREEKS
 OF YENTNA AND SKWENTNA
Considerable SIuicing Will be Done on Tributaries of Latter
 River This Summer.
Special to Tho Daily Gateway.

Kahiltna, June i2 -Twenty-fOur out fits passed here during March, about sixty men all told. A dozen or so of this number went up the Skwentna
 river and Lake creek. Lacy and
 Griffin were the last leaving here,
 April ?, to go up the Kahiltna. The
 trail was getting soft at that time and
 the water was running over the ice in
 many places.
 II. r. Gallagher and NelS. Anderson
 left here April for trip into the
 Kechatna river country. They had
 pedometer which told the distances by
 trail. They found it as follows: Ka-
 hiltna to Lake creek Gl miles; Lake creek to mouth of Skwentna 9l miles; Skwentna tn the mouth of the Kechat- ma l6 miles; up the Kechatna river to
 the mouth of the Nakochna, the first
 tributary, l2i miles. The snow trail
 was probably four or five miles shorter than the river channel in this distance.
 About May l5 the snow disappeared,
 making walking without snow shoes possible, when they left camp going to the head of the Nakochna, which rises in the mountains and is about six teen miles long.
 For the first nine miles up stream the Nakochna flows through a deep canyon of continuous gravel deposit the walls of which are POO to 400 feet high. In places where the sides are too steep to hold vegetation a Ignite ledge twenty-five to thirty feet in thickness is exposed. The gravel be- low this ledge is compact, sort of hard pan containing gold colors.
 The river bed in the canyon is filled with large boulderS. The bars in the bends of the river are composed gener- ally of smaller boulders and a sticky slate clay which holds the gold. These bars are covered with spruce, cotton wood, alder and other vegetation and are five to ten feet above the present water level.
 The bars prospect well as far as the upper end of the canyon, where the river has worn through a slate ledge. Above this no satisfactory prospect has been found. The gold seems to be in the bars of the canyon only, and prob l ably comes from the gravel banks. !. There will be enough work done in this canyon this summer to determine whether it will pay to work the bars There are also some men l on another tributary of the Kechatna 1. fifteen miles further up where claims were located last summer. It is a short creek called the Fourth ofJuly." l They are prepared to put in line of boxes and work there during the sum- mer. The high gravel banks also eX- tend for twenty miles up the Kechatna from the mouth of the Nakochna.
 The Skwentna will be well prospect ed this summer. Gus Peters and Pete Jackson will work line of boxes with on one of the tributaries on which Jackson raised 20 cents to the pan last fall. Good results are expect ed by them as they have the proper device for saving the fine gold.
 Jack Bartell is running his launch, .he Lima K, to the head of navigation 2n the rivers this summer. More powerful machinery has been installed md she can now make excellent time against the current. He has already made one trip to the mouth of the Skwentna. The Bat is also on the run. The Bat brought a party of Colorado to the mouth of the Skwentna on her first trip
 There are several prospectors on the east fork of the Yentna this summer. Among this number are George Pur- ,hes and wife of Seward, former Yukoners. Mrs. PurcheS had a road house at Eagle, and on the Panama in the early days before the rush into that country. Mir. Purches has been suc- cessful miner in several parts of Alas ka. They Sledded in their outfit dur ing the winter. Mrs. Purches has with her two large AngOra cats which