Evening star., 1908-01-19

creeks are those which head in big
dome about fifteen miles northeasterly
of Fairbanks. In some of these streams
bedrock is 100 feet beneath the surface
and the entire depth is frozen earth and
gravel. 1t is obvious that this dome was
once big mountain. which has yielded
to the eroding influence Of the elements
until 1t is worn down to its present size.
The gold values which were given up
ages ago were concentrated by water ac-
tion on bedrock. and natures process OF
hiding this valuable metal has been going
on for many hundreds OF thousands OF
years. 1t is obvious. too. that the ground
has been frozen from the bottom upward.
In palmer language. the winter frosts
never left the ground until 1t was covered
by another deposit Of sediment. This sub
sequently froZe. as did also the subse-
quent deposits. But not all Of the placer
deposits are 100 feet below the surface.
Some OF them are shallow enough to per-
init of open-cut work, and there Is much
ground in this territory that is destined
to be mined by dredgers.
There are other sections of the Tanana
region where gold has been found under
somewhat different conditions: where the
placers are very shallow-that is to say,
where bedrock is near the surface. This
kind Of ground is easily worked. but the
pay deposits are not usually very ex-
tensive.
The Yukon river flows through great
plateau. in places several hundred miles
in width. The streams that pour their
waters into the Yukon have cut channels
through an area of more than one hun
dred thousand square miles. revealing a
variety of geological conditions From
Eagle to Circle is a gold-bearing zone.
This region was the scene of the earliest
mining activities on the, Yukon. But
mining in this region has always been by
he ipyeiOnnpnt
of the country viii come when dredgers
and bitches are introduced. The writer
believes that in the tributaries OF the
Yukon river between Whitehorse and Nu-
lato only small percentage of the gold
bearing gravels have been found. and
that many new strikes will be made in
this vast region during the next ten
years.
The Koyukuk diggings are TOO miles
above the mouth of the Koyukuk river.
They were discovered before the strike
was made at Nome. and they have been
worked with more or less vigor every sea-
son since During the past two years the
camp has fallen into decay. The most
accessible shallow placer deposits nave
been worked out. But there is no doubt
that vast riches are still here, waiting
machinery methods of extraction.
The Chandlar diggings, which were dis
covered only last year. have not panned
out so well expected. But there IS
gold here existing under somewhat SINH
lar conditions to the gold found on the
Koyukuk If this region were more
cessible it would play more important
part in the gold production of the
country.
The Innoko is also a new strike. The
Innoko is tributary of the Yukon. fow-
ing into the Yukon from the left limit
and having It's source not far from the
Kuskokwim river. The Innoko is a river
several hundred miles in length and gold
has been found in many of the bars OF
this stream. The recent strike was made
on Gaines creek, tributary of the In
noko. A quartz ledge has been traced
for a distance o. seven miles and the
placer deposits are parallel with this
ledge, giving evidence that the values
yielded by the ledge have made the plac-
e.s of this region. But by no means has
this ledge yielded up all Its values and
there Is a prospect that some valuable
quartz mines will be developed here.
In the Chistochina and Susitna country
a discovery was made several years ago.
These streams have produced several hum
dred thousand dollars. The most recent
st-ike, however. of this neighborhood Is
on the Yetna. where some very rich
placers have been found recently.
In the region of the Gastineau channel
there is both placer and quartz mining.
Fully 30 per cent of the values. how
ever. have come from quartz. The ia
nous Treadwell mines have produced
probably $35.O0O.O0O. These mines con-
sist of an immense mountain of gold
bearing rock. The ore is quarried out OF
the side of the mountain. The values in
the rock are sometimes not more than
$50 ton, but by economical methods
of mining and milling this ore Is made
to yield a profit. The biggest stamp mill
In the world is at the Treadwell mine.
There are $50 stamps I'm the mills on this
property and they have q crushing ca
pacity Of 1900 tons a day.