58 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
with reasonable allowance for gold that could not be accounted for 
through these channels. Some people are inclined to add largely to 
these figures for gold lost and unaccounted for, but a residence of seven 
years among the miners of the Klondike convinces me that such en- 
larged figures are mostly gross exaggerations and that the official es- 
timates are quite high enough to account for all the gold that has come 
out of that country. 
In addition to the figures given above, it is not unlikely that the 
creek gravels may still contain gold to the value of sixty million dollars, 
making a total of two hundred million dollars for the original gold con- 
tents of the gravels of the Klondike country. 
As we have shown on page 46 this gold has been concentrated 
by ordinary stream and atmospheric agencies into the bottoms of the 
valleys from the rocks of the surrounding and adjoining country. As 
far as we know, it was first concentrated into the bottoms of the valleys 
of the White Channel period or Second Cycle, and part of it was again 
reconcentrated into the bottoms of the valleys of the Third Cycle. 
Altogether there has been removed since the age of the Dome 
Peneplain about 136 cubic miles of rock, and the gold which was con- 
tained in these 136 cubic miles has, to a large extent, been concentrated 
into the pay-streaks and gravels in the bottoms of the valleys. The 
exact proportion of gold that has been retained in the valleys and that 
which has been carried away is not known, but the two hundred million 
dollars worth or ten million ounces of gold which was retained in the 
valleys would, if evenly distributed through the rock from which it was 
derived, amount to -013, or approximately 1/75 of a cent to the ton. 
It is thus clear that the Klondike placers owe their richness entirely to 
the peculiarly favourable conditions of concentration which have 
existed through a long period of time in that unglaciated district, rather 
than to any particular richness of the rock from which the placers were 
originally derived. 
Another feature of interest may be worthy of mention. The rocks 
in the Klondike are schists and slates of Pre-Cambrian age, such as are 
generally recognized as being favourable to the occurrence of gold- 
bearing veins. Many quartz veins occur in these rocks, and in many 
of these quartz veins gold is distinctly visible, while in other veins it can 
be recognized in small quantities by assaying. The rock of the country 
is therefore distinctly a gold-bearing rock. 
One hundred and thirty-six cubic miles of this gold-bearing rock 
were put through nature’s mills and the gold contained in it was con- 
centrated in nature’s sluices, and from it a total of ten million ounces of 
gold, worth about two hundred million dollars, was extracted, proving the 
