1897-8- TRANSACTIONS. ']'] 



we may go further and say it does so remain at many points. 

 The discovery and development of these points will natur- 

 ally follow from the discovery and development of the auri- 

 ferous gravels. 



Other metals have been found at several points in the 

 territory, notably silver-bearing galena in the vicinity of 

 Forty Mile ; silver ore itself in the vicinity of the lakes at the 

 head of the Lewes ; copper on White River ; and traces of 

 copper along the Yukon and Forty Mile. The richest gold 

 deposits, so far as at present known, have been found running 

 in a curved line following the general trend of the Pacific 

 coast several hundred miles inland. Just east of this zone 

 there is a sharp change in the geological character of the 

 country from the older metalliferous rocks to the newer and 

 comparatively recent cretaceous system. It is worthy of note 

 that the richest deposits have so far been found on the borders 

 of the change of system. 



Convenient to the auriferous gravels and in these cretac- 

 eous rocks there are immense deposits of coal. Of this coal 

 specimens have been analyzed and pronounced a very good 

 quality of lignite. Whenever fuel is required for the develop- 

 ment of the quartz lodes that will be found, coal is abundantly 

 convenient, and it is only a question of months until this is 

 utilized as the fuel of the country. 



The other resources of the country are few, the principal 

 one being timber, which need not, however, be mentioned, 

 except so far as the requirements of the country itself are con- 

 cerned, and even in that direction I very much fear the supply 

 is stinted. A great deal of it is consumed in what the miners 

 term "burning," i. e. thawing the ground in which the gold 

 is found, the normal condition of the entire region being 

 eternal frost from say two feet below the surface, and every 

 shovelful of dirt brought from levels lower than that has first 

 to be thawed. Under the present S)stem of thawing nine- 

 tenths of the heat developed by the combustion ^f the wood 

 is wasted, with the result that along the auriferous streams 

 timber very soon entirely disappears. The timbered area is 

 confined exclusively to the valleys of the rivers, streams and 

 gulches, and very seldom extends more than a quarter of a 

 mile in width, that is, what might be termed commercial 

 timber. The sides < f the hills are covered with a thick 

 growth of scrub shrubbery which in the distance charms the 

 eye, but is totally unfit for practical use. This I think gives 

 j'ise to the flowing accounts we st.metimes read of the timber 



