144 C. W. Hayes — Expedition through the Yukon District. 



face of the St Elias mountains, flowing from numerous small 

 glaciers a mile or two back from and several thousand feet above 

 the valley of White river. At a former stage, probably when the 

 glaciers descended to a much lower level, the stream deposited 

 a broad alluvial cone about the mouth of the gorge. This de- 

 posit of gravel is now being cut away and in its lower |)ortions 

 or in crevices of the bed rock numerous small nuggets of native 

 copper are found. This seemed to be the only locality for the 

 metal known to the Indians who were with us, though pieces 

 which had been cut from a larger mass were shown us by those 

 whom we met on Kluantu river. It is not probable, however, 

 that an}^ of the Yukon basin Indians are acquainted with exten- 

 sive deposits of native copper, since they have very little of the 

 metal in their possession and hold a greatly exaggerated idea of 

 its value. Some time was spent in searching for the source of 

 the copper on Kletsan creek but without success as we soon 

 reached the snow line, beyond which, of course, further search 

 was impracticable. It appears to have been brought by glaciers 

 from the region toward the south which is still covered by snow 

 and ice. It is associated with greenish-black amygdaloid lava 

 and red sandstone and jasper, rocks which resemble, superficially 

 at least, those of the copper-bearing series of the lake Superior 

 region. 



A small quantity of what appeared to be azurite, pulverized 

 and used as a pigment, was shown us by the Yukon Indians. 

 They said it came from the country beyond Scolai pass, but we 

 were unable to learn its exact source or how they obtained it. 



According to Allen's account, the chief of the Copper river 

 Indians told him of the existence of native copper and also of 

 copper ores in the upper Chittenah valley between the two main 

 streams, but he did not visit the locality. We expected to find 

 Indians on the Nizzenah near the point where it emerges from 

 the mountain pass and to be able to examine the copper of this 

 region, but unfortunately Nicolai and his tribe Avere at their 

 summer fishing station, Taral, and it was too late in the season 

 to return to the copper region which we had passed. 



Doubtless this interesting region on both sides of Scolai pass 

 will be found on careful examination to contain considerable 

 mineral wealth, but the extreme difficulty of access together with 

 the unfavorable climatic conditions will greatly retard, if not 

 Avholly prevent, the development of its resources. 



