7 6 
ALASKA. 
during the year 240,000 tons of ore were treated, yielding $768,000, 
or $3.20 per ton. The quantity of ore, he adds, appears to be 
inexhaustible. The cost of mining and milling was $1.35 P er 
ton; net profit $444,000. A Mexican mine on the adjoining 
claim runs 60 stamps with about the same results. 
In a report made by Professor Spurr to the United States 
Geological Survey, 1897, the statement is made that the first dis¬ 
coveries in the Yukon district were made in 1885, on Stewart 
River, Cassiar Bar, and Lewis River. In the following year, gold 
was found on Forty Mile Creek, and its tributaries, Glacier Creek, 
Davis Creek, Poker Creek, etc., were prospected with good re¬ 
sults for several years. Miller Creek (on British territory) was 
opened for mining in 1892. Birch Creek, with its various 
branches, was discovered in 1893, and Circle City was founded. 
In 1890, the Director of the United States Mint estimated the pro¬ 
duction of the Yukon placers as $50,000; in 1891, this amount 
doubled; in 1893, the product of the Alaskan creeks was given as 
$198,000; in 1894 it reached $409,000; and in 1895, $709,000 
was the amount estimated for the Yukon district, and $69,689 for 
outside creeks. In this year, Eagle Creek, a tributary of Birch 
Creek, was discovered. The condition of the Forty Mile district in 
the summer of 1896 was not as encouraging as formerly, owing 
to the six weeks’ drought, which prevented the water from running 
the sluices, and caused enforced idleness. The Birch Creek region, 
on the other hand, was flourishing. At this time, discoveries were 
made on the Klondike River (about 20 miles from Forty Mile 
Creek). Placers on Hunker Creek, Indian Creek, and Bonanza 
Creek, the principal branch of the Klondike, gave good returns. 
On Bonanza Creek, $1,000 was taken out in August and Septem¬ 
ber, 1896, and 400 claims were located up to January, 1897. 
Gulches and creeks showing good prospects are spread over 700 
square miles. The mining population in the Yukon region was 
estimated, in 1896, at about 1,700; and the gold production for 
