collier] GLENN CREEK GOLD MINING DISTRICT, ALASKA. 53 
Creek and about one-half mile to the westward. It is a tributary of 
Rhode Island Creek, into which it empties a short distance above the 
Baker Flats. Claim No. 1 of Gold Run joins with Claim No. 3, Rhode 
Island. The bed rock consists of schists similar to those on Glenn 
Creek. It is described by the prospectors as a "blocky schist." 
The pay gravel consists of angular fragments of this bed rock, which 
show very little if any rounding, such as would be expected in chan- 
nel-washed gravel. The prospecting shows a pay streak from 12 to 
40 feet wide. At the lower end of Claim No. 1 the pay streak, which 
varies greatly in thickness, is divided by a reef. Beyond the limits 
of the pay streak the gravels continue to show prospects of gold. 
The pay streak in one instance is reported to be 3 feet thick and to 
underlie 11 feet of muck and barren gravel. 
Very little gold has as yet been taken from this creek, though the 
prospecting shows a distribution of gold somewhat similar to that on 
Glenn Creek. Preparations were being made for mining on five claims 
on this creek during the winter of 1902-3. During the winter of 
1901-2 the pay streak from an area 15 by 20 feet was mined out. This 
dump has yielded $1,000, but has not all been washed. 
It was proposed to work the creek during the winter of 1902-3 with 
steam thawers according to the following plan: Shafts were to be 
sunk to bed rock, a depth of 10 to 15 feet. From the foot of each 
shaft the pay streak would be drifted on for a distance of about 40 
feet, with a cover of 10 or 11 feet. It was regarded as impracticable 
to drift farther than this on account of the difficulty of carrying steam 
pipes and moving the pay dirt to the foot of the shaft and keeping the 
gangway open. Steam thawers, if properly managed, are more eco- 
nomical in mining frozen ground than the old method of "burning" 
with wood, for the reason that the steam points can be driven directly 
into the ground where thawing is needed, and the pay dirt can be 
mined immediately as it is thawed, whereas by the old method work 
is interrupted while the fire is burning and, at best, a night's burning 
will not thaw more than 1 foot of gravel. 
Gold Run does not carry sufficient water for sluicing after the snows 
have melted in summer, and mining operations will necessarily be 
suspended during the summer months. 
Rhode Island Creek is larger than either Glenn or Gold Run and 
flows in a well-marked valley cut about 100 feet below the level of the 
bench on which the streams described are located. 
The bed rock consists of schists similar to those at Glenn Creek, 
except that it probably contains more graphitic schist than at Glenn 
Creek. The strike of the bed rock is reported to be northwest and 
southeast. Stringers of quartz have not been found in it. 
The gravel consists of more or less angular fragments of schist sim- 
ilar to that at Glenn Creek, except that graphitic schists are more 
common, as well as pebbles and bowlders of igneous rocks. Two types 
