22 COAL KESOURCES OF THE YUKON. [ko. 218. 
the locality was not visited by the writer. This mine is about 200 
miles above Dawson, on the north bank of the Lewes. Cretaceous 
fossils have been found in the vicinity, though their relation to the 
coal formation is not known to have been definitely determined. The 
coal seam mined is reported to be slightly less than 2 feet in thick- 
ness. The following analysis was made from a sample taken by the 
writer from a large pile of this coal on the electric light company's 
dock at Dawson : 
Analysis of coal (sample No. 311) from Five Finger mine. 
[Analyst, E. T. Allen, U. S. Geol. Survey.] 
Per cent. 
Water 3.58 
Volatile combustible matter 41. 05 
Fixed carbon 43. 11 
Ash 12.26 
100.00 
Sulphur 38 
Fuel ratio 1. 05 
The sample of coal taken shows many check seams containing small, 
light, knife-edge vein lets, both parallel to the bedding and across it, 
and these probably account for the high percentage of ash. Coal from 
this mine is burned on river steamers, and a considerable amount is 
shipped to the Dawson market, where it seems to be preferred to Cliff 
Creek coal. 
Coal of anthracite nature is reported from the vicinity of White 
Horse Rapids/' and lignite is found on Nordenskiold River/' near the 
railway. 
The most important coal mine on the Yukon within the Circle 
province is at Cliff Creek, which enters the Yukon from jbhe north, 
about 9 miles below the town of Fortymile and 30 miles above the 
international boundary. 
The following is quoted from the Canadian geological survey 
reports^ regarding the coal basin: 
Lignite-bearing beds outcrop on Klondike River, 6 miles below Flat Creek, and 
extend in a north-northwesterly direction in a long, narrow basin or series of basins to 
Cliff Creek, a distance of 60 miles, and probably for some miles beyond. They follow 
in a general way the course of the Yukon Valley, from which they are separated by 
a narrow strip of the older rocks. Wide valleys are cut across them by all the streams 
entering this portion of the Yukon from the northeast, but owing to their soft char- 
acter exposures are infrequent. In their normal condition the beds consist of soft, 
slightly coherent sandstones and conglomerates, alternating with light and dark- 
colored clays and shales. In places where the beds have been strongly folded the 
clays and sands are altered into sandstones and shales. The age of the lignite beds 
is uncertain, as no fossils were found in them, but they probably belong to the 
Tertiary. 
a Brooks, A. H., Coal resources of Alaska: Tvventy-seeond Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 3, p. 559. 
6 Ibid. 
cMcConnell, R. G., A summary report of the Geol. Survey Dept. for the year 1900, Ottawa, No. 20, 
p. 45. 
