(oilier] STREAM TIN ON BUHNER CREEK. 35 
other points on Buck Creek, and altogether a considerable amount of 
tin ore, estimated at from 30 to 40 tons, was obtained and hauled to 
York for shipment. 
Should further prospecting demonstrate that there are large amounts 
of stream tin in Buck Creek or an} r of the neighboring streams, prac- 
tical mining will require the introduction of more economical methods 
to overcome the handicap of short seasons and high wages. In other 
parts of Seward Peninsula hydraulic mining has been practiced with 
marked success in the gold placers, and the same method can probably 
be adapted to the tin placers as well. Water for this purpose can be 
obtained from the streams rising in the York Mountains. The feasi- 
bility of collecting water from these streams for working the tin 
placers of Buck Creek and vicinity will be readily seen from the topo- 
graphic map of the region (PI. II), but the question whether or not 
the deposits will warrant the necessary expenditure can not be settled 
without further development. 
ANIKOVIK RIVER AND BUHNER CREEK. 
The localities on Anikovik River and Buhner Creek, where tin ore 
was discovered in 1900, are 2 and 3 miles, respectively, from York. 
Buhner Creek flows into Anikovik River from the west, a short dis- 
tance north of the point where Banner Creek enters the Anikovik. 
The following description of these deposits is quoted from Mr. 
Brooks: a ' 
On Buhner Creek 2 or 3 feet of gravel overlies the bed rock, which consists of 
arenaceous schists, often graphitic, together with some graphitic slates. This is part 
of the schist series which has been described. The bed rock is much jointed, the 
schists being broken up 'into pencil-shaped fragments. They strike nearly at right 
angles to the course of the stream and offer natural riffles for the concentration of 
heavier material. A hasty reconnaissance of the drainage basin of this stream, 
which includes not more than a square mile of area, showed the same series of rocks 
throughout its extent. At a few localities some deeply weathered, dark-green intru- 
sives were found, which, on examination by the microscope, were found to consist 
almost entirely of secondary minerals. In some cases, however, a little plagio- 
clase was still unaltered and a suggestion of ophitic structure remained, so that 
these are probably of a diabasic character. The slates and schists are everywhere 
penetrated by small veins, consisting usually of quartz with some calcite, and fre- 
quently carrying pyrite and sometimes gold. These veins are very irregular, often 
widening out to form blebs, and again contracting so as not to be easily traceable. 
The stream tin is concentrated on the bed rock with other heavy minerals, and 
was found by the miners in the sluice boxes. A sample of the concentrate & in one 
of the sluice boxes was examined by Mr. Arthur J. Collier, and yielded the follow- 
ing minerals: Cassiterite, magnetite, ilmenite, limonite, pyrite, fluorite, garnets, and 
gold. The determination of percentage by weight was as follows: 90 per cent tin- 
a Brooks, A. H., An occurrence of stream tin in the York region, Alaska: Mineral Resources U. S. 
for 1900, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1901, p. 270. 
&The sample of these concentrates from which the first determination of tin ore in Alaska was 
made was obtained from C. B. Kittredge, who was mining on Buhner Creek. Another sample was 
obtained from Mr. Trumble, a miner on Anikovik River. 
