THE PORCUPINE PLACER DISTRICT, ALASKA. 
B} r Charles W. Wright. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The Porcupine gold field, one of the most important placer districts 
of southeastern Alaska, lies in a rugged mountain belt drained by the 
Chilkat, a river emptying into Lynn Canal. The district embraces an 
area of about 100 square miles, its central point being approximately 
in latitude 58° 25' and longitude 136° 12'. (See map, PL II.) 
Placer gold was discovered on Porcupine Creek in 1898, and devel- 
opments begun during the following year have been continued to the 
present day, with a rapid increase in the output of gold, which aggre- 
gates about $160,000. These placers lie close to the international 
boundary, and their extensive development has been in a measure 
dependent on the final settlement of its location. 
In 1899 the Geological Survey dispatched an expedition to explore 
the northern front of the St. Elias Range and the headwaters of White 
and Tanana rivers. This part} 7 , under the leadership of Mr. W. J. 
Peters, made its way inland by the Dal ton trail, passing close to the 
then newly discovered gold placers of Porcupine, thus enabling Mr. 
Alfred H. Brooks, who was attached to the party as geologist, to make 
a cursory examination of a few of the claims on Porcupine Creek, the 
results of which were subsequently embodied in his report/' 
The growing importance of this district led to a demand for a more 
systematic examination, and to this investigation the writer was 
assigned. He was instructed to make a reconnaissance of the entire 
held and to study its mineral resources, geolog}^ and development, as 
far as time would permit. The field work occupied about three weeks, 
during which all claims on which any development work had been done 
were visited. There were no opportunities for accurate surveys, but 
as the region had fortunately been surveyed by the International 
Boundary Commission, its contoured map was used as a base, and was 
supplemented by foot traverses. 
« Brooks, Alfred II., A reconnaissance from Pyramid Harbor to Eagle City, Alaska: Twenty-first 
Ann. Rept. U. S. Geo!. Survey, pt. 2, 1900, pp. 374-37C. 
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