72 FORTYMILE, BIRCH CREEK, AND FAIRBANKS PLACERS, [bull. 251.) 
along the base of the ridge, which here hounds the valley to the south. 
The tributaries are small and all enter the stream from the east ; 
Chatham and Wolf creeks are the most important, Chatham Creel 
enters the main stream about two miles below the source; it is a mile 
long and is formed by two small streams, whose short, steep gulches 
arc in the opposite side of the divide to that drained by Twin and 
Fairbanks creeks. The creek is straight and Hows over a willow-cov- 
ered flat about 300 feet wide. Wolf Creek heads in the same divide 
and enters Cleary Creek about a mile below the mouth of Chatham 
Creek. It is formed by the union of two small, short creeks, which 
drain an amphitheatral area in the divide, is about H miles long, and 
flows in a northwesterly direction through an open valley to Cleary 
Creek. The valley is limited on the south by the steep-sided spur 
which separates Wolf Creek from Chatham Creek and on the north 
by a slope which rises gradually to the ridge north of Cleary Creek. 
The slopes and portions of the valley of Cleary Creek are covered 
with a light growth of small spruce and some birch and poplar. In 
the valley of the Chatanika timber is more abundant and larger than 
in Cleary Creek Valley. There is fairly good feed for stock high up 
on the sides of the ridges which face toward the south and east, and 
on one of these slopes ground was being cleared for early vegetables. 
The distance from Twin Creek, on Pedro Creek, to the mouth of 
Chatham Creek is nearly 5 miles. A pack trail leaves Twin Creek 
about a mile above the mouth, climbs steeply to the ridge, and follows 
it to the descent along a spur to the mouth of Chatham Creek. A 
wagon road more generally used follows a more circuitous course 
from the mouth of Twin Creek along the ridge on the east side of 
Twin Creek and reaches Cleary Creek, also at the mouth of Chatham 
Creek. 
There were only a few tents and cabins to indicate the presence of 
the miner in the fall of 1903. The dull tundra colors of the Cleary 
Valley were relieved only by the frost-tinted yellow leaves of the 
willows which line so characteristically the courses of all the streams, 
but in August, 11)04, tents and cabins, thickly grouped where there 
was most activity, were strewn for several miles along the valley, and 
indicated in a most graphic way the progress of the year. 
Faivhanks Creek. — Fairbanks Creek, which is about 10 miles long, 
heads in the divide opposite Twin, Chatham, and Wolf creeks, and 
flows in an easterly direction through an unsymmetrical valley to 
Fish Creek. It is small, carrying about 200 inches of water and has 
a fall of about 1,200 feet from source to mouth. The stream flat is 
narrow and is bounded on the south by a steep slope, broken by a few 
short narrow gulches, and on the north by broad, rounded spurs, 
which descend gradually to the creek from the ridge 2 miles to the 
north. There are several small tributaries from this side which flow ! 
