mndlb.] FAIRBANKS REGION. 73 
n rather open valleys about a mile apart ; the most important ones 
re Moose, .Crane, Alder, Walnut, and Deep creeks. The valley 
videns toward the mouth and merges into the extensive flat of the 
fish Creek Valley. 
As in the other valleys, the slopes in the vicinity of the stream are 
overed with small spruce, while higher up there is considerable 
>oplar and birch. The main divides are comparatively bare. Tim- 
er for mining purposes has been obtained from the valley of Little 
Ihena River at the month of Fish Creek, but the quantity is insuffi- 
ient for extensive use. Grass is not abundant in the Fairbanks 
r alley. An extensive settlement has developed along the creel? within 
lie last year. 
The distance from the lower part of Fairbanks Creek to Fairbanks 
s about w jr> miles. A wagon road has been built around the head of 
he creek, connecting with other roads to Cleary and Pedro creeks. 
GEOLOGIC SKETCH. 
The principal bed rock of the region drained by Pedro, Cleary. 
nd Fairbanks creeks and their tributaries is the quartzite-schist of 
he Birch Creek formation. This varies from a schistose quartzite to 
quartz-mica-schist, and contains numerous small quartz seams, 
phich attain a thickness of a foot or more. Thin beds of impure 
imestone are rarely interbedded with the schists. The structure is 
omplex, like that of the closely folded areas farther north; the 
trikes are variable and the apparent dips generally low. Gneiss 
rith a well-defined ww augen " structure occurs locally in close asso- 
iation with the schist. Hornblende-schist was observed at the head 
if Gilmore and Cleary creeks and a massive rock composed essen- 
ially of hornblende and garnet occurs in the ridge on the south 
ide of Cleary Creek below the bend in association with schist and 
imestone. 
A porphyrinic granite forms the bed rock of some of the claims on 
Twin Creek, and a considerable area of a similar rock occurs along 
e ridge southeast of Gilmore Creek. A medium-grained granite 
: ornis the summit of Pedro Dome, and a finer-grained variety occurs 
t the head of Chatham Creek. 
The schists occur all along the trail to the creeks of the Birch 
'reek region, and with garoietiferous schists, gneisses, and intrusive 
granites form much of the country rock to the east of the Fair- 
>anks region drained by the Chena, Salcha, and Goodpaster rivers. 
Gold has been found in quantities of economic importance in the 
chists of the Fortymile, Birch Creek, and Fairbanks regions, and 
wherever these schists occur they deserve the attention of the pros- 
pector. Surface prospects were found by the Geological Survey 
