GEOGRAPHY DRAINAGE. 15 
Creek, heads at a point about 25 miles south of Rampart and flows in a northerly 
course through a narrow valley. West of the valley a steep slope rises to a height of 
1,000 feet or more above the stream. The eastern side of the upper portion of the 
valley is formed by a similar slope. In the lower part of the valley, however, the 
eastern slope is formed by the abrupt streamward-facing slope of a flattened area 
which, where it breaks off to the stream, has an elevation of about 500 feet above it 
and slopes gradually upward toward the base of the hills and widens to the north 
until it attains a maximum width of about 3 miles. The significance of this flattened 
area or high bench, as it is called by the miners, with reference to Minook Creek, 
will be considered elsewhere in this report. It suffices here to say that it is one of 
the products of valley development in the region, and that its relation to Minook 
Creek is similar to that of the small, low benches which occur in the valley of the 
present stream, being really a portion of an older valley in which the present canyon 
has been cut. The most important tributaries from the east ' are Hunter, Little 
Minook, Little Minook Junior, Hoosier, Florida, and Chapman creeks. The most 
important from the west are Ruby, Slate, and Granite creeks. 
Minook drainage in general may be described as a system deeply sunk within the 
inclosing ridges, draining with the ramifying headwaters of the eastern tributaries 
the rough country in the vicinity of Wolverine Mountain, to the south interlacing 
closely with the headwaters of Baker Creek and to the west draining a narrow strip 
of country extending backward only a few miles from the main valley. 
The Baker Creek system is of a different character. Baker Creek is formed by 
the union of tributaries which converge from an irregularly fan-shaped area extend- 
ing to a distance of about 20 miles north of Tanana. The main stream flows for the 
greater part of its course in a southeasterly direction close to a low ridge which 
limits the valley on the south and then turns abruptly through the ridge to flow for 
the rest of its course southwest toward the Tanana. The flat valley, known as Baker 
Flats, extends northward 6 miles or more to the southern limit of the hill country 
and forms a feature similar in character to Tolovana Flats. 
The tributaries are mostly from the north, and the most important of these 
northern tributaries or their branches are the Hutlina, Pioneer, Eureka, Glenn, 
Rhode Island, Omega, and Thanksgiving creeks. They rise to the east opposite the 
headwaters of the Tolovana, farther west receive the drainage from the southern 
slopes of Wolverine Mountain, and still farther to the west drain the southern slopes 
of the main divide opposite the headwaters of Minook Creek. They flow in south- 
westerly courses and beyond the edge of the hills partly unite and partly find their 
way by indefinite courses to Baker Creek. They exhibit at first the characteristics 
of the streams of the northern slope, flowing deep below the inclosing ridges in 
narrow steep-walled canyons. The valleys widen rapidly, however, and their lower 
open parts merge with gentle gradients into Baker Flats while the long even-topped 
ridges between them descend somewhat more abruptly to the same level. 
A most striking detail of form development which finds constant repetition is the 
unsymmetrical cross section of the valleys. The southeast side descends steeply a 
distance of several hundred feet to the stream, while the northwest side rises grad- 
ually for a distance of a half mile or more back from the stream and then ascends 
somewhat more steeply to the ridge line and descends abruptly to the neighboring 
parallel stream. Benching has been associated with this unsymmetrical develop- 
ment of the valleys, and the gradual northwestern slopes have afforded conditions 
favorable for the retention of gold-bearing gravels at elevations of 200 to 300 feet and 
more above the present level of the streams. 
The main features of the Baker system are the long, even-topped ridges extending 
southward from the main divide, inclosing the unsymmetrical valleys, the gradually 
sloping benches of the lower valleys, and, beyond the terminations of the ridges 
and the benched areas of the lower slopes, Baker Flats. 
