BAKKR CREEK GROUP. 39 
The main streams of the Baker Creek gold area are: Eureka Creek, lying next to 
the Baker-Minook divide, flowing southwesterly for aboul 5 miles, then turning to 
the south; Pioneer Creek, flowing parallel to Eureka, between 1 and 2 miles to the 
southeast and joining it on Baker Flats; Rhode Island Creek, flowing in a southerly 
direction, about 1£ miles west of Eureka Creek; and Omega Creek, in the western 
part of the gold area. Into these creeks flow all of the smaller creeks of the area 
along the Baker-Minook divide. The streams are all small, many of the smaller 
ones being ordinarily dry during the summer and fall. The gradient of the larger 
streams is comparatively low and it is with difficulty that water is carried to the 
benches. 
The only practical trail to and from the Baker Creek area is from Rampart along 
Minook Creek, a trail that in most parts of "the States" would be considered prac- 
tically impassable during the summer time. Most of the way it is soft and miry. 
The pack horses sometimes sink to their girths, floundering and wallowing their way 
through. As a choice, there is the bed of Minook Creek along which,- if the creek 
is not too high, the horses can make their way on the bars and through the icy water; 
but at best this trail is hard on the animals. The foot traveler can not take the creek 
bed, and if he carries a pack, as he often does, he must make his way along the 
mucky trail. Over this trail all provisions for the camps are carried. Freight rates, 
until the summer of 1904, were 25 cents a pound in summer and 6 cents in winter, 
and it is said that one man had to pay freight on 47 pounds of " grub " and 53 pounds 
of box and packing at the higher rate. During the summer of 1904 freight rates 
came down to 15 cents a pound, but the packers declared they could make nothing 
at that rate, and this is probably true, as hay and oats when cheapest are $100 a ton. 
There is another trail to the mouth of Baker Creek, but it is said to be bad and is 
not used. 
Lumber is high, most of it being shipped from the States of the Pacific slope. 
Some is whip-sawed along Baker Creek in the winter, which costs about 20 cents a 
foot, board measure. It would seem that a small sawmill operated through a por- 
tion of the year would be a paying investment, as there is said to be plenty of timber 
along Baker Creek for local needs. 
The total production of the region is estimated to have been about $406,100, of 
which $84,700 was produced during the winter of 1903-4 and $(31,300 during the 
summer of 1904. These figures are probably under rather than over the actual 
amount. 
Gold was discovered in the Baker Creek area on Eureka Creek, where mining was 
begun during the winter of 1898-99 and a small amount was taken out. On ( rlenn 
Creek gold was discovered in July, 1901, on the benches along Pioneer Creek in 
1902, on Thanksgiving Creek in February, 1903, and other discoveries were made 
during the summer of 1904. Prospecting is in active progress in other- valleys of the 
vicinity, and it is altogether possible that new discoveries may be made. 
The rocks of the Baker Creek group show less variety than those of the Minook 
Creek group. In the gold-bearing region the rocks are schistose arkoses with inter- 
bedded slates and with quartzites, the latter in thin strata, generally 1 to 3 let 
thick. Both slates and schistose beds are generally graphitic. The strike is north- 
west and the dip about vertical. No igneous rocks occur except along the top of the 
divide, where there are some dikes and masses of a monzonitic rock. Quartz occurs 
generally only in small veins, and these are not prominent. In places there is a 
considerable amount of pyrite in the rocks in small crystals and grains, but no large 
masses or veins have been seen. 
