46 GOLD PLACERS OF RAMPART REGION. 
the pay is found through 7 feet of the ice-clay mixture, when the mass is thaw i 
the pay sinks to the lower 4 feet. If the clay is dried it is difficult to part the go 
from it, and at one claim, on which open-cut work was progressing, angular piec 
of sheet iron like saw teeth were driven into the poles used in the sluice boxes 
break up the clay. The iron pieces were left projecting about three-fourths of i 
inch, and 25 were used to a 6^-foot pole. The device is said to work well. 
The gold is generally rough and somewhat iron stained, but some of it is smootl 
bright, and "shotty." Some "black sand" is said to be with it in the concentrate 
Mr. li. H. Wright picked out 8.48 ounces of the smooth, bright gold, and the Unite 
States Assay Office at Seattle gave it a value of $15.64 per ounce. In it there wei 
1.68 ounces of silver and 0.4 ounce of impurities; 32.0:5 ounces of the gold as it can 
from the sluice boxes contained 6.38 ounces of silver and 2.41 ounces of impuritie 
and had a value of $15.17 per ounce. Each assay gives about 20 per cent as th 
silver content of the gold. 
Water for sluicing is brought from Eureka and Chicago creeks, but the supply : 
scanty. The probabilities are that the production of gold upon Thanksgiving Cree 
will increase considerably, but as in most of the diggings of the Baker Creek grou 
more water is needed. 
IIIII.INA CREEK. 
Hutlina Creek is a large tributary of Baker Creek, several miles southeast of, an< 
having a generally parallel course to Pioneer Creek. As seen from Glenn Creek it 
valley and that of its principal tributary areshaped similarly to those of Pioneer am 
and Eureka creeks, and prospectors confirm this impression. A stampede to th 
Hutlina occurred in 1902, and it is reported that colors and occasionally good pros 
pects were found, but live water in the gravels prevented their being worked with 
out machinery. The bed rock is said to be similar to that of Pioneer Creek. Attfcu 
time the Geological Survey party left Rampart, September 20,1904, several pros 
pectors were going into the valley with tools and provisions to prospect the bench© 
during the winter. 
WATER FOR HYDRATJXICKXtfG . 
A large part of the gravels of the creeks and benches of the Baker Creek area, 
while they will not pay for shoveling in, would probably pay for working if watei 
for hydrauliekmg could be obtained at a reasonable cost. But, as has been said, 
the creeks of the region are small and furnish hardly enough water for ordinary 
sluicing operations. 
Miners say that Hutlina Creek would furnish plenty of water for hydraulicking, 
but the distance it would have to be carried is variously estimated at 8 to 15 miles. 
Were water brought from this creek it would have to be piped through a large part 
of the distance to retain the head. In connection with hydraulic mining in this 
region the writer can do no better than quote the remarks of Mr. L. M. Prindle« 
upon the subject: 
Outlook fur hydraulic minin<i. — The installation of a hydraulic plant in any of the placer regions of 
the Yukon-Tanana country involves the expenditure of an amount of money several times in excesa 
of that required for similar work in the States and should be preceded by much careful preliminary 
study of all the conditions. The transformation of available water supply into a powerful tool of 
excavation and transportation and the use of this tool in the most skillful and efficient manner are 
among the most important problems of mining. Lack of knowledge and skill may he covered by 
the results where the ground is very rich, but with ground like that under consideration the posses- 
sion of these qualities or the lack of them may make all the difference between success and failure. 
Directors and stockholders of companies planning such work should insist upon and be constantly 
ready to bear the expense of the intelligent studj of conditions and careful management of 
operations. 
oPrindle, L. M., and Hess, F. L., The Rampart placer region, in Report on progress of investiga- 
tions of mineral resources of Alaska: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey, No. 259, 1905, pp. 104-119. 
