64 ALASKAN MINERAL RESOURCES IN 1905. 
COAL. 
Several small beds of lignitic coal occur in the coal series west of the head of Yakutat 
Bay, t he largest being 2 to 3 feet thick. These beds outcrop along a small mountain stream 
bed and a mile or more farther west along the stream which issues from the Atrevida Gla- 
cier, and some prospecting has been done in each place. On the Atrevida outcrop a short 
tunnel, now caved in, was made by Jack Dalton. Although the coal is apparently of fair 
quality for lignite, the small size of the seams and their situation give little indication of future 
value in competition with the coals farther northwest. Even if the coal were better and 
the seam larger, the situation is adverse to development, for the coast nearest the mine 
exposed to waves which enter the broad bay from the Pacific, and it is rendered moreunfavorj 
able by the almost constant presence of a stream of icebergs from the Hubbard and Turner 
glaciers. This band of floating ice is sometimes difficult to pass through. 
Coal has been reported from the Yakutat series, but the writer was unable to discover 
any or to find anyone who knew definitely where any occurred. Very thin seams of coal 
were found in a few places in the black shales, and some bits were found in moraines. If 
coal occurs in these rocks, the folding and faulting would unquestionably introduce most 
serious problems for successful mining. 
PL.ATINUM. 
The report of the presence of stream platinum has led to some search for this metal, and 
in 1899 a party of prospectors washed the gravels of an alluvial fan near Hubbard Glacier 
for platinum, but had no material success. 
GOLD. 
Wherever the gravels of the beaches in the fiord were washed during this study colors 
were found, and prospectors report the same result, but state that it is rarely in paying 
quantities. It appears to be most abundant near the gravel terraces of earlier glacial origin. 
At two points the washing of the beach gravels is at present intermittently carried on in a 
small way. One of these is near Yakutat, on the ocean beach of Khantaak Island, where 
the waves are cutt ing back into a gravel cliff of glacial origin. The other is at Logan Beach, 
north of Knight Island, on the eastern side of Yakutat Bay, where the waves are also cut-, 
ting into a gravel terrace formed during the greater advance of glaciers in this region. 
In each place there seems to be considerable gold, especially where the high waves have 
been working at the base of the gravel cliff. The chief difficulty is the absence of suffi- 
cient water easy of access. Taking advantage of the run-off from rains, parties of two or 
three work these beach deposits now and then. One party of three was at Vvork on Logan 
Beach at the time of the writer's visit and reported that they were barely making wages, 
but it had been a peculiarly unfavorable period of clear, dry weather. 
It is possible that with more water successful gold washing could be done, and Logan 
Beach has an abundant supply available at a moderate expenditure. Up to the present 
time the gold washing has all been done by parties going out for a few days or weeks and 
employing the simplest possible devices for leading water to their rockers. 
That the gold comes from the gravels admits of no doubt, and this naturally raises the. 
question whether they too may not pay for washing on a large scale. On this point no 
information is at hand further than the fact that gold, probably in small quantities, exists 
in the gravels here and elsewhere on the shores of the fiord. 
Attempts have been made by prospectors to find the source of this gold; but, so far as 
could be learned, by searching in the immediate neighborhood of the gravels themselves 
and particularly in the valleys back of the terraces, this search has naturally been fruit- 
less, since the gravels were brought to their present position by streams supplied by the 
melt ing glaciers, formerly more extensive. The source of the gold is back in the crystalline 
rocks, and the search for it, if carried on, should be directed there. It may be so dissemi- 
nated as lo be of no economic value, or, if not, it may occur so far bark among the glaciers 
as to be inaccessible; but there, and not among the rocks of the Yakutat series, it will be 
found, if anywhere. 
