]1() ALASKAN MINERAL RESOURCES IN 1905. 
The transportation facilities also are of great importance in the development of a region. 
During the season of L905 they were good on Yukon River and on the Tanana as far as Fair- 
banks. The transportation of supplies by steamer from Fairbanks up the Tanana, however, 
is a more difficult problem, and, although preparations were made especially for this work, 
there was inability in many cases to deliver supplies at points for which they had been 
ordered. The piece of work which stands out most clearly in the direction of better trans- 
portation is that of the railroad from Fairbanks and Chena to Pedro Creek. The crying 
need is for a railroad which will connect these placer districts with Pacific tide water. Until 
this is done the Yukon region can not take its rightful position as a gold producer. 
The I rend of development in the older regions has been toward methods adapted for work- 
ing large quantities of gravel at a lower cost. Hydraulic plants have been installed and the 
success attained by dredging in the Dawson country has stimulated interest in the introduc- 
tion of dredges. It must be remembered, however, that either of these methods requires 
special conditions favorable to its use and also skillful management in order to insure success. 
In the Fairbanks region mining methods are directed toward greater efficiency in thawing 
fro/en gravel. The older regions have held their own, hut the center of production has 
shifted to the Tanana Valley. 
The following statement of conditions is based in part on information gathered bythl 
writer and his assistant, Adolph Knopf, in the course of a geologic reconnaissance from the 
international boundary to Fairbanks, and in pari <>n information gathered from various 
other sources. By means of the cordial cooperation of a number of men resident in the dif- 
ferent disl ricts, information has been gathered by Mr. Brooks, through correspondence, 
regarding the developments in fields not examined by the Survey in L905. As the Fair- 
banks region was personalty examined by the writer, and as this is the largest producer, it 
will be treated in greater detail than the other camps. 
FAIRBANKS REGION. 
INTi:oi>r( TION. 
The Fairbanks region includes t hose gold-producing areas of t he Tanana Valley which arc 
about 2l)() miles above t he point where t he Tanana joins the Yukon. These are all north of I 
the river and within 25 miles of its navigable waters. They comprise parts of the \ alleys of 
a few small neighboring st reams, most of which belong to t he drainage areas of southwest* 
ward-flowing tributaries of Tanana River. (See map, fig. 7.) 
The most important part of the Fairbanks region may be roughly considered as embracing 
the country demarcated on the northwest and southeast by two of the larger southwest* 
ward-flowing tributaries of the Tanana Chalanika" and Chena rivers, which are 
about 25 miles apart and including areas extending to a distance of about 25 miles north- 
east from the Tanana. The productive areas have, however, thus far been confined to the 
valleys of a lew small St reams. 
The general configuration of the count ry, the details of topography, the water and timber 
resources, the bed rock, the deposits thereon and their mutual relations, and all the varied 
elements which make up the ground plan, as it were, of every mining problem must be thor- 
oughly considered in order t hat there may be attained that perfect adjustment of equipment 
to conditions which finds expression in the maximum of economy and efficiency. 
In the Tanana region there is a constant repel it ion of similar ridges, approximately con- 
formable in height, separated by similar valleys, equally conformable in depth. A few 
short ridges and groups of hills stand out more prominently and attain altitudes of 5,000 to 
6,000 or more feet, hut the general level is about 3,000 feet. The bottoms of the valleys are 
at a level of a quarter of a mile or more below that of the inclosing ridges and have, in gen- 
eral, like the ridges, a uniformity of height above sea level. 
aChatanika is the local name for the upper part <>f Tolovana River. 
