134 ALASKAN MINERAL RESOURCES IN 1905. 
it had not yet been shown that they were any richer than the best of the old beach gravels 
between Nome and Hastings Creek. 
The most productive claims in operation on Seward Peninsula during the past yeM 
were those on Little Creek, near the tracks of the Nome Arctic Railway, 3 miles north of 
Nome. They first came into prominence in the latter part of 1904 and have yielded sin* 
•heir discovery nearly $1,500,000. Much the larger part of the gold taken out came froiS 
four claims and from within an area little greater than one-tenth of a square mile. 
The gold deposits are deep. The average depth of the various shafts is between 30 and 
35 feet, but this is exceeded in a few instances and reaches 50 feet. A heavy covering of 
muck and moss, with a thickness varying at different places from 12 to 23 feet, overlies tfl 
gravel, and all is frozen from the moss down. The gravels are not entirely similar at all 
localities either in the thickness or character of the beds. Some are apparently well-washeJ- 
beach sands, others were without doubt deposited by streams. At a distance of 1,000 or 
1.200 feet east of the railroad t rack beach wash wit h a thickness of 5, possibly 7 feet rests 
directly on bed rock (mica-schist) and is overlain by stream deposits. A short distance 
west of this the gravel lying on bed rock is probably of stream origin. Still farther wesB 
near the railroad, thin beds of clean, rounded gravel are interstratified with stream wash*, 
Beds containing bowlders up to a ton in weight overlie the workable gravels in some places 
and are a constant source of danger in mining, especially during (he summer months, when 
the roof is weakened by thawing. These bowlders also occur on the bed rock and are founfl 
not infrequently in the muck overlying the gravels. 
Nearly all the deposits from the surface to bed rock carry a certain amount of gold, but 
the rich gravels are found well down, in some places resting directly on the schist and in 
others at a height of 5 or (i feet above it. The gold-bearing gravels of present economic 
importance have a thickness of between 1 and 5 feci, but in one instance where the material 
removed formed a lenticular mass the thickness was 1(5 feet. Thin elongated lenses or beds 
of reddish sand, called ruby sand, whose color is due in some cases to small grains of red 
garnet and in others to iron oxide, occur throughout the pay gravel and often contain 
enough gold to be easily seen, even when carelessly examined. Mica schist, in which occur 
occasional thin limestone beds, forms the true bed rock, but the so-called "bed rock'' on 
which the gold lies is in some places the schist, in others a clay streak, and in one place 
gravel cemented with calcite deposited by circulating waters. Part of the gold is fine, 
bright, and flaky; part is coarser, containing many nuggets of 5 and 10 cents, with occa- 
sional larger ones, some of which are valued as high as $20. 
It seems probable that the lower gravel deposits at least were laid down in or near the 
delta of an ancient stream at a time when the shore line of Bering wSea was far north of its 
present location and that their position is due partly to stream action and partly to wave 
action. Abundant proof of the former presence of the sea only a mile to the south of Little 
Creek is furnished by the numerous marine shells thrown out on the waste dumps at different 
shafts. 
One important result of the Little Creek discoveries is that they have led to more active 
prospecting in the tundra gravels. That a small amount of gold is almost always present in 
these gravels has been known for some time, but the occurrence and position of any other 
beach line back of Nome are matters which appear to be determinable only by sinking holes 
to find it. Undoubtedly the Nome tundra will be the scene of more extensive operations of 
this kind in the winter of 1905 6 than in any previous year of its history. 
STREAM AM) BENCH GRAVELS. 
There was little mining on any of the creeks of the Nome region till after .Inly 1 . and even 
then the weather conditions were exceedingly unfavorable, for cold southerly winds with 
dense Fog and rain were continuous throughout the latter part of June and almost the entifl 
month of July. 
Glacier and Anvil creeks still continue to be the more important gold-producing streams 
in the vicinity of Nome, and while a large part of both has been worked out it is probable that 
