GOLD MINING ON SEWARD PENINSULA. 135 
they will remain producers for some time to come. Mining on Glacier Creek proper is con- 
fined to the operations of the Miocene Ditch Company's hydraulic plant, a quarter of a mile 
below Snow Gulch, where two elevators are in use (PI. XIV). On the bench north of 
Glacier Creek two hydraulic plants were at work. To the north Rock Creek was also a pro- 
ducer. 
Anvil Creek is probably the most noted gold-producing stream in Alaska. It is the stream 
on which the first claims of the Nome region were staked, and since that time has always been 
in the first rank of producers. Discovery claim on Anvil Creek has already been worked 
over three times and the gravel on other claims has been moved twice. A force of men was 
employed during the summer on No. 7 above, but more extensive operations were carried 
on by the Pioneer Company on No. 5 above and the bench off No. 2 below and by the Wild 
Goose Company on Nos. 8 and 10 above. Mining was also done on two of the bench claims. 
On the upper part of Anvil Creek, at Specimen Gulch, the Miocene Company installed some 
large elevators, which are to be operated with water from their ditch. 
There was little or no mining on Dexter Creek, formerly one of the large producers, but 
many of the smaller though well-known creeks, as Dry, Bourbon, Newton Gulch, and others, 
helped to make up the year's output. 
During the summer two steam scrapers were installed on Nome beach — one at the east end 
of town, the other west of Snake River. They afford the first instance of the use of steam 
scrapers in handling gold-bearing gravels near Nome, and their adaptability for that purpose 
is of practical interest to all who are engaged in such work. It must be admitted, however, 
that the conditions under which they are used are different from those prevailing on the 
creeks, since they handle line, loose gravels chiefly and are not required to clean a hard bed 
rock. 
At the first locality, about 200 yards east of the Standard Oil Company's building, a 3-yard 
scraper is operated by a 75-horsepower logging engine with three drums, which secures a 
full control of the scraper from the engine. The scraper makes a trip in a minute and a half, 
digging a pit about 200 feet long and 100 feet broad at the wider end. The engine is on 
heavy skids and can be moved as desired. A sluice box 4 feet broad and 96 feet long, set 
12 feet above the ground, is used, and water for sluicing is pumped from the sea with a gaso- 
line engine. This plant was in operation during the latter part of the season, but that west 
of Snake River was not ready for work till late in the fall, so that little had been accomplished 
when cold weather set in. 
Two dredges were in course of construction in the Nome region during the summer. One 
was launched in October at a point on Nome River east of "X " station of the Nome Arctic 
Railway and about 1^ miles below Banner Creek. This is a large double-lift dredge and is 
ready to begin work as soon as the ground is thawed in the spring. The ladder, with its 
chain, the sump, and the pump are contained in one hull 115 feet in length, but the sluice 
boxes are built on a separate barge. All wearing parts, including the large centrifugal 
pump for elevating gravel from the sump to the sluice boxes, arc of manganese steel. 
The ladder may be operated to a depth of about 30 feet. Crude oil is used for fuel and 
the dredge has a capacity of 3,000 yards per day. A hole was dug to bed rock before the 
freeze-up, but no mining was carried on. 
The other dredge, of the dipper type, is being built on the sand spit at the mouth of 
Snake River and will not be completed till the coming season. It seems probable that 
dredging may take an important part in mining on Seward Peninsula in the near future 
and that it may help to solve some of the problems arising in the exploitation of the tundra 
gravels. 
Two steam shovels were in operation on different properties on the east side of Nome 
River, near Irene Creek. They were equipped with tracks and cars for transporting gravel 
from the pits to sluice boxes and employed small locomotives to move the cars. As was 
the case on many other properties where new machinery was installed, the shovels were 
not in place till late in the summer, so that the season was a short one. 
An account of ditch construction in the Nome region is given later (pp. 141-144). 
Bull. 284—06 10 
