138 ALASKAN MINERAL RESOURCES IN 1905. 
A pumping plant for hydraulic mining similar to that on Solomon River was erected oi 
Ophir Creek during the early part of the season. It differs from the one on Solomon Uive 
chiefly in the power of the engine, since the machinery is of the same kind in both cases 
This engine i^ of lot) horsepower, weighs 25 tons, and uses oil from Bakersfield, (a I., as fuel 
the average cost of oil being 32 cents per gallon including the price of tanks. No difficulty 
was encountered in securing a firm foundation for the machinery, since it rests on the soli< 
rock. Two hundred and fifty inches of water with a head varying from 120 to 130 feel an 
divided between the giant of U-inch no/./.lc and a'- elevator of 2-inch discharge. The "leva 
tor has an 8-inch throat and a 15 inch upcast which was found to he too large and was reduces 
by inserting a 12-inch pipe. A small nozzle on a canvas hose is used to ground sluice oft t he 
muck before the giant is employed. Gravel is elevated 20 feel and it is said thai under favor- 
able circumstances 750 yards can be moved in a day. 
At two localities on Ophir Creek trials of steam scrapers for moving gravel have beer 
made and while the scrapers have no! been operated al a profit in either case, owing tc 
insufficient power, lack of proper equipment, and inexperience in handling, the results are 
such that a more extensive use will be made of them a not her year. Many of the difficult™ 
to be overcome have been learned and it is believed by those who have made the experiments 
that the experience gained last summer will enable them to secure machinery adapted to the 
condition- and to operate it successfully. 
In the first case a 2', yard scraper was used. Power was furnished by a gasoline engine 
and the scraper was handled by two steel cables running over 18 inch sheaves. The tail 
rope passed through a shift block moved by a small -team winch, thus obtaining a lateral 
movement for the scraper. A pit 270 feel long, 75 feet wide at one end and 10 feel wide at 
the other was dug and the mica-schisi bed rock taken up to a depth of \\ feet A round trip 
required about three minutes, but the average amount of gravel moved each time \aried 
from \\ yards to _' yards. The gravi I- were pulled up a short, steep incline and dumped 
into the sluice boxes. The gasoline engine in use was found to be poorlj adapted to the 
work, since the strain- on it were not sufficiently uniform to give good results. 
On the second claim where a -team scraper was employed much of the equipment made 
use of was originally intended for other purposes. A scraper with a capacity of I \ yards 
and weighing 2,700 pounds was operated by steel cables from an engine of 25 horsepower. 
The shift block was movi d bj a small hand winch and two men. The fuel used was crude 
oil and was expensive because of the great expense of freighting $22.50 per ton on 
Niukluk River from Cheenik to Ophir Creek, to which must be added the cost of freight- 
ing to the claim from the river. Three hundred yards of gravel were put through the 
boxes per day, but the scraper was found to realize little over 50 per cent of its theoretics 
capacity. Six men, including a man at the tailings pile, were required to handle the plana 
During the coming season it is proposed to install a more powerful engine and larger 
scraper, dumping directly into sluice boxes, which will be set lower than the present line 
of boxes. A small scraper will then be required to keep the lower end of the boxes free 
from tailings. 
Shoveling into sluice boxes, the incline and car system, and horse scrapers are the only 
other methods by which gold is won on Ophir ('reek, except near Us lower end. where 
the De Soto dredge is at work. This dredge was use. I firsl on Niukluk River below 
Council Creek in 1903, then moved up the river, and finally, in the spring of 1905, was 
placed on Ophir Creek, this being accomplished by digging a short canal across the nar- 
row neck of land separating the river from the creek near the place where the creek leave! 
the lull- to cross the river Hats. The dredge works on a spud and can be moved m 2\ leet 
of water. It handles about 1,500 yards per day, taking up from 2 to (i inches of bed lock. 
Wood is used as fuel and costs about *S per cord, but the price vanes at different season 
of the year. 
Besides the work on Ophir Creek and its branches Sweetcake Creek, Dutch Creek and 
it- tributary, Snowball Creek, and Crooked Creek mining was earned on in the Council 
region on Warm, Goldbottom, Elkhom, and Cam]) creeks, all tributaries of Niukluk Kiver. 
