FLACEftS OF THE RAMPART REGION. 85 
where the bed rock decomposes into clay. The gold may be distrib- 
uted through the gravels to a depth of 4 or 5 feet, but it is generally 
close to bed rock, which must be scraped. 
The larger part of the mining has been done by drifting, but on 
Discovery claim, just below the mouth of Boston Creek, an open cut 
is being worked. The muck and upper gravel are ground sluiced 
through sluice boxes, so as to save any fine gold that may be in them, 
and the lower gravel is shoveled in. Fifty-seven 12-foot boxes are 
used, 37 of which contain pole riffles and 2 contain Hungarian riffles. 
The lower boxes are lined with sheet iron to facilitate the movement 
of the gravel. Some gold is probably carried off by the sticky clay in 
spite of the length of the sluice box. 
PIONEER CREEK. 
General description. — Pioneer Creek heads against the Baker- 
Minook divide, flows around the head of the Eureka, and then, at a 
distance of 1 to 2 miles, flows parallel to the main course of that creek. 
After traversing 7 or 8 miles it joins Eureka Creek and they are said 
to lose themselves on Baker Flats. Pioneer Creek is larger than 
Eureka Creek ; probably it never carries less than three or four sluice 
heads of water, and its gradient along its lower course is about 60 
feet per mile. The valley is similar to that of Eureka Creek. Its 
northwest side is a gentle slope running back for about a mile, and 
the southeast side is of almost precipitous steepness, but not so high. 
On the gentle slope of the northwest side there are perceptibly 
flatter places or benches, but only one of these is persistent. This 
bench is traceable along Pioneer Creek for over 4 miles. Its north- 
east end is but little above the present level of the creek while its 
southwest end is about 250 feet above the creek. Over this bench and 
covering much of the slope below is a deposit of auriferous gravel 
left by the creek as it moved to the southeast. The different diggings 
upon it are known as " bars." 
Five small tributaries, Doric, Boothby, Seattle Junior, Skookum, 
and Joe Bush, flow across this bench at right angles to the course of 
Pioneer Creek. Near the upper end of the bench at Joe Bush Creek 
prospect holes showed a well-defined old stream channel. Upstream 
the bench rises so that a ditch supplying water to What Cheer Bal- 
is below the workings at Seattle Bar, but crosses the bench and is on 
the upper side when it reaches What Cheer Bar. There can be no 
doubt that the bench is of stream origin. 
Like many other Alaskan creeks Pioneer Creek was staked and 
then each man waited for his neighbor to do the hard work necessary 
to locate the pay streak, if there was one. Meanwhile the claims 
lapsed and were then restaked by other parties, and pay was discov- 
