86 FAIRBANKS AND RAMPART QITADRANGLES. 
c*red on What Cheer Bar in 1902. After this discovery pay was 
found on Doric Creek and at several other points along the bench. 
The production of Pioneer Creek Valley to the end of the summer 
of 1904 was about $35,800. 
The bed rock is the same as on Eureka Creek, schistose grit, 
with interbedded slates and thin beds of quartzite. The grits some- 
times become very carbonaceous, particularly on Doric Creek. The 
general strike of the rocks is N. 70° or 75° E., with a steep northerly 
dip. There is some quartz in small veins and stringers, and on Doric 
Creek at places there is considerable pyrite distributed through the 
rocks. The pyrite is often oxidized, so that only small holes lined 
with iron rust indicate its. former presence. On Doric Creek in- 
clusions of a carbonaceous substance the size of a walnut occur with 
small quartz seams. Little is known of the alluvial deposits along the 
creek bed. The deposits on the gentle slope already referred to are 3 
to 12 feet thick. They consist of the usual muck and gravel, and ex- 
tend over 2,000 feet back from the creek. 
What Cheer Bar. — What Cheer Bar is located in the lower part 
of Pioneer Creek Valley, about a mile from Eureka Creek, 2,000 feet 
from Pioneer Creek, and 250 feet above the latter. The season of 
1903 was spent in putting in about 4 miles of ditch, with the neces- 
sary flumes. This ditch carries about three sluice heads of water to 
the upper edge of the workings. The ground is excellent for ditch- 
ing, compared with other Alaska localities, for there is little ground 
ice and the soil is tenacious enough to make good banks. The bed 
rock is much jointed and broken and exhibits fine examples of creep, 
the rock leaning downhill and gradually blending wnth the gravels. 
The average depth to bed rock is about 12 feet. The overlying 
material is composed of 1 to 1^ feet of muck, 3 feet of rather fine 
flat wash, 5 feet of medium-sized yellowish gravel, and 3 to 4 feet of 
rather heavy wash, including some bowlders of vein quartz 2 feet or 
more in diameter. There are some bowlders of conglomerate similar 
to that found in Quail Creek, in Troublesome Valley, and it is prob- 
able that beds of it outcrop on the headwaters of Pioneer Creek. 
Most of the gold is found in the lower part of the gravels and the 
upper 1 or 2 feet of bed rock. It is well worn and bright (PI. Ill, i), 
and probably is derived from the bed rock in the vicinity. The 
largest nugget found weighed somewhat less than 2 ounces and was 
worth $28. It contained considerable quartz. The gold is taken in 
trade at $15.50 per ounce. 
The muck and upper gravel are ground sluiced and the lower gravel 
and upper bed rock shoveled in. The water could not be used until 
August 15, and only fifteen days were available for washing. Fifteen 
men were employed. 
