NOME KEGION. 143 
from present conditions, it appears more likely that the sea would 
have built a connecting bar between Cape. Nome and Army Peak 
rather than wash between them. At any rate, the force of the waves 
due to southerly and southeasterly winds would have been greatly 
diminished through the protection offered by Cape Nome, and the 
amount of concentration would have been thereby decreased. 
Another idea which is maintained by some and may lead prospect- 
ors astray is that wherever bed rock can be found at an elevation of 
79 feet above sea level the third beach will be present. The fallacy of 
this idea is immediately apparent when it is remembered that, so far as 
known, the old beaches were not laid down on a cleanly swept, some- 
what uneven rock floor, but were formed over a surface whose inequal- 
ities had already been reduced by a filling of gravel and sand. This 
is shown by the fact that in many places they do not rest on bed rock, 
but are underlain by a variable thickness of loose deposits. 
Further evidence of a somewhat negative character is afforded by 
the fact that neither the third beach nor either of the others is known 
to have formed reentrants at such places as their intersections with 
the valleys of Snake and Nome rivers, but rather that in each place 
where the river valleys lie below the beaches at such intersections the 
beaches end abruptly, for the present valleys through the loose deposits 
have been cut since the beaches were formed. 
Another fact which must not be lost sight of in prospecting for the 
third beach is the possibility of recent warping. When formed, a 
beach is at sea level, and if raised uniformly throughout its length all 
parts will continue to have like relations to the sea. But changes of 
level do not always nor even usually take place in a uniform manner 
throughout all portions of an affected area. One part may be raised 
or lowered more than another, or one part may even be raised while 
another is sinking. It does not follow, therefore, that because one 
point of the beach has an elevation of 79 feet all other parts will have 
the same elevation, although in a small area such as this it is probable 
that they will not differ greatly. 
Since, however, we now have no evidence that warping of any con- 
sequence has taken place, and since so far as we know it the third 
beach does maintain a fairly constant level, it is not to be expected 
that it will be found in any locality whose surface elevation is less 
than 75 or SO feet above tide, even if such an area lies directly between 
or in line with points where it is known to be present. 
Some probabilities concerning the distribution of gold in the known 
beaches or in others which may be found are gained from a consider- 
ation of its distribution in the gravels so far exploited. The richest 
gold-bearing gravels mined in the Nome tundra have been found in 
that portion of it which lies between Nome and Snake rivers. This 
