158 
ALASKAN MINERAL RESOURCES IN 1906. 
Now, however, that the Seward Peninsula Railway from Nome to 
the Kougarok has been completed beyond the mouth of Iron Creek, it 
is probable that with reasonable freight rates the use of the wagon 
roads will decrease, though freight is now delivered at Iron Creek by 
winter hauling from Nome for only 2 cents a pound. The northern 
side of the Iron Creek drainage basin forms the divide from Sherret 
Creek and several smaller streams which flow northward into the 
Kruzgamepa. 
Ditch Trail 
Fig. 8.— Sketch map of Iron Creek basin. 
PHYSIOGRAPHY. 
STAGES OF VALLEY CUTTING. 
The physical features of the district are complex, and only the more 
striking facts can be presented here. An older topography, in which 
the present stream is intrenched, is preserved in the upper slopes of 
the valley walls. In this portion the bed rock is so covered over that 
exposures are practical^ wanting. This is due to a period of erosion 
and the accumulation of a heavy mantle of waste that reaches nearly 
to the top of the divide. The higher portions of the divides are gen- 
erally bare, consisting of fantastically curved pinnacles of rock from 
