KOUGAROK REGIOK. 169 
continuous beds for several miles. It varies in consistency from a 
frozen mud to almost pure ice. Fragments of beaver-gnawed wood 
have been found in this ice at a number of places. The ice beds usu- 
ally slope with the valley wall, and some of them extend up the hillside 
to a height of 100 feet above the stream. This ice can probably best 
be explained by the accumulation and subsequent solidification of 
winter snow, which has become buried by the talus and alluvium. 
The thick coat of moss, once established, effectually prevents the 
thawing of the ice. Ground ice is a perpetual source of trouble and 
expense to the ditch builders. 
DEVELOPMENT. 
This district was probably visited by prospectors as early as the 
summer of 1899, though claims were first staked during the winter of 
1899-1900, and it is unlikely that any actual discovery of gold was 
made until the following summer. A rush from Nome to the new 
field took place in March, 1900, and another in July of the same year. 
Harris Creek appears to have been the scene of the first claim staking 
in March, and in July gold was found on Quartz and Garfield creeks. 
In August and September considerable gold was taken out of the 
shallow placers of these two creeks. In the meantime gold had been 
found on the main Kougarok and many of its tributaries, but no 
claims were opened up. In 1901 there was a decrease in the gold 
output, for the shallow diggings were rapidly exhausted and no very 
rich gold had been found on other creeks. The remoteness of this 
field from transportation discouraged prospectors except those with 
good financial backing. There were no bonanzas to give an impetus 
to mining. Probably the most important discoveries were those of 
Kougarok River, but these could be exploited by the individual miners 
only during low stages of the water, and sudden freshets often de- 
stroyed the work of weeks of preparation. Thus the mining inter- 
ests in the Kougarok district may be said to have lain dormant for 
several years, though some gold was produced every year, chiefly on 
Dahl Creek. With the successful construction of ditches at Nome 
came a renewed interest in this outlying placer field. In 1903 T. T. 
Lane constructed a ditch from the head of Coffee Creek to a bench at 
the mouth of Dahl Creek, and this was the first long ditch in the dis- 
trict. In the following years many more ditches were planned and 
surveyed. In 1905 and 1906 ditch construction went on with feverish 
activity, and by the end of last summer upward of a hundred miles of 
ditch were planned, about half being completed. The larger ditches 
can be enumerated as follows : 
The North Star ditch extends from Arctic Creek, on the east side of 
the Kougarok, to the mouth of Taylor Creek and up that stream about 
10 miles, with a total length of 15.2 miles. The Cascade ditch takes 
