KOUGAKOK KEGION. 177 
I Some of the placers of the present stream bed have been worked 
Ipasmodically since the discovery of the district. A little gold has 
leen taken out of the river bed with shovel and rockers near Coarse 
bold Creek and at various points as far as Taylor Creek. Much 
Inore work has been done at and above the big bend of the Kougarok, 
lear the mouth of Macklin Creek, and as far as Washington Creek. 
liming was necessarily confined to low-water stages. These placers 
|re in no sense of the river-bar type, as they carry coarse gold mingled 
jvdth gravels and concentrated to a large degree on bed rock. 
The river gravels in their upper part are usually well rounded and 
Stratified, but the pay streak near bed rock is in many places made up 
If subangular material. The largest pebbles are usually not over 1 
Ir 2 feet in diameter, but a few bowlders of greater size, which have 
been contributed by the talus of the valley slopes, are encountered. 
So general statement of the thickness of the gravels can be made, as 
t varies greatly in different parts of the river. In the canyon pre- 
viously described bed rock is exposed throughout the river bed. In 
many places above the canyon gravels are almost entirely absent, 
while in other places the depth to bed rock is 6 to 20 feet. 
The width of the alluvial floor also is variable, for in some parts of 
he river the entire valley floor is buried in gravels, and in others the 
stream has uncovered bed rock over a part of the floor. The actual 
|lood plain of the river varies from 100 to 800 feet in width. Where 
Ihe river enters the flat it is about 800 feet wide ; in the canyon, about 
\ 00 feet; at the mouth of North Fork, about 300 or 400 feet; at the 
nouth of Taylor Creek and near the mouth of Trinity Creek, about 
500 feet. 
Below the flat at the mouth of Taylor Creek the alluvium is almost 
ntirely made up of gravel ; above that point the gravels are in places 
Duried under considerable muck. 
So far as known to the writer the gold found in the stream bed 
Delow Coarse Gold Creek is chiefly fine, but at the mouth of this creek 
"and above it considerable coarse gold is reported. This fact is impor- 
tant, because it indicates that in the upper half of the river enrich- 
ment has taken place from local sources and that the gold has not all 
been brought in by the main stream from its headwaters. Coarse gold 
is, however, reported to occur at the mouth of North Fork. 
The gold of the flood plain is usually of a dark color; that of the 
smaller tributaries is bright. Thus far the only placers of the flood 
plains that have been opened up on a commercial basis are those at 
the mouth of North Fork, where little has been done, at the mouths 
of Taylor and Homestake creeks, and between Macklin and Washing- 
ton creeks. 
Bull. 314—07 12 
