202 ALASKAN MINERAL RESOURCES IN 1906. 
Ft. in. 
Clay shale 2 
Coal (lignite) 1 4 
Clay shale ° 
Lignitic coal with some partings 2 
Clay shale 3 
Impure lignitic coal 1 
Good coal (lignite) 1 
Clay shale.. 4 
Good lignitic coal with bone partings 1 4 
Clay shale with some bone partings 4 
Covered, but probably no coal. 
The coal carries considerable sulphur. On burning it produces 
many clinkers. The ash has a reddish tinge. The following is an 
analysis of a sample taken from this same district a little lower down 
the creek: 
Analysis of coal from Washington Creek.a 
Water 13. 48 
Volatile combustible matter 43. 74 
Fixed carbon 39. 
Ash 3. 10 
100. 00 
Sulphur 24 
The remarkably low percentage of ash suggests that this sample was 
taken from one of the minor seams and was not an average of the entire 
section exposed. Such a grade of coal could probably only be secured 
by hand picking after mining. 
During 1905 and 1906 a company attempted to establish a winter 
transportation system to the Yukon by the use of a 100-horsepower 
traction engine, which was expected to haul five sleds, each of 10 tons 
capacity. While such a scheme might be feasible with a good road- 
bed, it proved entirely impracticable without one. This plan involves 
the storage of the coal hauled in winter for consumption during the 
summer months — a doubtful experiment, because the lignite slacks 
readily after being exposed to the air. 
In spite of the adverse conditions of mining and low grade of coals 
in this field, it shares with other fields of the Yukon a prospective 
value. There can be no question that with the present increase in the 
demand for fuel and the rapid destruction of the forests the time is 
not far distant when the Yukon lignites will play an important part 
in the commercial development of the inland placer districts. 
COAL CREEK. 
Coal Creek, together with its tributaries, Sam and Colorado creeks, 
which have yielded a little placer gold, was not visited by the writer, 
but to judge by the juxtaposition to Woodchopper Creek, it appears 
a Collier, A. J., Coal resources of the Yukon: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 218, 1903, p. 31. 
