THE BONNIFIELD AND KANTISHNA REGIONS. 
By L. M. Prindle. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The northern foothills of the Alaska Range have been widely trav- 
ersed by prospectors since the establishment of Fairbanks as a per- 
manent supply point. In 1903 gold-placer mining commenced in the 
Bonnifield country, about 60 miles south of Fairbanks, and during 
1906 the Kantishna region, about 150 miles southwest of Fairbanks 
and 30 miles north of Mount McKinley, was an area of considerable 
activity. These regions had produced, respectively, about $30,000 and 
$175,000 in placer gold. The writer and C. S. Blair, field assistant, 
were detailed to investigate the placers and also the deposits of 
lignitic coal of Cantwell River, which were visited by the Brooks 
party in 1902. 
The sketch map (PL IV), with the foot traverses of the party in 
the two regions added to the topographic map made by the Brooks 
party in 1902, shows the geographic relations. The two most promi- 
nent geographic features of the entire area are the Alaska Range and 
the Tanana Flats. 
The Alaska Range in this part of Alaska trends round from the 
northeast toward the east and is composed of lofty alpine ridges, sur- 
mounted here and there by beautiful peaks. Minor ridges flank the 
main range on the north and their outer members descend with more 
or less abruptness to the level of the Tanana Flats. All the drainage 
is to the Tanana. The main drainage lines are northward, trans- 
verse to the ridges. Many of the upper valleys are gorged with 
glaciers and the lower valleys are a succession of narrow canyons 
interrupted by east-west valleys parallel to the ridges. 
The Tanana Flats extend northward from the base of the foothills 
to Tanana River. They have a width in the area under considera- 
tion of about 30 miles. They widen rapidly toward the west, as the 
river flows northwest and the mountains recede to the southwest, 
and form an impressive foreground to the mountains. The flats 
absorb small streams from the foothills and the surface is drained by 
swampy creeks, which cross them irregularly. The larger streams, a 
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