208 ALASKAN MINERAL RESOURCES IN 1906. 
The gravels include angular bowlders from the hard bed rock, finer ma 
terial of the same nature, and a large proportion of well-washed 
gravels, in the main rather fine, which have been derived from the 
unconsolidated deposits that occupy large areas in the longitudinal I 
valleys. 
The creeks on which most work has been done are Totatlanika with i 
its tributary Homestake; Grubstake, Roosevelt, and Hearst creekM 
tributaries of the Tatlanika ; and Gold King Creek, which flows inde- • 
pendently out of the hills into the flats. 
TOTATLANIKA CREEK. 
Totatlanika Creek is comparable in size to streams of the Yukon- 
Tanana country like the Chatanika. It is formed by the union off 
several tributaries which originate in a high schist ridge to the south. . 
It flows northward toward the flats, cutting canyons in several ridges 
of the igneous schist, and has developed in the intervening spaces: 
tributaries that drain large areas in which the hard rocks are largely 
covered with coal-bearing deposits. 
Mining was being done at scattered localities on the main creek along 
a distance of about 6 miles and on Homestake Creek, a small tributary. 
The conditions on the main creeks at all the localities are similar. The 
stream flat attains a width in the more open parts of the valley of sev- 
eral hundred feet, and the grade of the valley is approximately 100 
feet *to the mile. The quantity of water varies greatly. At ordinary 
stages on a rough estimate there are perhaps a dozen sluice heads 
available, and for the most successful working, by the methods em- 
ployed, a low stage of water is desirable. The gravel bars at low waten 
are mostly bare, and it is there and in the stream bed that the mining 
is being done. The bed rock includes hard, blocky porphyritic feld- 
spathic schist with some associated carbonaceous schist and abundant 
quartz veins. A belt of andesitic rocks crosses above the mouth of 
Homestake Creek. The gravels are derived from these varieties of 
bed rock and from the unconsolidated coal-bearing deposits, which 
supply many vein-quartz and chert pebbles, pieces of lignitic coal, and 
a few large bowlders of the granite and greenstone that occur in the 
uppermost beds of these deposits. The thickness of the stream 
gravels where work is being done ranges from 3 to 6 feet. 
The gold is found in most places scattered through the gravels, but 
in others is confined to the surface of the bed rock, and where this is 
blocky is generally found to a depth of 3 feet or more within it. The 
gold is mainly flat and most of the pieces are less than a quarter inch 
in diameter. Occasionally pieces are found worth 25 cents, and a $2 
piece was the largest noted. It is all well worn. Pay has been found 
over widths of 50 to 100 feet, with values up to 1 J ounces per day to 
