BONNTFTELD AND KANT1SHNA REGIONS. 211 
The black sticky clay which forms the bed rock, after being cleared of 
the stream gravels, contains considerable gold which has settled into 
its surface or been trodden into it in the progress of the work, and expe- 
rience has shown that the best way of saving this is to strip off a thin 
layer one-fourth inch or more thick, leave it in the sluice boxes over 
night with a small amount of water running over it, and in the morn- 
ing stir it with a sluice fork. The loosened mass then easily yields up 
its gold. The boxes are set on a grade of 8 or 9 inches to the box. The 
lumber for mining purposes is brought from the lower canyon of the 
Tatianika, a distance of 14 miles. Some mining was done during 
1905 and half a dozen men were at work during 1906. 
ROOSEVELT CREEK. 
The lower part of the valley of Roosevelt Creek is rather open and is 
covered with a light growth of small spruce. The mining area is about 
2\ miles above the mouth, where the valley is narrow. The bed rock 
is sticky clay and yellowish sand that belong to the coal-bearing forma- 
tion. The stream gravels are similar to those of Grubstake Creek and 
are derived from the thick bed of gravels that caps the sands and clays. 
They are shallow and gold occurs in 1 to 1 J feet of grav A over a width of 
20 to 60 feet. The gold is small, flat, and well worn, the coarsest piece 
found being worth about 45 cents. At the time the creek was visited 
there was insufficient water for sluicing. The gold has most probably 
been concentrated together with the stream gravels out of the thick 
gravel deposits in which the creek originates. A point to be empha- 
sized is that the soft clays and sands which form the bed rock are just 
as truly bed rock to the stream gravels that overlie them and carry the 
gold as if they were hard rock. A thickness of several hundred feet 
of these unconsolidated deposits may overlie the hard bed rock and 
any attempt to sink through them to the solid formation would be not 
only a most difficult task, but, inasmuch as the only run of gold known 
overlies them, would be in all probability useless. 
HEARST CREEK. 
The conditions on Hearst Creek are similar to those on the other 
two streams. In the lower part of the valley the creek meanders 
deeply in a narrow canyon, exposing sections 100 feet thick of the 
unconsolidated light-colored, cross-bedded sands and fine gravels of 
the coal-bearing formation. These deposits in places have been 
benched and capped with stream gravels. The upper part of the 
valley is more open and the stream heads in the thick gravel beds that 
overlie the sands and clays. The only work that has been done is at a 
point about 2 miles above the mouth, where in 1905 a few thousand 
dollars were reported to have been mined. In 1906 this locality was 
being prospected. 
