212 ALASKAN MINERAL RESOURCES IN 1906. 
GOLD KING CREEK. 
Gold King Creek is about 8 miles east of the Tatlanika. The 
stream heads in hard bed rock and flows through a V-shaped valleyj 
sunk to a depth of 1,200 feet below the inclosing gravel ridges. Long] 
lint , tonguelike spurs extend from these ridges into the narrow streamJ 
flat. The grade is about 100 feet to the mile, and the quantity ofj 
water at the lowest stage is approximately three sluice heads. The 
bed rock at points where mining is in progress is clay. The gravels 
include the same varieties as are found on the other creeks, and the 
proportion of bowlders 3 feet or more in diameter is large. They lie 
scattered through the gravel and have acted as efficient riffles in 
retaining the gold. The thickness of the gravels that are being mined 
ranges from 4 to 8 feet. In some places gold is found in 4 to 5 feet on 
gravel ; in others it is mostly near the clay bed rock. Generally about 
2 feet of overburden are ground sluiced off and from 1J to 4 feet 
shoveled into the boxes. The gold is flat ; there are many pieces over 
one-fourth inch in diameter, and the coarsest piece was worth $1.25.] 
This gold is said to assay $17.82 per ounce. Some of the ground is 
reported to yield about 1J ounces to the shovel. All the work is 
done by open cuts, and the presence of so many bowlders retards I lie 
work. Shoveling in can begin in some seasons about the first of JunJ 
During the season of 1906, however, on account of the extent of 
glaciers in the creek work did not begin until June 20. The gold, like 
ilia! of the other creeks, probably originates in the high gravels, anc 
these are reported to carry prospects in many places far above the 
creek and even on the surface of the high, flat ridges. About a dozen 
men were working on the creek, and wages were $6 and board per day 
SUMMARY. 
The creeks of the Bonnifield region may be divided into two classes—! 
those that have, in a part of their valleys at least, cut into hard bed 
rock, and those that are still cutting their valleys entirely in uncoil 
solidated deposits, including gravels, sands, clays, and coal beds. 
The greatest part of the gold has in all probability been derived froir 
the thick gravels. The form of its occurrence in these thick deposit 
is unknown. It may be regularly distributed through them, it may 
be confined to some particular stratum in which it is spread broadly, oj 
it may occur as a more or less clearly defined pay streak. The mate- 
rial of the gravels is all found in the ranges to the south. The gravel: 
were deposited under conditions much different from those of th< 
present time and are probably mixed in their upper pari with somj 
glacial material. 
The only general test of the values that these gravels may contaii 
thus far available is that afforded by the gold found in the gravels o 
