96 ALASKAN MINERAL RESOURCES IN 1904. [bull. 259. 
The gravels now being" worked do not differ in any marked way 
from those of Bear Creek, excepting that they seem to contain a 
smaller percentage of granitic bowlders and other foreign material. 
The lower gravels are partly stratified. 
Palmer Creek gold is coarse and heavy, usually much flattened and 
smooth, and passes at $16 per ounce at the stores. Pieces of silver 
weighing as high as one pennyweight were seen, and a small amount of 
black sand is also found in the boxes. Two hydraulic plants were in 
operation during the summer, but their efficiency is not great owing 
to the large number of bowlders which can not be handled by the pipe- 
and must be removed by hand. Probably less than 100 yards a day \ 
are moved by either of these plants. 
SIXMILE CREEK DISTRICT. 
Sixmile Creek, while only a few miles east of Resurrection Creek, isj 
cut off from it by a high ridge which can not be crossed without great 
difficulty, except in a few places. The chief producing streams belong 
ing to the Sixmile drainage system are Canyon Creek and its eastern: 
tributary, Mills Creek. 
Canyon Creek. — Throughout the greater part of its length Canyon 
Creek, the south fork of Sixmile Creek, flows, as its name implies, inl 
a deep, narrow canyon. This canyon cuts through rock as well asj 
gravel and is over 100 feet deep in many places. It is plainly a young] 
feature of the topography and not the original channel of the stream? 
that drained the upper valley. 
The bed rock consists of slates andnrkoses. The gravels are of like 
composition, and in places on the benches have been consolidated into] 
a bard conglomerate, known locally as u cement gravel." Few granite? 
bowlders were seen in the Sixmile region. 
The stream gravels, which are the principal ones worked, are shal- 
low. The gold values are taken from bed rock and are often concen-j 
trated in rich pockets, where they were deposited in eddies and more 
quiet stretches of the water. 
Canyon Creek gold, especially in the lower part where it joins the 
East Fork, is finer than that from Bear and Palmer creeks and is of 
higher grade, assaying over $17 per ounce. 
The narrow channel and swift current makes the ground difficult to 
handle. Wing dams are necessary in all cases and are liable to be caifl 
ried away in time of high water, an accident not uncommon during 
the days of greatest mining activity on the stream. At present one 
hydraulic plant is at work on bench gravels above the stream and a; 
second is working ground near the mouth of Mills Creek. 
Mills Creek. — Mills Creek was the first stream staked in the Sixmile 
region. It joins Canyon Creek 8 miles south of "the forks" of Six-'; 
mile Creek and drains a portion of the high mountainous area east oh 
Canvon Creek. 
