pttrington.] GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING. 39 
distributed in the old and in the new gravels. From the miner's 
standpoint, therefore, in the Klonkide region there are two great 
classes of mining to be considered, namely, creek mining and bench 
mining. Outside of these two classes there is no mining in the Klon- 
dike of productive importance. 
In the Birch Creek district, especially on Deadwood Creek, there is 
a very small amount of gravel in low benches, which may be termed 
hillside deposits. The bulk of the mining, perhaps 90 per cent of it, 
is creek mining in its various forms. The terms bench deposit, hill- 
side deposit, and the like are very loosely applied by the miners of the 
northwest, and the names are given to classes of mining to which they 
do not in any sense apply. This looseness of nomenclature is apparent 
in the Fairbanks district, where the term bench mining is applied on 
Cleary Creek to the operations which are in progress at the left 
bank of the stream one-fourth mile above the junction of Cleary and 
Chatham creeks. But whereas the depth to bed rock in the main creek 
at this point is 18 feet, the depth on the so-called bench, 700 feet to 
the left, is 53 feet, and the level of the bed rock at which the gravel 
is found is practically the same. In the one case, namely, in the creek 
working, the overburden is 6 feet of muck, while in the "bench" to 
the left the overburden is over 45 feet of muck. The gently sloping 
side of the valley at this point is unbroken in outline. 
Observations along the various producing creeks and from the 
hilltops have failed to distinguish any traces of bench topography 
in the Fairbanks district. Such placer mining as is carried on there 
comes under the head of creek mining. Geological evidence, how- 
ever, suggests that bench deposits occur in the region lying between 
the Fairbanks and Rampart districts. 
The methods applicable to bench mining at Dawson can not be 
used in the Fairbanks district, and all thought of applying them must 
be eliminated. The country being in every sense one of more gentle 
topography, there is no room for the disposal of tailings from bench 
operations conducted by hydraulicking. 
On Pedro and Twin creeks there are about 2 miles of ground less 
than 15 feet in depth which can be worked by open cutting, either by 
shoveling into sluice boxes or by derricking. On a portion of this 
ground it is possible to handle the water by bed-rock drain. Open- 
cut mining has also been successful on Chatham Creek near its junction 
with Cleary. In all other portions of the district, so far as developed, 
drift mining according to the Klondike system of thawing either with 
steam or hot-water hydraulicking, hoisting, and conveying by means 
of the self-dumping bucket on cable tram will probably be found 
most economical. The writer would suggest the method of under- 
ground hot-water hydraulicking to the miners of Cleary Creek, while 
on Fairbanks Creek steam thawing appears to be advisable. The 
