brooks] PLACER MINING IN ALASKA IN 1904. 29 
BIRCH CREEK DISTRICT. 
In the Birch Creek district developments have been relatively slow 
since the first discovery of gold in 1894, and especially so since the 
attention of the mining men in the region has been focused on the 
new Fairbanks placers. Work was carried on in 1904 on a number of 
creeks, and the production probably equaled that of the previous year, 
being between $150,000 and $175,000. An attempt to install a small 
hydraulic plant on Mastodon Creek was unsuccessful because the plant 
was washed by the floods attending the heavy rains. The steam shovel 
installed on Mammoth Creek in 1903 was not operated, but this enter- 
prise was only delayed and not abandoned. 
In the late summer a discovery of placer gold was reported to have 
been made near the mouth of what was named Golden Creek. This 
stream enters Beaver Creek from the west, near the edge of the Yukon 
Flats. As the main stream is navigable for small steamers to the 
junction with the Golden, the locality is easily accessible. About 200 
men reached the locality before the winter set in, but no extensive pros- 
pecting was done. Good authorities state that the surface gravels yield 
half a cent to the pan. From another source it was learned that a 25- 
cent nugget had been found. No attempt was made last season to 
excavate to bed rock, which is probably very deep. Winter digging 
now going on will doubtless show whether this locality carries any 
workable placers. 
FORTYMILE AND EAGLE REGION. 
The Fortymile region continues its record of being essentially a dis- 
trict of small operators, and its production varies little from year to 
year. Some abortive attempts to establish large mining plants have 
rather discouraged capitalists from entering this field, which would 
seem, however, to promise large returns to properly managed 
enterprises. 
At the present time the most important gold-producing area in the 
vicinity of Eagle is on American Creek and its tributary, Discovery 
Fork. A hydraulic plant was installed on American Creek in 1903. 
A flume which had a length of 7,200 feet and a capacity of 1,200 inches 
brought water under a head of 150 feet. Two Irydraulic elevators 
were to be used, but the water supply was found insufficient for the 
demands of the plant, and in 1904 modifications of the method were 
being tried to make a more effective use of the available waters. 
Several creeks below Eagle which enter the Yukon from the west 
have been small producers for a number of years. Among these, 
Woodchopper and Fourth of July creeks gave employment to a score 
of miners. Worthy of note is the finding of rich placers in the upper 
basin of Washington Creek late last summer. One $168 nugget was 
found in these placers. 
