20 ALASKAN MINERAL RESOURCES IN 1904. [bull. 259. 
WINTER OPERATIONS. 
There is a steady increase of underground alluvial mining during 
the closed season, and the product of the winter of 1903-4 on the 
peninsula exceeded $1,000,000. 
Drifting methods are in many cases the most economical for the 
exploitation of rich pay streaks which are covered by great thicknesses 
of gravel. Wages in winter are 50 per cent less than in summer. 
Near Nome drifting has been used extensively in mining the high- 
bench gravels, whose thickness varies from 40 to 150 feet. It appears, 
however, that deposits might often well be hydraulicked if water be 
available, for their topographic position makes it possible to find 
dumping ground for the tailings. Underground mining may involve 
much expense in locating the pay streaks, the horizontal distribution 
of which is often very irregular. It is, then, an open question whether 
drifting is the best method of procedure for many of the high-bench 
placers, for Irv it only a part of the values are extracted and, the 
deposits being gutted, the extraction of the gold that is left might be 
profitable. It is estimated that high -bench deposits near Nome pro- 
duced over $500,000 during the winter of 1903-4. High benches are 
known in other localities, but it appears that they have been but little 
prospected. 
The low-tying gravels of the coastal plain near Nome have been 
spasmodically worked for several years. Among the most successful 
operations are some winter diggings along an ancient beach deposit 
which is parallel to the present shore line from the mouth of Hastings 
Creek westward to Nome. A deposit which appears to be an old 
stream channel, near the head of Little Creek, was also worked by 
drifting methods during the past winter. This is not far from a 
locality where extraordinarily rich gravels were found in October, 
1904. A statement was made to the writer, on good authority, that 
this bonanza yielded 200 pounds of gold in 7 hours when worked with 
rocker. As was to be expected, within 24 hours the owner of this 
remarkable deposit had four injunctions served on him by rival claim- 
ants. Gravels of this extraordinary richness have been found at only 
a few localities, and their occurrence has little bearing on the placer 
region as a whole. Yet it is significant that such a find should be 
made very close to the locality of the first discovery in the Nome 
region six years ago. 
Next to the Nome district proper the Solomon River region was the 
most important winter producer, with an estimated output of $200,000. 
Here both bench and creek claims were worked by drifting methods. 
The winter dumps of the Ophir Creek and the Inmachuk regions eact 
produced about $100,000. Besides these large producers there were 
many localities where the drifting operations of the past winter gav< 
an output of a few thousand dollars. 
I 
