brooks.]  PLACER    MINING    IN    ALASKA  IN   1903.  45 
been  sufficiently  encouraging  to  cause  a  considerable  movement  of 
prospectors  from  Nome  and  from  points  on  the  Yukon  to  this  far-away 
region,  The  placer  gold  has  been  found  in  the  basin  of  Shingnek 
Creek,  a  small  northerly  tributary  of  the  Kowak,  which  can  be  reached 
by  a  steamboat  journey  of  225  miles  from  the  sea.  So  far  as  known 
the  gold  has  its  source  in  a  complex  of  metamorphic  schists,  limestone, 
quartzites,  and  greenstones,  which  find  an  extensive  development  in 
the  Kowak  Valley.  As  early  as  1899  gold  was  found  on  some  of  the 
creeks  of  this  district,  but  it  was  only  during  the  last  season  that  actual 
values  have  been  developed.  It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  placer  gold 
was  discovered  some  years  ago  on  one  of  the  tributaries  of  the  upper 
Noatak,  and  this  locality  seems  to  lie  in  the  strike  of  the  formation  of 
Shingnek  Creek.  The  facts  at  least  suggest  that  gold  may  have  a 
wider  distribution  in  this  region  than  has  been  generally  supposed, 
and  lead  to  the  hope  that  valuable  placers  may  yet  be  discovered. 
The  district  is  not  easy  of  access,  and  the  workable  placers  must 
give  a  very  large  yield  during  the  three  months  of  open  season.  The 
summer  journey  from  Nome  to  Hotham  Inlet  is  made  b}^  ocean 
steamer,  which  must  be  of  shallow  draft,  and  thence  by  river 
steamer  to  Shingnek  Creek,  from  which  point  the  creeks  are  reached 
overland.  As  the  Arctic  Ocean  is  seldom  clear  of  ice  before  the 
i  middle  of  July,  it  will  hardly  be  possible  to  reach  the  diggings  before 
the  1st  of  August.  Many  prospectors  will  reach  the  new  camp  by 
winter  journe3Ts  with  dog  teams. 
The  valley  floors  and  slopes  are  clothed  with  spruce,  poplars,  and 
birches  up  to  an  altitude  of  2,000  feet  above  the  sea.  The  miner  will 
have  to  transport  all  his  supplies  with  him,  for  game  is  very  scarce, 
though  there  is  considerable  fish. 
These  isolated  camps  offer  a  field  to  the  individual  miner,  especially 
if  he  be  of  that  restless  class  which  seldom  remains  in  a  district  after 
its  development  has  begun  on  a  commercial  scale,  yet  they  have  little 
effect  on  the  gold  output  of  the  Territory.  Some  of  these  districts, 
like  the  Koyukuk,  have  produced  gold  for  nearly  a  decade,  and 
will  continue  to  yield  grub  stakes,  with  an  occasional  small  fortune. 
It  is,  however,  to  the  larger  and  more  accessible  camps  that  we  must 
look  for  Alaska's  wealth  of  placer  gold.  These  attract  the  engineer 
and  the  capitalist,  without  whose  services  large  mining  plants  capable 
of  materially  increasing  the  output  can  not  be  installed.  It  is  the 
influx  of  capital  and  experienced  mining  men  which  makes  the  future 
outlook  of  Alaska's  development  so  bright. 
SOUTHEASTERN   ALASKA. 
Southeastern  Alaska  is  essentially  a  field  of  lode  mining.  The  pre- 
Glacial  gravels,  which  were  undoubtedly  more  or  less  auriferous, 
were  in  a  large  measure  removed  during  the  invasion  of  the  ice.     The 
