58  CONTRIBUTIONS    TO    ECONOMIC    GEOLOGY,   1903.  [bull. 225. 
outfit  was  operating-  at  the  falls  on  Seventymile,  and  a  little  grub-stake 
mining  was  done  on  this  stream,  as  wrell  as  on  Wooclchopper,  a  few 
miles  to  the  northwest,  where  a  steam  thawer  was  used. 
In  the  Birch  Creek  district,  where  there  was  ample  water,  Miller 
Creek  was  worked  in  a  small  way,  as  was  Eagle  Creek,  which  carries 
the  purest  gold  of  the  district.  On  Deadwood  Creek,  where  ground 
sluicing  has  been  resorted  to,  the  bed  is  largely  worked  out,  but  good 
values  have  been  found  on  the  benches.  On  Mammoth  Creek  a  steam 
shovel  is  being  used,  Avhile  on  the  Mastodon  some  experimenting  is 
being  done  with  machinery  and  the  benches  here  are  beginning  to 
receive  attention.  There  were  about  500  men  in  the  entire  Birch  Creek 
region  in  the  summer  of  1903. 
The  Rampart  region  includes  several  creeks  where  operations  are 
being  carried  on.  A  small  hydraulic  plant  has  been  installed  on  Hunter 
Creek  and  others  are  in  process  of  erection.  On  the  Hunter  the  pay 
gravel  is  said  to  be  on  a  bench  20  feet  above  the  creek  and  is  covered 
by  20  feet  of  muck.  The  gravels  are  frozen,  but  when  a  face  is  exposed 
it  thaws  out  at  the  rate  of  a  foot  in  21  hours.  When  stripped  the 
sun's  rays  thaw  it  to  a  depth  of  10  feet  in  two  weeks. 
The  dozen  creeks  which  were  worked  in  the  Koyukuk  diggings  have 
done  well  during  the  past  season,  having  produced  upward  of 
$300,000.  The  heavy  rains  interfered  greatly  with  the  work  on  some 
of  the  creeks,  especially  Hammond  River.  Provisions  and  equipment 
are  still  very  expensive.  The  transportation  charges  are  $100  per 
ton  from  Seattle  to  Coldfoot,  which  is  nearly  100  miles  from  some  of 
the  placers.  There  were  about  300  men  in  the  district,  many  of  whom 
came  out  in  the  fall.     Wages  are  from  $8  to  $10  a  day. 
As  this  article  goes  to  press,  well-authenticated  news  comes  from 
Alaska  of  a  "stampede"  to  the  White  River  region.  It  probably 
will  take  a  }<ear  to  find  out  whether  this  is  based  on  the  actual  discov- 
ery of  placer  gold,  or  is  simply  another  one  of  those  wild  scrambles 
which  are  perennial  in  the  northland.  The  new  placer  field  is 
reported  to  lie  partly  on  the  Alaskan,  partly  on  the  Canadian,  side 
of  the  boundary,  but  has  not  been  more  definitely  located.  The  writer, 
who  explored  the  Tanana  and  White  River  basins  in  1898  and  1899, 
found  evidence  of  the  presence  of  mineralized  zones  in  a  belt  of  schists 
which  should  cross  the  White  River  Valley  about  100  miles  from  its 
mouth.  Traces  or  gold  were  found a  both  in  the  bed  rock  and  the: 
stream  gravels,  but  not  in  commercial  quantities.  It  seems  altogether 
possible  that  somewhere  along  this  belt  workable  placers  may  be 
found.  In  the  fall  of  1903  the  discovery  of  gold  placers  in  the  Tanana 
basin  was  reported  to  the  writer  by  prospectors  who  had  been  exam- 
ining the  region  in  which  these  mineralized  schists  form  the  bed  rock. 
a  Brooks,  A.  H.,  A  reconnaissance  in  the  Tanana  and  White  River  basins,  Alaska,  in  1898:  Twen- 
tieth Ann.  Rept.  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey,  pt.  7,  1900,  pp.  485-483. 
