moffit.]  THE    KOTZEBUE    PLACER    GOLD    EIELD,    ALASKA.  79 
rough.  Pieces  of  the  value  of  $2  or  $3  are  not  uncommon,  but  no 
large  nuggets  have  been  found. 
Candle  Creek  gold  resembles  very  much  that  from  the  Inmachuk,  but 
is  usually  somewhat  darker  and  is  said  not  to  assay  as  wel  1.  The  minerals 
associated  with  the  gold  are  the  same  as  those  found  on  the  Inmachuk. 
Many  of  the  ironstones  are  nearly  always  present  and  a  decrease  in 
their  amount  is  regarded  by  the  prospectors  as  an  unfavorable  sign. 
So  dark  is  the  gold  that  it  is  not  an  uncommon  sight  to  see  a  miner, 
when  panning,  bite  a  nugget  in  order  to  make  sure  of  its  being  gold 
and  not  one  of  the  ironstones.  One  nugget  worth  $62.10  and  a  second, 
$36,  have  been  taken  from  the  creek. 
Bear  Creek  gold,  assaying  over  $19,  is  flattened  and  much  brighter 
in  color  than  that  from  any  other  part  of  the  field.  With  the  gold  is 
found  considerable  black  sand,  which  is  entirely  removed  by  the  mag- 
net, and  is  undoubtedly  derived  largely  from  magnetite  in  the  granites 
and  andesites  forming  the  eruptive  mass  in  which  the  stream  rises. 
The  presence  of  black  sand  constitutes  a  second  difference  between 
this  gold  and  that  from  Candle  Creek  or  the  Inmachuk  district.  Gold 
from  Sherdon  Creek  is  much  coarser  than  the  fine,  flaky  gold  on  Bear 
and  Cub  creeks,  but  the  Cub  Creek  gold  occurs  throughout  the  whole 
thickness  of  the  gravel,  differing  in  this  respect  from  Sherdon  and 
Bear  creeks,  where  it  is  found  on  bed  rock.  Cub  Creek  gravels  also 
show  a  large  amount  of  a  heavy,  red,  cherty  rock,  which  sticks  in  the 
pan  or  riffles  and  causes  inconvenience  in  sluicing. 
The  gold  from  the  Alder  Beach  diggings  is  flaky  and  bright.  It 
occurs  on  the  shallow  bed  rock  and  includes  some  wire  gold,  showing 
that  it  can  have  traveled  but  a  very  short  distance  before  reaching  its 
present  resting  place. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  gold  of  the  Alder  Beach,  Candle 
Creek,  and  the  Inmachuk  region  has  had  very  much  the  same  history 
as  is  ascribed  to  the  other  deposits  of  Seward  Peninsula — that  is,  that 
the  gold  is  of  local  origin  and  is  concentrated  from  an  original  supply 
widely  disseminated  in  small  quartz  veins  and  stringers  and  impreg- 
nated zones  of  the  bed  rock.  This  is  shown  both  by  the  character  and 
occurrence  of  the  gold  itself. 
The  valuable  gravels  are  all  derived  from  the  weathering  of  rocks 
which  have  been  subjected  to  intense  pressure,  heat,  and  other  influ- 
ences of  such  a  nature  as  to  change  entirety  their  original  character 
and  fill  them  with  an  intricate  network  of  small  quartz  veins  and 
lenses  known  in  some  cases  to  be  gold  bearing.  The  concentration 
due  to  the  action  of  running  water  on  the  vast  amount  of  material 
derived  from  the  decompositon  of  these  gold-bearing  schists,  amount- 
ing to  a  vertical  thickness  of  hundreds  and  possibly  thousands  of  feet, 
has  without  much  doubt  given  rise  to  the  rich  gold  deposits  now  found 
in  the  gravels.     So  constant  is  the  association  of  the  gold  with  the 
