80  CONTRIBUTIONS    TO    ECONOMIC    GEOLOGY,   1903.  [bull. 225. 
schists  that  the  prospectors  refuse  to  waste  time  in  the  search  for  gold 
in  a  place  where  the  schist  is  not  found. 
It  is  further  probable  that  in  nearly  every  case  the  gold  has  traveled 
but  a  relatively  short  distance  from  its  original  source;  its  rough, 
unworn  appearance,  the  absence  of  any  large  amount  of  fine,  bright, 
flaky  gold,  the  occurrence  of  wire  gold  in  one  instance,  and  the  pres- 
ence of  considerable  quartz  in  the  nuggets,  all  tend  to  establish  this 
conclusion. 
COAL. 
The  discovery  on  Chicago  Creek  of  what  appears  to  be  a  good-sized 
bed  of  lignitic  coal  has  been  of  considerable  interest  to  prospectors  in 
the  neighboring  country,  where  small  willows  constitute  the  chief 
supply  of  fuel.  Chicago  Creek,  which  is  tributary  to  Kugruk  River, 
is  about  9  miles  from  the  coast  and  lies  between  Candle  City  and  the 
mining  camps  on  Inmachuk  River.  The  coal  occurs  at  a  point  some- 
what more  than  a  mile  from  the  mouth  of  the  creek  and  was  discovered 
by  prospectors  who  found  pieces  of  float  in  the  stream  gravels  and 
traced  them  to  their  source,  which  they  located  for  mining  purposes. 
During  the  past  winter  a  slope  was  driven  into  the  coal  for  a  distance 
of  150  feet  or  more,  and  it  is  said  that  a  crosscut  of  60  feet  was  made 
without  finding  the  walls,  thus  seeming  to  indicate  that  the  deposit 
lies  in  a  horizontal  position  and  has  considerable  thickness.  The  coal 
is  solidly  frozen  so  far  as  uncovered  and  contains  a  large  percentage 
of  ice,  which  causes  it  to  check  and  crumble  on  being  thawed.  It 
burns  quickly  with  a  bright  name,  leaving  a  small  quantity  of  fine, 
white  residue  like  wood  ash.  The  miners  regard  two  tons  of  this  coal 
as  equivalent  in  value  to  about  one  ton  of  Wellington  coal,  which 
ratio  is  also  expressed  by  the  prices  of  the  two,  since  Wellington  coal 
sells  for  about  twice  as  much  as  the  native  product.  For  use  in  boilers 
the  imported  coal  is  preferred,  although  costing  over  $80  per  ton  at 
the  camps,  but  for  cooking  purposes,  as  well  as  for  heating,  the  Chicago 
Creek  coal  is  satisfactory  and  may  perhaps  prove  to  be  of  some  local 
importance. 
