162  CONTRIBUTIONS    TO    ECONOMIC    GEOLOGY,   J903.  [bull. 225. 
1903-4  was  necessarily  suspended.  At  the  present  writing,  so  far  as 
is  known,  no  work  is  in  progress  on  Cape  Mountain,  and  very  little 
advance  has  been  made  in  real  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  the  ore 
deposits. 
BUCK    CREEK.  a 
Buck  Creek  is  the  scene  of  the  first  attempt  at  tin  mining  on  a  prac- 
tical scale  in  Alaska,  and  is  the  present  center  of  tin  placer-mining 
activities.  This  settlement  is  on  the  Arctic  slope  of  Seward  Peninsula, 
about  20  miles  northeast  of  York  and  4  miles  from  tidewater  on  Lopp 
Lagoon,  an  inlet  from  the  Arctic  Ocean.  It  is  reached  by  a  wagon 
road  from  York,  which  follows  the  bed  of  Anikovik  River  for  10 
miles,  then  crosses  a  low  divide  to  Grouse  Creek  and  follows  down 
the  bed  of  Grouse  Creek  to  its  junction  with  Buck  Creek.  This  road 
is  fairly  good  except  for  a  mile  and  a  half  of  deep,  soft  tundra  in  the 
divide  between  Anikovik  River  and  Grouse  Creek,  where  it  is  almost 
impassable  for  heavy  wagons.  A  good  roadbed  could  probably  be 
easily  built  here  by  bringing  gravels  from  Anikovik  River.  Lopp 
Lagoon  is  not  navigable  for  deep  sea-going  vessels,  and  it  is  not  prob- 
able that  it  will  ever  be  used  as  a  means  of  transportation  of  ore  from 
the  Buck  Creek  diggings. 
The  so-called  York  Plateau  is  well  developed  from  the  town  of  York 
northward  to  the  Arctic  Ocean.  This  plateau  near  York  has  an  eleva- 
tion of  about  600  feet,  and  slopes  northward  to  sea  level  along  the 
Arctic  coast.  Buck  Creek  and  other  streams  in  its  vicinity  flow  in 
comparatively  new  valleys  cut  in  this  plateau.  Above  the  surface  of 
the  plateau  there  are  several  buttes  of  monadnack  type,  of  which  Cape 
Mountain  and  Potato  Mountain  are  the  most  prominent.  Potato 
Mountain,  which  is  also  known  as  Conical  or  Cone  Hill,  has  an  eleva- 
tion of  1,370  feet.  From  its  northern  side  a  low  range  of  hills  extends 
northward  for  3  or  4  miles  toward  Lopp  Lagoon. 
Buck  Creek,  which  is  a  small  stream  about  5  miles  in  length,  rises 
in  this  range  of  hills  and  flows  southeastward  to  its  junction  with 
Grouse  Creek,  which  in  turn  flows  northward  through  Mint  River  and 
Lopp  Lagoon  to  the  Arctic  Ocean.  About  a  mile  from  its  mouth  Buck 
Creek  receives  a  large  tributary  from  the  south,  called  Sutter  Creek, 
and  about  1  miles  from  its  mouth  it  again  forks,  the  two  branches 
being  known,  respectively,  as  the  Right  and  Left  forks.  Several 
smaller  tributaries  are  received  between  Sutter  Creek  and  the  forks. 
The  bed  rock  out  of  which  the  York  Plateau  is  cut  and  in  which 
Buck  Creek  Valley  is  incised  is  a  dark,  slaty  schist.  Along  Buck 
Creek  this  is  characteristically  jointed,  as  has  been  described.  The 
mountains  west  of  Buck  Creek,  including  Potato  Mountain,  are  com- 
posed of  the  same  slates  or  schists.     They  apparently  contain  no  beds  of 
"This  description  is  based  on  the  field  work  of  Mr.  Frank  L.  Hess. 
