^, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^/ ^^4i. :/ % 1.0 LS ■- I- . •>» 111 ,H„^^ 1.1 •^ I I: 1^ 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.25 II 1.4 1.6 .4 6" - ». Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WIST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. I4SS0 (716) 872-4S03 CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Instctut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes tachniquM et bibliographiques Tha institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibiiogrephiceily unique, wliich may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checiced below. D D D Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur I I Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagte Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurAe et/ou pelliculAe Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartes g6ographiques en couleur □ Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) I I Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other meterial/ ReiiA avec d'autres documents r~^ Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La reliure serr6e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge intirieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajouttes lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte. mais, lorsque cela Atait possible, ces pages n'ont pas AtA filmAes. Additional comments:/ Commentaires supplAmentaires: L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exempCaire qu'il lui a AtA possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-Atre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la methods normale de filmage sont indiqu6s ci-dessous. Th to I I Coloured pages/ D Pages de couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endommagies Pages restored and/oi Pages restaurAes et/ou pellicuites Pages discoloured, stained or foxe< Pages dAcolortes, tachettes ou piquAes Pages detached/ Pages d^tachies Showthrough/ Transparence Quality of prir Quality inAgale de I'impression Includes supplementary materii Comprend du mat6riel supplAmentaire Only edition available/ Seule Mition disponible |~~| Pages damaged/ I I Pages restored and/or laminated/ r~n Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ I I Pages detached/ I I Showthrough/ I I Quality of print varies/ |~~| Includes supplementary material/ r~1 Only edition available/ Th po of fill Or be th4 sio oti fin sio or Th sh( Til" wh Mfl difi ont be| rigl req me Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure. etc., ont M filmlos A nouveau de fagon A obtenir la meilleure image posslbEe. This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est filmA au taux de reduction indiqu* ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 12X 16X 20X 26X aox 24X 28X D 32X ails du »difior une nage Tha copy filmad hara haa baan raproducad thanks to tha ganarosity of: Library Division Provincial Archives of British Columbia Tha imagas appaaring hara ara tha bast quality possibia considaring tha condition and lagibility of tha original copy and in kaaping with tha filming contract spacifications. Original copias in printad papar covars are filmad beginning with tha front covar and ending on the last page with a printad or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies ara filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the lat.t page with a printed or illustrated impression. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol —^' (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large tc be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exemplaira filmi fut reproduit grAce A la gAnArosIti da: Library Division Provincial Archives of British Columbia Les images sulvontes ont AtA reproduites avec le plus grand soin. compta tenu de la condition at da la nattat* da l'exemplaira film*, at en conformity avac las conditions du contrat da filmage. Les exemplairas originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimis sont filmAs en commen^ant par le premier plat at en terminant soit par la darniire page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration. soit par le second plat, salon le cas. Tous les autres exemplairas originaux sont filmis en commen^ant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration at en terminant par la derniAre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaltra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole -^ signifie "A SUIVRE ", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmis A des taux de rMuction diffArents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul cliche, il est film* A partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nicessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. rata 3 lelure. 3 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 ^.->o.,^.'r^^' M^Ai^iimimi^ \>f-f< h^ •> f " ■•dPiP*!* I f ■ J^'li i' UMl , 1 -t i ' ■„.>' , ■ itfg i ;j>in i |j 111 iijj iii T| i 1 1 I i rt « ^ ii III f ' [ '©.-k DaWu^; 0.M.Q^ li.D., F^Jtk, TH«lo»fc V. ' Ill ■■■ III • ■ r ii r ii »- >ii ir m i n i j i* StSiiSSiB ' \ ■»'* f ' ppSStlMJN'ARjr BEPOBO? 09 VHI KLONDIKE GOLD KIBLDS YUKOIf DI8TMCT. CANADA B. a. MoOO^NElXi, B.A4 ..-^.'f^ ; f^ ./ J" o ▼ a ftk K 3 N T p B X in* I N duo it 1 i;» v •p* ■ »i r I I I I ■ ■WMMtM > '?'',-, > -i-TT ^ ■f.s'-^ -^f »" * Jj/" •V .,"■ '■' t "■ "ff 1- -^ 4 "^ •>. -y* i <.< v<-VJ - ! '1 ^* ^ ; I .4^ .'■'•'■^ -V ^1 1 '1* ' >- 4, - ■t ' ir v*i ■ 1 -X >« . :.< * ' j^ -i .if A ** * ^ ■ V t 7>f ■*r. • ^ - ■ ■ . '• » ''-^ •■ .' ■ -' ■■■.V- . i f I - l?v . I '*94.«*']PW»f? ^ mmmmmmmmmm KfiONDIKE GOLD FIELDS. U 'rom the D.'iwson, Bonanza per parts it Creek, precisely vering of jroken in a group of and other ichistose in moderately he diabase wide areas to different ed massive ihose at the een crushed ids of green part of the and rounded le Klondike f this group he Klondike at several Iband follows [nd continues lich it crosses In follows ihe Ibly underlies and extends like River con- ^d shales, and borted to out- Ir seains occur li, or group of Irked on Cliff Creek, about peventy-five miles below Dawson, for the supply of that place. A small area of dark sandstones, agglomerates, hardened clays and shales, was found on Last Chance Creek, a tributary of Hunker Creek, lying at angles on the sc' :;ists. The sandstones contain small particles of carbonaceous matter, but no lignite was noticed. Tertiary beds were also found along the southern boundary of the district on Indian River. The northern limit of this area follows Indian River valley from Quartz Creek to a point above New Zealand Creek, and the band extends southward beyond the region examined- The beds lie in easy folds, and consist mainly of soft, light-greyish sandstone, dark, coarse, agglomeratic sandstone, soft, dark shales, and, at one point, of heavy beds of coarse conglomerate. Fragments of fossil plants occur throughout the formation, but no determinable specimens were found. Granites. — A small area of granite occurs oil the Yukon River below the mouth of Indian River, atid stretches eastward in a band a couple of miles wide towards the head of Ensley Creek. It is a coarse-grained, grayish biotite variety, and as a rule is coarsely porphyritic. A large area of granite also occurs at the heads of Burnham and Australia creeks, east of Dominion Creek, and extends southward towards the Stewart. It appears to bo older than the mass on the Yukon River, is very coarse-grained, often porphyritic, and in many places has been crushed into an extremely coarse augen-gneiss. Ex- posures of this rock occur in conspicuous crags along the crests of the ridges separating the tributaries of Dominion Creek from those of Australia Creek. A third area of granite extends from the mouth of Dominion Creek up to a point two miles above Sulphur Creek and also runs for some distance up the latter creek. It appears to pass gradually, going up Sulphur Creek, into the schists of the Klondike series. It is grayis^h in colour, medium-grained, and is of the ordinary biotite variety, with few accessory minerals. The biotite gradually disappears on approach- ing the schists, and is replaced by light-coloured micas, principally sericite. Later Eruptwes. — Small bosses of recent eruptive rocks cutting all the older formations occur everywhere throughout the district. The principal variety is a light-grayish acid rock with a compact base, sprinkled with small dark ((uartz crystals, and is probably a rhyolite or closely allied rock. In some of the sections felspar phenoerysts 13 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OP CANADA. '■*,; '■■tv- occur with the quartz, and in other places the rock becomes granular. The areas seldom exceed a quarter of a mile in width, and are more numerous around the outskirts of the gold district than towards its centre. A dark rock, which macroscopically appears to be an augite-andesite, occupies a small area bordering the granite below Indian River, and dark basaltic-lc oking dikes occur on Indian River, below the mouth of Quartz Creek. A few small trap-dikes cross Eldorado Creek, and a large quartz-porphyry dike forms a point projecting into Bonanza valley at No. 60 below Discovery claim. The total area covered by the later eruptives is small, but their wide distribution in small bosses and dikes males them a conspicuous feature in the geology of the district. Quartz Veius. — Quartz veins are exceedingly abundant in the schists of the Klondike series and also occur, but more sparingly, in the Indian River group and the Hunker schists. The veins us a rule are short and small, but often swell out into large lenticular masses of quartz. They follow in the majority of cases the planes of foliation or cut these at a low angle. A few veins were noticed cutting directly across the strike of the rocks, and these as a rule are more regular and persistent than those which follow the foliation : they may belong to a different group. In addition to the multitude of quartz veins varying in size from mere threads up to huge masses nearly a hundred feet in thickness like that on the Yukon River two miles above Caribou Creek, which follow or intersect the schists of the Klondike series, these schists themselves are often more or less silicified along wide zones, occasionally to such an extent as to resemble quartzites. The quartz in the smaller veins is usually milky or light-grayish in colour and often when weathered assumes a granular appearance. Tlie veins contain occasional crystals and small patches of felspar and dolomite. The large vein above Caribou Creek has a more compact texture and weathers to a light-yellow colour. The principal metallic minerals of the veins are pyrite, chalcopy- rite, galena ^usually argentiferous) and occasionally free gold. The veins are not as a rule well mineralized and the great majority contain nothing except a few scattered grains of pyrite. A nunilmr of speci- mens collected in various parts of the district and analysed in the laboratory of the survey were all barren, with one exception, and that contained only traces of gold. On the other hand, a number of assays made in Dawson from different veins were seen by the writer that showed good values. There can be no question that the placer gold, like the accompanying gravels, is of local origin and is derived from the quartz veins and silicified schists of the district. The large nuggets II ^i0ipw»^»!f mmmummaf» ( mmmm >i3> m.> n,j>>^ KLONDIKE GOLD FIBLDH. 13 Muck nearly always inclose fr.tgments of (juartz, and quartz pebbles specked with gold are occasionally found. A boulder found on No. 4 Bonanza Creek, weighing 60 ounces, contained 20 ounces of gold. Evidence of the local origin of the gold is also atlbrded by the markedly angular and unworn character of the grains and nuggets found in the gulches and along the upper parts of the productive creeks. Tt is highly im- probable that the gold-bearing veins have all been swept away and their metallic contents concentrated in the valleys, great as the erosion in the districu has been, and there is every reason to believe that productive veins or zones of country-rock will eventually be discovered. The prospecting of the past two seasons has resulted in the staking of a great number of quartz claims, but very little development work has so far been done. Prospecting can only be carried on at present over a small portion of the district, as the country-rocks are nearly every- where concealed beneath a heavy blanket of moss. Gravels. The gravels of the district are of four different kinds, as followH, beginning with the latest : — Stream -gravels (present). Terrace-gravels. River gravels. Old valley gravels (quartz- drift and yellow gravels). The gravels are described in connection with the creeks, and with the exception of the quartz- drift will only be briefly refer- red to here. Stream Gravis. — Thestream- gravfcls form a sheet generally from four to tfc.i feet in thick- ness, flooring the bottoms of all the valleys. They rest on broken and decomposed schists, and exe overlain by a bed of dark frozen ' muck ' or peaty matter. Muck, Gnuitt Pat/ gmvtU Broken bed rock, farryiny ^oldj , They are very uniform in char- Section of stroam-graveln, claim 27jaboy diHCovery, Bonnnza Creek. Scale 4 f« ' acter, and consist entirely of the schists and other rocks of to 1 in. the district. In the lower parts 14 GEOLOGICAL 8UKVBY OP CANADA. ,^^- ,:^ of the valleys, the schist pebbles are osually flat, but are fairly wrM worn. They measure, as a rule, from one to two inches in thickness and from two to six inches in length. They lie in a matrix of coarse sand, and are associated with a varying proportion of rounded and sub-angular quartz pebbles and boulders, and, less frequently, with pebbles derived from the later eruptive rocks. Small beds of sand occasionally occur toward the top of the section, but, in most cases, the deposit is remarkably uniform from muck to bedrock. In the upper part of the valleys, the gravels become coarser and more angular, and a considerable proportion of the material consists of almost un- worn fragments of country-rock washed down from the adjacent slopes. Terrac, Gravels. — Narrow rock-cut terraces occur in an interrupted manner along Eldorado, Bonanza and Hunker creeks, below the level ot the old valley, and a wider series along a portion of Dominioii Creek, at an elevation of from fifteen to forty feet above the present: Hat. The terraces support beds of gravel, usufvlly from six to fifteen feet in thickness, very similar to that in the valley-bottom, but showing somewhat more wear. They are covered in a few places with muck. River Gravels. — At themouth of the Hunker and Bonanzacreeks the quartz-drift is overlain by a heavy bed of well rounded pebbles, evidently representing a former wash of the Klondike liiver. The pebbles con- sist largely of hard slates, quartzites and other rocks foreign to the gold-bearing creeks. Wide terraces built of similar material al.so occur at the mouth of the Klondike and at intervals along the valley of that river. Old Valley Gravels. — These gravels, bordering parts of Bonanza, Eldorado, Hunker and other creeks of the district, consist of a deposit known as the qu»rtz-drift, resting on bed-rock, and an upper set of flat rust-coloured gravels. The quartz-drift differs markedly in many of its characters from any deposit either marine, lacustrine, fluvial or glacial, known to the writer. It is uniformly grayish to nearly white in colour throughout, except near the surface, where it has been oxidized to varying depths and in places has a reddish coloration, and in the upper portions of some of the streams, where the grayish colour becomes somewhat darker. The colour does not vary to any material extent with differ- ences in the subjacent rock, as in many places heavy deposits of the quartz drift, looking almost white at a distance, rest on wide bands of dark graphitic schist. It consists essentially of a compact mixture of i i^mm^ KLOXDIKK f;0LD FIKLDS. 15 I I I 3 1 II to o h I N 1. 16 GROIiOniCAL SURVEY OF CAXADA. ** ':■ >1 ' ( i small, clear, little worn and often sharply angular quartz grains, and minute scales of sericite, thickly packed with rounded, sub-angular, and wedge-shaped boulders of quartz, and less frequently of grayish mica- schist, the principal rock of the district. The deposit is remarkably uniform from top to bottom. Beds of coarse sand were noticed, but are infrequent, and in the great majority of the sections the silicious sands and the light micaceous minerals have not been sorted into separate beds but remain intimately commingled throughout. The sands become noticeably coarser toward the limit of the deposit on the upper parts of the creeks. The boulders of the quartz drift are always more or less rounded and water-worn, and are found in all sizes from small pebbles up to boulders two and three feet in diameter. They occur scattered irregularly through the sandy matrix, or roughly stratified in it, but were nowhere found forming heavy homogeneous beds. They do not show evidence of prolonged rolling. Rounded boulders are occasion- ally present, but in the majority of cases the edges only are worn away, and wedge-shaped sub-angular fragments, still preserving approxi- mately the shape of the short blunt veins from which they originated, are very common. The proportion of quartz to schist boulders was estimated at fully four to one, and in some sections the ratio is even higher than this. No fragments originating from the bands of dark graphitic schists which cross the valleys at various points, were noticed. The quartz-drift varies in thickness from a few feet up to about 120 feet, and in width from 300 feet to half a mile or more. The deposit is narrow near the heads of tiie creeks and attains its greatest development near the lower parts of Hunker and Bonanza creeks, but the increase in volume in descending the valleys is not uniform. It is piled up to great depths on Clold Hill and Adams Hill on Bonanza Creek, decreases in amount on the suceeding hills and in places is absent altogether, and, farther down, after crossing the valley, continues on to the mouth in greatly increased volume. The quartz-drift is overlain in places by loosely stratified gravels of a very different character. These gravels are usually of a rusty colour, are more distinctly stratified than the quartz-drift and consist mainly of flattenea schist pebbles and boulders lying loosely in a coarse sandy matrix. Quartz pebbles and boulders are also present, but are less abundant than in the quartz-drift. The passage from one formation to the other is usually gradual, but in sotre places is fairly abrupt. i w wMii i MH ' j « aiaiimmi KLONDIKK (iOI.D FIELDS. 17 aina, and ular, and ish mica- markably biced, but e silicious ,rted into jut. The •sit on the up to about e or more. attains its id Bonanza lUeys is not Adams Hill hills and in irossins the ime. tied gravels sually of a •tz drift and Hying loosely Rers are also I The passage 1 soir e places i The upper gravels rasemhle the stream-gravels in the present valley bottom, and have probably a similar origin, but do not carry much gold. They are found on French Hill, Gold Hill, Adams Hill and other places on Bonanza Creek and at several points along Hunker Creek. At (lold Hill they fill a depression abont a quarter of a mile in width and 115 feut in depth between the ridge of quartz-drift and the southern slope of the valley. They rest near the valley on the quartz-drift, but further back overlap it and lie directly on the bed- rock. The same relationship between the two deposits obtains on Adams Hill and probably at other points, but it is only at present determinable in places where shafts have been sunk to bed-rock across the whole width of the old valley. The quartz-drift and associated upper gravels occur on Eldorado and FSonanza creeks and are found for some distance up Gauvin Gulch and Adams Creek, tributaries of the latter ; on Hunker Creek and its tributary Last Chance, and on Quartz Creek and its tributary Little Blanche. They were not found on Sulphur or Dominion creeks or on any of the Indian River tributaries except Quartz Creek. The precise origin of the quartz-drift is still somewhat obscure. It resembles a glacial deposit in appearance, and r,he writer, as a result of a hurried examination in 1898, attributed it in the Sum- mary Report of the Survey for that year, to small local glac^-ij. Further and more detailed work, however, has failed to reveal any evidences of ice action either on the boulders or on the surface of the bed rock. It is not a lake deposit, as both the upper and lower surfaces slope up valleys, heading together and running in all directions, and it does not answer to the character of an ordinary stream deposit. The angular character of the grains and the comparatively unsorted condition of the deposit, show that it has not travelled far, and it is probable that it really represents a comparatisely sudden inwash from the neiyhhouring slopes, conditioned by an increase in precipitation acting upon a surface that had previously been deeply decomposed by a long process of subaerial decay, and operating in conjunction with a stream moving slowly down the valley. The boulders were probably rounded to .some extent ;/( sifti and would necessarily suffer more wear on the short journey than the small particles. The sudden and some- what tumultuous mode of deposition indicated would also account for the marked absence of differentiation of the constituents of the mass into separate beds. f -V? .'T- IS (lEOLOniCAr- SURVKV OF CANADA. 9 -I i r,i Go/*/ t« ijravflx. (iold in paying quantities occurs in the stream-gravels, the ternice-gravels and the (|uart/.-drift, but so far has not been found in the old vailey-gravela overlying the quartz-drift or in the gravels here designated as river-gravels. Gold is found in the streaiu-gravols everywhere, bi't in pro- ductive (juantities only along portions of the valleys. The richest stretches usually occur about midway in the length of the streams. The distribution is however irregular and no fixed rule can be formulated in regard to it. The total length of the paying portions of the different creeks, including some intervening barren parts, aggregates about fifty miles. It is impossible to give even an approximate estimate of the value of this great stretch of pay -gravels, owing to the irregularity of the concentration and the ditticulty in obtaining trustworthy returns from most of the mines. It may be stated, however, that the product of a tew of the 500-foot claims on Kldorndo and Bonanza creeks will exceed a millioa dollars each : while a considerable number on the same two creeks (in fact, the majority of the lower Eldorado claims and a few on Hunker Creek) will yield over half a million each, and claims running from a (|uarter to half a million are common on all these creeks and also on Dominion and Sulphur creeks. Assuming a quarter of a million as the average, and that three-quarters of the claims in the distance given above are rich enough to work, the total value approaches .^95,000,000, a figure which is well within the mark. In this rough estimate, no account has been taken of long stretches of gravel on all the creeks, that is t"o low in grade to work at present, but will eventually become payable with improved conditions and cheaper methods of working, nor does it include probable further discoveries along the numerous gulches and small streams of the district, few of which have so far been carefully prospected. The terrace-gravels on Eldorado, Bonanza, Hunker and Dominion creeks include a few rich claims, and a large number that pay fairly well, but statistics of production are entirely wanting. The extensive deposits of quartz drift along Bonanza, Hunker, Eldorado and Quartz creeks, almost rival in importance the creek- gravels themselves. They are everywhere more or le.ss auriferous and are very rich over wide stretches. They suffer, however, from the scarcity of water on the hill-sides, and the ruinous methods the miners are forced to adopt, when operating on a small scale, prevent any but rich claims from being worked. I fe "■■«J?*WHWf«S«»««»i««"ft>U"lWI*»«*"<*M'« ■ KLOMDIKU: (iOLI) FIKLOH. 19 sis, the 3und in gravels ill pro- I richest ins. The rinulated i of the ;5gregat6H roximate ng to the obtivining however, rirado and nsiderable the lower iver half a lillion are i Sulphur and that 3 are rich , a figure lo account lieeks, that Illy become working, numerous |h have so Dominion [pay fairly Hunker, [the crcek- iferous and fever, from Lethods the lie, prevent Mi'fhndit nf irorkiug. Creek claiiiiH are worked eitlier by sinking and drifting, or by open- cuts. The former method was the one tirst employed and i.s still very geuerr.liy used, as operations can thus be carried on during the winter. The ground is frozen everywhere, and, except where the muck is free from sand or grav«l and can lie picked out, thawing i.s always necessary. This is done either by wood tiie.'i, hnating the water at the bottom of the shafts with hot .stonos, or by Ht(>am thawers. The latter method is gradually supercedini,' the two former and is a very simple one. A small boiler is generally used, frum which the steam is passed through rubljer hose, to the ends of which pointed stee! tu'oes about four t'eet in length are artixed. The latter are driven into the frozen gravel, and steam is forced through them for six or eight hours. They are then withdrawn and the thawed material, removed. The points req ire steam equal to about one horse-power each, and thav from one to three cubic yards of gravel at a shift. The introduction of the steam thawer is of recent date, and marks a great advance in the mining methods of the district. It thaws more rapidly than wood tires, requires at least a third less wood to do the same work, and can be used in summer as well as in winter. It has also the further great advan- tage over wood fires cf purifying the air in place of fouling it. The material drifted out from around the foot of the shaft is piled up in dumps, when the work is done in winter, and washed during the spring floods. In summer work the two operations of drifting and washing the excavated pay-gravels are carried on at the same time, if water can be obtained. Timbering is seldom required in summer and never in winter, as the bed of frozen muck that overlies the gravel forms an extremely tenacious roof, and chambers of astonishing size can be excavated beneath it in winter without danger. In one case on Dominion Creek, a muck roof, unsupported by pillar.'^, covered a vault said to measure 140 feet by 230 feet which remained unbroken until midsummer. It then sank slowly down in one block, until it rested on some piles of waste material wliicli had been heaped up to prevent accidents in case of a collapse. Kxaniples of muck roofs spanning \aults over a hundred feet in width are connnon on all the principal creeks. In working claims by the second method, that of open-cuts, the first object is to get rid of the muck covering. This is easily done in early spring by taking advantage of the spring floods and leading the water by several channels across the claim. The muck thaws readily, the streams soon cut down to the gravel, and the channels then gradu- •.'V*'-- E'\'^ -■',.' ('.' 20 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. ally widen until they meet. In some cases the process is hastened by blowing the walls of the channel down into the stream with powder. When the muck covering is removed, the gravels soon thaw to bed- rock. The upper portion, if barren, is then removed, usually by hand, and the underlying pay-gravel is sluiced in the ordinary way. The open-cut method of working claims leads to a more complete extraction of the gold and is the one generally preferred whenever the muck covering does not exceed 10 or 15 feet in thickness, a condition which obtains along the greater part of the principal producing creeks, with the exception of Sulphur Creek. The terrace-gravels are usually comparatively thin, and where uncovered by muck, are worked by open-cuts, where covered, by drifts. The pay-gravels in a few eases are sluiced in the valley-bottom, but as a rule are washed in rockers. The quariz-drift, like the terrace-gravels, suffers from the scarcity of water, and rockers are employed for washing the pay-gravel at nearly all the working claims. A few of the nrincipal mines have gravity trams, and when arrangements can be made wich the owners of the creek claims, the creek water is used for sluicing purposes. The extent and richness of this great deposit appears to fully warrant capital in undertaking the construction of some comprehensive scheme for delivering water along the principal hills, and until this is done the greater part of the deposit must remain unworked. Machineri/ — The employment of machinery in the working of Klondike claims is gradually increasing, but is still insignificant, a fact uuc largely to the absence of roads and the consequent impossi- bility of transporting heavy pieces up the creeks. Steam thawers are largely used and steam pumps are gradually replacing hand pumps, Chinese pumps and wattr-wheels for draining the pits. Steam hoists are employed at a few of the mines, but are not in general use. The greater part of the work of the camp is still done by hand, ».nd this, notwithstanding the fact that, taking into consideration the high price of labour, nowhere in the world could machinery be more profitably- employed. Produstioi) of dlslrict. The gold production of the district can only be given approximately, but the following figures are probably nearly correct. 1897 .«! 2,500,000 1H98 10,000,000 1899 16,000,000 $28,500,000 KLONDIKE UOLU FIELDS. 21 ;ened by powder. r to bed- by hand, complete never the couditioa 12 creeks, od where by drifts. )in, but as le scarcity '-gravel at nines have ! owners of )oses. The 'ant capital scheme for is done the iworkin}? of nificant, a nt irapossi- lawers are nd pumps, team hoists use. The t.nd this, high price profitably )roximately, 00 00 00 00 It is unlikely that the rapid increase in production of the last two years will be continued, as serious inroads have already been made on the rich portions of Eldorado and Bonanza creeks, and to a less extent on Hunker and Dominion creeks, but the amounts remaining, with the long stretches of medium and low grade gravels still untouched on all the creeks, ensure a high production for a number of years. Descripton of Creeks. Bonanza Creek. Bonanza Creek is the most important of the gold-bearing creeks of the Klondike district, and is the one on which gold in large quantities waa ♦'.rst discovered. It heads in the Dome Ridge v^lth branches of Quartz and Hunker creeks and empties into the Klondike River a mile and quarter above Dawson, after a course in a north-northwest direction of a little over seventeen miles. It has a drainage-area of approximately 113 square miles. It is a comparatively small stream even near its mouth, where it measures, in erdinary stages of the water, about fifteen feet in width by three or four inches in depth on the bars. It Hows, however, a steady stream and furnishes at least a sluice head of water throughout the season all ah 'i;^ the productive part of the valley. The principal tributaries of Bonanza Creek are Eldorado Ci'eek, Adams Croek, Boulder Creek, Forty-nine Creek and Sixty- seven Creek on the left, and Carmank Forks, Homestake Creek, Gauvin (lulch. Queen Gulch and Mosiiuito Creek on the right. YaUo.y. — The valley of Bonanza Creek is characterized principally by its markedly nnj^ulnr trough-like shape. The present valley has l»e«n cut down in the lloor of an older valley and that rapidly and almost ci ntinuously, as shown by the steep lateral walls and the absence of continuous lines of terraces in the newer valley. The present valley usually shows a flat bottom of varying width, commonly I leasuring from .300 to 600 feet, bounded by steep sides 150 fuet high at the Eldonulo forks, and gradually increasing in elevation down the valley, or, with a steep wall of the same height on one side, and an easier slope on the other. It follows a sinuous line, bendinp; with short curves round points that project alternately from either side. The present valley is excavated, as a rule, along one side of the older and much wider valley, and the general eflect produced is asymmetrical. On one side the ilopo is broken, at an elevation usually of from 200 to 300 feet, by a rough plain of irreguiarsize, but often athirdof a mile wide, beyond which is an easy ascent of a thousand feet or more to the 22 (JEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. summit of the bordering ridge, while on the other "H'^. the slope though varying in steepness is continuous throughout. The plain of the older valley is not noticeable in the upper part of the present valley, but becomes a marked feature at McKay Creek, three miles above the mouth of Eldorado Creek, and is then traceable along the right bank down to the Eldorado Forks. At the Forks it crosies to the left and follows the left bank to Sixty-seven Creek, then re-crosses and continues on down the right side to the point of the ridge separating Bonanza Creek from the Klondike River. Above McKay Creek, the slopes of the valley become more uniform, but con- tinue for some distance steeper on the left limit than on the right. The bottom gradually narrows in until the valley assumes the V-shaped or gulch type and shortly after it terminates in a steep sided, amphithea- trical depression cut out of the Dome Ridge. The grade of the older valley is less than that of the modern one. The rim of the older valley at McKay Gulch is 110 feet above the present valley-bottom ; at the Forks it is 150 feet, and at the mouth its elevation is increased to about 300 feet. The ' ide of the present val- ley below the Forks averages about fifty feet to the mile, and that of the older valley thirty-three feet to the mile. Between Eldorado Forks and Carraack Forks, the grade of the present channel averages one hundred feet to the mile, and further up it rapidly increases. Besides the wide-spread bottom or plain of the older Bonanza valley, a number of more recent terraces occur at lower elevations. These terraces are rock-cut as a rule, are usually quite narrow, are only traceable for short distances, and occur at irregular heights. They are found at intervals all the way from Lovett ( Julch up to near Victoria (Julch. Country-rocks — The rocks along Bonanza Creek consist almost entirely of the light-grayish and greenish sericite-schists of the Klondike series, alternating in the upper part with bands of grecri ohloritic schists. Narrow bands of dark graphitic schists cross the valley above the mouth at Adams Creek and at one or two other points, and a wide porphyry dike forms a point about a mile below Boulder Creek. The light -coloured schist, which, as elsewhere stated, probably repre-sents a crushed acid eruptive, occurs in heavy bed.s, in hard flags, and as a finely foliated and soft rock. It is nearly everywhere more or less silici6ed and encloses numerous ({uartz veins, most of which run parallel to the schistose structure, although a few cut across it. Gravc/s — The gravels aUmg Bonanza Creek fall intt) five groups. In order of age, commencing with the oldest, the >/iiarl~-drift, comes ><.«-»- w,-»'»'««H»W,.«>' . «WW», l* W«W ^W> * > Ml"" " ■ ''•^" KLONDIKE GOLD FIELDS. 23 ill most of the lands of c schists at one a point |t, whicn, ruptive, and soft encloses schistose groujis. ft, comes first.followed in succession by the associated yelloiv-gravels, the river-gravels, the terrace-gravels, and the valley-grm^els. In order of economic importance the present valley- gravels come first, then the quartz-drift, followed by the terrace-gravels. Th"^ two other groups have so far not proved productive. The valley-gravels consist of clean, flat, fairly well worn pebbles mostly from one to six inches in length and one to two inches in thickness, derived from the light-grayish and light-greenish mica- ceous schists of the neisthbourhood, associated with rounded and sub- angular pebbles of quartz, and occasional large quartz boulders usually angular in form, A few pebbles of dike-rock are also usually present. The material is wholly of local origin and is derived from the rocks outcropping along the valley. The pebbles are roughly shingled up stream, lie in a matrix of coarse sand and are occasionally interstrati- fied, especially in their upper '^art, with beds of sand. They rest on a floor of broken'and decomposed bed-rock, into which the gold has often penetrated to a depth of three or four feet. The gravels form a fairly uniform covering of from four to eight feet in thickness all across the flat bottom of the valley. Their width varies with the enlargements and constrictions of the valley, but usually measures from 300 to 600 feet, with occasional enlargements to 900 feet or more. The width increases gradually but irregularly down the valley. The gravels are overlain by a bed of black frozen muck all along the valley from five to fifteen feet in thickness. The muck occurs in most places in a massive bed, but is also found interbanded with layers of .sand. Small beds of impure muck occur in places in the lower gravels almost down to bed-rock. The terrace-gravel.s have a general resemblance to the stream- gravels. They are formed of the same materials but the pebbles show as a rule more wear. They are roughly stratified and include beds of fine pebbles and sand often .showing cross-bedding. The terrace-gravels are of limited extent. They rest on short narrow rock-shelves distri- buted irregularly along the valley, on flat projecting points : or are built up at the moutlis of gulches and streams. Their thickness is from six to ten feet. They are uncnvered at some points and in other places are deeply buried beneath an accumulation of muck and rocky debris from the aides of the valley. The river-gravels which occur in the lower part of the valley, over- lying the quartz-drift, diSer altogether in character from the valley- gravels. They show more wear, are better rounded, and include hard slate, quartzite and other pebbles derived from rocks not found along the I u -_4?' J: 24 GKOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. cieek. They are similar to the gravels in the Klondike River terraces, and as they occur only on the flat plateau separating the lower part of Bonanza Creek from the Klondike, there is little doubt that they repre- sent the wash of the latter stream at a period previous to the general cutting down of the valleys. They measure fully 200 feet in thickness. Similar gravels also occur on the left side of Bonanza Creek, a short distance above Examiner Gulch and extend in a series of descending terraces or benches down 'Bonanza Creek and the Klondike River, to the Yukon valley. i The quartz-drift, which with the associated yellow-gravels floors the older and more elevated Bonanza valley, has been described generally on a previous page. This unique and important accumula- tion of angular quartz grains, sericite and quartz boulders, is exten- sively, but not continuously distributed along Bonanza Creek. It is necessarily absent where the ancient and modern valleys coincide and has also been swept away in other places by erosion. It is found in descending the creek, covering small areas below McKay Creek and Homestake Creek and a much larger area below Gauvin Gulch. At the latter place it rests on a nearly level rock-floor at an elevation of about 140 feet above the present valley-bottom. It occurs uncovered along the edge of the valley, but farther back is buried beneath an ac- cumulation of loosely stratified gravels and sand. The total width of both deposits at this point measures approximately 2000 feet, and the depth ninety feet. A shaft sunk to bed-rock, 450 feet back from the rim, showed fifty-five feet of the loose upper gravels and thirty feet of quartz-drift. The gravels of the old valley extend from Gauvin Gulch down Bonanza almost to the Eldorado Forks, but the upper gravels only are present along part of this distance, and are also trace- able in a narrow band up Gauvin Gulch for a considerable distance, at an elevation of aljout 100 feet above the stream. At Eldorado Forks, the plain of the old valley crosses to the left side of Bonanza Creek. A small patch of gravel has been left on the point of the ridge separating the tA-o creeks, and immediately op- posite the Forks and extending for some distanee up Eldorado Creek and down Bonanza Creek to Big Skookum Gulch, is the important Gold Hill deposit. The gravels here cover an area about half a mile in length by 1500 feet in width and have a maximum thickness of about 1 1 G feet. The white quartz-drift outcrops at an elevation of 150 feet and appears, so far as can be judged by the shafts, to form a great ridge following the edge of the valley, a hundred feet or more in height and 500 to GOO i i. terraces, er part of ley repre- e general hickness. t, a short ascending River, to )W-gravels described accumula- is exten- !ek. It is incide and 9 found in Creek and lulch. At levation of uncovered Bath an ac- al width of Bt, and the back from thirty feet om Gauvin the upper also trace- istauce, at ises to the leen left on diately op- rado Creek rtant Gold ie in length ut 1 1 6 feet, nd appears, ? following 50U to GOO Bonanza Valley. Below Kldorado Forks, (Jold Hill on ri;;ht. Bonanza Vai.i.ey. Claim No. 2 above Diocovery. I"* ,L ■ i KI.ONUIKF. GOLD FIELDS. 25 feet in width, with the hollow behind filled up with the yellow-gravels. The I'ock surface on which the gravels rest is roughened with small hollows and ridges. It extends back from the river at nearly the same general elevation for several hundred yards, then rises somewhat abruptly to the surface. The quartz-drift was not observed between Big Skookum and Little Skookum gulches, but comes in again below the latter on Adams Hill and continues to Adams Creek. Tehe gravels on Adams Hill have a width of 1200 feet, and a depth, 550 feet back from the rim, of 130 feet. The arrangement of the quartz-drift and the upper gravels is similar to that on Gold Hill. Below the break formed by the valley of Adams Creek, the quartz drift and stratified gravels overlaying it, occur pretty constantly, except where cut away by gulches, all the way down to Forty-nine Creek ; and at one point below Mosquito Creek the upper gravels cross the valley and appear in a band 450 feet wide and ten to twenty feet in thickness on the right side. The thickness of the deposit on the left limit often exceeds 125 feet. The width is variable but usually measures from 1200 to 1500 feet. Below Forty-nine Creek, the quartz-drift becomes less continuous for some distance. A small patch occurs below the mouth of Forty- nine Creek, a second opposite claim fifty-seven, below Discovery, and another and the last, on the left limit below Sixty-seven Creek. At the latter point it crosses tiie valley to the right limit above Cripple Creek, and continues down, gradually increasing in width, past Trail and Lovett gulches and across the plateau in which the ridge separat- ing Bonanza Creek from the Klondike Biver terminates, to the valley of the latter. The volume of the deposit becomes greatly increased after crossing the valley. Its thickness on the hill between Trail and Cripple creeks is 225 feet, and on Lovetb Gulch is not less than 110 feet. The width near the mouth of the valley is fully a mile. Gold contents q/ Gravels. — The creek-gravels of Bonanza Creek have been found productive from near Victoria Gulch down into the eighties below Lower Discovery, a distance, measured along the valley, of over eleven miles. The values are however not uniform, and stretches occur which have proved too barren to work under present conditions. The riche.st and most uniform part of the creek extends from Victoria (iulch down stream for about two miles. A number of claims in this stretch will yield over half a million dollars each, or at the rate of ■?1000 or more per running foot, while the product of one or two claims is expected to double this amount. The gold contents of the gravels diminish on approaching Eldorado Forks but increase again '? 26 OEOLOnt to prove it^ value. The gold is coarse, rough and angular. 28 GKOLOtilCAL HLKVEY OF CANADA. 'I ir Victoria Gulch enters Bonanxa Creek from the left, one and three- quarter miles helow Cannack Forks and almost at the head of the pro- ductive part of the creek. It heads with Gay (iulch, a gold-bearing tributary of KIdorado Creek. It is about one and a half miles in length and in character conforms strictly to the gulch type. At the head is a steep regular amphitheatrical depression leading into a narrow angular valley, that gradually enlarges down the stream. It has a fall of about 900 feet. The gravels are coarse and intermixed, especially in the upper part, with unworn slide-rock. They are not deep, ranging in this respect from two to seven feet, and their width is small in the upper part of the gulch. Work has been done along the gulch for a distance of about a mile above the mouth, and on some of the claims very satisfactory results have been obtained. The gold is coarse, and in the upper }jart of the valley is rough and angular, with unworn edges, looking if it had just dropped out of crevices in the quartz. A small tributary of Victoria (Julch known as No. 7, has also l)een found gold-bearing for a distance of half a mile above its mouth. It joins Victoria Gulch on No. 7 claim above the mouth, and is a short, siiallow gulch with a steep grade, the first 1700 feet showing a rise of 400 feet. Tlio pay-streak is narrow, but is fairly rich in places. The gold is coarse and angular, and includes some large nuggets. A flat, oblong, unworn nugget found in No. 7 claim weighed four and one- third ounces. Skookuiii and ^'signet gulches, below Eldorado Forks, differ in cliaraetor from those just described. They cut through the iiuartz- (Irift down into the bed-rock beneath, and have so far not bscn proved productive beyond the edge of the drift. The rich claims near the mouth of both gulches have evidently derived their supply largely, if not altogether, from this older deposit, and not from original sources, as in the cases of Victoria and Ready Bullion gulches. J'jhlartiflo I 'ri'nk. KIdorado Creek, the most imijuiuiiit tributary of Bonanza Creek, is a siuidi stream about s(!vcn tiiilcs in Ictiiith aiid from three to six feet in width at its nioutli. It carriers, late iri the season, barely a sluice- head of water. The valley is Hat bottomed for three or four miles above its muutli, but narrow, the flats seldom much exceeding 300 feet in width. The present valley is excavated, like Bonanza valley (of which it is a continuation) in an older and wider one. It shows the same characteristics as Bonanza vallev, having a trough like WMftam'^m KLONDIKE liOLD FlELItS, 29 depression below, 1 50 feet deep and from 225 to 450 feet in width, above which tlie slope is continuous and fairly steep to the summit of the ridge on the right limit, but on the left is interrupted by the plain of the old valley, usually about a quarter of a mile in width. At the extremity of the plain the upward slope recommences, but at a lower angle. The plain of the old valley extends along the left bank of Eldorado Creek for two miles above its mouth, and also occurs on the right bank for a short distance, about a mile farther up. The upper part of the valley, from Chief Gulch upward, is narrow, steep, and \'-shaped. Narrow terraces occur at intervals in the lower part of the valley but do not form a conspicuous feature. Country -rocks. — A few narrow trap dikes cross the lower part of Eldorado Creek, and narrow bands of dark graphitic schists were noticed in one or two places, but with these exceptions the valley is cut altogether out of the light-coloured micaceous schists of the Klondike series. (Quartz veins are everywhere present, and at one point examined carried specks of free gold. Graveh. — The Eldorado Creek gravels are precisely similar to those on Bonanza Creek. They consist of from five to nine feet of flat, schisto.se and angular or rounded (juartz pebbles, covering the bottom of the valley in a fairly uniform sheet, overlain l)y a few feet of frozen muck. The old valley-gravels have an elevation above the present valley- bottom, at the mouth of the creek, of l.')0 feet, and three miles fartiier up, where they disappear, of 12.") feet. They consist, as on Bonanza Creek, of the quartz-drift and an upper series of stratified flat jjebbles overlapping the former. Considerah!(? areas nt' (|uartzth muck ami gravel is less than ten feet for a short distance. The terrace-gravels are more rounded than the creek-gravels, but are otherwise very similar. They occur in narrow disconnected strips along both sides of the valley at various elevations up to 100 feet above the present valley-bottom. They have a maximum thickness, in the sections examined, of seventeen feet, and in places are of con- siderable economic importance. The old valley-gravels have a wider distribution along Hunker Creek than on any creek in the district. They commence, in descending the valley, in a comparatively thin narrow band on the right limit opposite No. 4 below Discovery, where they occupy a basin-shaped depression on both sides of No. G (iulch. They are absp-it below this point for some distance, but reappear on the left limu halt' a mile above Gold Bottom Creek, and continue down on the same side, except when broken through by the valleys of the larger tributaries, to Henry (iulch, near the mouth of the valley. A few small patches also occur on the right limit between Gold l^ottom and Hester creeks, and below Last Chance Creek the main deposit crosses Hunker valley and continues through in a wide band to the Klondike valley. The character of the quartz drift on Hunker Creek is similar to that on Bonanza Creek. When typically developed it is a greyish, almost white, compact deposit, consisting mainly of sericite, clear lii-'i 32 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. angular quartz grains, quartz pebbles and boulders and a few schist pebbles and boulders. Tt is also overlain in places, as on Bonanza Creek, by a yellowish loosely stratified deposit of flat pebbles, derived mostly from the Klondike schists. The thickness of the quartz-drift between Gold Bottom and Last Chance creeks ranges, as a rule, from twenty to fifty feet, and the width from 500 to 1500 feet. Below Last Chance Creek it has a thickness of over 100 feet and a width of nearly a mile. The river-gravels are confined to the lower part of the valley, where they cover a flat plateau separating Hunker Creek from the Klundike above their junction, and are also found in a small terrace on the left side. They consist of well rolled and usually small pebbles of slafce, quartz, quartzite, schist, granite and sandstone, occasionally interstratified with beds of sand. Gold contents of gravels. — Creek >'laims of varying richness are being worked along Hunker valley f- ov. claim No. 42 above Discovery down nearly to No. 60 below, a dist:*nce of about ten miles, and pay- gravels are also reported from several points lower down. A stretch of the creek about three-quarters of a mile in length, about Discovery claim, has proved extremely rich, and in places is stated to yield at the rate of .$1000 per running foot. Terrace-gravels, affording moderate, and in one or two cases high returns, occur scattered along the sides of the valley from the Forks down almost to the mouth. The quartz- drift has not proved so rich as on Bonanza Creek, but numerous claims yielding fair values are being worked for some distance above and below (jrold Bottom Creek and on botli sides of the valley below Last Chance Creek. Hunker Creek gold, like that of most of the other creeks, occurs in coarse, bulky grains, with occasional nuggets in the upper part of the valley, and in flatter and smaller grains lower down. In the rich stretch near Discovery claim nuggets are fairly numerous. The gold from about claim No. 45 below down to No. 59 below is generally superficially darkened by iron. (Jold Bottom and Last Chance creeks, the two principal tributaries of Hunker Creek, are both gold bearing and have been worked to some extent fo.^ several miles above their mouths. A band of quartz- drift exten'V'i up Last Chance Creek, following tlie left limit, to No. 15 pup, a distance of two and a half miles, and is fairly rich in places. The n;old obtained from the upper part of the band is very angular and it; often crystalline. KLONDIKE G0L7; FIELDS. 33 Dominior. Creek. Dominion Creek is the largest and one of the most important of the gold-bearing creeks of the district. It heads with Hunker Creek near the Dome, and f?ows at first in an easterly direction, but gradually bends around to the south and then to the west before uniting with Australia Creek to form Indian River. Its length, following the valley around its semicircular course, is about thirty miles. The principal tributaries are Caribou, Portland, Laura, Hunter, Gold Run and Sulphur creeks from the right, and Lombard, Remington, Cliampion, Nevada, Ji.nsen, Kentucky and Rob Roy, from the left. Valley. — Dominion Creek valley has the general characteristics of the valleys of the district. At its head is a steep amphitheatrical depression, very regular in form, cut into the 'divide' between Domin- ion and Hunker creeks. Belcv this a deep, narrow valley is developed, with steep slopes almost meeting below. Further down, the bottom slowly widens out ; small muck-covered flats, increasing gradually in A^idth, border the winding stream, the grade diminishes and the elopes up to the high bounding ridges become easier. In the lower part of Dominion Creek the flats have an extraordinary width compared to the size of the stream. From Jansen Creek to the mouth, they nearly everywhere exceed a third of a mile and in places spread out to half a mile or more. The stream itself, at the mouth, has a width of about twenty-five feet with an average depth on the bf.rs of about a foot. TeiTaces have been traced along the left limit of Dominion Creek from a point a short distance below Lombard Creek, down to a point below Jansen Creek, a distance of twelve miles. They occur on the same side ji'.st above the moutli of .\us'^r.xlia Creek, juuI probably also at points between Jansen and Ai''.>ralia creeks. They have not been found along the right limit These terraces evidently mark an old stream-level. They are low, seldom exceeding forty feet in li.^ight, and in many places are scarcely twenty feet abo\o tlu' present valley-bot. toni. The vrrraoesclo not form a continuous line flown the valley. The deposition seems originally to have been very irregular, and they have since been destroyed in many places, by side streams and by erosion. Contitry-vocks. — The rocks on Dominion Creek present greater \'riety than on the other creeks in the district. The uitpe;- part of che valley is cut through the greyish aericitic schists of the Klondike series, alternating with bands of greenish ohioritic schist. The latter is fairly massive in plates and is often filled with grains of pyrite and magnetite. In the central part of the creek the Klondike schists are 34 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. largely replaced by biotite-bearing schists, greenish schisis and hard quartzose schists. Bands of dark graphitic schists are aU.o present, and limestones were found in the right bank opposite claim No. 136, below Discovery, also in the dimp on claim No. 123, below Discovery. These rocks resemble the schists on Indian River and are probably largely of clastic origin, and older than the Klondike schists. They are replaced about midway between Gold Run and Sulphur creeks by the area of grayish granite referred to previously as occurring on Sulphur Creek, and this rock continues on to the mouth of the valley, and down Indian River for a short disteuce. Gravels — The gravels on Dominion Oreek like those of the other creeks of the district are altogethc of local derivation, and consist of a mixture of flat pebbles of greenish and greyish sericitic schists in the upper part of the creek, the same rocks accompanied by hard quartzose mica-schists below lower Discovery, and with granite in the lower part of the valley . Quartz pebbles and boulders are everywhere fairly abundant as constituents of the gravel^ and are often of large size. The same passage from angular pebbles in the upper part of the creek to more rounded forms farther down, noticed on Jthe other creeks, also prevails here. Between the two Discovery claims the pebbles are smaller than usual, a fact due to the softness of the country-rock. The thickness of the gravel and overlying muck on Dominion Creek is less than on Sulphur Creek and about equal to that on Hunker Creek. At claim No. 20 above Upper Discovery, in the gulch part of the valley, the gravels have a thickness of three feet and are overlain by about fifteen feet of muck and sand. Between the two Discoveries, the most productive part of the ci'eek, the gravels range in thickness from two to seven feet, and the overlying muck and associatrd sandy clays from about five to fifteen feet. Farther down, nea • the mouth of Laura Creek, the thickness of muck and gravel increases to about forty feet. The depth to bed-rock in the lower part of the creek was not ascer- tained as no work was in progress, but is stated to be about thirty feet. The gravel in the terraces I'eseinbles that in the creeks, and consists of the same niatiTJal, somewhat jnore rounded as a rule ; hut at a couple of points the terrace is built up of a mass of largo angular fragments of bedrock massed confusedly togothtjr. The thickness of the bench-gravels ranges from six to fifteen feet. They are not generally overlain by mucli muck. ({old — The most productive part of Dominion Creek extends from near the mouth of Londmrd Creek down to a point alwut half .i mile below Lower Discovery, a distance of about five and a half miles. KLONDKCE GOLD FIELDS. 35 The pay-streak is not uniform along this stretch, and the values, according to the present workings, are very variable. In the richer portions the gold-contents of the gravels approximate $500 per running foot, and in the po-rer parts the returns have not paid working expenses. A grp -c mnjority of the claims, however, situated along che portion of tne creek mentioned, promise good returns if economi- cally worked. Above Lombard Creek, a number of claim! have been worked at intervals, mostly by ' laymen,' for a distance of over two mi'es, some of which have proved fairly rich. In the opposite dir^c- i'iri, claims have been worked for several miles below Lower Discovery. ^t Claims No. 73D and 74 below Lower Discovery fair pay is stated to havfe been found. The total length of the cieek along which gold in fair quantities has hO hv been found exceeds eleven miles. In the wide lower part of the creek considerable prospecting has been done all along the valley, mostly, however, as representation work, and dis- coveries of pay-gravel have been reported, but I was unable to verify them. The bench-gravels along the left side of Dominion Creek are of great impoitance. They commence below Upper Discovery and ex- tend, so far as known, in an intermittent manner down to 133 below Lower Discovery, a distance of over thirteen miles. Their distribution along t,hf^ \ alley corresponds in a general way with that of the more produi ; 'W Mart of the crnek-gravels. They extend, however, somewhat fartt. r u^"' i the valley, as a clai'n ^-lu being worked during the past ff 90 ! oo^r.site 133 below Lower Discover}' which was said to give good rei-Ti' ''ii»f tarrace-giavels about Lower Discovery and up the valley to neai ppcr Discovery have proved extraordinarily rich in places, and .soinf- ^1 ilie claims have yielded large returns for tao amount of work done. The gold on Dominion Creek, above I^mbard Creek, occui s in larg.', rough, rounded or angular grains ai\d in small nuggets. Farther Jown a mixture of heavy grains, some well worn and others quite rough, with a more flaky variety and an occasioniil large well worn nugget are r ind. A nugget weigl-.'ug 8^ ounces was found on claim No. 2 below I'P'rfjr Discovery. Towards the lower portion of the productive part ol r 11. or» ek; the gold becomes finer and more flaky and large nuggets disa;>pear. The bench or terrace gold occurs in fairly large, flattened grains, more uniform in size and smoother and more worn than the creek gold. Large pieces are not plentiful, but occasional nuggets are found, the largest known to me weighing about 4j ounces. m- iirl 36 GEOLOOICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. Mining on Dominion Creek is carried on by the two ordinary methods. The overburden of muck is comparatively thin along the productive portion of the creek, and the conditions are favourable for open work in summer. Mining has been greatly hampered by the excessive freight rates and consequent high cost of s prUes and machinery, and the net pro- duct of the creek during the p; f i proved somewhat disappoint- ing, notwithstanding the large gi.' .put. A good wagon-road has, hox^jever, now been constructed by tlic Government, and prices will no doubt in future be materially reduced. No pay-gravels have so far been found on the numerous gulches and streams entering the productive part of Dominion Creek, with the possible exception of some benches on Caribou Creek, reported late in the season. Towards the mouth of the creek. Gold Run and Sulphur creeks, two tributaries from the right, are both gold-bearing ; but in the upper part the gold, as at present known, is confined almost entirely to the main stream-channel. The gold is undoubtedly of local origin, and there is little doubt that discoveries on some of the feeders will eventu- ally be made. Suljjhur Creek. Sulphur Creek heads in the Dome and empties into Dominion Creek two and a half miles above Australia Creek. It has a length of about seventeen miles measured along the valley. At its mouth it is a stream about twelve feet wide with an average depth on the bars of about six inches. In the productive part of the creek the water-supply is much smaller, but except near the head, one or more sluice-heads of water are usually available. The principal tributaries are Green, Friday, Meadow, and Jirimstone gulches on the left, and Quinn and Black Diamond gulches on the right. Valley.-The valley of Sulphur Creek is sunk from 1000 to 1500 feet below the crests of th bordering ridges. The slopes are easy and very uniform, and are somewhat steeper on the right limit than on the left. In the upper part the valley is narrow and gulch -shaped with a steep grade, but it gradually w idens toward the mouth, and at the .same time the inclination lessens. Fo-- .-iome distance above the mouth the grade scarcely exceeds twenty feet to the mile, as measured by the aneroid. The increase in width is fairly uniform, but slight expansions and con- tractions occur at intervals all the way down. At the mouth of Green Gulch, about five miles from the head of the valley, its bottom is ."100 feet wide, and is cut by a narrow muck gorge thirty feet deep, in which KLONDIKE GOLD FIELDS. 37 the stream, here only about three feet in width, is confined. Seven miles farther down the valley-flat has a width of 750 feet, and near the mouth this increases to nearly a third of a mile. A general cross section of the valley, shows a flat of varying width bordering the stream, from the ed^es of which the surface rises gently to the bases of the main slopes of the valley ; then a sharp ascent of from 700 to 1000 feet, followed by easier slopes to the crests of the bordering ridges. A marked peculiarity of Sulphur valley is the absence all along its course of well marked terraces. Toward the mouth, breaks in the uniformity of the slope simulating terraces were noticed at several points, but when examined did not carry gravel. Sulphur Creek is singular in this respect, as gold-bearing terraces occur on all the other productivtj creeks of the district. Small terraces may yet be discovered as the valley has not been fully prospected, but no continuous system exists. A second peculiarity of the vr'ipy is the slight continuous rise, referred to above, between the edge of ti e flat, bordering the creek, and the base of the hills, amounting in some parts to fifty feet or more. Bench claims have been staked along this rise, but in the places where shafts have been sunk through it, bed- rock has been found at about the same level as near the creek, and the rise has been shown to be due to a great accumulation of muck. It is possible, however, that in places some terraces may be buried beneath the muck so completely, that no signs of them appear on the surface. Bed-rock. — In the upper part of Sulphur Creek and down to about claim No. 50, below Discovery, the rocks consist principally of the greyish and light-greenish schists of the Klondike series, similar to those found on Upper Bonanza. The schists are cut by numerous quartz veins and by occasional bosses and dykes of rhyolite (?) In the lower part of the valley the schists become coarser, more granular, and appear to change gradually to a granite gneiss, and near the mouth of the creek to a granite. Exposures are scarce along the valley, and the character of the rocks can only be ascertaineil from specimens obtained from shafts which have been sunk into bed-rock. Gravd. — In the upper part of Sulphur Creek, where the narrow gulch type ot vaiiey obtains, the debris which has accumulated in the bed of the streams consists largely of angular pieces of schists and occasional fragments of little worn quartz that have slipped down the steep hill-sides. Farther down, the flattened schist pebbles become smaller and less angular, are loosely stratified and lie in a matrix of coarse yellowish and greyish sands, and are interstratified in places ft: 38 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. with beds of sand. In the lower part of the creek the dumps are whitish in colour and resemble at a distance dumps of quartz-drift. The light coloration is due, however, to the decomposed granite rocks into which the lower part of the shafts are sunk. The gravels consist mainly of the greyish and greenish schists of the Klondike series, ex- cept on the lower part of the creek, where there is a considerable addition of gneissic and granite pebbles. Quartz pebbles and boulders, angular, sub-angular, or rounded are everywhere fairly abundant, and pebbles of rhyolite, and of a dark coarse augite-porphyrite, the origin of which is unknown, are of occasional occurrence. The gravels vary in thickness from two to eight feet or more. In the productive pprt of the creek they average about three feet, on the claims examined. The overburden of muck on Sulphur Creek is extraordinary heavy, much more so than on the other creeks of the district. On claim No. 36 above Discovery the gravels run from three to three and a half feet in thickness, are overlain by fifty- live feet of frozen muck, so pure, that a shaft was sunk down to the gravel with pick and shovel, no thawing being required. About Dis- covery the muck is about forty feet in thickness, and on claim No. 33 below Discovery it is thirty feet thick and rests on three or four feet of gravel. In the lower part of the creek the muck thins out considerably and the section of both gravel and muck is stated not to exceed twenty to twenty-five feet. No claims were being worked in tins part at the time of my visit and I was unable to obtain niciisure- ments. Gold contents of gravels. — Claims were being worked on Sulphur Creek at the time of my visit at various points from No. 69 above, to 33 below Discovery, a distance of over ten miles. Claims have also been worked at a profit in the forties below and it is stated on good authority that pay-gravels have been obtained at No. 75 below, increasing the productive part of the creek to about fifteen miles. The gold is distributed somewhat irregularly. The best part of the creek, so far developed, extends from about Green Gulch down to a mile or so below Discovery. It is estimated that in parts of this reach the yield will amount to and in places exceed $5000 per running foot, or at the rate of a quarter of a million dollars per claim. Only a few of the claims promise this amount, but good ground has been proven to exist along the greater part of this stretch and but few bla! ks have so far been found. In the lower part of the creek the valley is wide, and the location of the pay-streak is a lengthy and expensive undertaking. One or more holes have been sunk on most of the claims, but the prospecting BO far done has been insufficient to prove their value. KLONDIKE GOLD FIELDS. 39 Sulphur Creek gold is coarse, angular and nuggety in the upper or gulch part of the valley, but lower down becomes finer, shows more wear, and large nuggets are much less abundant. A sample of gold examined, as far down as No. .33 below, was flaky, hut still fairly coarse and rough. It is stated that the grain.s increase again in weight near the mouth of the creek. The ' black sand ' associated with the gold, consists mainly of pyrite, magnetite and ha-matite, derived from the green schists of the district. The larger nuggets hold fragments of quartz, and all the evidence obtainable goes to show that the gold is of local origin, and is derived from the veins and silicified schists of the valley. None of the tributaries of Sulphur Creek have so far proved pro- ductive, but it is highly improbable that the gold is confined entirely to the main valley, and it is confidently expected that future prospect- ing along the side gulches and streams will eventually reveal other sources of supply. The deep bed of muck covering the gravels along the productive part of Sulphur Creek, prevents open work, except in one or two favourable spots, and mining is carried on almost entirely by sink- ing and drifting. A heavy muck roof entails some extra expense in hoisting, but adds to the safety of the workings. Gold Run Creek. Gold Run Creek was examined only in a hurried manner for a distance of four miles above its mouth. It is one ot the principal tributaries of Dominion Creek from the right and enters the latter stream about four miles above Sulphur Creek. It has a length of about eight miles and a course nearly parallel with that of Sulphur Creek. At its moutii it is a stream about six feet in width by six inches deep on the bars, but five miles above its mouth, its size has diminished to about three feet in width by three inches in depth. The valley of Gold Run conforms to the general type of the country. It is flat bottomed and about a quarter of a mile wide near the mouth, with an easy gradient, but becomes narrower and rises more quickly towards its head. The bordering ridges are uneven and have a height of from 1200 to loOO feet. Low terraces occur near the mouth and at some points farther up, but no continuous system exists. The country-rocks are nearly everywhere concealed, but judging from the material on the dumps appear to be mostly green chloritio ^^K^m ■m ..i^P' 40 GEOLOOICAL SURVEY OP CANADA. schists. At claim No. 36 a band of hard, green, rather massive rock crosses and constricts the valley. The gravels are more quartzose than is usually the case, and con- sist of rounded and angular quartz pebbles and boulders of all sizes up to a foot oi' more in diameter, and flat pebbles of the green country- rock. They range in thickness from five feet down to a few inches, and are overlain by from fifteen to twenty feec of inters tratified sand and muck. Gold Run Creek is singular in having its most productive part aituated towards its mouth. It is possible, however, that discoveries may still be made higher up, as mining has practically only begun on the creek and it has not yet been thoroughly prospected. Claims were being worked, at the time of my visit, from a point about a mile and a half above the mouth, up the valley for about three miles. The best claims, however, so far developed, occur along a stretch of the valley a mile in length, commencing about two miles above its mouth. The gravels along this stretch have proved to be very rich in places and some of the claims have yielded good returns. Gold Run gold is coarse and anguiar and with the exception of a few smooth grains does not show much wear. Nuggets are not plenti- ful, and none had been found at the date of my visit over an ounce in weight. Quartz Creek. Quartz Creek, t> tributary of Indian liiver, is a stream about nine miles in lengtii, and ha.s a width at the mouth of fifteen feet. It forks repeatedly along its course and with its numerous branches has carved out the widest and most conspicuous l)a.sin in the district. The principal triliutaries are Cakler, Little Blanche ;ind Canon Creeks on the right, and Toronto and .Mack's Fotk on the left. The valleys of the main stream and the larger tributaries have the usual wide, flat bottoms in their lower parts, and are bordered in places iiy well marked terraces. Quartz Creek was the first creek on which gold was discovered in the district, but the production up to the present time has been comparatively insignificant, and at the time of my visit very little work was in progress on the creek claims. The comparative leanness of the creek-gravels, ,so far as known, is remarkable, as this stream with its numerous tributaries cuts nearly everywhere through the Klondike seiiists, the gold bearing rocks of the district, and has carried away and piesumaljly concentrated the metallic contents of an enormous amount of material. KLONDIKE (!OLD FIELDS. 41 Quartz Creek is bordered on the right limit, between Calder and Canon creeks and for some distance above the latter, by an important terrace built principally of the quartz drift, the only instance known of the occurrence of this deposit on the Indian lliver slope. The terrace below Ca3on Creek is 110 feet high and in places nearly a third of a mile wide, a shaft sunk on it opposite claim No. G below Dis- covery, 1100 feet back from the rim, showed about 45 feet of quartz- drift overlain by 55 feet of the u[)per yellowish gravels. A second deep shaft a short distance lower down, passed through Co feet of the yellow-drift and six feet of the (juartz drift. The Quartz Creek quartz-drift resembles that on Bonanza and Hunker creeks, but is rather darker in colour, shows more distinct bedding, and contains a larger proportion of schist pebbles and boulders. It has proved moderately rich in places and a number of claims are being worked along it with varying success. The tributaries of Quartz Creek, more especially those on the right side, afford good prospects, but no important strikes have so far been made on them. '^ r:^^ Eiireka Cn'i'k. Eureka Creek flows into Indian River from the south, five miles bolosv Australia Creek. It is a small stream, about eight feet in width where it enters Indian l^iver valley, and about ten miles in length. It divides three miles above its mouth into two ne;irly etjual branches, both of which head in a range of high hills that border this part of Indian River valley on the south. The valley of Eureka Creek conforms to the general type of the district. In the lower part, the muck-covored Hat bordering the stream is from ."500 to '.'.'U u c\ vvido, but aliusc the forks it soon contracls into a narrow gulch. A well-fierminl lienrli iit'ty feet in height occurs on the left limit opposite the fork -i and continues up the creek for a couple of miles. At No. 4 above Discovery, the ter- riire is ninety feet in height. Roi'Ls. — The rocks on Eureka Creek consist of slates, slaty quai'tz- ites, (lark micarcous schists and ^reen schists, dipping at hi^'h anjiles and striking in an (>asterlv direction. Tlie>e are the same rocks that are found on the Yukon ^viver below Indian RiviM' and on the lower part of Indian fiiver and ii^ferred to as the Indian Kiver serie-*. They are oldei' than the Klondike schists which they Inu'dei- to the north, and are probably of Cambrian age. These rocks belong to an entirely ditlercnt group from those cut •j ■ It '^bi;:j >j -■•i-Xl 42 OEOLOr.ICAL SUnVEY OF CANADA. by the principal auriferous creeks, and the fact that they are gold- bearing greatly widens the area of possible discoveries. Gravels. — The Eureka stream-gravels consist mainly of imperfectly rounded pebbles of dark and greenish schist. Quartz pebbles and boulders, sometimes of large size, are also present, and granite occurs occasionally. In the upper part of the creek, the gravels as usual become coarser and more angular. The bed of stream-gravels is from four to eight feet in thickness and is overlain by from ten to twenty feet of muck. The terrace-gravels consist of the same materials as the stream-gravels but are rounder and more worn. CJuartz pebbles also seemed to be rather more abundant. The yield from Eureka Creek has so far been small, and at the time of my visit very little work was being done. A few prospecting shafts were being sunk, and at No. 17 above Di.scovery, a crew of miners w^ere engaged in sluicing with satisfactory reFuits. The gold obtained here was rough and fairly coarse and included a number of small nuggets. The valley-bottom at this point is narrow and steep, but the supply of water, except in the spring, is too limited for ground- sluicing, the method by which it could be worked to the greatest advantage, and is barely sufficient to supply a set of small sluice- Ixjxes. Good prospects have been obtained at several points from the benches along the left limit of Eureka Creek, on which a good deal of work will be done during the present winter, and also on several claims on the right fork and on a branch of the latter. Prospecting on Eureka Creek is (inexpensive operation. Supplies are packed in by way of the Dome and Sulphur ridge, and are also brought up thi' Yukon and Indian rivers in boats, but both routes are long and difficult, and until the rates are greatly reduced only the richer parts of the creek can be worked at a profit. Other *'//'tf/(//(,s',--Tlic llat bottom I.md of tlif- Klondike valley be- low the iiiouth of Hunker Creek, and more i's|iecial!y iVdiii the inuuth of Bonanza valley for some (Jistarue down, has affoidcd very good prospects, ten cents f)r moi'e to the piiii bi'ing reported from sunit! uf the shafts. The valley above the mouth of Hunker Creek has not, so far, proved valuable. Indian River, bordering the southern part of the Klondike region, has yielded small amounts of gold from bars. The valley-gravels are also said to yield fair prospects but are not being worked. A wide gravel terrace, that deserves attention, follows the left limit of the valley from the mouth of Australia Creek down to a point below KLONDIKK (iOLO FIKLDH. 43 Quartz Creek. It affords colours of gold, hut ha3 not heen aulHciently prospected to prove its value. Other terraces, all carrying gold to some extent, also occur in places along the right limit, usually near the mouths of the tributaries. Australia Creek, which unites with Dominion Creek to form Indian Iliver, has been prospected to a considerable extent, but .so far as the creek-giavels are concerned, with little lesult. A well marked and wide terrace, practically a continuation of that on Indian Uiver, follows the left limit of the valley for a number of miles above its mouth. The torrace-giavels have a thickness of over sixty feet in places, and carry small quantities of fine gold from the surface down. A company was engaged during the past season in an attempt to locate a pay-streak, but tiie result of the operations is not known. All Gold and Two Much (iold creeks, both of which rise near the Dome and near the sources of Hunker and Dominion creeks and flow outward (the former emptying into Flat Creek and the latter, into the Klondike Iliver a short distance below the mouth of Flat Creek), were tlie scenes of a rush a couple of years ago, but the result has not justified expectations, and at the present time they are almost deserted. Flat Creek is bordered on the east by a plateau fully tlOO feet in height and several njiles in width, formed entirely of loose gravels, sand, and sandy clay. This formation is quite recent and is usually regarded by the miners as the wash of an old channel of the i:;*^ewart. It was only examiried at one point and the evidence obtained there pointed to its deposition in a lake-basin. It covers a considerable area, as it is stated to run through from the Klondike to the Stewart and to extend for some distance past both streams. The deposit has been prospected to some extent and shown to contain a small amount of fine gold, but no rich spots have so far been found. It is, however, worth investigation as a possible field for operations on a large scale. \'ery little work was clniK- ilui'ing the past season in the Yukon disti'ict, outside tlie Klmnlike gi>l.<:': m -i um f mmm m t K tt ^w| *' * ../^ mx»fmtM",.W ,i-.>. 'i^^ammm Bl €c0lagiml Sitnifj of €mt GEORGE. M, DAW; iON, C>M.G,LLa, F.R.S,OIRECn 1900 lag^ts' 139030- 139015/ •I: ^^J Ingiml Siimfj of €mtaha QE. MDAW; iON, CM.G,LL0, F.R.S,OIRECTDR 1900 I38°<5' laa^JU' 64° "^^ttle :ii .1! .v^-'-°' ■'ty J ^ ll , bf'ti' MAP OF KLONDIKE GOLD FIELDS YUKON DISTRICT I )i I I I I i I ] ] I Tt~ TO ACCOMPANY REPORT BY R. Q. McCONNELL, B. A. Scale, 2 miles to i inch. H- I 10 Hott—Olaewtry poInU on tmrioua cntkt Main rtdg§ tralli Elwatlofu about «m IoooI Mw : 1200 Valleys known to I Old valley gravels Approximate outlin 139045' I39°30' 139015- Longltudo Wott from Qmri I C. 0. 8*ntpnl, B. A 8e., Chllf Drayghttmam, ] CompiVcrf iiitd drawn if 4. f. C. JvtiitMton, from I Mfnwya 6y TopogrofiMtcat Biintg* Bramh, D*pl. of itia I tntorior, mod bn J. F. f. Johntton, Ooolomirtal Suntu Dopt. 608