onwis IKml ^JT^rO^ YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE YUKON TERRITORY ITS HISTORY AND RESOURCES ISSUED BY DIRECTION OF THE HON.W. J. ROCHE, MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR OTTAWA, 1916 c a w a ( a . Turf '¦ £ 4U iuA~sinr. Department of the Interior, Mining Lands and Yukon Branch, Ottawa, December 1, 1915. W. W. Cory, Esq., C.M.G., Deputy Minister of the Interior. Sir, — I have the honour to submit herewith a report dealing with the history and resources of the Yukon Territory. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, H. H. Rowatt, Controller, Mining Lands Branch, and Secretary of the Yukon. CONTENTS Chapter Page I. Historical Sketch 1 II. Constitution and Government . 14 III. Mining — General Conditions 19 IV. Placer Mining, Ordinary: — Operations 38 Methods and Costs 49 V. Dredging: — The Yukon Gold Company 61 The Canadian Klondike Mining Company, Limited 65 The Canadian Klondike Power Company, Limited 71 The North-West Corporation, Limited 75 The North American Transportation and Trading Company 77 Notes on Construction and Dredging 77 Part II. Working Costs 96 Part III. Prospecting Dredging Ground 110 VI. Hydraulicking : — The Yukon Gold Company 115 Working Costs _ 130 Miscellaneous Operations 131 VII. Ore Deposits: — Dawson Mining District 135 Duncan Mining District 143 Whitehorse Mining District 146 Wheaton District 151 Upper White River District 153 VIII. Coal 160 IX. Radium-bearing Minerals 168 X. Fox Farming 176 XI. Transportation 189 XII. Agriculture 206 XIII. General Information : — Education 214 Climate 215 Game 220 Appendices : — 1. Ordinances regulating the exportation of foxes 227 2. Passenger and Freight rates . 229 3. Passenger rates, Overland trai! 231 4. Retail prices at Dawson 232 5. Government Officials 233 ILLUSTRATIONS Page The Honourable W. J. Roche, Minister of the Interior 3 Alfred Thompson, Esq., M.D., Member of Parliament for the Yukon 5 George Black, Esq., Commissioner of the Yukon 7 Dawson, Y.T., Panoramic view Opp. 8 Administration Building, Dawson, Y.T 10 Commissioner's Residence, Dawson 11 Hon. J. D. Hazen and party leaving Government House, Dawson, for trip to creeks 13 Whitehorse, Y.T 15 Grain on Hunker creek 18 Ice-jam on the Klondike 20 A wind-swept waste 23 Primitive placer mining methods. Removing pay streak in frozen ground by windlass and bucket 24 Self-dumper 26 Mining on Hunker creek 28 Ground sluicing 34 Sluicing or " shovelling-in " on Dominion creek 36 Elevator 48 Dominion creek. Gravels exposed after muck was hydraulicked. North- West Corporation, Limited 51 Panorama of Twelvemile valley from intake of pipe crossing Little Twelvemile valley, showing The Yukon Gold Company's power plant which supplies power for the Company's dredges operating on Bonanza, Hunker, Eldorado and Gold Run creeks Opp. 52 Muck bank, Dominion creek, showing the action of water by ground sluicing. North- West Corporation, Limited 54 Hydraulic operations on American hill 58 Yukon No. 8. Construction showing rear gauntree of steel bucyrus 7 cu. ft. Yukon Gold Company 60 Canadian Klondike Power Company's power house, north fork of the Klondike river. . 63 Yukon No. 2. Wooden bucyrus 5-ft. dredge in operation 64 Yukon No. 4 operating on Lower Hunker creek. Yukon Gold Company 66 Bow gauntree of 7-f t. steel bucyrus dredge. Yukon Gold Company 68 Yukon No. 5 operating on Bonanza creek. Equipment for thawing ground. Yukon Gold Com pany ". 70 Dredge, Canadian No. 3, in operation 72 Stern view of dredge, Canadian No. 3 74 Dredge, Canadian No. 3, in operation on Christmas Day, 1913 76 Winches, Canadian No. 3 78 Dredge, Canadian No. 4, operating in the Klondike river 80 A bird's-eye view of the valley of the Klondike from the mouth to Bear creek 81 Bucket line, Canadian No. 3 83 Looking up the Klondike river from Ogilvie bridge, showing dredge, Canadian No. 4 85 Gold saving plates, Canadian No. 3 86 Ground sluicing, Lower Dominion 88 Interior of Canadian Klondike Power Company's power house, North fork of the Klondike. . 89 Yukon No. 9. Construction steel, 7 cu. ft. dredge 90 Winch room, dredge, Canadian No. 6 91 Yukon No. 2. Bow gauntree and bucket line of 5-ft. dredge 93 Yukon No. 8, showing ladder construction, bucyrus 7 cu. ft 94 Bucket with pin and bushing on dredge of Canadian Klondike Mining Company, Limited 95 Side view of bucket with pin and bushings on dredge of Canadian Klondike Mining Company, Limited 96 Worn out bucket _ 97 Digging line — showing close connected buckets, lower tumbler and ladder suspension chain on dredge of Canadian Klondike Mining Company, Limited 98 Bow gauntree construction on dredge of Canadian Klondike Mining Company, Limited . 99 Lower tumbler, on dredge of Canadian Klondike Mining Company, Limited 100 ILLUSTRATIONS Digging ladder with ladder rollers installed, on dredge of Canadian Klondike Mining Company, Limited •_ ¦ -. 101 Trommel, or washing screen, on dredge of Canadian Klondike Mining Company, Limited. . . 103 Screen housing or distributing trough showing method of distributing water and materials to the sluice tables, on dredge of Canadian Klondike Mining Company, Limited 104 Interior of screen of Canadian No. 3 110 Yukon No. 9. Lower tumbler with bucket line of steel bucyrus, 7-ft. dredge Ill Main drive set up, on dredge of Canadian Klondike Mining Company, Limited 113 Upper tumbler with shaft, showing tumbler about to be pressed on. Canadian Klondike Mining Company, Limited 113 Sluice tables on dredge of Canadian Klondike Mining Company, Limited 114 Stern of dredge showing tailing stacker on dredge of Canadian Klondike Mining Company, Limited 114 Hydraulic mining on property of The Yukon Gold Company, Lovett gulch 116 Hydraulic mining on property of The Yukon Gold Company, Lovett gulch 117 Hydraulicking muck at 78 below Lower Discovery, Dominion creek, showing strata of ice in frozen muck, the property of North- West Corporation, Limited 118 Hydraulicking muck at No. 35 below Lower Discovery, Dominion creek, property of North- West Corporation, Limited 119 Hydraulic operations on property of North- West Corporation, Limited, Dominion creek 120 The 5' v 7' flume between discharge of syphon crossing Little Twelvemile valley and intake penstock of power plant pipe. Yukon Gold Company 121 Bradley creek flume, along the line of the main ditch system. Capacity, 5,000 M.I. Yukon Gold Company 122 Bonanza pipe crossing 123 Bonanza basin 126 Drain for carrying off ground sluiced material, property of North- West Corporation, Limited, Dominion creek 128 Pure Gold pipe crossing 129 Little Twelvemile or power ditch 130 Tailings dam at mouth of Monte Cristo gulch, Bonanza creek. Yukon Gold Company 131 Dam at Jensen creek, where water is diverted into system of ditches, property of North- West Corporation, Limited 132 Section of completed ditch Dominion creek, property of North- West Corporation, Limited . . 134 Distributing flume for ground sluicing, property of North- West Corporation, Limited, Quartz creek 136 Lone Star mineral claim, Victoria gulch 138 Mining Scene on property of Lone Star, Limited, Victoria gulch 144 Coal mine and power house. Northern Light, Power and Coal Company, Coal creek 149 View of Yukon Gold Company's machine shops and Canadian dredge No. 4 Opp. 152 Interior of Northern Light, Power and Coal Company's power house, Coal creek 161 Polar fox (white) r 176 Seven months old foxes 179 A red fox of Russia 180 Silver fox 186 Steamer " Dawson " going through Five Finger rapids 189 Scene on White pass and Yukon route 191 First auto over Dawson to Whitehorse winter trail 193 R.N.W.M. Police patrol on their return from Fort Macpherson to Dawson, March, 1915 194 The break-up of the Yukon river at Dawson water-front 195 Closing of navigation. Steamer " Dawson " leaving for Whitehorse amid running ice in the Yukon river 196 Yukon river 199 Cable ferry crossing Yukon at Dawson 202 White Pass 203 Shooting Miles canyon and rapids 204 Oat field on Hunker creek 207 Potato field near Dawson, Y.T 209 A field of potatoes near Dawson 211 Dawson Public School 215 Caribou on Dawson-Glacier trail, thirty miles from Dawson 219 Mountain sheep 222 PREFACE IN the compilation of this pamphlet an effort has been made to secure as much information as possible on the subject of dredging, which has now superseded in magnitude almost every other form of profitable mining. In the chapter on dredging will be found much valuable information as to methods and costs which has not hitherto been published. Through the courtesy of Mr. 0. B. Perry, Consulting Engineer and General Manager of the Yukon Gold Company, much information respecting the costs of dredging and of hydraulic mining has been obtained, also from the Resident Manager of the same Company, Mr. C. A. Thomas. Equally valuable and interesting is the information furnished by Mr. J. W. Boyle, General Manager of the Canadian Klondike Mining Company, Limited, who also gave very complete particulars on the subject of the construction of the principal parts of his Company's dredges, as well as respecting the plant and scope of operations of the Company of which he is Manager. In the chapter on ordinary placer mining, the Gold Commissioner furnished much valuable data which gives a fairly accurate idea of the scope and character of this class of mining. The list of fox and mink farms in Southern Yukon was compiled by the Assistant Gold Commissioner at Whitehorse. Those interested in this industry will find in the chapter on fox farming some useful information, which is re-printed from a recent publication issued by the Commission of Conservation. Quartz prospectors who are interested in the chapter on radium-bearing minerals might obtain a copy of the Report of the Klondike Gold Fields (No. 884) by Mr. R. J. McConnell, B.A., now Deputy Minister of Mines, which describes the occurrences of pegmatite veins or dikes in the Klondike District, as well as other reports which have been issued from time to time by the Geological Branch of the Department of Mines. Ottawa, 1st October, 1915. THE YUKON TERRITORY CHAPTER I. HISTORICAL SKETCH THE earliest explorations in the Yukon Territory must of necessity form part of the history of the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1670 this com pany was incorporated by Royal Charter granted by King Charles the Second to "the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay" who were constituted, "the true and absolute lords and pro prietors" of the territory designated as "Rupert's Land." A supplementary license was granted to the company in 1821 and this license, which was re newed on the 30th of May, 1838, conferred upon the Honourable Adventurers, the exclusive right to trade in the Indian territories west of the Rocky mountains. On the 12th of July, 1776, Captain Cook sailed from England on a voyage of discovery in the North Pacific. In March, 1778, Cook anchored in Nootka sound. Proceeding northward he passed Sitka and on the 4th of May he saw and named Mount St. Elias. In August of the same year he entered Bering strait and traced the coast north eastward to Icy cape. He then returned and explored part of Norton sound. In 1786, the Northwest Fur Trading Company of Montreal established a post on Lake Athabasca and three years later Alexander Mackenzie, a represen tative of the company, explored the great river which now bears his name. In 1792, Mackenzie again started from the post on Lake Athabasca and pro ceeded down the Peace river. In the spring of the following year he crossed the Rocky mountains and reached the Pacific ocean in the vicinity of Queen Char lotte sound on the 22nd of July. Prior to Mackenzie's arrival, however, Cook's midshipman, Vancouver, had already explored and surveyed the coast from latitude 35° to 60° north. In 1825, Franklin also commenced his second journey westward from the mouth of the Mackenzie. Within the period of fifteen years subsequent to 1778, British seamen had explored the islands and western coast of what is now British Columbia, and also a part of Alaska, and representatives of the fur companies had also reached both the Pacific coast and Arctic ocean. The Russians, who explored the north coast of Siberia, were actuated more by the spirit of trade than exploration. In 1646, several small Russian vessels under the command of one, Isai Ignatief, sailed eastward from the Kolyma and reached a bay where they obtained walrus ivory by barter from the Chukchees, who inhabited that portion of Eastern Siberia east of the valley of the Anadyr river. Two years later a larger expedition commanded by Simeon Deshneff successfully rounded the northeast extremity of Asia and entered Bering strait. 2 THE YUKON TERRITORY In January, 1725, Peter the Great issued instructions that an expedition be equip ped to obtain further information in regard to the extension of Asia and America. In 1728, Vitus Bering, a Danish navigator, who was in charge of the expedition,! sailed from the mouth of the Kamchatka river and ascertained that Asia and America were separated by sea. Bering made no attempt to discover the main land of the American continent, and returned to St. Petersburg in 1730. In the meantime, a navigator and civil engineer named Michael Gwosdeff, in charge of a Cossack expedition, sailed to the Chukchee coast. This expedition remained ,1 at Cape Serdze until a storm drove them eastward to an island beyond which they discovered the shores of the continent of America. On the 4th of June, 1741, Bering, who had been promoted to be a commander, sailed from Avatcha in search of the American coast. On the 15th of July, Chirikoff, Bering's first lieutenant, landed near Cross sound and three days later Bering anchored near a cape which he called St. Elias. Two boats were sent ashore for water, but no effort was made to explore inland. After encountering considerable hardships, Bering died during the winter of 1741. As a result of the furs which were brought back by the sailors, many Russians crossed to the American coast and the fur trade commenced with the natives. In 1781, two Russians named Ivan Golikoff, and Gregory Shelikoff , formed an association to control the fur trade and estab lished a trading post on Kadiak island. One, Alexander Baranoff, who had accompanied Shelikoff in 1783, was appointed in 1790, in charge of the settlement. In 1799, the Emperor Paul handed over the control of the Russian possessions to the Russian Fur Company and on the 25th of May of the same year a trading post was established at old Sitka, which the Russians called Fort Archangel, Gabriel Baranoff being appointed chief director and governor of the Russian colonies. Bancroft describes the presence of the Cossacks on the Eastern coast of Siberia as follows: "As the little sable had induced the Cossacks from the Black sea and the Volga, across the Ural mountains and the vast plains of Siberia to the shores of the Okhotsk sea and the Pacific, so now the sea-otter lures the same venturesome race out among the islands, and ice and fog banks of ocean." In order to determine the sovereign rights of the respective countries ne gotiations commenced between the representatives of the governments of Russia - and Great Britain. Russia claimed the North Pacific coast down to latitude 51°, but in the treaty of 1824 the boundary was fixed at 54° 40' and in the follow ing year a further treaty was concluded by which Russia relinquished to Great Britain her claim not only to the region below latitude 54° 40', but also to the vast interior occupied by the Hudson's Bay Company up to the frozen ocean. . Article III. of the treaty of 1825 defined the southern and western boundaries! of the British possessions as follows: "Commencing from the southernmost point of the island called Prince of Wales' island, which point lies in the parallel of 54 degrees, 40 minutes north latitude, and between the 131st and 133rd degree of west longitude (meridian The Honourable W. J. Roche, Minister of the Interior THE YUKON TERRITORY of Greenwich), the said line shall ascend to the north along the channel called Portland channel, as far as the point of the continent where it strikes the 56th degree of north latitude; from this last mentioned point the line of demarcation shall follow the summits of the mountains situated parallel to the coast, as far as the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west longitude (of the same meri dian) ; and, finally, from the said point of intersection, the said meridian line of the 141st degree, in its prolongation as far as the frozen ocean, shall form the limit between the Russian and British possessions on the continent of America to the northwest." The line of demarcation is described in Paragraph 2, Article IV. of the treaty of 1825, as follows: "2nd:, That wherever the summit of the mountains which extend in a direction parallel to the coast, from the 56th degree of north latitude to the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west longitude, shall prove to be at the dis tance of more than ten marine leagues from the ocean, the limit between the British possessions and the line of coast which is to belong to Russia, as above- mentioned, shall be formed by a line parallel to the windings of the coast, and which shall never exceed the distance of ten marine leagues therefrom." In 1867, Alaska was purchased from Russia by the United States and con siderable difficulty subsequently arose as to this demarcation line, but the ques tion was finally settled in 1903 by the award of the Alaska Boundary Tribunal. By virtue of an act passed in 1815, the control of the territorial affairs of the Hudson's Bay Company was transferred from a committee sitting in London to a person designated as the Governor-in-Chief of Rupert's Land and his council. Five years later, Sir John Simpson, who had been a clerk in a London counting house was appointed Governor, and for a period of nearly forty years was head of the Company's fur trade and virtual ruler of almost half a continent. It was during the regime of Sir John Simpson that the Yukon territory was first explored by the Company's traders. A trading post had been established at Dease lake, about ninety miles south of the boundary line of the Province of British Columbia. This post was abandoned in 1839 and in the spring of the following year Mr. Robert Campbell was directed by Sir George Simpson to explore the north branch of the Liard to its source, and to cross the divide in search of any river flowing to the westward. Mr. Campbell writes: 'In pursuance of these instructions, I left Fort Halkett (on the lower Liard) in May with a canoe and seven men, among them my trusty Indians, Lapie and Kitza, and the interpreter Hoole. After ascend ing the stream some hundreds of miles, far into the mountains, we entered a beautiful lake, which I named Frances lake, in honour of Lady Simpson. Leav ing the canoe and part of the crew near the southwest (sic) extremity of this (west) branch of the lake, I set out with three Indians and the interpreter. Shouldering our blankets and guns, we ascended the valley of a river, which we traced to its source in a lake ten miles long, which, with the river I named Finlaison's lake and river.' Alfred Thompson, Esq., M.D., Member of Parliament for the Yukon 6 THE YUKON TERRITORY From this p'oint_Mr. Campbell struck across to the Pelly, which he then named in honour of Sir H. Pelly, a governor of the company. A fort was con structed at Pelly Banks in 1842, and in the following year Campbell floated down the Pelly in a birch bark canoe to the confluence of a river which he named the Lewes. This river was named by Campbell after John Lee Lewes, the chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. At this point was encamped a large band of 'Wood Indians' who volunteered the information that the natives on the lower river were hostile. Campbell returned to Pelly Banks where, during the winter of 1847-48, boats were built, and in the following June Fort Selkirk was estab lished at the confluence of the Pelly and the Yukon. In answer to inquiries on the subject by Dr. Dawson, Mr. Campbell stated that the Stewart river was discovered in 1849 and that this river was named after James G. Stewart, son of the late Hon. John Stewart, of Quebec. Stewart was Campbell's assistant clerk, and had been sent out from Fort Selkirk in the winter of 1849 to follow the Indian hunters in quest of meat. He found them some distance north of the Stewart river, which he crossed on the ice. In 1850, Camp bell descended the river from Fort Selkirk to Fort Yukon, being the first white man to pass the mouth of the famous Klondike and the site of the present city of Dawson. In this year the fort at Pelly Banks was abandoned, and Campbell decided to establish the headquarters of the company at Fort Selkirk. The fur taken by the Indians to Pelly Banks could as easily be taken to Fort Selkirk, from which point they were taken to Fort Yukon and up the Porcupine to the Mackenzie. This route was considered preferable to the land transport from Pelly Banks to Frances lake and the arduous and dangerous navigation of the Liard. In 1852, however, Fort Selkirk was the scene of an unfortunate disaster, which closed Campbell's career in the Yukon. Dr. Dawson presents the facts as follows: — 'The several ruined chimneys of Fort Selkirk, still to be seen, with other traces on the ground, are in themselves evidence of the important dimensions and careful construction of this post. The establishment consisted, I believe, in 1852, of one senior and one junior clerk and eight men. The existence of this post in the centre of the inland or "Wood-Indian" country had, however, very seriously interfered with a lucrative and usurious trade which the Chilcoot and Chilkat Indians of Lynn Canal, on the coast, had long been accustomed to carry on with these people; acting as intermediaries between them and the white traders on the Pacific and holding the passes at the headwaters of the Lewes with all the spirit of robber barons of old. In 1852 rumour was current that these people meditated a raid upon the post, in consequence of which the friendly local Indians ' stayed by it nearly all summer of their own accord. It so happened, however, that they absented themselves for a couple of days, and at that unlucky moment the coast Indians arrived. The post was unguarded by a stockade, and yielding to sheer force of numbers the occupants were expelled and the place was pillaged, on the 21st of August. Two days afterward Campbell, having found the local Indians, returned with them and surrounded the post, but the robbers had flown. George Black, Commissioner of the Yukon Territory THE YUKON TERRITORY' Being now without means of support for the winter, Campbell set off down stream to meet Mr. Stewart and the men who were on the way back from Fort Yukon. He met them at the mouth of White river, and after turning them back with instructions to arrange for wintering at Fort Yukon, set out himself in a small canoe up the Pelly river, crossed to Frances lake, descended the Liard and arrived at Fort Simpson with the tidings of the disaster, amid drifting ice, on the 21st of October. 'Being anxious to obtain Sir George Simpson's permission to re-establish Fort Selkirk, Campbell waited only until the river froze, when he left Fort Simp son on snowshoes and travelled overland to Crow Wing, in Minnesota, where he arrived on the 13th of March. On the 18th of April he reached London, but was unable to obtain from the directors of the company the permission he desired. 'In the autumn of 1853 one of Campbell's hunters arrived at Fort Halkett, on the lower Liard, by way of the Pelly and Frances. This is the last traverse of Campbell's portage of which I can find any record, though it may doubtless have been used by the Indians subsequently. From this man it was learnt that the buildings at Fort Selkirk had been all but demolished by the local Indians for the purpose of getting the ironwork and the nails. He also stated that the Chilkats, being unable to carry away all their plunder in the preceding year, had taken merely the guns, powder and tobacco. They had cached the heavier goods, which were afterwards found and appropriated by the local or Wood Indians.' This remarkable journey, which was made by Campbell from Fort Selkirk to London, a distance of about 9,700 miles, over three thousand of which he travelled on snowshoes in the dead of winter through a practically uninhabited wilderness, is a splendid testimony of the intrepid spirit and determined character of those adventurous traders. In the history of the west, the name of Campbell may well be classed with such explorers as Mackenzie, Thompson, and Fraser, whose ser vices in the cause of commerce have done so much to open up the wonderful resources of the western portion of the Dominion. Civilization is indebted to these men not only on account of their remarkable daring in face of the enormous difficulties which they overcame, but for their straightforward dealings with the Indians. 'Their journeys were not marked by incidents of conflict or blood shed, but were accomplished, on the contrary, with the friendly assistance and co-operation of the natives.' The Peel river was named by Sir John Franklin in honour of Sir Robert Peel, and the information furnished by Franklin concerning the fur bearing animals along this river induced the Hudson's Bay Company to send an exploration- party under Mr. J. Bell who was directed to make an examination of the locality preparatory to establishing a trading post. During the summer of 1839, Mr. Bell explored the river to the head of the Snake river, and the following year Fort McPherson was established at the head of the delta. In 1842, Bell made a three days' journey down the Porcupine. Four years later he reached the mouth of the Porcupine and saw the great river into which it flows, which the Indians Fold out HISTORICAL SKETCH informed him was named the Yukon. In 1847 Fort Yukon was established at the mouth of the Porcupine by Mr. A. H. Murray. Gold had been discovered in the Yukon by Campbell and other traders in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. It was not until 1872, however, that regular prospectors began to direct their steps toward the Yukon. In September of that year Arthur Harper, a native of County Antrim, Ireland, together with Frederick Harper and four other miners started for the Mackenzie river and the Yukon Territory. At the mouth of the Nelson, Harper and his party met L. N. (Jack) McQuesten, Alfred H. Mayo and James McKnipp. Proceeding by way of the Mackenzie river, Harper and his party crossed from Fort Mac- Pherson to the Porcupine and arrived at Fort Yukon on the 15th of July, 1873. When Alaska was purchased from Russia by the United States, the Russian company's vessels and trading posts were acquired for the firm of Hutchinson, Kohl & Co., San Francisco. In 1869, the Alaska Commercial Company was incorporated and three years later this company purchased the holdings of Hutchinson, Kohl & Co. In 1901 the Alaska Commercial Company merged with the Alaska Exploration Company and the name of the joint concern became the Northern Commercial Company. The Alaska Commercial Company established posts along the Yukon River and for many years subsequent to the retirement of the Hudson's Bay Company had a monopoly of trade in the Yukon. In 1892 a competing company known as the North American Transportation and Trading Company was organized in Chicago. This company established its chief trading and distributing post at Cudahy, a short distance below the mouth of the Forty Mile river. In 1874, Jack McQuesten established a trading post for the Alaska Com mercial Company at Fort Reliance about six miles below the present city of Dawson. In the same year Harper joined McQuesten in the trading business and in 1875, Harper and Mayo were in charge of Fort Reliance. In 1885 mining commenced on the Stewart river and in the following year Harper, McQuesten and Mayo, who were trading on commission for the Alaska Company, established a trading post at the mouth of the Stewart. Shortly after the discovery of gold on the Fortymile in 1887 they also established another trad ing post at the mouth of the Fortymile river. Harper also commenced business at Fort Selkirk, on the site of the old post which was first established by Campbell, and built a new post at Ogilvie opposite the mouth of the Sixty mile river. During this time, Harper had prospected for gold in the Fortymile, Sixtymile and Tanana districts, and for copper in the White River district, but was not particularly successful in his mining operations. Discovery of the Klondike In the summer of 1882 twelve miners crossed Dyea pass and spent the winter at Fort Reliance. One of these miners was Joe Ladue who later became iden tified with the development of the territory and who subsequently occupied the .9.-a S. -o HISTORICAL SKETCH 11 trading post at Ogilvie. In 1886 about 100 miners were rocking bars along the Stewart river, the average per man for the season, according to Mr. Ogilvie being about $100 per day. In the autumn of 1886 coarse gold was discovered in the Fortymile river, and as soon as the news of the discovery reached the Stew art the usual stampede occurred. In this year the number of miners in the Yukon basin may be stated at 250, there being 200 on the Fortymile and about 50 on the Stewart. In 1894 Robert Henderson, of Nova Scotia, and a small party arrived in the territory. They prospected along the bars of the upper Yukon and rocked out $54.00 in fine gold at the mouth of the Pelly. When they reached the trading (•**** ' - lwi# A wind-swept waste 24 THE YUKON TERRITORY' (2) Mineral Claims. — The recorded owner of a mineral claim is entitled to hold it from year to year provided he shall do or cause to be done work on the claim itself to the value of $100.00 in accordance with the following schedule: Ordinary sinking through dirt, gravel and muck, first ten feet $3.00 per foot; second ten feet $5.00 per foot; third ten feet $8.00 per foot. Tunnelling or drifting through loose rock $10.00 per foot; for a shaft of 4' by 6' or a tunnel of the same dimensions. Tunnelling or drifting through conglomerate $15.00 per foot for a shaft of 4' by 6' or a tunnel of the same dimensions. Tunnelling or drifting through solid rock $25.00 per foot; for a shaft or tunnel of the above mentioned dimensions. Cutting wood for use on a Quartz Mineral Claim, $4.00 per cord. Cost of construction of a cabin on a Mineral Claim, $75.00. and shall obtain a certificate of work. Payment, however, may be made to the mining recorder of the sum of $100.00 in lieu of representation work for each year. PR/M/T/l/E PLACES? M/A//A/G A/ETHODS 6y tV/hcS/ess etna/ &vc£&f Muc/c /^rozen Grave/ Sec/ /?oc/< MINING-GENERAL CONDITIONS 2.5 Grouping. — (1) Placer Claims. — The mining recorder may grant per mission for a term not exceeding five years to the owner or owners of adjoining claims, which claims do not exceed ten in number to perform on any one or more of such claims all the work required to entitle such owner or owners to a renewal grant for each claim. The mining act provides, however, that where such claims are recorded in the name of more than one owner a partnership agreement creating a joint and several liability on the part of all the owners of the claims for the joint working of the same must be executed by each of the owners and filed with the mining recorder before permission is granted. Permission may also be given to group more than ten placer mining claims, some of which do not adjoin provided the gold commissioner is satisfied that such claims are to be operated by a system of mining which has a direct bearing upon all the claims affected and renders a considerable area necessary to successful operation by the system proposed, and that such application receives the approval of the com missioner. (2) Mineral Claims. — Adjacent claims, not exceeding eight in number, may be worked by the owners in partnership provided a partnership certificate is obtained from the mining recorder, and the work, which may be performed on any one or more of such claims, will entitle the owners to a certificate of work. Royalty. — (a) Placer Claims. — The royalty on all gold shipped from the Y~ukon is %Yi per cent, or 37^ cents per ounce, and the valuation of gold for royalty purposes is $15 per ounce. (b) Mineral Claims. — No royalty or export tax shall be charged on gold extracted from a mineral claim in the Yukon Territory for a period of ten years from the 16th day of May, 1911. (c) Copper Location. — No royalty shall be charged on the products of copper mining locations for a period of ten (10) years, that is up to the 1st day of January, 1921, and no reservation shall be made in the patents issued for such locations of a royalty on the sale of the products thereof during that period. (d) Iron. — No royalty shall be charged on the products of locations granted under the provisions of these or any previous regulations for the mining of iron for a period of twenty years, from the 1st day of January, 1908, and no reser vation shall be made in the patents issued for such locations of a royalty on the sales of the products thereof during that period, that is, up to the 1st day of January, 1928. Title. — (1) Placer Claims. — Any person having duly located a claim may obtain a grant for one or five years by paying the fees prescribed and by perfor ming the necessary representation work. (2) Mineral Claims. — Any legal holder of a mineral claim acquired prior to the 12th of June, 1914, shall be entitled to a crown grant. (a) Upon payment to the Dominion Government of the sum of $500.00 in addition to the price of the mining location at the rate of $1.00 per acre. (b) By an expenditure of $500.00 in development work, the cost of the survey of the mineral claim not exceeding $100.00 to be counted as work done on 26 THE YUKON TERRITORY the claim provided it has been accepted in lieu of representation work for the year in which the survey was made. Surface Rights. — Large stretches of the river beds in the Y^ukon have been acquired under the regulations governing the issue of leases to dredge for minerals, but with one or two exceptions, the dredges in the territory at the present time, are operating on creek claims or flats adjoining river beds. All claims that have been staked or otherwise acquired for the purpose of dredging are held subject to the provisions of the Placer Mining Act. The surface rights of a placer claim are not granted to any person other than the owner of the claim until the owner is given an opportunity to acquire such rights. This provision protects the dredge operator against litigation, which otherwise might be created by some S£-l_f DUMPED OPERATED By STEAM other person acquiring the surface rights of mining property, the surface of which must necessarily be destroyed by dredging operations. Frozen Ground. — Throughout almost all the mining districts in the ter ritory, with the exception of Kluane, the gravels are covered by a body of black frozen muck, which varies from 4 to 20 feet in thickness. The muck can be picked, but no impression can be made on the frozen gravels, which have to be thawed. ' The thickness of the frozen stratum varies considerably, and is less on the ridges than in the valleys, and on southern than on northern slopes. A shaft sunk on the ridge south of Eldorado creek reached unfrozen ground at a depth of 60 feet, while one in the valley of Eldorado creek, was stopped by running water at a depth of a little over 200 feet. Another shaft sunk through gravel, on the plateau between Bonanza creek and the Klondike river, passed through the frost line at a depth of 175 feet.' Near the head of Quartz creek a shaft tapped running MINING — GENERAL CONDITIONS 27 water at a depth of about 216 feet. 'The summer heat has little effect on the frozen layer except in the few places where the surface is unprotected by moss. Exposed gravel beds in favourable positions thaw out to a depth of from six to ten feet, but where moss is present, frost is always encountered close to the sur face. ' The depth of gravel varies from three feet on some of the creeks to 30 and 40 feet on lower Dominion and from 80 to 100 feet on Quartz creek. The frozen muck which overlies the gravels forms an exceedingly firm roof and no timbering is required in the drifts. The shafts in which self-dumpers are operating, how ever, are usually timbered as well as the tunnels leading from the bottom of the shafts to the face of the drifts. Underneath the frozen muck large chambers can be excavated during the winter. ' In one case on Dominion creek a muck roof unsupported by pillars covered a vault said to measure 140 feet by 230 feet and remained unbroken until midsummer. Examples of muck roofs spanning vaults over 100 feet in width are quite common.' Bedrock.* — 'The greater part of the gold both in the hill and creek gravels occurs on or near bedrock, either in the lower four to six feet of gravel or sunk for some distance in the bedrock itself. The distribution depends largely on the character of the bedrock. Soft schists such as those underlying the rich portion of upper Dominion creek prevent the gold from descending, and it accumulates in a thin layer at the base of the gravels. In many of the rich claims between the two discoveries on Dominion creek a thin stratum of gravel resting immediately on bedrock proved extraordinarily rich, while the bedrock and the upper gravels were comparatively lean. On Bonanza creek the bedrock as a rule is harder and more flaggy, and the action of frost has parted the layers and allowed a portion of the gold to descend along them. From three to five feet of bedrock are usually mined at a profit, and gold has been found in some quantity at a depth of twelve feet and probably descends still deeper. On a couple of claims on Hunker creek. below the mouth of Seventy Pup, practically all the gold occurred in a shattered porphyry bedrock, the overlying gravels proving almost barren. The bedrock underlying the hill of White Channel gravels is more decomposed than that in the creek bottoms, does not open out in the same way and retains most of the gold at or near the surface. In a few places gold has been found in paying quantities in the schist partings under the decomposed layer, but as a rule only the upper few inches are mined.' Machinery. — Very crude devices were employed in the early days, i.e., '98 and '99, to handle the pay dirt and recover the gold. The invention and intro duction of modern mining machinery specially adapted to the frozen ground in the Yukon may be attributed to the experience and enterprise of resourceful miners and operators, the high price of labour, and the necessity of reducing the cost of operations in order to mine gravels carrying low grade pay. The self dumper, the steam points and equipment for thawing by hot water, have all been specially designed to meet the conditions that exist in the Klondike. • R. G. McConnell. B.A., Geological Survey Report (No. 979). MINING — GENERAL CONDITIONS 29 Grade of Gold.* — 'Klondike gold varies greatly in grade, not only on different creeks but also along different portions of the same creek. The differ ence of grade is due to the gold being in all cases alloyed with silver in varying proportions**. In the lowest grade gold the silver almost equals the gold in volume, the ratio being 1 to 1.4. In high grade gold the ratio is 1 to 5 and the general average is 1 to 2.3. In value the ratio of silver to gold is very small, the proportion calculated from a number of returns being approximately 1 to 150**. While the grade of the placer gold is supposed to conform in a general way with that of the original vein gold, some changes are evidently produced by- the leaching out of a portion of the silver contents. Evidence of loss of silver is afforded by the fact that fine gold which would necessarily be affected more by leaching than the accompanying coarse gold invariably carries a smaller per centage of silver. Nuggets also assay higher as a rule on the surface than in the centre. Five assays of selected nuggets made by Mr. Connor in the laboratory of the survey gave the following results: — Centre of Xugget Surface 1 . SilverGold. 2 . SilverGold. 3. Silver Gold. 4 . Silver Gold. 5 . SilverGold. 35.864.239.960.137.362.746.153.933.067.0 29.4 70.6 33.5 66.5 30.369.741.059.0 33.566.5 > Trail hill, Bonanza creek. Chechaco hill, Bonanza creek. Bonanza creek, No. 12 below. Treasure hill, Last Chance creek. Bonanza creek, No. 3 below. 'All the nuggets with the exception of No. 5 show losses in silver of from five to seven per cent on the surface, assuming that the composition was originally uniform. No. 5 was a large nugget filled with quartz and its exceptional charac ter is probably due to its being much younger than the others.' Transportation of Gold. — The two main factors in the transportation of coarse gold by natural causes are grade and bedrock. With steep grades and smooth bedrock transportation is comparatively rapid, while little movement takes place when the grades are moderate and the valleys are floored with the tilted flaggy schists characteristic of the district. The Klondike slopes are everywhere mantled with a thick covering of broken and partially decomposed schist fragments easily moved when not frozen and ever tending downwards towards the creek and gulch levels. The downward movement is slow and intermittent at present on account of the perpetually frozen condition of the surface, except on sunny slopes. During the period of the White Channel gravels * R. G. McConnell, B.A.. Report of Gold Values in the Klondike High Level Gravels (No. 979). 30 THE YUKON TERRITORY — the period of the great gold accumulations — climatic conditions were less severe and the movement must have been much more rapid. The slide material carries with it the gold and gold-bearing quartz released by the breaking up of the auriferous quartz veins, and when running water is reached the gold is sluiced out and remains behind, while the rock fragments are ground up and carried away. (a) In gravels. — The distance travelled by the gold after reaching the waterways, neglecting the time element, depends on the grades and bedrock. The upper portions of the creeks and the steep gulches, except where they cross the pay-streak of the White Channel gravels and are directly enriched from them, have not proved rich and are only occasionally productive. The gold washed down into them moves slowly on, and all the great accumulations occur on por tions of the creeks with grades of 150 feet or less to the mile. Evidence of the tardy movement of coarse gold down streams of moderate grade, even where the latter are actively engaged in eroding their channels, is furnished at many points along Bonanza and Hunker creeks. The pay-streak of the elevated White Channel gravels has been destroyed in places along both these streams. Whenever this occurs the creek bottoms directly opposite the destroyed portions are immediately enriched, showing that the gold, or a large portion of it at least, has remained almost stationery during all the time the creeks were employed in deepening their channels from 150 to 300 feet. The complementary relation ship existing between the creek and the hill pay gravels has been recognized by the miners, and whenever the creek gravels are lean, pay is confidently expected on the hills, and in the productive portions of the creeks is usually found. (b) On bedrock. — The influence of bedrock in retarding or accelerating the progress of gold down stream is almost as important as that of grade. The common bedrock of the district is a light coloured flaggy sericite schist of unequal hardness and usually tilted at high angles. The sericite schist alternates in places with bands of dark graphitic schists and is broken through by numerous porphyritic dikes and stocks. The light coloured flaggy schists when had, form an excellent bedrock from the miner's point of view, as they weather unequally into irregular rock ripples, which arrest the progress of the gold. The partings also open out under the influence of the alternate freezings and thawings to which the rocks are subjected and the gold descends along them, and continues to de scend as the surface is gradually lowered by erosion. Its progress down stream when caught in this manner is indefinitely delayed. The porphyritic rocks when shattered, as is often the case, also arrest most of the gold. The soft varieties of the sericite schists and the dark graphitic schists, on the other hand, offer small resistance to the passage of the gold. They weather to a smooth surface along which the gold moves easily, and the portions of the creeks under laid by them are usually lean. Purchase of Gold. — The banks in Dawson purchase gold either in the form of dust or dry amalgam. When the gold is presented at the banks, all foreign matter, such as sand, is blown out of the dust by the gold buyer, who MINING — GENERAL CONDITIONS 31 weighs it in the presence of the owner. The gold buyers have usually had con siderable experience in handling gold, and by the appearance of the dust can invariably designate the creek from which it has been derived. The dust from the different claims is either purchased at a rate established by previous assays, or if the owner prefers, a receipt for the weight is given and a special assay is made. In making the assay the dust or amalgam is melted by the assayer, and the base metals (iron and copper) fluxed off. It is then poured into moulds and cleaned of any slag adhering to the gold. The bar is next weighed, and the difference in weight represents the loss in melting. Afterwards, sample chips are taken from the bar (along diagonal lines on top and bottom), and each chip is assayed. The results of the assay of each chip must check within one-tenth of a point of fineness. From the results of the assay a certificate of fineness is given, 1,000 fine representing pure gold at $20.67 per ounce. The following is a list of the assay values of dust from some of the principal creeks, namely: VALUES OF GOLD DUST Name of Creek Assay Value of Dust Anderson Adams American All Gold Bear creek Black hills Bonanza Ballarat Big Gold Barker Canyon Claffy Pup Clear Chechacko Caribou Canadian Conglomerate Davidson Deadwood Dublin gulch Duncan Dominion Eldorado 80 Pup, trib. Hunker . Eureka French gulch Fortymile Gold Bottom Gold Run Gold hill Glacier Goring Gay gulch Gauvin gulch $14.88- 12.71- 17.7713.31-15 . 50- 16 . 12- 18 . 39- 17. 11- lS. 50- 16 . 86- 17.86- 19.08-16 . 80- 13.08- 13 . 99- 13.04-16 . 82- 16.18- 17.57-17.46- -$15.04- 16.4317.86 - 14.86 - 17.67 - 16.9717.61 17.65 - 18.6017.07 15.50 - 17.77 - 16.22 - 17.36 - 18.25 16.3517.3616.37 - 18.23 16.37 - 18.08 - 16.1816.47 - 15.02 - 13.97 - 16.95 - 16.47 - 17.7715.87 - 17.5715.2516.1213.72 VALUES OF GOLD DUST— Continued Highet Herbert Henry gulch . . . Haggart Henderson .... Homestake . . . Hunker Independence . . Indian River . . Irish Jackson gulch . Last Chance . . Lightning Ledge Log Cabin .... Lombard Lovett Little Blanche. Montana Miller Minto Minto lake .... Moose Matson Monte Cristo . . Mariposa Mint gulch Paradise hill . . . Quartz Oro Grande . . . Sixtymile Steep Stewart river . . Skookum Sulphur Scroggie Tenmile Thistle Victoria gulch . Name of Creek Assay Value of Dust 17 . 26— 18 1415 16 1217 141617 29- 50- 12- 19- 09- 74-57- 16.86— 09-09 .57- 13- .30—.67—.53—.60— .52— 17.4619.53 13.43 18.50 15.09 13.7016.9016.4117.4415.33 17.38 16.4917.15 16.84 18.5017.7717.28 13.60 15.91 17.71 17.26 17.67 16.02 16.3318.60 17.5915.74 16.20 16.0216.70 19.4917.57 15.4816.97 18.7017.38 18.5016.95 Miner's Units. — The following table shows the standard weights and measures in placer mining in the Klondike: — TABLE OF MINER'S UNITS *5}4 pans make 1 cubic ft. 15 pans make ... 1 wheelbarrow 4 wheelbarrows make 1 bucket 10 wheelbarrows make 1 cubic yard fl pan of gravel weighs 20 lbs. 1 cubic yard of gravel weighs 3,000 lbs. * These measures are not to be construed as absolutely accurate, but are used by miners in making substantial or working estimates. t Estimated weight average gravels. MINING — GENERAL CONDITIONS 33 Mr. T. A. Rickard in his book "Through the Yukon and Alaska" gives the following alluvial measures as being in common use in Alaska: 1 pan holds 25 lbs. of gravel 6 pans make 1 CUDic ft. 15 pans make 1 wheelbarrow 10 wheelbarrows make 1 cubic yard 135 pans make 1 cubic yard 4 wheelbarrows make 1 bucket These do not agree exactly. A full pan will hold from 20 to 25 pounds, and it requires from 125 to 135 pans to make a cubic yard. A cubic yard is usually estimated to weigh 3,000 pounds oxlYi tons. If a pan holds 20 lbs. and 150 pans equal a yard, then a cubic yard weighs 3,000 pounds. A loaded wheelbarrow will hold l/lOth of a cubic yard; this is the ratio recognized at Fairbanks and at Nome. Low Level Gravels. — 'The low level creek gravels are the most import ant gravels in the district. These gravels floor the bottoms of all the valleys to a depth of from four to ten feet. They rest on bedrock usually consisting of decomposed and broken schists, and are overlaid by a sheet of black frozen muck ranging in thickness from two to thirty feet or more. They are local in origin and consist entirely of the schists and other rocks outcropping along the valleys. The schists pebbles are usually flat round-edged discs measuring one to two inches in thickness and two to six inches in length. They constitute the greater part of the deposit, but 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 of the region. The pebbles are loosely stratified, are usually embedded in a matrix of coarse reddish sand and alternate in places with thin beds of sand and muck.' (o) Creek. — 'The creek gravels frequently inclose leaves, roots and other vegetable remains, and also the bones of various extinct and still existing north ern animals, such as the mammoth, the buffalo, the bear, the musk-ox and the mountain sheep and goat.' (6) Gulch. — 'The gulch gravels occupy the upper portions of the main creek valleys and small tributary valleys. They differ from the creek gravels in being coarser and more angular. A considerable proportion of their material consists of almost unworn fragments of schist washed down from the adjacent slopes. They contain the same vegetable and animal remains as the creek gravels.' (c) River. — ' The only river gravels of the district proven, so far, to contain gold in paying quantities occur in the wide flats bordering the lower portions of the Klondike river below the mouth of Hunker valley. The river gravels consist of quartzite, slate, chert, granite and diabase pebbles largely derived from the western slopes of the Ogilvie range. They are harder and better rounded than the creek gravels, a necessary result of the greater distance travelled.' Ground sluicing MINING — GENERAL CONDITIONS 35 Terrace Gravels. — 'Rock terraces occur at various points cut into the steep slopes of the present valleys. They were produced during the deepening of the valleys, and are simply remnants of former valley bottoms. They are small, seldom exceeding a few yards in width and a few hundred yards in length, irregular in dis tribution, and occur at all elevations up to the bottoms of the old valleys. The terraces support beds of gravel, usually from six to fifteen feet in thickness, very similar to that in the creek bottoms, but showing somewhat more wear. The terrace gravels, like the creek gravels, are overlaid, as a rule, with muck, and at one point on Hunker creek were found buried beneath a hundred feet of this material.' High Level Gravels. — ' They consist, principally, of ancient creek depos its, overlaid near the mouths of some of the valleys by gravels laid down by the Klondike river, when it ran at a much higher level than at present, and occupied a somewhat wider valley. These gravels occur at various points along the Klon dike river. In the Klondike district they are found covering the small plateaus in which the ridges separating Bonanza and Hunker creeks from the Klondike river terminate. They rest in both places, on high level creek gravels at an elevation of about 450 feet above the present valley bottoms. They have a thickness of from 150 to 175 feet, and consist principally of well-rolled pebbles, of quartzite, slate, chert, granite, diabase and conglomerate embedded in a matrix of gray sand, and derived, like those in the present stream, from the western part of the Ogilvie range.' (a) White Channel gravels.—' The White Channel gravels differ somewhat from the ordinary type of stream deposit. They are very compact as a rule and in some of the hydraulic cuts stand up in almost vertical cliffs, even when the face is unfrozen. The white or light grey colouration, from which the deposit derives its name, is very conspicuous in most of the sections but is not universal, as red, yellow and dark grey beds frequently occur. The deposit is highly siliceous, the principal constituents consisting of rounded pebbles and rounded and sub-angular boulders of vein quartz. Flat schist pebbles and boulders, usually in a more or less advanced stage of decomposition, occur with the quartz, and also occasional pebbles derived from the various dikes and stocks outcropping along the valleys. No material foreign to the districts occurs in the deposit. The pebbles and boulders are usually small, seldom exceeding eighteen inches in diameter, and are embedded in a compact matrix consisting essentially of small sericite plates and fine angular quartz grains . . ' The uni formity of the deposit in composition and general character throughout sections a hundred feet or more in thickness is very striking. The bedding planes, as a rule, are inconspicuous, and there has been no sorting of the various constituents into separate beds. The deposits, unlike the creek and gulch gravels, appear to be destitute of vegetable and animal remains. The thickness of the White Channel gravels varies from a few feet to 150 feet, and the original width from a couple of hundred yards to over a mile. (b) Yellow Gravels. — 'The white compact gravel deposit described above is overlaid in places by loosely stratified gravels known as the yellow gravels. 0 rj) 3 55 MINING — GENERAL CONDITIONS 37 The latter are of a rusty colour, are more distinctly stratified than the white gravels and consist mainly of flat schist pebbles lying loosely in a coarse sandy matrix.' 12. White Channel. — 'The White Channel bench or hill gravels are the oldest in the district, and, excepting the present creek gravels, the most important from an economic standpoint. They were originally creek gravels, deposited in a similar manner to those occupying the low levels at present, and their elevated position is due to an uplift which affected the whole region border ing the Yukon from the Stewart river northwest to the Alaskan boundary and for a considerable distance beyond. This uplift, and a small depression which preceded it, produced many notable changes in the topography of the country. It is probably, although not conclusively proved, that during the White Channel period the lower portion of the Klondike valley, the portion into which the principal gold-bearing creeks discharge, was occupied by a small local stream and that the Klondike itself flowed either into the Stewart or into Twelvemile river. The White Channel deposits are remarkable in this respect that even when completely destroyed their former portion is marked by a trail of gold. They are traceable in this manner from the present mouth of Hunker, Bear and Bonan za creeks far out into the present valley of the Klondike, showing that the old valley was small, smaller than that of Hunker creek and unlikely to have con tained a large rapid river such as the Klondike. At the close of the White Chan nel period the district was depressed and it was during this depression that the Klondike is considered to have broken into its present valley. It brought down an immense quantity of material from its upper reaches, and rapidly built up a wide gravel bed fully 150 feet in depth. These gravels at the mouth of Hunker and Bonanza creeks rest on the White Channel deposits and at other points, where not destroyed, are distributed along the hillsides at the same level. The depression was followed by an uplift of approximately 700 feet, which gave new life to all the streams by increasing their grades, and they immediately commenced to deepen their channels. This process was continued not only through the old gravel deposits but down into the bedrock to a depth of from 150 to 300 feet. The new valleys are sunk as a rule, through the bottom of the old ones, but in a few places, as at the mouth of Bonanza creek, they deviate from them and have carved out independent courses. The difference in character between the old and new valleys is striking. The old ones represent the product of long continued stable conditions, and are characterized by wide flats and gently sloping sides, from which all traces of angularity have been smoothed away. The flats of the old Hunker creek valley have a width in places of over a mile. The new valleys, on the other hand, while opening out into occasional basins, are generally narrow, steep-sided and angular. This applies only to the creeks, all of which are small, as the Klondike river has cut a huge trench through the district since the uplift. Only a portion of the deposits of the old valleys was destroyed during the excavation of the recent valleys, as the latter are much narrower and do not follow exactly the same course. The undestroyed portions constitute the White Channel gravels of the miners.' CHAPTER IV. PLACER MINING PLACER mining in the Yukon commenced on the Lewes and Big Salmon rivers in 1881. Coarse gold was discovered on the Fortymile in 1886, and as a result the Stewart river was almost deserted the following year. The famous discovery on Bonanza creek, however, was made in 1896, and shortly afterwards ensued the great rush to the Klondike. The following Table shows the value of the gold production in the Yukon since 1885, namely: 1885—1886 $ 100,000.00 1887 70,000.00 1888 40,000.00 1889 175,000.00 1890 175,000.00 1891 40,000.00 1892 87,500.00 1893 176,000.00 1894 :..,. , 125,000.00 1895 250,000.00 1896 300,000.00 1897 2,500,000.00 1898 10,000,000.00 1899 16,000,000.00 1900 22,275,000.00 1901 17,368,000.00 1902 11,962,690.00 1903 10,625,422.00 i904 9,413,074.00 1905 7,162,438.00 I906 5,258,874.00 1907 2,896,173.00 1908 3,200,288.00 1909 3,260,263.75 1910 v 3,594,884.05 1911 , 4,125,570.60 1912 4,024,245.80 1913 5,018,411.85 1914 5,301,497.26 1915 4,649,634.40 $150,174,966.71 PLACER MINING 39 The following Tables show the extent of placer mining operations in the various mining districts during the year 1914: DAWSON MINING DISTRICT Creek claims Hill and bench claims Name of creek c UO c % w _o X X aCD X -a o3Baa £^ & fl O > ¦3- a a V -r- Q c "3 oo e "5 o 3 O. C Q YUKON RIVER— 13 1 15 3 Tulare Pelly MacMillan 16 20 1 13 5 2— 4 0— 2 6— 8 5—15 1 1 2 1 78 14 4 1 622 12—1512—1510—12 Canadian Olga 22 3 2— 4 2— 4 2— 4 8—108—108—10 Hazel Thistle 1 Blueberry Edas Donohue Nesling (Trib. of Donjek) Nansen 18 12 9 13 1 7 Dolly . 2 1 3 South Fork East Nansen . . Hyde Rusk ) 1 3 Back 15 1 1 9 WHITE RIVER— Caledonia Greenwood Flint 23 12 6 242 25 2 5031 3 Goodfellow Hill 2 8—10 25—30 20—25 100—115 Ellis Creek claims Hill and bench claims Name of creek s 'aa CDCJO c Iii o _oX en "3 is CD d X Jt o3 ¦"3 *4_i a d a> •<-* Q CD >