GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING IN ALASKA

314 Pages·2011·34.85 MB·English

Bulletin No. 263 Series A, Economic Geology, 55
.DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
CHARLES iX WALCOXT, .DIRECTOR
METHODS AND COSTS
OF
GRAVEL AND PLACER MINING
IN ALASKA
BY
CHESTER WELLS PURINGTON
WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1905

CONTENTS.
Page.
Letter of transmittal...................................................... 11
Introduction............................................................. 13
Itinerary ..........................--.----.-----...---- -- --- ----- 13
Field methods ....................................................... 14
Acknowledgments.................................................... 25
General statement of conditions ........................................... 25
Classification of alluvial gold deposits in Alaska ....................:... 27-
Methods of mining, and conditions .............--.- ---.--- ---------- 29
Cost of mining ....................................................... 34
Prospecting ........... .............:.......................-............. 39
Cost of prospecting in different localities............................... 41
Kesults of prospecting................................................ 42
Water supply............................................................ 43
Climatic conditions................................................... 43
Stream volumes..........:........................................... 49
The miner's inch..................................................... .51
Table of stream volumes.............................................. 52
Grades of streams .......................'... ........................... 53
Open-cut mining.......................................................... 55
Introduction......................................................... 55
Rocker and long torn ................................................. 55
Shoveling into sluice boxes ........................................... 56
Conditions for shoveling.......................................... 56
Dams......j..................................................... 56
Drains............................................................ 57
Cost of shoveling................................................. 58
Horse scraping into sluice boxes........................................ 60 .
Steam scrapers ....................................................... 61
Self-dumping carriers.................................................. 65
Derricking............................................................ '67
Tracks and inclines................................................... 71
Steam shovel ........................................................ 73
Drift mining............................................................. 82
Introduction......................................................... 82
Drifting and timbering................................................ 83
Thawing............................................................. 88
Hoisting............................................................. 94
Drifting in the Fairbanks district...................................... 96
Hydraulic mining ........................................................ 99
General remarks ..................................................... 99
Ditches, flumes, and reservoirs........................................ 103
South Coast province ............................................. 113
Interior ......................................................... 117
Seward Peninsula ................................................ 120
3
4 CONTENTS.
Hydraulic mining Continued. Page.
Storage reservoirs .................................................... 127
Pipelines...............--..-..-...-.----..-..-.-..............-..... 128
Giants and nozzles.................................................... 134
, Sizes and prices .................................................... 134
Methods of piping to sluice ....................................... 136
Bank-head water................................................. 137
Duty of miner's inch.............. ................................. 138
Handling of bowlders.................................................. 141
Sluices and gold-saving appliances in hydraulic operations............... 142
Tailings ....".......................................'.:................ 150
The hydraulic elevator. ...........................................*..... 151
Dredging --.----.--....-..----........................................... 157
Introduction..................-..---................-.-----.-----.--. 157
Description of operations .......-------.----..-.----..----.------.---- 160
Cost of dredging............................................__........ ] 67
Notes on dredging, by J. P. Hutchins.................................. 173
Sluices and gold-saving appliances, excluding hydraulic operations........... 190
Cleaning, retorting, and melting........................................... 205
Fineness of gold........-....-----..-,---.-...---..---.-.....---.-........ 207
Labor .................................................................... 210
Lumber and fuel....................._.....-..---------------.-..-.-.-... 212
Timber.....................-.--..--.--....---.-.--.-...-....-...-.-. 212
' Coal.-....-..---------....----.-.-.------,--....-..----..--...-....... 213
Roads and road building in Alaska ................:....................... 217
Introduction .......................................................... 217
Cost and method of constructing highways............-.--.------..--.. 220
South Coast province ............................................. 222
Atlin district and Yukon Territory ................................. 222
Central Yukon province ...............................-............' 226
Seward Peninsula province...-..-.....-...-.--...--.--..-..-.-.-.. 227
Freight rates.........................:................................... 228
Freight rates from the States.............._.........._................ 228
Local freight and passenger rates ...................'.. ................ 235
Customs regulations ...................................................... 242
Telegraph rates .......................................................... 245
Tables of distances and prices of mining supplies ........................... 246
Legal conditions in 1904 ............... .............................-.....' 255
Introduction......................................................... 255
Application of present mining law to Alaska..............:.............. 257
Discovery r............... 1..................................'..... 257
Subsequent annual labor.........................._............... 258
Boundaries ...................................................... 259
Bibliography.....................'........................................ 261
Index..-.-.....-.-.-.---..--.----------.------------..-....-----..---..- 263
ILLUSTRATIONS.
" Page.
PLATE I. Rock-cut on Miocene ditch line, Seward Peninsula ..:........... 13
II. General map showing area traversed.............................. 14
III. A, Churn drill mounted on scow, Snake River; B, Winter dumps,
Klondike .................................................... 40
IV. A, Set-up of boxes for shoveling-in, American Creek; B, China
pump, Klondike ............................................ 56
V. A, Yukon placer miner; B, Dam for booming, American Creek... 58
VI. A, Steam scraping on Walker Fork, Alaska; B, Dumping to sluices,
Klondike ............. I...................................... 62
VII. A, Derricking at Fairbanks, dumping; B, Derricking at Fairbanks,
loading....................................................... 64
VIII. A, Skids for derrieking; B, Derrick bucket................i..... 66
IX. A, Dumping bucket; B, Rough bed rock and bowlders piled in
pit ......................................................... 68
X. Plan of derricking plant, Ophir Creek, Seward Peninsula..... i... 70
XI. A, Steam shovel, Anvil Creek; B, Steam shovel, Bear Creek, Klon
dike ......................................................... 74
XII. A, Stationary washing plant, Klondike; B, Cocoa matting and ex
panded metal riffle ......~..................................... 80
XIII. A, Adit to drifting operations; B, Thawing ahead of shovel, Eldo
rado Creek.................................................. 84
XIV. A, Old drift timbers in hydraulic pit, Klondike; B, Application of
the steam point in open-cut work............................. 86
XV. A, Drift mining on Fairbanks Creek; B, Hydraulicking, Silver
Bow basin .................................................. 92
XVI. A, Topography, South Coast province; B, Treadwell ditch line at
Lawson Creek, Douglas Island ............................... 114
XVII. A, Pressure box in Treadwell ditch; B, Method of staying pressure
box, Silver Bow basin ..............................:........ 116
XVIII. A, Flume of Jualpa Mining Company, Silver Bow basin; B, Typical
South Coast topography, Gold Creek ................... ...... 118
XIX. A, Typical interior topography, Mastodon Creek, Birch Creek dis
trict; B, Ditch building, head of Nome River, .Seward Peninsula. 120
XX. A, Miocene ditch, Glacier Creek; B, Flume of Hot Air Company,
Ophir Creek .................... 1 .......................... 124
XXI. A, Pier for trestle, Hot Air ditch line, Ophir Creek; B, Small stor
age dam, Bonanza Creek, Klondike........................... 126
XXII. A, Settling pond, Anvil Creek, Seward Peninsula; B, Pipe line,
Pine Creek, Atlin, British Columbia ......................... 128
XXIII. A, Set-up of hydraulic pipe line, McKee Creek, Atlin, British
Columbia; B, Hydraulic pit, Klondike benches ............... 132
5
ILLUSTBATIONS.
TLATE XXIV. A, Bed-rock sluice, Klondike benches; B, Blocks of frozen
gravel in hydraulic pit, Klondike ......................... 136
XXV. A, Sluice below elevator, Ophir Creek; B, Eetaining dams,
Bonanza Creek, Klondike ................................ 148
XXVI. A, Hydraulic elevator in pit, Glacier Creek; B, Gravel in pit,
GlacierCreek ............................................ 152
XXVII. A, Hydraulic elevator; J3, Open cut worked by tramming to
bed-rock sluices ......................................... 154
XXVIII. A, Single-lift dredge, 40-foot ground at Atlin, coarse gold; B, .
Buckets, Atlin dredge.................................... 160
XXIX. A, Trommel and gold-saving tables, New Zealand type,
Bonanza Creek, Klondike; B, New Zealand dredge, Bonanza
Creek, Klondike..............-...,-....-...'............. 162
XXX. A, Dredge of New Zealand type at Oroville, Cal., Leggett No. 3;
B, Buckets, dredge at Council.......'..................... 168
XXXI. A, Digging on spud; B, Stacker, New Zealand type of dredge,
California No. I.......................................*-.. 176
XXXII. Buckets: A, California No. 3; B, El Oro; C, Indiana No. 2; D,
Lava BedsNo. 2.^.......................................1 178
XXXIII. A, Lower tumbler, California No. 3; B, Digging ladder at low
angle, Oroville, Cal...................................... 180
XXXIV. A, Uncompleted belt stacker, Oroville, Cal.; B, Troughed belt
stacker, Oroville, Cal .................................... 182
XXXV. A, Oroville, Cal., practice' in pond dredging; B, Pilot house,
upper deck, starboard side............................... 184
XXXVI. A, Winter dumps, showing previously erected sluice boxes,
Klondike; "B, Mud box, used in string of boxes............ 192
XXXVII. A, Mud box on Gold Run, Klondike; B, Oroville riffles used
at Atlin, British Columbia ................................ 194
XXXVIII. A, Koad in Fairbanks district; B, Road in Atlin district, British
Columbia............................................... 220
XXXIX. A, Ogilvie Bridge, Klondike River; B, Six-mule team drawing
8,000 pounds, Klondike .................................. 224
XL. A, Six-horse team drawing 3,300 pounds, Cleary Creek, Fair
banks; B, Creek topography, Fairbanks district........... 226
XLI. A, Pack train, Birch Creek district; B, Trestled flume in Eagle
district...-....:-....-............--.'.---....-........... 228
XLII. Topography, Seward Peninsula province .................... 240
FIG. 1. Map showing American Creek drainage, Eagle district............... 44
2. Map of part of Birch Creek district................................. 45
3. Map of part of Fairbanks district........................'........... 46
4. Map of part of (Seward Peninsula................................... 47
5. Klondike rocker .................................................. 55
6. Small steam scraper, Klondike..................................... 61
7. Set-up of scraper, Klondike..................'...................... 62
8. Bottomless steam scraper........................................... 65
9. Plan of track-and-incline system ......................i............ 71
10. Plan of steam-shovel operations, Anvil Creek........................ 74
11. Plan of steam-shovel operations, Galesburg, 111.............,......... 75
12. Pulling-up device for steam shovel................................. 76
13. Rig for small drifting operation..................................... 82
14. System of opening drift mine ...................................... 83
16. Hidden Treasure system of timbering drift mine .................... 84
ILLUSTRATIONS. 7
Page.
FIG. 16. Plan of drifting operations on Solomon Hill, Klondike.............. 85
17. Details of steam point and crosshead............................... 90
18. Dawson self-dumping carrier...................................... 94
19. Map of portion of Juneau district, Alaska.......................... 114
20. Section of ditch in construction ................................... 122
21. Map of Miocene ditch............................................ 124
22. Method of nesting rnade-up hydraulic pipe for shipment............ 129
23. Various forms of pipe fittings..................................... . 131
24. Device for reenforcing joints of pipe............................... 132
25. Device for setting pipe by battering ................................ 132
26. Pipe wrench for setting and unsetting hydraulic pipe............... 133
27. Bracing hydraulic pipe on steep slope ............................. 133
28. Method of bracing giant............!............................. 136
29. Method of hydraulicking frozen gravel, Klondike benches.......... 137
30. Sluice box used on McKee Creek, Atlin, British Columbia.......... 143
31. Tightener used in making sluice boxes, Atlin, British Columbia..... 146
32. Rail riffle used in Seward Peninsula............................... 149
33. Hood in head box of tail sluice ................................... 153
34. Angles for upper tumbier......................................... 179
35. Tailings well stacked............................................. 183
36. Tailings poorly stacked........................ 1.................. 183
37. Spud digging .................................................... 185
38. Spud digging .................................................... 186
39. Spud digging ...............................:.................... 187
40. Mud box.. I..................................................... 192
41. Modified Caribou undercurrent................................... 194
42. Improved Hungarian riffle used at Oroville........................ 195
43. " Kulibinka" sluice and undercurrent used in Siberia............... 196
44. Modified Siberian pan for handling clayey gravel................... 198
45. Pole riffle fitted with knives for breaking clay....................... 200
46. Riifle to hold divided sheet of quicksilver.......................... 202
47. Special block riffle for saving porous gold.......................... 202
48. Iron grate riffle, Seward Peninsula................................ 203
49. Method of constructing road over frozen muck, Klondike........... 225

TABLES.
1. Average capacity and cost of gold gravel mining and operations in north
western America..................................................... 38
2. .Rainfall in Alaska ..................................................... 48
3. Average dates of last spring and first fall frosts .................'.....-.. 49
4. Average dates of opening and closing of the Yukon...................... 49
5. Table of teiuperature...........................................1...... 49
G. Table of stream volumes .............................................. . '52.
7. Table of stream grades along important sections of their courses, Alaska.. 54
8. Table of ditches and flumes............................::.............. 104
9. Data necessary in ordering hydraulic pipe.............................. 130
10. Water required and effective work of double-jointed hydraulic giants, with
table of sizes, volumes and heads of water, weights, and prices......... 135
11. Duty of miner's inch in northern placer mining......................... 139
12. Water required in hydraulic elevators.................................. 155
13. Fineness of gold by districts and creeks ................................ 207
14. Scale of wages in Alaskan camps, including Dawson, Yukon Territory, and
Atlin, British Columbia .............................................. 211
15. Cost of firewood and flume lumber in Alaskan camps, including Dawson,
Yukon Territory, and Atlin, British Columbia........................ 215
16. Cost of road construction.............................................. 221
17. Ocean freight and passenger rates for 1904 from Seattle to Alaskan coast
points, including lightering when necessary .......................... 230
18. Through freight and passenger rates for 1904 from Seattle to interior Yukon
points, via White Pass route, rail and water, season June 15 to Sep
tember 15.......................................................... 233
19. Through freight and passenger tariff for 1904 between San Francisco,
Seattle, and Yukon, Koyukuk, and Tanana points via St. Michael ..... 234
20. Local freight and passenger rates for 1904 via river steamer from Dawson
to points on Yukon and Tanana rivers ................................ 235
21. Local passenger and freight rates on the Tanana ........................ . 235
22. Local passenger tariff on Koyukuk Eiver, 1904.......................... 236
23. Packing rates from Rampart, Alaska, to creeks, 1904.................... 237
24. Freight rates from Circle, Alaska, to creeks, winter and summer...:..... 238
25. Freight rates from Fairbanks, Alaska, to creeks, winter and summer..... 238
26. Local freight and passenger rates in Seward Peninsula, with rates of lighter
ing cargo at Nome .................................................. 240
27. Distances between towns in Alaska, excluding Seward Peninsula......... 246
28. Local distances between points on Seward Peninsula.................... 247
29. Distances from main supply points in Alaska to neighboring creeks....... 247
30. Prices of mining supplies in the North ................................. 249
9