field. With abundant water supply, steep stream gradients, heavy gravel deposits, accessibility, and salubrious climate, it is no wonder that the California placers far outstripped the northern field in the first years of production.

The Klondike, on the other hand, is less favorably situated than Seward Peninsula, and its water supply available for mining is much less. It appears, however, that the placers of such creeks as Eldorado and Bonanza in the Klondike averaged richer than any deposits of similar extent yet found in the peninsula. It was the exploitation of these almost fabulously rich and relatively shallow gravels that brought the Klordike gold output up with a bound, and it is their

FIG. 1.--Sketch maps showing relative gold-bearing areas in Seward Peninsula, California, and the Klondike region, drawn to the same scale.

quick exhaustion that has caused an almost equally rapid decline of the annual yield. There are still extensive bodies of lower-grade gravels to mine in the Klondike, but these can be developed only by means of extensive water conduits or by dredging. Mining in the Klondike has passed its zenith, whereas in Seward Peninsula the maximum yearly output is still to be reached,

In the comparison of the Seward Peninsula placer fields with others, it must be borne in mind that probably three-fourths of its entire production has been drawn from the region adjacent to Nome and from Ophir Creek and its tributaries. Therefore, though the

gold-bearing area is large, yet only a few square miles have been extensively exploited. In other words, only a few of the creeks (but probably the richest ones of Seward Peninsula) have been exploited, and it is probable that it will be some time before the maximum annual yield will be attained. The future of the placers receives further consideration in the section devoted to economic geology (pp. 135–139), and the annual gold product is discussed in detail where the growth of the mining industry is sketched.

a

DISCOVERY OF GOLD.

The position of Seward Peninsula, whose western point is less than 60 miles from the Siberian coast, made it the first part of Alaska to be known to the Russians. The continent lying beyond Bering Strait was reported by the natives to the Russians as early as 1709; but so far as known the first landing on its borders was not until 1731, and then from a vessel which had been blown out of her course. Certain it is that the first survey of the coast line was made by Capt. James Cook in 1778. During the succeeding century of the Russian occupation, though the entire coast line was explored, but little was learned of the interior of the peninsula. In 1822 the Russian Captain Kromchenko, commanding the Golofnin, surveyed Norton Sound and Golofnin Bay. It was not until 1835 that a trading post was established on St. Michael Island, the first Russian settlement north of the Aleutian Islands. From this point, trade was carried on with the natives to the north. The stories current that the Russians mined placer gold near Nome are utterly without foundation in fact, for the Russians had absolutely no knowledge of the mineral resources of the peninsula and never had a permanent settlement within its borders.

Probably the first important inland exploration was that made in 1865-66 by a party led by Baron Otto von Bendeleben, who, while seeking a route for a telegraph line, ascended the Niukluk and crossed the portage to the Kruzgamepa and thence continued to Port Clarence. This survey was made in the interests of the great transcontinental telegraph route which was planned to connect Europe and America. Von Bendeleben's party actually constructed a few miles of telegraph line, and thus were the first to start a commercial enterprise on Seward Peninsula. Of greater interest is the fact that Von Bendeleben is said to have found alluvial gold on Niukluk River. If such was the case placer gold was found here earlier than in any other part of Alaska except at Cook Inlet, where Doroshin, a

Chart T, U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.

For an account of the Russian explorations, see Brooks, A. H., Geography and geology of Alaska Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 45, 1906, pp. 104-132.

W. H. Libby, a member of Von Bendeleben's party, is authority for this statement.

mining engineer sent out by the Russian Government, discovered gold in 1854. The telegraphic construction was discontinued after the successful laying of the Atlantic cable, Von Bendeleben's party disbanded, and a third of a century passed before any of its members found their way back to the scene of the gold discovery. It seems probable, therefore, that no one attached any importance to this occurrence of placer gold.

The peninsula continued to be regarded as a barren waste for many years after Alaska passed into the hands of the United States. The whalers had a rendezvous at Port Clarence, where they anchored in the early summer while waiting for the polar ice cap to break. Occasionally a trader came from the nearest permanent posts, Unalaklik or. St. Michael, and bartered with the natives, but otherwise conditions were as primitive as during the Russian occupation.

Galena was discovered in the eastern part of the peninsula by the natives, who used it for making bullets, and brought it to the attention of traders at least as early as 1880. In 1881 a party under the leadership of John C. Green, with the help of the natives, located the source of this galena on what he named Fish River, tributary to Golofnin Bay. This was one of the first lode locations made in Alaska, being antedated only by those made near Sitka in 1877 and possibly by some of those at Juneau, where gold placers were found in 1880. Green and his party organized the Fish River mining district in July, 1881, and began the exploitation of this deposit under the corporate title, The Alaska Gold and Silver Mining, Milling, and Trading Company.

b

It was undoubtedly some of those connected with this company who first made public the occurrence of alluvial gold in Seward Peninsula. It has been elsewhere suggested that the discovery and first mining of alluvial gold is to be credited to the natives. This now seems to be an error, for the natives appear never to have had any knowledge of gold or methods of extracting it.

The operations of the Alaska Gold and Silver Mining, Milling, and Trading Company, later called the Russian-American Mining and Exploration Company, were continued up to about 1891 at Omalik, but though some ore was shipped, the mine never actually reached a paying stage. This enterprise, however, led to a better knowledge of the region and to the establishment of a trading post on Golofnin Bay by John Dexter, an employee of the company.

Dexter's post was long the only white settlement, but about 1890 a Congregational mission was established at Cape Prince of Wales, and later a Swedish Evangelical mission was founded on Port Clarence,

"An employee of this company named Sanderson is said to have found alluvial gold on the Niukluk about 1892.

Schrader, F. C., and Brooks, A. H., Preliminary report on the Cape Nome gold region, a special publication of the U. S. Geol. Survey, 1900, p. 31.

and another on Golofnin Bay. About the same time the Government began the importation of reindeer from Siberia, and stations were established at various points in the perfinsula.

a

Previous to 1897, though no doubt a few prospectors had roamed over parts of the peninsula, no mineral wealth had been found, save the Omalik galena deposit and a little alluvial gold in the Fish River basin. A little placer mining is said to have been done at this time. As operations at the silver mine had practically ceased, the whole population included only a few missionaries, traders, and Government reindeer herders. This region then like most of Alaska, except the Pacific seaboard, had made almost no industrial advance since the Russian occupation.

While Seward Peninsula was neglected up to 1897, the ever active. prospector had penetrated the Yukon basin and discovered placers which had been productive in a small way for upward of a decade. This activity was suddenly augmented in 1896, when the Klondike placers were found, and in less than a year this isolated region became a focal point of public interest throughout the civilized world. Then the wild excitement of the California rush of half a century before was duplicated, and probably 50,000 gold seekers turned their faces northward. The popular belief that Alaska was a barren field for all except the fur hunters quickly disappeared and was replaced by the equally absurd conclusion that the entire territory was gold bearing. As a result of this erroneous opinion, expeditions were equipped to search for gold in all parts of the territory. Most of these, however, were bent on reaching the interior, and Seward Peninsula was practically overlooked.

с

The Kotzebue Sound region attracted about 1,500 people, and some of them, becoming discouraged at the outlook, made their way southward to Golofnin Bay. To the same point came other groups of prospectors from St. Michael who despaired of being able to ascend the Yukon. It was some of these men, whom chance rather than design had brought to the district, that made the third discovery of alluvial gold in the peninsula, and they were the first to prove its commercial importance. The party which found these workable placers included Daniel B. Libby, a member of the Von Bendeleben expedition of 1866, L. S. Melsing, A. P. Mordaunt, and H. L. Blake. The first gold was discovered in the gravels of what they called Melsing Creek, in March, 1898, and a little later placers were found on an adjacent stream named Ophir Creek. In accordance with the United States mining laws and in keeping with a long-established

There is a story current that a Swede named Johansen found placer gold and did a little sluicing at the mouth of the Casadepaga in 1894.

Omalik is said to be the Eskimo word for high chief.

As has been set forth, the first was made by the telegraph expedition, and the second probably by some of those connected with the silver-mining enterprise on Fish River.

custom, a "miners' meeting" was called, and the "Discovery district" was organized April 25; and a recorder elected. As soon as the snow had disappeared, mining was begun as systematically as the means at hand would allow. The equipment of these pioneer pla r miners of the peninsula was very meager, and consequently ne efforts at exploitation were crude. Fortunately the region afforded some spruce, and.sluice boxes could therefore be constructed from whipsawed lumber. Such methods yielded a return during the summer variously estimated at $30,000 to $100,000.

In the summer of 1898 there were probably several hundred men in the new district, but the interest in it hardly extended beyond its -borders. Even at St. Michael, only 100 miles away, which the writer visited in September of that year, hardly any attention was paid to this new camp. The reason for this apathy was twofold-first, the Alaskan public had become tired of unfounded rumors of rich discoveries, and, second, the excavations on Ophir Creek had not by any means gone far enough to prove the great richness of its gravels.

There was at least one little group of men among those in the new district who had the enterprise to extend their field of prospecting beyond the narrow limits in which the placers had been found. These men are said to have been influenced in directing their journey by the rumor of a discovery of coarse gold on Sinuk River by a Government reindeer herder. Be that as it may, a party said to have included N. C. Hultberg, J. J. Brynteson, H. L. Blake, and J. L. Haggalin sailed westward from Golofnin Bay in a small boat in July, 1898, and became stormbound near the present site of Nome. Prospecting the Snake River bars revealed some fine gold colors, and coarser gold is said to have been found, July 26 or 27, on what was afterwards called Anvil Creek. Most of the party, however, considered the prospect not encouraging and decided to continue the journey to Sinuk. As nothing was found there, the party returned to Golofnin Bay. The gold found on Snake River was, however, regarded by some as sufficiently encouraging to warrant further investigation, so Brynteson, with two companions, Jafet Lindeberg and Erik O. Lindblom, returned to the scene of this discovery about the middle of September, and on the 20th they found, on what they named Anvil Creek, the rich placers which were destined to render this region famous throughout the world." Though none of the party were ex

a

According to some accounts A. N. Kittleson, G. W. Price, and a Laplander named John Tornensis were also in this party.

Since the above was written a letter has been received by Frank L. Hess from Jafet Lindeberg, which, from its interest, is quoted at length:

"DEAR SIR: As per your request, I herewith make a report concerning the discovery of gold and its development on the Seward Peninsula, which dates from 1897, and will say that it is correct, as I am one of the early prospectors of the mining camps that now figure so prominently in that part of Alaska.

"The discovery of gold on the Seward Peninsula dates back several years before the location of mining claims on Ophir Creek, in the spring of 1898. John Dexter, the