Congressional edition Volume 6416

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1913 Excerpt: ...River nor Snake River has reached importance as a gold producer. The writer is indebted to the reports of Brooks and to the notes and unpublished manuscripts of Collier for a large part of the data on the stream placers, collected prior to the year 1905. This material has been incorporated with the results of observations made during the two years in which the field work for this report was carried on. SNAKE BIVER BASIN. Snake River.--Snake River heads in the region adjacent to Mount Distin, but the name Snake is applied only to the lower part of the stream beginning at a point 15 miles from the coast. The length of this lower part is much greater than 15 miles, however, for the river follows a winding course through a broad valley in the upland region, and, after crossing the coastal plain to a point within about a mile of the coast, turns abruptly eastward and flows nearly parallel with the shore for about 5 miles before joining the sea. Its elevation at the mouth of the North Fork is 170 feet, giving a gradient of not over 7 or 8 feet to the mile. Figure 9.--Sketch map of the vicinity of Nome, showing distribution of placers. Low marshy ground borders the river and forms a valley floor whose width varies between half a mile and 1 mile, and from which the lower hill slopes rise gently on either side. The river swings back and forth across this low land in a succession of meanders, whose complexity suggested the name Snake to the first prospectors. The Snake River valley has a deep gravel filling, but has been very little prospected. Gold is found on some of the bars. The deposits, however, are not rich enough to pay for working on a small scale and offer little encouragement to prospectors. The Snake River basin, however, includes some of the richest cree...