. Alaska and the Klondike. nd along the streams, but, by a changein the face of nature, to have been covered with earthto this depth. The gravel is taken out of this undergrounddeposit and sluiced out, just as if scooped from the surfaceof the ground as in other mining operations there. Thework of taking out the ore can be carried on all winter,but the sluicing must wait, of course, for summer weather. An interesting fact developed here was the depth of thefrost line. As has been heretofore stated, perpetual iceis found practically all over Alaska at a depth of two orthree feet. That is to say
. Alaska and the Klondike. nd along the streams, but, by a changein the face of nature, to have been covered with earthto this depth. The gravel is taken out of this undergrounddeposit and sluiced out, just as if scooped from the surfaceof the ground as in other mining operations there. Thework of taking out the ore can be carried on all winter,but the sluicing must wait, of course, for summer weather. An interesting fact developed here was the depth of thefrost line. As has been heretofore stated, perpetual iceis found practically all over Alaska at a depth of two orthree feet. That is to say, the surface thaws only aboutthat much during the summer. The close covering of grassand moss protects the surface of the ground so thoroughlyfrom the rays of the sun that the frost is not disturbed at agreater depth. The question naturally arose: How deepis the frost line? I asked this question a number of timeson the trip through Alaska, but no one seemed to havefound the limit of ice. Here, however, I was told that the. 164 ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE ground was frozen solidly for a depth of ninety-five feet,and a drill working in another shaft nearby affordedpartial confirmation of this statement, as it was still chip-ping the ice at an apparent depth of sixty feet. An excellent lunch was served to the entire party oftwenty-five or thirty at the messhouse of the Wild Goosecompany and we were then invited to witness a clean-upon No. 8 Above, on Anvil Creek, which means theeighth claim above the original discovery claim. Thisclaim belongs to Mr. Linderbergs company, but wasbeing worked on a lay, which is the miners term fora percentage lease, by the Wild Goose company. Thesluice box shown in the accompanying illustration had beenrunning two days and when the riffles had been taken upand the gold in the bottom literally shovelled up, it wasfound that there was more than a miners pailful, the valueof which was nearly $8,000. And beautiful stuff it was,too. The Nome gold is brighte
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidalaskak, booksubjectalaska
