Cook Inlet Notes by The Rambler
There has been more activity
in the way of development in the
Willow Creek Gold Quartz Dis
trict this season than has been
for years. The Willow Creek
Mines, Inc., owners of the Lucky
Shot, War Baby and Gold Bul
lion properties, have started put
ting in the foundation for a new
mill of 100-ton capacity, and
preparations are being made for
the construction of a two-story
bunk-house, dining room and
cookhouse this fall. About fifty
men are employed at present
and this crew will work all whi
ter blocking out ore. It is con
templated to have a force of 1 BO
to 200 men working on these
properties next season. The
capacity of the present mill is
30 tons daily.
The Colei Bear Mining Com
pany of T.os Angeles has install
ed a new Herman Ball Mill on
the Gold Cord property on
Fish-hook Creek. For the past
two seasons this company has
had a gang of men employed de
veloping the property and a
number of tons of ore was ship
ped to the Tacoma smelter for
treatment. A crew of about fif
teen is at work at the present
time.
A mining engineer named
McDonald was sent to Willow
Creek this spring to sample the
ore on the properties of the Alas
ka Free Gold and the Independ
ence on Fish-hook Creek. A Ca
nadian outfit is behind the ven
ture, and if the results come up
to expectations both properties
will be worked on a large scale
this coming year.
Leonard Grau and Herman
Klaus, both old time miners and
prospectors of the Willow Creek
Region, made a discovery of very
rich ore about a month ago on
the light limit of Fish-hook
Creek, directly west of the Inde
pendence and south-west of the
Goid Cord mine. Six men are at
work developing this prospect at
present.
-x——
A crew of ten is at work on the
mine and mill of the Mabel Min
ing Company.
The Marion-Twin Mining Co.,
has fifteen men developing its
Craggie Creek properties. Quite
a Quantity of ore is being sacked
and shipped to the Tacoma
smelter this fall.
The Thorps *are busy mining
and milling in the schist forma
tion on the left limit of Grub
Stake Gulch. This prospect may
develop into one of the high
grade properties of the camp.
Ed Holland is driving a tun
nel on his Purdies Creek claims,
situated north-east of the Mari
cn-Twin. Mike Sherry, an ex
perienced miner and tunnel man
is in charge of the work.
-x
D. M. Jacobs, an English min
ing engineer, has been looking
over some of tlie Willow Creek
prospects for the past three
months, and it is quite possible a
few deals may be put through
before he leaves for the States
this fall.
-o
Seventy-five pounds of placer
gold (approximately $15,000.00)
was brought to Anchorage on
the fifteenth of August and de
posited in the First National
Bank. This was the clean-up
for six weeks work by six men
with a small hydraulic outfit on
Valdez Creek, a tributary of Su
sitna River, about seventy-five
miles east of Cantwell Station
ol the Alaska Railroad. A good
wagon road l’rom Cantwell to the
diggings would help materially
m the development of this
camp. At present there are not
over twelve men in the district.
Evan Jones, probably the most
competent and experienced coal
miner in Alaska, has secured fi
nancial backing from Anchorage
residents and is opening up the
old “Doherty” coal mine at the
mouth of Moose Creek, close to
the Matanuska Branch line of
the Alaska Railroad. A new coal
washing plant is being installed
and in the course of a few weeks
he will be in position to ship
coal.
Le Roi Thurmond, a mining
engineer from Nevada and Ida
ho, accompanied by Joe Dia
mond and Oscar Nielson, paid a
recent visit to the copper prop
erties at the head of Moose
Creek owned by the last named
men.
-o
Bartley Howard has about 25
coal miners at work on the old
Premier Mine at Moose Creek,
filling a 40,000 ton coal contract
for the Alaska Railroad.
-x
Capt. Ivan L. Peterson of the
Peterson Oil Company, installed
a new drilling rig on his oil
claim at Chickaloon this spring.
He had reached a depth of about
1500 feet with the small rig in
stalled about two years ago. This
new rig is capable of drilling to
a depth of 4,000 feet or better.
Ts drilling now in what is known
by experienced oil men as the
Pennsylvania formation. Capt.
Peterson is very hopeful of
bringing in a “Wild Cat” gush
er. Should he have the good for
tune to do so, the Matanuska
Valley section would be a very