Creek claims in the early days were worked by either underground or surface mining methods.
Where the overburden and gravel were relatively deep, a shaft was put down to bedrock and
drifting was done across the channel of the creek to locate the “pay streak” or rich gold-bearing
gravel, usually found on or near the surface of the bedrock. When the pay streak was found,
sometimes only after several shafts had been put down and drifting had been completed across
most width of the creek bottom, other shafts were put down along its length and the gravel was
hoisted to surface for sluicing. Fires or heated stones were used to thaw the frozen ground so
that it could be removed. During summer thawing, roof and shafts gravels tended to loosen and
fall, thus making underground operations much more hazardous than in winter therefore underground
work was usually begun in fall. In the spring the dumps containing the pay gravels that
had been mined were sluiced to recover the gold.
Surface mining was done where the depth of overburden and gravel was shallow, usually less
than 3 meters. Pits were put down to delimit the area containing workable gravels, and the area
was cleared of trees, bushes and moss. Ditches were cut through the overburden, which remains
permanently frozen except for two or three feet at surface that thaws and freezes annually
and in spring water was diverted through the ditches to thaw and carry away the muck, leaving
the gravels exposed for natural thawing. As thawing progressed, waste gravels were removed
until the pay gravel, and this was then put through sluice boxes. This method of mining, termed
open-cutting, was used effectively and extensively on most creeks.
The chief problem involved was the disposal of waste gravels and tailings. To make room for tailings,
sluice boxes were sometimes elevated, but this necessitated raising the gravels and water
also. On bench or hillside claims mining was more difficult and expensive because of the scarcity
of water and greater depths of barren overburden and gravel. Drifts were driven along bedrock
from the rim or from the bottoms of shafts if the deposits were wide. Some open-cut work
was usually washed in rockers because of the small amount of water necessary, or alternatively,
moved down to the creeks for sluicing there.
Steam thawing was introduced in 1899. In 1903 a report by Superintendent Cuthbert of the
Northwest Mounted Police showed there were 712 boilers from 10 to 50 horsepower on the
creeks. Large pumps enabled water to be raised for sluicing in the creeks, thus alleviating the
problem of the disposal of tailings, and also making it possible for water to be elevated for use
on the benches.
The first dredge in the Klondike area began working on Bonanza Creek in 1901 (Canada,
Dept. Interior 1907). This method of mining proved to be efficient and economical. In 1962 five
dredges were being operated in the area by the Yukon Consolidated Gold Corporation Limited.
In recent years open-cut mining both on creeks and benches has proven to be economical
using mechanical equipment. Stripping is usually done by hydraulic methods or with a bulldozer,
and the ground is allowed to thaw naturally. A portable steel sluice box, with water
supplied either by gravity from a ditch or by pump from the creek, is set up and the gravel
is pushed into the head of the box with a bulldozer. Tailings are usually removed from the
lower end of the sluice box with a bulldozer. Such operations are extremely flexible and
adaptable to a variety of working conditions.