U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
REPORT ON RYDER DISTRICT
Reprinted from U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin No.
773—B, “mineral investigations in southeastern Alaska,” 1
' 925: By A. F. Buddington.
TEXAS CREEK BASIN
Mineral Discoveries
Chapin reported in 1916 that
several claims had been stak
ed on Texas Creek and that the
ore bodies were said to be
quartz veins carrying seams
of tetrahedrite peneti-ating
granite and pegmatite but had
been only slightly prospected.
For a number of years little
was tfone in this part of the
district. On June 12, 1923, in
terest was renewed by the
staking of claims along the
line of the Government trail
in the West Fork of Texas
Creek valley by Smith, Dav
idson, and Ferguson. This in
terest was intensified by the
staking, by J. Neary and J.
Jackson, on July 23, of a
claim still farther up the val
ley on a large, well-defined
quartz vein carrying galena
and some pyrite and chalco
pyrite. This find attracted
about 30 prospectors into this
part of the district, and by
the middle of September
about a hundred claims were !
recorded and 11 prospectors
were still in the field. As lit
tle has been printed about
this part of the district, its
features will be described in
3ome detail.
TOPOGRAPHY
Texas Creek flows almost
due south from its source in
Texas Glacier to its junction
with Salmon River. The
West Fork enters the main
creek about 2 Vfe miles aboVv,
its mouth, after flowing: al
most due east for about 10
! miles from the divide at the
Chickamin Glacier. The West
Fork is fed mainly by streams
1 originating in two glacier^ on
the south side—Casey Glac
ier, about 5 miles from the
mouth, and Ferguson Glac
ier, at 8 miles. Many small
tributaries flow into the
| creek, chiefly on the north
: side.
The valley of the West Fork
is essentially a glacial U-shap
I ed. flat-floored valley, cover
; ed with a veneer of coarse
J gravel. It rises gradually, at
! a rate of. about 200 feet to
the mile, from an altitude of
about 600 feet at its mouth
to about 2,600 feet at its
head. At about 3 miles and 6
miles from the mouth post
glacial gorges have been cut
in the valley floor for about
1,000 yards and 600 yards
and to depths of about 350
feet, respectively.
Casey Glacier occupies a
great cirque basin and is
highly crevassed and broken
up; Ferguson Glacier is a
“through” glacier, extending
across the divide at the head
of the narrow valley which
it occupies and into a small
tributary valley of Thumb
Creek, which empties into
Salmon River opposite Seven
Mile. Ferguson Glacier is re
treating, and the old rough
moraines extend in front of
the present ice for half a
mile or so ,forcing the West
Fork of Texas Creek to flow
against the cliffs on the
north side of the valley.
Chickamin Glacier is like
wise in retreat, and a conspic
uous terminal moraine has
been left about three-fifths
of a mile below the present
ice front. Between the tei
minal moraine and the ice
front is a lake; and a nar
row, higher-level lake ten-ace
fringes the basin on either
side. I
Along the sides of the main'
valley gravel terraces and al
luvial fans occur at consid
MAP OF
PORTLAND CANAL MINING DISTRICT
RYDER, ALASKA
THE PORTLAND CANAL MINING DISTRICT
Presents Greater Opportunities for Legitimate Mining Investment than any Mining District
on the Continent. In ^additionto the great Premier, the most Spectacular Silver-Gold Mine
in Existence, with a record of over Seven Millions in Dividends in Four Years, the Portland
Canal District contains Two Producing Mines; a Half Dozen or More on the Very Thresh
old of Production, and Numerous Partially Developed Properties Which Hold Forth Every
Prospect of Becoming Paying Mines.
The Mineralization is Proved: Only. Capital and Intelligent Mining is Required to Make
the District the Greatest Mineral Producing Area an the Globe.
‘able altitudes above the pres
ent bed of the main creek.
Such forms are also charact
eristic of the valley of Ibex
Creek, where along the west
side a gravel terrace oi
bench of hard pan, in part
roughly stratified and in part
of slide material, extends
nearly to the head. The ter
race is maturely dissected by
the many tributary streams,
which have cut a succession
of gulches. The cutting of
postglacial gorges and the
lowering of its bed by Texao
Creek evidently resulted in a
Quickening of erosion and
marked downcutting by its
tributaries all along the line,
leaving the old gravel depos
its as terraces along the
mountain sides. Along the
Salmon River road up the hill
from the Daly-Alaska camp,
near Eleven Mile, there are
exposed well-stratified clay
and sand up to an altitude of
about 450 feet. These depos
its were probably laid down
in marine waters and there
fore indicate an uplift of at
least 450 feet since the re
treat of the glaciers there.
The valley of the West Fork I
of Texas Creek is bordered .
on both sides by steep, rug- i
ged mountains, ranging in al
titude from 4,500 to about
6,400 feet. Up to altitudes of
about 3,000 feet the hills
are timbered with hemlock
and spruce of good grade, in
quantity adequate for an |
mining and building demands.!
No examination was made as i
to the possibilities of devel
oping! water power, but the !
two gorges and the gradient;
of the main stream and trib
l utaries suggest that sufficient
; for ail needs could be develop- I
i ed.
GEOLOGY
The areal geology of the
region east of Salmon River
is taken from a map by West- j
gate; that shown of the reg- j
ion west of the river was
sketched in by the writer
from distant views and Is!
therefore only a rough ap-:
proximation. The fact which !
it is dagired to emphasize is J
that the contact of the coast
range batholith and the sedi- j
ments- to the west is not j
“smooth and flowing” but ir-!
regular and that belts of'
metamorphosed andesitic tuff, j
graywacke, slate, and associ
ated greenstone and argillite 1
are found on the American j
side of the boundary and af
ford many contacts near
which promising prospects
have already been located
and near which others may
be sought. Many prospects
other than those described
and located on the map have
been staked but are not in
cluded here for the reason j
that in the short time avail-1
able the writer "was unable j
either to visit them or to getI
accurate information about I
them.
The granitoid rock along
Texas Creek, as along Sal
mon River, ranges from a
granodiorite to a quartz
hornblende diorite and is in
truded by numerous dikes of
light-colored rock, including
granodiorite porphyry, gran
ite porphyry or grahophyre,
and aplite, and by dikes of
HYDER M. E. CHURCH
Services Every Sunday
at 8 p. m.
Sunday School at 11 a. m.
Everyone Welcome
Rev. C. T. Hatten, Pastor
LOCAL NOTES
Mrs. Robert Martin, wife of
the hustling manager of the
Victoria Mine3 company ar
j rived from Vancouver on the
i Prince George.
I Mrs. Moffat, wife of C. W.
j Moffat, both of whom were
! formerly employed at Angle
! station No. 2 on the Premier
tram, returned on the Prince
George from a visit in the
south.
Albert Smail, a nephew ox
Mrs. M. R. Jamieson, who
| spent several days in camp
this week visiting his aunt,
left on the Prince Charles for
his home in Vancouver.
_
B. W. W. McDougall, form
erly engineer in charge of op
erations on the Daly Alaska
and now directing the devel
opment of the Terminus, vis
ited the former property Wed
nesday, accompanied by H. A.1
Heywood, Mr. McDougall's
• predecessor in charge of the
j Terminus.
_
! R. A. Zeller, Forest Super
visor for this district, was a
I visitor during the week on a :
trip of inspection of the trail'
construction activities of the !
Forest Service in this locality, j
The inspection of the new !
Texas Creek trail, which will!
be completd this summer,
formed the chief object of his
visit.
The U. S. Commissioner’s of
fice has received from the De
partment of the Interior, foi
distribution a few copies of
Bulletin No. 773—B, contain
ing the report of F. A. Bud
dington, U. S. Geological Sur
vey, on the geology and min
erology of the Hyder mining
district. The report is the sam
now being published by the
Herald in weekly installments.
The pamphlets are sold by the
department at a small sum and
an allotment of more than one
to an individual without
charge is seldom made. In this
instance, however, it was real
ized that there is a wide de
mand for information relative
to the district and the depart
ment has made an exception,
in order that those who are
vitally interested may secure
the desired information with
out delay, by sending a small
number of copies to the Com
missioner’s office. Parties de
siring to make use of a copy
may obtain one from the Com
missioner as long as they last.
The Wales will not arrive
from Ketchikan until Satin
day, according to advices re
ceived by the postoffice au
thorities. The delay is due to
the vessel having been chart
ered to take the Ketchikan
ball teams to Anyox and
Prine Rupert and back to
Ketchikan.
dark-colored rock, including
andesite and andesite porphy
ry. Similar dikes are found in
the sedimentary beds..
The rock forming the mount
ain betwen the Homestake
and Ibex groups of claims
is a granodiorite consisting
by volume of about GO pei
cent of plagioclase, 16 per
cent of quartz, 12 per cent
of orthoclase, and 12 per
cent of hornblende, with ac
cessory magnetite, titanite,
and apatite. The hornblende
is partly or completely alter
ed to chlorite, biotite, epi
dote, zoisite, and ilmenite.
The plagioclase is flecked
with sericite, and the quartz
shows strain shadows or is
recrysallized under nonuni- j
form pressure. The rock at
the Keno group of claims is
of similar character, except
that the percentage of posc
afsic feildspar (microline) is
less (about 6 per cent). At
the Lake claims the rock is a
quartz diorite with only a
trace of orthoclase. Musco
vite in large f!ake3 is present
and has resulted from the re
placement of some of the
ferromagnesian minerals. All
the rocks show the effect of
strain in the crushing of the
quartz, also the effects of al
teration whereby the plagio
class has been partly altered
to sericite and the horn
blende has been altered to
chlorite with associated epi
dote, ilmenite, and magnitite.
The postassic feldspars, orth
oclase and microline, are pre
dominantly fresh and unalt
ered.
At the Ibex claims a light
colored d|ke of pinkish hue
occurs in the argillite. This
rock was examined in thin
section and is a gVanite por
phyry. It consists of abund
ant small crystals of quartz
orthoelase, plagioclase, and
hornblende, in a granophyric
groundmass. Aplite and and
esite dikes are common in the
tuff beds on the souths side
of Texas Creek.
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