INTRODUCTION

This report is based on two months! field work spent on
Wheaton Creek during the summer of 1939. In the course of
work a plane-table and stadia traverse was run to the upper
end of the placer leases on Wheaton Creek and on its tribu-
taries, Philippon and Alice Shea Creeks. The topography and
geology of Map 381 A of the Department of Mines and Resources,
Ottawa, was extended eastward to include Wheaton Creek and
the adjoining country.

Location and Access: Wheaton Creek lies in the Arctic
drainage area. It is a tributary of Turnagain River, a branch
of the Liard. The creek joins the Turnagain close to its
head, within 16 miles of a very low divide between a branch
of the Turnagain and the McBride River. The latter eventually
reaches the Pacific Ocean by way of the Stikine. The creek is
roughly 40 miles in a straight line due east of the south end
of Dease Lake.

North-bound boats of the Canadian Pacific Railways' coast-
wise service make weekly calls at Wrangell, Alaska. At Wrang-
ell, river boats of the Barrington Transportation Company con-
nect with the north-bound coastwise steamers. The trip from
Wrangell, Alaska, up the Stikine River to Telegraph Creek,

B. C., about 150 miles, is generally made in two or three days,
though exceedingly high or low water on the river may prolong
it. The first boat up the Stikine usually leaves Wrangell be-
tween May 15 and June 1, and the last boat down-stream leaves
Telegraph Creek sometime between the 7th and 15th of October.

Between Telegraph Creek and Lake House on Dease Lake
there is a road on which several trucks operate during the
freighting season. Prior to the summer of 1939, most of the
freight going from Lake House to Wheaton Creek went by pack-
horse over a poor trail. In 1939, fourteen miles of summer
tractor-road was built and in winter, tractors can be used
all the way to Wheaton Creek. It is possible to arrange air-
plane transportation for freight or passengers between Dease
Lake and Wheaton Creek.

In the summer of 1939 the following rates were effective:
freight between Wrangell, Alaska, and Telegraph Creek, B. C.,
$50.00 per ton; passengers, $30.00 one-way, $45.00 return;
freight between Telegraph Creek and Lake House £70.00 per ton;
freight between Lake House and Wheaton Creek, by pack-horse,
$140.00 per ton; freight between Lake House and Wheaton Creek,
by airplane, $100.00 per ton. Food and general supplies may

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