Oliver C. Miller
In 1887, O. C. Miller was among the first miners on the Fortymile River to drift along the bedrock in the frozen ground in a style common to hard rock miners. Miller only drifted enough to prospect a claim that he intended to work the following summer, but from that time on, winter work became more general in the Yukon mines.1) Miller discovered gold on Miller Creek in the Sixtymile drainage 1892. The creek had been prospected before, but the gold was deep enough to evade detection. One claim yielded $30,000 in the first year of work and in the spring of 1893, 80 men took out $100,000.2)
When the miners at Forty Mile heard that Pitka and Cherosky had discovered gold on Birch Creek, Alaska in 1892, some of them went down the Yukon River to prospect.3) In the spring of 1893, prospecting increased, and such men as O.C. Miller, Langford, Sinclair and Mynook prospected the Koyukuk River for hundreds of miles from the mouth.4)
Henry Lewis, John McLeod and Gus Williams made a discovery on Birch Creek at a place known as Pitka's Bar in July 1893. Jack McQuesten grubstaked all who wanted to prospect the new area and 30 men came over from Forty Mile.5) Miller was prospecting in the Circle, Alaska area in 1894 when he discovered gold on the creek that now bears his name. He was there briefly in the spring and then moved on. There were sixty-four claims along the creek by the summer of 1897 and 40 men produced about 1500 oz on gold from 9 claims that year. Claims have been worked intermittently since then, but Miller Creek, Alaska did not produce as much as the richest, Mastodon Creek to the south.6)
Miller was the first mining recorder in the Monook, Alaska district. He was always more interested in looking than mining and was noted for his long journeys.7)