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North Fork Harrison Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Tin
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Mineral occurrence model information
  8. Nearby scientific data
  9. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  10. Mining district
  11. Links to other databases
  12. Bibliographic references
  13. General comments
  14. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10001471
MRDS ID A012220
Record type Site
Current site name North Fork Harrison Creek
Alternate or previous names South Fork Harrison Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -145.18404, 65.41973 (WGS84)
Relative position The location is the approximate center of the placered area that trends E-W along the North Fork for about 1 mile. The North Fork and the South Fork are both tributaries of Harrison Creek, which itself is a tributary of Birch Creek. The North Fork of Harrison Creek drains the southeast slope of Mastodon Dome. Harrison Creek has been extensively mined over almost its entire length (Yeend, 1991, p. 20).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Yukon-Koyukuk(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Circle B-3(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Circle SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Circle C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Tin Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cassiterite Ore
Gold Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 119
USGS model code 39a
Deposit model name Placer Au-PGE
Mark3 model number 54

Nearby scientific data

(1) -145.18404, 65.41973
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The bedrock underlying the North Fork is varied and includes the Upper Quartzite, Middle Schist and Quartzite and the Lower Schist units of Wiltse and others (1995). The southeast flank of Mastodon Dome is underlain by the Upper Quartzite, which is a porphyroblastic albite-chlorite-muscovite-quartz schist with quartzites and micaceous quartzites. The Middle Schist and Quartzite unit is a quartz-muscovite schist, porphyroblastic-albite-quartz-chlorite-muscovite schist, and thickly layered quartzites. The Lower Schist unit is a slightly calcareous quartz-muscovite schist, porphyroblastic albite-quartz-chlorite-muscovite schist and lesser amounts of quartzose porphyroblastic-albite-chlorite schist and chlorite schist.? Gold is frequently concentrated in the lowermost 3 feet of gravel and in the upper foot or two of bedrock (Mertie, 1938). Mined gravel deposits were generally about 3 meters thick and 30 to 45 meters wide (Yeend, 1991). Muck overlying the gravel was rarely encountered during mining (Mertie, 1938). Recovered gold was generally fine, flaky, and bright (Brooks, 1907, p. 188). Nuggets weighing as much as 3 ounces were recovered, but were rare. Gold recovered from the upstream part of the North Fork was often ragged and frequently occurred with attached quartz. Spurr (1898) reported a block of quartz-schist containing a quartz vein 'richly spotted with flakes and specks of gold' in the upper valley of the North Fork (Yeend, 1991). Cassiterite, garnet, and pyrite occur in heavy-mineral concentrates (Brooks, 1907, p. 188; Cobb, 1973, p. 122, [B 1374]). Mean fineness of 13 North Fork assays is 837 Au and 154 Ag (Mertie, 1938).? Gold was reportedly discovered in 1893 on Pitka's Bar (Mertie, 1938). There is some confusion in the literature over the location of Pitka's Bar. U.S.G.S. OFR 83-170B (Menzie and others, 1983) describes the location as at the mouth of the North Fork, but the U.S.G.S. Circle B-2 quadrangle topographic map shows the location of Pitka's Bar at the mouth of Harrison Creek, on Birch Creek. Spurr (1898) reported the first gold discovery to be in 1895(?) near the head of the North Fork (Yeend, 1991).? Before the middle of 1896, all of the North Fork of Harrison Creek was staked. Prospecting and mining occurred in 1905, 1924, and 1953 to 1981. Most of creek has been mined. Hydraulic mining operations were active up to 1980 (Menzie and others, 1983, p. 45). In 1993, on the South Fork of Harrison Creek, Windy Hill Mining completed a geophysical survey (Bundtzen and others, 1993, p. 10).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Circle

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Prospecting and mining occurred in 1905, 1924, and 1953 to 1981. Most of creek has been mined, but production information has not been published.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Gold was reportedly discovered in 1893 on Pitka's Bar (Mertie, 1938). There is some confusion in the literature over the location of Pitka's Bar. U.S.G.S. OFR 83-170B (Menzie and others, 1983) describes the location as at the mouth of the North Fork, but the U.S.G.S. Circle B-2 quadrangle topographic map shows the location of Pitka's Bar at the mouth of Harrison Creek, on Birch Creek. Spurr (1898) reported the first gold discovery to be in 1895(?) near the head of the North Fork (Yeend, 1991).? Before the middle of 1896, all of the North Fork of Harrison Creek was staked. Prospecting and mining occurred in 1905, 1924, and 1953 to 1981. Most of creek has been mined. Hydraulic mining operations were active up to 1980 (Menzie and others, 1983, p. 45). In 1993, on the South Fork of Harrison Creek, Windy Hill Mining completed a geophysical survey (Bundtzen and others, 1993, p. 10).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Yeend, 1991.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer gold deposit (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 09-SEP-98 C.J. Freeman Avalon Development Corporation
Reporter 09-SEP-98 J.R. Guidetti Schaefer Avalon Development Corporation
Reporter 09-SEP-98 Clements, A.S. Avalon Development Corporation

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Alaska resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.