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California Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodity Gold
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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 10001783
MRDS ID A012587
Record type Site
Current site name California Creek
Related records 10136322

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -163.9102, 64.60821 (WGS84)
Relative position California Creek is a west tributary to Topkok Creek. Topkok Creek flows south to its mouth on Norton Sound at Topkok settlement, 5.7 miles west of Bluff. The confluence of California and Topkok Creek is about 3.5 miles upstream from the mouth of Topkok Creek. Pre-1985, 1:250,000 scale topographic maps of the area mislabeled California and nearby creeks. As a result, Cobb (1972, MF 445) mislocated the California Creek site on Allen Creek. This is locality 106 of Cobb (1972, MF 445; 1978, OF 78-181).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Solomon C-4(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Solomon NE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Solomon C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Nome(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
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) -163.9102, 64.60821
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = All that has been reported is that placer mining occurred on this creek during the years 1928-30, 1933, and 1939-40 (Cobb, 1978, OF 78-181. A dredge apparently worked on the creek in 1939 and 1940. Bedrock of the area is primarily a polydeformed, metapelitic schist of possible Precambrian age (Sainsbury and others, 1972); Till and others (1986) identify the Silverbow Creek drainage as an area of extensive Quaternary cover.
  • Age = Quaternary; the placer deposits here are at low enough elevation (about 125 feet) to have been influenced by Quaternary sea level fluctuations.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Council

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Some open cut placer workings are probably present on this creek.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic resources map of the Solomon quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-445, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Solomon quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-181, 185 p.

  • Deposit

    Till, A.B., Dumoulin, J.A., Gamble, B. ., Kaufman, D.S., and Carroll, P.I., 1986, Preliminary geologic map and fossil data, Soloman, Bendeleben, and southern Kotzebue quadrangles, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 86-276, 10 p., 3 plates, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Sainsbury, C.L., Hudson, T.L., Ewing, R., and Marsh, W.R., 1972, Reconnaissance geologic maps of the Solomon D-5 and C-5 quadrangles, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 511, 12 p., 2 sheets, scale 1:63,360.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Cobb, 1978 (OF 78-181)

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).
Deposit Other Comments = Some placer mining between 1928 and 1940.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 19-AUG-1999 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology

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.