1. Mineral Resources
  2. Online Spatial Data
  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Mystery Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodity Gold
Map
XML
JSON
KML
C
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. Host and associated rocks
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Mining district
  12. Links to other databases
  13. Bibliographic references
  14. General comments
  15. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10001802
MRDS ID A012610
Record type Site
Current site name Mystery Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -164.45633, 64.6432 (WGS84)
Relative position Mystery Creek is a west tributary to Shovel Creek (SO017). Shovel Creek is a major northeast tributary to the lower Solomon River. The mouth of Mystery Creek is 1.6 miles upstream from the confluence of Shovel Creek and Solomon River. This is locality 86 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-5(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Solomon NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Solomon(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Nome(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Solomon Native Corporation(ANCSA Village)

ANCSA Village NTVPIC(Type of land area)

NTVPIC(Federal land areas administered by NTVPIC)

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

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Gravel

Nearby scientific data

(1) -164.45633, 64.6432
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Hydraulic placer mining started on this creek as early as 1903 (Collier and others, 1908). Production was mostly at elevations from 150 to 200 feet between the Puzzle and Problem Creek tributaries, especially from benches that had a paystreak 100 to 150 feet wide (Smith, 1910). A shaft on this bench encountered 6-8 feet of gravel overlain by 2-18 inches of angular limestone fragments and about 30-35 feet of overburden; this shaft was located at an elevation 35 feet above the nearby stream bottom but encountered bedrock at a depth of 43 feet indicating an older and deeper channel than that of the present stream. Only 2 to 3 feet of gravel over bedrock is common in the present stream. The gold from the bench placer was fairly coarse, dark and rusty. Smith (1910) estimated that annual production from the early mining here was worth $30,000 or about 1,450 ounces. Bedrock is part of a lower Paleozoic metasedimentary assemblage (Sainsbury and others, 1972, OFR 511; Till and others, 1986).
  • Age = Quaternary; the location and elevation (150 to 200 feet) of this area indicate that it was affected 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 Nome; Solomon River

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Smith (1910) estimated that annual production from the early mining here was worth $30,000 or about 1,450 ounces. The gold was worth between $17.50 and $18.75 per ounce at the time when the price of gold was $20.67 per fine ounce.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Mostly small-scale hydraulic placer mining operations, but a dredge operated in 1911 and winter drift mining took place on the benches.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Collier, A. J., Hess, F.L., Smith, P.S., and Brooks, A.H., 1908, The gold placers of parts of Seward Peninsula, Alaska, including the Nome, Council, Kougarok, Port Clarence, and Goodhope precincts: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 328, 343 p.

  • Deposit

    Smith, P.S., 1910, Geology and mineral resources of the Solomon and Casadepaga quadrangles, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 433, 234 p.

  • 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.

  • 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.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Smith, 1910

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).

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.