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

Spruce 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. 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 10002483
MRDS ID A013420
Record type Site
Current site name Spruce Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -159.80589, 61.04544 (WGS84)
Relative position Spruce Creek is a small west tributary to Bear Creek. The mouth of Spruce Creek is 2.3 miles downstream of the mouth of Bonanza Creek (RM031). The map site is along lower Spruce Creek, in the NE1/4 sec. 18, T. 11 N., R. 59 W., of the Seward Meridian. This is locality 19 of Hoare and Cobb (1972, 1977).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Bethel(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Russian Mission A-3(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Russian Mission SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Russian Mission(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Kuskokwim Delta(hydrologic unit)

Lower Kuskokwim River(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Calista Corporation(ANCSA Region)

ANCSA Region 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 > Clay, Mud
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Holocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Gravel

Nearby scientific data

(1) -159.80589, 61.04544
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The lower part of Spruce Creek has been placer mined where it crosses bench deposits along Bear Creek. Gravel deposits at the mouth of the creek are as much as 400 feet thick. Gravels along the active drainage are 20 to 30 feet thick 1,500 feet upstream of the mouth, and the headwaters of the creek cut directly into bedrock. Where the alluvial deposits are 20 to 30 feet thick, they consist of 2 to 4 feet of muck, 2 to 3 feet of coarse gravel with boulders as much as 1 foot in diameter, 1 to 1.5 feet of blue clay, and brown sandy and pebbly clay to bedrock (Maddren, 1915). Most of the gold occurred in the blue and brown pebbly clays and on bedrock. Some of the gold was coarse and attached to quartz. Maddren (1915) thought that it could have been derived from the contact zone around an intrusive at the head of the creek. Bedrock in the Spruce Creek drainage includes thermally metamorphosed Jurassic volcanic rocks developed around a mid-Cretaceous granitic stock (Box and others, 1993). Spruce Creek may be the only tributary of Bear Creek that contains substantial amounts of gold derived from bedrock in its own drainage.
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Mining district

District name Aniak

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Open-cut placer mining took place along lower Spruce Creek until about 1920. Some of this work included a 280-foot long, 15- to 20-foot wide, and 10-foot-deep trench built as a bedrock drain.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Maddren, A.G., 1915, Gold placers of the lower Kuskokwim with a note on copper in the Russian Mountains: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 622-H, p. 292-360.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J M., and Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Russian Mission quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-444, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J.M., and Cobb, E.H., 1977, Mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Bethel, Goodnews, and Russian Mission quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-156, 98 p.

  • Deposit

    Box, S.E, Moll-Stalcup, E.J., Frost, T.P., and Murphy, J.M., 1993, Preliminary geologic map of the Bethel and southern Russian Mission quadrangles, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2226-A, 20 p., scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J M., and Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Russian Mission quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-444, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Maddren, 1915

General comments

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

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-JUN-01 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology
Reporter 10-JUN-01 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.