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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Bird Creek

Prospect 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 10003419
MRDS ID A106176
Record type Site
Current site name Bird Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -149.41262, 61.01954 (WGS84)
Relative position Location of placer claims includes the length of Bird Creek, located on the north side of Turnagain Arm. Lode claims located upstream. Locality 68 of MacKevett and Holloway (1977).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Anchorage(Municipality)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Anchorage A-7(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Anchorage SW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Anchorage(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Anchorage(hydrologic unit)

Knik Arm(hydrologic accounting unit)

South Central Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Chugach State Park(State Park)

State Park ST(Type of land area)

ST(Federal land areas administered by ST)

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) -149.41262, 61.01954
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Placer claims in stream draining Late Cretaceous Valdez Group metasedimentary rocks. Gold found in stream deposits sporatically; an aplite sample from a lode claim in 1898 assayed 0.36 oz/ton Au (Mendenhall, 1900).
  • Age = Quaternary

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Anchorage

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = No production data available.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Placer claims worked for several years between 1898 and most recently in 1938. Most claims proved to be disappointing. In 1915, a tunnel was driven 144 ft in slate to tap an old channel about 8 miles above Bird Creek mouth. Prospector was not successful (Capps, 1916). An aplite sample from a lode claim in 1898 assayed 0.36 oz/ton Au (Mendenhall, 1900).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Mendenhall, W.C., 1900, A reconnaissance from Resurrection Bay to the Tanana River, Alaska, in 1898: U.S. Geological Survey 20th Annual Report, part 7, p. 265-340.

  • Deposit

    Smith, P.S., 1939, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1938: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 917-A, p. 1-113.

  • Deposit

    MacKevett, E.M., Jr., and Holloway, C.D., 1977, Map showing metalliferous and selected non-metalliferous mineral deposits in the eastern part of southern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-169-A, 99 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:1,000,000.

  • Deposit

    Capps, S.R., 1916, Gold mining in the Willow Creek district: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 642-G, p. 147-194, 195-200.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1979, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials in the Anchorage quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 79-1095, 184 p.

  • Deposit

    MacKevett, E.M., Jr., and Holloway, C.D., 1977, Map showing metalliferous mineral deposits in the western part of southern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-169-F, 38 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:1,000,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Capps, 1916

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 30-JUL-1998 D.P. Bickerstaff U.S. Geological Survey
Reporter 30-JUL-1998 S.W. Huss U.S. Geological Survey

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.