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Elkhorn 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 10100976
MRDS ID A012631
Record type Site
Current site name Elkhorn Creek
Related records 10160184

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -163.95719, 64.93043 (WGS84)
Relative position Elkhorn Creek is a southwest tributary to the Niukluk River. The mouth of Elkhorn Creek is 0.5 miles upstream of the mouth of Camp Creek (SO057), which is about 9 miles upriver from Council. About the lower mile, between elevations of 125 and 200 feet, have been placer mined. This is locality 114 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 D-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) -163.95719, 64.93043
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Placer mining has taken place for about a mile along the lower part of Elkhorn Creek. The drainage is incised into a terrace along the Niukluk River. Creek gravels were 2.5 feet thick near the mouth and bench deposit at the mouth consisted of 4 feet of cross-bedded sand and gravel that are overlain by 6 feet of clay, muck, and vegetation. The paystreak was apparently spotty but some coarse gold was recovered; one nugget was worth $55 (about 2.75 ounces). Quartz was commonly attached to the coarser gold and one nugget was embedded in schist (Brooks and others, 1901). Bedrock in the area is probably part of a lower Paleozoic metasedimentary assemblage (Till and others, 1986).
  • Age = Quaternary.

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 production information

  • Production Notes = Production was $30,000 (about 1,450 ounces) in 1900 (Brooks and others, 1901) and totaled about $120,000 (about 6,000 ounces) by 1906 (Collier and others, 1908). Total production is probably more than 10,000 ounces (Cobb, 1978, OF 78-181).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Small-scale surface mining took place before WW I and a dredge operated between 1914 and 1918 (Cobb, 1978, OF 78-181). The lower mile of the creek has probably been extensively worked.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Brooks, A.H., Richardson, G. B., and Collier, A. J., 1901, Reconnaissance in the Cape Nome and Norton Bay regions, Alaska, in 1900: U.S. Geological Survey Special Publication, p. 1-180.

  • 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

    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 = Brooks and others, 1901

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.