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American 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 10100978
MRDS ID A012657
Record type Site
Current site name American Creek
Alternate or previous names Game Creek
Related records 10111938

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -164.4583, 64.93042 (WGS84)
Relative position American Creek is the farthest-northwest headwater tributary of the Niukluk River. This location is at the mouth of Game Creek; placer mining occurred for about 0.5 miles up Game Creek and extends for about 0.3 miles on American Creek downstream from the mouth of Game Creek . This is locality 48 of Cobb (1972, MF 445; 1978, OF 78-181). However, the base map used by Cobb (1972, MF 445) appears to have mislocated and mislabeled Game Creek. The locations for Game Creek and Auburn Creek (SO087) shown on on more recent 1:250,000 and 1:63,360 scale topographic maps matches the original descriptions and is used here.

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-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)

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) -164.4583, 64.93042
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Very little is known about the mining at this location on American Creek. A dredge operated here in 1940 (Smith, 1942) but subsequent work is not reported. The Solomon D-5 topographic map shows about 0.3 miles of placer tailings on American Creek and Sainsbury and others (1972, OFR 511) show about 0.5 miles of tailings on Game Creek. Game Creek heads across a 825 foot-divide to the headwaters of Goose Creek (SO072 and SO085). Bedrock in this area is primarily pelitic schist of possible Cambrian or Precambrian age (Till and others, 1986).
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Mining district

District name Council

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Dredge tailings are present over the lower 0.3 miles of Game Creek and about 0.3 miles of American Creek downstream from the mouth of Game Creek. There is little information available but a dredge operated in 1940.

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.

  • Deposit

    Smith, P.S., 1942, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1940: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 933-A, p. 1-102.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Smith, 1942

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.