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Monument Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Tin
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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 10100987
MRDS ID A012901
Record type Site
Current site name Monument Creek
Alternate or previous names Poorman Bench
Related records 10257632

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.51411, 64.59622 (WGS84)
Relative position Monument Creek is a west tributary to Snake River; this location is 2.2 miles north-northwest from the bridge on the Nome-Teller road that crosses Snake River. Monument Creek and an adjacent north-side bench were mined extensively in the Nome C-2 quadrangle and downstream into the Nome C-1 quadrangle. This location is the approximate mid-point of placer tailings along the creek and is directly south of the Poorman bench open cut. This is locality 100 of Cobb (1972 [MF 463], 1978 [OFR 78-93]); it is accurate to within about 1,000 feet.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Nome(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Nome C-2(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Solomon NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Nome(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Nome(hydrologic unit)

Norton Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northwest(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

NTVALL(Federal land areas administered by NTVALL)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary
Tin Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cassiterite Ore
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 Metamorphic Rock > Schist

Nearby scientific data

(1) -165.51411, 64.59622
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The placer deposit on Monument Creek was apparently discovered after the discovery of a rich, shallow bench, called the Poorman bench, on the north side of the creek. The pay streak on the bench was discovered in 1918 and mined immediately; it was about 40 feet wide, 4 feet thick, and below 6 feet of overburden. The pay gravels contained about 1.5 ounces of gold per cubic yard (Martin, 1920, p. 51; Cathcart, 1920, p. 188-190). The main period of mining in Monument Creek itself was from 1928 until 1940; a bucket line dredge mined in 1938-39 in the upper part of Monument Creek below the two upper forks. The upper north tributary to Monument Creek is auriferous; Kennecott Exploration Company (written communication, 1992) found 7 ppm of gold in a pan concentrate collected about one-half mile above the junction of the upper forks. Anderson (1947) reported cassiterite from Monument Creek. Anomalous amounts of tin are also present a few miles to the north in Sledge Creek (NM169). The proximity to the Nome coastal plain and the low elevation of the site (about 250 feet) suggest that Quaternary sea-level fluctuations could have influenced its development.? the source of placer gold in Monument Creek is unknown. Bedrock in the drainage includes metaturbidite schist inferred to be the oldest part of the Nome Group (Bundtzen and others, 1994). The Rodine fault, which is mineralized elsewhere (for example, at NM165), cuts across the head of Monument Creek.
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Probably inactive

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = A few tens of thousands of ounces of gold may have been produced from Monument Creek.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Gold was discovered in a shallow bench north of Monument Creek in about 1918 (Martin, 1920; Cathcart, 1920). The deposit was rich but small and quickly worked out. Monument Creek itself was worked continuously from 1928 to 1935 by mechanical methods and by a dredge in 1938-39. Production is unknown but is believed to be at least in the tens of thousands of ounces because of the long duration of moderate-scale mining. Activity was reported in 1928 (Smith, 1930, p. 39), 1929 (Smith, 1932, p. 44), 1930 (Smith, 1933 [B 836-A, p. 45-46]), 1931 (Smith, 1933 [B 844-A, p. 46]), 1932 (Smith, 1934 [B 857-A, p. 43]), 1933 (Smith, 1934 [B 869-A, p. 48]), 1934 (Smith, 1936, p. 49-50), and 1935 (Smith, 1937, p. 52). Mining activity is not reported for 1936-37, perhaps in anticipation of the dredge that was brought from the Casadepaga River in 1938. The dredged ground was worked out in 1939 (Smith, 1939, p. 63, 75-76, Smith, 1941, p. 59-60, 70).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Martin, 1920

General comments

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

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 12-MAR-00 Hawley, C.C. Hawley Resource Group
Reporter 12-MAR-00 Travis L. Hudson Hawley Resource Group

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.