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Hobson 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 10100989
MRDS ID A012918
Record type Site
Current site name Hobson Creek
Related records 10184673

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.2819, 64.74929 (WGS84)
Relative position Hobson Creek is a west tributary to Nome River that enters Nome River about 1 mile above Willow Creek. It joins Manila Creek at the Miocene Ditch crossing in the Nome C-1 quadrangle and is auriferous from about the Miocene Ditch upstream for more than a mile to at least Wet Gulch, an eastern headwater tributary of Hobson Creek. The location used here is at the border between the C-1 and D-1 quadrangles. Hobson Creek is locality 111 of Cobb (1972 [MF-463], 1978 [OFR [78-93]).

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-1(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)

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) -165.2819, 64.74929
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Hobson Creek was prospected in 1900 but little gold was produced by 1908 (Collier and others, 1908, p. 181). The creek was subsequently mined by dredging from at least 1913 to 1916. The fault that hosts the Breen antimony-gold prospect (NM085) likely crosses the upper part of the creek. Bundtzen and others (1994) mapped a linear structure in Wet Gulch, and there are other faults and sheared formational contacts upstream which could have localized lode gold sources in the Hobson Creek drainage. Bedrock in the Hobson Creek drainage is a metasedimentary schist and marble sequence (Hummel, 1962 [MF 248]; Bundtzen and others, 1994).
  • 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 Nome

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = The creek was productive at least from 1913 to 1916.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Small-scale mechanical placer mining for gold took place after 1908. In 1913, a 2.5-cubic-foot dredge was moved onto the creek by Arctic Gold Dredging Company. The creek was considered to be rather steep for dredging (Chapin, 1914, p. 387, 390). The dredging difficulties must have been solved to some extent because the dredge was still in operation by the same company in 1916 (Mertie, 1918 [B 662-I, p. 452]).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • 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

    Chapin, Theodore, 1914, Placer mining on Seward Peninsula: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 592-L, p. 385-395.

  • Deposit

    Hummel, C.L., 1962, Preliminary geologic map of the Nome D-1 quadrangle, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-248, 1 sheet, scale 1:63,360.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-463, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File report 78-93, 213 p.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Cobb, 1978 (OFR 78-93)

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).
Deposit Other Comments = Fairly extensive placer mining on Hobson Creek suggests that the headwaters may contain undiscovered lode gold deposits, possibly continuations of the Breen East lodes (NM085).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 22-OCT-99 Hawley, C.C. Hawley Resource Group
Reporter 22-OCT-99 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.