1. Mineral Resources
  2. Online Spatial Data
  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Cripple River

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodity Gold
Map
XML
JSON
KML
C
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 10307970
Record type Site
Current site name Cripple River

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.90109, 64.64617 (WGS84)
Relative position The Cripple River bench placer is on the northwest side of the Cripple River valley. It extends about 1.5 miles upstream from the mouth of Fox Creek to the mouth of Elizabeth Creek. The deposit is approximately located downslope from the end of two parallel water ditches shown on the Nome C-2 topographic map near the boundary of sections 4 and 5, T. 10. S., R. 36 W., Kateel River Meridian. This is locality 64 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-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

Sitnasuak Native Corporation(ANCSA Village)

ANCSA Village NTVPIC(Type of land area)

NTVPIC(Federal land areas administered by NTVPIC)

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) -165.90109, 64.64617
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The prospect is a gravel bench on bedrock, 10 feet above and to the north above of Cripple River; Collier and others (1908, p. 210) reported it to contain an economic deposit of placer gold. A proposal was made to hydraulically mine the deposit, and at least two ditches were built to supply water to the prospect. One 4.5-mile-long ditch was completed in 1903. The ditch leaked badly, and a second ditch was constructed; it also is believed to have failed. No data exist on the gold content of the bench deposit.
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Attempts were made in 1903 and subsequent years to mine a placer gold deposit on a Cripple River bench below Elizabeth Creek. These attempts apparently failed because of leakage from one or more ditches constructed to develop the project (Collier and others, 1908). No recent activity is known at the site.

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

    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 = Collier and others, 1908

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. and Hudson, Travis L. 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.