Jim Pup

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodity Gold
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 10000569
MRDS ID A011016
Record type Site
Current site name Jim Pup
Alternate or previous names Jim Pup Creek, Jim Gulch, Jim Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -149.48332, 67.46971 (WGS84)
Relative position Jim Pup is a tributary to California Creek approximately 2 miles southwest of Bob Johnson Lake (formerly Big Lake) (NE1/4 sec. 35 and sec. 36, T. 31 N., R. 9 W., of the Fairbanks Meridian). Although the prospect is variously named Jim Gulch, Jim Pup Creek, or Jim Creek, the creek is named Jim Pup on the current 1:63,360-scale topographic map. The placer workings extend 3/4 mile above the confluence of Jim Pup with Wakeup Creek. The location is accurate within a 1/4-mile radius.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Yukon-Koyukuk(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Chandalar B-5(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Chandalar S(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Chandalar(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

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) -149.48332, 67.46971

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Jim Pup was reported by Reed (1938, p. 34-36) to have a high channel and a deep channel in addition to the present channel. Reed (1938) described gold occurrences in the present and deep channels, but he made no note of gold being taken from the high channel. The present channel was worked beginning in the early 1900s, and the gold from this channel was said to be very coarse; a $50 nugget was recovered from workings in the early days (Reed, 1938). The pay streak worked in the early days was about 10 feet wide, and the depth to bedrock was said to be 3 to 5 feet. The deep channel on Jim Pup is considered to be a continuation of the one on nearby Wakeup Creek (CH025) and appears to generally extend downstream from the mouth of Wakeup Creek along the right limit of Jim Pup. Near the confluence of Jim Pup and Wakeup Creek the deep channel is about 55 feet deep and said to be thawed but dry (Reed, 1938). There were also reports of an 'upper' deep channel running on false bedrock on lower Wakeup Creek that extends to the confluence with Jim Pup, where it was said to be about 12 feet below the surface (Reed, 1938). It was thought that this upper deep channel might extend along the right limit of Jim Pup. There is a close spatial relationship among California, Jim Pup and Wakeup creeks, and their descriptions are commonly intermixed.
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Not determined

Mining district

District name Koyukuk

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Gold was discovered in 1901, and production during the period 1900-1909 reported to be worth $3,000 (Maddren, 1913). Mining during those years was said to be small scale and to pay no better than wages. Mining was also reported in 1934 and 1938. Heiner and Wolff (1968) reported that the property was worked by hand methods into the 1940s and that work continued into the 1950s. Production was also noted in 1989 and 1990 (Bundtzen and others, 1990; Swainbank and others, 1991).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Mining and prospecting included surface and underground drift mining sporadically through the years from the early 1900s until the 1950s. There are reports of production in the 1980s and early 1990s, but there is no other information on this later activity.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Reed, 1938

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)
Deposit Other Comments = See also: California Creek (CH023) and Wakeup Creek (CH025).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 17-NOV-1999 J.M. Britton U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Authoritative Alaska resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.