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Falls 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. Alteration
  8. Mineral occurrence model information
  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 10000918
MRDS ID A011582
Record type Site
Current site name Falls Creek
Alternate or previous names Little Falls Creek, Treasure Creek
Related records 10282497

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -151.0239, 62.48343 (WGS84)
Relative position C.C. Hawley and Associates, Inc. (1978, Fig. 4.2-B(3)) locate this property at the headwaters of Falls Creek at the confluence of Falls, Little Falls and Ruby Gulch, tributaries to Cache Creek in the southwest quarter of Section 30, T. 28 N., R. 9 W., of the Seward Meridian.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Matanuska-Susitna(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Talkeetna B-3(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Talkeetna SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Talkeetna C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Yentna River(hydrologic unit)

Susitna River(hydrologic accounting unit)

South Central Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore

Alteration

  • (Local) Hydrothermally altered zones in Falls Creek are noted by Reed and others (1978). Alteration mineralogy is not described at this site. However, based on its reported similarity to altered zones at Thunder Creek (TL032, TL058), it is most likely argillic alteration of Mesozoic sedimentary rocks.

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) -151.0239, 62.48343
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = In Falls Creek, C.C. Hawley and Associates, Inc. (1978) describe auriferous bench gravels in an old southwest flowing drainage on bedrock of sedimentary rocks of the Tertiary Kenai Group. The alluvial channels are shallow, 5 to 10 feet deep. The Falls Creek channel probably represents an old southwest flowing drainage similar to those at Thunder (TL032, 058), Dollar (TL031), Nugget (TL035) and Willow ( TL042) Creeks. Quartz-breccia in these older channels previously has been described as the basal unit of the Tertiary Kenai Group (Capps, 1913). Hawley and Clark (1973) suggest that the conglomerate is younger than the Kenai Group and is the product of erosion of igneous dikes that intruded along northeast-striking normal faults. ? Clark and Hawley (1968) report the fineness of the gold from Falls Creek ranges from 860 to 863. Ground down to about 10 cents per bedrock foot has been mined profitably in both Cache and lower Falls Creek in the 1970s (C.C. Hawley and Associates, Inc., 1978). ? Reed and others (1978) indicate that hydrothermally altered zones similar to those in the headwaters of Treasure Creek are observed along Dollar (TL031) and Thunder Creeks (TL032, TL058), at the headwaters of Dutch (TL033) and Bear Creeks (TL017) and at an unnamed locality east of McDoel Peak (TL053). Other tributaries to Falls Creek from which placer gold has been produced are Ruby Gulch and Treasure Creek (Smith, 1939). From these older channels gold was reconcentrated into Cache Creek (TL029).
  • Age = Pleistocene and Tertiary (Clark and Hawley, 1968).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Mining district

District name Yentna

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Placer mining is reported as early as 1916. Ground down to about 10 cents per bedrock foot has been mined profitably in both Cache and lower Falls Creek in the 1970s (C.C. Hawley and Associates, Inc., 1978).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = The drainage has been prospected and mined by various small scale surface methods.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Capps, S.R., 1913, The Yentna district, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 534, 75 p.

  • Deposit

    Capps, S.R., 1924, Geology and mineral resources of the region traversed by the Alaska Railroad: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 755-C, p. 73-150.

  • Deposit

    Smith, P.S., 1939, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1938: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 917-A, p. 1-113.

  • Deposit

    Clark, A.L., and Hawley, C.C., 1968, Reconnaissance geology, mineral occurrences, and geochemical anomalies of the Yentna district, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 68-35, 64 p.

  • Deposit

    C.C. Hawley and Associates, Inc., 1978, Mineral appraisal of lands adjacent to Mt. McKinley National Park, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 24-78, 275 p., 7 plates.

  • Deposit

    Reed, B.L., Nelson, S.W., Curtin, G.C., and Singer, D.A., 1978, Mineral resources map of the Talkeetna Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-870-D, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., and Reed, B.L., 1980, Summaries of data and lists of reference to metallic and selected nonmetallic mineral deposits in the Talkeetna quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 80-884, 106 p.

  • Deposit

    Reed, B.L., and Nelson, S.W., 1980, Geologic map of the Talkeetna quadrangle: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Map I-1174, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Clark, A.L., and Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Talkeetna quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-369, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    MacKevett, E.M., Jr., and Holloway, C.D., 1977, Map showing metalliferous and selected non-metalliferous mineral deposits in the eastern part of southern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-169-A, 99 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:1,000,000.

  • Deposit

    Paige, Sidney, and Knopf, Adolph, 1907, Reconnaissance in the Matanuska and Talkeetna basins, Alaska, with notes on the placers of the adjacent regions: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 314-F, p. 104-125.

  • Deposit

    Mertie, J.B., Jr., 1919, Platinum-bearing gold placers of the Kahiltna Valley: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 692-D, p. 233-264.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = C.C. Hawley and Associates, Inc., 1978

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).
Deposit Other Comments = Other tributaries to Falls Creek from which placer gold has been produced are Ruby Gulch and Treasure Creek. Also see Cache Creek (TL029). Reed and others (1978) indicate that hydrothermally altered zones similar to those in the headwaters of Treasure Creek are observed along Dollar (TL031) and Thunder Creeks (TL032, TL058), at the headwaters of Dutch (TL033) and Bear Creeks (TL017) and at an unnamed locality east of McDoel Peak (TL053).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-AUG-1998 Madelyn A. Millholland Millholland & Associates

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.