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Snowbird

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 10000962
MRDS ID A011632
Record type Site
Current site name Snowbird
Alternate or previous names Snow King, Sherry
Related records 10209400

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -149.20769, 61.8315 (WGS84)
Relative position Above west bank of Glacier Creek, a tributary to Reed Creek. Marked with adit symbol and labeled 'Snowbird Mine' on the Anchorage D-6 1:63,360-scale topographic map. Accurate within 400 ft. Locality 33 of Chapin (1921, plate VI), locality 31 of Cobb (1972), and locality 23 of MacKevett and Holloway (1977).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Matanuska-Susitna(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Anchorage D-6(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Anchorage NW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Anchorage(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Lower Susitna River(hydrologic unit)

Susitna River(hydrologic accounting unit)

South Central Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Hatcher Pass Management Area-East(State Special Management Area)

State Special Management Area ST(Type of land area)

ST(Federal land areas administered by ST)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Wall-rock alteration within a few inches of the veins is intense, but seldom extends more than 10 to 12 inches beyond the quartz filling. Sericitization and carbonate alteration predominate, but there is some pyritization and in the outer parts of the alteration zone chloritization is present (Ray, 1954).

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 273
USGS model code 36a
Deposit model name Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein
Mark3 model number 27

Nearby scientific data

(1) -149.20769, 61.8315
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Mineralized shear zones and quartz veins in tonalite or quartz diorite of the Late Cretaceous Willow Creek Pluton. Exploration encountered four shear zones, two of which contained gold in quartz lenses in gouge and sheared rock. The shear zones generally strike northeast and dip 52 to 70 NW. Two shear zones were barren, one yielded a few good assays, and one had encouraging assays (Ray, 1954). Wall-rock alteration within a few inches of the veins is intense, but seldom extends more than 10 to 12 inches beyond the quartz filling. Sericitization and carbonate alteration predominate, but there is some pyritization and in the outer parts of the alteration zone chloritization is present (Ray, 1954).? the Willow Creek Pluton is a zoned pluton: the outer part consists of hornblende quartz diorite and lesser hornblende tonalite; the core consists of hornblende-biotite granodiorite, and lesser hornblende-biotite quartz monzodiorite and biotite quartz monzonite.
  • Age = Late Cretaceous or younger; vein cuts the Late Cretaceous Willow Creek Pluton.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Willow Creek

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = In the fall of 1950 a small amount of ore mined and milled - the first and the last to be milled on Glacier Creek (Stoll, 1997).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Explored by about 2,000 ft of crosscuts and drifts. Work to open up a quartz vein was reported in 1919. The vein was reported to be stripped for 4,000 ft (Chapin, 1921). By 1925, owner Mike Sherry reported an adit driven 120 ft. The adit reportedly had a quartz vein at the working face (Brooks, 1925). An aerial tram and mill were installed and a little ore was mined and milled in 1950. The 'encouraging' shear zone (of the four shear zones encountered) hit bad ground as a raise was being put up (Ray, 1954).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Chapin, Theodore, 1921, Lode developments in the Willow Creek district: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 714-E, p. 201-206.

  • Deposit

    Brooks, A.H., 1925, Alaska's mineral resources and production, 1923: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 773, p. 3-52.

  • Deposit

    Ray, R.G., 1954, Geology and ore deposits of the Willow Creek Mining district, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1004, 86 p.

  • 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

    Kurtak, J.M., 1986, Results of the 1984 Bureau of Mines site specific field studies within the Willow Creek mining district: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 17-86, 17 p.

  • Deposit

    Stoll, W.M., 1997, Hunting for gold in Alaska's Talkeetna Mountains 1897-1951: Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Henry Printing, 301 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Anchorage quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-409, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1979, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials in the Anchorage quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 79-1095, 184 p.

  • Deposit

    MacKevett, E.M., Jr., and Holloway, C.D., 1977, Map showing metalliferous mineral deposits in the western part of southern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-169-F, 38 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:1,000,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Ray, 1954

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Low-sulfide Au-quartz veins (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a)
Deposit Other Comments = Brooks (1925) reports that Mike Sherry developed a prospect on the west side of Reed Creek valley in 1923. It is generally assumed that this is the same as Snowbird and Snow King. Ray (1954) refers to this location as Snowbird, while Chapin (1921) refers to it as Snow King; appears that they are the same mine.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 30-JUL-1998 D.P. Bickerstaff U.S. Geological Survey
Reporter 30-JUL-1998 S.W. Huss U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

External references

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.