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Cripple Creek (lower)

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. Host and associated rocks
  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 10002466
MRDS ID A013396
Record type Site
Current site name Cripple Creek (lower)

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -159.5728, 60.73933 (WGS84)
Relative position Cripple Creek is a southeast headwater tributary of the Salmon River. This placer mine is one of two locations given by Cobb (1972 [MF 455]) on Cripple Creek. It is along about 1 mile of the lower creek between the mouths of Porcupine and Dome Creeks, both west tributaries to Cripple Creek. The map site is at the approximate midpoint of the placer, in the SW1/4 of section 36, T 8 N, R 59 W, of the Seward Meridian. This is locality 16 of Cobb (1972 [MF 455]) and of Hoare and Cobb (1977).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Bethel(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Bethel C-2(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Bethel NE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Bethel(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Aniak(hydrologic unit)

Lower Kuskokwim River(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southwest(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
Magnetite Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 119
USGS model code 39a
Deposit model name Placer Au-PGE
Mark3 model number 54

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Gravel
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Holocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Alluvium

Nearby scientific data

(1) Kk
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Cripple Creek was prospected and staked soon after placer gold was discovered on Marvel Creek (BH010) in 1911. The headwaters of Cripple Creek have coarse outwash or morainal deposits, and a glacier occupied the headwater valley of Loco Creek, a west tributary. Most of the Cripple Creek drainage is filled with alluvial outwash deposits. These have been incised by the present drainage that cuts 10 to 30 feet into bedrock along the lower reaches of the creek. Placer mining along Cripple Creek below the mouth of Dome Creek, has taken place over at least a mile of the creek and seems restricted to the active flood plain (Cobb, 1972 [MF 455]). The flood plain gravels are about 6 feet thick and some of the pay is reported to have run about 0.003 ounce of gold per cubic yard (Hoare and Cobb, 1977, p. 9). The gold is fine and flaky and accompanied by much magnetite. Maddren (1915) reports that bench-placer gold prospects are present on lower Dome Creek near its confluence with Cripple Creek. The bench alluvium is up to 100 feet thick. Early tunneling along the bedrock base of the benches indicated that gold was concentrated on bedrock (Maddren, 1915, p. 349). Hoare and Cobb (1977, p. 9) report that bench deposits have comparable gold content to flood plain deposits in some areas. Bedrock in the headwaters of Cripple Creek and Loco Creek include a Lower Tertiary granitic stock and a rhyolite intrusive (?) in mid-Cretaceous sedimentary rocks of the Kuskokwim Group (Box and others, 1993).
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Mining district

District name Aniak

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Several tunnels up to 60 feet long were dug into bench gravels above bedrock. They are on the west side of Cripple Creek, 2.5 miles upstream from its mouth, where the stream is incised 10 to 15 feet into bedrock (Maddren, 1915). Cobb (1972 [MF 455]) shows about a mile of placer workings along this part of Cripple Creek.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Maddren, A.G., 1915, Gold placers of the lower Kuskokwim with a note on copper in the Russian Mountains: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 622-H, p. 292-360.

  • Deposit

    Hoare, J.M., and Cobb, E.H., 1977, Mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Bethel, Goodnews, and Russian Mission quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-156, 98 p.

  • Deposit

    Box, S.E, Moll-Stalcup, E.J., Frost, T.P., and Murphy, J.M., 1993, Preliminary geologic map of the Bethel and southern Russian Mission quadrangles, southwestern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2226-A, 20 p., scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Bethel quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-455, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Hoare and Cobb, 1977

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au-PGE (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 24-MAR-01 Travis L. Hudson Applied Geology

Beyond USGS

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

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Alaska resources

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