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Boulder Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Silver
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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. 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 10002776
MRDS ID A015238
Record type Site
Current site name Boulder Creek
Related records 10233387

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -143.01978, 65.28088 (WGS84)
Relative position Boulder Creek is a northwest-flowing tributary of Coal Creek. The coordinates given are for placers at the mouth of the creek, in the NE1/4 of section 3, T. 5 N., R. 22 E., of the Fairbanks Meridian. The creek is about 3 miles long and could have other placer production or exploration along its length. It is location 5 of Cobb (1972 [MF-390]). The location is accurate.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Yukon-Koyukuk(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

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

Charley River SW(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Charley River(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve(National Preserve)

National Preserve NPS(Type of land area)

NPS(Federal land areas administered by NPS)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Silver 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) -143.01978, 65.28088
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The bedrock in the Boulder Creek drainage is composed of Cretaceous to Tertiary sedimentary rocks (Dover and Miyaoka, 1988). Placer gold in stream gravels was bright and flaky and had a fineness of 909.5 (National Park Service, 1990). The bench-placer gold is unevenly distributed and tarnished with manganese. Gold was found in the normal-fault contact zone between Tertiary conglomerate on the north and Permian conglomerate with quartz stockwork veins on the south (National Park Service, 1990).? Claims were staked along Boulder Creek as early as 1908, and mining also began about then (National Park Service, 1990; Chapin, 1914). During 1935-36, small-scale drift mining took place along the creek. Placer mines were located near the mouth of the creek, but other locations along the creek may have been mined or prospected. By 1943, the creek had produced 88 troy ounces of gold and 11 troy ounces of silver. By 1951, 334 troy ounces of gold and 42 troy ounces of silver had been removed from the creek (National Park Service, 1990).
  • Age = Tertiary-Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Circle

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = By 1943, the creek had produced 88 troy ounces of gold and 11 troy ounces of silver. By 1951, 334 troy ounces of gold and 42 troy ounces of silver had been removed from the creek (National Park Service, 1990).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Mining along the creek began as early as 1908 and continued intermittently until at least 1951. There were both stream and bench placer mines and prospects (National Park Service, 1990).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Chapin, Theodore, 1914, Placer mining in the Yukon-Tanana region: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 592-J, p. 357-362.

  • Deposit

    Mertie, J.B., Jr., 1942, Tertiary deposits of the Eagle-Circle district, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 917-D, p. 213-264.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Charley River quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-390, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Charley River and Coleen quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-632, 45 p.

  • Deposit

    Dover, J.A., and Miyaoka, R.T., 1988, Reinterpreted geologic map and fossil data, Charley River quadrangle, east-central Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2004, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    National Park Service, 1990, Final environmental impact statement, volume 1, Mining in Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, Alaska: National Park Service, Anchorage, Alaska, p. 36-44.

  • Deposit

    Mertie, J.B., Jr., 1938, Gold placers of the Fortymile, Eagle, and Circle districts, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 897-C, p. 133-261.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = National Park Service, 1990

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)
Deposit Other Comments = See also Coal Creek (CY006) and Colorado Creek (CY007). This site is within the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 07-APR-00 Cameron, C.E. Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys

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.