Sawyer Creek

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 10097547
MRDS ID A015239
Record type Site
Current site name Sawyer Creek
Alternate or previous names Sawyer Gulch
Related records 10282214

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -143.09284, 65.23976 (WGS84)
Relative position Sawyer Creek, not named on the current (1956, revised 1974) topographic map of the Charley River quadrangle, is a north-flowing tributary to Sam Creek, about 10 miles from its confluence with the Yukon River. Sawyer Gulch is location 6 of Cobb (1972 [MF-390]). The placer mining was in section 19, T. 5 N., R. 23 E., of the Fairbanks Meridian. The location is accurate within one mile.

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 A-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

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) -143.09284, 65.23976

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = A small placer deposit was reported in the early 1900s on a tributary, presumably Sawyer Creek, of Sam Creek (CY027). The gold, as in other nearby placer deposits, is likely derived from the Cretaceous to Tertiary conglomerate that underlies the creek (Mertie, 1942; Dover and Miyaoka, 1988).
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Mining district

District name Circle

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = A small placer deposit was reported in the early 1900s on Sawyer Creek. The general area was mined and explored extensively prior to World War II (Mertie, 1942).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Brooks, A.H., 1907, The Alaskan mining industry in 1906: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 314, p. 19-39.

  • 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.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Mertie, 1942

General comments

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

Authoritative Alaska resources

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