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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

War Baby

Unknown in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Copper
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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. 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 10111307
MRDS ID A011602
Record type Site
Current site name War Baby
Alternate or previous names Willow Creek Mines Inc.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -149.40158, 61.78038 (WGS84)
Relative position SEE LOCATION COMMENTS

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-7(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)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Comments on the location information

  • MARKED ON MAP WITH ADIT SYMBOL AND LABELED 'WAR BABY MINE', ABOVE NORTHWEST BANK OF CRAIGIE CREEK ON THE ANCHORAGE D-7 1:63,360-SCALE TOPOGRAPHIC MAP. NEARLY 5,000 FT EAST OF VABM BOX. ACCURATE WITHIN 100 FT. LOCALITY 3 OF COBB (1972) AND LOCALITY 3 OF MACKEVETT AND HOLLOWAY (1977).

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Copper 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).

Nearby scientific data

(1) -149.40158, 61.78038
ListMap

Economic information

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Commodity type Metallic
Significant No

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Willow Creek

Comments on the production information

  • PRODUCTION RECORDS WERE COMBINED FOR THE WAR BABY AND THE LUCKY SHOT MINE (ARDF NUMBER AN002). BOTH MINES WERE SIMULTANEOUSLY OPERATED BY WILLOW CREEK MINES. STOLL (1997) ESTIMATED THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF GOLD RECOVERED FROM THE LUCKY SHOT - WAR BABY VEIN ON THE NORTHWEST WALL OF CRAIGIE CREEK VALLEY TO BE 252,000 OUNCES.

Comments on the workings information

  • LOCATED IN 1918, DEVELOPMENT BEGAN ALMOST IMMEDIATELY WITH THE ERECTION OF A SMALL MILL. THE FIRST PRODUCTION FROM THE MINE OCCURRED IN 1919 AFTER TWO SHORT TUNNELS AND A CROSSCUT WERE DRIVEN. WILLOW CREEK MINES TOOK OVER THE PROPERTY IN 1921. WAR BABY WAS MINED, WITH INTERRUPTIONS, FROM 1919 UNTIL 1940. THERE WERE OVER 2,000 FT OF UNDERGROUND WORKINGS ON 3 LEVELS. RAY (1933) REPORTED THAT PRODUCTION FROM 1922 THROUGH 1927 WAS FROM A SINGLE STOPE MEASURING 175 BY 250 FT WITH A MAXIMUM WIDTH OF 10 TO 12 FT. THE ORE MINED THROUGH 1927 AVERAGED 2.18 OZ/TON AU (RAY, 1933). THERE MAY HAVE BEEN SOME COPPER PRODUCTION, HOWEVER CONCENTRATES THAT WERE SHIPPED MAY HAVE COME FROM WAR BABY OR LUCKY SHOT (ARDF NUMBER AN002) (SMITH, 1930). BY 1950, THE MINE WAS LONG CLOSED AND WORKINGS WERE INACCESSIBLE (RAY, 1954).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit CHAPIN (1920) REPORTED THAT FOUR OR FIVE PARALLEL QUARTZ VEINS CUT THE LATE CRETACEOUS WILLOW CREEK PLUTON. 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. 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). VEINS GENERALLY STRIKE N 80 E, AND DIP 17 TO 62 NW, ARE FOUND IN A 33 FT WIDE ZONE, AND RANGE IN THICKNESS FROM 1 TO 15 INCHES. VEINS APPEAR TO BELONG TO A SINGLE SYSTEM THAT LOCALLY BRANCHES IN THE HANGING WALL. THE FOOTWALL IS MARKED BY SLICKENSIDES THAT SEPARATE THE LODE FROM FRESH COUNTRY ROCK. THE LODE IS A CONTINUATION OF THE LODE AT LUCKY SHOT (ARDF NUMBER AN002) THAT IS OFFSET BY 600 TO 700 FT. THE ORE MINED THROUGH 1927 AVERAGED 2.18 OZ/TON AU (RAY, 1933).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JUL-1985 Leonard, Kenneth R. (Elliott, R. L.) U.S. Geological Survey ADRF AND MRDS MERGED RECORD
Updater 01-JUL-1998 Bickerstaff, Damon P. (Huss, S. W.) U.S. Geological Survey
Editor 21-JAN-2000 Mason, George 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.