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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Kelsall River

Prospect 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. Mineral occurrence model information
  7. Nearby scientific data
  8. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  9. Mining district
  10. Links to other databases
  11. Bibliographic references
  12. General comments
  13. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10308707
Record type Site
Current site name Kelsall River
Alternate or previous names Bear Creek, Clear Creek

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -136.09214, 59.53975 (WGS84)
Relative position The Kelsall River (formerly known as Bear Creek) is a westerly tributary to the Chilkat River. The site of placer activity was approximately the center of the northern edge of section 17, T. 27 S., R. 55 E. of the Copper River Meridian. This is location 28 of Cobb (1972 [MF 424]).

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Haines(Borough)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Skagway C-3(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Skagway NE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Skagway C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Chilkat-Skagway Rivers(hydrologic unit)

Northern Southeast Alaska(hydrologic accounting unit)

Southeast Alaska(hydrologic subregion)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary

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) Qs
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Wright (1904 [B 236]) and Eakin (1919) report placer activity at this site but no geologic description or further details are given.
  • Age = Quaternary placer.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Juneau (Skagway subdistrict)

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Probably minor if any.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = According to Wright (1904 [B 236]), both Bear Creek and its tributary, Clear Creek, which joins Bear Creek 15 miles above its mouth, caused excitement in 1900 but had not been productive as of 1903. Miners had difficulty controlling high water and both quick sand and extreme depth to bedrock were reported. Eakin (1919) reported that extensive prospecting by manual methods failed to develop a workable deposit and the claims were abandoned prior to 1916.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Wright, C.W., 1904, The Porcupine placer mining district, Alaska in Emmons, S.F., and Hayes, C.W., eds., Contributions to economic geology 1903: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 225, p.60-63.

  • Deposit

    Wright, C.W., 1904, The Porcupine district, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 236, 35 p.

  • Deposit

    Eakin, H.M., 1919, The Porcupine gold placer district, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 699, 29 p.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Skagway quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-424, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Berg, H.C., 1984, Regional geologic summary, metallogenesis, and mineral resources of southeastern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-file Report 84-572, 298 p., 1 plate, scale approx. 1:600,000.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Wright, 1904 (B 236)

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer gold (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).
Deposit Other Comments = This prospect is at the western edge of the Alaska, Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 04-FEB-2001 T.C. Crafford T. Crafford & Associates

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.