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Birch 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 10308807
MRDS ID D002166
Record type Site
Current site name Birch Creek
Related records 10009283

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -144.5709, 65.32974 (WGS84)
Relative position The coordinates are for the Birch Creek/Buckley Bar confluence. The Steese Highway parallels Birch Creek just east of Twelvemile Summit as it flows west from Mastodon Dome. Eventually Birch Creek flows south, east, then north, crossing the Steese Highway again between Central and Circle.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Yukon-Koyukuk(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Circle B-2(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Circle SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Circle(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Birch Creek WSR(Wild and Scenic River)

Wild and Scenic River BLM(Type of land area)

BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary

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) -144.5709, 65.32974
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = Birch Creek is approximately 560 km long, originating just east of Mastodon Dome and emptying into the Yukon River approximately 50 km below Fort Yukon. Birch Creek flows over quartzite and quartzite schist before crossing into the Tintina fault trench where it then flows within the broad lowlands of the Yukon River over Pleistocene and Holocene surficial deposits. The flood plain of the upper and middle portions of the creek is composed of pebble-to-cobble gravel that contains a few boulders composed primarily of quartz and quartzite. A pebble count of gravel in Birch Creek between the mouth of Gold Dust and Butte Creeks reveals a composition of 72 percent quartzitic schist, 20 percent quartz, and 8 percent schist. Panned concentrates are low in magnetite and ilmenite, and rich in garnet (Yeend, 1991, p. 26). The only early placer production recorded from Birch Creek was from river bars, of which Buckley Bar was probably the most productive (Ellsworth and Davenport, 1913, p. 213). A bench about a mile below Twelvemile Creek was unsuccessfully mined in 1911 (Cobb, 1976, p. 7). Mining operations using heavy equipment with modern high-volume sluiceboxes were active along the upper part of Birch Creek in the 1980's (Yeend, 1991).

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 = During the spring of 1894, about a half ounce of gold per man per day was being taken from Pitka's Bar (Dunham, 1898). In the 1980's in the upper part of Birch Creek near the Steese Highway, 2,000 cubic yards of gravel per day yielded 0.005 to 0.0075 ounces per cubic yard (Yeend, 1991, p.26, Lampright, 1996, p. 56). Most Birch Creek production has been from river bars with Buckley Bar probably being the most productive (Ellsworth and Davenport, 1913, p. 213). Battest Mining reported mining operations on Birch Creek in 1985 (Bundtzen and others, 1986).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Other than during the discovery period of the late 1800's, little mining was done on Birch Creek until the 1980's. Mining operations using heavy equipment with modern high-volume sluiceboxes were active along the upper part of Birch Creek in the 1980's (Yeend, 1991). A bench about a mile below Twelvemile Creek was unsuccessfully mined in 1911 (Cobb, 1976, p. 7, [OFR 76-633]).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Yeend, 1991

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer gold deposit (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)
Deposit Other Comments = Gold in small quantities can still be panned from just about anywhere along the upper 160 km of Birch Creek (Yeend, 1991, p. 26).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 08-SEP-1998 C.J. Freeman, J.R. Guidetti Schaefer, A.S. Clements Avalon Development Corporation

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.