Wakeup Creek

The Wakeup Creek is a gold mine located in Alaska.

About the MRDS Data:

All mine locations were obtained from the USGS Mineral Resources Data System. The locations and other information in this database have not been verified for accuracy. It should be assumed that all mines are on private property.

Mine Info

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Site Name

Primary: Wakeup Creek

Commodity

Primary: Gold

Location

State: Alaska
District: Koyukuk

Land Status

Not available

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Not available

Ownership

Not available

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant:

Physiography

Not available

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Placer Au-PGE

Orebody

Not available

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Gold

Comments

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Surface and underground workings. Drift mining of the deep channel in the 1930s.

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)

Comment (Deposit): Other Comments = See also: Jim Pup (CH024).

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Wakeup Creek has placer gold at three creek levels (Reed, 1938). The present channel lies on older gravel fill and does not cut bedrock. Minor gold was produced from these surface gravels in the early days (about 1910), but the gravels have since been covered by tailings from later mining. A deep channel, which is a continuation of the deep channel on Jim Pup (CH024), is also present and has been mined for about 1,500 feet upstream from the confluence of Jim Pup and Wakeup Creek. It is about 55 feet deep at this confluence and deepens to 112 feet 1,500 feet upstream. The deep channel is incised into hard, smooth, schist bedrock with five or six gutters, 2 to 4 feet deep along its bottom and has 5 feet of gravel lying on top of the bedrock. The channel is about 25 feet wide at its lower end and narrows upstream to 15 to 20 feet. The gold is generally on the high points of the bedrock between the gutters but in places is also distributed throughout the gravel. The gold is fine but rather rough with only a few larger pieces; values run from $3.50 to $4.00 per bedrock foot (at $35 per ounce of gold). The high channel on Wakeup Creek appears to be a former channel of Jim Pup, which ran toward Bob Johnson Lake (formerly Big lake), the reverse of the present drainage. The depth to bedrock in this channel is about 20 feet where it had been opened up in 1937; although no gold had been produced from this channel as of 1937, it was said to run about $0.50 per square foot of bedrock (Reed, 1938).

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Reed, 1938

Comment (Exploration): Status = Not determined

References

Reference (Deposit): Reed, I.M., 1938, Upper Koyukuk region, Alaska (Wiseman, Chandalar, and Bettles): Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Miscellaneous Report 194-7, 201 p.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1938, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1936: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 897-A, p. 1-107.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1939, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1938: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 917-A, p. 1-113.

Reference (Deposit): DeYoung, J.H., Jr., 1978, Mineral resources map of the Chandalar quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-878-B, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1930, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1927: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 810-A, p. 1-64.

Reference (Deposit): Roehm, J.C., 1949, Report of investigations and itinerary of J.C. Roehm in the Koyukuk precinct, Alaska: Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Itinerary Report 31-1, 9 p.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1937, Mineral industry in Alaska in 1935: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 880-A, p. 1-95.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., and Cruz, E.L., 1983, Summaries of data and lists of references to metallic and selected nonmetallic mineral deposits in the Chandalar quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 83-278, 91 p.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1976, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Chandalar and Wiseman quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 76-340, 205 p.

Reference (Deposit): Heiner, L.E., and Wolff, E.N., eds., 1968, Mineral resources of northern Alaska, Final report, submitted to the NORTH Commission: Mineral Industry Research Laboratory, University of Alaska, Report 16, 306 p.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Chandalar quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-457, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

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