California Creek

The California 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: California Creek

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Tungsten

Location

State: Alaska
District: Anchorage

Land Status

Not available

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Not available

Ownership

Not available

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: 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
Ore: Scheelite

Comments

Comment (Exploration): Status = Active?

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = In the Turnagain Arm area, the first gold north of the arm was found in 1895 by F.J. Perry and Christopher Spillum, on California Creek (Moffit, 1906). The placer deposits were worked intermittantly, with hand placer operations, between 1898 and 1914. In the late 1920s, work was begun along the creek in preparation for a mine that was to be in place by 1930. However, late in 1931, the operators decided to abandon the project. Since 1975 some hand placer activity has also occurred. ? Jasper (1967) reported that stream sediment concentrates collected from the lower stream course contained 20 grains of scheelite, about 5 percent magnetite, a little pyrite, and about 20 grains of zircon. Two 0.1 cubic yard bench samples collected at the canyon mouth yielded 0.0006 and 0.0007 oz Au/cubic yard (Jansons and others, 1984). Jansons and others (1984) indicated a low to moderate mineral development potential for a small scale mechanized operation at the lower end of the creek, and for hand placer mining and suction dredging operations.

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

Comment (Deposit): Other Comments = Most of the mining activity along California Creek occurred in the Seward D-6 1:63,360-scale quadrangle.

Comment (Production): Production Notes = Total estimated production since 1898 is 400 oz (Jansons and others, 1984).

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Moffit, 1906

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Erratically distributed placer gold occurs in the California Creek valley. The creek occurs in a steep, narrow avalanche debris-filled glacial valley having little accumulation of gravel. The gravels exposed along California Creek contain considerable clay and are probably glacial till. An alluvial fan at the lower end of the creek contains fine-grained gold. The middle section of the creek is in a bedrock gorge. Grades are reported to be extremely variable (Moffit, 1906; Jansons and others, 1984).? the bedrock through which California Creek flows are Late Cretaceous metasedimentary rocks of the Valdez Group. The metasediments are locally intruded by felsic dikes and plugs. Creek float consists of graywacke, argillite, and granite. Jasper (1967) reported that stream sediment concentrates collected from the lower stream course contained 20 grains of scheelite, about 5 percent magnetite, a little pyrite, and about 20 grains of zircon. Two 0.1 cubic yard bench samples collected at the canyon mouth yielded 0.0006 and 0.0007 oz Au/cubic yard (Jansons and others, 1984).

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary

References

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1934, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1933: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 864-A, p. 1-94.

Reference (Deposit): Capps, S.R., 1916, Gold mining in the Willow Creek district: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 642-G, p. 147-194, 195-200.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1934, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1932: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 857-A, p. 1-91.

Reference (Deposit): Park, F.C., 1933, The Girdwood District, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 849-G, p. 381-424.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1933, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1930: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 836, p. 1-83.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1933, Mineral industry in Alaska in 1931: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 844-A, p. 1-82.

Reference (Deposit): Martin G.C., Johnson, B.L., and Grant, U.S., 1915, Geology and mineral resources of Kenai Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 587, 243 p.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1932, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1929, in Smith, P.S., and others Mineral resources of Alaska, report on progress of investigations in 1929: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 824-A, p. 1-81.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., and Richter, D.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Seward quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-466, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1936, Mineral industry in Alaska in 1934: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 868-A, p. 1-91.

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

Reference (Deposit): Moffit, F.H., 1906, Mineral resources of Kenai Peninsula, Alaska; Gold field of the Turnagain Arm region: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 277, 80 p.

Reference (Deposit): MacKevett, E.M., Jr., and Holloway, C.D., 1977, Map showing metalliferous mineral deposits in the western part of southern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-169-F, 38 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:1,000,000.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1933, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1931: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 844-A, p. 1-81.

Reference (Deposit): Tysdal, R.G., 1978, Mines, prospects, and occurrences map of the Seward and Blying Sound quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-880A, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, P.S., 1933, Mineral industry of Alaska in 1930: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 836-A, p. 1-83.

Reference (Deposit): Hoekzema, R.B., and Fechner, S.A., 1986, Placer Gold sampling in and near the Chugach National Forest, Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Information Circular 9091, 42 p.

Reference (Deposit): MacKevett, E.M., Jr., and Holloway, C.D., 1977, Map showing metalliferous and selected non-metalliferous mineral deposits in the eastern part of southern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-169-A, 99 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:1,000,000.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H. and Tysdal, R.G., 1980, Summaries of data on and list of references to metallic and selected nonmetallic mineral deposits in the Blying Sound and Seward quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 80-621, 276 p.

Reference (Deposit): Jansons, Uldis, Hoekzema, R.B., Kurtak, J.M., and Fechner, S.A., 1984, Mineral occurrences in the Chugach National Forest, Southcentral Alaska: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 5-84, 218 p., 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

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