Bettles Bar; Bettles Riffle Mine, Koyukuk Mining District, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Bettles Bar; Bettles Riffle Mine	Mine
Koyukuk Mining District	Mining District
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Bettles Bar is on the east bank of the Koyukuk River, opposite the old site of Bettles, and about 0.5 mile downstream from the junction of John and Koyukuk Rivers. The mine is in NE1/4 of section 16, T. 24 N., R. 19 W. of the Fairbanks Meridian. The location is accurate within one-half mile.
Geology: The gold in the Bettles Bar deposit is in a gravel layer composed of rounded cobbles embedded in fine sand, which in turn is mostly covered by a layer of fine river sand and silt (Reed, 1938). The gold is immediately below the sand and silt in the upper three feet of the cobble-and-sand layer, and is distributed throughout the sand fraction. The gold is very fine; so fine that when dry it is said to float. Although the locations of the bar deposits are relatively fixed, the individual spots where the river concentrates the gold are said to change from year to year (Reed, 1938). The deposits can be as much as 15 feet above the low-water level of the river (Reed, 1938). Similar deposits also occur along the Koyukuk River in the Bettles area, particularly at the so-called the Bettles Riffle near the Bettles Airport, at Evansville (Kurtak and others, 2002). According to Reed (1938), with some effort, a person could generally recover as much as $10 per day (gold at $35 per ounce) working these bar deposits. In 1937, as much as $600 in gold was said to have been recovered in two weeks by a man working a short distance above Bettles. Grybeck (1977) indicated mining activity through 1975. Bettles Bar is one of a number of gold placers in the gravel bars along the Koyukuk River from Bettles upstream to the vicinity of Tramway Bar (Reed, 1938). See also Tramway Bar (WI006), Hanshaw Bar (WI005), and Grubstake Bar (WI004) in the Wiseman quadrangle.
Workings: Surface mining. Grybeck (1977) indicated mining activity through 1975.
Age: Quaternary.
Production: According to Reed (1938), with some effort, a person could generally recover as much as $10 per day (gold at $35 per ounce) working these bar deposits. In 1937, as much as $600 in gold was said to have been recovered in two weeks by a man working a short distance above Bettles.

Commodities (Major) - Au
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	BT001

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References