Canyon Creek; Gold Creek Mine, Eagle Mining District, Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Canyon Creek; Gold Creek Mine	Mine
Eagle Mining District	Mining District
Southeast Fairbanks Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Canyon Creek is a tributary to the Seventymile River; it is about 10 miles west of the Canadian border. Gold Creek is located one-half mile east of Canyon Creek. Many historic references to Canyon Creek are combined with, or may refer to Gold Creek in some cases; the two creeks are combined for this record. The coordinates for this mine are located near the mouth of Gold Creek,in section 10, T. 1 N., R. 29 E., of the Fairbanks Meridian. Canyon Creek is locality 26 of Cobb (1972 [MF-393]), locality 14 of Eberlein and others (1977), and locality 8 of Burleigh and Lear (1994).
Geology: The rocks near the mouths of Canyon Creek and Gold Creek include Paleozoic amphibolite-facies? schist. Upstream, conglomerate and sandstone are present for the first 6,000 feet, and then greenschist-facies metasedimentary rocks underlie the head of the valley (Malone, 1962; Clark and Foster, 1969). The terrigenous sedimentary rocks along Canyon Creek are of Late Cretaceous to Pliocene age (Foster, 1976). The sedimentary rocks are contained within a fault-bounded block. The main trace of the Tintina Fault crosses lower Canyon Creek and Gold Creek, and another strand of the Tintina Fault crosses upper Canyon Creek and Gold Creek (Foster, 1976). There has been placer gold production on the lower part of Gold Creek, and on the Seventymile River (EA025) near the mouth of Gold Creek. Cinnabar was found in sluicebox concentrates mined near the mouth of Canyon Creek; an attempt to find lode cinnabar along Canyon Creek was made around 1907 (Malone, 1962). Ellsworth and Davenport (1913) reported two men mining placer gold on Canyon Creek in 1912. The U.S. Geological Survey examined the Canyon Creek area in 1942, conducting an extensive program of trenching and digging test pits, but in most of the prospect pits the gravel contained little or no cinnabar (Malone, 1962).
Workings: There has been placer gold production on the lower part of Gold Creek and on the Seventymile River (EA025) near the mouth of Gold Creek. Cinnabar was found in sluicebox concentrates mined near the mouth of Canyon Creek; an attempt to find lode cinnabar along Canyon Creek occurred around 1907 (Malone, 1962). Ellsworth and Davenport (1913) reportedtwo men mining placer gold on Canyon Creek in 1912. The U.S. Geological Survey examined the Canyon Creek area in 1942, conducting an extensive program of trenching and digging test pits, but in most of the prospect pits the gravel contained little or no cinnabar (Malone, 1962).
Age: Quaternary.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	EA027

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References