Location: Chapman Creek is a west-flowing tributary to the Middle Fork, Koyukuk River about 4 miles south of Twelvemile Mountain. Chapman Creek enters the Middle Fork at Chapman Island about 1/2 mile upstream from Tramway Bar (WI156). The coordinates are for a location about a mile upstream from the mouth of Chapman Creek, about midway along the workings. The location is accurate within one-half mile.
Geology: Gold was found in shafts sunk in 1908-09 along a stretch of Chapman Creek 1/4 to 1 mile above its mouth (Maddren, 1913). The workings included thirteen or fourteen shafts, 9 to 14 feet deep. A layer of blue, gravel composed mainly of schist that is below barren sand and reddish gravel produced gold values of 2-3 cents per pan (with gold at $20.67 per ounce). Maddren (1913) reported that gold values of 5 to 10 cents per pan also occurred in bench deposits about 2 miles above the mouth of the creek. The gold in the bench deposits also was in a 1- to 3 foot-thick layer of blue, gravel composed mainly of schist.
Workings: The first mile of the creek was prospected by 13 or 14 shafts. Prospecting, two miles above the mouth found some gold in bench gravels but poor water supply hindered development.
Age: Quaternary.

Commodities (Major) - Au
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)

Select Mineral List Type

Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical Elements

Commodity List

This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.

ⓘ Gold

Mineral List

ⓘ Native Gold

1 valid mineral.

Detailed Mineral List:

ⓘ Native Gold

Formula: Au

References:

(2008) Alaska Resource Data File (ARDF) Open-File Report 2008-1225. US Geological Survey

Gallery:

List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification

Group 1 - Elements
ⓘ	Native Gold	1.AA.05	Au

List of minerals for each chemical element

Au	Gold
Au	ⓘ Native Gold	Au

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	WI154

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

North AmericaContinent

North America PlateTectonic Plate

Angayucham TerraneAccretionary Complex
Koyukuk north DomainDomain

This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.

References

Bundtzen, T.K., Swainbank, R.C., Deagen, J.R., Moore, J.L., 1990, Alaska's Mineral Industry 1989: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys, Special Report 44, 100 p. Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Wiseman quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-469, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000 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. Cobb, E.H., 1977, Placer deposit map of central Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 77-168-B, 64 p., 1 map, scale 1:1,000,000. Heiner, L.E., and Wolff, E.N., eds., 1968, Mineral resources of northern Alaska, Final report, submitted to the NORTH Commission: University of Alaska, Mineral Industry Research Laboratory Report No. 16, 306 p. Maas, K.M., 1987, Maps summarizing land availability for mineral exploration and development in northern Alaska, 1986: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open-File Report 10-87, 33 quadrangle overlays. Maddren, A.G., 1913, The Koyukuk-Chandalar region, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 532, 119 p. Mulligan, J.J., 1974, Mineral resources of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline corridor: U.S. Bureau of Mines Information Circular 8626, 24 p. Reed, I.M., 1938, Upper Koyukuk region, Alaska (Wiseman, Chandalar, and Bettles): Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Miscellaneous Report 194-7, 201 p. Swainbank, R.C., Bundtzen, T.K., and Wood, J.E., 1991, Alaska's mineral industry, 1990: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Special Report 45, 78 p. Swainbank, R.C., Bundtzen, T.K., Clough, A.H., Hansen, E.W., and Nelson, M.G., 1993, Alaska's mineral industry, 1992: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Special Report 47, 80 p.

Quick NavTop Commodities Mineral List Other Databases Other Regions References

Mindat.org® is an outreach project of the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Mindat® and mindat.org® are registered trademarks of the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy.
Copyright © mindat.org and the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 1993-2026, except where stated. Most political location boundaries are © OpenStreetMap contributors. Mindat.org relies on the contributions of thousands of members and supporters. Founded in 2000 by Jolyon Ralph and Ida Chau.
Content on this site may not be used to train, fine-tune, or otherwise develop artificial intelligence or machine learning models without prior written permission - see our Terms & Conditions.
To cite: Ralph, J., Von Bargen, D., Martynov, P., Zhang, J., Que, X., Prabhu, A., Morrison, S. M., Li, W., Chen, W., & Ma, X. (2025). Mindat.org: The open access mineralogy database to accelerate data-intensive geoscience research. American Mineralogist, 110(6), 833–844. doi:10.2138/am-2024-9486.
Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Contact Us / DMCA issues - Report a bug/vulnerability Current server date and time: September 5, 2026 11:02:18 Page updated: August 24, 2025 03:46:21

Go to top of page