Chitsia Creek Mine, Kantishna Mining District, Denali Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Chitsia Creek Mine	Mine
Kantishna Mining District	Mining District
Denali Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Judge Wickersham and party staked placer gold claims on Chitsia Creek, which they called the Chitsiana, on June 4, 1903, after finding fine gold in river bars (Wickersham, 1938, p. 269). Filing the discovery papers in Rampart led to a stampede into the Kantishna district, and the discovery of more important deposits in 1905. The area is in Denali National Park and Preserve.
Location: Chitsia Creek rises on the west flank of the northern part of the Kantishna Hills and flows generally northwestly for about 20 miles into the Kantishna River. The location marks an inactive placer mine reported by Bundtzen, Smith, and Tosdal (1976, plate 2). It is in the SE1/4 of section 30, T. 11 S., R.14 W., Fairbanks Meridian. The location is accurate within about 1000 feet.
Geology: The main part of Chitsia Creek is fed by relatively steep (about 200 feet per mile) headwater forks that flow in bedrock canyons cut in Birch Creek Schist. The placer mine is a half-half below the confluence of the two headwater forks, where the stream gradient flattens to slightly more than 100 feet per mile. Potential lode sources of the gold in this placer deposit are to the west, as at locations MM007 and MM009 (Bundtzen, Smith, and Tosdal, 1976). There is little public information about this placer mine. Chitsia Creek was the site of the discovery of placer gold in the Kantishna district in 1903 (Wickersham, 1938; Cobb, 1973 [B 1374]).
Workings: Small-scale workings.
Age: Holocene.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	MM008

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References