Davis Creek Mine, Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Davis Creek Mine	Mine
Southeast Fairbanks Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Davis Creek is a small headwater tributary of the Walker Fork of the Fortymile River. Davis Creek is about 3 miles long; the upper 1 mile is located in Yukon Territory, Canada. Placer workings extend about 1.5 miles upstream from the mouth of Davis Creek; the coordinates are the approximate midpoint of the placer workings, in section 2, T. 26 N., R. 22 E., of the Copper River Meridian. The location is accurate. Davis Creek is localities 15 and 76 of Cobb (1972 [MF-393]), localities 20 and 37 of Eberlein and others (1977), and locality 109 of Burleigh and Lear (1994).
Geology: Bedrock along Davis Creek consists of greenschist-facies carbonaceous schist and quartzite with abundant quartz lenses, as awll as minor biotite-quartz schist (R.L. Flynn, unpub. data, 2000). These rocks are part of the Nasina Series of McConnell (1905) and are derived from a Mississippian protolith (Mortensen, 1999). Near the mouth of the creek, the Davis Creek gravel consists of 4 feet of muck, overlying 4 feet of coarse gravel (with many boulders more than 8 inches in diameter), which in turn overlies 4 feet of finer gravel, pebbles, and sand that coarsen at the bottom (Spurr, 1898). The lower 4 feet of gravel was the pay streak; in many places gold also occurs in the top 6 to 8 inches of weathered bedrock. On the Discovery claim, located about one-half mile upstream of its mouth, the paystreak was 10 feet wide. Upstream, near the Canadian border, the gravel shallowed to just over 6 feet thick, and the paystreak at the base was reduced to 2 feet thick and less than 5 feet wide (Spurr, 1898). Gold in Davis Creek was coarse, and both rounded and flattened nuggets were recovered (Spurr, 1898). Placer gold from Davis Creek has a fineness of 885 parts gold per thousand (Metz and Hawkins, 1981). Walker Fork (EA156) has produced placer gold downstream of Davis Creek; Poker Creek (EA158) and Younger Creek (EA159) are other nearby creeks with placer gold production. Although a significant lode source has not been identified for the gold in Davis Creek, Spurr (1898) described a horizontal quartz vein in schist that contained gold (see Lowry's Ledge, EA157). Placer gold was first discovered in the Walker Fork drainage on Davis Creek in 1888; this discovery resulted in a stampede from Franklin Gulch (EA116) (Spurr, 1898). Thirty-five miners produced $30,000 of gold (gold at $20.67 per ounce)on Davis Creek in 1893 (Spurr, 1898). Davis Creek and the other headwater tributaries of Walker Fork were mostly mined out by the turn of the century, although there are several reports of mining on Davis Creek into the 1930's (Yeend, 1996). Mining was reported on Davis Creek in 1989 (Bundtzen and others, 1990). Yeend (1996) reports a small open-cut mining operation active in the early 1990's on Davis Creek. A small open-cut mining operation was active on Davis Creek from 1979 through 2000 (Norm LaFramboise, Boundary Explorations, Inc., written commun., 2000).
Workings: Placer gold was first discovered in the Walker Fork drainage on Davis Creek in 1888; this discovery resulted in a stampede from Franklin Gulch (EA116) (Spurr, 1898). Davis Creek and the other headwater tributaries of Walker Fork were mostly mined out by the turn of the century, although there are several reports of mining on Davis Creek into the 1930's (Yeend, 1996). Mining was reported on Davis Creek in 1989 (Bundtzen and others, 1990). Yeend (1996) reports a small open-cut mining operation active in the early 1990's on Davis Creek. A small open-cut mining operation was active on Davis Creek from 1979 through 2000 (Norm LaFramboise, Boundary Explorations, Inc., written commun., 2000).
Age: Quaternary.
Production: Thirty-five miners produced $30,000 of gold (at $20.67 per ounce of gold) on Davis Creek in 1893 (Spurr, 1898). Placer gold from Davis Creek has a fineness of 885 parts gold per thousand (Metz and Hawkins, 1981).

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	EA155

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References