Flat Creek; Indian River Prospects, Hughes Mining District, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Flat Creek; Indian River Prospects	Group of Prospects
Hughes Mining District	Mining District
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: The Flat Creek and Indian River placer prospects are southeast of the Indian Mountains in the Hughes mining district. Mining claims extend along Flat Creek for about 2 miles above its junction with the Indian River, then down Indian River for 6 miles. The northeastern part of the mining claims extends into the Hughes quadrangle. The site is located at the junction of Flat Creek with the Indian River, approximately 1.5 miles east of the Utopia townsite, near the center of section 20, T. 7 N., R. 25 E., Kateel River Meridian. The location is accurate.
Geology: The rocks in the vicinity of these placer prospects consists of Cretaceous andesitic to basaltic volcanic rocks interlayered with chert, cherty tuff, conglomerate, and coquinoidal limestone (Patton and others, 1977). The Indian Mountain pluton crops out approximately 3 miles north and west of the placer workings, and podlike intrusions of fine-grained, pyritiferous, silicified, felsic rocks occur along an east-northeast-trending fault about 1 mile to the southwest (Patton and others, 1977). The fault may extend into the Flat Creek drainage. The area of the prospects is largely covered by extensive Quaternary alluvial and colluvial deposits. Gold was first discovered on Indian River in the early 1900s (Eakin, 1916). The gold-bearing placers are almost entirely in the bed of the modern stream and no bench deposits are known. The principal placers on the river are in the Hughes quadrangle. Four mining claims were staked on Flat Creek and at least 52 mining claims were staked on the Indian River in 1981 by J. Taylor (Kardex file 047-022; unpublished record, Alaska Division of Mining, Land & Water). The claims extended downstream into the Hughes quadrangle. No work other than the claim staking is recorded. The same area was restaked in 1983 by Kelly Dolphin, who recorded the Golden Eagle group of 59 mining claims. Work in 1984 and 1985 totaled about 70 person-days and consisted of geologic study, a magnetometer survey, air photo study, blocking out the paystreak with test pits, and sluicing a small yardage of samples. It is unclear which area of the claim block was worked. The area was restaked in 1987 by William Morterud and Wallace Saline, with help from Charles McMahon (Kardex file 047-027; unpublished record, Alaska Division of Mining, Land & Water). They located 8 mining claims on Flat Creek and 28 claims on Indian River. Annual affidavits of labor were filed for 36 to 37 mining claims from 1988 to 1991, and an affidavit of labor for 4 mining claims (Hankie #1 to #4) at the junction of Flat Creek and the Indian River was filed for 1994, 1996, 1997, and 1999 to 2002 (Kardex file 047-027; unpublished record, Alaska Division of Mining, Land & Water; unpublished Alaska Department of Natural Resources Office of the Recorder records). The labor totaled 217 person-days and included digging test pits on the banks of Flat Creek and the Indian River, making test cuts, and taking and testing surface samples. No production was noted for any of the above work. There is no record of work since 2002.
Workings: Four mining claims were staked on Flat Creek and at least 52 mining claims were staked on the Indian River in 1981 by J. Taylor (Kardex file 047-022; unpublished record, Alaska Division of Mining, Land & Water). The claims extended downstream into the Hughes quadrangle. No work other than the claim staking is recorded. The same area was restaked in 1983 by Kelly Dolphin, who recorded the Golden Eagle group of 59 mining claims. Work in 1984 and 1985 totaled about 70 person-days and consisted of geologic study, a magnetometer survey, air photo study, blocking out the paystreak with test pits, and sluicing a small yardage of samples. It is unclear which area of the claim block was worked. The area was restaked in 1987 by William Morterud and Wallace Saline, with help from Charles McMahon (Kardex file 047-027; unpublished record, Alaska Division of Mining, Land & Water). They located 8 mining claims on Flat Creek and 28 claims on Indian River. Annual affidavits of labor were filed for 36 to 37 mining claims from 1988 to 1991, and an affidavit of labor for 4 mining claims (Hankie #1 to #4) at the junction of Flat Creek and the Indian River was filed for 1994, 1996, 1997, and 1999 to 2002 (Kardex file 047-027; unpublished record, Alaska Division of Mining, Land & Water; unpublished Alaska Department of Natural Resources Office of the Recorder records). The labor totaled 217 person-days and included digging test pits on the banks of Flat Creek and the Indian River, making test cuts, and taking and testing surface samples. No production was noted for any of the above work. There is no record of work since 2002.
Age: Quaternary.
Production: There is no record of production but a small amount of gold may have been produced during the exploration of the many claims.
Reserves: Probably none.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	MZ007

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References