Fries; Falls Quartz Prospects, Petersburg Mining District, Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Fries; Falls Quartz Prospects	Group of Prospects
Petersburg Mining District	Mining District
Hoonah-Angoon Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

The Fries and Falls Quartz prospects are on patented ground but the area surrounding it is part of the Chuck River Wilderness Area which is closed to prospecting and mining.
Location: The Fries and Falls Quartz adits are at an elevation of about 900 feet on the north side of Spruce Creek about 1.1 mile east-northeast of its mouth at the head of Windham Bay. They are about 0.4 mile south of the center of section 24, T. 49 S., R. 75 E. The location is accurate.
Geology: The Fries and Falls Quartz prospects as described here are part of a group of 35 claims and properties that were consolidated under the name Marty Group in the 1920's and fell under the control of the Alaska Windham Gold Mining Company in 1930 (Kimble and others, 1984). As defined in this data base, the properties in the claim block include the Fries and Falls Quartz prospects; the Marty adit (SD041); the Yates and nearby unnamed prospect (SD042); the Yellow Jacket prospect (SD043); and the Jackson prospect, Keith prospect, and the Jensen Mine (SD044). These properties are often referred to collectively as the Second Zone as defined by Spencer(1906). The early history of these properties is described in detail by Redman (1988). A small stamp mill was erected on on the south side of Spruce Creek in 1900 and fed by a 3,000 foot aerial tram to the Yellow Jacket prospect; in 1927, a Lane mill--the Marty mill-- was erected on the north side of Spruce Creek and tied to the Jensen adit by a 4,400-foot aerial tram. There may have been small test runs of ore through the early stamp mill from one or more of the prospects but the only significant production in the Second Zone is apparently from the Jensen Mine which produced 18 tons of hand-sorted ore in 1927 that contained about 50 ounces of gold. In general, the deposits in the Second Zone are gold-quartz veins with few sulfides; the best values are in veins that crosscut muscovite schist of Cretaceous age that generally trends about N30W (Brew and Grybeck, 1984). Although the mines at the head of Windham Bay were examined by various companies from the 1930's to the establishment of the Chuck River Wilderness Area, there has been little substantial work and no new underground workings. This record describes only the Fries and the Falls Quartz prospects. The workings of both properties were extensively sampled by Kimble and others (1984) but there were few significant gold values. The Fries prospect was active from 1895 to 1930 but there apparently was no production. The workings consist of a 300-foot crosscut and a 30-foot raise. The deposit consists of quartz stringers that parallel the foliation in the schist host rock. The stringers and schist strike N15-30W and dip 75-85W. The best sample was a 10-foot chip sample that contained 0.10 part per million (ppm) gold. The Falls Quartz prospect consists of quartz veins and quartz stringers that strike about N50W and dip 65N; they crosscut the schist host rock that strikes about N18W and dips 65SW. The prospect was active in 1915; the only workings are a 36-foot adit. The best sample was a 3.9-foot channel sample that contained 0.10 ppm gold. Both the Fries and Falls Quartz prospects are on patented claims and the underground workings are shown on figures 34 and 35 of Kimble and others(1984). The deposits at the nearby Marty prospect (SD041) and the Sumdum Chief Mine (SD028) have been dated at about 55 million years (Goldfarb and others, 1997). This prospect is geologically similar and probably of the same age. Goldfarb and others (1997) also propose that most gold-quartz vein deposits along the Juneau Gold Belt such as this one were formed from fluids generated by Cretaceous metamorphism and then forced to the site of deposition by the emplacement of the Coast Range Batholith.
Workings: The only underground workings are a 300-foot crosscut and a 30-foot winze on the Fries prospect and a 36-foot adit on the Falls Quartz prospect.
Age: The deposits at the nearby Marty prospect (SD041) and the Sumdum Chief Mine (SD028) have been dated at about 55 million years (Goldfarb and others, 1997). This prospect is geologically similar and probably of the same age.
Production: Apparently none.
Development Status: None
Deposit Model: Low-sulfide gold-quartz vein (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 36a).

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Link to USGS - Alaska:	SD040

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References