Glenn Creek; Alice Bench Mine, Hot Springs Mining District, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Glenn Creek; Alice Bench Mine	Mine
Hot Springs Mining District	Mining District
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: The area of the Glenn Creek placer mine is marked by mine and cabin symbols near the center of the boundary between sections 17 and 18, T. 4 N., R. 13 W., of the Fairbanks Meridian. The site, which includes the nearby Alice Bench property, is about a mile west of the abandoned town of Glen, on the low ridge between Glenn Creek and Rhode Island Creek. Both properties are included in location 39 of Cobb (1972). The location is accurate within several hundred feet. This site roughly corresponds with the site for Glenn Creek, U.S. Bureau of Land Management MAS number 0020480022, but the MAS site is approximately 2 miles downstream.
Geology: The Glen Creek area is underlain by Mesozoic clastic sedimentary strata that are cut by thrust faults and locally intruded by gabbro and diorite (Chapman and others, 1982; Reifenstuhl and others, 1998). The placer deposit is about a half-mile south of one of the thrust faults. The bedrock of Glen Creek is slate and quartzite, cut by a few quartz veins (Hess, 1908). The stream gravels locally are overlain by slide rock. The productive zones are localized where bench gravels are cut by the active creek (Hess, 1908), suggesting that the gold is reconcentrated from older bench placers (Mertie, 1934). The pay zones are up to 100 feet wide and 7 feet thick (Collier, 1903; Hess, 1908). The gold also occurs in the upper two feet of bedrock. Gold was discovered in this area around 1900, and mining began in Glen Creek in 1901 (Collier, 1903). The deposit was considered to be rich, with pockets of pay dirt yielding $10 worth of gold per pan when gold was worth $20.67 per ounce. Through 1931, Glen Creek produced more than $1,000,000 worth of gold, equivalent to about 48,380 ounces of refined gold (Mertie, 1934) . Mining continued through the 1930's, when Glen Creek was considered to be a major producer in the Eureka Creek area. A few cassiterite pebbles were found in 1939 (Wayland, 1961). Cobb's (1977) and Smith's (1930) reports of Johnson & Hensley operating a hydraulic mine in 1928 in the Eureka Creek area actually refer to an operation on Alice Bench, located at the base of the hill just east of Glenn Gulch (Wimmler, 1926). More recently, Earthmovers operated a placer mine on Glen Creek in 1992 (Swainbank and others, 1993), and Ernest Johnson mined there in 1997 (Swainbank and others, 1997).
Workings: Gold was discovered in this area around 1900, and mining began in Glen Creek in 1901 (Collier, 1903). Both surface and underground mining probably took place. Glen Creek was considered phenomenally rich, with pockets of pay dirt yielding $10 worth of gold per pan when gold was worth $20.67 per ounce. Through 1931, Glen Creek produced more than $1,000,000 worth of gold, equivalent to about 48,380 ounces of refined gold (Mertie, 1934) . Mining continued through the 1930's, when Glen Creek was considered to be a major producer in the Eureka Creek area. In 1992, Earthmovers operated a placer mine on Glen Creek (Swainbank and others, 1993), and Ernest Johnson mined there in 1997 (Swainbank and others, 1997).
Age: Quaternary.
Production: Through 1931, Glen Creek reportedly produced more than $1,000,000 worth of gold (Mertie, 1934), equivalent to 48,380 ounces of refined gold at $20.67 per ounce. Mining continued through the 1930's, when Glen Creek was considered to be a major producer in the Eureka Creek area. A small amount of cassiterite has been reported (Wayland, 1961).

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

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Link to USGS - Alaska:	TN129

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References