Gold Bottom Gulch; Gold Bottom Creek Mine, Koyukuk Mining District, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Gold Bottom Gulch; Gold Bottom Creek Mine	Mine
Koyukuk Mining District	Mining District
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Gold Bottom Gulch is a short, steep, south tributary to the lower Hammond River. It drains the northeast flank of Midnight Dome between Lofty Gulch and Steep Gulch. This mine is about 5 miles north-northeast of Wiseman. Most placer mining on Gold Bottom Gulch was near the mouth but it extended approximately 0.5 mile upstream. The location is accurate.
Geology: Maddren (1913) reported that 600 to 700 feet of the modern channel near the mouth of Gold Bottom Gulch was mined; a $400 nugget was recovered in 1904 (gold at $20.67 per ounce). These shallow gravels were mined out in the early 1900's. Reed (1938) noted mining of a high channel and a deep channel in 1937 near the mouth of the creek. Bedrock had not yet been reached in the deep channel and the only production was of gold scattered through the gravel. There were two types of gold in the deep channel (Reed, 1938). Most was a coarse-grained, rounded gold similar to that found in the Hammond River deep channel; this was accompanied by lesser amounts of very fine and flaky gold. The gravel in the deep channel is not frozen. The high channel is on the west side of Gold Bottom Gulch, about 50 feet above the bottom of the cut in which the deep channel was being mined in 1937 (Reed, 1938). The high channel was prospected in 1937, but not mined. From 1978 to the present (2000), mining has been by dozer, excavator and washing plant; production figures are not available. Dillon (1982) speculates that the gold in the lower parts of tributaries of the Hammond River, such as Gold Bottom Gulch, is mostly derived from bench gravels of the Hammond River.
Workings: The modern channel near the mouth of Gold Bottom Gulch was mined out within a few years after 1900. In 1937, the deep channel was mined by ground sluicing and shoveling into sluice boxes, and there was prospecting of a high channel. From 1978 to the present (2000), mining has been by dozer, excavator, and washing plant; production figures are not available.
Age: Quaternary.
Production: Maddren (1913) reported gold production totaling $10,000 from 1900 to 1909 (gold at $20/ounce). From 1978 to the present (2000), mining has been by dozer, excavator, and washing plant; production figures are not available.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	WI104

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References