Jim Pup; Jim Pup Creek; Jim Gulch; Jim Creek Mine, Koyukuk Mining District, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, USAi

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

See also: California Creek (CH023) and Wakeup Creek (CH025).
Location: Jim Pup is a tributary to California Creek approximately 2 miles southwest of Bob Johnson Lake (formerly Big Lake) (NE1/4 sec. 35 and sec. 36, T. 31 N., R. 9 W., of the Fairbanks Meridian). Although the prospect is variously named Jim Gulch, Jim Pup Creek, or Jim Creek, the creek is named Jim Pup on the current 1:63,360-scale topographic map. The placer workings extend 3/4 mile above the confluence of Jim Pup with Wakeup Creek. The location is accurate within a 1/4-mile radius.
Geology: Jim Pup was reported by Reed (1938, p. 34-36) to have a high channel and a deep channel in addition to the present channel. Reed (1938) described gold occurrences in the present and deep channels, but he made no note of gold being taken from the high channel. The present channel was worked beginning in the early 1900s, and the gold from this channel was said to be very coarse; a $50 nugget was recovered from workings in the early days (Reed, 1938). The pay streak worked in the early days was about 10 feet wide, and the depth to bedrock was said to be 3 to 5 feet. The deep channel on Jim Pup is considered to be a continuation of the one on nearby Wakeup Creek (CH025) and appears to generally extend downstream from the mouth of Wakeup Creek along the right limit of Jim Pup. Near the confluence of Jim Pup and Wakeup Creek the deep channel is about 55 feet deep and said to be thawed but dry (Reed, 1938). There were also reports of an 'upper' deep channel running on false bedrock on lower Wakeup Creek that extends to the confluence with Jim Pup, where it was said to be about 12 feet below the surface (Reed, 1938). It was thought that this upper deep channel might extend along the right limit of Jim Pup. There is a close spatial relationship among California, Jim Pup and Wakeup creeks, and their descriptions are commonly intermixed.
Workings: Mining and prospecting included surface and underground drift mining sporadically through the years from the early 1900s until the 1950s. There are reports of production in the 1980s and early 1990s, but there is no other information on this later activity.
Age: Quaternary.
Production: Gold was discovered in 1901, and production during the period 1900-1909 reported to be worth $3,000 (Maddren, 1913). Mining during those years was said to be small scale and to pay no better than wages. Mining was also reported in 1934 and 1938. Heiner and Wolff (1968) reported that the property was worked by hand methods into the 1940s and that work continued into the 1950s. Production was also noted in 1989 and 1990 (Bundtzen and others, 1990; Swainbank and others, 1991).

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	CH024

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References