Linda Creek Mine, Koyukuk Mining District, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Linda Creek Mine	Mine
Koyukuk Mining District	Mining District
Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

The channel containing the placer deposit formerly was the lower part of Gold Creek.
Location: Linda Creek is a south- and west-flowing tributary to the Middle Fork Koyukuk River. The mine site is approximately 6 1/4 miles south-southwest of Sukakpak Mountain and 1/2 mile east of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline (sec. 17, T. 31 N., R. 10 W., of the Fairbanks Meridian). The location is accurate within a 1/2-mile radius.
Geology: Linda Creek appears to have been a fairly consistent placer producer from the early 1900s until the present (Cobb, 1976, OFR 76-340; Bundtzen and others, 1996). Most workers believe that the gold in Linda Creek was derived from a source other than the current Linda Creek drainage and that it most likely was the high channel on Gold Creek (Maddren, 1913). The high channel of Gold Creek probably originally drained into the Middle Fork along what is now lower Linda Creek before the current lower Gold Creek captured the drainage. The upper part of Linda Creek (above the map site where the creek abruptly turns to the west) runs in a wide, flat valley over glacial outwash material. Reed (1938) noted that no prospects had ever been found in that part of the drainage. The lower part of the creek (below where it turns to the west) has cut through the glacial fill and runs in a shallow cut in the underlying schist. Reed (1938) also noted that about 1/4 mile below where Linda Creek intersects the old Gold Creek channel the bedrock pitches off steeply to an unknown depth and that no values have been found below this point. In 1937 a small piece of the old channel that had not been found in the early days was being worked. This occurrence was described as 8 feet of gravel over a hard schist bedrock. The gravel was waterworn, fine material with few boulders but much heavy sediment in the sand. The gold occurred in the lower 3 feet of the gravel and upper 2 feet of the bedrock. The gold was said to be fairly fine. Maddren (1913) noted that the character of the gold was similar to that in Gold Creek. The fineness of the gold averaged about 945.
Workings: There is little description of the early mining except that nearly all the gold was mined from the Discovery claim about 1/2 mile above the mouth, but only the lower half of this claim was very productive. Reed (1938) described a 'shoveling in' surface mining operation. Hand and hydraulic mining was reported in 1974, and in 1993 and 1996 underground drift mining was continuing 'as it has for many years' (Bundtzen and others, 1994; Bundtzen and others, 1996).
Age: Quaternary.
Production: Gold was discovered on Linda Creek in 1901, and sporadic small-scale mining has been reported since then. Production through 1909 was estimated to have been approximately $20,000 (Maddren, 1913); almost all of it was in 1902. The ground in a portion of the old channel was reported to run $0.95 per square foot of bedrock (Reed, 1938).

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	CH081

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References