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

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

Reed (1938) pointed out that Maddren (1913) incorrectly identified Spruce Creek as Mule Creek and that Mule Creek was unnamed.
Location: Mule Creek is a small south-flowing tributary to the Bettles River. Its mouth is approximately 4 1/2 miles northeast of the north end of Bob Johnson Lake (formerly Big Lake). The exact location of the placer workings along Mule Creek is unclear. Maddren (1913) stated that good prospects were found 2 1/2 and 1 1/2 miles above the mouth, but that shafts nearer the mouth did not reach bedrock or find gold. The reference point is thus plotted approximately 2 miles above the mouth (sec. 16, T. 32 N., R. 8 W., of the Fairbanks Meridian). The location is accurate within a 1/2-mile radius.
Geology: Mule Creek is one of several tributaries to the Bettles River in this area that are reported either to have produced gold or to have good prospects. Maddren (1913) described good prospects 2 1/2 and 1 1/2 miles upstream from the mouth of Mule Creek. At 2 1/2 miles, there is a low bench in 8 feet of gravel; at 1 1/2 miles, gold was found in 2 feet of gravel which yielded $1 per man-hour. Maddren also noted small nuggets of native silver and native copper nuggets as heavy as 7 pounds on Mule Creek. Reed (1938) reported that the gravel was coarse and waterworn, with many large boulders, and that depth to bedrock was 3 to 8 feet. The gold is on bedrock and in the lowest foot of gravel; it is well worn and has a fineness of 908. Values of approximately 10 cents per square foot of bedrock were reported in 1938. Mule Creek heads in limestone. Dillon and others (1996) map this limestone as Devonian Skajit Limestone, which is in contact with Ordovician to Cambrian(?) calc-schist and Ordovician phyllite and marble.
Workings: Mule Creek was mined sporadically in the early 1900s and was being worked in 1937 by booming and shoveling in (Reed, 1938). Several shafts 75 to 80 feet deep near the alluvial fan at the mouth of the creek were flooded before reaching bedrock.
Age: Quaternary.
Production: Maddren (1913) estimated $1,000 of Au produced from 1900 to 1909.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	CH067

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References