Totatlanika River Mines, Bonnifield Mining District, Denali Borough, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Totatlanika River Mines	Group of Mines
Bonnifield Mining District	Mining District
Denali Borough	Borough
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Placer claims have been staked over a distance of about 20 miles along the Totatlanika River from California Creek to just above the McCuen Gulch. Mining in the early 1900's took place in the middle of the basin, between the head of Murphy Canyon and a point about half a mile above the mouth of Homestake Creek (Maddren, 1918, p. 388). The coordinates given are the approximate center of the portion of the river that was mined (see sec. 34, T. 9 S., R. 5 W., Fairbanks Meridian).
Geology: The discovery of placer gold in the Totatlanika valley took place at the mouth of McCuen Gulch in 1905 (Maddren, 1918, p. 387-388). Productive mining in the early 1900's took place in the middle of the basin between the head of Murphy Canyon and a point about half a mile above the mouth of Homestake Creek (Maddren, 1918, p. 388). Gold colors could be obtained at almost any point in the stream gravels along upper Totatlanika River from its junction with California Creek to a point above McCuen Gulch, a distance of about 20 miles (Maddren, 1918, p. 388). Gold has been found in gravel, on bedrock, and in bedrock crevices (Prindle, 1907). The gold varies from 828 to 863 fine (Glover, 1950). In the late 1980's and early 1990's, fine-grained gold was recovered by a modern placer mine (Bundtzen and others, 1991, p. 34). Above and at the mouth of Homestake Creek, the Totatlanika River is underlain by the Keevy Peak Formation, which consists of quartz-sericite schist, quartzite, purple and green schist and slate, arkosic gritlike schist, marble, and calcareous schist. The river then flows through the Moose Creek Member of the Totatlanika Schist, which consists of yellow quartz-orthoclase gneiss and schist. The remainder of the river is predominantly underlain by gray quartz-orthoclase gneiss and augen gneiss of the California Creek Member of the Totatlanika Schist (Wahrhaftig, 1970 [GQ-810]).
Workings: Mining began in 1905 and continued intermittently until 1940 (Cobb, 1976 [OFR 76-662, p. 149]). In the late 1980's and early 1990's, fine-grained gold was recovered by a modern placer mine (Bundtzen and others, 1991, p. 34).
Age: Quaternary placer.
Production: There is no record of the amount of production from mining that took place intermittently from 1905 to 1940 or from the recent activity in the 1980's and 1990's.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	FB141

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References