Washington Creek; Washington Gulch Mine, Nome Mining District, Nome Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Washington Creek; Washington Gulch Mine	Mine
Nome Mining District	Mining District
Nome Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

Location: Washington Creek is a small east tributary to lower Nome River. It appears to have been placer mined over most of its less than 1 mile length. The map location is on lower Washington Creek at a surface elevation of about 50 feet. It is in the NE1/4 section 23, T. 11 S., R. 33 W., Kateel River Meridian.
Geology: Gold was discovered in Washington Creek by 1900. It was reported to be fine gold accompanied by magnetite and garnet on a clay bottom (Brooks and others, 1901). Moffit (1913) reported that gold was recovered on bedrock from a 10-inch-thick layer of fine sand resembling beach sand. Washington Creek appears to have been placer mined along most of its length at surface elevations between about 50 and 125 feet. The low elevation and physiographic setting suggest that coastal plain deposits could be present in parts of this drainage. The placer gold thus could be derived from reworking the coastal plain deposits. The Washington Creek placer is probably related in part to similar deposits on Stevens, Moss, and Laurada Creeks (NM274-276) that, in their lower elevations, appear to have developed on a weakly defined Third Beach formed on the bedrock of Army Peak (Metcalfe and Tuck, 1942, p. 32).
Workings: Placer mining tailings are present along the creek between surface elevations of about 50 to 125 feet; the deposit at about 70 to 75 feet elevation may be a weak Third Beach developed on Army Peak.
Age: Quaternary.

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	NM273

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References