Squaw Creek; Squaw Gulch Mine, Circle Mining District, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, USAi

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

Squaw Creek was originally named Squaw Gulch on early maps (Spurr, 1898, Dunham, 1898).
Location: The location is the approximate midreach of Squaw creek. Squaw Creek is a tributary of Harrison Creek, which itself is a tributary of Birch Creek. Eberlein and others (1977) reported 'recent' placer mining at the junction of Harrison Creek and Squaw Creek.
Geology: Squaw Creek is underlain by quartzose porphyroblastic-albite-chlorite schist and chlorite schist - part of the Lower Schist unit described by Wiltse and others (1995). The steep gradient of Squaw Creek results in a narrow flood plain, less than 30 meters wide, with coarse gravel and boulders as much as 1 meter in diameter (Yeend, 1991, p. 29). The coarse gold recovered included some one-ounce nuggets. Fine gold was rare, having been flushed into Harrison Creek where the gradient is lower. Values of 0.0125 to 0.0375 ounces per cubic yard were being recovered in 1981, just below the upper forks of Squaw Creek. Unmined gravel remains only in the uppermost Squaw Creek drainage where the gravel is very coarse (Yeend, 1991).
Workings: Gold was discovered on Squaw Creek in 1894 (Brooks and others, 1907), but information about early mining on the creek has not been found. Considerable mining occurred on the creek in the late 1970's and early 1980's (Yeend, 1991).
Production: Values of 0.0125 to 0.0375 ounces per cubic yard were being recovered in 1981, just below the upper forks of Squaw Creek (Yeend, 1991).

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

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	CI055

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References