Latitude: 60°4'19"N
Longitude: 142°10'48"W
Location: Placer gold mining occurred locally along a 2-mile segment of White River starting about 2 miles upstream of the mouth. The map site is at the approximate midpoint of this segment at an elevation of about 75 feet in the N1/2 section 28, T 21 S, R 19 E, of the Copper River Meridian. This is locality 4 of Cobb (1972 [MF 373]; 1979 [OF 79-1246]). The location is probably accurate to within 1 mile.
Geology: Placer gold occurs in glaciofluvial bench deposits along this part of White River. The gold is mostly fine, light, and flaky, but some small nuggests that weighed as much as 0.15 ounce were also recovered (Maddren, 1914). The deposits are 15 to 40 feet above the river, 8 or more feet thick, and as much as 500 feet wide (Brooks, 1912; Maddren, 1914). Hydraulic mining took place as early as 1908 and continued in most years up to 1916 (Maddren, 1914; Cobb, 1979 [OF 79-1246]). A 9,000-foot-long flume was constructed in 1913 to enable larger scale hydraulic operations. The present river also contains placer gold, but it was not accessible to mining. The gold may be derived from reworking of marine-glacial deposits of the Cenozoic Yakataga Formation (Reimnitz and Plafker, 1976). The White River placers produced a small part of the 15,000 to 16,000 ounces of gold estimated to have been recovered in the Yakataga district (Cobb, 1979 [OF 79-1246]). Bedrock in the White River drainage is Tertiary sedimentary rocks (Miller, 1971).
Workings: Hydraulic mining took place as early as 1908 and continued in most years up to 1916 (Maddren, 1914; Cobb, 1979 [OF 79-1246]). A 9,000-foot-long flume was constructed in 1913 to enable larger scale hydraulic operations.
Age: Quaternary.
Production: The White River placers produced a small part of the 15,000 to 16,000 ounces of gold estimated to have been recovered in the Yakataga district (Cobb, 1979 [OF 79-1246]).
Commodities (Major) - Au
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)
References
Brooks, A.H., 1912, The mining industry in 1911, in Brooks, A.H., and others, Mineral resources of Alaska, report on progress of investigations in 1911: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 520-A, p. 17-44. Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Bering Glacier quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-373, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000. Cobb, E.H., 1979, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Bering Glacier, Icy Bay, Middleton Island, and Yakutat quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 79-1246, 41 p. Maddren, A.G., 1914, Mineral deposits of the Yakataga district: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 592-E, p. 119-153. Miller, D.J., 1971, Geologic map of the Yakataga district, Gulf of Alaska Tertiary Province, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Geologic Investigations Map I-610, 1 sheet, scale 1:125,000. Reimnitz, Erk, and Plafker, George, 1976, Marine gold placers along the Gulf of Alaska margin: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1415, 16 p., 1 plate.
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