This deposit is one of many of similar deposits (PA002 to PA018) scattered over an area of about 6 square miles at the head of Silver Bay (Bittenbender and others, 1999). The deposits are gold-quartz veins with sparse sulfides, usually only pyrite and arsenopyrite. Samples that have been analyzed with modern methods usually show anomalous arsenic even if arsenopyrite is not identified in the rocks, and several parts per million mercury. The veins are often parallel to the bedding of the host rock which is graywacke and argillite of the Sitka Graywacke of Cretaceous age (Loney and others, 1975). Many of the so-called veins in the early literature are actually fault zones with lenses of quartz or concentrations of quartz stringers along the fault zone. Prospecting began in the area in 1871. The Stewart Mine (PA012) was located in 1872 and it was the first lode-gold mine in Alaska. The Silver Bay area has been prospected intermittently to the present but the veins are relatively small and most are low grade. The area has produced relatively little gold, many of the properties have not been active since before 1900, and there has been no production since the early 1940s.

The quartz vein that was to become the Stewart Mine was found in 1872 and production began in 1877 from 3 adits (Bittenbender and others, 1999). In 1879 a 10-stamp mill was in operation. The mine closed in 1880 and was mired in litigation until 1892 when it again was active under new ownership. There are no production records and apparently no major work has taken place after 1893. The mine is on a patented claim that is owned by the Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka. Becker described the property in 1897 but the mill was already in ruins.