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Snow Gulch

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Tungsten
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Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10308956
MRDS ID A012903
Record type Site
Current site name Snow Gulch
Related records 10002053, 10257896

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -165.40328, 64.59318 (WGS84)
Relative position This alluvial placer gold mine is on Snow Gulch, a south tributary to Glacier Creek. The mouth of Snow Gulch is about 3,400 feet upstream of the Snake River road crossing of Glacier Creek, and part of the Snake River road parallels Snow Gulch about 500 feet to the west. Essentially all of Snow Gulch has been placer mined, and the location, at an elevation of about 250 feet, is the approximate midpoint of the placer workings. This location is just inside the east-central border of section 26, T. 10 S., R. 34 W., Kateel River Meridian. It is included in locality 101 of Cobb (1972 [MF 463], 1978 [OFR 78-93]).
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Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary
Tungsten Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Scheelite Ore
Garnet Gangue

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 119
USGS model code 39a
BC deposit profile C01. C02
Deposit model name Placer Au-PGE
Mark3 model number 54

Nearby scientific data

(1) -165.40328, 64.59318
ListMap

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = This small south tributary to Glacier Creek (NM220), only about three quarters of a mile long, contained one of the richest gold placers on Seward Peninsula and produced more than 48,000 ounces of gold around 1900; the first claims on the creek were staked in 1898 (Schrader and Brooks, 1900; Brooks and others, 1901). It was mined and remined between 1899 and 1903 and still is mined on a small scale. The gold was distributed throughout 3- to 4-foot-thick gravels. In many places, the deposit was cleaned to bedrock and in 1903, when visited by the U.S. Geological Survey, there was little potential for further mining (Collier and others, 1908, p. 195). Snow Gulch contains significant amounts of placer scheelite, and some has been recovered (Coats, 1944). Coats (1944) considered Snow Gulch one of the more important tungsten localities in the Nome district. The source of the placer deposits is mainly lodes near the head of the gulch. The upper south fork of Snow Gulch heads in an area where lode prospects were found as early as 1899 (U.S. Mineral Survey No. 775); the upper north fork heads easterly into a complex sheeted vein zone (Saddle zone, NM233). Bedrock in the area is schist and some marble that probably has an early Paleozoic protolith age (Hummel, 1962 [MF 247]; Sainsbury, Hummel, and Hudson, 1972 [OFR 72-326]; Till and Dumoulin, 1994; Bundtzen and others, 1994).
  • Age = Quaternary.

Economic information

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Nome

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Snow Gulch was one of the richest gold placers on Seward Peninsula. More than 48,000 ounces of gold were produced around 1900, and there has been minor unrecorded production to the present.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = Largely worked out by 1903, but some small-scale mining continues to the present. It was a shallow placer amenable to hand and simple hydraulic mining.

Reference information

Links to other databases

Agency Database name Acronym Record ID Notes
USGS Alaska Resource Data File ARDF NM222
USGS Mineral Resources Data System MRDS A012903
USGS Mineral Resources Data System MRDS D002592

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Schrader, F.C., and Brooks, A.H., 1900, Preliminary report on the Cape Nome gold region, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Special Publication, 56 p.

  • Deposit

    Brooks, A.H., Richardson, G. B., and Collier, A. J., 1901, Reconnaissance in the Cape Nome and Norton Bay regions, Alaska, in 1900: U.S. Geological Survey Special Publication, p. 1-180.

  • Deposit

    Collier, A. J., Hess, F.L., Smith, P.S., and Brooks, A.H., 1908, The gold placers of parts of Seward Peninsula, Alaska, including the Nome, Council, Kougarok, Port Clarence, and Goodhope precincts: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 328, 343 p.

  • Deposit

    Hummel, C.L., 1962, Preliminary geologic map of the Nome C-1 quadrangle, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-247, 1 sheet, scale 1:63,360.

  • Deposit

    Sainsbury, C.L., Hummel, C.L., and Hudson, Travis, 1972, Reconnaissance geologic map of the Nome quadrangle, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 72-326, 28 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-463, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

  • Deposit

    Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File report 78-93, 213 p.

  • Deposit

    Till, A.B., and Dumoulin, J.A, 1994, Geology of Seward Peninsula and St. Lawrence Island, in Plafker, G., and Berg, H.C., eds., The Geology of Alaska: Geological Society of America, The Geology of North America, DNAG, v. G-1, p. 141-152.

  • Deposit

    Coats, R.R., 1944, Lode scheelite occurrences of the Nome area: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 17, 6 p.

  • Deposit

    Bundtzen, T.K., Reger, R.D., Laird, G.M., Pinney, D.S., Clautice, K.H., Liss, S.A., and Cruse, G.R., 1994, Progress report on the geology and mineral resources of the Nome mining district: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, Public Data-File 94-39, 21 p., 2 sheets, scale 1:63,360.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Brooks, Richardson and Collier, 1901

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Alluvial placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 10-JUL-00 Hawley, C.C. and Hudson, Travis L. Hawley Resource Group