Gold Creek (Juneau, Alaska)

Gold Creek is a waterway in the southeastern section of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located in Silver Bow Basin at the edge of Juneau. In 1880, Chief Kowee revealed to prospectors Joe Juneau and Richard Harris the presence of gold in Gold Creek; the city of Juneau was founded in the same year.[1] Named by miners,[2] it was first published in 1883.[3]

1906 map of the creek
Gold Creek

The first gold placer claims of 4 Oct. 1880 by Harris and Juneau were followed by quartz claims in the name of their employers Pilz and Fuller. These sixteen claims were subsequently the properties of the Ebner Gold Mining Company and the Alaska-Juneau Gold Mining Company. By 1 Jan. 1881, 71 placer claims had been registered in the area.[2]

Arrastras were in operation by 1881 with a 5-stamp mill in operation by 1882 to work the Humboldt claim. In 1898 the Last Chance Hydraulic Mining Company was formed to develop the placer by the same name. By 1903, sixty miners were working the three mines in Gold Creek.[2]

The mines are located on the "main lode system of the Juneau gold belt." The "principal rock of the mineral zone is black graphite and calcareous slate with quartz veining. The gold ore comes from the quartz veins containing pyrrhotite, pyrite, galena and zinc blende. Ore is also found in pyrrhotite within diorite dikes.[2]

See also

References
  1. Eakin, H.M., p. 96., Mineral Resources of Alaska, 1914, USGS Bulletin 622
  2. Arthur C. Spencer (1906). The Juneau Gold Belt, Alaska, USGS Bulletin No. 287. United States Government Printing Office. pp. 2–3, 56–85.
  3. Baker, Marcus (1906). Geographic dictionary of Alaska (Public domain ed.). Govt. Print. Off. pp. 278–. Retrieved 13 February 2013.

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