Willow Creek mining district
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The Willow Creek mining district is a gold-mining area in the U.S. state of Alaska. Gold was first reported in what would become the Willow Creek Mining District (also known as the Independence Mine/Hatcher Pass District) by Robert Hatcher. Hatcher discovered and staked the first lode gold claim in the Willow Creek Valley in September 1906. Through 2006 the district produced 667-thousand ounces of hard rock gold and 60-thousand ounces of placer gold.[1]
Independence Mine
What is now called Independence Mine was once two mines: The Alaska Free Gold Mine on Skyscraper Mountain, and Independence Mine on Granite Mountain. In 1938 the two were brought together under one company, the Alaska-Pacific Consolidated Mining Company (APC). With a block of 83 mining claims, APC became the largest producer in the Willow Creek Mining District. The claims covered more than 1,350 acres and included 27 structures. In its peak year, 1941, APC employed 204 men, blasted nearly a dozen miles of tunnels, and produced about 35,000 ounces of gold.
In 1942, the War Production Board designated gold mining as nonessential to the war effort. Gold mining throughout the United States came to a halt, but Independence Mine was permitted to continue to operate because of the presence of scheelite, an ore of the "strategic mineral" tungsten, which occurs in the quartz lode with the gold. In 1943, Independence Mine was ordered to close. Mining interests returned to Hatchers Pass when gold prices rose in the mid-1970's; this resulted in a short period of production from the Independence Mine in 1982 by Coronado Mining Company.[2]
Today, Independence Mine is a part of the Independence Mine State Historical Park, a popular winter recreation area. Displays of mining artifacts may also be viewed at the Dorothy Page Museum and Old Wasilla Townsite in downtown Wasilla, Alaska.
While Independence Mine was the larger and most well-known mine in the Willow Creek District, it was not the only one.
Willow Creek Mines
The Willow Creek Mines includes the Lucky Shot (Gold, copper, lead, zinc, arsenic) and War Baby (Gold, copper) veins, which cut the igneous country rock. Combined production between 1919 and 1940 was about 252,000 ounces of gold, with some copper. Grade was about 2.2 ounces per ton.
Other Notable Lode-Gold Mines of the District
The Gold Bullion Mine (Gold, copper, mercury), produced about 77,000 ounces of gold, at a grade of 1.7 ounces per ton, from quartz veins in igneous rock.
The Fern Mine (Gold, lead, tungsten, tellurium), produced about 44,000 ounces of gold between 1922 and 1950 from quartz veins in shears in igneous rock.
The Martin Mine (Gold, copper, lead), produced about 28,000 ounces of gold from two veins between 1911 and 1920, at an average grade of 1 ounce per ton.
The Gold Cord Mine (Gold, copper, lead, zinc, tungsten), produced about 16,000 ounces of gold, mainly between 1931 and 1938, from veins with grades ranging for 0.1 to 9 ounces per ton.
See also
References
- ^ http://Alaskas Mineral Industry 2006, Zumigal and Hughes, DGGS Special Report 61www.dggs.dnr.state.ak.us/webpubs/dggs/sr/text/sr061.PDF
- ^ Anchorage quad ARDF, USGShttp://ardf.wr.usgs.gov/ardf_data/Anchorage.pdf