Seward Peninsula Region Alaska Gold Production
The Fairhaven district, about 40 miles long and 20 miles wide immediately south of Kotzebue Sound in the northeast part of Seward Peninsula, is bounded roughly by lat 65°40' and 66°10' N. and long 161°40' and 163°20' W.
Gold was discovered in this district in 1900 on Old Glory and Hannum Creeks, and although there was no production that year, the news of the discovery spread through crowded Nome that winter and prompted a rush to the new district in the spring of 1901 (Moffit, 1905, p. 49). Rich placers, the most productive in the district, were found along Candle Creek in 1901 (Moffit, 1905, p. 49). The district produced steadily and was still active in 1957. Total recorded production through 1959 (data are incomplete for 1931-36) was 379,200 ounces, all from placers.
The predominant bedrock in the district is a series of micaceous, chloritic, and graphitic schists with intercalated thin limestones believed by Collier (in Collier and others, 1908, p. 65) to be Devonian or Silurian in age. Unaltered conglomerate, sandstone, and shale unconformably overlie the schists in a few areas. Locally coal beds are present. Small bodies of granite and quartz diorite intrude the schists, but their age relations with the unaltered sedimentary rocks are not clear (Collier and others, 1908, p. 83, 108). Large areas of the district are covered by sheets of basaltic lava, remnants of a more extensive cover. The youngest of these flows is Pleistocene; the age of the older lavas has not been satisfactorily determined (Moffit, 1905, p. 34). Low-lying coastal areas and river valleys are blanketed by unconsolidated gravels. The gold of the placers was concentrated from small amounts disseminated in quartz veinlets and stringers in the schistose country rock. These low-grade lodes have never been productive.
KOUGAROK DISTRICT
The Kougarok district is in the central part of the Seward Peninsula between lat 65°10' and 65° 45' N. and long 164°20' and 165°20' W.
The district began producing gold in 1900, after the initial discoveries the previous year sparked a rush from Nome (Brooks, in Collier and others, 1908, p. 306-307). Because of its remoteness and its paucity of bonanza-type deposits, the district developed slowly. Water shortage necessitated the construction of ditches. By 1906 several ditches were completed and sufficient water for larger scale operations was assured. Afterward, the Kougarok placers were moderately productive and were active in 1957. A total of about 150,400 ounces of gold has been produced from the district, all from placers. This is a minimum total as data for 1931-46 are incomplete.
The geology of the district was discussed by Brooks (in Collier and others, 1908, p. 297-298) and is summarized as follows. The bedrock consists of the Kigluaik and Nome Groups—the former is predominantly schist and granite; the latter is made up of a sequence of phyllite, schist, greenstone, and a consistent unit, the Port Clarence Limestone. The schistose rocks of the Nome Group contain small auriferous quartz veinlets and stringers which appear to be the source of the placer gold that has been concentrated into minable quantities in present stream gravels, bench gravels, and flood-plain gravels. The lodes themselves are not of economic value.