Skyscraper Mountain (Alaska)

Last updated
Skyscraper Mountain
Skyscraper Mountain, Alaska.jpg
East aspect
Highest point
Elevation 4,784 ft (1,458 m) [1]
Prominence 225 ft (69 m) [2]
Parent peak Bullion Mountain [2] [3]
Isolation 1.24 mi (2.00 km) [2]
Coordinates 61°46′45″N149°18′09″W / 61.7791535°N 149.3023821°W / 61.7791535; -149.3023821 [1]
Geography
Relief map of USA Alaska.png
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
Skyscraper Mountain
Location in Alaska
Skyscraper Mountain (Alaska)
Interactive map of Skyscraper Mountain
CountryUnited States
State Alaska
Borough Matanuska-Susitna
Parent range Talkeetna Mountains [4]
Topo map USGS Anchorage D-7
Climbing
Easiest route Trail [5]

Skyscraper Mountain is a 4,784-foot-elevation (1,458-meter) summit in Alaska, United States.

Contents

Description

Skyscraper Mountain is located 14 miles (22.5 km) northwest of Palmer, Alaska, in the Talkeetna Mountains, on land managed as the Hatcher Pass Management Area of the state park system. It is also immediately north of Hatcher Pass and southwest of the Independence Mine State Historic Park. Precipitation runoff from this mountain's east slope drains to the nearby Little Susitna River via Fishhook Creek, whereas the west side drains to the Susitna River via Willow Creek. [2] Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises 1,780 feet (543 meters) above Fishhook Creek in 0.8 miles (1.3 km). Access is via the Palmer-Fishhook Road (also called Hatcher Pass Road), and a 2.2-mile trail (round-trip) gains 1,170 feet of elevation to reach the summit. [5] The Martin Mine located on the mountain's northeast slope was the site of the first gold quartz discovery in the Willow Creek mining district made in 1906 by Robert Lee Hatcher (1867–1950), [6] [7] and it produced 27,150 ounces of gold from 1906 to 1931. [8] This mountain's descriptive toponym has been officially adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names as reported in 1942 by U.S. Geological Survey, [4] however the name has been in publications since at least 1914. [9]

Geology

The Willow Creek mining district at Hatcher Pass is historically the third-largest lode-gold producing district in Alaska, having produced 624,000 ounces of gold. [10] Mining of placer gold deposits began in 1906. Hardrock gold mining began a few years later from high-grade vein lode deposits. [11]

The Willow Creek mining district lies at the southwestern edge of a great mass of granitic intrusions that form much of the Talkeetna Mountains and is within the Wrangellia composite terrane. [12] At Hatcher Pass a pervasively altered zoned 74 million years old quartz diorite to tonalite pluton underlies the headwaters of Willow Creek and Fishhook Creek, with most of the gold deposits occurring in these rocks. A 67 Ma quartz monzonite pluton lies west and north of the older quartz diorite; a Cretaceous quartz diorite pluton lies to the east. South of Bullion Mountain, a high angle east–west fault passing through Hatcher Pass separates plutonic rocks on the north side of the fault from schist south of the fault. [13]

Climate

Based on the Köppen climate classification, Skyscraper Mountain is located in a subarctic climate zone with long, cold, snowy winters, and short cool summers. [14] Winter temperatures can drop below 0 °F with wind chill factors below −10 °F. The months of May through June offer the most favorable weather for climbing or viewing. [15]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Talkeetna, Alaska</span> CDP in Alaska, United States

Talkeetna is a census-designated place (CDP) in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, United States. At the 2020 census the population was 1,055, up from 876 in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susitna River</span> River in the United States

The Susitna River is a 313-mile (504 km) long river in the Southcentral Alaska. It is the 15th largest river in the United States, ranked by average discharge volume at its mouth. The river stretches from the Susitna Glacier to Cook Inlet's Knik Arm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Granite Mountains (California)</span> Mountain range in California, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hatcher Pass</span> Mountain pass in Alaska, United States

Hatcher Pass is a mountain pass through the southwest part of the Talkeetna Mountains, Alaska. It is named after Robert Hatcher, a prospector and miner. The nearest cities are Palmer and Wasilla approximately 12 miles (19 km) to the south, and Willow approximately 26 mi (42 km) to the west. The communities are at an elevation of approximately 250 ft (76 m) in the Mat-Su valley.

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Mount Susitna, also known as Sleeping Lady, (Dena'ina: Dghelishla) is a 4,396-foot (1,340 m) mountain in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the west bank of the lower Susitna River, about 33 miles (53 km) northwest of Anchorage, Alaska. The mountain is a prominent landmark in the Anchorage area and can be seen across the Knik Arm of the Cook Inlet from most of the city, especially at higher elevations.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tukgahgo Mountain</span> Mountain in Alaska, United States

Tukgahgo Mountain (TUG-a-ho) is a mountain in the Takshanuk Mountains in the U.S. state of Alaska with a peak elevation of 4,675 feet (1,425 m). It is located in Haines Borough, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) to the southwest of Chilkoot Lake and 16 miles (26 km) to the southwest of Skagway. Geological investigations of the veins in the mountain have revealed silver, gold, platinum, and palladium mineralization, derived from mid-Cretaceous events.

Gold mining in Alaska, a state of the United States, has been a major industry and impetus for exploration and settlement since a few years after the United States acquired the territory in 1867 from the Russian Empire. Russian explorers discovered placer gold in the Kenai River in 1848, but no gold was produced. Gold mining started in 1870 from placers southeast of Juneau, Alaska.

Gold was discovered in the Yentna-Cache Creek Mining District in the U.S. state of Alaska of the upper Susitna River Valley in 1898, soon followed by claim staking. Placer mining was reported in the Cache Creek drainage of the Dutch Hills by 1906. Quaternary glaciofluvial deposits, alluvial deposits, and Cenozoic conglomeratic white quartz-breccia units have been mined in the Dutch Hills. About 200,000 oz of gold has been produced from these placer deposits. By 1927, a road from Talkeetna was constructed into the mining area, known today as The Petersville Road. The mining camp of Petersville, Alaska served as the area Post Office for several years in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Two areas have been set aside for recreational gold mining, the North and South units of the Petersville State Recreation Mining Areas. Many smaller one-man and family placer mining operations continue today.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Independence Mines, Alaska</span> United States historic place

The Independence Mines, now Independence Mine State Historic Park, is the site of a former gold mining operation in the Talkeetna Mountains, across Hatcher Pass from Palmer, Alaska. The area's mining history dates to at least 1897, when active claims were reported in the vicinity of Fishook Creek. These early mining efforts were eventually joined to form the Wasilla Mining Company, which worked the mines from 1934 to 1943, and again from 1948 to 1950. The mining operation at Independence was the second-largest hard-rock gold mining operation in the state, after a larger site near Juneau. The company and the miners that preceded it built a substantial mining camp, with as many as sixteen wood-frame buildings, which were originally connected to each other by sheltered wooden "tunnels". When the company ended operations in 1950, it had expected to eventually resume operations, but never did; this resulted in a particularly well-preserved collection of mining equipment and buildings, although the weather has since taken a significant toll on the latter.

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References

  1. 1 2 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Skyscraper Mountain
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Skyscraper Mountain, Alaska". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2024-09-28.
  3. ↑ "Skyscraper Mountain - 4,775' AK". listsofjohn.com. Retrieved 2024-09-28.
  4. 1 2 Donald J. Orth, Dictionary of Alaska Place Names, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1967, p. 886.
  5. 1 2 Lisa Maloney, Day Hiking Southcentral Alaska, Mountaineers Books, 2019, ISBN   9781680510669.
  6. ↑ Investigations in Alaska Railroad Belt, 1931, Philip Sidney Smith, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1933, p. 215.
  7. ↑ Alaska Traveler, Dana Stabenow, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022, ISBN   9781837931583
  8. ↑ Martin Mine, Willow Creek Mining District, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, USA, mindat.org, Retrieved 2024-09-28.
  9. ↑ Mineral Resources of Alaska, Bulletin 592, US Geological Survey, US Government Printing Office, 1914, p. 257.
  10. ↑ "Age and Cooling History of Gold Deposits and Host Rocks in the Willow Creek Mining District, Talkeetna Mountains, South-Central Alaska". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
  11. ↑ Ray, 1954, USGS Bulletin 1004, Geology and Ore Deposits of the Willow Creek Mining District, Alaska
  12. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-09-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-12-24. Retrieved 2017-08-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. ↑ Peel, M. C.; Finlayson, B. L.; McMahon, T. A. (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen−Geiger climate classification". Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 11. ISSN   1027-5606.
  15. ↑ Denali FAQ, American Alpine Institute, alpineinstitute.com, Retrieved 2024-01-08.
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