Valdez Creek | |
---|---|
Native name | C'ilaan Na' (Tanaina) |
Location | |
Country | United States |
State | Alaska |
District | Matanuska-Susitna Borough |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Grogg Lake |
• location | Clearwater Mountains, Hayes Range |
• coordinates | 63°13′00″N147°5′16″W / 63.21667°N 147.08778°W [1] |
Mouth | Susitna River |
• coordinates | 63°9′38″N147°29′57″W / 63.16056°N 147.49917°W [1] |
• elevation | 2,467 ft (752 m) [1] |
Length | 15 mi (24 km) [2] |
Valdez Creek (Dena'ina: C'ilaan Na' [1] ) is a small headwater tributary of the Susitna River in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is also home to several gold mines, one of which was the largest placer gold mine in North America and has seen mining activity since the late 1890s.
The streams headwaters start at Grogg Lake in the Clearwater Mountains, a subrange of the Alaska Range. It flows in a general southwesterly direction for about 15 miles (24 km) [2] : 112 until it reaches the Susitna River a few miles north of the Denali Highway. [1] From its headwaters, it flows through a glacial valley and it joined by several of its tributaries, but none are longer than 6 miles. The majority of Valdez Creek's drainage area is above the tree line. After flowing through a narrow canyon that is 30–150 ft (9.1–45.7 m) deep, it joins the Susitna River in its broad valley. [2] : 112
It is approximately 160 miles (260 km) north-northwest of Valdez, or 120 miles (190 km) directly south of Fairbanks. It is located nearly halfway between the Richardson Highway and the Alaska Railroad, 60 miles west and 50 miles east, respectively. [2] : 109–110 Access to the area is via the Denali Highway, at approximately milepost 81. [3] : 5
Valdez Creek has cut its present channel through deep gravels and has intrenched itself in the underlying schist bed rock. [4]
Disappointed by failures of prospecting around Sunrise on the Kenai Peninsula, W.G. Jack and his party followed the Susitna River to its headwaters, the first recorded non-natives to do so. Gold was reportedly first discovered by the party at a creek called "Galina" by the natives in the area. His party named the creek "Swollen Creek" after the healthy mosquito population that lived in the area that had given them numerous bites that became swollen. [5] : 17–18 [6] : 6 However, they were forced to abandon the area due to low provisions and looming winter. [5] : 18
Placer deposits were rediscovered on August 15, 1903, by Peter Monahan's party, and it was renamed to Valdez Creek, in honor of their hometown of Valdez. [6] : 6 This set off a minor gold rush in 1904, but due to a lack of promising claims, most prospectors left that fall to return to Valdez. [5] : 21–22
Mining was restricted at the time to two localities on the stream—Lucky Gulch and the vicinity of Discovery claim at the mouth of Willow Creek. A hydraulic plant was installed on Valdez Creek below Willow Creek in 1908 with about 120 men engaged in mining on Valdez Creek during that summer, [4] and around 20 men were permanent residents. Wages were reported as $1/hour, 3 times the normal wage for labor in Seattle. Food was regarded as exceptional as vegetables were grown in the summer and fish and game were plentiful. [5] : 26
The first permanent buildings in the area were built in 1913. By 1917, it was a self-sufficient mining community named "McKinley", likely due to proximity with the then-named Mt. McKinley, with a general store, post office, hydroelectric plant, and more. It was later renamed to "Denali" on August 4, 1922, reflecting the native name of Denali. [5] : 25, 35–36, 39
Transportation to the area before 1917 depended on the season, but both trails started at Valdez. The summer route started below Gulkana at Bear Creek to "flat country" then went northwesterly for around 130 miles (210 km). The winter route followed the Gulkana River then down the Maclaren River, which provided good conditions for sled transport. Fred Moffit noted that a few supplies arrived from Fairbanks via the Nenana River and Broad Pass. Once the Valdez-Fairbanks Trail was built, a more direct route from Paxson was used. A minority of prospectors used the Copper River and Northwestern Railway out of Cordova to Chitina, then followed previously established trails to Copper Center. [5] : 23–25
In the summer of 1977, two miners from Talkeetna bulldozed the Denali townsite area, fearing further restrictions on mining after a Bureau of Land Management team visited the former town to do a historical study and assessment. [5] : 84–86 [ non-primary source needed ]
The Denali Mining Company operated mines in the area from 1979 to 1983, and the Valdez Creek Joint Venture took over in 1984. A few years later, Cambior Mining Company succeeded the previous group. [3] : 7 In 1992, the main open pit mine was the largest placer mine in North America. [7] : 1–2 Between 1984 and 1995, it was the largest gold mine in Alaska in 11 of those 12 years, however it closed in September of that last year. [8] : 17, 25
Reclamation efforts were started after the closure of the mine, and Cambior Lake was created at the site of the old pit mine. However, during these efforts, invasive plants were introduced to the area, including smooth brome and alsike clover. Other invasive plants like foxtail barley, common dandelion, and others were noted on nearly the whole length of the creek when plant surveys done in 2014. [3] : 10–14
Up to 2012, a total of over 530,000 oz have been produced from the Valdez Creek area, with the vast majority of the gold being placer deposits. Despite being actively mined since the start of the 20th century, the mother lode for the gold has not been found as of 2023 [9] : 7–12 and mineral surveys suggest that there is high potential for more gold in the area. [10] : iv, 33
The Denali Borough is a borough located in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census the population of the borough was 1,619, down from 1,826 in 2010. The borough seat and most populated community is Healy, and its only incorporated place is Anderson. The borough was incorporated in December 1990.
Matanuska-Susitna Borough is a borough located in the U.S. state of Alaska. Its borough seat is Palmer, and the largest community is the census-designated place of Knik-Fairview. As of the 2020 census, the borough's population was 107,801.
Valdez–Cordova Census Area was a census area located in the state of Alaska, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 9,636. It was part of the Unorganized Borough and therefore had no borough seat. On January 2, 2019, it was abolished and replaced by the Chugach Census Area and the Copper River Census Area.
Delta Junction, officially the City of Delta Junction, is a small city in the Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 958, up from 840 in 2000. The 2018 estimate was down to 931. The city is located a short distance south of the confluence of the Delta River with the Tanana River, which is at Big Delta. It is about 160 km (99 mi) south of Fairbanks. Native inhabitants are Tanana Athabaskans.
The Alaska Range is a relatively narrow, 600-mile-long (950 km) mountain range in the southcentral region of the U.S. state of Alaska, from Lake Clark at its southwest end to the White River in Canada's Yukon Territory in the southeast. Denali, the highest mountain in North America, is in the Alaska Range. The range is part of the American Cordillera.
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.
The Richardson Highway is a highway in the U.S. state of Alaska, running 368 miles (562 km) and connecting Valdez to Fairbanks. It is marked as Alaska Route 4 from Valdez to Delta Junction and as Alaska Route 2 from there to Fairbanks. It also connects segments of Alaska Route 1 between the Glenn Highway and the Tok Cut-Off. The Richardson Highway was the first major road built in Alaska.
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Denali Highway is a lightly traveled, mostly gravel highway in the U.S. state of Alaska. It leads from Paxson on the Richardson Highway to Cantwell on the Parks Highway. Opened in 1957, it was the first road access to Denali National Park. Since 1971, primary park access has been via the Parks Highway, which incorporated a section of the Denali Highway from Cantwell to the present-day park entrance. The Denali Highway is 135 miles (217 km) in length.
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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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Robert Edwards Sheldon Jr. was an American automobile enthusiast, businessman, government official and politician. As a boy, Sheldon accompanied his father to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush and remained there the rest of his life. He built the first automobile in Alaska, was the first to drive an automobile from Fairbanks to Valdez, and championed the construction of roads in Alaska as the state road commissioner. Sheldon served in two sessions of the Alaska Territorial Legislature and two terms in the Alaska State Legislature. He was variously a power company engineer, the postmaster for Fairbanks, the general manager for the Mt. McKinley Tourist & Transportation Company, and the executive director of the Unemployment Compensation Commission of Alaska.
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