Coal Creek Historic Mining District: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve
Alaska Regional Office Cultural Landscape Program and Region 11 Park Cultural Landscapes Program. 2018. Coal Creek Historic Mining District: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 100086. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. NPS Alaska Regional Office, Anchorage, Alaska / CRIS-CL Database
Inventory Unit Description: The Coal Creek Historic Mining District lies on the south bank of the Yukon River in Yukon- Charley Rivers National Preserve. The cultural landscape encompasses 3,607 acres within the Coal Creek drainage basin. The district includes the historic Coal Creek Camp, Coal Creek Dredge, Slaven’s Roadhouse, and the original Coal Creek Camp located at Cheese Creek. The landscape is a Historic Vernacular Landscape. It is indicative of a 1930s to 1950s working gold dredge and camp. Mining outfits have been active in the Coal Creek drainage since the 1890s. In 1935, Gold Placers Inc. purchased mining claims along Coal Creek to develop the gold dredge and the Coal Creek Camp. The company worked the drainage until 1957, when they turned their focus on the neighboring camp, Woodchopper Creek Camp. Though the drainage was mined continuously between 1900 and the 1980s, the period of significance concentrates on the accomplishments of Gold Placers Inc. between 1933 and 1957. Currently the district consists of historically significant elements, including buildings and structures, circulation, small scale features, archeological sites, and constructed water features. Most of the buildings and structures located at the Coal Creek Camp date to the original camp in 1935, though they are no longer in their original location. Camp employees constructed the upper road in the 1935 and 1936 seasons. The dredge and the associated tailing piles demonstrate the historic use of the site and miscellaneous tools and equipment are scattered throughout the brush. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 4, 1995, the Coal Creek Historic Mining District is part of a national preserve under the stewardship of the National Park Service (NPS). The district is significant under Criterion A for its association with events that have made a significant contribution to the broader patterns of the state’s history. It qualifies under Criterion B for its association with a person significant to Alaska’s past and for a historic building or structure being moved from its original location that was associated with a historic person. When the Cultural Landscape Inventory (CLI) was first written, the site qualified under Criterion G, for achieving significance before 50 years.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Alaska Regional Office Cultural Landscape Program; Region 11 Park Cultural Landscapes Program
- Date of Issue
- 2018-06-07
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- AKR , YUCH
- Keywords
- Coal Creek Camp, dredge, engineering, Ernest Patty, Frank Slaven Cabin, gold dredge, Historic Vernacular Landscape, industry, mining, mining camp, placer mining, relocation, roadhouse, Yukon River