National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

Natural Resource Stewardship and Science

A History of National Park Service Clean-up Efforts 

at the Historic Coal Creek Mining District, YukonCharley Rivers National Preserve

Natural Resource Report NPS/YUCH/NRR—2015/1099
ON THIS PAGE

Slaven’s Roadhouse at the mouth of Coal Creek, Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. 

Photograph courtesy of Chris Allan, National Park Service. 

ON THE COVER

Photograph of Coal Creek Mining District, Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. 

Photograph courtesy of Josh Spice, National Park Service.
A History of National Park Service Clean-up Efforts 

at the Historic Coal Creek Mining District, YukonCharley Rivers National Preserve

Natural Resource Report NPS/YUCH/NRR—2015/1099

Chris Allan

Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve

Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve

4175 Geist Road

Fairbanks, Alaska 99709

December 2015 

U.S. Department of the Interior

National Park Service

Natural Resource Stewardship and Science 

Fort Collins, Colorado
ii

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Please cite this publication as:

Allan, C. 2015. A history of National Park Service clean-up efforts at the historic Coal Creek Mining 

District, Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. Natural Resource Report NPS/YUCH/NRR—

2015/1099. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado.

NPS 191/130862, December 2015
iii

Contents

Page

Photographs...........................................................................................................................................iii

Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. v

Acknowledgments.................................................................................................................................. v

Introduction............................................................................................................................................ 1

History of Mining at Coal Creek............................................................................................................ 2

Contaminant Assessments and Clean-up Efforts................................................................................... 4

Hazardous Materials Assessment................................................................................................... 4

Clean-up Efforts ............................................................................................................................. 5

Rehabilitation and Preservation ............................................................................................................. 7

Historic Preservation Efforts.......................................................................................................... 7

Salmon in Coal Creek..................................................................................................................... 7

Coal Creek Today .................................................................................................................................. 9

Photographs

Page

Photo 1. Frank Slaven (foreground) and fellow Coal Creek prospectors, ca. 1930............................. 10

Photo 2. A dredge worker using a “giant” to remove soil and thaw permafrost, ca. 1936.................. 10

Photo 3. The Coal Creek dredge operating in the early 1940s. Note tailings piles at rear 

of the dredge......................................................................................................................................... 11

Photo 4. Coal Creek dredge bucket line with tailings piles in the background, ca. 1938.................... 11

Photo 5. A dredge employee pouring molten gold into forms to create gold bars, ca. 1936............... 12

Photo 6. View of Coal Creek dredge and tailings piles, July 1954...................................................... 12

Photo 7. The Coal Creek dredge operating under new management, August1974.. ........................... 13

Photo 8. Bulldozers move gold-bearing gravel for sluicing at Coal Creek, 1974 ............................... 13

Photo 9. Removing boulders from a sluice box at Coal Creek, 1974. National Park 

Service, Coal Creek Collection............................................................................................................ 14

Photo 10. Leaking barrels numbered as part of clean-up efforts in the 1990s..................................... 14

Photo 11. Stockpile of 55-gallon drums at the Coal Creek airstrip, 1992 ........................................... 15
iv

Photographs (continued)

Page

Photo 12. Sign warning visitors and employees about soil contamination at Assay Office, 

1990...................................................................................................................................................... 15

Photo 13. Sign warning visitors and employees about contamination at Coal Creek 

dredge, 1992......................................................................................................................................... 16

Photo 14. Aerial view of Coal Creek Camp during clean-up efforts, 1996. National Park 

Service, Coal Creek Hazardous Waste Cleanup. ................................................................................. 16

Photo 15. Workers passing contaminated soil through a separating plant at Coal Creek 

Camp, 1996 .......................................................................................................................................... 17

Photo 16. Members of clean-up crew shoveling soil into the mechanical separator, 1996. ................ 17

Photo 17. Example of mercury collected by the mechanical separator, 1996 ..................................... 18

Photo 18. Al Hendricks, Jr. visiting the Coal Creek dredge control room, 2011. ............................... 19
v

Abstract 

The purpose of this report is to provide historical context for the National Park Service’s planning 

and management decisions regarding Coal Creek. These include decisions about natural and cultural 

resource management and the development and maintenance of facilities to support ongoing 

administrative use of Coal Creek. The report is intended to compile information about the 

environmental and administrative history of Coal Creek and to provide background for public 

information related to Coal Creek.

Acknowledgments

Contributors to this report include J. Chakuchin and L. Stromquist. 
1
1

Introduction

Industrial placer gold mining is a messy business. To make it pay, miners turn the earth upside down 

by excavating the richest mineral-bearing gravels and casting away all but the dust, flakes and 

nuggets of gold. This operation requires not only men and machines but also chemicals, heavy 

metals, and large amounts of petroleum-based fuels and lubricants. And when the mining is done, 

these hazardous materials often remain. This was the situation in 1986 when Yukon-Charley Rivers 

National Preserve acquired a group of mining claims along Coal Creek, a tributary of the Yukon 

River roughly eighty miles from the U.S.-Canada boundary. Coal Creek is located in the heart of the 

preserve half way between the towns of Eagle and Circle, and it has a mining past stretching back to 

the Klondike-Alaska Gold Rush of 1897-1899. Dramatic reminders of that history are scattered 

across the land—a complete mining camp, large machines of various kinds, a historic roadhouse, and 

a magnificent pontoon-style bucket gold dredge. The value of the donation was unmistakable, but it 

came with hidden costs. Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve was created by the Alaska 

National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, and part of the reason for its creation was “to 

protect and interpret historical sites and events related to the gold rush on the Yukon River”1. In 

order to pursue this mission and to make use of the new property for other purposes, the National 

Park Service needed to address risks to human health and the environment posed by contamination 

from placer mining operations. The following is the story of gold mining at Coal Creek and the 

impressive campaign launched by park managers to make the Coal Creek watershed safe for use by 

the public and by National Park Service employees. 

 

1 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, December 2, 1980; Title II; Section 201.
2

History of Mining at Coal Creek

Before the arrival of large numbers of gold-seekers to Alaska in the 1890s, Coal Creek was 

indistinguishable from any other steam in the region—it was a modest waterway with mostly clear 

water that carved a sinuous path out of the mountains to mix with the broad, brown torso of the 

Yukon River. Archeological excavations near the mouth of Coal Creek revealed evidence that Alaska 

Native people have visited the site for at least the past four thousand years, and today the same area 

provides a convenient landing for boaters on the Yukon River.2 In 1897 prospectors on their way to 

the Klondike gold fields gave the creek its name when they discovered deposits of coal several miles 

upstream. The gold-seekers were interested in coal because it could be sold as fuel to paddlewheel 

steamboats, but they were soon distracted by signs of gold in the gravels of the streambed. According 

to the New York Times in 1898, “The surface dirt [at Coal Creek] pays from 30 to 90 cents per pan, 

and sluices can be emptied directly into the Yukon. Prospectors are greatly encouraged by the 

strikes.”3 This was not a major gold strike, but it was a start.

The men and women who arrived in those early days began small-scale placer mining along Coal 

Creek. Using picks, shovels, and long sluice boxes that they built on site, the miners began the 

backbreaking process of separating gold from creek gravel. By 1901 mining claims lined both sides 

of the creek from its mouth to at least ten miles upstream, and a handful of miners built log cabins 

and stayed on their claims during the winter. Others worked their claims only in the summer and 

spent winters in Circle, Eagle, or Fairbanks. For the next three decades, a small but determined cadre 

of miners built ditches to divert water to their sluice boxes and cut trees for firewood to feed small 

steam boilers used to thaw the permanently frozen ground known as permafrost. Trees were also cut 

to for building material. A similar process occurred in the neighboring Woodchopper Creek valley, 

and over time, both drainages were largely deforested at lower elevations. Miners used ditches and 

dams to run water through their sluice boxes and to uncover gold-bearing gravels, and the creek often 

ran brown with sediment dislodged by their activity. At Coal Creek miners often processed up to 

eighty cubic yards of gravel to obtain a single ounce of gold. At this rate they were compelled to 

augment their income by trapping, woodcutting and other odd jobs.

Dramatic change came to Coal Creek in 1935 when Alexander McRae, a Canadian millionaire and 

mining investor, decided to buy out the old-timers’ claims and import an enormous gold dredge 

capable of overturning the earth to extract millions of dollars in gold. In order to mine on an 

industrial scale at Coal Creek, McRae’s company—Gold Placers, Inc.—built an eight-mile road from 

the Yukon River to the upper creek valley, a camp to feed and house the dredge crew, and a system 

of pipes and water diversions to harness the incredible power of water under pressure. Once this 

infrastructure was in place and the dredge was built, the Coal Creek watershed would never be the 

 

2 Ian Buvit and Jeffrey Rasic, “Middle Holocene Humans in Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, 

Alaska,” Alaska Journal of Anthropology 9 (2011), 65-72.

3 “New Diggings in Alaska,” New York Times, August 8, 1898.
3

same. The practice of placer mining by machine is a multi-step process that involves stripping the 

land of trees and topsoil, thawing the permanently frozen ground below, and excavating enormous 

amounts of gravel with the dredge as it eats its way across the landscape. Water is essential to placer 

mining, and at Coal Creek the employees of Gold Placers, Inc. used water cannons to blast away 

topsoil and to speed the thawing of the permafrost. They diverted water to create lakes in which the 

dredge floated on its steel pontoons. And they washed thousands of tons of sediment into the creek. 

The result was what one historian called “a world turned upside down.”4 

As the gold dredge advanced up and down the Coal Creek drainage it excavated twenty feet into the 

earth and scooped thousands of tons of gravel into its gavel-washing interior. Whereas a single miner 

using hand-tools might wash one cubic yard of gravel in a day, the dredge processed 3,000 in a 24-

hour period. Water jets, revolving tumblers, and multiple sluice boxes separated gold from the waste 

material, which poured out of the back to create arc-shaped mounds of discarded rock called tailings. 

The dredge operated more or less continuously for the next two decades, meandering wherever the 

richest concentrations of subterranean gold could be found. In the process the channel of Coal Creek 

was repeatedly altered and most of the valley floor was scooped up, processed for gold, and redeposited, ultimately producing around three million dollars in precious metals. After major 

operations under Gold Placers, Inc. ended in 1960, the dredge and mining claims were leased by 

individuals who mined periodically between the 1960s and 1980s. Today the dredge’s tailings—telltale signs of industrial placer mining—cover roughly eight miles of the Coal Creek valley. In 

addition the valley floor contains the massive hulk of the dredge, the mobile camp used by company 

employees, assorted buildings and roads, cabin ruins, garbage dumps, 55-gallon steel drums, 

abandoned vehicles, steam boilers, mobile drill rigs used for prospecting, and countless odds and 

ends left behind long ago. Another legacy of mining is less visible—contaminants in the soil like 

petroleum and the mercury used to capture small particles of gold in sluice boxes. 

 

4 See, Doug Beckstead, “The World Turned Upside Down: A History of Mining on Coal Creek and 

Woodchopper Creek, Yukon-Charley River National Preserve, Alaska,” National Park Service, Fairbanks, Alaska,

2003.
4

Contaminant Assessments and Clean-up Efforts

Hazardous Materials Assessment

Gold mining came to an end at Coal Creek in 1985 when a joint venture called Coal Creek Mining 

Properties decided that mining the creek was no longer profitable and sold their claims to the 

National Parks Conservation Association. The following year the association donated the property to 

the National Park Service.5 By July 1987 Jacque Gusmano from the Environmental Protection 

Agency and National Park Service planner Steve Ulvi visited Coal Creek to begin identifying areas 

of concern. Their investigation began at the Assay Building where gold was processed after being 

collected from the dredge. In addition to a bottle of nitric acid on the building’s shelves, the men 

were concerned about the possibility that mercury, used in the collection of gold particles, might 

have contaminated the area. Their reason for suspecting mercury contamination was that the retorting 

process—vaporizing the mercury to remove it from a mass of gold-mercury amalgamation—took 

place both inside and just outside of the building. To begin, Gusmano and Ulvi put a “Keep Out” 

sign on the building and survey flagging around the area to warn people about the risk of 

contamination. In addition, the investigators discovered in the camp’s equipment storage area 55-

gallon drums containing residue of petroleum products and considerable staining on the ground from 

spilled oil and fuels. There were also several discarded vehicle batteries, and storage sheds contained 

cans of paint, containers of hydrochloric acid, and containers of insecticide containing DDT. Also, in 

a shed near the camp was a stash of abandoned dynamite. Under heavy machinery and at the gold 

dredge they found spilled hydraulic fluid, solvents, and degreasers. It was clear that a comprehensive 

program was needed.6 

In 1990 the National Park Service began a multi-year project to restore the ecological health of the 

watershed, to improve visitor access to the area, and to create a functioning administrative facility for 

agency use. The project was funded by and administered through the Comprehensive Environmental 

Response, Compensation and Liability Act response authority of the National Park Service. From the 

beginning the project focused on two goals: 1) conducting soil sampling to understand the extent of 

mercury contamination, and 2) assessing the quantity and contents of abandoned storage drums. The 

systematic collection of soil samples began immediately, and soon seventy-four samples had been 

collected at Coal Creek Camp and in the vicinity of the gold dredge. To do this work, personnel wore 

protective clothing, including rubber boots, disposable plastic exposure suits with hood and foot 

coverings, and plastic gloves. In addition to soil samples, they collected eighty-two abandoned leadacid batteries from vehicles and heavy machinery, and after packing them in wooden crates for 

shipping they boated them to Eagle. From Eagle, a licensed hazardous waste carrier hauled the

 

5 National Park Service, “Draft Environmental Impact Statement: Mining in Yukon-Charley Rivers 

National Preserve, Alaska,” 1994, 97.

6 Steve Ulvi to Chief of Environmental Compliance Division, Alaska Regional Office, October 28, 1987.
5

batteries to Fairbank by truck to be recycled.7 The survey of abandoned storage drums began by 

painting numbers on the drums and marking them with bright survey tape to make finding them later 

an easier task. The survey identified 579 drums in the Coal Creek drainage, 109 of which contained 

an unknown product, waste, or water.8 

Surveying and clean-up efforts continued through 1993 and were expanded to include water quality 

tests and comprehensive mapping. Also, in addition to the signs in Coal Creek Camp, signs warning 

of contamination were installed at the Coal Creek confluence with the Yukon River, at the Coal 

Creek Camp airstrip, and at the gold dredge. To prepare for removing abandoned drums, workers 

established a grid system that consisted of stakes set at five-hundred-foot intervals along the road 

through the middle of Coal Creek valley. Each stake was marked with spray paint and flagging, and 

workers both walked and spotted from helicopters to identify clusters of drums. The more workers 

searched through thickets of willow and alder and over expansive fields of tailings, the more drums 

they found, edging the number of identified drums closer to 800. At least 145 of these contained 

hazardous waste materials. By 1993 the scope of mercury contamination had been determined—

significant mercury levels were present only in a small area near the Assay Building. Now that the 

extent of hazardous materials in the Coal Creek valley was better understood, it was time to begin the 

clean-up in earnest.9

Clean-up Efforts

While attempting to understand the scope of contamination and hazardous materials at Coal Creek, 

the National Park Service had identified several areas of concern: mercury in soil at Coal Creek 

Camp, lead and petroleum contamination in soils at various locations, and a broad distribution of 

badly deteriorated 55-gallon drums. In 1994, workers began a major clean-up project that included 

the removal of 830 drums and 18 lead-acid batteries from the watershed. From the drums, 2,500 

gallons of waste fuels and 1,200 lbs. of grease were recovered and recycled. Over 500 gallons of 

contaminated water, 380 lbs. of paint solids and liquids and 2,500 lbs. of solid waste were also 

recovered and removed. As an additional benefit, over 46,000 lbs. of scrap steel recovered from the 

drums was delivered to a recycling facility in Fairbanks. 

 

7 Penny Knuckles and Steve Ulvi, “Soil Sampling Plan for Mercury Contamination, Coal Creek Camp,” 

National Park Service, 1990. 

8 Memorandum from Mining and Minerals Branch Geologist, Minerals Management Division to Chief of 

Minerals Management Division, re: Coal Creek Abandoned Mineral Lands Project, Yukon-Charley Rivers National 

Preserve, October 15, 1990. Russell Kucinski to Chief of Minerals Management Division, October 15, 1990. 

National Park Service, Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, Park Ranger Leigh Selig and Resource 

Management Specialist Penny Knuckles, “Abandoned Mineral Lands Program, Hazardous Waste Survey, Coal 

Creek and Vicinity,” Research and Resource Management Report Series, 90-05, October 1990.

9 Kurt Menning, “Coal Creek Hazardous Waste Survey,” Research and Resource Management Report 

Series 92-02, YUCH, 1990. Alaska District Army Corps of Engineers, Materials and Instrumentation Section, 

“Chemical Data Report for Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve,” February 1, 1993.
6

The following year, the National Park Service began addressing the more difficult issue of soil 

contamination from lead, petroleum, and mercury spills. The first phase of this effort began in 1996 

when workers removed lead-contaminated soils at the Blacksmith Shop, a building in the upper Coal 

Creek drainage near where the gold dredge was first assembled. Using an X-Ray Fluorescence 

instrument that could detect lead in minute concentrations, the crews located contamination from 

lead-based lubricants used in early dredge operations. Crews excavated approximately five cubic 

yards of lead-contaminated soils from the dirt floor of the building, and the material was packed into 

empty 55-gallon drums for shipment and disposal at a facility in Washington State licensed by the 

Environmental Protection Agency. 

The second phase of the project involved construction of an on-site soil washing facility for mercurycontaminated soil removed from the vicinity of the Assay Building. Nearby, in the camp’s equipment 

yard, technicians assembled a 4,000-square-foot plastic-lined work pad and a recycling pond with a 

capacity of 14,000 gallons. As loads of soil arrived on the pad, they were fed into a cement mixer and 

turned into a light slurry with a combination of water and a commercial ore cleaning solution 

designed to recover “floured” or fine-particulate mercury. After mixing, the slurry transferred to a 

commercial soil washing machine designed to collect heavy metals using a hydraulic jig, a copper 

plate, and a series of sluice boxes. The waste water and soil particles ended up in the recycling pond, 

and 172 pounds of mercury concentrates were shipped off-site for disposal. In the end the process

was very much like placer mining, but instead of capturing gold, on this occasion the goal was to 

collect tiny particles of liquid mercury.

10

In 1997 the National Park Service continued environmental mitigation at Coal Creek camp by 

processing an additional twenty-five cubic yards of mercury-contaminated soil and by addressing the 

issue of petroleum-contaminated soil in and around the Coal Creek area. After excavation of the 

petroleum-contaminated soils, the material was processed using a portable thermal treatment unit 

which was flown to the site the following year. In order to deliver this equipment and equipment for 

the rest of the clean-up project, the National Park Service employed a C-130 Hercules cargo plane, 

the largest aircraft that had ever landed at the camp’s 4,000-foot airstrip. The C-130 delivered over 

42,000 pounds of project equipment and supplies, including a D-3 Caterpillar tractor that excavated 

contaminated soil with its backhoe attachment. Also, a vintage DC-3 cargo plane was used for freight 

hauling and a single-engine Cessna Caravan for crew shuttles. With the close of the field season in 

1998, the National Park Service completed the phased, multi-year remediation of the contaminants 

that were part of the legacy of mining in the Coal Creek watershed.

11

 

10 CERCLA Program, Alaska Systems Support Office, Physical Resources, “Coal Creek Hazardous Waste 

Mitigation Project: End of the Season Report,” November 6, 1996, and Linda Stromquist, “Mining and Mitigation: 

The Coal Creek Remediation Project,” Alaska Park Science 4 (December 2005), 36.

11 Ibid. Note: The Coal Creek Hazardous Waste Remediation Project was managed by the Alaska Regional 

Office, Physical Resources Team. The clean-up effort was a component of the National Park Service CERCLA and 

Abandoned Mine Lands Programs. Linda Stromquist, CERCLA Program Manager, and Kevin Meyer co-managed 

the project. Team members from Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve included Jerod Roberts, Jobe Chakuchin, 
7

Rehabilitation and Preservation

Historic Preservation Efforts

On May 4, 1995, Coal Creek was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a historic 

mining district, and by 2001 rehabilitation projects were completed on Slaven’s Roadhouse at the 

creek’s mouth, at the Coal Creek Gold Dredge, and at Coal Creek Camp. As an example of the type 

of work that was done, the gold dredge improvements included new glass windows, doors, siding 

repairs, and interior repair to stairways. At Coal Creek Camp, repairs were undertaken to restore six 

historic Bunkhouses, the Recreation Hall, Storage Building #10, the Office Building, Assay Building, 

Mess Hall, and Laundry Building. In addition to restoring these buildings to their 1930s historical 

appearance, workers installed running water, an electrical system (later supplemented by solar 

panels), and a garbage incinerator at Coal Creek Camp. They also built a public-use cabin near 

Slaven’s Roadhouse and made improvements to the Coal Creek airstrip. These preservation and 

construction projects make it possible for Coal Creek Historic Mining District to offer visitors a 

unique experience—a glimpse of a place that evolved from a small-scale mining camp into an 

industrial mining operation over the course of seven decades. In addition, the rehabilitated camp 

could now serve as an important administrative center for National Park Service activities.12

Salmon in Coal Creek

After decades of intensive mining at Coal Creek, the streambed changed from meandering waterway 

with natural vegetation to a straighter, faster one surrounded in many places by piles of discarded 

rock. By re-sculpting the creek valley, the gold dredge had altered the course of Coal Creek forever. 

As a result, spring flooding at points along the creek is common. Since acquiring the property, the 

National Park Service has established an all-terrain vehicle trail between Coal Creek Camp and the 

Yukon River at Slaven’s Roadhouse which intersects with the Coal Creek streambed at various 

locations. In 2004 the agency developed a restoration plan for the lower portion of the creek and built 

a rock revetment along the bank to keep the creek in its main channel and away from the trail. The 

goal was to prevent the creek from overtaking the trail that provides access from the Yukon River to 

the Gold Dredge and Coal Creek Camp. However, annual floodwaters continue to be a problem when 

they inundate the trail, washing sections of it away and making vehicle travel along the route 

impossible.

Between 2008 and 2010 studies were conducted in the Coal Creek area to determine what species of 

fish were utilizing the creek, and it was discovered that Coal Creek functioned as a rearing stream for 

juvenile Chinook salmon. The Chinook salmon’s significant decline in the Yukon River over the past 

decade is of great concern to the National Park Service and to local residents. Many people rely on 

Chinook salmon to sustain their subsistence lifestyle, and the species plays an important role in the 

 

Steve Nelson, and Dale Westeen. Additional National Park Service Alaska Regional Office personnel included Lynn 

Griffiths, Russ Kucinski, Jim Hollaran, and Jay Cable.

12 National Park Service, “Coal Creek Historic Mining District Cultural Landscapes Inventory, YukonCharley Rivers National Preserve,” 2004.
8

culture of the Han Athabascan Indians who live in the area. The National Park Service now faces the 

manifold challenge of keeping trail access to Coal Creek Camp and the Coal Creek Gold Dredge 

open, protecting historic resources in a National Register property, and protecting the salmon rearing 

habitat of Coal Creek. To this end, the National Park Service minimizes the number of stream 

crossings in sensitive creek channels; uses low tire pressures in vehicles to reduce displacement of 

sediments; reroutes the trail to avoid creek channels; and places spill kits at Coal Creek Camp and 

Slaven’s Roadhouse to speed effective response in case of a contaminants spill.13

 

13 National Park Service, “Salmon Return to Coal Creek,” draft statement, Yukon-Charley Rivers National 

Preserve, 2012, and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, “Canadian-Origin Chinook Salmon Rearing in Non-Natal U.S. 

Tributary Streams of the Yukon River, Alaska, 2006-2007,” Alaska Fisheries Technical Report No. 102, Fairbanks, 

Alaska, May 2009, 1-39.
9

Coal Creek Today

Today Coal Creek is in many ways the beating heart of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. 

Located midway between the communities of Eagle and Circle, the creek has become the most 

common place for travelers to stop as they travel the river. This is primarily due to the National Park 

Service’s public-use cabin and the restored two-story Slaven’s Roadhouse, a log and frame building 

that has been providing people with a place to sleep and eat since the mid-1930s. These buildings 

shelter local subsistence hunters, work crews, and visitors to the national preserve from around the 

world. Each winter the racers in the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest sled dog competition stop at the 

roadhouse and are served a hot meal by National Park Service volunteers. In summer, when National 

Park Service rangers and visitors meet, the convenient boat haul-out provides an opportunity for

sharing stories and interpretive talks about the area’s natural and historical features. The trail up the 

Coal Creek valley leads to the Gold Dredge and then Coal Creek Camp, both built in the mid-1930s. 

The camp offers more public-use facilities and lodging for National Park Service employees and 

others. For example, fire-fighting crews often use the camp as a staging ground for fighting wildfires 

in the national preserve, and several times each year classes are held at the camp sponsored by the 

National Park Service and University of Alaska Fairbanks. The mission of the National Park Service 

is short and to the point, but it has never been easy to implement because it seeks a balance between 

concern for nature and interest in humanity’s past in a way that protects both in perpetuity. At Coal 

Creek the agency has been successful at finding that balance.

The purpose [of the National Park Service] is to conserve the scenery and the natural and 

historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such 

manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future 

generations. 

--- Organic Act of 1916
10

Photo 1. Frank Slaven (foreground) and fellow Coal Creek prospectors, ca. 1930.

National Park Service, source unknown.

Photo 2. A dredge worker using a “giant” to remove soil and thaw permafrost, ca. 1936.

National Park Service, Hendricks Family Collection.
11

Photo 3. The Coal Creek dredge operating in the early 1940s. Note tailings piles at rear of the dredge. 

National Park Service, Bill Lemm Collection.

Photo 4. Coal Creek dredge bucket line with tailings piles in the background, 

ca. 1938. National Park Service, Hendricks Family Collection.
12

Photo 5. A dredge employee pouring molten gold into forms to create gold bars, ca. 1936.

National Park Service, Stanton Patty Collection.

Photo 6. View of Coal Creek dredge and tailings piles, July 1954. National Park Service, Patty 

Family Collection.
13

Photo 7. The Coal Creek dredge operating under new management, August1974. National 

Park Service, Coal Creek Collection.

Photo 8. Bulldozers move gold-bearing gravel for sluicing at Coal Creek, 1974. National Park 

Service, Coal Creek Collection.
14

Photo 9. Removing boulders from a sluice box at 

Coal Creek, 1974. National Park Service, Coal 

Creek Collection.

Photo 10. Leaking barrels numbered as part of clean-up efforts in the 1990s. 

National Park Service, Coal Creek Hazardous Waste Cleanup.
15

Photo 11. Stockpile of 55-gallon drums at the Coal Creek airstrip, 1992. 

National Park Service, Coal Creek Hazardous Waste Cleanup.

Photo 12. Sign warning visitors and employees about 

soil contamination at Assay Office, 1990. National 

Park Service, Coal Creek Hazardous Waste Cleanup.
16

Photo 13. Sign warning visitors and employees about contamination at Coal Creek dredge, 1992. 

National Park Service, Coal Creek Hazardous Waste Cleanup.

Photo 14. Aerial view of Coal Creek Camp during clean-up efforts, 1996. National Park Service, 

Coal Creek Hazardous Waste Cleanup.
17

Photo 15. Workers passing contaminated soil through a separating plant at Coal Creek Camp, 

1996. Photograph courtesy of Linda Stromquist.

Photo 16. Members of clean-up crew shoveling soil into the mechanical separator, 1996. 

Photograph courtesy of Linda Stromquist.
18

Photo 17. Example of mercury collected by the mechanical separator, 1996. Photograph 

courtesy of Linda Stromquist. 
19

Photo 18. Al Hendricks, Jr. visiting the Coal Creek dredge control room, 2011. As a boy in 

the 1930s Mr. Hendricks lived at Coal Creek when his father was the dredge’s winchman 

and his mother cooked for camp employees. Photograph by Chris Allan.

The Department of the Interior protects and manages the nation’s natural resources and cultural heritage; provides scientific 

and other information about those resources; and honors its special responsibilities to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and 

affiliated Island Communities.

NPS 191/130862, December 2015
National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

Natural Resource Stewardship and Science

1201 Oakridge Drive, Suite 150

Fort Collins, CO 80525

www.nature.nps.gov

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