lower pit connects the excavated area to the Tanana River. Mining operations 

 were conducted between 1962 and 1965 during reconstruction of the Richardson 

 Highway between Shaw Creek and Delta Junction. The actual amount of gravel 

 removed is unknown but 133,600 m w^re approved for removal at this loca- 

 tion. The upper and lower pits total about 7.5 ha. Access to the site was 

 via a lOO-m gravel road from the Richardson Highway. 



Clearing of dense willow and alder and scattered white spruce and 

 paper birch was necessary before stripping of 0.6 to 0.9 m of brown silt, 

 fine sand, and organic material. Coarse gravel was present below the over- 

 burden with 10 to 15 percent oversized material. Small stockpiles of gravel 

 were noted along the south edge of the pit. In the upper pit the excavation 

 occurred in an irregular pattern over about 3.5 ha, creating numerous is- 

 lands and spits. The lower pit on the other hand was mined contiguously over 

 4 ha, is of greater average depth, and contains no major elevated land forms 

 within its main boundaries. It did not appear that the site was rehabil- 

 itated following gravel removal. Various aspects of this site are shown in 

 Figures 27, 57, 70, and 80. 



Phelan Creek. Phelan Creek is a small, braided river which originates 

 at an elevation above 1,200 m at the Gulkana Glacier and flows 19 km through 

 the mountainous terrain of the Alaska Range before joining the Delta River. 

 The study site is located approximately 3 km upstream from the Richardson 

 Highway crossing of Phelan Creek and 9 km downstream from the terminous of 

 the Gu I kana G I acier . 



The material site was worked by scraping unvegetated exposed deposits 

 in the active floodplain of Phelan Creek during construction of the Trans- 

 Alaska Pipeline System. Approximately 152,000 m were removed from the 25-ha 

 original work area between July and October 1975; a 70-ha upstream expansion 

 was approved in late October and yielded an additional 423,000 m . 



Several high-water channels traversed both the original work limits and 

 the area encompassed by planned expansion to the east. The major active 

 channels of Phelan Creek flowed through the original working area at the 

 t ime of the survey . 



64 



