| Bluestone River | |
| Map Size: | 300 |
| Pushpin Map: | USA Alaska |
| Pushpin Map Size: | 300 |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of the mouth of the Bluestone River in Alaska |
| Subdivision Type1: | Country |
| Subdivision Name1: | United States |
| Subdivision Type2: | State |
| Subdivision Name2: | Alaska |
| Subdivision Type4: | District |
| Subdivision Name4: | Nome Census Area |
| Length: | 13miles |
| Source1: | Confluence of Gold Run and Right Fork Bluestone River |
| Source1 Location: | Seward Peninsula |
| Source1 Coordinates: | 65.0886°N -166.2197°W |
| Source1 Elevation: | 219feet[1] |
| Mouth: | Tuksuk Channel |
| Mouth Location: | 12miles southeast of Teller |
| Mouth Coordinates: | 65.1864°N -166.0217°W[2] |
| Mouth Elevation: | 0feet |
Bluestone River is a waterway located on the Seward Peninsula in the U.S. state of Alaska. A tributary of the Tuksuk Channel from the south, Bluestone is a north-flowing stream situated southeast of Teller.[3] It was named in 1900 by Edward Chester Barnard, topographer of the United States Geological Survey.
After gold was discovered in the early summer of 1900, mining operations commenced. Gold was mined on Gold Run, Alder Creek (a Gold Run tributary), and on Bering Creek (a Right Fork tributary), while the Bluestone Placer Mine was established south of the U.S. government's Teller Reindeer Station, which had been in operation for about eight years.[4] Settlements sprung up near and on Port Clarence, the larger being Teller, which, by autumn 1900, had a post office and a population of about 1,000. The Bluestone placer mines were located about from Teller with the trail between the two characterized as uphill, covered with moss, and "very poor walking for both man and beast". A second settlement on Port Clarence, Bering City, afforded ships closer proximity to the shore and was only from the Bluestone mines, but had only a fifth of the population of Teller, which was to the north.
Placer mining operations have been noted at several locations in the river since 1969.[5]
The headwaters of the Bluestone River form in a valley, where it drains the region between Grantley Harbor and the Bering Sea, an area known as the Bluestone region. The drainage is situated between the Kigluaik Mountains and Port Clarence. The area contains flat-topped hills. For about above the river's mouth, Bluestone traverses a rolling plateau with an elevation of 400-. Here, the river valley is characterized as being broad, with flood plains measuring at least in width. Above this section of the river the valley contains a steep-walled canyon noting flat-topped mountains in height. The river's average gradient measures approximately per mile. Where the river valley broadens, it forks instead of expanding into a broad flood plain. The eastern branch, Gold Run, measures approximately in length (has the settlement at Sulivan) and has a crooked course, traveling northwest before turning east–west; Alder Creek is an eastern tributary (short length of). The western split is known as Right Fork. It, too, follows a crooked course, traveling westward before turning to the east at the junction with Gold Run; Right Fork also has several tributaries.
The geological formations recorded in the river basin consist generally of a metapelitic sequence. Mafic intrusives have been noted in the locally metamorphosed zones.[5] The Bluestone basin features mica and chlorite schists, beds of limestone, intrusive mafic masses altered to greenstone, and small quartz veins, particularly in the Gold Run Creek, a southern and eastern tributary of the Bluestone River. In some areas, minerals recorded are blueschist facies and retrograde greenschist facies. The geological age of these formations is conjectured as Paleozoic. Gold found on benches and in the main drainage was reported to be fine grained material and some nuggets were also recovered. The gold–bearing gravels were found to have cinnabar and platinum-group metals.[5] Gold was also found in a tributary mining location on Skookum Creek.