Juneau mining district Juneau mining district; comprising the area between the Canada–US border, Lynn Canal, Admiralty Island, and Frederick Sound, has produced over 7 million ounces of lode gold and 80,000 ounces of placer gold. The year 1869 was historic in Alaskan history as it marked the first discovery of gold tracers at Powers Creek and Windham Bay, which resulted in the first gold production in Alaska. The initiative to establish mines were from Treadwell and Alaska Juneau establishments and both became large mining complexes. The emphasis in the initial stages was to extract gold from on gold tracer deposits. However, in the
Juneau gold belt fissure fillings of the area are comparable with the California "mother lode" deposits. Most of the gold mines in the Juneau belt occur in the band of black slate which lies between the schists to the northeast and the greenstones to the southwest. "The complex of veins which follow this black slate is described as the main lode system of the Juneau belt." "Parallelism of vein systems and ore deposits with the outcrops of bed-rock formations...is one of the noteworthy characteristics of the district." This results in a "linear distribution of the mines." Most of the gold deposits are found