The Kruzgamepa River (or Pilgrim River) is a tributary of the

Kuzitrin River The Kuzitrin River (''Kurritqiun'' in Inupiaq) is a stream, long, on the Seward Peninsula in the U.S. state of Alaska. It begins at Kuzitrin Lake in the central region of the peninsula and flows west into the Imuruk Basin. The basin drains via ...

on the

Seward Peninsula The Seward Peninsula is a large peninsula on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska whose westernmost point is Cape Prince of Wales. The peninsula projects about into the Bering Sea between Norton Sound, the Bering Strait, the Chukchi S ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. The river begins at

Salmon Lake Salmon Lake is a lake of Ontario, Canada. It is located between Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands Provincial Park and the Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park. See also *List of lakes in Ontario This is an incomplete list of lakes in Ontario, a provinc ...

, elevation , and descends to above sea level at its

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...

. In turn, the Kuzitrin River empties into the

Imuruk Basin The Imuruk Basin (''Imaġruk'' or ''Narvaġruk'' in Iñupiaq) is an approximately , long shallow estuary located on the Seward Peninsula in the U.S. state of Alaska. The estuary's drainage basin covers about one quarter of the peninsula. The bas ...

. The basin drains via the bay of

Port Clarence Port Clarence is a small village now within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is situated on the north bank of the River Tees, and hosts the northern end of the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge. ...

to the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Ameri ...

. In the upper reaches of the watershed, the Kruzgamepa and Grand Central rivers form one stream but are known by different names, and their physical features vary somewhat. The Grand Central flows into Salmon Lake while the Kruzgamepa flows out.

Geography

Salmon Lake, the source of the river, lies in a broad valley at the southern base of the

Kigluaik Mountains The Kigluaik Mountains (''Kiglawait'' in Inupiaq) are a mountain chain running east to west on western Alaska's Seward Peninsula. Its highest point is the summit of Mount Osborn, at above sea level. This remote range is home to numerous isolated ...

. The Kruzgamepa flows to the northeast and, sweeping around the east end of the range, reaches the head of Imuruk Basin by a northwesterly course. The drainage basin of the upper Kruzgamepa was first organized as the Golden Gate mining district, and is now included in the Kougarok mining district. Kruzgamepa flows in a broad gravel-filled valley. Above the mouth of Iron Creek broad gravel terraces occur on both sides of the stream about above the water. Much of the gravel was contributed by glaciers that flowed from the Kigluaik Mountains.

History

What little prospecting has been done has not led to encouraging results. Iron Creek, the largest eastern tributary of the Kruzgamepa, is the most important from the standpoint of mining. Willow Creek, which is about long, joins the Kruzgamepa from the south about above Iron Creek. Near its mouth, this stream flows through a small rock canyon about deep, above which is a bench on either side covered with gravel. This bench represents an old valley floor into which the stream has cut its present valley. The bed rock consists of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

s with interbedded quartz

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes o ...

s of sedimentary origin and with intruded greenstones. The

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

s are almost directly across the course of the stream and the dips upstream. Slate Creek, which is about long, joins the Kruzgamepa from the south above Willow Creek. The character of the bed rock is the same as that of Willow Creek. Both of these creeks have been worked to some extent every season since 1901, and some gold has been produced. A high gravel bench on the east side of the Kruzgamepa, between Slate and Willow creeks, was prospected in 1904 by a company proposing to bring water for

hydraulicking Hydraulic mining is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment.Paul W. Thrush, ''A Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, and Related Terms'', US Bureau of Mines, 1968, p.560. In the placer mining of ...

from Salmon Lake.

References

* {{authority control Rivers of the Seward Peninsula Rivers of Alaska Rivers of Nome Census Area, Alaska Rivers of Unorganized Borough, Alaska