Platinum () is a city in

Bethel Census Area, Alaska Bethel Census Area is a List of boroughs and census areas in Alaska, census area in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population is 18,666, up from 17,013 in 2010. It is part of the unorganized boro ...

, United States. The population was 61 at the 2010 census, up from 41 in 2000.

Geography

Platinum is located at .GNIS Feature Detail Report for: Platinum
/ref> It is located on Goodnews Bay adjacent to the mouth of the Small River and eleven miles southwest of Goodnews and the Kilbuck Mountains. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it (0.16%) is water.

Climate

Platinum has a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

( Dfc) with short, cool and rainy summers and long, cold winters with moderate snowfall peaking during March.

History

Platinum was named in the 1930s due to the

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

ore found in the area. The site was a mining boomtown by 1937 boasting a roadhouse, two trading posts and a population of 50. A post office had been established in 1935. An earlier Inuit village called Arviq had been abandoned. The town was incorporated as a city in 1975. Ray Petersen Flying Service was awarded the exclusive contract in 1937 to fly for the Goodnews Bay platinum and iridium mine, hauling miners and company supplies out of his base at

Bethel, Alaska Bethel () is a city in the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the Kuskokwim River approximately from where the river flows into Kuskokwim Bay. It is the largest community in western Alaska and in the Unorganized Borough and the List of cities in ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the

Alaska Territorial Guard The Alaska Territorial Guard (ATG), more commonly known as the Eskimo Scouts, was a military reserve force component of the US Army, organized in 1942 in response to attacks on United States soil in Hawaii and occupation of parts of Alaska by Emp ...

served to safeguard it against Japanese attack as it was the only source of the

strategic Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art o ...

metal

in the

Western Hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the 180th meridian.- The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Geopolitically, ...

Demographics

Platinum first appeared on the 1940 U.S. Census as an unincorporated village. It formally incorporated in 1975. As of the census of 2000, there were 41 people, 17 households, and 9 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 26 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 7.32%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 90.24% Native American, and 2.44% from two or more races. There were 17 households, out of which 47.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 29.4% were married couples living together, 11.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.2% were non-families. 41.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and none had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 2.90. In the city, the age distribution of the population shows 26.8% under the age of 18, 2.4% from 18 to 24, 43.9% from 25 to 44, 17.1% from 45 to 64, and 9.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 105.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 130.8 males. The median income for a household in the city was $21,250, and the median income for a family was $22,500. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $7,632. There are 33.3% of families living below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

and 22.0% of the population, including 33.3% of under eighteens and none of those over 64

Education

Lower Kuskokwim School District Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD), or Bethel Public Schools, is a school district headquartered in Bethel, Alaska. it is the largest rural school district in the state, with 4,300 students. Employment and teacher demographics In 2017 it ...

operates the Arviq School, K-12. Due to a decline in student enrollment it closed in Spring 2001, but it reopened in October 2007. the school had 20 students.

Geology

In 1926, Walter Smith, an

Eskimo ''Eskimo'' () is a controversial Endonym and exonym, exonym that refers to two closely related Indigenous peoples: Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Canadian Inuit, and the Greenlandic Inuit) and the Yupik peoples, Yupik (or Sibe ...

, discovered what he thought was "white gold" at the mouth of Fox Gulch, a tributary of Platinum Creek. Samples sent to the

United States Bureau of Mines The United States Bureau of Mines (USBM) was the primary Federal government of the United States, United States government agency in the 20th century that conducted scientific research and disseminated information on the extraction, processing ...

in Fairbanks determined it was actually platinum. In 1928, Charles Thorsen discovered platinum in Clara Creek, while Edward St. Clair discovered platinum in Squirrel Creek. Consolidation of the subsequent mining claims resulted in Goodnews Bay Mining Co. and Clara Creek Mining Co. becoming the major operators mining these

placer deposit In geology, a placer deposit or placer is an accumulation of valuable minerals formed by gravity separation from a specific source rock during sedimentary processes. The name is from the Spanish language, Spanish word ''placer'', meaning "alluviu ...

s containing 60 per cent platinum and 22 percent

iridium Iridium is a chemical element; it has the symbol Ir and atomic number 77. This very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum group, is considered the second-densest naturally occurring metal (after osmium) with a density ...

. The largest nugget was found on Squirrel Creek and weighed 1.5 ounces. These placers are found in the drainage east of Red Mountain, which is composed of

dunite Dunite (), also known as olivinite (not to be confused with the mineral olivenite), is an intrusive igneous rock of ultramafic composition and with phaneritic (coarse-grained) texture. The mineral assemblage is greater than 90% olivine, wit ...

. However, platinum has not been found on the mountain. Goodnews Bay Mining Co. started operating a

dragline excavator A dragline excavator is a heavy-duty excavator used in civil engineering and surface mining. It was invented in 1904, and presented an immediate challenge to the steam shovel and its diesel and electric powered descendant, the power shovel. M ...

on Squirrel Creek on August 11, 1934, and on Platinum Creek and Fox Gulch in 1937. The company started operations with a

dredge Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing ...

in Nov. 1937. The Clara Creek Mining Co. started mining operations on Clara Creek in 1936. A total of 3000 ounces of platinum metals were recovered from all mining operations between 1927 and 1934, and 18,000 ounces between 1934 and 1937.

References

{{Coord, 59, 00, 47, N, 161, 48, 59, W, display=title Cities in Alaska Cities in Bethel Census Area, Alaska Mining communities in Alaska Populated coastal places in Alaska on the Pacific Ocean