After gold was discovered in the early summer of 1900, mining operations commenced. Gold was mined on Gold Run, Alder Creek, and on Bering Creek, 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. 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.
Geography
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. 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 and has a crooked course, traveling northwest before turning east-west; Alder Creek is an eastern tributary. 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.
Geology
The geological formations recorded in the river basin consist generally of a metapelitic sequence. Mafic intrusives have been noted in the locally metamorphosed zones. 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. Gold was also found in a tributary mining location on Skookum Creek.
