The Bonanza ore body was discovered August 1900 by prospectors "Tarantula" Jack Smith and Clarence L.

[4] Bonanza Mine was located on a ridge south of the summit, and was in the early 1900s, confirmed by Stephen Birch as the richest known concentration of copper in the world.

Copper deposits are found at the disconformity between the Upper Triassic Chitistone limestone and underlying Permian Nikolai greenstone.

[7] Copper is found as polymetallic replacement deposits in the fault planes, fractures and joints.

[8] Weather systems coming off the Gulf of Alaska are forced upwards by the Wrangell Mountains (orographic lift), causing heavy precipitation in the form of rainfall and snowfall.