Sitka engineer George E. Pilz is closely connected to development in the basin,[8] as well as having grubstaked the prospectors Harris and Juneau.

In 1915, it was reported that a 2 miles (3.2 km) tunnel was being driven through the ridge between Sheep Creek and Silver Bow Basin, to connect with a crosscut from the shaft on the thirteenth level.

[9] A parish of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Juneau,[16] was created in 1885 for the growing mining community.

A glacier, which formerly extended to the mouth of Gold Creek and built up the moraines, excavated the depression that forms the basin.

Subsequently, it was occupied by a lake that was separated from the lower portions of the creek by a solid rock divide.

[2] The postglacial lake basin is filled with gravels from several creeks including Gold, Icy, Lurvey, Nugget, as well as Quartz Gulches.