Principal 

Gold-Producing Districts 

of the United States 

By A. H. KOSCHMANN and M. H. BERGENDAHL 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 610 

A description of the geology, mining history, 

and production of the major gold-mining 

districts in 21 States 

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON 1968 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

STEW ART L. UDALL, Secretary 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 

William T. Pecora, Director 

Library of Congress catalog-card No. GS 68-341 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office 

Wl\shington, D.C. 20402 - Price $4.75 
J\bstract ----------------------------------------

Introduction -------------------------------------

Scope and objectives --------------------------

1\uthorship and acknowledgments --------------

Distribution of principal districts --------------

Geologic relations ----------------------------

History of gold mining and trends in production_ 

J\labama ----------------------------------------

Cleburne County ----------~-----------------­ Tallapoosa County ---------------------------

Alaska ------------------------------------------ Cook Inlet-Susitna region ---------------------

Copper River region --------------------------

Kuskokwim region ----------------------------

Northwester-n· Aiaska region -------------'------

Seward Peninsula region ----------------------

Southeastern J\la:ska region -------------------

Southwestern Alaska region -------------------

1'ukon region -------------------------------- Prince William Sound region ------------------

1\rizona -----------------------------------------

Cochise County ------------------------------

Gila County ---------------------------------

Greenlee County -----------------------------

R[aricopa County -----------------------------

R[ohave County ------------------------------

Pima County --------------------------------

Pinal County --------------------------------

Santa Cruz County ---------------------------

'ravapai County ------------------------------

'ruma Cou·nty --------------------------------

California ---------------------------------------

Amador County ------------------------------

Butte County --------------------------------

Calaveras County ----------------------------

Del Norte County ----------------------------

El Dorado County ----------------------------

Fresno County -------------------------------

Humboldt County ----------------------------

Imperial County -----------------------------

lnyo County ---------------------------------

Kern County --------------------------------

Lassen County -------------------------------

Los J\ngeles County --------------------------

nladera County ------------------------------

nlariposa County -----------------------------

nlerced County -------------------------------

nlodoc County --------------------------------

nlono County --------------------------------

Napa County ----------------~--------------­

Nevada County ------------------------------

Placer County -------------------------------

Plumas County ------------------------------

Riverside County -----------------------------

Sacramento County ---------------------------

CONTENTS 

Page California-Continued Page 

1 San Bernardino County ----------------------- 75 

2 San Diego County ---------------------------- 76 

3 San Joaquin County -------------------------- 77 

3 Shasta County ------------------------------- 77 

3 Sierra County -------------------------------- 79 

4 Siskiyou County ------------------------------ 80 

4 Stanislaus County ---------------------------- 81 

6 Trinity County ------------------------------- 81 

7 Tulare County ------------------------------- 82 

8 Tuolumne County ---------------------------- 82 

8 'ruba County -------------------------------- 84 

11 Colorado ----------------------------------------- 84 

13 J\dams County ------------------------------- 87 

14 Boulder County ------------------------------ 87 

16 Chaffee County ------------------------------- 91 

16 Clear Creek County -------------------------- 93 

19 Custer County ------------------------------- 97 

23 Dolores County ------------------------------ 98 

23 Eagle County -------------------------------- 98 

31 Gilpin County -------------------------------- 99 

32 Gunnison County ----------------------------- 101 

35 Hinsdale County ----------------------------- 102 

37 Jefferson County ----------------------------- 103 

38 Lake County --------------------------------- 103 

39 La Plata County ----------------------------- 105 

40 Mineral County -------~---------------------- 106 

42 Ouray County________________________________ 107 

43 Park County --------------------------------- 109 

-15 Pitkin County ------------------------------- 110 

45 Rio Grande County --------------------------- 111 

51 Routt County -------------------------------- 112 

53 Saguache County ----------------------------- 112 

58 San Juan County ----------------------------- 113 

58 San nliguel County --------------------------- 114 

59 Summit County ------------------------------ 116 

60 Teller County -------------------------------- 117 

60 Georgia ----------------------------------------- 118 

61 Cherokee County ----------------------------- 119 

62 Lumpkin County ----------------------------- 119 

62 White County -------------------------------- 120 

62 Idaho ------------------------------------------- 120 

64 Ada County --------------------------------- 120 

66 Bingham County ----------------------------- 121 

66 Blaine County ------------------------------- 121 

67 Boise County -------------------------------- 123 

67 Bonneville County ---------------------------- 126 

69 Camas County ------------------------------- 126 

69 Cassia, Jerome, and nlinidoka Counties --------- 126 

69 Clearwater County --------------------------- 126 

70 Custer County ------------------------------- 127 

70 Elmore County ------------------------------- 129 

72 Gem County --------------------------------- 130 

73 Idaho County -------------------------------- 130 

74 Latah County -------------------------------- 133 75 Lemhi County _______________ -__________________ 134 

III 
IV 

Idaho-Continued 

Owyhee County ------------------------------

Power County -------------------------------

Shoshone County -----------------------------

Valley County --------------------------------

Michigan ----------------------------------------

Montana ----------------------------------------

Beaverhead County ---------------------------

Broadwater County ---------------------------

Cascade County ------------------------------

Deer Lodge County ---------------------------

Fergus County -------------------------------

Granite County ------------------------------

Jefferson County -----------------------------

Lewis and Clark County ----------------------

Lincoln County ------------------------------

Madison County -----------------------------~ 

Mineral County ------------------------------

Missoula County -----------------------------

Park County ---------------------------------

Phillips County ------------------------------

Powell County -------------------------------

Ravalli County -------------------------------

Silver Bow County ---------------------------

~evada -----------------------------------------

Churchill County -----------------------------

Clark County --------------------------------

Elko County ---~----------------------------­

Esmeralda County ----------------------------

Eureka County -------------------------------

Humboldt County ----------------------------

Lander County -------------------------------

Lincoln County ------------------------------

Lyon County ---------------------------------

Mineral County ------------------------------

Nye County ---------------------------------

Pershing County -----------------------------

Storey County -------------------------------

VVashoe County ---~-------------------------­

VVhite Pine County ------~--------------------

New Mexico -------------------------------------

Bernalillo County -----------------------------

Catron County -------------------------------

Colfax County -------------------------------

Dona Ana County ----------------------------

Grant County --------------------------------

Hidalgo County ------------------------------

Lincoln County -------------------------------

Otero County --------------------------------

Sandoval County -----------------------------

San Miguel County ---------------------------

Santa Fe County -----------------------------

Sierra County -------------------------------

Socorro County ------------------------------

North Carolina ----------------------------------

Burke County --------------------------------

CONTENTS 

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North Carolina-Continued 

Cabarrus County -----------------------------

Davidson County -----------------------------

Franklin County -----------------------------

Gaston and Cleveland Counties ----------------

Guilford County ------------------------------

Mecklenberg County --------------------------

Montgomery County --------------------------

Randolph County -----------------------------

Rowan County -------------------------------

Stanly County -------------------------------

Transylvania County -------------------------

lJnion County --------------------------------

Oregon ------------------------------------------

Baker County --------------------------------

Grant County --------------------------------

Jackson County ------------------------------

Josephine County ----------------------------

Lane County ---------------------------------

Malheur County ------------------------------

Pennsylvania ------------------------------------

South Carolina -----------------------------------

Chesterfield County ---------------------------

Lancaster County ----------------------------

McCormick County ---------------------------

South Dakota ------------------------------------

Lawrence County -----------------------------

Pennington County ---------------------------

Tennessee ------------·---------------------------

lJtah --------------------------------------------

Beaver County -------------------------------

Iron County ---------------------------------

Juab County ---------------------------------

Piute County --------------------------------

Salt Lake County ----------------------------

Summit and Wasatch Counties -----------------

Tooele County --------------------------------

lJtah County --------------------------------

Virginia -----------------------------------------

Fauquier County ----------------------------- Fluvanna and Goochland Counties -------------

Orange County -------------------------~---­

Spotsylvania County --------------------------

Washington --------------------------------------

Chelan County -------------------------------

Ferry County --------------------------------

Kittitas County ------------------------------

Okanogan County ----------------------------

Snohomish County ----------------------------

Stevens County ------------------------------

Whatcom County -----------------------------

VVyoming ----------------------------------------

Albany County -------------------------------

Fremont County -----------------------------

Selected bibliography -----------------------------

Index of localities --------------------------------

Page 

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CONTENTS v 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

FIGURES 1-4. Graphs showing: 

1. Gold production of the United States-1799 through 1965 --------------- 4 

2. Gold production (to nearest 1,000 ounces) of 25 principal gold-mining districts of the United States-through 1959--------------------------- 5 

3. Annual gold production of Alabama, Gorgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, 1823-1960 ------------------------------------ 7 

4. Annual gold production of Alaska, 1880-1965 ------------------------- 9 

5. Map showing gold-mining districts of Alaska ---------------------------------- 10 

6. Graph showing annual gold production of Arizona, 1881-1965 ------------------ 33 

7. Map showing gold-mining districts of Arizona -------------------------------- 34 

8. Graph showing annual gold production of California, 1848-1965 ----------------- 54 

9. Map showing gold-mining districts of California ----·-------------------------- 56 

10. Map showing gold-mining districts of Colorado -------------------------------- 85 

11. Graph showing annual gold production of Colorado, 1868-1965 ------------------ 87 

12. Map showing gold-mining districts of Idaho ----------------------------------- 122 

13. Graph showing annual gold production of Idaho, 1880-1965 -------------------- 124 

14. Map showing gold-mining districts of Montana -------------------------------- 142 

15. Graph showing annual gold production of Montana, 1900-65 ---------------------- 143 

16. Map showing gold-mining districts of Nevada --------------------------------- 172 

17. Graph showing annual gold production of Nevada, 1880-1965 ------------------- 17 4 

18. Graph showing annual gold production of New Mexico, 1881-1965 ---------------- 201 

19-21. Maps showing: 

19. Gold-mining districts of New Mexico ---------------------------------- 203 

20. Gold-mining localities of North Carolina ----------------------------- 212 

21. Gold-mining districts of Oregon ------------------------------------- 217 

22. Graph showing annual gold production of Oregon, 1881-1965 -------------------- 218 

23. Map showing gold-mining districts of South Dakota --------------------------- 233 

24. Graph showing annual gold production of South Dakota, 1875-1965 ------------- 234 

25. Map showing gold-mining districts of Utah ----------------------------------- 241 

26. Graph showing annual gold production of Utah, 1865-1965 --------------------- 242 

27. Graph showing annual gold production of Washington, 1881-1965 --------------- 255 

28. Map showing gold-mining districts of Washington ------------~---------------- 256 

PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE 

UNITED STATES 

By A. H. KOSCHMANN and M. H. BERGENDAHL 

ABSTRACT 

Except for small recoveries of gold by Indians and Spanish explorers, gold was first discovered and mined in the 

United States in North Carolina in 1799. This initial discovery was followed by others in the 1820's and 1830's in 

several of the other Appalachian States. These States produced significant amounts of gold until the Civil War. After 

the discovery of gold in California in 1848, the Western 

States contributed the bulk of this country's gold production. 

New discoveries in widely separated areas in the Western 

States followed in rapid succession. 

From 1799 through 1965, the United States produced about 

307,182,000 ounces of gold, which at the price of $35 per 

ounce would be valued in round numbers at $10,751 million. In an analysis of gold-production trends, the period 

1932-59 is particularly informative; the effect of the increase of the price of gold in 1934 from $20.67 to $35 per 

ounce is clearly shown, as is the effect of a fixed selling 

price of gold combined with rising costs of labor and material in post-World War II years. 

Districts that have produced more than 10,000 ounces are 

distributed in 31 States. Five States-California, Colorado, 

South Dakota, Alaska, and Nevada-have yielded more than 

75 percent of the gold produced in this country. Of the more 

than 500 districts that have produced more than 10,000 

ounces of gold, 45 have produced more than 1 million ounces, 

and four-Lead, S.D., Cripple Creek, Colo, Grass Valley, 

Calif., and Bingham, Utah-have produced more than 10 

million ounces each. The 25 leading districts have produced 

about half the gold mined in the United States, and the 508 

districts that are described account for roughly 90 to 95 

percent. 

In general, gold is derived from three types of ore: (1) ore 

in which gold is the principal metal of value, (2) basemetal ore which yields gold as a byproduct, and (3) placers. 

In the early years, most of the gold was mined from placers, 

but after 1873, though placers were by no means depleted 

and continued to contribute significantly to our annual output, production came chiefly from lode deposits. The search 

for gold led to the discovery and development of many silver, lead, copper, 11nd zinc deposits from which gold was 

recovered as a byproduct. Since the late 1930's, byproduct 

gold has become a significant fraction of the annual domestic 

gold output. 

Most of the gold deposits in the United States are closely 

associated with and probably genetically related to small 

batholiths, stocks, and satellitic intrusive bodies of quartz 

monzonitic composition that range in age from Jurassic to 

Tertiary. Some deposits, as those in the Southeastern States, 

may be genetically related to granitic bodies that were intruded at the close of Paleozoic time, and some deposits, as 

at Jerome, Ariz., are Precambrian in age. 

Alaska, the fourth largest gold-producing State, yielded a 

total of 29,872,981 ounces from the first discovery in 1848 

through 1965. More than half of this total was mined from 

placers in the Yukon region and the Seward Peninsula. The 

important lode-mining area has been in Southeastern Alaska, 

where mines· in the Juneau and Chichagof districts produced more than 7 million ounces of gold through 1959. 

Arizona ranks eighth among the gold-producing States; 

a total of about 13,321,000 ounces of gold was mined from 

1860 through 1965. Deposits of copper and silver were 

known long befo1·e the Territory was acquired by the United 

States, but hostile Indians and Jack of water discouraged 

any large-scale prospecting or mining. In the 1870's, after 

the transcontinental railroads were completed and the Indians ceased hostilities, Arizona's gold deposits received 

considerable attention. Mining activity increased considerably in the early 1900's, when the large porphyry copper 

deposits at Ajo, Bisbee, Globe-Miami, Clifton-Morenci, Ray, 

San Manuel, and Superior were developed. Large-scale mining of these and other copper deposits continues, and most 

of the gold produced after 1900 has been a byproduct of 

these ores. 

California has produced more gold than any other Statemore than 106 million ounces from 1848 through 1965. The 

well-known discovery in El Dorado County in 1848 sparked 

a series of gold rushes that indirectly led to colonization of 

the entire mountain West. The rich gold placers of California yielded phenomenal wealth in the early years, and as the 

placers were depleted, prospectors searched for and found 

the source of the placer gold-the high-grade gold-quartz 

veins of the Mother Lode and Grass Valley. Others explored the forbidding mountain ranges of southern California and found productive lodes in the Cove, Rand, and Stedman districts. Placer mining was rejuvenated in the early 

1900's with the introduction of large bucket dredges. From 

the late 1930's onward, dredging operations were responsible for a major part of California's gold output. 

Colorado ranks second among the gold-producing States; 

its gold output through 1965 was about 40,776,000 ounces. 

The first publicized discovery of gold in Colorado was in 

1858. The immediate rush to the Denver area resulted in 

important placer finds near Idaho Springs and Central City. 

Prospectors ranging far up the Arkansas River valley found 

gold placers near Leadville as el!.rly as 1859. Many rich gold 

lodes were quickly discovered, and Colorado soon became a 

major mining area. In the 1870's, important ore discoveries 

were made in the San Juan Mountains, the Sawatch Mountains, and in the Leadville-Breckenridge area. Gold ore was 

found in the important Cripple Creek district in 1891. 

Idaho, which ranks ninth among the gold-producing States, 

is credited with producing 8,323,000 ounces of gold from 

1863 through 1965. The earliest recorded discovery in Idaho 

was of placer gold along the Pend Oreille River in 1852. 

Rich placers were found soon afterward at Pierce City, Elk 

1 
2 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

City, Orofino, Boise Basin, Florence, and Warren, and a 

brief period of feverish activity followed. By 1870, many of 

the richer placers were exhausted, and an intensive search 

for lode deposits resulted. Large-scale dredging rejuvenated 

the placers, though after 1900, most of Idaho's gold was 

produced from lode mines. 

In Michigan the only significant gold output has come 

from the Ropes mine in Marquette County near Ishpeming. 

Montana, which yielded a total of 17,752,000 ounces of 

gold from 1862 through 1965, is seventh among the goldproducing States. Gold was first discovered in 1852 in placers 

in Powell County, but the influx of prospectors did not begin 

until the discovery of rich placers in the Bannack district 

in 1862. Numerous placers were found in rapid succession, 

among them those of Alder Gulch, which were to become the 

most productive placers in the State. Placers, which contributed almost half of Montana's total gold, had their greatest output before 1870; nevertheless, dredging and hydraulic 

placer mining were conducted on a large scale until World 

War II. Development of lodes, hindered by lack of railroads 

in fhe early days, progressed rapidly in the 1880's and was 

accelerated greatly with the expansion of operations at 

Butte in the early 1900's. 

Though Nevada is primarily a silver-mining State, it produced a total of about 27,475,000 ounces of gold from 1859 

through 1965 and ranks fifth among the gold-producing 

States. Mining began in the early 1850's and the period 

1859-79 was the boom era of the Comstock Lode and Reese 

River districts. After a period of decline from 1880 to 1900, 

the discoveries at Tonopah and Goldfield rejuvenated mining in the State until World War I. Lead, zinc, and copper 

mining, which yield gold as a byproduct, dominated Nevada's 

mining industry from the end of World War I through 

1959, although for short periods large gold operations in 

the Potosi, Round Mountain, and Bullion districts have been 

significant. Discovery of the Carlin gold deposit in 1962 has 

revived interest in the gold potential of the State. 

New Mexico produced about 2,267,000 ounces of gold from 

1848 through 1965. Though gold lodes were worked on a 

small scale as early as 1833, prospectors showed little interest in the territory until the 1860's and 1870's. In rapid succession, lode and placer gold and rich silver and silver-lead 

discoveries were made, and mining flourished. By 1900, 

however, the oxidized ores were depleted, and interest turned 

to developing the primary base-metal ores from which gold 

is produced as a byproduct. This trend continued, in general, through 1959. The major gold districts are Elizabethtown-Baldy, Mogollon, and Lordsburg. 

Oregon, the tenth most important gold-mining State, produced 5,797,000 ounces of gold from 1852 through 1965. 

Gold placers were worked as early as 1852, but the great 

rush to Oregon did not take place until 1861, after the 

placer discovery at Griffin Gulch in Baker County. After an 

initial period of high placer output, gold lodes were found 

and developed at a less frenzied rate. By the early 1900's, 

gold mining began a decline that lasted until 1934 when it 

was rejuvenated by the increase in the price of gold. A few 

districts, notably the Sumpter, were then reactivated, and 

gold mining was revived through the late 1930's and early 

1940's until the demands of World War II diverted mining 

to commodities other than gold. Gold mining in Oregon in 

the post-World War II period has been in a steady decline. 

Most of Pennsylvania's gold has been produced from the 

Cornwall iron mine in Lebanon County. 

South Dakota, third among the gold-producing States, 

produced a total of about 31,208,000 ounces of gold through 

1965, mostly from the Homestake mine. The gold districts 

are in the Black Hills in the northwestern part of the State. 

Most gold has been produced from lode deposits, but placers 

have also been mined. 

In the Southeastern States, gold deposits are distributed 

in an area about 700 miles long and 150 miles wide east of 

the Appalachian Mountains. North Carolina is the largest 

producer; other States, in decreasing magnitude of production, are Georgia, Sputh Carolina, Virginia, and Alabama. 

Gold in Tennessee is a byproduct of the copper ores of 

the Ducktown district in Polk County; small amounts have 

been mined from placers on Coker Creek in Monroe County. 

Both areas are in the southeastern part of the State. 

Utah, whose total gold output through 1965 was 17,765,000 

ounces, ranks sixth among the gold-producing States. The 

first major ore discovery in the State was in 1863, when 

lead ore was found in Bingham ,Canyon. Gold placers were 

found nearby the following :year. Silver-lead ore discoveries 

in the Cottonwood, Park City, and Tintic districts in the 

late 1860's and 1870's generated feverish activity which 

lasted until-1893 when the financial recession caused a sharp 

drop in the price of silver. In the early 1900's, large-scale 

mining of the low-grade copper ores of the Bingham district 

began. Gold has been an important byproduct of these ores. 

In 1965, the Bingham district, in addition to being one of 

the major copper producers of the world, was the second 

largest gold producer in the United States. The Tintic, Park 

City, and Camp Floyd districts also have yielded substantial 

amounts of gold. 

Washington, whose total gold output from 1860 through 

1965 was about 3,671,000 ounces, is one of the few States 

in which gold production has increased in recent years, 

mainly because of the output of the Knob Hill mine in the 

Republic district and the Gold King mine in the Wenatchee 

district. Gold was first discovered in the State in 1853 in 

the Yakima River valley. Placers were worked along most 

of the major streams of the State through the 1880's, but 

most of them were depleted by the early 1900's. Lode deposits were found in the 1870's and eventually supplanted 

placers as the chief source of gold. Of the 15 major gold 

districts of Washington, the most productive have been 

Republic, Wenatchee, and Chelan Lake. 

Wyoming is a minor gold-producing State; its total output 

through 1965 was about 82,000 ounces. Only two districtsthe Douglas Creek and the Atlantic City-South Pass-have 

been significant. 

INTRODUCTION 

Gold is probably the precious metal most prized 

by man. It is the universal standard of value, the 

common medium of exchange in world commerce, 

and the monetary standard of ma:q.y nations. It is 

also widely used in the arts and industry. From 

1799 through 1965 the United States, one of the 

leading gold-mining countries of the world, produced about 307,182,000 ounces of gold which, at 

the price of $35 per ounce, would be valued in 

round numbers at $10,751 million. After World 

War II the gold output of the United States declined at such a rate that after 1958 the consumption of gold in industry and the arts in the country 

exceeded production. An appraisal of the principal 
INTRODUCTION 

gold-producing districts indicates that the United 

States still has a considerable reserve of low-grade 

and submarginal gold ore and under favorable economic conditions could considerably increase its 

annual gold production. 

SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES 

This report is a compilation of available information on the discovery, history of development, 

production, and geology of more than 500 goldproducing districts in the United States. Only districts having a recorded total production to 1959 of 

at least 10,000 ounces are described. It is a summary of principal data of interest to geologists, 

mining engineers, and economists, as well as to the 

general public. The report should serve as a useful 

adjunct to the heavy metals program, a study of 

certain metals in short supply, including gold, begun in 1966 as a joint effort of the U.S. Geological 

Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Mines. It should 

also prove useful to the mining industry in planning 

prospecting or exploration programs for gold deposits. 

Descriptions of the districts are necessarily brief, 

but they are somewhat in proportion to the importance of the individual district and to the amount 

of information available. A selected bibliography is 

given. References have been chosen to give the 

reader the best sources on the production, geology, 

and other pertinent data on the districts, and these 

in turn give additional references to source material. 

In this professional paper the total gold production is given for each district from the time of discovery through 1959; however, production data for 

the years prior to 1904 are meager, widely scattered, ·and are based in large part on estimates. 

Fragmentary production figures for the years prior 

to 1904 are given in the reports of the Director of 

the Mint, but most of the early gold production data 

used in this report were compiled from district reports by the Geological Survey, by the Bureau of 

Mines, from publications of State agencies concerned with mining and geology, and from technical journals. Most of the early gold production 

figures cited in these reports are estimates by some 

of the older, well-informed residents, mining engineers, or geologists acquainted with the district or 

with the most important mines. 

In 1904 the Geological Survey began the annual 

compilation of gold and silver production in the 

United States, and in 1924 this function was assumed by the Bureau of Mines. From 1904 through 

1965, therefore, production data used in this report, 

unless otherwise quoted or duly credited, have been 

compiled from the following annual volumes: "Mineral Resources of the United· States," by the U.S. 

Geological Survey (1904-23) and U.S. Bureau of 

Mines ( 1924-31) , and "Minerals Year book," by the 

U.S. Bureau of Mines (1932-65). 

The stratigraphic nomenclature used in this report is from many authors and does not necessarily 

follow that of the Geological Survey. 

AUTHORSHIP AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Both authors have actively collaborated in discussion of problems and the scope of the report and in 

the preparation of the introductory material. A. H. 

Koschmann prepared the sections on the gold deposits of Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, 

South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. M. H. Bergendahl prepared the sections on the States east of the 

North American cordillera-Michigan, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, 

Alabama, Virginia, and Georgia, and on the Far 

Western States-Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, and Idaho. The authors gratefully 

acknowledge help received in the compilation of 

production figures by Jane Ohl, Wm. L. Emerick, 

and John M. Baldessari of the Geological Survey. 

The report was greatly improved by the thoughtful 

and constructive suggestions of numerous colleagues 

who reviewed the manuscript. 

Much to the shock and deep regret of his friends 

and colleagues, A. H. Koschmann died suddenly in 

1962. The profession lost one of its elder statesmen, 

a pillar of integrity, as well as a distinguished scientist. The coauthor lost a staunch friend; he has 

many satisfying and pleasant memories of his years 

with "Kosch." 

DISTRIBUTION OF PRINCIPAL DISTRICTS 

More than 75 percent of the gold mined in the 

United States has come from five Western States: 

California, Colorado, South Dakota, Alaska, and 

Nevada (fig. 1). 

A total of 508 mining districts have each produced at least 10,000 ounces of gold, and many 

more districts have had a smaller output. Of the 

principal districts, 269 have produced between 

10,000 and 100,000 ounces, 191 have produced between 100,000 and 1 million ounces, and 48 have 

produced more than 1 million ounces. Four districts, 

Lead, S. Dak., Cripple Creek, Colo., Grass ValleyNevada City, Calif., and Bingham, Utah, listed according to rank, have each produced more than 10 

million ounces and Lead has produced more than 

20 million ounces. The 508 principal districts are 

distributed among the States as follows: 
4 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

OTHERS (1,650,711) 

NORTH CAROLINA (1,168,136) 

, NEW MEXICO (2,266,639) 

MONTANA (17,752,093) 

220 240 260 280 300 320 

FIGURE 1.-Gold production of the United States-1799 through 1965. 

Rank State 

Number of 

Districts 

L_______________ California -------------------- 97 

2________________ Nevada ----------------------- 71 

3-'--------------· Montana ---------------------- 54 

4________________ Colorado ---------------------- 44 

5________________ Alaska ----------------------- 43 

()________________ Arizona ---------------------- 42 

7 ________________ Idaho------------------------- 42 

8________________ Oregon ----------------------- 31 

9________________ New Mexico ------------------- 17 

10 ________________ North Carolina ---------------- 15 

11 ________________ VVashington ------------------- 15 

12________________ Utah ------------------------- 13 

Other States ------------------ 24 

About one-half of the gold mined in. the United 

States has come from the 25 districts listed in figure 2. 

GEOLOGIC RELATIONS 

In general, gold is derived from three types of 

ore: (1) ore in which gold is the principal metal of 

value, (2) base-metal ore which yields gold as a 

byproduct, and (3) placers. 

Most of the principal gold-producing districts are 

in the mountainous areas of the United States,. 

where folding, faulting, and igneous intrusions have 

deformed the rocks. In contrast, many large basemetal deposits are found in the large relatively undeformed areas of the Central and Eastern States, 

but gold is not even a byproduct of these ores. 

Large parts of the Western States, such as the 

Colorado Plateau, the Columbia Plateau, and much 

of Wyoming, have not been subjected to violent 

tectonic forces and consequently contain very few 

gold deposits. 

The occurrence of gold is erratic and many rich 

ore deposits have yielded relatively little or no gold. 

Foremost among these are the large silver-lead deposits of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Aspen, Colo., and 

Magdalena, N. Mex.; the copper deposits of Copper 

Mountain (Morenci), Ray, Miami, and Superior in 

Arizona; and the copper deposits of Santa Rita, 

N. Mex., and the Keweenaw Peninsula, Mich. 

Most of the gold deposits in the United States are 

associated with and are perhaps genetically related 

to small batholiths, stocks, and satellitic intrusive 

bodies of quartz monzonitic composition that range 

in age from Jurassic to Tertiary. Some deposits, 

such as those in the Southeastern States, may be 

genetically related to granitic bodies that were intruded at the close of Paleozoic time, and a few 

deposits, as at Jerome, Ariz., are Precambrian in 

age. 

HISTORY OF GOLD MINING AND TRENDS 

IN PRODUCTION 

Gold in the United States was first mined in the 

Southeastern States about 1799, but these deposits, 

though rich, were relatively small. A-fter the discovery of placer gold in California in 1848, the Western States contributed the bulk of the domestic 

gold production. Placer deposits offered quick and 

large returns with simple equipment and thus stimulated migration to the new gold fields. Many prospectors, trained in the California gold fields, spread 

to other parts of the new territories and many deposits were found in rapid succession in widely 

separated areas. The discovery of these rich placer 

deposits marked the beginning of active development and settlement of the West. Exploration and 
INTRODUCTION 5 

0 

Mother Lode, East Belt and West Belt, Calaveras County, Calif. (2,046,000) 

Alleghany and Downieville, Calif. (2, 173,000) 

Bisbee, Ariz. (2,193,000) 

Boise Basin, Idaho (2,300,000) 

Virginia City, Mont. (2,617,000) 

Tintic, Utah (2,648,000) 

Butte, Mont. (2,725,000) 

Tertiary placers, Nevada County, Calif. (2,903,000) 

La Porte, Calif. (2,910,000) 

Leadville, Colo. (2,970,000) 

Folsom, Calif. (3,000,000) 

Telluride, Colo. (3,000,000) 

Nome, Alaska (3,606,000) 

Goldfield, Nev. (4,195,000) 

Central City, Colo. (4,200,000) 

Hammonton, Calif. (4,387,000) 

Columbia Basin, Calif. (5,874,000) 

Juneau, Alaska (6,884,000) 

Fairbanks, Alaska (7,464,000) 

Mother Lode, Amador County, Calif. (7,675,000) 

Comstock Lode, Nev. (8,560,000) 

20 40 60 80 100 120 140 180 

MILLIONS OF FINE OUNCES 

FIGURE 2.-Gold production (to nearest 1,000 ounces) of 25 principal gold-mining districts of the United Statesthrough 1959. 

mmmg activity boomed; gold production reached 

2 million ounces in 1850 and 3 million ounces in 

1853. It then declined steadily and in 1862 again 

dropped below the 2-million-ounce level. Placers 

were the chief source of our domestic output until 

1873 (Loughlin and others, 1930, fig. 3), when their 

output was exceeded by that of lode mines, a relation that has continued through 1965. Placer activity remained at a relatively low ebb during the 

1880's and early 1890's, but there were three periods 

in later years when placer production, though exceeded by lode production, formed a significant proportion of the domestic output-in 1896 when large 

dredges were introduced in California, in 1904 

when large deposits of rich gravels were discovered 

in Alaska, and in 1934 when the price of gold was 

increased to $35 an ounce. 

In many districts the prospectors followed goldbearing gravel to the source of the gold in veins, 

and lode mining began shortly after placer mining. 

It was not, however, until about the middle 1860's, 

when the Mother Lode and Grass Valley lodes in 

California and the Comstock Lode in Nevada became important producers, that lode mines became 

significant sources of gold. Lode production increased rapidly after the discovery of gold in the 

Cripple Creek district, Colorado, in 1892. By 1898, 

production from this district together with the increased placer production in California and the accelerated output of the Homestake mine at Lead, 

S. Dak., had raised our annual gold production to 

more than 3 million ounces. Production continued 

to rise with the discoveries of gold at Tonopah, 

Nev., in 1903, the placer deposits of Alaska in 1904, 

and gold at Goldfield, Nev., in 1905. By 1905 gold 

production for the first time exceeded 4 million 

ounces, a level maintained until 1917. Because of a 

shortage of manpower during World War I, pro-
6 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

duction then declined rapidly, falling almost to the of less than 100 ounces. Of the 25 leading districts 

2-million-ounce level by 1920, where it remained (listed in fig. 2), 8 are dormant, 5 produce less than 

until 1934. Many gold mines were reopened during 100 ounces annually or have sporadic production, 

the depression in the early 1930's. When the price and only 12 of them maintain activity comparable 

of gold was raised in 1934 from $20.67 to $35 per to that of the prewar period. 

ounce, production increased rapidly and in 1937 

again passed the 4-million-ounce mark. Additional 

gold was obtained as a byproduct from increased 

output of base metals in the late 1930's, and in 1940 

gold production reached an alltime high of 4,869,949 

ounces. Shortly after the United States entered 

World War II, the gold mines were closed, and gold 

production in 1944 and 1945 dropped below the 

1-million-ounce mark, the lowest since 1849. Production in 1965 was 1,705,190 ounces. 

From 1907 until 1943 byproduct gold, obtained 

from base-metal ores, formed a small, though significant, fraction of the total production of this 

country. Only in World War II (1943-45 inclusive), 

when base-metal production increased and gold 

mines were closed, did byproduct gold contribute 

more than 50 percent of our annual domestic production, and since 1951 it has steadily outranked 

placer production. Most of the byproduct gold is 

recovered from porphyry copper ores. Large-scale 

copper mining at Bingham, Utah, has yielded sufficient gold to put this district in second place in annual gold production in recent years. The Lead district, South Dakota, has had the greatest total gold 

production and was also the largest producer in th€ 

United States each year from 1946 through 1965. 

In an analysis of gold-production trends, the period 1932-59 is particularly informative because it 

reflects the most flourishing and the most adverse 

periods of gold mining in the United States. A long 

period of desultory activity ended in 1934 when the 

price of gold was increased from $20.67 to $35 per 

ounce. Mines were opened that had been closed for 

decades, and the gold-mining industry experienced 

an unprecedented interval of prosperity. This was 

ended in 1942 by the imposition of War Production 

Board Order L--208 (U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1943, 

p. 80-84), which resulted in most of the gold mines 

closing for the duration of World War II. After 

World War II, the gold-mining industry, plagued 

by constantly rising costs under a fixed selling price, 

failed to experience the growth and robust activity 

enjoyed by most industries. Thus, gold mining has 

been somewhat paradoxical-it reached its zenith 

in an economic climate unfavorable to most other 

industries, and it declined sharply when industrial 

growth was accelerating. 

Of the 508 principal districts, in 1959 about 400 

were either dormant or had an annual production 

ALABAMA 

Gold discoveries in Georgia stimulated interest in 

prosP€cting similar-appearing crystalline rocks of 

Alabama and by about 1830 the first discoveries 

were made (Adams, 1930, p. 8). In the 1830's and 

1840's, thousands of people were working the deposits at Arbacoochee and Goldville, but this boom 

collapsed when the California placer discoveries 

lured away most of the miners. Gold mining continued at a subdued pace that was broken by accelerated activity in 1874, when copper fever gripped 

the State, and in 1904, when cyaniding was introduced at Hog Mountain (Adams, 1930, p. 10). The 

increased price of gold in 1934 caused another spurt 

of activity, but during the late 1940's and the 

1950's mines were closed once more. Gold production of Alabama from 1830 through 1959 was 49,495 

ounces (fig. 3). 

The belt of gold-bearing gneisses and schists extends from Georgia into east-central Alabama, 

where it is overlain by gently dipping unmetamorphosed sedimentary rocks of the Gulf Coastal Plain. 

The gneisses and schists are bordered on the northwest by the folded Paleozoic sedimentary rocks that 

form the southern end of the Appalachians, which 

become more subdued and are covered by the 

Coastal Plain sediments in the southwestern and 

western parts of the State. The gold deposits occur 

in the Talladega Slate, the Hillabee Chlorite Schist, 

the Wedowee Formation, and the Ashland Mica 

Schist. The ages of these rocks are not clearly defined. Butts (in Adams and others, 1926, p. 59-61) 

considered the age of the Talladega as ranging from 

Precambrian through much of the early Paleozoic. 

Adams (Adams and others, 1926, p. 32-33, 37) 

assigned a tentative Cambrian to Carboniferous age 

to the Wedowee Formation, and he considered the 

Ashland Mica Schist to be Precambrian in age. Intrusive into these metasedimentary rocks are the 

metaigneous Hillabee Chlorite Schist and the Pinckneyville Granite, both considered post-Carboniferous in age by Adams (1930, p. 17, 18). Most of the 

gold deposits are in Cleburne, Tallapoosa, Clay, and 

Randolph Counties, but only two districts have produced more than 10,000 ounces of gold-the Arbacoochee district in Cleburne County and the Hog 

Mountain district in Tallapoosa County. 
ALABAMA 7 

<ll30 

w 

u 

z 

::::J 

0 

FIGURE 3.-Annual gold production of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, 1823-1960. 

Sources of data: 1823-1934 from Pardee and Park (1948), 1935-60 from U.S. Bureau of Mines (1933-66). 

CLEBURNE COUNTY 

The Arbacoochee district, in southern Cleburne 

County in Tps. 16 and 17 S., Rs. 11 and 12 E., contained the richest placers of the State; it was extremely active in the 1830's, but by 1874 only a few 

miners were still at work there (Adams, 1930, 

p. 21). Several attempts at lode mining were made 

in the late 1800's, but by 1900 these mines were 

idle (Adams, 1930, p. 22, 23). 

Brewer ( 1896, p. 85) credited the Arbacoochee 

district with most of the $365,300 in gold (17,700 

ounces) produced by Alabama to 1879; after 1890 

this district became almost inactive and the Hog 

Mountain district became the State's principal producer. 

Most of the gold came from residual placers in 

the vicinity of Gold Hill and from gravels along 

Clear Creek (Adams, 1930, p. 21-22). Bedrock in 

the southern part of the district consists of Ashland Mica Schist and in the northern part, of rocks 

of the Talladega Slate. These two units are separated by a band of Hillabee Chlorite Schist which 
8 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

was intruded along an old thrust fault plane 

(Adams, 1930, p. 18). Gold-bearing quartz veins 

with pyrite occur in the Hillabee, but they are too 

low grade to be economic. 

TALLAPOOSA COUNTY 

In Tallapoosa County the principal gold producer 

was the Hog Mountain district, in the north-central 

part of the county in T. 24 N., R. 22 E. 

The only workings of any consequence in this district are those of the Hog Mountain or Hillabee 

mine, which opened in 1839 and operated on a small 

scale until 1893, when larger ore bodies were discovered and production increased. From 1893 to 

1916, the mine produced $250,000 (about 12,100 

ounces) in gold (Adams, 1930, p. 50). The mine 

was closed in 1916 because of high operating costs 

and was not reopened until 1933. During 1934-37 

the Hog Mountain mine was the largest producer in 

Alabama, but it was closed in 1938 and remained 

inactive through 1959. Total gold production of the 

district through 1959 was about 24,300 ounces, 

about half of which was produced during 1934;_37. 

Bedrock in the Hog Mountain district consists of 

schistose rocks of the Wedowee Formation and 

quartz diorite· (Park, 1935, p. 4-6). The schist is 

dark gray, graphitic, and is complexly folded and 

may be cut by thrust faults. The age of the Wedowee 

was considered by Adams (1930) to range from 

Cambrian to Carboniferous, but Park (1935, p. 5) 

thought it might even be Precambrian. The quartz 

diorite, which may be related to the _Pinckneyville 

Granite of post-Carboniferous age, intruded the 

deformed Wedowee Formation. The larger gold 

veins of the district fill shear zones in the quartz 

diorite. Quartz is the most abundant vein mineral ; 

pyrrhotite and small amounts of chalcopyrite, pyrite, arsenopyrite, gold, sphalerite, galena, bismuth 

minerals, and silver (Park, 1935, p. 12, 13) also 

occur. 

ALASKA 

Gold, the lure that drew settlers across the wide 

prairies and into the most remote mountain gullies 

in our Western States, proved also to be the dominant factor in the settlement of Alaska. This most 

important mineral commodity of the State was 

known in Alaska as early as 1848, long before the 

territory was acquired from Russia by the United 

States in 1867. P. P. Doroshin, a Russian mining 

engineer, made the discovery in the gravels of the 

Kenai River on the Kenai Peninsula, but there was 

no great excitement and apparently no gold was 

mined (Martin and others, 1915, p. 181-182). A second discovery of placer gold in 1865-66 on the 

Seward Peninsula by a party exploring for a telegraph route similarly failed to arouse much interest (Collier and others, 1908, p. 13-14). 

Alaskan gold mining began in southeast Alaska. 

In 1869 miners who had been disappointed in the 

Cassiar gold district in British Columbia discovered 

gold placers at Windham Bay and Sumdum Bay 

southeast of Juneau. In 1870-71 the first gold produced in Alaska, reported to be worth $40,000, was 

extracted from these placers (Wright, 1906, p. 2). 

At about this time the first attempts to mine lode 

gold were made near Sitka (Knopf, 1912, p. 8). In 

the early 1870's extensive copper deposits were 

found on Prince of Wales Island, but because of 

the remoteness of the area from transportation facilities, these were not developed for many years. 

The major lode gold deposits of Alaska were found 

in 1880 at Juneau, and by 1883 Juneau was the 

mining center of the territory (Wright, 1906, p. 3). 

Encouraged by the successes at Juneau, the prospectors spread through southern Alaska and made 

important gold discoveries at Berners Bay and 

Eagle River on the mainland near Juneau, at Klag 

Bay on Chichagof Island, at Willow Creek near 

Anchorage, and even on far-off Unga Island, 1,000 

miles to the west. 

Numerous gold districts, the most important of 

which are Nome, Council, and Fairhaven, are on 

the Seward Peninsula. This region was prospected 

first by gold seekers drawn north by the great Klondike (Yukon Territory, Canada) rush of 1897-98. 

By 1898 the discovery of the rich N orne placers triggered a stampede to the new area and led to the 

rapid development of the entire peninsula. Nome, 

the second largest gold-producing district in Alaska, 

was active until 1962. 

The vast Yukon drainage basin has produced 

more gold than any other region in Alaska, even 

though it was the most recent of the gold-producing 

regions to be exploited. With transportation virtually limited to river travel, the great distances from 

gold deposits to supply and population centers inhibited any large-scale mining in the early days. 

The first gold discoveries were made in 1878 (Mertie, 1937, p. 4) ; however, tales of gold had been 

circulated years earlier by traders and trappers 

who set up posts at various points along the Yukon 

River. Smith (1933, table facing p. 96) listed the 

earliest production for this region in 1883 from the 

Fortymile district. The important placers at Fairbanks were discovered in 1902, and by 1910 lode 

mines were active in this district. The Fairbanks 

placers proved amenable to large-scale dredging 
ALASKA 9 

1000 

(f) 

w 

(.) 

z 

::J 

0 

~ 

800 

cn600 

0 

z 

<( 

(f) 

::J 

0 

I 

I400 

1900 1930 1940 1950 1960 1965 

YEAR 

FIGURE 4.-Annual gold production of Alaska, 1880-1965. Sources of data: 1880-1900, U.S. Geological Survey (1883-

1924); 1900-42, Smith (1944, p. 6); 1943-59, U.S. Bureau of Mines (1933-66). Production reported in dollar value 

was converted to ounces at prevailing price per ounce. 

operations, which soon made this district the largest 

gold producer in Alaska. 

As transportation facilities improved after 1900, 

new gold discoveries were made in the more remote 

areas, and previously known deposits were developed and mined. This activity extended into the 

1930's, and several lode and placer districts in the 

Yukon basin were activated in this interval. 

Gold mining in Alaska was seriously affected in 

1943 by the imposition of War Production Board 

Order L-208 which closed nearly all of the gold 

mines during World War II (fig. 4). After the war 

the placer mines of the Fairbanks district resumed 

large-scale operations, and this single district accounted for more than half the total annual gold 

production for Alaska during 1950-65. The lode 

mines in Alaska were virtually inactive during 

1942-65. 

Of the total value of $722,122,186 of gold (28,859,-

718 ounces) produced in Alaska from 1880 to 1957, 

$504,076,577 came from placer mines (U.S. Bureau 

of Mines, 1957, p. 83, 85). During 1958-59 the gold 

production amounted to 365,353 ounces, most of 

which came from placers (U.S. Bureau of Mines, 

1959, p. 84). Most of the lode gold has come from 

the Juneau district in southeast Alaska, and an 

unknown but probably small amount has been produced as a byproduct of copper ores in the Prince 

William Sound region. The gold production of 

Alaska before 1880 is unknown, but probably was 

not great. 

Emmons (1937, p. 203) discussed the general relationships of gold deposits to geology. He pointed 

out that the chief lode deposits are associated with 

Mesozoic granite that have intruded rocks of Precambrian, Paleozoic, and Mesozoic ages. This belt 

of intrusives extends from the Seward Peninsula 

to the Yukon Territory. The lode deposit on Unga 
10 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

. PACIFIC OCEAN 

0 

l 100 

I 200 MILES 

I 

FIGURE 5.-Gold-mining districts of Alaska. 

Cook Inlet-Susitna region: 

1, Kenai Peninsula; 2, Valdez Creek; 3, Willow Creek; 

4, Y entna-Cache Creek. 

Copper River region: 

5, Chistochina; 6, Nizina. 

Kuskokwim region: 

7, Georgetown; 8, Goodnews Bay; 9, McKinley; 10, 

Tuluksak-Aniak. 

Northwestern Alaska region: 

11, Shungnak. 

Seward Peninsula region: 

12, Council; 13, Fairhaven; 14, Kougarok; 15, Koyuk; 

16, Nome; 17, Port Clarence; 18, Solomon-Bluff. 

Island in the Aleutian Islands is in Tertiary andesite. The placer deposits are widespread, occurring 

along nearly all the major rivers and their tributaries, and even in beach sands in the N orne area, 

on Kodiak Island, Yakataga, Lituya Bay, and Cook 

Inlet. 

As in earlier reports of the Geological Survey 

Southeastern Alaska region: 

19, Chichagof; 20, Juneau; 21, Ketchikan-Hyder; 22, 

Porcupine; 23, Yakataga. 

Southwestern Alaska region: 

24, Unga. 

Yukon region : 

25, Bonnifield; 26, Chand alar; 27, Chisana; 28, Circle; 

29, Eagle; 30, Fairbanks; 31, Fortymile; 32, Iditarod; 

33, Innoko; 34, Hot Springs; 35, Kantishna; 36, Koyukuk; 37, Marshall; 38, Nabesna; 39, Rampart; 40, Ruby; 

41, Richardson; 42, Tolovana. 

Prince William Sound region: 

43, Port Valdez. 

(for instance, Smith, 1939), the State is subdivided 

into nine geographical regions: Cook Inlet-Susitna, 

Copper River, Kuskokwim, Northwestern, Seward 

Peninsula, Southeastern, Southwestern, Yukon, and 

Prince William Sound. The regions and the individual districts (fig. 5) within the regions are discussed in this report. 
ALASKA 11 

COOK INLET-SUSITNA REGION 

Bounded roughly by the Aleutian or Alaska Peninsula on· the southwest, the Alaska Range on the 

west and north, and by the Talkeetna Mountains on 

the east, the Cook Inlet-Susitna region includes the 

Kenai Peninsula, Valdez Creek, Willow Creek, and 

Y entna-Cache Creek mining districts. 

Gold was first discovered in Alaska in 1848 in the 

gravels of the Kenai River. Apparently this gold 

was not present in minable quantities, and it was 

not until the 1890's that minable placers were 

found in the Turnagain Arm area (Martin and 

others, 1915, p. 181-183). The first lode deposits 

in the Cook Inlet-Susitna region were found in 1896 

also in the Turnagain Arm area, more precisely, 

the Moose Pass-Hope area; however, the deposits, 

although rich, were of small tonnage, and there was 

very little lode production before 1911 (Martin and 

others, 1915,p. 129-131). 

Placers in the ValdezCreek district, in the southern foothills of the Alaska Range, were worked 

from 1904 to 1924 (Ross, 1933b, p.· 427-428) and 

desultory operations were carried on as recently as 

1947 (E. H. Cobb, written commun., 1962). 

In the western part of the Cook Inlet-Susitna 

region, placers were discovered in the Y entnaCache Creek district in 1905 (Capps, 1913, p. 10). 

These deposits were moderately productive through 

1957. The most productive district in the entire region is the Willow Creek district, about 20 miles 

north of the tpw:ils of Palmer and Wasilla, where 

placers were discovered in 1897. The first fode 

claims were located in 1906 (Capps, 1913, p. 50) 

and were· worked fairly steadily until the early 

1950's. 

From 1880 through 1959, a recorded total of 

919,532 ounces of gold was produced from the Cook 

· Inlet-Susitna region. Of. this, 588,361 ounces was 

from lode mines, 324,370 ounces from placers, and 

6,801 ounces from undifferentiated sources. After 

the end of World War II production from both lode 

mines and placers. declined markedly. 

KENAI PENINSUI,A DISTRICT 

The Kenai Peninsula is near the center of the 

southern coastline of Alaska, immediately northeast 

of the Alaska Peninsula. 

The districts of Moose Pass-Hope, Girdwood, and 

Turnagain Arm-all in the central and northern 

part of the peninsula-have been combined in this 

discussion because most of their production data 

have been combined under "Kenai Peninsula." 

Numerous small placers were discovered in the 

Turnagain Arm area in the early 1890's, but no 

significant production occurred until news of the 

auriferous gravels on Mills and Canyon Creeks 

brought several thousand prospectors to the area in 

1896 (Martin and others, 1915, p. 182-183). Two 

years later another influx occurred. In a short time 

the small richer deposits were exhausted and the 

hand-operated rockers· and sluices were supplanted 

by hydraulic plants that successfully mined the 

large reserves of low-grade gravels. 

Lode mining, overshadowed by the placer operations, has been conducted chiefly in the Moose PassHope camp and to a lesser degree in the Girdwood 

camp. The first indications of economic lode deposits were noted in 1896, but interest was diverted 

for a number of years to the more accessible placers. 

The lode deposit at the Hirshey mine, discovered 

in 1911, became the most consistently productive in 

the district (Tuck, 1933, p. 489-494). Lode mining 

continued sporadically until the end of World War 

II, when it dwindled to almost nothing. 

Total recorded gold production from the Kenai 

Peninsula from 1895 through 1959 was 23,700 

ounces from lodes, 96,500 ounces from placers, and 

175 ounces from undifferentiated sources. Data 

from 1931 through 1945 are incomplete, so that the 

figures given here are minima. 

The geology of the Kenai Peninsula was described 

by Martin and others (1915), Tuck (1933), and 

Park (1933). The oldest rocks on the peninsula are 

schists and crystalline limestones of uncertain age; 

however, the most widely distributed rocks are 

slates and graywackes that range in age from Paleozoic or Early Triassic to possible Late Cretaceous 

(Martin and others, 1915, p. 33-35). Granitic intrusive masses are abundant in the slaty rocks along 

the southern and eastern coasts. The Kenai Formation, of Eocene or younger Tertiary age, is exposed 

in the low country in the southwest part of the 

peninsula, north of Kachemak Bay, and consists of 

coal-bearing sand and clay. This formation is 

15,000-20,000 feet thick and contains economically 

important oil and gas accumulations (Lian and 

Simonson, 1962, p. 271). Quaternary gravelsmostly till, outwash, and terrace sands and gravels 

-cover vast areas of lowlands in the west and 

northwest parts of the peninsula. The pre-Tertiary 

rocks that comprise most of the mountainous part 

of the peninsula are intricately folded whereas the 

Tertiary rocks, which occupy the low areas of the 

peninsula, are either horizontal or only gently 

warped into folds in which dips are generally less 

than 10° (Barnes and Cobb, 1959, p. 227). 

The lode deposits of the Moose Pass-Hope camp 

consist of fissure veins. Mineralized acidic dikes are 
12 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

also in the district, but the gold production has been by a small batholith of quartz diorite in the northfrom the fissure veins that cut across the slaty ern part of the district and by small stocks and 

cleavage of the slate and graywacke country rocks. plugs of diorite elsewhere in the district. StrucThe veins strike in all directions and have an aver- turally, the district is on the northwest flank of a 

age dip of 45° north or west (Tuck, 1933, p. 490). large northeast-trending anticlinal fold; large norThe ore minerals are arsenopyrite and small mal faults tre~ding N. 65° E. cut the metasedimenamounts of galena, sphalerite, pyrite, and chalco- tary rocks. 

pyrite in a gangue of quartz, calcite, and ankerite There are several types of veins in the district, 

(Tuck, 1933, p. 491). Free gold occurs in the quartz, and those showing the most promise, according to 

commonly near accumulations of galena and sphal- Ross (1933b, p. 456), are quartz veins associated -

erite. with sheared and metamorphosed wallrocks. In 

The placer deposits of the Kenai Peninsula, de- their unoxidized state these veins contain pyrite, 

scribed by Martin, Johnson, and Grant (1915, arsenopyrite, pyrrhotite, and a little chalcopyrite. 

p. 181-208), are most productive in the northern Native gold occurs in the quartz. Some quartz veins 

part of the peninsula along the various streams- contain abundant calcite (Ross, 1933b, p. 457). 

Crow, Resurrection, Palmer, Bear, and Sixmile Ross (1933b, p. 458) believed the veins were reCreeks-that debouch into Turnagain Arm. Farther lated to hydrothermal activity that followed the 

south, the gravels of Canyon, Mills, Falls, and intrusion of the dioritic bodies. 

Cooper Creeks, and of the Kenai River have yielded The placers are buried channels in which gold 

some placer gold. The deposits were formed in Qua- was concentrated next to the bedrock floor. The old 

ternary time by postglacial streams reworking and gorges, eroded into bedrock, are V-shaped and probresorting the debris that choked the valleys after ably were cut into a mature erosion surface (Ross, 

the retreat of the glaciers. Present streams that 1933b, p. 444-445). 

have incised their courses in the unconsolidated 

material have left terraces and have further reworked the gravels. The productive glaciers are 

along these streams and in channel deposits in the 

terraces. - VALDEZ CREEK DISTRICT 

The Valdez Creek district is on the southern 

flank of the Alaska Range at approximately lat 

63°12' N. and long 147°20' W. The drainage area 

of Clearwater Creek in addition to that of Valdez 

Creek is usually included in the district. 

Gold was first discovered in this district in 1903, in 

the gravels of Valdez Creek, but no production was 

recorded until 1908. The "Tammany Channel," a 

buried channel representing the course of an ancestral Valdez Creek, yielded most of the placer gold 

from the district. This channel, discovered in 1904, 

has been worked by hydraulic and underground 

methods (Tuck, 1938, p. 113). The chief production 

has been from placers. Several gold lodes were 

located, but none were productive to 1936 (Tuck, 

1938, p. 121), and no record of any later lode production was found in 1959. 

Total estimated gold production through 1936 

was about 34,900 ounces, worth about $720,000 

(Tuck, 1938, p. 113). The district was virtually 

dormant during 1937-59. 

The geology of 'the district was described in detail by Ross (1933b, p. 428-444). Triassic ( ?) metasedimentary rocks-argillite, slate, and sericite and 

chlorite schist with limestone lenses-were intruded 

WILLOW CREEK DISTRICT 

The Willow Creek district, an area of about 50 

square miles, is 23 miles by road northeast of 

Wasilla and 21 miles northwest of Palmer. 

Gold-bearing veins were discovered in this district in 1906, but lack of transportation facilities 

hindered their development and no production was 

recorded until 1909 (Ray, 1954, p. 35-36). After 

1909 the district developed steadily and maintained 

substantial annual production until 1951, after 

which there was only sporadic small-scale activity. 

Total gold production through 1959 was 652,080 

ounces; nearly all production was from lode mines. 

The geology and ore deposits of this district were 

described by Ray (1954, p. 10-54). The oldest rock 

is muscovite-quartz-plagioclase schist. Intruded into 

this is a mass of quartz diorite, the Talkeetna batholith, which underlies the major part of the district. 

Dikes of lamprophyre, diabase, aplite, and pegmatite cut the intrusive. The batholith is believed to 

be of late Mesozoic age. Sedimentary rocks, including conglomerate, arkose, shale, and sandstone of 

Tertiary ( ?) age, dip to the south, away from the 

quartz diorite body. Numerous faults cut the quartz 

diorite. Those with the larger displacements are 

postore in age, trend northwest, and dip northeast. 

Two types of veins are in the quartz diorite: 

(1) an older nonproductive group, containing assemblages of chalcopyrite-molybdenite, pyrite-stibnite, or low-grade gold--quartz, and (2) minable 
ALASKA 13 

gold-bearing quartz bodies in shear zones that occur along the southern margin of the quartz diorite. 

Vei~ minerals, in addition to quartz and gold, are 

pyn~e, arsenopyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, tetrahednte, nagyagite, altaite, coloradoite ( ?) , galena 

stibnite ( ?) , and sparse scheelite. Gold commonl; 

occurs as irregular grains in and around nagyagite 

and as fracture fillings in pyrite, and locally occurs 

as blebs and stringers in quartz. 

YENTN A-CACHE CREEK DISTRICT 

The Yentna-Cache Creek district includes about 

2,000 square miles on the southeast slope of the 

Alaska Range and is located roughly between lat 

61 °55' and 62°45' N. and long 150°25' and 151 °5' 

W. It includes the upper drainage of the Yentna 

River and its tributaries, the best known of which, 

from the standpoint of gold mining, are Cache,' 

Mills, Peters, and Long Creeks. 

Gold was discovered in this district in 1905 in 

gravels in the basins of Peters and Cache Creeks. 

During the first few years most of the production 

was from these placers. In 1911 additional placers 

were discovered on Dollar Creek and a few years 

later on Thunder Creek and Upper Willow Creek 

(Capps, 1925, p. 54-55). The district, although not 

a tremendous producer, had a steady output, entirely from placers, and was active through 1957. 

From 1905 through 1959, about 115,200 ounces was 

recorded; data for 1931-46 are not available .. 

The geology and placer deposits were described 

by Capps (1913; 1925, p. 53-61). Intensely folded 

slates and graywackes of Mesozoic age compose 

most of the bedrock. Masses of granitic and dioritic 

rocks were intruded into the metasedimentary 

rocks, and Capps believed that the numerous goldbearing quartz veins in the slates and graywackes 

were derived from solutions emanating from the 

cooling intrusives. Poorly consolidated lignitic sand 

and clay of Oligocene age (MacNeil and others, 

1961, p. 1904) unconformably overlie the folded 

older rocks. The sand and clay are overlain by 

younger Tertiary gravels. 

The placers were derived by weathering and erosion of the auriferous veins in the metasedimentary 

rocks, first by Tertiary streams which deposited 

the gold in channels in the Tertiary gravels, then 

by postglacial streams which reworked the glacial 

debris and Tertia!Y deposits and concentrated gold 

from these earlier deposits into placers in the present stream channels. Minable placers occur in the 

Tertiary deposits as well as in the Recent gravels. 

COPPER RIVER REGION 

The elliptical~shaped Copper River region, which 

includes a large part of the drainage basin of the 

Copper River, is in southern Alaska, bounded by 

the Alaska Range on the north, the Chugach Mountains on the southwest, and the Wrangell Mountains 

on the northeast. The region lies roughly between 

lat 61 °00' and 63°10' N. and long 142°00' and 

146°00' W., and it includes the major gold districts 

of Chistochina and Nizina. 

Gold mining began in this region in 1900 in the 

Chistochina district, but prospectors were active in 

the Copper River country as early as 1898 (Schrader, 1900, p. 421). The first locations were in auriferous gravels along the Chisna, one of the main 

tributaries of the Chistochina River. Productive 

placers were discovered along the upper part of the 

Nizina River and its tributaries in 1902 (Mendenhall, 1905, p. 118). Minor discoveries were made 

elsewhere in the Copper River region about this 

time, and in 1914 the N elchina placers were discovered (Chapin, 1918, p. 59)-but the bulk of the 

gold production came from the placers of Chistoc~ina and Nizina. In the Copper River region, especially the Chitina district, copper deposits were 

worked extensively by the Kennecott Co. during 

1900-38 (Moffit, 1946, p. 93), but they yielded little 

gold. 

Frqm 1900 to 1959 the Copper River region produced 2,400 ounces of lode gold, 295,000 ounces of 

placer gold, and 5,600 ounces of gold undifferentiated as to source-a total of 303,000 ounces. From 

World War II through 1959 only a few hundred 

ounces per year were produced. 

The ·geology of the region is summarized here 

from a more detailed account by Moffit (1938, 

p. 19-107). 

Throughout most of the region the low-lying 

areas are blanketed qy glacial sands and gravels of 

Quaternary age. In the higher areas, a thick succession of bedded rocks range in age from early 

Carboniferous to Recent. The oldest rocks consist 

of schist and slate associated locally with altered 

limestone, tuff, and basalt flows, and they include 

the Mississippian Strelna Formation and Dadina 

Schist and the Carboniferous or older Klutina Series. Overlying these rocks are layers of lava flows, 

tuff, volcanic breccia, shale, limestone, sandstone, 

and conglomerate of Permian age; these are overlain by the Nikolai Greenstone, a thick .sequence of 

basaltic lava flows of Permian and Triassic ( ?) age. 

The post-Triassic Mesozoic rocks in the Copper 

River region are not fully understood because of the 

correlation problems imposed by variable lithology, 

exposures in disconnected areas, and lack of diagnostic fossils. Tuffaceous beds of Middle Jurassic 
14 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

age occupy a small area near the mouth of the 

Chitina River. Upper Jurassic rocks occur in a few 

places in the central part of the Copper River basin along the north tributaries of the Chitina River. 

Along the north side of Chitina River valley a thick 

series of bedded sedimentary rocks of varied lithology is Jurassic or Cretaceous in age. Black shale 

and sandstone, conglomerate, and sandy shale considered to be of Early Cretaceous age overlie Triassic rocks in the Nizina district. The Chugach 

Mountains, in the southern part of the region, are 

underlain by dark slate and graywacke considered 

to be Cretaceous or older(?). These are equivalent 

to the Valdez and Orca Groups of earlier reports. 

The Tertiary rocks are dominantly of volcanic 

origin and include sev~ral thousand feet of lavas 

and tuffs interbedded with fresh-water conglomerate, clay, sandstone, and shale. These rocks compose the higher parts of the Wrangell Mountains. 

CHISTOCIIIN A DISTRICT 

The Chistochina district is in the northwest part 

of the Copper River basin near the intersection of 

lat 63°00' N. and long 145°00' W. The drainage 

area of the Chistochina River, including the southern foothills of the Alaska Range, roughly determines the boundaries of this district. , 

The initial gold discoveries of the Copper River 

region were made in this district along the Chisna 

River in 1898 by Hazelet and Meals (Moffit, 1944, 

p. 27). Slate Creek and Miller Gulch later became 

the leading gold-producing areas. Production from 

this district began in 1900 and continued, though 

at a diminishing rate in the later years, to 1942. 

From 1942 to 1959 the district was almost dormant, 

with only sporadic small-scale activity. Total production from 1900 through 1959 was about 141,000 

ounces, all from placers. Production data from 1931 

through 1945 are not complete. 

Bedrock in the district consists of Carboniferous 

and Permian clastic and sedimentary rocks-predominantly shale, limestone, conglomerate and some 

sandstone-and subordinate volcanic tuffs and lava 

flows. All the foregoing rocks are cut by dikes 

(Moffit, 1944, p. 28). The gold placers were formed 

by reworking of glacial debris and occur in bench 

gravels as well as present stream gravels. 

NIZIN A DISTRICT 

The Nizina district is in the eastern part of the 

Copper River drainage basin between lat 61 °12' 

and 61 °37' N. and long 142°22' and 143°00' W. 

This is a placer district along the Nizina River, a 

tributary of the Chitina River. 

In 1898-99 prospectors were active in the Chitina 

River valley and some went up as far as the Nizina 

area. Although copper deposits were soon found 

and quickly developed, it was not until 1902 that 

placers rich enough to precipitate a rush were 

found on Chititu Creek (Moffit and Capps, 1911, 

p. 76). The rich deposits were quickly exhausted 

and the operators who remained developed previously known lower grade gravels on Chititu and 

Dan Creeks. In 1959 these gravels were still being 

mined, although on a smaller scale. Total production through 1959 from the Nizina district was 

143,500 ounces of gold; all but about 60 ounces was 

from the placers. 

The geology of the Nizina district was described 

by Moffit and Capps (1911, p. 20-75). Bedrock in 

the mountain areas consists for the most part of 

moderately folded Permian and Triassic ( ?) marine 

sediments and greenstone intruded by laccoliths, 

dikes, and sills of quartz diorite porphyry (E. H. 

Cobb, written commun., 1962). Deposits of morraine and alluvium blanket the lower slopes of the 

mountains and fill the river basins. The source of 

the gold in the placers is probably the small quartz 

veinlets in the black shales that may be related to 

porphyritic intrusives in the shales. High bench 

gravels, remnants of a deep alluvial valley fill, contain workable deposits, but the richest placers are 

in present stream gravels where the gold has been 

concentrated by reworking of older deposits (Moffit and Capps, 1911, p. 98-100). 

KUSKOKWIM REGION 

The Kuskokwim region, which includes the country drained by the Kuskokwim River, is roughly 

400 miles long and 75 to 100 miles wide extending 

from the mouth of the Kuskokwim River, in southwest Alaska, to the northwest slopes of the Alaska 

Range, in south-central Alaska. Important goldproducing districts are Georgetown, Goodnews Bay, 

McKinley, and Tuluksak-Aniak. 

The area southwest of the town of Aniak is underlain predominantly by Quaternary sands and 

gravels, but the more mountainous regions east and 

northeast of Aniak are underlain by bedded rocks 

that range in age from Ordovician ( ?) to Tertiary 

(Cady and others, 1955, pl. 1). Only parts of the 

region have been geologically studied in any detail; 

much of it remains to be mapped. 

The Kuskokwim River, particularly its lower 

reaches, was penetrated first by Russians who in 

1829 began exploring the area and later established 

trading posts along the river (Cady and others, 

1955, p. 3--4). The first report of gold in this re-
ALASKA 15 

gion was by Spurr (1900, p. 259-261) who, in 1898, 

noted that gold was present both in veins and in 

stream gravels at various points along the Kuskokwim. These reports were of mere occurrences rather 

than of bonanza deposits; thus prospectors were 

reluctant to enter this relatively unknown region. 

It was not until 1908 that the first gold was produced (Smith, 1933, table facing p. 96). Placers 

have been the principal producers from this region, 

yielding substantially even in the 1950's. Production from 1908 through 1959 totaled 640,084 ounces, 

of which only 41,598 ounces was from lode mines. 

G.EORGl!.'TOWN DISTRICT 

The Georgetown district, between lat 62°00' and 

62°15' N. and long 157°15' and 158°15' W., includes 

the upper reaches of the George River and Crooked 

Creek, tributaries of the Kuskokwim River. 

Production data are incomplete but they indicate 

that the district has produced somewhat less than 

$300,000 in gold (about 14,500 ounces), chiefly from 

placers along Donlin and Julian Creeks which, respectively, are branches of Crooked Creek and the 

George River (Cady and others, 1955, p. 117-119). 

The placers were known as early as 1909, and mining began about a year later (Cady and others, 

1955, p. 118). This early production either was unrecorded or was combined with some other district, 

as 1917 is listed as the first year of production. No 

gold production was reported from this district 

from the end of World War II through 1959. The 

low gold content of the deposits required that large 

volumes of gravel be handled-this was successfully accomplished by hydraulic methods. 

The bedrock consists of interbedded graywacke 

and shale of the Kuskokwim Group of Cretaceous 

age into which sheets, dikes, and sills of albite 

rhyolite are intruded. Quartz veins containing small 

amounts of gold are at or near the contacts of the 

intrusives with the enclosing sedimentary rocks. 

These veins no doubt were the source of the gold 

in the placers (Cady and others, 1955, p. 116-117). 

Bench gravels, buried channels, and the deposits of 

existing streams contain concentrations of placer 

gold (Cady and others, 1955, p. 116). 

GOODNEWS BAY DISTRICT 

The Goodnews Bay district, along the southwest 

coast of Alaska between lat 59°00' and 59°40' N. 

and long 160°40' and 162°00' W., includes the area 

drained by the Goodnews and Arolic Rivers. 

Placer gold was discovered about 1900 by prospectors from Nome (Harrington, 1921, p. 220), and 

for a few years thereafter placers along the Arolic 

River were mined on a small scale, though it is not 

known how much gold was produced. Several sporadic influxes of prospectors in the early 1900's 

were short lived because no profitable deposits were 

found (Harrington, 1921, p. 221). By 1911, however, production was reported annually from this· 

district, and until 1947 the placers continued to 

yield small amounts of gold. From 1947 through 

1959 the district was dormant. Total recorded production from 1911 through 1959 is about 29,700 

ounces, all from placers. Data for 1931-46 are incomplete, so that the total given here is a minimum, 

though the magnitude is probably of the right order. 

The placers of this district are of two types 

(Harrington, 1921, p. 222-225). One type occupies 

wide gravel-filled valleys and represents a reworking of earlier glaciofluviatile materials. The other 

type is found in narrow valleys and is derived from 

stream erosion of bedrock since glacial times. N arrow quartz veinlets in sedimentary rocks that were 

invaded by ·granitic rocks are believed to be the 

source of the gold in the placers. None of the auriferous veins have been of economic value (Harrington, 1921, p. 223-224). 

McKINLEY DISTRICT 

The McKinley district, in the eastern part of the 

Kuskokwim River valley, includes the placer caps 

of McGrath, Takotna, and Medfra and the lode deposits of the Nixon Fork country. 

Placers along the Kuskokwim and its tributaries 

have been productive since 1908, although in recent 

years activity has diminished considerably. In the 

winter of 1919-20 production began from lode mines 

in the Nixon Fork area (Martin, 1922, p. 149). 

Production for the district from 1908 through 1959 

was 40,600 ounces of lode gold and 13,900 ounces 

from placers, but data are incomplete for 1931-46. 

In the Nixon Fork area, the oldest rocks are lowgrade metamorphic rocks of pre-Ordovician age 

overlain by a 5,000- to 7,000-foot-thick limestone of 

Ordovician age and by a small patch of Permian 

sandstone, slate, and limestone (Brown, 1926, 

p. 101-127). Upper Cretaceous and Eocene(?) 

shale, sandstone, and graywacke cover large parts 

of the area and are overlain locally in the north by 

Tertiary andesite, basalt, and rhyolite lavas. Several small intrusive masses of diabase, quartz monzonite and granite, and porphyritic dikes and sills 

of variable composition cut the layered rocks. 

The gold lodes in the Nixon Fork area are contact metamorphic deposits in limestone along its 

contact with a quartz monzonite intrusive. Native 

gold occurs in association with copper carbonates 
16 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

and sulfides in irregular masses and shoots (Brown, 

1926, p. 128-134). 

TULUKSAK-ANIAK DISTRICT 

The Tuluksak-Aniak district comprises the drainage basins of the Tuluksak and Aniak Rivers between lat 60°30' and 61 °30' N. and long 159°00' to 

161 °00' w. 

After 1900, prospectors from Nome roamed 

throughout the lower Kuskokwim River valley and 

made placer discoveries along the Innoko and 

Holitna Rivers and finally, in 1907 or 1908, in the 

Bear Creek area of the Tuluksak watershed (Maddren, 1915, p. 299-300). About 2 years later gold 

was found in the gravels of the Aniak River. From 

1909 through 1959 the district produced 230,555 

ounces of gold; however, the data for 1931-46 are 

incomplete. The district was active in 1959. 

Flood-plain and bench gravels have been productive. The gold probably has been derived from small 

quartz stringers in the country rock composed of 

sandstone, shale, agglomerate, and fine-grained 

tuffaceous rocks. A granitic stock cuts the sedimentary rocks and probably was responsible for the 

mineralization (Maddren, 1915, p. 327). 

NORTHWESTERN ALASKA REGION 

The vast, sparsely populated Northwestern Alaska 

region lies north of the Yukon drainage basin and 

the Seward Peninsula. The gold-producing districts, 

which are in the southern part, lie in the Kobuk 

and Noatak River basins. 

In the late 1890's part of the horde of prospectors 

attracted to Alaska from the crowded Klondike 

fields discovered gold placers in the Kobuk River 

valley, and the rush that ensued culminated with 

about 800 men populating the valley (Smith and 

Mertie, 1930, p. 321). Activity declined in a few 

years, and these placers were never as productive 

as those in the neighboring Yukon basin. 

The Shungnak district in the Kobuk River basin 

is the largest producer in the region. Small amounts 

of placer gold were produced from the Squirrel 

Creek area and the Noatak River valley. Auriferous 

veins are known in the Shungnak and Noatak areas, 

but these are little more than prospects (Smith and 

Mertie, 1930, p. 336-339). 

Recorded gold production from the Northwestern 

Alaska region began in 1905. Total production 

through 1959 was about 23,000 ounces; presumably 

all production was from placers. 

SHUNGNAK DISTRIC'E 

The Shungnak district is in the Kobuk River valley between lat 66°50' and 67°10' N. and long 

156°50' and 157°25' W. This was the major goldproducing district of Northwestern Alaska, having 

had a total production valued at approximately 

$200,000 (about 9,700 ounces) to 1930 (Smith and 

Mertie, 1930, p. 321). From 1930 through 1959 a 

few hundred more ounces were mined. The total 

production through 1959 probably was between 

10,000 and 15,000 ounces. 

The district was activated by the rush to the 

Kobuk River valley in 1898, but by 1910 it was 

almost deserted (Smith and Eakin, 1911, p. 271). 

Small amounts of gold were produced through the 

succeeding years to 1955. 

Much of the district is underlain by metasedimentary rocks consisting of quartzose schist crystalline 

limestone, and sheared conglomerate. L~cally these 

rocks are mineralized and the gold placers are 

thought to be derived from such deposits (Smith 

and Eakin, 1911, p. 282-284). 

SEWARD PENINSULA REGION 

The gold placers of the Seward Peninsula, in 

western Alaska, rank second in production among 

Alaska's placer regions. The following description 

of its mining history has been abstracted from an 

excellent and detailed account by Collier Hess 

Smith, and Brooks (1908, p. 13-39). ' ' 

Placer gold was discovered on Seward Peninsula 

in 1855-56 ·hy Baron Otto von Bendeleben, an engineer leading a party exploring a possible route for 

a telegraph line. Nothing, apparently, came of this 

discovery, for as late as 1897 the Seward Peninsula 

was regarded as a wasteland. But about this time 

the rushes to the Klondike and the upper Yukon 

brought in many gold seekers who eventually prospected the lowly regarded gravels along the streams 

of Seward Peninsula. Discoveries were made at 

Council in 1897, and in 1898 the Nome district was 

organized. News spread slowly because of the isolation of this new district, but by 1899 the rush had 

begun and, swelled by new discoveries of beach 

placers and auriferous bench gravels, it continued 

through 1900. 

In 1900, mining of placers began in the Fairhaven 

district in the northeastern part of the peninsula, 

and small production was made from discoveries in 

the Kougarok, Port Clarence, and Council districts. 

The Solomon-Bluff district, along the southern coast 

just east of Nome, also began producing placer gold 

in 1900, and from 1903 to 1907 lode gold was mined 

from the Big Hurrah mine in this district. During 

1908-59 only very minor amounts of lode gold were 

produced from scattered localities on the peninsula. 

The Koyuk district was not productive until 1918 
ALASKA 17 

even though for some years gold had been known 

in the gravels of the Koyuk River and Alameda 

Creek, one of its tributaries. 

Through the 1950's placer mining continued to 

flourish on the Seward Peninsula, although at a 

somewhat lower rate than before World War II. 

The N orne district has been by far the largest producer; Council, Fairhaven, Solomon-Bluff, Kougarok, Koyuk, and Port Clarence have produced progressively lesser amounts. Total gold production of 

the Seward Peninsula from 1897 through 1959 was 

6,060,000 ounces; all but about 10,000 ounces was 

from placers. 

The geology of the Seward Peninsula was described by Collier (in Collier and others, 1908, 

p. 60-110). The peninsula is underlain chiefly by 

metasedimentary rocks comprising the Kigluaik 

and N orne Groups of early Paleozoic or older age 

and by unnamed slates, phyllites, and limestones 

some of which may be as young as Mississippian. 

Collectively these rocks can be considered a sequence of limestone, biotite gneiss, slate, quartzite, 

dark phyllite, and schist, cut locally by small bodies 

of greenstone and granite. Basalt of Pleistocene age 

covers a sizable area in the northeast part of the 

peninsula. Quaternary gravels blanket the lowlying coastal areas and occur in all the major stream 

valleys. 

COUNCIL DISTRICT 

The Council district, in the southern part of the 

Seward Peninsula, includes all the drainage area 

of Golovnin Bay extending eastward almost to the 

Tubutulik River. 

Although gold had been reported in the Council 

area as early as 1865, there was very little excitement and no mining until after the discoveries of 

the rich Ophir Creek gravels in 1896-97 (Smith 

and Eakin, 1910, p. 343). Production began in 1900, 

and the district was still active in 1959. Total production through 1959 was about 588,000 ounces, all 

from placers. Data for 1931-46 are incomplete. 

Nearly all production came from creek gravels 

and bench deposits in the drainage basin of the 

Niukluk River-including Ophir, Melsing, Goldbottom, Mystery, and Elkhorn Creeks (Collier and 

others, 1908, p. 238). The following summary of 

the geology is from Collier, Hess, Smith, and Brooks 

(1908, p. 234-235). 

The district is underlain by rocks of the Kigluaik 

Group and the Nome Group, except in the southeast 

where part of a large granite mass forms the bedrock. Schists of the Nome Group contain numerous 

small veins and stringers of quartz and calcite, 

many of which contain gold along with sulfides. The 

gold of the placers is believed to have come from 

these veins. 

FAIRHAVEN DISTRICT 

The Fairhaven district, about 40 miles long and 

20 miles wide immediately south of Kotzebue Sound 

in the northeast part of Seward Peninsula, is 

bounded roughly by lat 65°401 and 66°10' N. and 

long 161 °40' and 163°20' W. 

Gold was discovered in this district in 1900 on 

Old Glory and Hannum Creeks, and although there 

was no production that year, the news of the discovery spread through crowded Nome that winter and 

prompted a rush to the new district in the spring 

of 1901 (Moffit, 1905, p. 49). Rich placers, the most 

productive in the district, were found along Candle 

Creek in 1901 (Moffit, 1905, p. 49). The district 

produced steadily and was .still active in 1957. Total 

recorded production through 1959 (data are incomplete for 1931-46) was 379,200 ounces, all from 

placers. 

The predominant bedrock in the district is a 

series of micaceous, chloritic, and graphitic schists 

with intercalated thin limestones believed by Collier (in Collier and others, 1908, p. 65) to be Devonian or Silurian in age. Unaltered conglomerate, 

sandstone, and shale unconformably overlie the 

schists in a few areas. Locally coal beds are present. Small bodies of granite and quartz diorite intrude the schists, but their age relations with the 

unaltered sedimentary rocks are not clear (Collier 

and others, 1908, p. 83, 108). Large areas of the 

district are covered by sheets of basaltic lava, remnants of a more extensive cover. The youngest of 

these flows is Pleistocene; the age of the older lavas 

has not been satisfactorily determined (Moffit, 1905, 

p. 34). Low-lying coastal areas and river valleys 

are blanketed by unconsolidated gravels. The gold 

of the placers was concentrated from small amounts 

disseminated in quartz veinlets and stringers in the 

schistose country rock. These low-grade lodes have 

never been productive. 

KOUGAROK DISTRICT 

The Kougarok district is in the central part of 

the Seward Peninsula between lat 65°10'. and 65° 

45' N. and long 164°20' and 165°20' W. 

The district began producing gold in 1900, after 

the initial discoveries the previous year sparked a 

rush from Nome (Brooks, in Collier and others, 

1908, p. 306-307). Because of its remoteness and 

its paucity of bonanza-type deposits, the district 

developed slowly. Water shortage necessitated the 

construction of ditches. By 1906 several ditches 

were completed and sufficient water for larger scale 
18 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

operations was assured. Afterward, the Kougarok 

placers were moderately productive and were active 

in 1957. A total of about 150,400 ounces of gold has 

been produced from the district, all from placers. 

This is a minimum total as data for 1931-46 are 

incomplete. 

The geology of the district was discussed by 

Brooks (in Collier and others, 1908, p. 297-298) 

and is summarized as follows. The bedrock consists 

of the Kigluaik and Nome Groups-the former is 

predominantly schist and granite; the latter is 

made up of a sequence of phyllite, schist, greenstone, and a consistent unit, the Port Clarence 

Limestone. The schistose rocks of the Nome Group 

contain small auriferous quartz veinlets and stringers which appear to be the source of the placer gold 

that has been concentrated into minable quantities 

in present stream gravels, bench gravels, and floodplain gravels. The lodes themselves are not of economic value. 

KOYUK DISTRICT 

The Koyuk district, in the southeast corner of the 

Seward Peninsula between lat 64°55' and 65°40' N. 

and long 160°20' and 162°00' W., includes the drainage area of the Koyuk River. 

Although gold placers were known along Alameda 

and Knowles Creeks in 1900 (Smith and Eakin, 

1910, p. 330-340), the area remained inactive until 1918. From 1918 to 1959, a recorded total of 

about 52,000 ounces of placer gold was produced, 

but the years 1931 through 1946 are not represented in this total because production data for 

these years cannot be found. The district was active 

in 1959. 

NOME DISTRICT 

The Nome district is in the south-central part of 

the Seward Peninsula between lat 64 °25' and 64 ° 

57' N. and long 165°00' and 165°30' W. More than 

half the gold mined on the peninsula has come from 

N orne placers. The brief summary that follows was 

abstracted from Brooks' (in Collier and others, 

1908, p. 13-39) detailed history of mining on the 

Seward Peninsula. 

Soon after the discoveries of placer gold at Council in 1897, placer gold was discovered on the Snake 

River near N orne and a short while later on Anvil 

Creek, Snow Gulch, Glacier Creek, and other 

streams. Miners streamed into the area from Golovnin Bay, and the Nome district was formed in 

October 1898. A great rush to the new district took 

place in 1899 and a still greater one in 1900. The 

new town was bursting, and the known placer 

grounds could not accommodate all those who sought 

gold. The unrest thus created led to claim jumping 

and general lawlessness which taxed the small military garrison to the utmost. With the discovery of 

rich beach placers in the district, this unhealthy 

situation was relieved somewhat in. that a large 

new area was available for prospecting and the 

miners were diverted to gold mining instead of 

preying upon one another. After 1900, the population stabilized somewhat and with additional discoveries of deep gravels and buried beach placers, 

the district settled down to a long period of economic stability and orderly growth. 

Production of the district from 1897 through 

1959 was about 3,606,000 ounces of gold, almost all 

production was from placers. Data are lacking for 

1931-46, so that the total given is a minimum. 

Cobb (1962) reported small but undisclosed production from scattered lode claims in the district. 

The Nome district, one of the major producers of 

Alaska, was active in 1959. 

The N orne placers are of several varieties-residual, stream, bench, and beach; Moffit (1913, p. 74-

123) discussed these in detail, and his work is the 

source of information in the summary presented 

here. 

Residual placers, produced by the solution and 

erosion of less durable components of bedrock, have 

been mined profitably at a few localities, particularly·at Nekula Gulch. 

Stream placers are gravels that contain gold that 

was removed either directly from bedrock or from 

older gravels that contained gold. Important among 

the stream placers are those on Anvil Creek, Dexter 

Creek, and other tributaries of the Nome and Snake 

Rivers. 

The high bench placers are remnants of deposits 

of an older drainage system. Present streams have 

eroded away most of these deposits, so that only 

benches remain. Such placers occur at the head of 

Dexter Creek and have been profitably mined. 

Rich placers occur in sands of the present beaches 

and in older beaches that were elevated above present sea level and then buried in coastal plain deposits. Five or six ancient beaches are known and 

have been given local names. The second and third 

beaches (the present beach is the first) have been 

the most productive. 

Structures of two ages are identifiable in the 

metamorphic bedrock (Hummel, 1960). The older 

and major set consists of large north-trending folds 

of Mesozoic age transected by younger east-trending folds of Tertiary age. The younger system is 

also characterized by three sets of faults. Some of 

the minor faults and joints of the younger defor-
ALASKA 19 

mation are mineralized, and these lodes are probably the source of the gold in the N orne placers. 

PORT CLARENCE DISTRICT. 

The Port Clarence district, an area of about 

2,000 square miles on the west end of the Seward 

Peninsula, has produced small amounts of placer 

gold from the Bluestone and Agiapuk River basins 

and from a few streams that drain into Grantley 

Harbor. The district was prospected as early as 

1898, and by 1903 an estimated $200,000 in gold 

had been produced (Collier and others, 1908, p. 

269). Total recorded production through 1959 is 

about 28,000 ounces, all from placers, but 1931-46 

production is not recorded. Since World War II 

there has been only. small-scale activity. 

The district is underlain by schist, limestone, and 

small intrusive bodies comprising the Kigluaik and 

Nome Groups of early Paleozoic or older age, and 

by Devonian ( ?) slate and Carboniferous ( ?) limestone. Stocks and dikes of granite and greenstone 

intrude the metasedimentary rocks. Quaternary 

gravels contain gold placers which are restricted 

in general to areas underlain by rocks of the N orne 

Group. These rocks seem to contain more auriferous veinlets and stringers than the other bedrock 

types. The foregoing account is from Collier, Hess, 

Smith, and Brooks (1908, p. 268-281). 

SOLOMON-BLUFF DISTRICT 

The camps of Bluff and Solomon, an area enclosed by lat 64°30' to 65°00' N. and long 163°30' 

to 164°30' W., are combined here. 

Gold was first discovered in this district in 1898 

in gravels along the Casadepaga River, a tributary 

of the Solomon River. The following year other 

placers were found along the Solomon and on the 

beach of the mouth of Daniels Creek in the Bluff 

camp (Brooks, in Collier and others, 1908, p. 288). 

The beach placers were exhausted in about a year, 

but more extensive placers were found along Daniels 

Creek and along Hurrah and Shovel Creeks in the 

Solomon camp. These were worked by dredges and 

hydraulic methods (Smith, 1910, p. 139). The only 

important gold-quartz mine on the Seward Peninsula was the Big Hurrah in the Solomon camp, 

which was active from 1900 to 1937. 

A total of 251,000 ounces of placer gold has come 

from the Solomon-Bluff district not including production from 1931 to 1946 for which records have 

not been found. Lode production was 9,375 ounces; 

all was presumably from the Big Hurrah mine. 

Total production recorded for the district is 260,375 

ounces. No production was recorded from 1937 

through 1959. 

The district is underlain by rocks belonging to 

the lower part of the Nome Group of. early Paleozoic or older age. These are a series of schist, slate, 

and limestone. The metasedimentary rocks were. 

intruded by basic igneous rocks, were later altered 

to schist and greenstone, and were finally intruded 

by basalt (Smith, 1910, p. 49-:-137). Unconsolidated 

deposits consist of coastal plain deposits, stream 

gravels, and high-level gravels. 

The lode deposit at the Big Hurrah mine consists 

of several quartz veins in a dense, hard, quartzitic, 

graphitic schist. There is a noticeable absence of 

sulfides; the minerals consist almost exclusively of 

native gold in quartz (Smith, 1910, p. 144). 

The gold in the placers, which consist of stream 

and beach gravels in the Bluff area and stream and 

bench gravels in the Solomon area, was derived 

from disseminations and veinlets in rocks of the 

Nome Group, particularly in the schist and in the 

vicinity of schist-limestone contacts (Smith, 1910, 

p. 214-216). . ' 

SOUTHEASTE,RN ALASKA REGION 

Southeastern Alaska, the panhandle of Alaska, is 

the narrow coastal strip that extends southeastward 

from the main peninsula and is bordered on the 

north, east, and southeast by Canada. Important 

gold-producing districts in this region are Juneau, 

Chichagof, Ketchikan-Hyder, and Porcupine. For 

the purpose of this report, the Yakataga district, 

which lies just to the northeast of what is usually 

considered to be the Southeastern .Alaska region, is 

included in this section. 

Gold was known in this region in the days of 

Russian ownership of Alaska, but no mining was 

done until 1870-71 when about $40,000 was produced from placers at Windham Bay and on nearby 

Powers Creek at Sumdum Bay in the Juneau district (Buddington and Chapin, 1929, p. 8). The important discoveries in the Juneau district were not 

made until the period 1880-85. During the 1890's 

and early 1900's lode gold mines began significant 

production in the Ketchikan and Chichagof districts, and beach placers were mined in the Y akatag a district. 

The Alaska Juneau mine in the Juneau district 

yielded the bulk of the gold produced in the Southeastern Alaska region. When this mine closed in 

1944, the production of the entire region dropped 

accordingly to only a few hundred ounces annually. 

Total gold production through 1959 for Southeastern Alaska was 7,788,514 ounces, of which 
20 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

7,614,791 ounces was from lode deposits, 138,503 

ounces was from placers, and 35,220 ounces was a 

byproduct from copper ores from the KetchikanHyder district. 

This is an extremely mountainous region with 

complex geologic structures and varied bedrock 

types. Dominant among the geologic features are 

the intrusive rocks of Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous age that occupy much of the mainland area 

of this region. These rocks range in composition 

from gabbro to granite and are believed to be related to the great composite Coast Range batholith 

(Buddington and Chapin, 1929, p. 173-253). Adjacent to the intrusive rocks on the west is a belt of 

low-rank metasedimentary rocks comprising the 

Wales Group of early Paleozoic age. Other sedimentary rocks in this region represent every period 

from Ordovician to Cretaceous and have an aggregate thickness of about 50,000 feet. Tertiary clastic 

rocks and lavas accumulated in a trough between 

the major mountain ranges. A few sills and dikes 

of basalt and andesite cut the Tertiary rocks (Buddington and Chapin, 1929, p. 260-275). Quaternary 

deposits are of minor areal extent and consist 

mostly of marine gravels, delta deposits, basalt, and 

tuffs (Buddington and Chapin, 1929, p. 275-281). 

CHICHAGOF DISTRICT 

The Chichagof district comprises an area of 

about 4,500 square miles and includes Baranof, 

Chichagof, Kruzof, and Sitka Islands. 

The first attempts at lode mining in Alaska, under American rule, were made near S~tka in 1871 

(Knopf, 1912, p. 8). These ventures and others in 

the succeeding few years failed, and mining in the 

Sitka area lapsed into a period of dormancy until 

the lode discoveries were made at Klag Bay on 

Chichagof Island in 1905. The Chichagof mine soon 

became the big producer here, with a production 

from 1906 through 1938 of $13,784,710 in gold 

(Reed and Coats, 1941, p. 89). The Hirst-Chichagof 

mine, which went into production in 1922, produced 

$1,702,624 in gold through 1938 (Reed and Coats, 

1941, p. 104). In succeeding years production from 

these mines dwindled, and the Chichagof district 

was operating on a very small scale in 1959. The 

total recorded production for the district through 

1959 was 770,000 ounces, all from lode mines. 

The general geology of Chichagof and Baranof 

Islands has been described by Knopf (1912, p. 11-

21), and according to him the oldest rocks are chert 

and quartzite which are overlain by cherty limestone of Silurian age. Devonian limestone and tuff, 

Mississippian limestone, Permian or Triassic gypsiferous limestone, Mesozoic graywacke, and postglacial lavas and tuffs complete the stratified rock 

sequence. The central parts of the islands are composed of masses of granitoid rocks, dominantly 

quartz diorite of late Mesozoic age. In the Klag Bay 

area of Chichagof Island masses of greenstone and 

greenstone schist of possible Triassic age (Reed 

and Coats, 1941, p. 14-22) occur between the diorite and graywacke. The stratified sedimentary 

rocks lie on the west bank of an anticlinorium, the 

axial part of which in this district is occupied by 

the diorite. Many northwest-trending high-angle 

faults cut the bedded rocks (Reed and Coats, 1941, 

p. 64). 

The ore deposits are in plunging quartz bodies 

along the faults. Quartz is the main constituent of 

these lodes, but calcite may be present. Sulfides, in 

conspicuously minor amounts, consist of pyrite, 

arsenopyrite, galena, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite. 

Gold is present as specks in the quartz and in the 

sulfides (Reed and Coats, 1941, p. 78-80). 

JUNEAU DISTRICT 

The Juneau district includes Douglas and Admiralty Islands, lat 57°00' to 59°00' N. and long 

133°00' to 135°00' W. 

Placer discoveries were made in 1869 at Windham Bay and at Sumdum Bay, about 50 miles south 

of Juneau, and lode gold, which has been the mainstay of the district, was discovered in 1880 by Joe 

Juneau and Richard Harris whose locations included 

the site of the Alaska Juneau mine, the largest lode 

gold mine in Alaska (Wright, 1906, p. 2). The discovery resulted in a rush to the area and the founding of the town of Juneau, which, by 1883, became 

the locus of gold mining in Alaska. Numerous lode 

properties were located near Juneau and on neighboring Douglas Island where the Treadwell groupincluding the Treadwell, Mexican, Ready Bullion, 

and 700 Foot mines-was quickly developed into a 

major producer, yielding $26,556,470 in gold 

through 1905. Caving, which began in the Treadwell and 700 Foot mines as early as 1913, culminated with the complete flooding of the Treadwell, 

700 Foot, and Mexican mines in 1917 (Eakin, 1918a, 

p. 78-79). These mines were never reopened, but 

the Ready Bullion remained productive until 1922 

(Brooks and Capps, 1924, p. 24). Other important 

mines in the early days of this camp were the Sumdum and Ebner. Production records for the Alaska 

Juneau mine began in 1893 and are complete to 

April 9, 1944, when the mine was closed due to 

manpower shortages and excessive costs (C. W. 

Henderson and R. V. Cushman, in U.S. Bureau of 
ALASKA 21 

Mines, 1945, p. 232). This mine yielded a total of 

2,87 4,361 ounces of gold, almost as much silver, and 

large quantities of lead. The closing of the Alaska 

Juneau mine signaled the end of gold mining in 

Southeastern Alaska. Only a few hundred ounces 

of gold were produced annually from the entire 

region from 1944 through 1959. 

Total gold production of the Juneau district from 

1882 through 1959 was 6,883,556 ounces-66,279 

ounces from placers, the remainder from lodes. 

The eastern part of the district is underlain by 

the dioritic and granitic intrusives composing the 

Coast Range batholith of Late Jurassic or Early 

Cretaceous age (Buddington and Chapin, 1929, p. 

173-175). This is flanked on the west by several 

north-trending bands of schist, slate, and greenstone (Spencer, 1906, p. 16--19) which according 

to Buddington and Chapin (1929, p. 73-74) may 

include rocks ranging in age from Ordovician to 

Cretaceous. Still farther west is a band of interbedded slate and graywacke with some greenstone 

which Buddington and Chapin (1929, p. 157) consider Jurassic or Cretaceous. The rocks have been 

folded into a northwest-trending synclinorium, 

bounded on the east by the Coast Range batholith 

and on the west by an anticlinorium (Buddington 

and Chapin, 1929, p. 289-290). 

The gold deposits of the Juneau district, according to Spencer (1906, p. 22-24), are of three types: 

veins, impregnated deposits, and combinations of 

these two types, or mixed deposits. Though other 

rock types may be mineralized, most of the deposits 

are found in the slate and greenstone. The veins 

vary considerably in thickness, trend, and continuity. Quartz is the main constituent; however, 

calcite is common, and albite is abundant in some 

veins. Pyrite, galena, sphalerite, and arsenopyrite 

are the common sulfides. Gold is either associated 

with pyrite or arsenopyrite or is found as small 

flakes in the quartz (Spencer, 1906, p. 33-36). In 

the impregnated deposits, the country rock has 

been replaced by large masses of the sulfides listed 

above, but these deposits are relatively unimportant as a source of gold. The mixed deposits were 

the most important of the three types at the famous 

Treadwell mines (Spencer, 1906, p. 24). 

KETCHIKAN-HYDER DISTRICT 

The Ketchikan-Hyder district includes the southern end of the Alaska panhandle, roughly the area 

between lat 54°20' and 57°00' N. and long 130°00' 

and 134°00' W. 

Most of the early mining interest in Alaska was 

centered in Sitka and Juneau, and Ketchikan was 

neglected for many years. But in the late 1890's 

discoveries of gold and copper were made at Ketchikan, and this together with the news of the Klondike successes encouraged many people to prospect 

the new area (Brooks, 1902, p. 39). By 1900 there 

was feverish activity in the district with several 

mines open and many claims located. Gold was produced from auriferous veins and from copper ores. 

At Hyder, near the Canadian border, lode deposits of gold were discovered in about 1901 but were 

neglected until 1909, when a short-lived boom occurred (Buddington, 1929, p. 2-3). In the 1920's 

there were several small discoveries near Hyder 

that caused some mild excitement. 

Production of gold from the Ketchikan-Hyder 

district amounts to about 62,000 ounces, of which 

35,000 ounces is byproduct gold from copper ores 

and 27,000 ounces is from lode mines. Data for 

1938-46 are incomplete. The district was still active 

in 1959, though only small quantities of byproduct 

gold were produced. 

The oldest rocks in the district are limestone and 

phyllite of Silurian or pre-Silurian age. These are 

overlain by limestone, slate, and schist of probable 

Middle Devonian age. In the central part of the 

district the Devonian rocks are overlain by argillite, 

limestone, and sandstone of the Ketchikan Series, 

partly of Paleozoic and Mesozoic age. Locally, Mesozoic conglomerates overlie the Devonian rocks. 

A broad belt of granite (or diorite), part of the 

Coast Range batholith, underlies the eastern part 

of the district (Brooks, 1902, p. 40-41), but the 

most widely distributed igneous rock is the Kasaan 

Greenstone, which is the oldest of the intrusive 

rocks. Warner, Goddard, and others (1961, p. 13) 

imply that the greenstone is of Mesozoic age, but 

older than Cretaceous. In general the metasedimentary rocks throughout the district occur in northwest-trending bands (Brooks, 1902, p. 51). 

The geology of the Hyder area is summarized as 

follows from Buddington (1929, p. 13-42). The 

Hazelton Group, of probable Jurassic age, is composed of greenstone, tuff, breccia, graywacke, slate, 

argillite, quartzite, and some limestone, and it occurs as large disconnected patches in the east and 

west parts of the area. The beds are tightly folded 

and strike predominantly to the east. A granodiorite 

batholith, called the Texas Creek batholith, intruded 

the Hazelton Group, and the Hyder Quartz Monzonite and the Boundary Granodiorite intruded both 

the Hazelton Group and Texas Creek batholith. The 

intrusive rocks are of Jurassic or Cretaceous age 

and are genetically related to the Coast Range 

batholith. 
22 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

The ore deposits are somewhat varied in this district; commercial amounts of silver; copper, iron, 

lead, and zinc are present in addition to gold. The 

ore deposits are of four general types-vein deposits, breccia veins, mineralized shear zones, and 

contact metasomatic deposits. The veins occur in 

the oldest rocks of the district. They range in width 

from a few inches to 10 feet or more and are made 

up of quartz, calcite, pyrite, chalGopyrite, galena, 

sphalerite, and gold (Wright and Wright, 1908, 

p. 80-81). Breccia veins, most abundant in the 

limestone and schist, consist for the most part of 

quartz-cemented country rock. Auriferous sulfides 

may be in limestone fragments or in the quartz 

(Wright and Wright, 1908, p. 81-82). The shear 

zone deposits range in width from 5 to 50 feet and 

follow the structure of the enclosing rock-most 

commonly slate or greenstone. The dominant minerals are quartz and calcite in veinlets and chalCopyrite and pyrite disseminated throughout the rock. 

Gold occurs in the quartz-calcite veinlets (Wright 

and Wright, 1908, p. 82-83). The contact metamorphic deposits are in limestones near their contacts with intrusives. These deposits consist of 

ma,sses of chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, pyrite, and magnetite in a gangue of garnet, epidote, calcite, quartz, 

amphibole, and wollastonite. Both copper and gold 

are produced from these deposits (Wright and 

Wright, 1908, p. 83-84). On the Kasaan Peninsula, 

contact metasomatic dep'osits of magnetite, pyr.ite, 

and chalcopyrite are found in association with tactite bodies in layers and lenses of metamorphosed 

sedimentary rocks in the Kasaan Greenstone (Warner and others, 1961, p. 30-52). 

Worthy of special mention is the Salt Chuck mine 

on the Kasaan Peninsula. Originally located as a 

copper prospect in 1905, this deposit was later 

found to contain platinum minerals and gold and 

silver in 'recoverable amounts (Holt and others, 

1948, p. 3). The ore bodies are masses of bornite 

and chalcopyrite that have replaced and filled fractures in a pyroxenite country rock (Mertie, 1921, 

p. 124-125). According to Holt, Shepard, Thorne, 

Tolonen, and Fosse (1948, p. 4), a total of 326,000 

tons of ore with an average gold content of 0.036 

ounces per ton was produced from the beginning of 

mining to the spring of 1941. This amounts to 

11,736 ounces of gold; 

PORCUPINE DISTRICT 

The Porcupine district is just north of lat 59°15' 

N. at long 136°20' W. along Porcupine Creek, a 

tributary 'of the Klehini River. 

Productive gravels were discovered in 1898 along 

Porcupine Creek and its tributaries (Wright, 1904, 

p. 12). The era of greatest activity was from 1900 

to 1906 when about $100,000 in gold per year was 

produced. Between 1915 and 1917, hydraulic equipment was installed which accounted for a brief 

rejuvenation of the district (Eakin, 1918b, p. 99), 

but from 1917 throughl959 there was only occasional small-scale production by individuals. Total 

production for the district through 1959 is 53,250 

ounces, all from placers. 

Eakin's report (1919, p. 9-21) on the Porcupine 

district is the source of the data on geology and 

placer deposits given here. 

The northeast part Of the district is underlain by 

dioritic rocks of the Coast Range batholith. Bordering this on the south is a northwest~trending belt 

of phyllite, slate, and limestone of Late Pennsylvanian or Early Permian age. An elongate mass of 

diorite cuts the metasedimentary rocks in the west 

and ·southwest part of the district. The metasedimentary rocks are also cut by numerous stringers 

of quartz and calcite carrying variable amounts of 

sulfides, and locally the rocks are impregnated with 

lenticular masses of sulfides. 

Placers consist of creek gravels, side benches, and 

high benches. The gold probably was derived locally 

by erosion of the auriferous sulfides in the country 

rock. 

YAKATAGA DISTRICT 

The Yakataga district, an area of about 1,000 

square miles, is between lat 60°00' and 60°30' N. 

and long 141 °20' and 144°40' W., just west of the 

northern end of the panhandle that forms southeast 

Alaska .. 

The date of discovery of ore in the Yakataga district is unknown. According to Maddren (1913b, 

p. 133), gold was first found in the beach sands at 

Yakataga about 1897 or 1898, but Sniith (1933, 

p. 96) listed the first production for the area in 

1891. During the first years the beach sands were 

worked with simple rockers. Later, several attempts 

at larger scale mining, by using sluice boxes, were 

made (Maddren, 1913b, p. 133-134). Bench gravels 

along the White River were found to be gold bearing and these have been worked i'ntermitte:htly by 

hydraulic methods. Total recorded production for 

the district from 1891 through 1959 was only 15,709 

ounces, all from placers. In 1959 the district was 

virtually inactive; less than 75 ounces was reported 

from 1950 through 1959. 

In the northern part of the district the high 

St. Elias Range, which dominates the landscape, is 

composed of intensely contorted metamorphic and 

intrusive rocks. The Robinson Mountains, in the 
ALASKA 23 

central part of the district, are composed of Tertiary and Pleistocene sedimentary rocks in northwest-trending folds. In the south, the district is 

covered with outwash gravel and fluvial ·deposits 

(Maddren, 1913b, p. 126-132). The gold in the 

beach placers was concentrated by wave action 

from the glaciofluvial deposits of the White River. 

The ultimate source of the gold was the crystalline 

rocks of the St. Elias Range from which the gold 

was removed either by glaciers or by Pleistocene 

streams and was redeposited at lower levels. The 

present stream system of the White River reworked 

the auriferous outwash gravel and Pleistocene fluvial deposits and concentrated the gold in channel 

sands which now form low benches that are being 

eroded (Maddren, 1913b, p. 142-143). 

SOUTHWESTERN ALASKA REGION 

In the Alaska Peninsula, which forms the Southwestern Alaska region, only the Unga district contains commercial gold deposits of any magnitude. 

There has been scattered production from the 

Kodiak area, where lodes and beach placers were 

mined on a small scale, but more than 90 percent 

of the total production has come from Unga. Total 

recorded production for Southwestern Alaska 

through 1959 is 112,570 ounces, of which 108,000 

ounces is of lode origin and 4,570 ounces is from 

placers. 

UNGA DISTRICT 

Unga is an island, one of the Shumagin Group, 

between lat 55°10' and 55°23' N. and long 160°30' 

and 160°50' W. 

Almost the entire production of this district is 

attributed to the Apollo Consolidated mine which 

began production in 1891 and by 1904 yielded between $2 and $3 million (Martin, 1905, p. 100). 

Production decreased markedly after 1905 and 

ceased after 1922. Total production through 1959 

was 107,900 ounces, all of lode origin. 

The country rock is andesite and dacite believed 

by Becker (1898, p. 83) to be Miocene or younger 

and by Martin (1905) to be somewhat older than 

Miocene. Sedimentary rocks' that range in age from 

Oligocene to Pliocene (MacNeil and others, 1961, 

p. 1802) are also present on Unga Island, but their 

relations with the igneous rocks cannot be determined from the published literature. Becker (1898, 

p. 84) described the deposit as a reticulated veina zone of fractures that was mineralized. The wallrocks are much altered and have been replaced by 

chlorite and pyrite. Gangue minerals are sugary 

quartz with some calcite, and the ore minerals are 

free gold, pyrite, galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, 

and native copper (Becker, 1898, p. 83). 

YUKON REGION 

The vast Yukon region encompasses the entire 

drainage basin of the Yukon River in Alaska. It 

has the shape of a truncated wedge extending 

across central Alaska. The region is narrower (80 

to 100 miles wide) along the west coast of Alaska 

at the mouth of the river and wider (200 to 300 

miles) along Alaska's eastern border, where it includes the basins of the Yukon and one of its main 

tributaries, the Tanana. This has been by far the 

most productive of all the gold-producing regions, 

with a recorded total through 1959 of 12,282,250 

ounces, most of it from placers. 

Goodrich's detailed account (in Spurr and Goodrich, 1898, p. 103-131) of the early explorations, 

the discovery of gold, and the development of the 

first mining districts· is the source of much of the 

material presented here. 

The Yukon region had been traversed rather 

thoroughly after ·the 1840's by explorers and 

traders intent on establishing new posts and opening new country for the fur trade. A lively competition which developed among the Russians, the 

Hudson Bay Co., and the Americans was terminated by the purchase of Alaska by the United 

States. 

In the 1860's small quantities of gold had been 

found at several localities in the Yukon basin, but 

credit for the discovery that led to intensive prospecting goes to George Holt, who made several trips 

to the Yukon in the 1870's arid returned with glowing, if not entirely veracious, tales of gold in the 

interior. In· 1881 a few prospectors panned some 

gold along the Big Salmon River, one of the tributaries of the Yukon River in the Yukon Territory, 

Canada. A year later, prospectors working up the 

Yukon from its mouth found gold in considerable 

quantities near what is now Rampart, in central 

Alaska. Discoveries in· the 1880's along the boundary between Alaska and Canada in the Fortymile 

River area were developed rapidly, and by 1893 

more than 300 men were working the gravels. 

Birch Creek in the Circle district next attracted 

attention and it soon rivaled the Fortymile district. 

Between 1890 and 1895 gold-bearing gravels were 

found along the Koyukuk River and additional discoveries were made in the Rampart area and in the 

adjacent Hot Springs district. 

In 1902 gold was discovered in the Fairbanks 

district (Prindle, 1904, p. 64) which in the succeeding years developed into the leading producer 
24 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

in Alaska. The Fairbanks discoveries stimulated 

prospecting to the south in the foothills of the 

Alaska Range, and placers were found in the Bonnifield country in 1903 and the Kantishna district 

in 1906 (Prindle, 1907, p. 205). 

At about the same time, commercial quantities 

of gold were found several hundred miles to the 

west in the gravels of the upper valley of the 

Innoko River and this led to discoveries on the 

adjacent Iditarod River. In about 1910 placers were 

found along Long Creek in the Ruby district, about 

70 miles east of Koyukuk (Mertie and Harrington, 

1924, p. 88, 89, 101). One of the most recently discovered placer districts in the Yukon region is the 

Tolavana district situated along the Tolovana River, 

a tributary which joins the Tanana River about 

100 miles west of Fairbanks. Mining of these placers began in 1915 (Brooks, 1916, p. 201). 

Most of the placer districts of the Yukon basin 

remained active after World War II, through 1959, 

though production decreased because of the constantly rising mining costs especially since 1950. 

Only two districts-Fairbanks and Nabesnahave had any significant lode production, but this 

is dwarfed by the placer output. The Yukon basin 

has yielded a total of 12,282,250 ounces of gold, of 

which 10,776,460 ounces is from placers, 305,560 

ounces is from lode deposits, and 1,200,230 ounces 

is undifferentiated but presumably from placers. It 

may seem strange that from such a large region so 

few commercial vein deposits have been exploited; 

however, several factors must be considered in an 

analysis of this imbalance. First, the placers are 

amenable to large-scale dredging methods which 

means that low-grade material can be mined even 

at present high costs. Secondly, the remoteness of 

the areas containing the lode deposits demands 

large tonnages of high-grade ores for profitable 

mining. 

It is difficult to summarize the geology of a region 

as large as the Yukon drainage basin, especially in 

view of the fact that the region has not been completely mapped and the areas that are mapped were 

done at different scales at different times and by 

numerous individuals. The upper part of the basin, 

the Yukon-Tanana area, was mapped first by Spurr 

(in Spurr and Goodrich, 1898) and then by Mertie 

(1937), but that part of the basin from the junction of the Yukon and Tanana to the mouth of the 

Yukon has been mapped in small parcels by individuals investigating only certain districts. 

In the upper part of the basin, stratified rocks 

ranging in age from Precambrian to Recent are 

exposed. Representatives of every period except 

Jurassic are present (Mertie, 1937, p. 44-46). 

Mesozoic and Tertiary granitic intrusive rocks are 

the most important members of the igneous family 

in this area, and it is believed that the metalliferous ore deposits are related to them (Mertie, 1937, 

p. 46). 

Farther downstream, in the Ruby area, greenstones and undifferentiated metamorphic rocks of 

Paleozoic age and older are the predominant country rocks (Mertie and, Harrington, 1924, p. 12). 

In the Innoko and Iditarod districts, which may 

be considered the lower reaches of the Yukon, Mesozoic sedimentary rocks, chiefly Cretaceous in age, 

compose most of the country rock. These are interlayered locally with basic igneous rocks. Granitic 

intrusions make up the mountain areas, and rhyolite dikes are scattered throughout the area (Eakin, 

1913, p. 295). 

Throughout the Yukon basin, large areas are 

covered with fluvial deposits that form flats tens 

of miles wide. The entire region has a complex geomorphic and structural history, much of which is 

fairly recent in age, but not enough work has been 

done in the region to interpret the many anomalous 

features of the present drainage (Mertie, 1937, 

p. 237). 

BONNIFIELD DISTRICT 

The Bonnifield district is between lat 63°30' and 

64°50' N. and long 145°40' and 149°20' W. It extends from the Tanana flats on the north to the 

north slope of the Alaska Range on the south, and 

it is bounded on the west and east by the Nenana 

and Delta Rivers; respectively. 

The first gold was mined from the gravels of 

Gold King Creek in 1903. During the early years 

there were high hopes that the Bonnifield would 

become a major district, but onl;y, small amounts of 

gold were produced' annually, and after 1949 the 

district was idle. Total production through 1959 was 

about 36,600 ounces, all from placers. 

The geology, as outlined by Capps (1912, p. 17-

19), is as follows. The oldest rocks in the district 

are metasedimentary rocks of Precambrian or early 

Paleozoic age-the Birch Creek Schist, consisting 

of quartz and mica schist, phyllite, and quartzite. 

Mertie (1937, p. 46) considered the Birch Creek to 

be Precambrian in age. The Birch Creek Schist is 

overlain by quartz-feldspar schists forming the 

Totatlanika Schist of Silurian or Devonian age. 

A sequence of Tertiary sediments beginning with 

Eocene fresh-water deposits unconformably overlies the schists. The fresh-water deposits are followed by the Nenana Gravel of middle Miocene to 

early Pliocene age (MacNeil and others, 1961, p. 
ALASKA 25 

1806) and Pleistocene and Recent glaciofluvial deposits. The schists are highly contorted, and as the 

Alaska Range rose in Tertiary time the Tertiary 

beds were subjected to considerable folding and 

faulting immediately after their deposition. Intrusive rocks of granitic to dioritic composition cut the 

schists at various localities. These bodies are older 

than Eocene and younger than Silurian or Devonian 

(Capps, 1912, p. 41-42). 

The placer deposits are in the foothills between 

the Tanana Flats to the north and the high slopes 

of the Alaska Range to the south. Present streams 

have cut through valleys previously filled with alluvium and have reconcentrated and redeposited the 

detrital gold of the older alluvium. 

CHANDALAR DISTRICT 

The Chandalar district, between lat 67°00' and 

68°10' N. and long 147°00' and 150°00' W., includes 

the upper drainage of the Chandalar River. 

The Chandalar district, which began producing 

placer gold in 1906, is one of the small producers 

of the Yukon basin. Total placer production through 

1959 was 30,708 ounces. Cobb (1962) indicated 

small but undisclosed lode production from the district. 

Lode deposits, which have been known in the district for many years, have recently received renewed attention. In 1961 the Little Squaw Mining 

Co. reported blocking out an ore body worth 

$1,013,000 in gold (Mining World, 1961). 

The geology given here is generalized from a 

more detailed account by Mertie (1925, p. 223-252). 

Schists, resembling the Birch Creek Schist, of Precambrian or early Paleozoic age are the oldest rocks 

in the district and are found in the southern part. 

Other schists and phyllites of early Paleozoic age 

compose the bedrock in the central part of the district, north of the area underlain by Birch Creek ( ?) 

Schist. Silurian limestone and dolomite and Devonian slate occur still farther north. In the southwest corner, Devonian or Mississippian rocks unconformably overlie the schists, and a small patch 

of Upper Cretaceous sandstone caps the sequence. 

Igneous rocks in the district consist of granite, 

granodiorite, and basic lavas, that range in age 

from Late Silurian or Early Devonian to Tertiary. 

The schists contain numerous small auriferous 

quartz veins and stringers that no doubt were the 

source of the gold in the placers. Both preglacial 

and postglacial gravels have been productive. 

CHISANA DISTRICT 

The Chisana district is between lat 61 °55' and 

62°20' N. and long 141 °40' and 142°35' W., in the 

drainage area of the Chisana River, a tributary of 

the Tanana River. 

Gold lodes were known in this area before 1910, 

but were never developed; then in 1913 placer discoveries along Bonanza Creek started a stampede 

to the district (Capps, 1916, p. 89-92). The placers, 

however, were relatively small, and efforts to find 

and develop lode deposits were unsuccessful. Small 

amounts of placer gold were produced up to World 

War II, but since then the output has been insignificant. Total production from 1913 through 1959 

was 44,760 ounces, all from placers. 

The rocks of the district range in age from Devonian to Recent (Capps, 1916, p. 29-31). The oldest 

rocks are black shale, basic lava, and pyroclastic 

of Devonian age which are overlain by a great 

thickness of Carboniferous lava, tuff, breccia, agglomerate, and some limestone and shale. Shale and 

graywacke of Mesozoic age are faulted against the 

older rocks along an east-west line. Several small 

patches of Tertiary sediments unconformably overlie the Paleozoic rocks, and in the stream valleys 

considerable areas are covered with glacial debris 

and stream deposits interbedded with lava flows. 

Granitic intrusions cut the Devonian and Carboniferous rocks but the exact age of the igneous rocks 

is not known (Capps, 1916, p. 84-85). 

Most of the placers occur in the area of Carboniferous pyroclastic rocks and the granitic intrusions. 

Capps (1916, p. 96-98) believed that the gold of the 

placers was eroded from veins in these Paleozoic 

rocks near their contact with the intrusives and 

that the present placers are a product of several 

previous reworkings of Tertiary auriferous gravels, 

first by streams, then by glaciers, then by the present streams reworking the glacial deposits. 

CIRCLE DISTRICT 

The Circle district is between lat 65°15' and 

66°00' N. and long 144 °00' and 146°00' W. 

This is one of the older districts of the region, 

gold having been discovered along Birch Creek in 

1893 (Prindle, 1906, p. 20). Production began the 

following year and was continuous through 1957. 

Hydraulic methods were used on nearly all prqductive streams, particularly along Mastodon Creek. 

Total production through 1959 was 705,660 ounces, 

all from placers. 

The rocks, as summarized from Mertie (1932, 

p. 158-161), consist of schist, clastic sedimentary 

rock, limestone, and granitic rocks ranging in age 

from Precambrian to Mesozoic. Pleistocene and 

Recent unconsolidated deposits complete the sequence. 
26 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

The Birch Creek Schist, the oldest rock, is of 

Precambrian or early Paleozoic age. Next youngest 

are lower Paleozoic metamorphic rocks-quartzite, 

phyllite, and slate-together with graywacke, 

arkose, limestone, and chert. The Crazy Mountains 

in the central part of the district are underlain in 

succession by Silurian or Devonian limestones, basic 

flows and sedimentary rocks of the Rampart Group 

of Early Mississippian age, and by a later Mississippian chert formation. Several small bodies of 

granite are intrusive into all the foregoing rocks, 

and the placer deposits are in the vicinity of the 

intrusive bodies. Alluvial deposits in the Circle district represent several erosional periods during 

Pleistocene and Recent time. 

EAGLE DISTRICT 

The Eagle district is between lat 64°35' and 65° 

15' N. and long 141 °00' and 142°40' W., along 

Seventymile, American, and Fourth of July Creeks, 

- all tributaries that enter the Yukon River near 

Alaska's eastern boundary. 

Placer gold was first found in 1895 along American Creek, and production began the following year 

(Mertie, 1938, p. 190). Although it attracted few 

miners, the Eagle district maintained a small annual production even through the difficult postWorld War II_ years. Production data before 1906 

cannot be found and was probably reported under 

some other district. Total recorded production for 

the Eagle district from 1906 through 1959 is 40,220 

ounces, all from placers. 

The district is underlain in the southwest by a 

large mass of granite of Late Jurassic age that has 

intruded and thrust upward a series of Precambrian and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks that are now 

exposed in northwestward-trending bands in the 

central and northern parts of the district. Lower 

Cretaceous marine rocks are exposed in the northern part of the district and these are succeeded by 

a thick series of fresh-water deposits of Late Cretaceous and Eocene age (Mertie, 1930, pl. 12). PostEocene uplift caused much of this covering to be 

removed. Unconsolidated deposits of sand and 

gravel of Pleistocene and Recent age are in the 

stream valleys. These sediments reflect a complex 

geomorphic cycle involving local glaciation, climatic 

changes, and changes in base level (Mertie, 1930, 

p. 147-148). 

The gold placers are in present stream gravels. 

The gold in these deposits came originally from 

small veins related to the granitic mass in the southwest part of the area, but much gold also came from 

ancient placers in the Upper Cretaceous and Eocene 

clastics (Mertie, 1930, p. 161-162). 

FAIRBANKS DISTRICT 

The Fairbanks district, about 300 square miles 

between lat 64°40' and 65°20' N. and long 147°00' 

and 148°10' W., has produced more gold than any 

other district in Alaska. It is predominantly a 

placer district, although it also ranks high among 

the lode districts. · 

Fairbanks was slow to develop. Placer gold was 

known in the area as early as 1878 · (Mertie, 1937, 

p. 4), but the active districts of Fortymile, Rampart, and Circle kept all but the most restless away 

from the Fairbanks area. In 1901 the town of 

Fairbanks was founded as a trading post, not as a 

consequence of gold mining (Prindle and Katz, 

1913, p. 86). The following year some workable 

placers were found along Pedro Creek. This discovery brought a rush of miners and prospectors 

to the district, most of whom became discouraged 

and left after learning that the rich, easily accessible placers were few and that the large, lower 

grade deposits were buried and required processing 

large volumes of material with special machinery. 

Large investments were needed to purchase and 

construct hoisting machinery, large dredges, and 

machinery for thawing the frozen overburden. But 

gradually, as the obstacles were overcome, it was 

found that the buried gravels could be mined 

profitably, and the district prospered as the dredges 

chewed through huge reserves of auriferous gravels 

on Dome, Ester, Vault, Cleary, and Chatanika 

Creeks. Production continued at a high level even 

after World War II, but in 1959, activity began to 

diminish. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported (Sept. 15, 1959) that gold dredging was 

gradually ceasing in this area. Two dredges were 

closed in 1959 and a third was transferred to the 

Fortymile district. 

Interest in lode mining began after the placers 

were developed. Small-scale operations were under 

way in 1910 in Skoogy Gulch and upper Cleary 

and Fairbanks Creeks (Hill, 1933, p. 51). The peak 

of lode mining was reached just before World War 

II. The Pedro Dome and Ester Dome areas contain the most productive lode deposits. 

The total gold production of the Fairbanks district through 1959 was 7,464,167 ounces-7,239,696 

ounces from placers, 224,471 ounces from lodes. 

The Birch Creek Schist, of Precambrian or early 

Paleozoic age, underlies most of the district (Hill, 

1933, p. 41). This includes a variety of rock types, 

among which quartz schist and quartzite are domi-
ALASKA 27 

nant. Masses of crystalline limestone are present 

locally. Small bodies of biotite granite and quartz 

diorite believed to be of Mesozoic age (Hill, 1933, 

p. 43) intrude the Birch Creek. In the northeast 

corner of the district is a small patch of Tertiary 

sandstone and conglomerate, and in the same 

general area are a few small isolated areas of 

Tertiary basalt (Hill, 1933, p. 42-43). 

The lode deposits of the Fairbanks district are 

fissure veins in the Birch Creek Schist in the vicinity of bodies of intrusive rock. The trends of both 

the veins and intrusives seem to be controlled structurally, but the trends are not consistent throughout the district (Hill, 1933, p. 63-64). All the major intrusives trend eastward; the veins in the 

Pedro Dome area also trend eastward, but the veins 

in the Ester Dome area trend more northward. 

The veins consist of quartz with small amounts of 

the sulfides arsenopyrite, pyrite, sphalerite, jamesonite, and stibnite, and free gold which is associated 

either with quartz or with the sulfides. Cervantite 

is widespread as an oxidation product of stibnite, 

and its yellow-green stain is a guide to high-grade 

gold ore in this district (Hill, 1933, p. 64-73). 

The gold placers occur along stream valleys in 

unconsolidated gravels. The most productive layer 

is normally a few inches to 8 feet above the bedrock; the bedrock from 1 foot to several feet below 

the gravel is usually gold bearing. A thick mantle 

of barren material consisting of sands, clays, and 

muck covers the deposits (Prindle and Katz, 1913, 

p. 92-98). 

FORTYMILE DISTRICT 

The Fortymile district, between lat 64 °00' and 

64 °30' N.. and long 141 °00' and 142°20' W., along 

the international boundary, includes the upper 

drainage of Fortymile River, one of the Yukon 

tributaries that joins the main stream in Canada. 

It is one of the oldest placer areas in the Yukon 

region and had uninterrupted output through 1959. 

According to Mertie (1938, p. 157), gold was discovered in the district in 1886, but Smith (1933, 

p. 96) listed small production beginning in 1883. 

Discoveries of rich stream placers in 1893 in the 

Sixtymile River area, across the international 

boundary, drew many prospectors to the Fortymile 

district as well, and in a relatively short interval 

all the major gold-producing grounds in the Fortymile district were found. The placers of Dome, 

Wade, and Chicken Creeks were all discovered during the 1890's (Mertie, 1938, p. 157). Large-scale 

mining methods-dredge and hydraulic-have been 

used with success, which is probably why the district was still active in 1959. 

Total recorded gold production of the Fortymile 

district through 1959 was about 400,000 ounces, all 

from placers. 

The most abundant country rock of the district, 

according to Mertie (1938, p. 148), is the Birch 

Creek Schist, but locally other rocks are present. 

In the Chicken Creek and Franklin Creek areas 

granite is exposed (Mertie, 1938, p. 171, 182). 

Small patches of Tertiary conglomerate, shale, and 

sandstone are known in the Chicken Creek and 

Napoleon Creek areas, and some lower Paleozoic 

greenstone and limestone is exposed along Napoleon Creek (Mertie, 1938, p. 184). Basalt, gabbro, 

and diabase, younger than the granite, are found 

in the central part of the Chicken Creek basin. 

The productive deposits are in gravels of Pleistocene to Recent age. There are also ancient placers 

in the Tertiary deposits, but none of these contain 

gold in commercial quantities. On the other hand, 

these Tertiary deposits, where eroded, contributed 

their gold to the younger deposits. Quartz veins 

related to the granite intrusives are the ultimate 

source of the gold, according to Mertie (1938, 

p. 154). 

HOT SPRINGS DISTRICT 

The Hot Springs district is between lat 65°00' 

and 65°20' N. and long 149°40' and 151 °20' W. 

The drainages of Baker, Sullivan, and American 

Creeks are its major placer areas. 

Gold-bearing gravels were discovered in 1898 on 

Baker and Eureka Creeks by a group of New Englanders known throughout the area as the "Boston 

Boys" (Mertie, 1934, p. 165-166). When the party 

returned in 1899 to the new settlement of Rampart, 

news of their discoveries leaked out and caused a 

rush to the Hot Springs area. The first production 

reported was in 1904 (Smith, 1933, table facing 

p. 96) ; a town was built a few years later (Mertie, 

1934, p. 166). 

The district maintained a steady output since 

mining began and was still active in 1959. Opencut, 

drifting, and hydraulic methods have been used in 

the mining. Total production through 1959 was 

447,850 ounces, all from placers. 

As the Hot Springs and Rampart districts are 

separated by only a narrow drainage divide, their 

geology can be summarized together. 

Consolidated sedimentary rocks that range in age 

from pre-Ordovician to Tertiary and include sandstone, shale, conglomerate, chert, limestone, and 

coal-bearing rocks compose the bulk of the bedrock 

in these two districts (Mertie, 1934, p. 172-173). 

These are intruded locally by granite of Tertiary 

age. 
28 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

Eakin (1915, p. 239) noted that the placers of 

the Hot Springs district were of several typesbench deposits, reworked bench deposits, irregular 

discontinuous bodies of auriferous gravel called 

"spots," and normal stream gravels containing pay 

streaks. 

The gold of the placers was deposited during 

early and late Tertiary from lodes in and adjacent 

to granitic intrusives (Mertie, 1934, p. 223). 

IDITAROD DISTRICT 

The Iditarod district, between lat 62° 10' and 

63°00' N. and long 157°30' and 158°30' W., along 

the upper drainage of the Iditarod River and its 

tributaries, ranks second among the gold-producing 

districts in the Yukon basin. 

Gold was discovered in 1908 along Otter Creek, 

a tributary of the Iditarod River (Maddren, 1911, 

p. 238). Despite its remoteness, the district developed, and in 1910 production was reported at 

$500,000 (Smith, 1933, table facing p. 96). Productive gravels also were found on Flat and Willow Creeks. The placers have been mined by dredges, 

mechanical scrapers, and hydraulic equipment 

(Mertie and Harrington, 1924, p. 110). Total gold 

production through 1959 was 1,297,500 ounces; 

nearly all production was from placers. 

The underlying bedrock of the district, as described by Mertie and Harrington (1924, p. 12-82), 

consists dominantly of sandstone, shale, and conglomerate of late Cretaceous and Eocene age. In 

the western part of the district, west of the Iditarod 

River, undifferentiated metamorphic rocks of Paleozoic and Precambrian age are exposed; in the central part there are a few small stocks of quartz 

monzonite and basic intrusives. Unconsolidated deposits of· sand, gravel, and silt of Pleistocene and 

Recent age are in the stream valleys. 

Placers are of two types-residual and stream 

(Mertie and Harrington, 1924, p. 111-115). The 

stocks of monzonite, which are sheared and mineralized, are the source of the gold for each type. 

INNOKO DISTRICT 

The Innoko district, in the upper drainage area 

of the Innoko River between lat 62°50' and 63°15' 

N. and long 156°10' and 156°50' W., lies immediately northeast of the Iditarod River. The Beaver 

Mountains form the drainage divide between the 

Innoko and Iditarod Rivers. 

Gold was discovered in the gravels of Ganes 

Creek in 1906, and despite its remoteness the new 

camp attracted permanent settlers (Maddren, 1911, 

p. 236) who began gold production in 1907 that 

continued uninterrupted through 1957. Most of the 

mining was in the Ophir, Spruce, Little, Ganes, and 

Yankee Creek areas (Maddren, 1911, p. 246). The 

Innoko is a placer district and through 1959 produced a total of 518,565 ounces of gold. Most of the 

placers are in the gravels of the present streams 

or in bench deposits. 

Argillaceous beds of Late Cretaceous and Eocene 

age underlie most of the Innoko district, except for 

a small area in the northeastern part where several small bodies of quartz monzonite and basic intrusives cut the sedimentary rocks (Mertie and 

Harrington, 1924, p. 30, 62, 69, pl. 4). 

KANTISHN A DISTRICT 

The Kantishna district is an area of about 4,500 

square miles, between lat 63°25' and 65°00' N. and 

long 149°00' and 151 °10' W., that includes part of 

the Alaska Range foothills on the south and part 

of the Tanana lowlands on the north. It is bounded 

on the east by the Nenana River and on the west 

by the western tributaries of the Kantishna River. 

The Tanana River valley became well populated 

by miners and prospectors during the early part 

of the Fairbanks rush, and soon the rich gravels in 

the Kantishna district were found. In 1904 gold 

was found along Toklat River and the following 

year a flood of hopeful gold seekers left Fairbanks 

for the new district (Capps, 1919, p. 75). Soon several thousand people swarmed into the area, nearly 

all streams were staked, and several towns were 

built. It soon became apparent that the deposits, 

though rich, were · shallow and of small area, so 

that a dismal exodus began and the population of 

the district quickly dwindled to about 50 (Capps, 

1919, p. 76). Those who remained were able to 

maintain small production from the placers, and 

the district was still active on that scale in 1957. 

In 1904-5 lode deposits of lead-silver and antimony 

were found, and in 1921 gold, copper, and mercury 

lode deposits were discovered. The antimony deposits were worked sporadically during 1936-55, 

but the other lode deposits never achieved any significance (Reed, 1961, p. 27-28) .' Total gold production from the district from 1905 through 1957 

was 45,925 ounces, all from placers. No activity 

was reported in 1958-59. 

The oldest rock in the district is the Birch Creek 

Schist of Precambrian age (Wells, 1933a, p. 343). 

This schist is succeeded by younger schists, phyllites, and gneisses, composing the Totatlanika Schist 

of pre-Devonian age and the Tonzona Group of 

Devonian or Silurian age. Pre-Tertiary greenstone, 

Mesozoic limestone, a sequence of Tertiary fresh-
ALASKA 29 

water sediments, tuffs, and flows, and Quaternary 

glacial, glaciofluvial, and fluvial deposits complete 

the sedimentary column in the district (Capps, 

1919, p. 22-23). The pre-Tertiary and lower Tertiary rocks have been deformed into east-trending 

folds parallel to the axis of the Alaska Range to 

the south of the district (Capps, 1919, p. 22). 

The productive placers of the district are along 

the streams that radiate outward from the higher 

parts of the Kantishna Hills. The gold was believed 

by Capps (1919, p. 79) to be derived from erosion 

of small quartz veins that cut the Birch Creek 

Schist. 

KOYUKUK DISTRICT 

The Koyukuk district, between lat 67°00' and 

68°00' N. and long 149°00' and 150°50' W., 

drained by the north, middle, and south forks of 

Koyukuk River, is often considered to be one of 

the most northerly in the world. 

Some time between 1885 and 1890 placer gold 

was first found in this district on the sand bars 

along the Koyukuk River. Maddren (1913a, p. 76) 

reported that by 1898 at least $4,000 in gold had 

been mined from them; however, Smith (1933, 

p. 96) did not report production from the Koyukuk 

district until 1900. Nearly all the upper reaches of 

the Koyukuk tributaries have been prospected, and 

the results have been rewarding. The district was 

still active in 1959, though only on a small scale. 

Total production from the district through 1959 

was about 278,000 ounces, all from placers. Promising lode deposits of gold have not been found in 

this district. 

The most abundant bedrock in the district is the 

ubiquitous Birch Creek Schist of Precambrian or 

early Paleozoic age. The schist is exposed in two 

belts-one in the southern part of the Endicott 

Mountains and the other in the Hodzana highland 

area, between the Yukon River and the Koyukuk 

valley, Numerous dikes and small intrusives of 

granitic composition, probably Mesozoic in age, cut 

the schist (Maddren, 1913a, p. 34-36). Exposed in 

the central and northern parts of the district are 

two sequences of Paleozoic rocks: one is of Devonian ( ?) age and consists of greenstone, slate, chert, 

and limestone; the other is a section of crystalline 

limestone and mica schist of Carboniferous ( ?) age. 

Underlying the western part of the district are 

Mesozoic sedimentary rocks represented by Cretaceous limestone and calcareous sandstone interbedded with basic flows and pyroclastics (Maddren, 

1913a,p.50-55). 

Pleistocene gravel covers large areas in the district, including all the major stream valleys. Recent deposits include gravels along present stream 

courses. 

The placer deposits are in present stream gravels 

and bench gravels; some of them are buried. Maddren (1913a, p. 83) considered that the gold in the 

placers was derived from the Birch Creek Schist. 

Auriferous pyrite occurs in carbonaceous phyllite 

facies and free gold is found in quartz veinlets and 

stringers that cut the micaceous quartz schist facies. The gold was transported by streams and 

glaciers and later concentrated by further stream 

action into the placer deposits. 

MARSHALL DISTRICT 

The Marshall district is between lat 61° 40' and 

62°00' N. and long 161 °30' and 162°10' W., along 

the lower Yukon River. 

During the early days, just after the discoveries 

· at Nome, the port of St. Michael was the terminus 

and supply center for prospectors embarking on 

trips up the Yukon River or along the coastline of 

the Seward Peninsula. A portage to the upper Anvik River, one of the Yukon tributaries, greatly 

shortened the trip to the goldfields at Dawson and 

elsewhere on the upper Yukon by eliminating travel 

along several hundred miles of meanders on the 

lower Yukon River. Thus, except for a few itinerant prospectors and traders, the Marshall district 

was rather thinly settled and sparsely prospected. 

In 1913, however, gold was discovered on Wilson 

Creek in the Marshall district (Harrington,. 1918, 

p. 56). The usual rush followed. Additional placers 

were found on Willow Creek, and the first production was in 1914. Lode deposits were found in 1914, 

and a small shipment was made that same year 

(Harrington, 1918, p. 57). The quartz veins did not 

warrant extensive development; at any rate, lode 

production for the district is unrecorded. 

After the first few years of near-bonanza placer 

production, activity slackened, was rejuvenated 

briefly in the late 1930's, then declined after World 

War II. In 1957 there was only small-scale activity 

in the Marshall district. Total recorded gold production through 1957 was 113,200 ounces, all from 

placers. The district was idle in 1958 and 1959. 

Much of the bedrock in the Marshall district is 

greenstone and intercalated sedimentary rocks of 

Carboniferous age (Harrington, 1918, p. 22-26). 

These rocks are cut by several stocks and dikes of 

granite, quartz diorite, and dacite of possible Jurassic or Tertiary age (Harrington, 1918, p. 45-46). 

Cretaceous sandstone and argillite, somewhat metamorphosed, occur adjacent to the greenstone 

throughout much of the district. The most abun-
30 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

dant rock type exposed in the district is the uncon- mining was done on Little Minook Creek (Hess, in 

solidated material deposited during Quaternary Prindle and Hess, 1906, p. 26). Smith (1933, table 

time by the debris-laden streams issuing from the facing p. 96), however, does not report any prohuge glaciers of the interior of the Yukon River duction until 1904. The district reached its peak of 

basin (Harrington, 1918, p. 36-44). activity before 1910; after that time, production 

N ABESN A DISTRICT 

The Nabesna district is between lat 62°10' and 

62°30' N. and long 142°40' and 143°10' W. 

Gold had been known in this district since 1899, 

but there was no significant production until 1931 

when the first shipments were made from the 

N abesna mine, the lone producer of the district. 

Credit for the discovery is given to a bear who 

exposed the moss-covered outcrop of the principal 

vein while digging out a gopher. The property was 

developed by C. F. Whithan, who formed the 

Nabesna Mining Co. in 1929 and began shipping 

ore in 1931 (Wayland, 1943, p. 176-177). By 1939, 

much of the vein was worked out and in 1940 production halted. Additional exploration and development work in the district apparently was unsuccessful for there has been no further production reported. In its brief history the Nabesna district 

produced about 63,300 ounces of gold, all from 

lodes. 

The rocks in the vicinity of the mine consist of 

the Nabesna Limestone of Late Triassic age and 

basaltic lavas and shale of possible Permian age 

(Wayland, 1943, p. 177). A few small bodies of 

quartz diorite cut the limestone. The thick Wrangell 

Lava of Tertiary and Quaternary ages unconformably overlies these rocks. Moraine and fluvial sediments of Quaternary age are found in all the 

stream valleys. 

The ore bodies are in contact-metamorphosed 

limestone near the largest of the quartz diorite intrusives (Wayland, 1943, p. 183-191). Ore deposits 

are of three types: bodies of magnetite with pyrite, 

calcite, and some gold; veins and bodies of pyrrhotite with minor pyrite and gold; and gold-bearing 

pyrite veins in tactite or along intrusive contacts. 

The third type is the most important and has accounted for most of the production of the Nabesna 

mine. 

RAMPART DISTRICT 

The Rampart district, between lat 65°15' and 

65°40' N. and long 149°40' and 150°40' W., joins 

the Hot Springs district on the north. 

Gold was discovered in the gravels of Minook 

Creek and Hess River and their tributaries in 1882, 

but for the succeeding 10 years nothing was done 

to develop the placers. In the early 1890's more discoveries were made and finally in 1896 the first 

decreased, and in the 1950's only a few hundred 

ounces per year were mined. Total gold production 

through 1959 was 86,800 ounces from placers. 

There are no workable lode deposits in the district. 

The geology of the district, as summarized by 

Mertie (1934, p. 172-173) , is chiefly the same as 

that of the Hot Springs district. Consolidated sedimentary rocks-which range in age from pre-Ordovician to Tertiary and include sandstone, shale, conglomerate, chert, limestone, and coal-bearing rocks 

-compose the bulk of the bedrock. These are intruded locally by granite of Tertiary age. The major placer.s are along Minook Creek and its tributaries and along Quail Creek, one of the tributaries 

of Troublesome Creek. 

Several prominent stream terraces containing 

low-grade gold deposits occur along the Minook 

Creek valley, but most production has come from 

gravels at present stream levels along Little Minook 

Creek (Mertie, 1934, p. 181). 

RUBY DISTRICT 

The Ruby district is between lat 63°40' and 64° 

45' N. and long 154°40' and 156°20' W. 

The first discoveries of gold in this district were 

made in 1907 along Ruby Creek (Mertie, 1936, 

p. 144). These placers were soon exhausted, but 

other discoveries in 1910 along Long Creek and in 

1912 along Poorman Creek kept the district flourishing (Mertie, 1936, p. 145, 159). Underground 

drifting, sluicing, and hydraulic methods have been 

used to mine the gravels. Although production decreased somewhat in recent years, the district was 

still producing substantially through 1959. Total 

gold production through 1959 was 389,100 ounces, 

all from placers. 

Undifferentiated metamorphic rocks, including 

schist, phyllite, slate, quartzite, chert, and limestone, are mainly of Paleozoic age and are the predominant bedrock types in the Ruby district (Mertie and Harrington, 1924, p. 12). A complex of 

greenstone derived from basic igneous rocks, believed to be Mississippian in age (Mertie and Harrington, 1924, p. 59), is exposed throughout the 

district. A few granite stocks of Mesozoic ( ?) age 

intrude both the Paleozoic rock units. The generalized structure is an anticline trending northeast 

and plunging to the southwest. 

Numerous quartz veins are in the country rocks; 
ALASKA 31 

some undoubtedly contain gold and could be regarded as the source of the gold in the placers. The 

distribution of the placers, however, does not directly coincide with areas of abundant veins, so that 

no clear relationship is apparent (Mertie and Harrington, 1924, p. 121). Nearly all the placer deposits are buried discontinuous bodies that occur 

mostly in fairly wide valleys. They were formed by 

streams older than those now occupying the valleys 

(Mertie, 1936, p. 144). 

RICHARDSON DISTRICT 

The Richardson (or Tenderfoot) district is between lat 64°15' and 64°25' N. and long 146°00' 

and 146°40' W., about 60 miles southeast of Fairbanks, along the Tanana River. 

This is a little-known district, about which only 

a few brief accounts have been written. According 

to Prindle (in Prindle and Katz, 1913, p. 141) gold 

was discovered in the gravels of Tenderfoot Creek 

in 1905 and for the following 4 years the gold production was probably "$300,000 or $400,000 annually." Smith (1933, table facing p. 96), however, 

reported a much more conservative figure. Productive deposits also were found along Buckeye and 

Democrat Creeks. Activity declined after the initial 

boom period and in recent years the productionf 

which is low, has been combined with that of the 

Fairbanks district. Total recorded production for 

the district through 1959 was 64,300 ounces, all 

from placers. 

Prindle (in Prindle and Katz, 1913, p. 140-141) 

noted that the bedrock in the district is Birch 

Creek Schist of Precambrian age (Mertie, 1937, 

p. 46). Numerous small quartz veins, some of which 

carry gold and sulfides, occur in the schist. Just 

west of the district are some large granitic masses 

(Prindle, in Prindle and Katz, 1913, p. 140-141). 

The placers are along present streams in the area. 

TOI,OV AN A DISTRICT 

The Tolovana district is between lat 65°20' and 

65°45' N. and long 147°50' and 149°00' W. in the 

upper drainage of the Tolovana River, a tributary 

of the Tanana. 

Brooks (1916, p. 201) reported that placer gold 

had been found in this area as early as 1892 but that 

no interest was aroused until 1914, when placers 

along Livengood Creek were discovered. Mining began in 1915 and was substantially increased the 

following year with the development of the deposits 

on .Livengood Creek and others on Gertrude, Ruth, 

Lillian, and Olive Creeks (Mertie, 1918, p. 256). 

The district continued to prosper and it was still 

productive on a small scale in 1959. Total gold production through 1959 was 375,000 ounces, all from 

placers. 

The bedrock in the Tolovana district is distributed 

in several bands or belts that cross the area in a 

northeasterly direction. The oldest rocks in the district crop out in the southeast ; the rocks become 

successively younger in a northwesterly direction. 

Briefly, the bedrock units consist of the Tatalina 

Group, of Cambrian or Precambrian age, Devonian 

and Silurian ( ?) sedimentary and igneous rocks, a 

chert unit of Devonian or Carboniferous age, and 

Carboniferous arenaceous and argillaceous units 

(Mertie, 1918, p. 230-256). 

Igneous rocks, chiefly basic, occupy a considerable area in the northwestern part of the district. 

Small bodies of granitic intrusives are scattered 

throughout most of the district. In the stream valleys, unconsolidated deposits of sand and gravel 

were deposited during several stages in the Quaternary geomorphic cycle. The earlier of these are only 

remnants and are seen as benches along the valley 

walls (Mertie, 1918, p. 230-231). 

Gold placers in the district are in bench and 

stream deposits (Mertie, 1918, p. 259). The bench 

deposits have been the more productive. The gold 

in the placers of Tolovana was derived from lowgrade lode deposits at the heads of many of the 

tributary streams (Mertie, 1918, p. 274-275). 

PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND REGION 

The Prince William Sound region is along the 

southern coast of Alaska, immediately east of the 

Kenai Peninsula. It is a constricted area between 

the rugged Chugach Mountains on the north and 

that part of the Gulf of Alaska known as Prince 

William Sound. In this region copper and gold are 

the chief mineral commodities, and the notable 

mining districts are Port Wells, Port Valdez, and 

Ellamar. Only Port Valdez is shown on the index 

map (fig. 5) because it is the only district that has 

produced any significant quantities of gold. 

The earliest record of gold production in the 

Prince William Sound region was in 1894, when 

some placers were worked on a small scale near 

Port Valdez (Brooks, A. H., in Grant and Higgins, 

1910, p. 72). A few years later other small placers 

were found in the Port Wells district. Auriferous 

veins were found here in 1907, and in the following 

6 years numerous properties were developed and 

small shipments were made (Johnson, 1914, p. 214-

215). The Cliff mine, staked in 1906 in the Port 

Valdez district, became the largest gold producer 
32 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

in the district in the early years (Moffit, 1954, p. the Valdez and Orca Groups. At Port Wells, gold 

228, 304). occurs in quartz veins and stringers that occupy 

The copper ores at Ellamar and La Touche Island fissures in slate, graywacke, and conglomerate. 

carry variable amounts of gold (Grant and Higgins, Mineralization probably is late Mesozoic or Tertiary 

1910, p. 71), but the amount produced from this in age, closely associated with granitic intrusions 

source could not be determined. (Moffit, 1954, p. 295). Vein minerals are pyrite, 

Gold production from this region reached its galena, sphalerite, pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, stibnite, 

zenith before 1920. Thereafter, except for a slight chalcopyrite, gold, and silver in a gangue of quartz. 

revival in the late 1930's, output has dwindled. No The copper deposits of Prince William Sound, 

production was reported for 1957-59. Total recorded which have yielded moderate amounts of gold, occur 

gold production was 137,600 ounces, all from lode as impregnations or replacement bodies usually 

mines or as a byproduct from copper mines. Pro- along zones of shearing in the country rock. Chalduction data for individual districts have not been copyrite and pyrrhotite are ubiquitous, pyrite is 

found. It is fairly certain that the Port Valdez dis- common, and galena, sphalerite, bornite, chalcocite, 

trict has produced most of the lode gold from this native copper, cuprite, and malachite are present 

region; however, it is not known how much of the in small amounts. The nonmetallic minerals in these 

total gold production was a byproduct from copper deposits are quartz, calcite, epidote, and chlorite 

ores of Ellamar, La Touche, or elsewhere. (Grant and Higgins, 1910, p. 53-54). 

Numerous fiords along the irregular coastline and 

glaciated islands that dot Prince William Sound ARIZONA 

give evidence of a once extensive ice covering in Arizona, from 1860 through 1965, produced a total 

this region (Grant and Higgins, 1910, p. 18-19). of about 13,321,000 ounces of gold and in 1965 

In the northern part of the region, especially in ranked eighth among the gold-producing States. As 

the Port Wells district, several ice tongues still in the other Western States, the first discoveries of 

travel far enough down the valleys to meet the sea. gold were placer deposits. Shortly afterward lode 

The rocks of this region consist of two loosely deposits were discovered in most districts, and they 

defined groups of low-rank metasedimentary rocks furnished the bulk of the early gold output of the 

of Mesozoic age, distinguished from one another by State. From 1900 through 1965, however, most of 

minor differences in gross lithologic characteristics Arizona's annual gold production came as a byand by differences in metamorphism (Moffit, 1954, product from the large-scale mining of porphyry 

p. 234-250). These rocks have been complexly copper ores (fig. 6). 

folded, faulted, and intruded by basaltic and granitic Unless stated to the contrary, throughout this 

igneous rocks. . chapter on Arizona, production data to 1932 are 

The Valdez Group is composed predominantly of from Elsing and Heineman (1936) and for 1932-65 

graywacke, slate, and argillite, with subordinate from U.S. Bureau of Mines ( 1933-66). 

siliceous and carbonaceous slate, feldspathic quartz- Deposits of silver and copper in Arizona were 

ite, and a few beds of conglomerate and impure known to the Indians and Spaniards long before 

limestone. The rocks are metamorphosed locally to the Territory was acquired by the United States 

schist and phyllite. The Orca Group consists domi- (S. R. E. Heineman, in Arizona Bureau of Mines, 

nantly of slate and graywacke, and in places green- 1938, p. 26-27). Because of the inaccessibility of 

stone and conglomerate are major components. the area, lack of water, and Indian raids, only a 

Though the rocks of the Orca Group are intensely small amount of prospecting was done by Americans 

folded and faulted, their metamorphism seems to be in the 1850's, mostly near the old Mexican settlerelated to igneous intrusions rather than regional ments of Tucson and Tubac, and in the Dome (Gila 

tectonism. The distinction and separation of the City) district where rich placers were discovered 

Valdez and Orca Groups cannot be consistently in 1858 (Wilson, 1952, p. 18). Little or no lode gold 

made everywhere in the region (Moffit, 1954, p. was mined in these early years. During the Civil 

234-273). The ages and stratigraphic relations of War, prospectors among the California troops in 

these two groups have not been clearly established; Arizona organized parties to hunt for gold. In 1862 

however, the meager paleontological evidence sug- . · rich placer deposits were found near the Colorado 

gests a Late Cretaceous age for both groups (Moffit, River at La Paz in western Yuma County, and from 

1954, p. 273-275). 1862 to 1870 other placer deposits were found in 

The gold-bearing quartz veins of the Port Valdez Yavapai County. Included among these were the 

district are found in slates and graywackes of both ·Weaver-Rich Hill, Lynx Creek-Walker, Hassayampa-
ARIZONA 33 

400.-------,---------.---------.---------,--------,---------,----- ----,---------,---, 

- --------- Production from porphyry copper districts ----------------------------+! 

300 

(/) 

w 

() 

z 

;:) 

0 

~200 (/) 

0 

z 

<l: 

(/) 

;:) 

0 

I 

fOL_------~--------~--------~~------L_ ________ L_ ______ ~--------~---------L--~ 

1881 1890 1900 1910' 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1965 

YEAR 

FIGURE 6.-Annual gold production of Arizona, 1881-1965. Sources of data: U.S. Geological Survey (1883-1924) and U.S. 

Bureau of Mines (1925-34, 1933-66). Production reported in dollar value was converted to ounces at prevailing price 

per ounce. 

Groom Creek, Big Bug, and several smaller deposits 

in the Bradshaw Mountains (Wilson, 1952, p. 15, 

38). In 1863 also many gold lodes were discovered 

in the Bradshaw Mountains in Yavapai County and 

in the Oatman district in Mohave County. With the 

end of the Civil War, troops were withdrawn from 

the territory, and warfare between the white settlers and the Indians prevented much mining until 

1872, when a truce was declared (Tenney, 1934, 

p. 16). 

High prices for silver and copper in the 1870's 

and the completion of two transcontinental railroads-the Southern Pacific and the Atchison, 

Topeka and Santa Fe--across Arizona in 1881 

stimulated exploration which resulted in the discovery of many major deposits. In the general 

depression of 1884-93 and after the demonitization 

of silver in 1893, copper and silver mining declined 

but gold mining increased. By the early 1900's 

commodity prices again became favorable, and 

several companies were organized to mine the large 

low-grade porphyry copper deposits that have been 

the principal source of gold in Arizona (Tenney, 

1934, p. 17). 

In Arizona 42 districts in 10 counties produced 

in excess of 10,000 ounces of gold (fig. 7) ; many 

additional districts are credited with smaller 

amounts. According to Wilson, Cunningham, and 

Butler (1934, p. 13), nearly 80 percent of the 

State's lode gold production and much of the placer 

gold has come from deposits that occur in a 

northeast-trending belt called the mountain region 

by Ransome (1903, p. 15-16), which is about 65 

miles wide and borders the southwest margin of 

the Colorado Plateau. Within this belt the deformed 

Precambrian rocks have been tilted, intensely 

faulted, and intruded by masses of igneous rocks. 

In the desert region, southwest of the mountain 

region, the deposits are widely scattered. 

The gold deposits of Arizona are of several types. 

In the San Francisco and Kofa districts gold deposits occur in epithermal quartz-calcite veins of 

Tertiary age. The Weaver, Vulture, Harquahala, 

Gila City, Wallapai, and Dos Cabezas districts are 

representatives of mesothermal vein systems of 

Mesozoic or Tertiary age with sulfide-quartz veins 

rich in silver and gold. In the porphyry copper 

deposits-in the districts of Ajo, Bisbee, CliftonMorenci, Globe-Miami, Ray, San Manuel, and Superior-the ore bodies are of late Mesozoic or Tertiary 

age and are in intrusive bodies of quartz monzonite 

and the adjacent country rocks. The porphyry 

copper deposit at Jerome is of Precambrian age. 

Replacement deposits, rich in gold, silver, and base 

metals, occur near granitic intrusives in the Tombstone, Big Bug, Turquoise, Banner, and Agua Fria 

districts. 
84 

I 

I 

,---\. ) .16' -\ / 

I ' 

I 

I 

I 

) 

wJ 

I 

J 

.12 

.u 

0 

J ]4' 

PRINCIPAL GOLD~PRODUCING DISTRtcTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

50 100 MILES 

FIGUQE 7.-Gold-wining districts of Arizona. 

I 

~ 

I 

I 

r 
ARIZONA 35 

COCHISE COUNTY 

Cochise County, third among the gold-producing 

counties of Arizona, produced approximately 2,-

723,000 ounces of gold from the beginning of 

mining in the county in about 1879 to the end of 

1959. Of this amount, about $24,275,000 (1,174,408 

ounces) was a byproduct of copper ores, mainly 

from the Bisbee district (Wilson and others, 1934, 

p. 117), and about 950 ounces was from placers. 

Other districts that have produced more thari 10,000 

ounces of gold are the Turquoise (Courtland, 

Gleeson), Dos Cabezas, and Tombstone. 

BISBEE DISTRICT 

The Bisbee (or Warren) district is in the southeastern Mule Mountains, in the southern part of the 

county, immediately north of the Mexican border. 

Although . the Bisbee district was the largest gold 

producer in Arizona in 1959, most of its gold was a 

byproduct of copper ore. 

Though lead carbonate ore was discovered in the 

district about 1876, there was little activity in the 

area until after 1880 when rail connections, generally favorable business conditions, and copper prices 

encouraged prospecting. The Copper Queen ore 

body, found in 1877, was developed in 1880. In 

subsequent years the Copper Queen Mining Co., 

under the control of Phelps, Dodge, & Co., acquired 

other properties in the district and became the leading producer (Ransome, 1904, p. 13-15). In 1900 

the Calumet and Arizona Co., another major producer, was organized. In 1902 a custom smelter 

was erected at Douglas, and some of the smaller 

mining companies, among them the Shattuck and 

Denn, were started. At the end of 1931 the two 

largest companies, the Copper Queen and the Calumet and Arizona, were consolidated as the Phelps 

Dodge Corp., Copper Queen Branch (J. B. Tenney, 

in International Geological Congress, 1935, p. 222). 

Cochise County: 

1, Bisbee; 2, Turquoise; 3, Tombstone; 4, Dos Cabezas. 

Gila County: 

5, Banner; 6, Globe-Miami. 

Greenlee County: 

7, Ash Peak; 8, Clifton-Morenci. 

Maricopa County: 

9, Cave Creek; 10, Vulture. 

Mohave County: 

11, San Francisco; 12, Wallapai; 13, Weaver; 14, 

Gold Basin. 

Pima County: 

15, Ajo; 16, Greaterville. 

In 1947 the Denn mine was sold to the Phelps Dodge 

Corp., and in 1949 the custom mill of the Shattuck 

Denn Mining Corp. was closed, leaving the Phelps 

Dodge Corp. as the only large producer in the district. Phelps Dodge maintained large-scale operations through 1959. 

The gold production of the Bisbee district before 

1895 was not ascertained. From 1895 through 1929 

the district produced 1,110,058 ounces of gold 

(J. B. Tenney, in International Geological Congress, 1935, p. 222) and from 1930 to 1959, a total 

of 1,082,765 ounces was produced. Total gold pro:-

duction through 1959 was about 2,193,000 ounces. 

The oldest rocks in the Bisbee district are the 

Pinal Schist and a granite of Precambrian age. 

These are unconformably overlain by about 5,250 

feet of Paleozoic rocks which in turn are unconformably overlain by about 4, 750 feet of Cretaceous 

sedimentary rocks. The Paleozoic rocks consist of 

about 430 feet of Cambrian quartzite, succeeded 

by about 4,800 feet of limestones of Cambrian, Devonian, and Carboniferous age. In pre-Cretaceous 

time, folding and faulting occurred, and in postCretaceous time the rocks were warped· and dislocated by thrusts and normal faults of moderate 

throw (Ransome, 1904, p. 24-73, 106--108). Dikes, 

sills, and stocks of granite porphyry intrude the 

Paleozoic rocks, but their relation to the Cretaceous 

rocks is not clearly revealed (Tenney, in Ransome 

and others, 1932, p. 46-47; 0. N. Rove, in Newhouse, 1942, p. 211-212). The main stock of granite 

porphyry is exposed on Sacramento Hill, the principal and most productive center of mineralization. 

The stock was intruded in the plane of the easttrending Dividend fault, a dominant structural 

feature of the district. Surrounding the intrusive 

mass is a zone, ranging from a few feet to 1,000 

feet in thickness, of contact breccia composed of 

rounded and angular fragments of the intruded 

rocks. The border of the porphyry, the contact 

Pinal County: 

17, Mammoth; 18, Ray; 19, Superior. 

Santa Cruz County: 

20, Oro Blanco. 

Yavapai County: 

21, Tiptop; 22, Black Canyon; 23, Pine Grove-Tiger; 

24, Peck; 25, Black Rock; 26, Weaver-Rich Hill; 

27, Martineez; 28, Agua Fria; 29, Big Bug; 30, Lynx 

Creek-Walker; 31, Hassayampa-Groom Creek; 32, 

Jerome; 33, Eureka. 

Yuma County: 

34, Cienega; 35, La Paz; 36, Plomosa; 37, Ellsworth; 

38, Kofa; 39, Castle Dome; 40, Laguna; 41, Dome; 

42, Fortuna. 

FIGURE 7.--Continued 
36 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

breccia, and the adjacent limestone are all silicified. 

Surrounding this silicified zone is a chloritized zone 

that grades outward into a marbleized zone in the 

limestone. 

The most productive ore zone lies south of the 

Dividend fault and the ore bodies are arranged in a 

semicircle around the stock on Sacramento Hill. 

The copper ore occurs in irregular replacement 

bodies in the Paleozoic limestones, in the contact 

breccia, and as disseminated sulfides in the granite 

porphyry (Tenney, in Ransome and others, 1932, 

p. 56-57; C. Trischka, in Arizona Bureau of Mines, 

1938, p. 38-40). A few deposits are at some distance 

from Sacramento Hill and are associated with small 

porphyry bodies (J. B. Tenney, in International 

Geological Congress, 1935, p. 228). 

The oxidized ores consist of a blanket of copper 

carbonates, cuprite, copper, limonite, and local chalcocite that extends from the surface to depths of 

several hundred feet, and in one place to more than 

2,000 feet (Tenney, in Ransome and others, 1932, 

p. 61). The zone of secondary sulfide enrichment 

contains bornite, chalcopyrite, chalcocite, and a 

little sphalerite and galena. The disseminated primary ore contains quartz, pyrite, chalcopyrite, and 

bornite. Most of the gold recovered in current 

mining operations is very fine grained and is probably allied with the sulfides. Ransome (1904, p. 121) 

reported concentrations of native gold in the Cretaceous Glance Conglomerate and Morita Formation 

as well as in Recent placers derived from weathering of these formations. The main ore deposit at 

Sacramento Hill forms an inclined blanket which 

is enriched toward the bottom, where the contact 

with the sparsely mineralized, sericitized porphyry 

is sharp (J. B. Tenney, in International Geological 

Congress, 1935, p. 228). 

DOS CABE7.AS DISTRICT 

The Dos Cabezas district is 18 miles southeast of 

Wilcox in the Dos Cabezas Mountains. 

Gold deposits discovered before the Civil War 

were worked intermittently after the 1870's and 

yielded about $182,000 (8,835 ounces) through 1932 

(Wilson and others, 1934, p. 117). The first workings were probably in the Teviston placers on the 

north side of the mountains, though most of the 

gold came from lodes rich in copper, silver, and 

lead near the village of Dos Cabezas. The district 

was most active during 1914-20 and 1931-36. No 

production was reported for 1956-59. Total gold 

production was at least 15,000 ounces. 

In the Dos Cabezas Mountains a complexly folded 

and faulted section of Precambrian granite and 

gneiss and Paleozoic and Cretaceous sedimentary 

rocks is cut by granitic intrusives of Late Cretaceous or Tertiary age (Cooper and others, 1959). 

The ore deposits occur in veins in the Precambrian 

granite and Cretaceous sedimentary rocks and are 

apparently related to rhyolite porphyry and diabase 

dikes of Tertiary age. Vein minerals are galena, 

pyrite, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite in a gangue of 

coarse-textured, white to grayish-white quartz. 

Most of the gold is in the galena. 

TOMBSTONE DISTRICT 

The Tombstone district, about 20 miles northwest 

of Bisbee in the Tombstone Hills, includes a group 

of low scattered mountains that extend northwestward from the Mule Mountains. Ores rich in silver 

were discovered in the Tombstone district in 1877, 

and the mines and camp developed rapidly. Tombstone produced more than $5 million worth of ore 

per year in 1881 and 1882, but by 1886 many of the 

larger ore bodies were either mined out or mined to 

water level and production decreased sharply, although the district was a steady producer through 

1953. During 1879-86 the yield of silver, gold, and 

lead ore was valued at about $19 million (Butler 

and others, 1938, p. 38). 

By 1900 many of the properties had been combined under one ownership, and an attempt was 

made to develop the deposits below water level, but 

this did not prove profitable and was abandoned 

in 1911 (Butler and others, 1938, p. 38-48). Production was stimulated during World War I and by 

the increased price of gold in 1934, but from 1948 

through 1959 the district was unimportant. 

Total gold production through 1959 was about 

271,200 ounces, most of which was mined from 

1879 through 1932 (Wilson and others, 1934, p. 

122). 

The oldest rocks in ·the district are scattered 

patches of Precambrian Pinal Schist and of albite 

granite, which are overlain by Paleozoic sedimentary rocks that include the Bolsa Quartzite and 

Abrigo Limestone of Cambrian . age, the Martin 

Limestone of Devonian age, the Escabrosa and 

Horquilla Limestones of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian ages respectively, the Earp Formation of 

Pennsylvanian and Permian age, and the Colina 

Limestone and Epitaph Dolomite of Permian age. 

These rocks were folded and faulted in postPaleozoic pre-Cretaceous time, and then the Bisbee 

Formation of Cretaceous age was deposited. At the 

end of Cretaceous time the rocks were cut by 

thrust faults that trend east and northwest (Gilluly, 

1956, p. 128-132). The Uncle Sam Porphyry of 
ARIZONA 37 

early Tertiary age was injected along a thrust, and 

slightly later the Schieffelin Granodiorite of probable early or middle Tertiary age (Gilluly, 1956, 

p. 104) intruded the area. Patches of volcanics of 

Miocene age are exposed to the east of Tombstone. 

In Pliocene time the rocks were again faulted, this 

time by great normal faults that are responsible 

for the present major topographical features 

(Gilluly, 1956, p. 158-160). 

The ore deposits are associated with dikes that 

are believed to be related to the Schieffelin Granodiorite (Butler and others, 1938, p. 26-28). Ore 

occurs as replacement bodies in limestones and 

porphyry, and as fissure fillings. The oxidized ores 

contain hematite, limonite, cerussite, horn silver, 

gold and locally abundant argentiferous galena, 

sphalerite, pyrite, alabandite, malachite, chrysocolla, 

psilomelane, and wulfenite. Most of the gold occurs 

as native gold in very fine particles (Wilson and 

others, 1934, p. 123-124). 

TURQUOISE DISTRICT 

The Turquoise (Courtland, Gleeson) mining district lies on the east side of the Dragoon Mountains, 

about 14 miles due east of Tombstone and about 

18 miles north-northeast of Bisbee. During the 

1880's mines near Gleeson produced oxidized ore 

rich in gold, silver, lead, and copper, and in 1901 

mining of copper deposits near Courtland was 

started. Mixed oxide-sulfide ore was mined on a 

large scale from 1912 through 1918, but thereafter 

activity declined and remained at a low level 

through 1955. The district was idle from 1956 

through 1959. Early gold production figures were 

not ascertained, but from 1908 through 1955 the 

district produced about 70,000 ounces. 

The northwest-trending Dragoon Mountains are 

composed primarily of contorted and faulted Paleozoic sedimentary rocks and intrusive masses of 

monzonitic and granitic rocks of Triassic or Jurassic and Cretaceous or Tertiary age. The Paleozoic 

formations are the Bolsa Quartzite and Abrigo 

Limestone of Camb1·ian age, the Escabrosa Limestone of Mississippian age, the Horquilla Limestones 

of Pennsylvanian age, the Earp Formation of Late 

Pennsylvanian and Permian age, and the Colina 

Limestone and Epitaph Dolomite of Permian age 

( Gilluly, 1956, p. 14-49). In the interval between 

the end of the Paleozoic and the beginning of the 

Cretaceous the rocks were deformed and intruded 

by masses of Gleeson Quartz Monzonite, Copper 

Belle Monzonite Porphyry, and Turquoise Granite, 

all of Triassic or Jurassic age. The Sugarloaf 

Quartz Latite was probably intruded at the end of 

Cretaceous time, In early Tertiary time the rocks 

were displaced by strong northwest-trending thrust 

faults, and in Pliocene time normal faulting occurred which formed the major topographic features of the present (Gilluly, 1956, p. 159, 160). 

The ore bodies are pyritic replacement deposits 

in limestone, shale, and porphyry along thrust 

faults. Some of the deposits are oxidized and consist 

of masses of iron and copper oxides containing cavities lined with chrysocolla, malachite, and azurite. 

The unoxidized deposits are mainly pyrite and chalcopyrite with local accumulations of bornite, sphalerite, and galena (Ransome, 1913). The gold occurs 

as very finely divided particles in all the ores; in the 

oxidized deposits some gold is contained in cerargyrite (Wilson, 1927, p. 39, 50). 

GILA COUNTY 

Gila County, in mountainous east-central Arizona, 

ranks eighth among the gold-producing counties of 

the State with a total of about 240,500 ounces produced through 1959. Most of the gold has been a 

byproduct of copper ores mined from the GlobeMiami district; a lesser amount has come from 

copper ores of the Banner district. Placers have 

yielded an insignificant amount. 

BANNER DISTRICT 

The Banner (Christmas) district lies in the extreme southern tip of Gila County at the southeast 

end of the Dripping Springs Mountains. 

Many of the deposits have been known and 

worked intermittently since the 1870's, but little ore 

was shipped before 1900 (Ross, 1925, p. 29). The 

district is noted for its copper mines from which 

lead, silver, and gold were produced as byproducts. 

The Christmas mine, discovered in 1880 and operated intermittently through 1954, is the major mine 

in the district. Total gold production from 1905 

through 1959 was about 26,000 ounces. 

Small patches of Precambrian granite are exposed 

beneath a thick section of the Apache Group of 

late Precambrian age, Martin Limestone of Devonian age, and Tornado Limestone of Carboniferous 

age. The area of the Christmas mine is blanketed 

by sandstone, breccia, andesite, and basalt of Cretaceous age, which are overlain by patches of 

Tertiary bedded rocks consisting of tuff, conglomerate, basalt, and rhyolite. The Paleozoic and Cretaceous rocks throughout the district are cut by 

dikes and small masses of quartz-hornblende diorite 

and quartz-mica diorite of Cretaceous age. The 

rocks were slightly folded in post-Pennsylvanian 

time; more pronounced folding occurred in Late 
38 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

Cretaceous time. This was followed by faulting 

which continued through much of Tertiary time 

(Ross, 1925, p. 6-29). 

The important deposits of the district are pyritic 

gold deposits in shear zones and contact metamorphic deposits such as those at the Christmas and 

Landon-Arizona mines. The pyritic gold deposits 

are principally in Cretaceous volcanic rocks, 

whereas the · contact metamorphic deposits are 

mostly in Paleozoic carbonate rocks. Both types are 

near or adjacent to bodies of quartz-mica diorite. 

Pyrite and local chalcopyrite, magnetite, and specularite are the principal minerals of the pyritic deposits. The contact metamorphic deposits contain a 

variety of minerals, including magnetite, specularite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, sphalerite, galena, fluorite, chalcedony, and lime silicate minerals. In both 

types the richest ore has been in the oxidized parts 

(Ross, 1925, p. 32-39). 

GJ,OBE-MIAMI DISTRICT 

The Globe-Miami district, in the foothills of the 

Pinal and Apache Mountains in the southwestern 

part of Gila County, is noted primarily for its copper deposits which have yielded considerable 

amounts of gold, silver, and lead. 

The discovery of the Globe claim in 187 4 marked 

the first activity in the area, and for a time thereafter interest centered on small silver and gold 

prospects. In 1882 copper deposits on the Old DoT 

minion and Buffalo veins were mined. Development 

was considerably stimulated in 1898, when the first 

railroad reached Globe. In 1904 development was 

begun on the large low-grade disseminated copper 

deposits, which by 1911 were mined on a large 

scale (Ransome, 1919, p. 19-21). These operations 

continued with undiminished vigor through 1959 

and resulted in an output of copper, lead, silver, 

gold, and zinc worth more than a billion dollars 

(Peterson, 1962, p. 81, 82). Total gold production 

through 1959 was 191,801 ounces. 

Lower Precambrian rocks, consisting of the Pinal 

Schist, Madera Diorite, Ruin Granite, and an unnamed granite, are the oldest rocks exposed in the 

district. These are overlain by the Apache Group 

and Troy Quartzite, of late Precambrian age, and 

are intruded by dikes and sills of diabase of later 

Precambrian age (A. F. Shride, oral commun., 

1962). The Paleozoic System is represented by the 

Devonian Martin Limestone, the Mississippian Escabrosa Limestone, and the Pennsylvanian Naco 

Limestone. Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary 

time was marked by igneous intrusives including 

the Solitude Granite, Willow Spring Granodiorite, 

biotite granodiorite of Gold Gulch, and Lost Gulch 

Quartz Monzonite. These events were followed in 

later Tertiary time by faulting, intrusion of porphyry dikes, and then emplacement of the Schultze 

Granite and of a granite porphyry. Extensive mineralization followed this granitic intrusion. The 

Whitetail Conglomerate of Tertiary(?) age and 

younger volcanic tuffs and dacite flows or welded 

tuffs (Peterson, 1962, p. 40-41) unconformably 

overlie all the older rocks. Faulting again occurred, 

after which the alluvial Gila Conglomerate of Tertiary and Quaternary age was deposited and later 

basalt flows were extruded over part of the area. 

The most important ore deposits of the GlobeMiami district are disseminated copper deposits in 

the granite porphyry of the Schultze Granite and 

in the adjacent country rocks. More than 80 percent of the value of metals mined in the district has 

come from such deposits, of which the major examples are the Miami-Inspiration, Castle Dome, 

Copper Cities and Cactus deposits. In mineralized 

areas the rocks are shattered, and the closely spaced 

fractures are filled with quartz, pyrite, chalcopyrite, 

and molybdenite. In areas of more intense mineralization the rocks are argillized and sericitized, and 

much pyrite has been replaced by chalcocite. Most 

ore bodies are the result of supergene enrichment 

in which copper has been leached by ground water 

from an oxidized zone and redeposited as chalcocite 

and covellite (Peterson, 1962, p. 82-83). Very small 

amounts of gold are contained in these ores. 

Before 1904 the important deposits of the district were copper-bearing veins of the Old Dominion vein system, in the Globe Hill area. These veins 

are along faults and fissures that cut Precambrian 

and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, and the ore shoots 

are localized in intervals of favorable host rock, 

mainly Paleozoic limestone. The principal hypogene 

minerals of these deposits are quartz, pyrite, chalcopyrite, bornite, and specular hematite; sphalerite, 

galena, tetrahedrite, and enargite are locally present in small amounts. These ores were also enriched 

in copper by supergene processes. Considerable 

native gold was recovered from the gossan of these 

ores (Peterson, 1962, p. 69, 97, 98). 

Deposits of copper silicates and carbonates 

formed by meteoric waters are important sources 

of copper in the district, but no gold has been reported from them. 

GREENLEE COUNTY 

Greenlee County is in southeastern Arizona just 

west of the New Mexico State boundary. It was 

organized from part of Graham County in 1910. 
ARIZONA 39 

Copper is the metal of principal importance, but 

the county has also produced significant amounts of 

gold and silver. The total gold production of the 

county from 1882 through 1959 was about 228,000 

ounces, almost all of which was a byproduct from 

the copper ores of the Clifton-Morenci district, one 

of the most productive copper camps in Arizona. 

A small amount of gold was derived from the silver 

ores in .the Ash Peak district. 

Placer mining was attempted several times in the 

Clifton-Morenci district, but the results were discouraging. The total recorded placer gold output is 

about 1,000 ounces. 

ASH PEAK DISTRICT 

The Ash Peak district is 12 miles west of Duncan. 

Records indicate that the deposits were exploited 

as early as 1907, but only silver was produced during these early operations (Elsing and Heineman, 

1936, p. 93; V. C. Heikes, in U.S. Geological Survey, 

1907, p. 161). Extensive development work was 

done in 1918 (Lines, 1940, p. 3), but the results 

appear to have been discouraging. Mining was resumed from 1936 through 1954, resulting in the 

recovery of 11,296 ounces of gold. The district was 

again inactive from 1954 through 1959. 

The bedrock of the district consists of a series of 

rhyolite and andesite flows and tuffs cut by numerous dikes and volcanic plugs of diabase. The ore 

occurs in a vein that follows a dike intruded along 

a fault. The ore bodies are fairly continuous and 

consistent in grade and contain argentite in banded 

chalcedonic quartz, and varying amounts of calcite, 

rhodochrosite, pyrite. Lead and copper minerals 

occur locally. Gold, lead, and copper were produced 

as byproducts from the silver ores (Lines, 1940, 

p. 3-4, 24). 

CLIFTON-MORENCI DISTRICT 

The Clifton-Morenci district is in west-central 

Greenlee County near the towns of Clifton and 

Morenci. 

The first ore discovery was made in 1872, but 

early development was hampered by lack of transportation and the activities of hostile Indians. The 

completion of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1881 

lowered transportation costs sufficiently to permit 

large-scale mining of the copper ores. The discovery in 1893 of large low-grade copper ores at Copper Mountain at Morenci assured a certain degree 

of stability and permanence to the future of the 

district (Lindgren, 1905, p. 33-34). 

At first several companies were involved in development and mining, but after several mergers 

and consolidations, the Phelps Dodge Corp. was the 

major operator from 1921 through 1959. Total gold 

production from 1873 through 1959 was about 

203,000 ounces; nearly all production was recovered 

as a byproduct of the copper ores. 

The rocks of the district consist of Precambrian 

granite and schist unconformably overlain by an 

aggregate thickness of 1,000 feet of limestone, 

shale, and quartzite which ranges in age from 

Cambrian to Carboniferous. The Paleozoic rocks 

are unconformably overlain by shale and sandstone 

of Cretaceous age. The Cretaceous and older rocks 

are faulted and intruded by stocks, irregular masses, 

dikes, and sills of granitic, monzonitic, and dioritic 

porphyry. The mineral deposits are probably genetically related to these intrusions. The sedimentary 

rocks and intrusive porphyries are capped by a 

series of lavas, tuffs, and breccias of Tertiary age. 

Overlapping all the preceding rocks are extensive 

deposits of Gila Conglomerate, of Tertiary and 

Quaternary age. 

The ore deposits are of three general types: tabular 

bodies in limestone or shale near contacts of stocks 

or dikes, fissure veins, and irregular disseminations 

in porphyry, quartzite, or other rocks (Lindgren, 

1905, p. 97-99). The most important of these are 

disseminated deposits which have been oxidized and 

enriched by the supergene copper sulfides. These 

ore bodies are capped by an oxidized gossan of 

limonite, secondary quartz, and minor amounts of 

copper oxides and carbonates. The zone of secondary 

enrichment, below the oxidized zone, contains abundant chalcocite. The protore consists of pyrite, and 

small amounts of chalcopyrite and sphalerite (J. B. 

Tenney, in International Geological Congress, 1935, 

p. 218-221). Second in importance are the tabular 

replacement deposits in limestone and shale. Ore 

bodies are in the oxidized parts of the deposits and 

consist of masses of malachite, azurite, and cuprite 

and small amounts of native copper and chalcocite 

in a gangue of decomposed lime silicate minerals. 

The fissure vein deposits, which are nearly exhausted, are in fissures in Precambrian granite and 

Cambrian quartzite closely associated with dikes. 

The ore minerals are pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, 

molybdenite, chalcocite, cuprite, chrysocolla, brochantite, and malachite. 

The ores of the district contain relatively insignificant quantities of gold, and the mode of occurrence and mineral associations of the gold are not 

clearly understood. 

MARICOPA COUNTY 

Maricopa County, in southwestern Arizona, is a 

region of broad desert plains and scattered moun-

• 
• 

40 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

tain ranges. Most of the gold was mined in the 

county before 1900 from the Vulture mine in the 

Vulture district. The Cave Creek district has yielded 

a small amount of gold. Maricopa County is the fifth 

largest gold producer of Arizona, and from 1863 

through 1959 its total production was about 428,000 

ounces. Most of this was from lode mines; only 

about 3,000 ounces was attributed to placers. 

CAVE CREEK DISTRICT 

The Cave Creek district, 25 to 45 miles north 

of Phoenix, was active at least as early as the 

1890's, when the Phoenix and Maricopa mines were 

the major properties and were yielding gold ore. A 

few copper deposits were also worked before 1900 

(Wilson and others, 1934, p. 164-165). Total gold 

production of the district through 1959 was about 

17,000 ounces, most of which was mined before 

1900. 

VULTURE DISTRICT 

The Vulture district is on the south side of the 

Vulture Mountains, in northwestern Maricopa 

County. 

Gold-bearing quartz veins were discovered in 

1863. In 1866 the Vulture mine began operations 

that continued on a fairly large scale until it was 

closed in 1888. The mine was active again from 

1910 to 1917, during which time it yielded 

$1,839,375 in ore (Wilson and others, 1934, p. 157, 

160). The mine was reopened again in 1931 and 

remained active until 1945. Total gold production 

for the district through 1959 was about 366,000 

ounces. About 250 ounces of this was from placers; 

most of the remainder was from the Vulture mine. 

The Vulture Mountains are faulted andesitic and 

rhyolitic lavas of Tertiary age. These rocks overlie 

Precambrian schist and granite which are intruded 

by monzonite dikes of probable Mesozoic age. The 

ore deposits are in veins in the schist (Wilson, 

1952, p. 58). The veins are chiefly coarse quartz 

with pyrite, galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and 

native gold. Gold also occurs in. the galena, and 

Hutchinson (1921) reported that clean galena concentrates assayed $600 per ton in gold. 

MOHAVE COUNTY 

Mohave County, in the northwestern corner of 

Arizona, ranks second among the gold-producing 

counties of the State, with a total of about 2,461,000 

ounces through 1959. More than half of this total 

came from lode mines of the San Francisco district . 

Three other districts have produced more than 

10,000 ounces: Wallapai, Weaver, and Gold Basin. 

All these districts are in the west-central part of ,. 

the county, an area of mountain ranges and valleys 

that trend north-northwest. 

GOLD BASIN DISTRICT 

The Gold Basin (Salt Springs) district is in the 

eastern part of the White Hills west of Hualpai 

Wash, 40 miles north of Hackberry and 60 miles 

north of Kingman. 

Gold-bearing veins were discovered in the early 

1870's, but their development was inhibited by the 

remoteness of the area and scarcity of fuel and 

water (Schrader, 1909, p. 118-127). Before 1900, 

however, the district yielded gold ore worth between 

$50,000 and $100,000, most of which came from 

the Eldorado mine. Production continued to 1920 on 

a small scale and a period of inactivity from 1920 

to 1932 followed. A few mines were reopened from 

1932 to 1942, but the district was dormant from 

1943 to 1959. Total minimum gold production of 

the district was about 15,000 ounces, most of which 

was from lode mines. 

The ore deposits occur in veins in Precambrian 

granite and schist. The gold is associated with lead 

or copper ores that contain pyrite, chalcopyrite, 

galena, molybdenite, and wolframite. The oxidized 

parts of the veins contain limonite, malachite, cerussite, and vanadinite (Schrader, 1909, p. 119). 

SAN FRANCISCO DISTRICT 

The San Francisco district is near the south end 

of the Black Mountains about 29 miles by . road 

southwest of Kingman. It includes both the Oatman 

and the Katherine camps; Gold Road and Union 

Pass are local names applied to parts of the district. 

Gold is the principal valuable metal in the ore 

deposits of this district. 

Soldiers from Camp Mohave on the Colorado 

River first discovered gold in the Oatman area in 

1863 or 1864, in what is now known as the Moss 

vein (Ransome, 1923, p. 3-8). Other veins with 

prominent outcrops were discovered soon afterward. Although some rich ore was taken from a 

pocket close to the surface in the Moss vein in the 

first 3 or 4 years, most of the development was discouraging and the Oatman camp was inactive for 

more than 30 years. The earliest locations in the 

Katherine area were probably made in the early 

1880's (Lausen, 1931, p. 13). In 1901 good ore 

was found in shallow shafts on what is now known 

as the Tom Reed vein, and in 1902 a stampede to 

the district occurred when rich ore was found in 

the outcrops of the Gold Road vein (Ransome, 1923, 

p. 4; Schrader, 1909, p. 153-154). A high level of 

activity continued through 1924. The district was 
ARIZONA 41 

revived from 1930 through 1942, and produced a 

maximum of 48,000 ounces in 1936. From 1943 

through 1951, activity was sporadic and was carried 

out on a small scale, and from 1952 through 1959 

no production was reported. The total gold production of the district from 1897 through 1951 was 

about 2,045,400 ounces. 

In general the geology of the district can be 

described as an uneven terrain of Precambrian 

rocks overlain unconformably by a thick section of 

Tertiary volcanic rocks including trachyte, andesite, 

latite, rhyolite, and basalt flows. The volcanic rocks 

are the predominant bedrock in the Oatman area, 

whereas the Precambrian granitic rocks crop out 

extensively in the Katherine area (Lausen, 1931, 

p. 22-23). Bodies of quartz monzonite porphyry, 

sodic granite porphyry, and rhyolite porphyry intruded Precambrian and the lower Tertiary rocks. 

The rocks were tilted and faulted, and mineral 

deposits were emplaced in the fractures in late 

Tertiary time. Most of the deposits are in the Oatman Andesite, although in the Katherine area important deposits are found in faults in the Precambrian granite (Lausen, 1931, p. 101-124). 

The veinfilling is a typical epithermal mineral 

assemblage. Bands of quartz, calcite, and adularia 

contain clusters and stringers of native gold, hematite, limonite, manganese oxides, fluorite, and a 

little pyrite, chalcopyrite, and chrysocolla (Lausen, 

1931, p. 58-62). 

WALJ,APAI DISTRICT 

Located near the center of the Cerbat Mountains, 

which extend north-northwestward from Kingman 

for about 30 miles, the Wallapai district includes 

the mining camps of Chloride, Mineral Park, 

Cerbat, and Stockton. 

Unlike the San Francisco district immediately to 

the southwest in the Black Mountains, where gold 

is the principal metal, in the Wallapai district leadzinc ores are prevalent and silver and gold are 

chiefly byproducts. Many of the veins in the Cerbat 

Mountains were discovered in the early 1860's by 

prospectors in search of precious metals (Schrader, 

1909, p. 51, 80, 91, 107). Chloride, founded in the 

early 1870's and named from the character of its 

rich silver ore, was the first settlement in this area. 

Ores rich in gold and silver yielded a large production in the 1870's, but activity waned when the 

price of silver began to decline in 1882. Base-metal 

ores below the oxidized zone apparently were not 

mined extensively until the completion of the branch 

railroad from Kingman to Chloride in 1899 (Nolan, 

in Hewett and others, 1936, p. 19). Thereafter leadsilver ores were mined, and subsequent improvement in milling methods led to exploitation of complex lead-zinc ores (R. M. Hernon, in Arizona Bur. 

Mines, 1938, p. 111). Zinc-lead mining reached its 

peak from 1915 through 1917 owing to high metal 

prices during World War I, declined abruptly after 

1917, and thereafter exploitation was confined to 

veins with a relatively high gold content. Gold production began to increase in 1935 and reached its 

peak in 1937-38 (Dings, 1951, p. 126). After 1942, 

activity declined sharply, and from 1950 through 

1956 gold production was less than 100 ounces 

annually. None was recorded for 1957-59. From 

1904 through 1956 the mines of the district produced 125,063 ounces of gold. Dings (1951, p. 125) 

estimated the value of combined metals produced 

before 1904 at $5 million, but the amount of gold 

represented in this total is unknown. 

The rocks of the district consist of granite, gneiss, 

and schist of Precambrian age, stocks and irregular bodies of granite and gabbro probably Mesozoic 

in age, and still younger dikes of lamprophyre, 

rhyolite, granite pegmatites, and porphyritic gran-_ 

ite. The veins, which occur in all rock types, occupy 

fault fissures; a few follow dikes (Dings, 1951, 

p. 127-139). 

The veins that yield most of the gold consist 

mainly of fine-grained quartz with pyrite, sphalerite, 

galena, and chalcopyrite. The veins locally include 

arsenopyrite, proustite, molybdenite, and argentite 

and rarely include tennantite, pearceite, and polybasite. Other gangue minerals are calcite, manganiferous siderite, and rarely rhodochrosite. Gold and 

silver are in the galena and sphalerite. The sulfides 

have been moderately oxidized to depths of about 

75 to 200 feet, and partly oxidized ore has been 

found down to 600 feet. The principal ore minerals 

in the oxidized zone are cerargyrite, native silver, 

cerussite, and native gold, and the most common 

gangue minerals are limonite and limonitic quartz 

(Dings, 1951, p. 141-142). 

WF.A VER DISTRICT 

The Weaver district is in the northern Black 

Mountains, 10 to 25 miles west and northwest of 

Chloride. The Mockingbird, Pyramid, and Pilgrim 

camps are on the eastern slope; the Virginia camp 

is on the western slope. 

Gold was discovered in 1904 in the Pilgrim camp; 

however, miners had found gold as early as 1892 

in the Gold Bug camp, several miles north of the 

Weaver district (Schrader, 1909, p. 214, 217). Incomplete production records credit the district with 

about 1,900 ounces of gold before 1932 (Nolan, in 
42 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

Hewett and others, 1936, p. 17, 19). The period of 

greatest activity was 1932-42, after which the district declined to the extent that only 138 ounces of 

gold was reported for 1943-59. Total gold production of the district through 1959 was about 63,200 

ounces. 

The oldest rocks of the district are Precambrian 

granite, gneiss, and schist, which are exposed 

mainly along the eastern slope of the Black Mountains and are overlain on the west slope by Tertiary 

volcanic rocks intruded by porphyry dikes (Wilson 

and others, 1934, p. 78-79). The ore, which yields 

native gold and small amounts of silver, is in veins 

chiefly in the volcanic rocks. The gangue is quartz, 

adularia, calcite, and local hematite. 

PIMA COUNTY 

Pima County, which lies in part along the southern border of Arizona, is a region of broad desert 

plains and mountain ranges that trend northnorthwest. Only two districts have produced more 

than 10,000 ounces of gold-the Ajo, where considerable amounts have been recovered as a byproduct from copper ores, and the Greaterville, where 

most of the gold was from placer deposits. Elsing 

and Heineman (1936, p. 98) credited the Papago 

district with a production of $250,000 in placer 

gold before 1933, but this probably is in error, for 

no other known account cites more than a very 

small amount. The total gold production of Pima: 

County through 1959 was roughly 1,081,000 ounces 

-about 1,015,000 ounces from lodes and about 

66,000 ounces from placers. 

AJO DISTRICT 

The Ajo district is in western Pima County, 125 

miles west of Tucson. 

Small-scale mining of copper deposits was done 

by Spaniards and Mexicans as early as 1750, and 

Indians used the red oxides and green carbonates 

from the Sierra Del Ajo to paint their bodies. 

Americans entered the area after the Gadsden Purchase of 1853 and located the Ajo mine. After a 

boundary dispute with Mexico was settled, numerous attempts at mining were made, but all 

ended in failure due to high freight costs and 

lack of water. In 1909 three companies conducted 

separate exploration programs, none of which was 

considered encouraging. 

The Calumet and Arizona Copper Co. entered the 

district in 1911 and organized the New Cornelia 

Copper Co., which found a large tonnage of carbonate ore containing 1 to 2 percent of copper 

underlain by sulfide ore containing disseminated 

chalcopyrite and bornite. Drilling later revealed 

considerable ore on other properties. Experiments 

to leach and recover copper from the carbonate ore 

were started in 1912 and were concluded successfully in 1915. By 1917 a 5,000-ton leaching plant 

was built, permitting large-scale exploitation of 

the carbonate ores. After the exhaustion of the 

known reserves of carbonate ores, a ·5,000-ton sulfide concentrator was put into operation in 1923, 

and production from the sulfide ores soon became 

predominant (Gilluly, 1956, p. 98-100). In 1931 the 

New Cornelia Copper Co. was merged with the 

Phelps Dodge Co. which continued to be the sole 

operator in the district through 1959. 

Significant recovery of gold began with the production of copper from the sulfide ore of the New 

Cornelia mine. Prior to 1924 the district produced 

only 178 ounces. From 1924 through 1934 about 

130,000 ounces was recovered ( Gilluly, 1946, p. 

101), and from 1935 through 1959 about 860,000 

ounces was recovered. The total gold production of 

the district through 1959 was about 990,000 ounces. 

The oldest formation in the vicinity of the mineralized area is the Cardigan Gneiss, of Precambrian 

( ? ) age. It is bounded on the east along northtrending Gibson fault by the Concentrator Volcanics 

of Cretaceous ( ?) age. The Cornelia Quartz Monzonite of Tertiary age is a stock that occupies much 

of the northern part of the district and crosscuts 

the older rocks. The Locomotive Fanglomerate of 

Tertiary age overlies parts of the eroded surface of 

Cornelia Quartz Monzonite. The rocks were faulted 

several times during Tertiary time (Gilluly, 1956, 

p. 57-58, 105-106). The ore body consists of chalcopyrite, bornite, and a little pyrite in veinlets and 

scattered grains in the quartz monzonite. Less 

abundant minerals are tennantite, sphalerite, molybdenite, magnetite, and specularite. The richest ore 

occurs where the rock is impregnated with orthoclase. 

The oxidized zone ranges from 20 to 190 feet in 

thickness and its base terminates sharply at a horizontal plane. In this zone are abundant malachite, 

and small amounts of azurite, cuprite, tenorite, 

chrysocolla, hematite, and limonite ( Gilluly, 1956, 

p. 2). Considerable supergene chalcocite has accumulated just below the oxidized zone. 

Gold has not been seen in the sulfide ore. However, the close relationship of the ratios of recovered 

gold to total gold and recovered copper to total 

copper led Gilluly (1956, p. 87) to conclude that 

the gold in the ores is associated with copper sulfides rather than pyrite. 
ARIZONA 43 

GREATERVILLE DISTRICT 

The Greaterville district is in southeastern Pima 

County, about 34 airline miles southeast of Tucson. 

It is chiefly a placer district, though for many years 

preceding the Civil War, silver and copper lodes 

were worked successfully in the Patagonia and 

Santa Rita Mountains south of the district. In 187 4 

silver and lead lode deposits were discovered in 

Hughes Gulch in the Greaterville district, and later 

in the year placer gold was found which started a 

rush, during which most of the richer placers were 

mined out. By 1886 the district was practically 

dormant (Hill, 1910b, p. 11-12). From 1900 

through 1959 there was only desultory activity and 

very small production. According to Hill (1910b, 

p. 12), the placers yielded about $7 million in 

gold before 1900; however, Elsing and Heineman 

(1936, p. 98) estimated the total production was 

worth $650,000. From 1903 through 1959 only 4,146 

ounces of gold was mined in the district. 

The placer deposits occupy a triangular area of 

about 8 square miles on the lower east slope of the 

Santa Rita Mountains. The richest gravels are 

those along present stream courses, although placers 

are also in older gravels on benches and tops of 

ridges. The source of the gold was probably the 

auriferous pyritic-quartz veins of nearby Granite 

Mountain or the veins in Tertiary andesite that once 

covered the district (Schrader, 1915, p. 161-165). 

PINAL COUNTY 

Pinal County, in south-central Arizona, is characterized by broad alluvial plains and scattered mountain ranges, which are composed of Precambrian 

schist and granite unconformably overlain by 

younger Precambrian and Paleozoic sedimentary 

rocks and by Tertiary volcanic rocks. Dikes, irregular bodies, and stocks of granitoid rocks and rhyolite 

of Cretaceous and Tertiary ages have intruded the 

Paleozoic and older rocks. Large areas are covered 

by sedimentary rocks of Cenozoic age. 

The principal mining districts from which gold 

is produced are the Mammoth, Ray, and Superior. 

Most of the gold is a byproduct of copper ores, 

although a small amount has come from placers. 

Total gold production from 1858 through 1959 was 

about 893,350 ounces. 

1\:IAMMOTII DISTRICT 

The Mammoth (or Old Hat) district is in southeastern Pinal County on the east flank of the Black 

Hills, about 50 miles northeast of Tucson. 

The history of mining in the district is focused on 

the development of two mines-the Mammoth 

which produced mainly gold and, for a short time, 

molybdenum and the San Manuel which is in a disseminated copper deposit. The first claims were 

located in the district in 1879. The Mammoth mine 

was operating on a large scale by 1888, and continued to be active until 1901, when· the workings 

caved. Demand for molybdenum during World War 

I created new interest in Mammoth because of 

the wulfenite content of the ores that previously 

had been mined for gold alone. For a few years 

almost the entire molybdenum output of the United 

States came from this area. Between the end of 

World War I and 1934 the district was practically 

dormant (Peterson, 1938, p. 25-30). The increase 

in the· price of gold rejuvenated the district from 

1934 through 1943. Production of the Mammoth 

mine declined after 1944, but the important development of the great San Manuel copper deposit in 

1943 assured the district a prosperous future. 

Total gold production of the district through 1959 

was roughly 403,000 ounces, of which about 40,000 

ounces was a byproduct of the San Manuel copper 

ores. 

The Mammoth district is underlain by the Oracle 

Granite (quartz monzonite) of Precambrian age, 

which is cut by dikes and irregular bodies of monzonite porphyry, diabase, and rhyolite of late Mesozoic to Tertiary age. Much of the area is covered 

by the Gila Conglomerate of Tertiary and Quaternary age, which unconformably overlaps the older 

rocks. All the rocks are cut by strong northwesttrending faults, the most prominent of which is the 

San Manuel fault (Schwartz, 1953, p. 7-16). The 

vein deposits are along faults and brecciated zones 

in rhyolite and Precambrian quartz monzonite. The 

veinfillings consist of quartz and calcite with sphalerite, galena, and a little chalcopyrite, chalcocite, 

and pyrite. Wulfenite, vanadinite, chrysocolla, cerussite, malachite, smithsonite, and hematite are fairly 

common in the oxidized ore bodies. Native gold is 

associated with quartz and coats breccia fragments 

in the hypogene deposits (Peterson, 1938, p. 30-38). 

The San Manuel ore body consists of chalcopyrite 

and pyrite disseminated in quartz monzonite, monzonite porphyry, and diabase. The ores have been 

oxidized to variable depths, and in places zones of 

supergene enrichment are at the base of the oxide 

zone (Schwartz, 1953, p. 46-55). 

RAY DISTRICT 

The Ray (or Mineral Creek) district is in northeastern Pinal County about 17 miles south of 

Miami. It lies between the Dripping Springs Range 
44 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

to the east and the Tortilla Range to the west. 

Copper is the major commodity of this district; 

gold is a byproduct. 

The district was organized by silver prospectors, 

probably before 1873, and the first locations were 

made about 1880 (Arizona Bureau of Mines, 1938, 

p. 80-81). The first copper company was organized 

in 1883, but attempts at exploitation over the next 

23 years failed, owing to the generally low grade of 

the ore. In 1906 some high-grade copper ore was 

mined. In 1907 the Ray Consolidated Copper Co. 

was organized, and extensive surface drilling and 

underground exploration revealed enormous copper 

ore bodies which were mined on a large scale in the 

spring of 1911 (Ransome, 1919, p. 17-19). Ray 

Consolidated soon became the largest producer in 

the district. The property continued to be an important source of copper, though ownership was 

changed to Ray Division of Kennecott Copper Corp. 

The Ray district has produced a surprisingly 

small amount of gold, considering the large production of copper. Total gold production through 1959 

was about 35,250 ounces. 

The rocks exposed in the Ray district are similar 

to those of the Globe-Miami district. The oldest 

rocks are granitic intrusives and Pinal Schist of 

Precambrian age. Unconformably overlying them 

are altered sedimentary rocks of the Apache Group 

and the Troy Quartzite of late Precambrian age. 

Great sills of diabase were intruded into the Apache 

Group and the older rocks (A. F. Shride, oral commun., 1962). In the eastern part of the district 

lo\ver Paleozoic sedimentary rocks are exposed in a 

few fault blocks. Dikes, sills, and irregular bodies 

of quartz diorite, quartz monzonite, and granite, 

of probable early or middle Tertiary age intrude 

the Precambrian and Paleozoic rocks. Conglomerate 

and a dacite flow of late Tertiary age and the Gila 

Conglomerate of Tertiary and Quaternary age discordantly overlap the older rocks (Ransome, 1919, 

p. 123-126). The rocks in the eastern part of the 

district are displaced by a mosaic of normal faults. 

West of Mineral Creek, which is in general parallel 

to the Ray fault (the major structural element in 

the district), Precambrian and Tertiary rocks are 

exposed and are considerably less faulted than the 

rocks east of Mineral Creek (Ransome, 1919, p. 127, 

128). 

The ore deposits consist of disseminated chalcocite of secondary origin associated with primary 

pyrite and are chiefly in the Pinal Schist and in 

diabase adjacent to quartz monzonite intrusives 

and in the intrusives themselves. The primary deposits, which underlie the chalcocite ore, contain 

pyrite and chalcopyrite. The chalcocite ore is generally overlain by a leached capping of variable 

thickness which locally is rich in chrysocolla and 

malachite. The ore bodies are undulate, fiat-lying 

masses of irregular outline and thickness (Ransome, 1919, p. 12). 

SUPERIOR DISTRICT 

The Superior (Pioneer) district is about 15 miles 

southwest of Miami and 12 miles northwest of Ray. 

Most of its gold has been a byproduct from copper 

ores of the Magma property; however, some gold 

ore has been mined south of the main copper mines. 

The first significant mineral discovery in the Superior district was of nugget silver in 1873 or 1874 

at the Silver Queen mine, now known as the Magma 

mine, and the initial locations were made in 1875. 

Rich silver ore was mined in the early years and 

the camp was active until 1893 when a drop in the 

price of silver halted operations. Several unsuccessful attempts at silver mining were made in later 

years (Short and others, 1943, p. 59-75, 139-141). 

Exploration in the old Silver Queen mine by the 

newly organized Magma Copper Co. in 1912 revealed large bornite-chalcopyrite ore bodies which 

effected a rejuvenation of the district that was sustained through 1959. Gold is produced from the 

copper ores and also from auriferous quartz veins 

in the old Lake Superior and Arizona workings 

(Gardner, 1934, p. 1-2). 

Prior to 1912 the output of gold from the district 

was small, probably less than 500 ounces. From 

1914 through 1959 the recorded production was 

397,700 ounces. 

Rocks of the area range in age from Precambrian 

through Tertiary. The oldest is the Pinal Schist, 

unconformably overlain by the Apache Group and 

Troy Quartzite of late Precambrian age. Thick diabase sills, considered to be of Precambrian age, intrude the foregoing rocks (A. F. Shride, oral commun., 1962). An aggregate thickness of about 2,000 

feet of Paleozoic strata, predominantly limestone, 

overlies the Precambrian rocks. 'rhe Paleozoic rocks 

were faulted and invaded by dikes and stocks of 

quartz monzonite porphyry and quartz diorite of 

late Mesozoic or Tertiary age. Parts of the district 

are covered by conglomerate and thick dacitic flows 

and tuffs of Tertiary age and by conglomerate of 

Tertiary and Quaternary age. Additional crustal 

movement involving tilting and faulting occurred 

during middle and late Tertiary time (Short and 

others, 1943, p. 12-15). Small plugs, flows, and 

dikes of basalt were intruded locally during Pliocene or Pleistocene time. 
ARIZONA 45 

The Magma deposits are a series of disconnected 

ore shoots in replaced shattered country rock between two east-trending shear zones. The richest 

ore bodies are found along the Magma fault, where 

it intersects diabase. The principal ore minerals are 

pyrite, bornite, chalcopyrite, and enargite, with 

subordinate tennantite and hypogene chalcocite. In 

places sphalerite is the predominant sulfide; small 

amounts of galena accompany the sphalerite. Most 

of the ore bodies were enriched by supergene copper sulfides (Short and others, 1943, p. 74-78). 

A considerable amount of gold ore has been 

mined from the Lake Superior and Arizona property and lesser amounts from similar gold lodes in 

the Belmont-Queen Creek area. The gold occurs in 

small lenticular ore bodies 10 to 20 feet above the 

base of the Martin Limestone (Devonian) and adjacent to faults. Gold, malachite, and chrysocolla 

occur in a gangue of iron and manganese oxides 

and quartz. Silver is associated with the copper 

minerals and gold (Short and others, 1943, p. 138). 

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY 

Santa Cruz County is in south-central Arizona 

along the Mexican boundary. Both lode and placer 

gold have been produced, but the placer output has 

been small. From 1900 through 1959, the county 

produced about 108,200 ounces of gold, mostly from 

the Oro Blanco district. From 1942 through 1959 

gold production was very low. 

ORO BLANCO DISTRICT 

The Oro Blanco district is in western Santa Cruz 

County near Ruby, about 32 miles by road northwest of Nogales and about 70 miles by road southsouthwest of Tucson. Deposits of gold and silver 

have attracted the most attention. Some of the gold 

deposits probably were worked by the Indians and 

early Spanish explorers. Placers and rich outcrops 

attracted early American prospectors who made 

their first locations in 1873 (Wilson and others, 

1934, p. 188-189; Milton, 1913, p. 1005). The deposits were successfully exploited through the middle 1880's. Most of the mines were inactive from 

1887 to 1893; thereafter mining was intermittent, 

and production in general was small. Production 

rose rapidly in 1934 but declined again in the early 

1940's. From 1942 through 1959 the district was 

almost dormant. The gold mined in the district 

from 1873 through 1957 has been estimated as 

worth $2,626,000, which is equivalent to about 

100,200 ounces (Wilson, 1962, p. 109). About 

$20,000 worth of placer gold was produced between 

1896 and 1904. Production was not recorded for 

1957-59. 

Not much is known about the geology of the district. According to Wilson (Wilson and others, 

1934, p. 189), metamorphosed sandstones, conglomerates, shales, and interlayered volcanic rocks of 

probable Cretaceous age overlie altered diorite, are 

intruded by dikes of basic to acid composition, and 

are complexly faulted. 

The deposits are of three types: gold-bearing 

quartz veins, mineralized shear zones, and mineralized country rock. Pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, and 

sphalerite are the common ore minerals, and the 

tellurides have been reported (Milton, 1913, p. 

1006). 

YAVAPAI COUNTY 

Yavapai County, in the central part of Arizona, 

ranks first in the State in gold production through 

1959. 

The production by ounces is as follows: 

Lode 

Prior to 1900 1 -------------------- 477,703 

1900 to 1934 1 --------------------- 1,934,447 

1935 to 1959 2 --------------------- 1,064,000 

Total ------------------------ 3,476,150 1 Elsing and Heineman ( 1936, p, 60), 

Placer 

193,500 

33,204 

40,100 

266,804 

2 U.S. Bureau of Mines (1936-60). Includes 28,137 ounces for 1958 undifferentiated as to source. 

The Jerome (Verde) district is the largest gold 

producer, having contributed about 1,565,000 

ounces to the total lode production. 

Though mineral deposits were known in this area 

long before the Civil War, the first prospectors 

were Union soldiers with mining experience from 

California (Wilson and others, 1934, p. 23). Placers 

at Rich Hill were discovered in 1862 and those 

along Hassayampa and Lynx Creeks were discovered in 1863 (Lindgren, 1926, p. 2-5). Silver ore, 

first discovered in the Big Bug district in 1870, 

was found at other localities in Yavapai County in 

the 1870's. Claims were located in the Jerome district in 1876. 

The northern part of Yavapai County is in the 

plateau region, and the southern part is in the 

mountain region, which consists of a series of short 

mountain ranges of the fault-block type that trend 

north-northwest and are separated by broad valleys 

filled with fluvial and lacustrine deposits. The mountains consist chiefly of Precambrian metamorphic 

and igneous rocks, which are intruded locally by 

stocks, plugs, and dikes of granitic rocks of Late 

Cretaceous or early Tertiary age. Large areas are 

covered by volcanic rocks of Tertiary and Quaternary age. 
46 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

The ore deposits, which are in the mountain region, consist of veins and replacement deposits of 

Precambrian age and veins of Mesozoic or early 

Tertiary age. Placer deposits have also been important. 

AGUA FRIA DISTRICT 

The Agua Fria district is southeast of Prescott 

along the headwaters of the Agua Fria River about 

4% miles northeast of Mayer. Both gold and silver 

are byproducts of copper ore. 

The Stoddard mine in this district is one of the 

earliest locations in Arizona but no dates of discovery or location are known (Lindgren, 1926, p. 148). 

The district was active during World War I and 

into the early 1920's-probably its period of greatest production. From 1936 through 1957 the mines 

were operated intermittently. Total gold production 

through 1959 was about 12,710 ounces. 

The rocks exposed in the district are chiefly 

schists of the Precambrian Yavapai Series, which 

are intruded by the Precambrian Bradshaw Granite. The Yavapai Series includes many quartz lenses 

and bodies of fissile quartz porphyry. The Precambrian rocks are capped locally by volcanic flows and 

tuffs of Tertiary age (Lindgren, 1926, p. 146-147). 

The ore deposits are replacement bodies of quartz, 

pyrite, and chalcopyrite, and tetrahedrite in the 

schists. 

BIG BUG DISTRICT 

The Big Bug district, on the northeast slope of 

the Bradshaw Mountains, is about 12 miles eastsoutheast of Prescott. Copper, gold, silver, lead, and 

zinc are obtained from a variety of ore deposits in 

the district. 

Wilson, Cunningham, and Butler (1934, p. 39) 

referred to activity at the Big Bug mine as early 

as 1866, and other properties were producing gold 

and silver from oxidized ores before 1870. After a 

period of decline, some mines were reopened in the 

late 1890's and maintained a small sporadic annual 

output through 1933. The tempo of mining increased frolll 1934 through 1959 Inainly because of 

expanded operation of the Iron King Inine. Gold 

placers were highly productive during the 1880's 

(Wilson, 1952, p. 48-50) and frolll 1933 through 

1942, after which they declined in iinportance. 

Total gold production frolll 1867 through 1959 

was about 627,000 ounces, of which about 42,700 

ounces was froin placers. 

The Yavapai Series, which here consists of interlayered sediinentary rocks and volcanic tuffs and 

breccias, was intruded by a variety of Precainbrian 

granitic rocks-gabbro, diorite, granodiorite, and 

granite-and by dikes of rhyolite porphyry (Lindgren, 1926, p. 126-127; Anderson and Creasey, 

1958, pl. 1). Tertiary volcanic rocks younger than 

the ore deposits locally forlll a cover. 

Lindgren (1926, p. 127) recognized four classes 

of ore deposits in the district; however, the leadzinc-silver veins of the Iron King Inine have yielded 

the Inost gold, and the gold vein of the McCabeGladstone property has probably been the second 

largest gold producer. 

The Iron King deposit is a systelll of 12 Inassive 

sulfide veins oriented en echelon in a Inylonitized 

shear zone in the Spud Mountain Volcanics of the 

Precainbrian Yavapai Series (Creasey, in Anderson 

and Creasey, 1958, p. 156-169). The wallrock is so 

intensely altered by hydrotherinal introduction of 

quartz, sericite, and pyrite that in places the nature 

of the original rock cannot be deterinined. Two 

groups of veins are recognized in the deposit: welldefined Inassive sulfide veins, frolll which all but 

a few tons of the total ore has been Inined, and 

poorly defined veins, chiefly of pyrite, ankerite, and 

quartz. The Inassive sulfide veins coinprise thin 

layers of fine-grained pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, galena, and tennantite. Quartz 

and ankerite are the Inajor gangue Ininerals. Gold 

is in the pyrite, and silver is probably in the tennantite. 

The McCabe-Gladstone is one of several Inines on 

the 14,000-foot-long Silver Belt-McCabe vein, a 

Inineralized shear zone in the breccia facies of the 

Spud Mountain Volcanics. Ore occurs as discontinuous lenses or pods of coarsely crystalline drusy 

Inasses of sulfides, with nuinerous open vugs. The 

Inineralogy of the ore is variable. Silver and lead 

are abundant in the ores at the north end of the 

vein. Toward the south end the ores are Inore colllplex and contain lead, zinc, iron, silver, copper, and 

gold. The McCabe-Gladstone Inine, which is at the 

south end of the vein, is in ore coinposed of arsenopyrite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, and quartz. The gold 

and silver are in the sulfides (Creasey, in Anderson 

and Creasey, 1958, p. 169-171). 

BJ,ACK CANYON DISTRICT 

The Black Canyon district is in southeastern 

Yavapai County between the eastern foothills of the 

Bradshaw Mountains and the Agua Fria River, at 

Buinblebee. 

The first locations were Inade probably as early 

as 1873, but the first record of Inineral production 

was in 1904. The district was active through 1956, 

with the highest output frolll 1934 through 1941. 

Total gold production frolll 1904 through 1959 was 

about 46,700 ounces. 
ARIZONA 47 

A belt about 2 miles wide of Yavapai schist 

trends northward through the district and is flanked 

on the east by a narrow mass of diorite and Bradshaw Granite and on the west by Bradshaw Granite. These rocks, which are all of Precambrian age, 

are overlain in the eastern part of the district by 

volcanic rocks of Tertiary age (Lindgren, 1926, 

p. 153). 

The gold ore is in Precambrian high-angle veins 

and in flat veins of a younger age (Lindgren, 1926, 

p. 156-159). 

The Precambrian veins contain coarse glassy 

quartz and small amounts of chalcopyrite, pyrite, 

galena, sphalerite, and native gold. Aggregates of 

minute prisms of blue, brown, or colorless tourmaline are associated with the sulfides. The flat veins, 

which are also found in the Precambrian rocks, 

consist of quartz with a little pyrite, galena, chalcopyrite, and locally contain sphalerite and proustite. 

The gold in these veins is probably in the sulfides. 

BLACK ROCK DISTRICT 

The Black Rock district, about 12 to 15 miles 

northeast of Wickenburg, was prospected for copper and silver in the 1870's, but according to meager 

records the deposits were not developed until 1900 

or later (Wilson and others, 1934, p. 62-65). 

Through about 1932 the district is credited with 

a gold production of $195,000 (9,438 ounces), most 

of which came from the Gold Bar (O'Brien) mine 

(Elsing and Heineman, 1936, p. 103). From 1932 

through 1955 the district produced 2,754 ounces of 

gold, of which at least 99 ounces was placer gold. 

The total through 1959 was about 12,190 ounces. 

The principal rocks of the region are schist and 

granite of Precambrian age, volcanic rocks (chiefly 

andesite) of Cretaceous ( ?) and Tertiary age, and 

local remnants of basalt of Quaternary age (Arizona Bureau of Mines, 1958). 

The ore deposit in the Gold Bar mine is a fissure 

vein consisting of coarse glassy quartz with pyrite 

and free gold. In the oxidized zone the quartz is 

cellular; its cavities are filled with hematite and 

limonite formed from pyrite, which is common in 

the deeper zones. Gold occurs as fine to mediumcoarse particles, both in the quartz and with the 

iron minerals (Wilson and others, 1934, p. 63-64). 

RUR:F.KA DISTRICT 

The Eureka (Bagdad) district is in western 

Yavapai County, 42 miles west of Prescott. Most 

of the mines are near Bagdad in the southwestern 

part of the district. 

Although the district is noted mainly for copper, 

its deposits were mined originally for silver, gold, 

and lead. The first claims were located in 1880, and 

mining began in 1887. Until 1917 most production 

was from ores rich in gold and silver, with subordinate lead and zinc, from the Hillside mine. Copper 

minerals were known in the district as early as 

1882; however, sporadic exploration through the 

early 1900's failed to disclose any significant cop-

' per ore bodies until 1929 when the Bagdad mine 

began operations. Gold and silver production from 

the Hillside mine and several smaller properties 

continued until 1942, when the Hillside mine was 

closed. Meanwhile the Bagdad mine expanded due 

to the demand for copper during World War II. 

Large-scale activity continued after the war. The 

Hillside mine was reopened during 1948-51; openpit mining increased the Bagdad mine production 

after 1947; and other properties were developed to 

mine tungsten and zinc. Copper output at the Bagdad mine continued to be significant through the 

1950's, and in 1959 it was the largest copper producer in the county. 

Total gold output of the district from 1887 

through 1951 was 59,787 ounces, of which 58,748 

ounces is attributed to the Hillside mine (Anderson and others, 1956, p. 46, 84). From 1952 through 

1959 the district produced only 179 ounces of gold. 

The copper ores at the Bagdad mine yielded insignificant amounts of gold. 

Most of the bedrock in the Eureka district is of 

Precambrian age and consists of metamorphosed 

volcanic and tuffaceous sedimentary rocks and intrusive masses of rhyolite, gabbro, anorthosite, 

quartz diorite, diabase, alaskite, granodiorite, and 

granite. Rhyolite tuff of Cretaceous ( ?) or Tertiary 

( ?) age unconformably overlies the Precambrian 

rocks in the southwestern corner of the area, and 

small stocks, plugs, and dikes of quartz monzonite, 

quartz monzonite porphyry, and diorite porphyry, 

slightly younger than the rhyolite tuff, are scattered throughout the older terrain. A thick section 

of Tertiary and Quaternary clastic sedimentary 

rocks intercalated with basalt and rhyolite flows 

and tuffs caps the mesas and overlaps the older 

rocks (Anderson and others, 1 956, p. 6-29). The 

Precambrian rocks show effects of folding, dynamic 

and thermal metamorphism, and several periods of 

faulting. Faulting continued during at least three 

periods in post-Precambrian time, when some of 

the major faults related to the mineral deposits 

were formed (Anderson and others, 1956, p. 29-39). 

The gold-silver-zinc-lead deposit at the Hillside 

mine is a fissure vein in the Hillside fault, which 
48 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

trends N. 10° W. to N. 25° E. and dips steeply to 

the west in the mine vicinity. The mineralization 

was related to the quartz monzonite intrusions and 

occurred during Cretaceous or early Tertiary time. 

Postmineral faulting, resulting in gaps and overlaps of ore, is a factor to be considered in exploiting 

these deposits. The hypogene vein minerals are 

pyrite, arsenopyrite, galena, sphalerite, argentite, 

chalcopyrite, freibergite, and tetrahedrite in a 

gangue of quartz. Most of the gold is associated 

with pyrite and arsenopyrite. The upper part of 

the vein is oxidized to limonite-stained quartz and 

variable amounts of gold, silver, cerargyrite, cerussite, malachite, chalcanthite, and goslarite (Anderson and others, 1956, p. 77-79). 

HASSAYAMPA-GROOM CREEK DISTRICT 

The Hassayampa-Groom Creek district is on the 

western slopes of the Bradshaw Mountains, 6 miles 

south of Prescott. 

Gold placers were discovered in 1864 along the 

Hassayampa River, and shortly afterward many 

quartz veins were found. Considerable gold and 

silver was extracted from the shallow oxidized 

parts of these veins, and after 1895 the primary 

sulfide ore was mined for gold, silver, copper, lead, 

and zinc (Wilson and others, 1934, p. 41). The 

placers were worked most intensively between 1885 

and 1890; thereafter, operations were carried out 

on a small scale (Wilson, 1952, p. 52). From 1953 

through 1959 the district produced only a few 

ounces of gold per year from lodes and placers. 

Total gold production through 1959 .was about 

127,000 ounces-18,700 ounces from placers and 

108,300 ounces from lodes. Schists of the Yavapai 

Series and the Bradshaw Granite, the oldest rocks 

of the district, were intruded by several small 

masses of diorite and granodiorite and dikes of rhyolite porphyry, all of Precambrian age (Lindgren, 

1926, p. 114-115, pl. 2). 

Most of the ore deposits are in fissure veins in 

the schist, a few are in the granite and diorite. 

The ore consists of pyrite, arsenopyrite, sphalerite, 

galena, chalcopyrite, and local tetrahedrite, in a 

gangue of quartz and a little carbonate. Gold is 

associated with quartz and sulfides, and in some 

deposits, with specularite. Some veins are of Precambrian age, others are of probable Tertiary age 

(Lindgren, 1926, p. 114-126). 

JEHOME DISTRICT 

The Jerome (Verde) district is on the eastern 

slope of the Black Hills in northeast Yavapai 

County just west of the Verde River. Both gold and 

silver have been produced as byproducts of copper 

mining from the two major mines in this districtthe United Verde and the United Verde Extension. 

Centuries ago the copper ores at Jerome were 

utilized by Indians for jewelry and dyes. In 1582 

and 1598 Spanish explorers visited the deposits and 

located claims, though they did not work them. 

The deposits remained unnoticed and undeveloped 

until their rediscovery in 1875 by U.S. Army troops. 

In 1876 prospectors entered the area, and by 1882 

the newly organized United Verde Copper Co. began consolidating the numerous claims and later 

became the largest producer of the district. Oxidized ores rich in gold, silver, and copper were 

mined in 1883-84, but by the end of 1884 the ore 

was exhausted and the price of copper dropped, so 

that work was suspended at the United Verde property until 1888. Prospecting elsewhere in the district in the early 1900's was successful, and for a 

time several small mines were active. The United 

Verde Extension Gold, Silver, and Copper Mining 

Co. was organized in 1899, and under its successors 

it became the second largest mine of the district. 

In the early 1900's the United Verde Extension Co. 

explored extensively, first to the southwest and 

later east of the prospering United Verde property. 

Most of these efforts were fruitless; nevertheless, 

work continued until the company was on the verge 

of collapse. Finally in 1914, a rich chalcocite ore 

body was found on the 1,200 level, and in 1916 a 

much larger ore body was found. The company 

operated on a large scale until 1938 when the deposit was mined out and the mine was closed. 

The United Verde mine continued its underground operations until 1931, after which open-pit 

mining was the chief activity. Depletion of reserves 

finally forced the mine to close in 1953 (Anderson 

and Creasey, 1958, p. 84-90). 

The large-scale copper mining yielded a total of 

about 1,565,000 ounces of byproduct gold from 1883 

through 1951 (Anderson and Creasey, 1958, p. 101). 

Total gold production from 1883 through 1959 was 

about 1,571,000 ounces. 

Most of the central and southern parts of the 

Jerome district are underlain by slate, phyllite, 

schist, gneiss, and granulite that make up the Yavapai Series of Precambrian age. These rocks are 

intruded by numerous irregular bodies of ·quartz 

porphyry, gabbro, quartz diorite, and granodiorite, 

also of Precambrian age. Paleozoic sedimentary 

rocks, which cover parts of the northern half of 

the district, overlie the Precambrian rocks unconformably and range in age from Cambrian to Pennsylvanian or Permian. Rocks of Mesozoic age do 
ARIZONA 49 

not occur in the district; a thick section of lava 

flows and intercalated sedimentary rocks of Pliocene ( ?) age and lake deposits of late Pliocene and 

Pleistocene age overlap the older rocks (Anderson 

and Creasey, 1958, p. 8-61). 

The Precambrian rocks were deformed during 

several periods of faulting and folding. Later faulting, accompanied by tilting, displaced the Paleozoic 

and Cenozoic rocks (Anderson and Creasey, 1958, 

p. 62-83). The important ore deposits of the district are massive sulfide deposits of Precambrian 

age. At the United Verde mine the main ore body 

was a pipelike mass of pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, quartz, and carbonates that replaced quartz 

porphyry and tuffaceous sedimentary rocks. The 

deposits of the United Verde Extension mine were 

buried beneath a cover of Paleozoic and Tertiary 

sedimentary rocks. Ore consisted of elliptical masses 

of chalcocite in Precambrian rocks. MassiYe sulfide, 

similar in composition to the United Verde ore body, 

underlies the chalcocite. In both mines the sulfide 

ore bodies were overlain by oxidized zones containing iron oxides, malachite, azurite, chrysocolla, 

gold, silver, and native copper (Anderson and 

Creasey, 1958, p. 103-145). 

LYNX CREEK-WALKER DISTRICT 

The Lynx Creek-Walker district is about 7 miles 

. southeast of Prescott. Lynx Creek is one of the 

most productive placer streams in the State; moreover, lode mines in the Walker camp have yielded 

considerable gold, silver, copper, and lead. 

The placers were discovered by a party of California miners in 1863, and as they v.-orked upstream they found the gold-bearing veins of the 

Walker camp (Lindgren, 1926, p. 108-109). The 

richest placers were depleted in the early clays, but 

small and intermittent placer operations continued 

for many years. From 1927 through 1941 largescale dredging operations were successful, but from 

1942 through 1959 the placer mining was desultory 

and \Yas carried out on a small scale. In the Walker 

camp only oxidized ore was mined in the early 

years and was worked in arrastres. Deep mining 

into the sulfide zone presumably \Vas begun some 

time before 1910. Lode production probably was 

never very large, and it fluctuated considm·ably but 

was almost continuous from 1905 through 1952. 

According to Lindgren (1926, p. 109) the placer 

output through 1924 was about $1 million, most of 

which was extracted in the early years. Wilson 

(1952, p. 39, 42) reported that production before 

1881 was estimated at $1 million (48,379 ounces), 

and from 1900 to 1949 it was about $1 million, 

mostly during 1933-42. Total gold output of the 

district through 1959 was about 140,000 ounces: 

97,000 ounces from placers and 43,000 ounces from 

lodes. 

Underlying the district are schists of the Yavapai Series and the Bradshaw Granite intruded first 

by a granodiorite stock and later by a number of 

rhyolite porphyry dikes. The ore deposits are in 

sulfide-bearing quartz veins that transect the granodiorite. Ore minerals are pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, galena, and tetahedrite. Gold is contained in 

chalcopyrite, and gold and silver seem to be associated with galena and tetrahedrite. The ores were 

mined mainly for gold (Lindgren, 1926, p. 111). 

MARTINEZ DISTRICT 

The Martinez district is in southwestern Yavapai 

County in the southeastern Date Creek Mountains 

a few miles northwest of Congress. 

Gold was produced almost entirely from quartz 

veins and mostly from the Congress mine. The first 

discoveries were made in 1870, but the ore was not 

free milling and thus progress was impeded until a 

cyanide plant was built in 1895. High production 

was maintained until 1910 (Wilson and others, 

1934, p. 69-71). Except for a span of intensi:ve 

operation by lessees during 1938-42, the mine was 

virtually idle from 1910 through 1959. The total 

minimum gold production of the Congress mine 

from 1887 through 1959 was about 396,300 ounces. 

The eastern Date Creek Mountains consist of 

coarse-grained granite, intruded by pegmatites, 

aplites, and basic dikes. The gold deposits are 

along low-dipping faults in veins that consist of 

coarse-textured quartz with pyrite and some galena 

(Wilson and others, 1934, p. 69). At the Cong1·ess 

mine the most productive veins are within the basic 

dikes, mostly near their footwalls. Y eins in the 

granite are of lo\Yer grade; they carry small 

amounts of galena and larger amounts of silver 

(Staunton, 1926, p. 769). Ore has been mined to a 

depth of 4,000 feet. 

PECI{ DISTRICT 

The Peck district is in the drainage area of Peck 

Canyon and Bear Creek, about 20 miles southsoutheast of Prescott. 

Rich silver ore was discovered in the Peck mine 

in 1875, and in the following 10 years $1 to $1112 

million worth of silver was mined. Other silver 

deposits were found in the late 1870's. By 1885 the 

rich ore of the Peck mine was depleted, and work in 

the succeeding years was mainly by lessees. In the 
50 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

early 1900's copper-silver properties were developed 

which yielded considerable byproduct gold. From 

1932 through 1959 the district was for the most 

part inactive. Total gold production from 1890 

through 1959 was about 15,550 ounces. 

The area is underlain by Precambrian rocks, 

chiefly the Yavapai Series, which here includes 

quartzite and layers of amphibolite, chlorite, and 

sericite schist. The belt of schist, about 2 miles 

wide, lies between areas of Precambrian Bradshaw 

Granite. Porphyry dikes intruded the schist parallel 

to its strike (Lindgren, 1926, p. 160). 

The veins, found in the quartzite and schist, are 

parallel to the foliation. The rich silver-bearing 

veins contain a gangue of siderite or ankerite, which 

near the surface is almost wholly oxidized to limonite. The principal ore minerals are bromyrite and 

subordinate native silver, but locally the veins contain chalcopyrite and silver-rich tetrahedrite. The 

copper-rich ore bodies found in the De Soto mine 

are overlapping lenses of fine-grained quartz in the 

chloritic schist of the Yavapai Series. They contain 

pyrite; chalcopyrite, some sphalerite and galena, and 

sparse tetrahedrite and arsenopyrite (Lindgren, 

1926, p. 161-163). Gold occurs as microscopic grains 

in the sulfides. 

PINE GROVE-TIGER DISTRICT 

The Pine Grove-Tiger (Crown King) district is 

in the heart of the Bradshaw Mountains 40 miles 

by road southeast of Prescott; the Tiger camp lies 

immediately south of the Pine Grove camp. The 

ores, which were very rich in silver and gold near 

the surface, also contained significant amounts of 

copper, lead, and zinc. 

A few mines in this district were worked as early 

as 1874, but there is little indication of any significant development until after 1890. The Crown King 

mine, the most important gold property of the district, was most active between 1893 and 1900 (Lindgren, 1926, p. 168). More recent productive flurries 

occurred during 1903-23 and 1934-51. The total 

gold production through 1959 was about 130,275 

ounces. 

Bedrock in the district consists of Precambrian 

Yavapai Series and Bradshaw Granite which are 

intruded by a stock and dikes of granodiorite of 

Mesozoic or Tertiary age and by younger dikes of 

rhyolite porphyry and granite porphyry (Lindgren, 

1926, p. 21-23, 164-176). . 

The ore is in veins which are most abundant in 

the granodiorite; a few extend into the surrounding 

rocks. The vein minerals are pyrite, chalcopyrite, 

sphalerite, galena, and some tetrahedrite in a 

gangue of quartz with a little ankerite and calcite. 

In some of the sulfide ore, native gold is present. 

Much of the mined ore was partly oxidized and rich 

in gold and silver (Lindgren, 1926, p.164-165). 

TIPTOP DISTRICT 

The Tiptop district is in the southern foothills of 

the Bradshaw Mountains in southeastern Yavapai 

County, about 45 miles north-northwest of Phoenix. 

The history and production of the district is 

mainly that of the Tiptop mine (Lindgren, 1926, 

p. 180). This mine, located in 1875, yielded about 

$2 million probably ail in silver and gold, before 

1883, when it was closed. The mine was reopened 

from 1886 to 1888, but apparently it has been closed 

since that time. A small amount of tungsten ore 

was mined, probably during World War I. Since 

then the district has been dormant, except for 

minor activity during the 1930's and early 1950's. 

Lindgren (1926, p. 180) considered the estimated 

total production of $4 million somewhat high. Total 

gold production through 1959 was about 10,000 

ounces. 

The host rock is the Bradshaw Granite which 

intruded a north-trending belt of Yavapai Series, 

exposed just east of the district. The granite is cut 

by dikes of rhyolite porphyry and is overlain by 

a remnant of Tertiary lava flows at the south end 

of the district (Lindgren, 1926, p. 179-180) . 

The ore deposits are fissure veins in the granite. 

The principal gangue mineral is fine to coarse 

quartz, and some druses are coated with chalcedony. 

The ore minerals, in paragenetic order, are wolframite, arsenopyrite, pyrite, sphalerite, bornite, and 

galena. Cerargyrite and ruby silver were common 

in the oxidized ore; antimonial silver minerals and 

native silver were probably also present. Some veins 

rich in galena contained gold and some silver (Lindgren, 1926,p. 181-182). 

WEA VER-RICII HILL DISTRICT 

The Weaver-Rich Hill district is in southwestern 

Yavapai County along the southwestern front of the 

Weaver Mountains, 5 to 8 miles east of Congress. 

Both lodes and placers have been important sources 

of gold in this district. 

An accidental discovery of gold nuggets on top 

of Rich Hill in the early 1860's kindled interest in 

the area and before long gold placers along Weaver 

and Antelope Creeks and the lode deposit at the 

Octave mine were found (Wilson, 1952, p. 43). By 

1883 the placers had yielded $1 million in gold, but 

thereafter the deposits were worked sporadically 

and were idle from 1952 through 1959. 
ARIZONA 51 

Little development of the Octave mine was attempted until the perfection of the cyanide process 

in the 1890's. Between 1900 and 1905 gold and silver 

ore worth $1,900,000 was mined. Activity declined 

after 1905, and the mine was closed in 1930. Under 

new ownership of the American Smelting and Refining Co., the mine was reopened in 1934 (E. D. 

Wilson, in Arizona Bureau of Mines, 1938, p. 131) 

and was worked until December 1942 (Woodward 

and Luff, 1943, p. 258). Lode production of the 

district declined sharply in 1943 and was negligible 

through 1959. 

Placers in the district are credited through 1959 

with about 104,000 ounces of gold and lodes· with 

about 204,000 ounces, a total of 308,000 ounces. All 

but about 1,500 ounces of the lode gold came from 

the Octave mine. 

The country rock of the district is mainly granite 

and quartz diorite with lenses and septa of schist. 

These rocks are cut by dikes of pegmatite, aplite, 

and diabase (Wilson and others, 1934, p. 66-68) . 

The veins in the district occur along low-angle 

fault zones that are chiefly in the granite, but some 

are in the schist. The main Octave vein, which is in 

granitic rocks (Nevius, 1921, p. 123), consists of 

coarse white quartz that carries irregular masses, 

disseminations, and layers of fine-grained pyrite, 

galena, and sparse sphalerite and chalcopyrite and 

a little native gold. Most of the gold is contained 

in the galena (Wilson and others, 1934, p. 67, 68). 

YUMA COUNTY 

Yuma County, in the southwest corner of Arizona, ranks fourth among the gold-producing counties of the State. The terrain includes many mountains of the fault-block type that trend northnorthwest and are separated by broad desert plains. 

The bedrock of the mountains consists of schist, 

gneiss, and granite of Precambrian age, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks of Paleozoic, Mesozoic, 

and Tertiary age, granite of Tertiary age, and volcanic rocks of Cretaceous to Quaternary age (Wilson and others, 1934, p. 124). Nine mining districts, 

mainly in the central and western parts of the 

county, . have had a total output of more than 

10,000 ounces of gold each. 

The mines of Yuma County produced a total of 

about 771,000 ounces of gold through 1959. 

CASTLE DOME DISTRICT 

The Castle Dome district is in south-central Yuma 

County in the southern Castle Dome Mountains, 

about 20 to 25 miles north of Well ton. 

Organized in 1863, the Castle Dome district has 

produced about equal amounts of placer and lode 

gold. The first discoveries were of silver-bearing 

lead ore; gold placers were found in 1884, and goldquartz veins, although known for some time, received little attention until 1912 (Wilson, 1933, 

p. 85, 87; 1952, p. 23). Activity in the district has 

been sporadic, and from 1942 through 1959 the 

mines were dormant. Total gold production through 

1959 was between 9,500 and 10,500 ounces. 

In the Castle Dome district gneiss, schist, and 

granite, all probably Precambrian in age, are unconformably overlain by thick-bedded shales and 

impure cherty limestones of Cretaceous ( ?) age. 

These rocks were intruded by numerous dikes of 

diorite porphyry. Broad areas of the older rocks 

are capped by volcanic rocks and cut by dikes of 

rhyolite porphyry (Wilson, 1933, p. 78-81). 

The mineral deposits in the district are argentiferous galena-fluorite veins, gold-quartz veins, and 

some veins that carry copper, gold, and silver. The 

deposit of the Big Eye mine, one of the major gold 

producers, occurs in a sheared zone in volcanic 

rocks. The vein consists of brecciated yellow quartz 

interlaced with veinlets of calcite. The gold was 

probably free milling and did not continue in minable quantities below depths of 30 feet (Wilson, 

1933,p. 102-103). 

CIENEGA DISTRICT 

The Cienega district is in northwestern Yuma 

County, 5 to 8 miles northeast of Parker. 

Some mining was done as early as 1870 (Wilson 

and others, 1934, p. 126). Gold-copper lodes developed during 1909-20 had small sporadic yields. 

Intermittent activity continued through 1957. 

Nolan (in Hewett and others, 1936, p. 31) estimated that the district produced ore worth $80,000 

(chiefly in gold) before 1908, but Elsing and Heineman (1936, p. 104) credited the district with 

$415,000 (about 20,000 ounces), from 1870 to 1933, 

most of which must have been mined before 1908 

because recorded production from 1908 to 1933 was 

only 4,271 ounces. Total gold production through 

1959 was at least 10,000 ounces. 

A thick section of Paleozoic metamorphosed sedimentary rocks, consisting of limestone, shale, and 

quartzite, is the predominant bedrock in the district. These rocks are cut by intrusive bodies of 

granite and are overlain locally by basalt. Gold, 

chrysocolla, malachite, limonite, and specularite occur in brecciated pockets of sedimentary rock along 

shear zones. 
52 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

DOME DISTRICT 

The Dome (Gila City) district is at the north end 

of the Gila Mountains, about 15 miles east of Yuma. 

Discovered in 1858, this placer district attracted 

a horde of prospectors who worked the rich gravels 

of Monitor Gulch and other gulches and benches 

near the newly founded settlement of Gila City, just 

west of the present town of Dome (Wilson, 1952, 

p. 18-19). By 1865 the high-grade placers were 

worked out, but spasmodic activity continued to 

1950. Total gold production through 1959 was about 

24,765 ounces, the bulk of which was mined before 

1865. 

ELLSWORTH DISTRICT 

The Ellsworth (Harquahala) district is in the 

Little Harquahala Mountains, 5 to 10 miles south 

of Salome. 

Small placer deposits in Harquahala Gulch were 

worked in 1886 and 1887, and the lodes of the 

Bonanza and Golden Eagle mines, from which most 

of the gold of the district has been mined, were 

found in 1888. The period of greatest activity was 

from 1891 to 1897, after which the ore bodies were 

considered to be worked out (Wilson and others, 

1934, p. 128). Small production by lessees continued 

at intervals through 1957. Total gold production of 

the district through 1959 w;::ts about 134,000 ounces; 

nearly all production was from lodes. 

Granite, of probable Precambrian age, is overlain by schist, quartzite, shale, and limestone, some 

of which may be as young as Carboniferous (Darton, 1925, p. 221-223). Gold-bearing quartz veins 

are along shear zones in the sedimentary rocks and 

granite. The oxidized ores contain much free-milling 

gold; the sulfide ores, mined in more recent years, 

contain pyrite, galena, and local covellite (Bancroft, 

1911, p. 106-114). 

FORTUNA DISTRICT 

The Fortuna district is on the west flank of the 

central part of the Gila Mountains, 21 miles southeast of Yuma. 

Discovered sometime between 1892 and 1895, the 

Fortuna mine has been the only profitable goldmining venture in the district. The first period of 

operation was between 1896 and 1904, during which 

123,050 ounces of gold was produced. The mine was 

closed in 1904 after several fruitless attempts to 

locate the continuation of the vein beyond a fault 

(Wilson, 1933, p. 189-198). There was minor production in 1913, 1926, 1939, and 1940; but apparently no substantial segment of the vein was 

found. Total gold production of the district through 

1959 was 125,332 ounces. 

The Gila Mountains in the vicinity of the Fortuna 

mine are composed of schist and gneiss, of probable 

Precambrian age, and intrusive granite, amphibolite, and pegmatite and aplite dikes. These rocks 

are disrupted by a network of faults of several 

ages. Some of the older faults were mineralized, 

and the veins were then displaced by later faulting, 

as at the Fortuna mine. The FQrtuna ore body has 

been described as a .vein that cropped out as two 

branches that· joined at about 500 feet below the 

surface and as a southwestward-plunging chimney 

with two branches that joined at depth. The vein 

consists of coarse-grained quartz with disseminated 

native gold in little grains or particles. The quartz 

is locally stained with malachite and is transected 

by veinlets of hematite (Wilson, 1933, p. 190-194). 

KOFA DISTRICT 

The Kofa district is in the central part of the 

county, on the southwestern flank of the Kofa 

Mountains. · 

Nearly the entire gold output of this district came 

from the King of Arizona andthe North Star lode 

mines, discovered in 1896 and 1906 respectively. 

The King of Arizona mine was operated until 1910 

and the North Star until 1911 (Wilson, 1933, p. 

109-113). A brief flurry of production occurred in 

the late 1930's, but during most of 1942-59 the 

district was idle. The total gold production of the 

district was about 237,000 ounces. 

The principal bedrock exposed in the Kofa Mountains is relatively fiat-lying rhyolite and andesite 

lavas, tuffs, and breccias of Tertiary ( ?) age, capped 

by olivine basalt flows. The major gold deposits are 

in brecciated zones and veins in the andesite. The 

deposit at the King of Arizona mine consists of 

anastomosing stringers of quartz and calcite in silicified andesite breccia. The gold occurs in finely 

divided particles. Ore iri the North Star mine is 

also in silicified andesite breccia, whose angular 

fragments are cemented by banded chalcedonic 

quartz containing fine-grained pyrite and adularia. 

Gold is present as very fine particles associated with 

the pyrite (Jones, 1916b, p. 154-159). 

LAGUNA DISTRICT 

The Laguna district is immediately north of the 

Gila River and east of the Colorado River, at the 

south end of the Laguna Mountains. 

The important mineral deposits are gold-quartz 

veins and placers in the Las Flores area in the 

southeastern part of the Laguna Mountains, placers 

in the McPhaul area along the southern foot of the 

mountains, and placers in the Laguna Dam area on 
ARIZONA 53 

the west side of the mountains. Mexican and Indian 

placer miners were busy in the Las Flores area in 

the 1860's, and some activity was reported in goldbearing veins before 1870. Efforts were made in 

1884 or 1885 to dredge gravels in the Laguna Dam 

area, but the dredge was destroyed in a flood. In 

the early 1900's small amounts of gold were recovered from potholes in gulches along the Colorado 

River. More recent operations were desultory, and 

the district was inactive from 1941 through 1959. 

Total gold production through 1959 was roughly 

10,500 ounces, mostly from placers. 

The gold-quartz veins are in zones of sheared and 

brecciated schist of Precambrian age. Locally the 

quartz is brecciated. The gold occurs in ragged 

grains in the quartz and is associated with iron 

oxides; no sulfides occur in the oxidized ore from 

the shallow workings (Wilson, 1933, p. 214). 

Many arroyos have dissected the area, and placer 

gold has been found on benches as well as along 

the arroyo bottoms. In the Laguna Dam area rather 

coarse gold has been found in potholes as much as 

100 feet above the river. 

J,A PAZ DISTRICT 

The La Paz (Weaver) district, in west-central 

Yuma County, is 9 miles west of Quartzite and 6 

miles east of the Colorado River, along the west 

side of the Dome Mountains. 

Gold has come chiefly from placers, but a small 

amount has been mined from quartz veins. Indians 

gave a few nuggets to a trapper in 1862 and guided 

him and his party to the rich gold-bearing gravels. 

News of this spread quickly, and several hundred 

miners rushed to the new area. By 1864, however, 

the higher grade placers were exhausted. The district was dormant until 1910, when plans were made 

to mine the gravels by hydraulic methods. These 

operations were thwarted when the land was included in an Indian reservation. Several later plans 

for large-scale mining were never carried out 

(Wilson, 1952, p. 25, 26). Lode deposits, probably 

discovered at about the same time as the placers, 

were worked intermittently and yielded about 

$100,000 worth of gold through about 1933 (Wilson 

and others, 1934, p. 136). 

The placer gold production was estimated at 

about $2 million (96,800 ounces) in the first 5 years 

(Browne, 1868, p. 454-455). Total production from 

placers through 1959 was about 100,000 ounces, 

and total output from lodes was about 4,000 ounces. 

The placers occur along gulches that drain the 

western slopes of the Dome Rock Mountains. These 

include the Goodman Arroyo and Arroyo La Paz 

and their tributaries, among which is Ferrar Gulch 

which contained the richest and most productive 

gravels of the district. The gold was recovered entirely by dry washing (Jones, 1916a, p. 49-52). 

The rocks in the La Paz district are chiefly Precambrian schist and gneiss which were intruded by 

granitic rock of probable Mesozoic age (Wilson, 

1952, p. 28). The gold occurs in quartz veins in the 

schist. Some of the veins are parallel to the foliation 

and others, referred to as gash veins, cut across. 

Those along the foliation are the larger; the gash 

veins are too small for exploitation (Jones, 1916a, 

p. 54....:55). 

PLOMOSA DISTRIC'I1 

The Plomosa district is near the town of Quartzite 

on La Posa Plain, between the Plomosa Mountains 

on the east and the Dome Rock Mountains on the 

west. 

This is mainly a placer district ; however, gold, 

copper, and lead have been produced from lode 

mines. In 1862, prospectors on their way west to 

the rich La Paz gravels found placers on the east 

side of the Dome Rock Mountains, at Oro Fino, La 

Cholla, and Middle Camp. These were worked intermittently until the 1950's, and several unsuccessful 

attempts were made to mine the gravels on a large 

scale (Jones, 1916a, p. 52). Gold, copper, and lead 

veins were exploited after 1900 but their yield was 

small (Nolan, in Hewett and others, 1936, p. 33). 

Total gold production of the district through 1959 

was about 24,570 ounces: about 19,400 ounces from 

placers and about 5,000 ounces from lodes. 

The northern Plomosa Mountains, in which the 

auriferous veins occur, are composed of metamorphosed limestone, shale of probable Cretaceous age, 

and intrusive granite (Wilson and others, 1934, 

p. 134-135). The veins are along a fault zone in the 

shale. Gold occurs in fine flakes with hematite. 

CALIFORNIA 

For many years gold was California's most valuable mineral commodity, and even today despite 

high mining costs and a fixed selling price, gold 

ranks fourth in the value of mineral commodities in 

the State. The total amount of gold production reported in California from 1848 through 1965 was 

106,130,214 ounces: about 68,200,000 ounces placer 

and about 37,900,000 ounces lode and byproduct 

gold. 

The discovery of gold in California usually is 

attributed to James W. Marshall, whose highly 

publicized placer discovery, on the American River 

in El Dorado County in 1848, led to the gold rush 

of 1849. But long before Marshall's discovery, as 
54 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

If) 

z 

0 

::::; 

-' 

~ 1 

FIGURE 8.-Annual gold production of California, 1848-1965. Sources of data: 1848-1946 from Averill, King, Symons, 

1\lld Davis (1948, p. 41), 1947-1965 from U.S. Bureau of Mines (1933-66). 

early as 1775, Mexicans mined small amounts of 

placer gold from the Colorado River and lode gold 

from the Cargo Muchacho Mountains (Clark, 1957, 

p. 223), and in the 1830's gold was discovered in 

Los Angeles County. These early operations were 

in remote, sparsely settled areas under the control 

of Mexico and were far from any lines of communication; thus the news did not spread. 

The early placer operations, 1948-49, were small 

scale, the deposits were quickly depleted, and attention soon was directed to the large deposits of goldbearing gravels of Tertiary age. In 1852 large-scale 

hydraulic mining began on these deposits, which 

for many years were the main source of the State's 

gold production (fig. 8). These operations were so 

large they caused heavy silting of navigable stream 

channels, partial blockage of tributary streams, and 

ruination of agricultural lands by debris-laden 

streams during spring floods. This silting even 

caused the Golden Gate bar in San Francisco Bay 

to move inshore. Beginning in 1884, court actions 

brought against the miners to curtail this devastation culminated in the passage by Congress of the 

California Debris Commission Act (or Caminetti 

Act) in 1893. As a result, the cost of constructing 

required debris dams and settling basins caused 

many operators to abandon large-scale hydraulic 

mining in favor of drift mining of the buried 

Tertiary channel gravels. 

Lode mining of gold became important in the 

1860's, and between 1884 and 1918 gold-quartz veins 

were the major source of California's gold production. Beginning in 1898 placer mining was rejuvenated when huge bucket dredges were introduced 

to work the auriferous gravels of the rivers flowing 

westward from the Sierra Nevada. In the 1930's 

and continuing to 1955 these dredge operations 

were the principal producers of placer gold in the 

State (Clark, 1957, p. 223). In 1959 a major part 

of the State's placer production came from seven 

bucketline dredges in Sacramento and Yuba Counties (Davis and Ashizawa, 1960, p. 168, 192-193, 

204). 

The most productive gold-bearing region in the 

State is in the central part of the Sierra Nevada 

on the west slope (fig. 9). This region contains the 

Tertiary channel gravels, the Quaternary stream 

deposits, the Grass Valley-Nevada City lode district, 

the Alleghany and Downieville districts, and the 

complex vein system of the Mother Lode, East Belt, 

and West Belt. The Mother Lode and the placer 

deposits are exploited in many individual mining 

districts in numerous counties. The history and production of each of these districts are distinctive, 

but the geology is much the same. To avoid needless 

repetition of the geology of the Mother Lode in each 

of the five counties it traverses and the geology of 

each Tertiary placer district, this material is outlined in the following paragraphs. 

The auriferous gravels of California are of two 

general types: buried placers of Tertiary age and 

normal stream placers of Quaternary age. The gold 

was derived from the many gold-bearing veins, including those of the Mother Lode, in the mountains 

that had been formed at the close of Jurassic time 

by the intrusion of the Sierra Nevada granitic 

batholith (Lindgren, 1911, p. 9-11), most of which 

was emplaced in Late Cretaceous time (Curtis and 
CALIFORNIA 55 

others, 1958, p. 10). A long period of erosion followed during Tertiary time when the mountains 

were nearly leveled, and gold from the eroded parts 

of the veins was concentrated in stream channels. 

Some of the resulting Tertiary placers were extremely rich. The Tertiary drainage system consisted of six main streams (Lindgren, 1911, p. 33-

37). One of these, the Jura River, flowed northward 

in Plumas County; the others flowed westward. 

The names of the major westward-flowing streams, 

not to be confused with their present-day counterparts, are the Yuba in Yuba and Nevada Counties, 

the American in Placer and El Dorado Counties, 

the Mokelumne in Calaveras and Amador Counties, 

the Calaveras in Tuolumne and Calaveras Counties, 

and the Tuolumne in Tuolumne County. Near the 

end of the Tertiary Period, much of the region was 

covered with volcanic debris, composed chiefly of 

andesite. The old drainage pattern was obliterated, 

but a new one soon developed on the new volcanic 

surface as the present Sierra Nevada range was 

uplifted. During Quaternary time the new streams 

cut deep canyons through the volcanics, exposed 

and eroded parts of the old Tertiary channels, and 

reconcentrated some of the gold in the gravels of 

the new streams. Only scattered remnants of the 

Tertiary channels which are higher than the channels of the present streams are now found preserved 

beneath ridges of resistant volcanic rocks. Rich 

Quaternary placers have been mined very successfully in numerous districts along the present-day 

Feather, American, Yuba, Mokelumne, and Merced 

Rivers, and low-grade Quaternary placers have 

been profitably dredged in the central valley where 

the gradient of these rivers is nearly level and only 

fine-grained gold is concentrated. 

Outstanding among the lode deposits of the Sierra 

Nevada is the Mother Lode system of gold deposits, 

a strip of mineralized rock 1 to 4 miles wide that 

extends 120 miles along the lower western flank of 

the Sierra Nevada. From near Georgetown in El 

Dorado County it extends southward to Mormon 

Bar, 21 miles southeast of Mariposa, in Mariposa 

County. The five counties it traverses-El Dorado, 

Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne, and Mariposa-are 

often referred to as the Mother Lode counties. 

The bedrock in the Mother Lode counties consists 

of steeply dipping, northwest-trending belts of phyllite, schist, slate, and greenstone, intruded locally 

by small bodies of peridotite and granodiorite 

(Knopf, 1929, p. 8-9). The oldest rock unit in the 

area, the Calaveras Formation of Carboniferous 

age, is composed chiefly of black phyllite with minor 

quartzite, limestone, and chert. Green amphibolite 

schists are interbedded with the Calaveras Formation and are believed to be of equivalent age 

(Knopf, 1929, p. 10). Overlying the Calaveras Formation is the Mariposa Slate, of Jurassic age. This 

unit, which is considerably less metamorphosed 

than the Calaveras, consists of black clay slates and 

graywacke with small local bodies of conglomerate, 

sericite schist, and limestone (Knopf, 1929, p. 12). 

Greenstones are intimately interlayered with the 

black slate. The rocks have been invaded by intrusives of several ages. The Calaveras Formation is 

cut by metadiorites, and both formations are intruded by lenses of serpentine, which was originally 

peridotite, and by dikes and masses of hornblendite, 

gabbro, granodiorite, and albitite porphyry. Potassium-argon age determinations on minerals of some 

of these granitic bodies give evidence of two separate orogenies in Mesozoic time-one in Late J uras7 

sic and one in Late Cretaceous (Curtis and others, 

1958, p. 5-10). All these rocks are overlain by 

patches and sinuous deposits of interbedded stream 

gravels and rhyolite, andesite, and basalt flows. 

The Mother Lode gold deposits probably were 

formed during the final stages of the intrusion of 

the Sierra Nevada batholith (Knopf, 1929, p. 48). 

The gold deposits of the Mother Lode are associated with a zone of reverse faulting that is parallel 

in general to the northwesterly trend of the Calaveras and Mariposa Formations but locally cuts all 

rock types of both formations. Ore bodies are of 

two general types-quartz veins and mineralized 

country rock (Knopf, 1929, p. 23). 

The quartz veins are large tabular masses of 

quartz that strike northwest and dip northeast. 

Though they appear to be locally conformable with 

the country rock at the surface, the veins cut across 

various units of the country rock along the strike 

and down the dip. Individual veins, as much as 50 

feet thick and a few thousand feet long, are localized in systems of parallel or subparallel lenses with 

blunt ends, some of which fray out into stringers. 

The vein mineralogy is simple. Milky quartz, the 

predominant veinfilling, is characteristically ribboned, different layers having been deposited at different times. A small amount of sulfides, mostly 

pyrite, accompanies the quartz (Knopf, 1929, p. 27). 

Gold occurs in the free state, commonly in steeply 

pitching shoots where the veins bulge or at vein 

junctions and in stringer lodes. The gold is interstitial with the quartz and the sulfides. 

The ore bodies in country rock are of diverse 

types, but the mineralized greenstone, known as 

gray ore, and mineralized schists are the most productive. The mineralized greenstone is composed of 
56 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

41 ' 

40 

FIGURE 9.-Gold-mining districts of California. 
CALIFORNIA 57 

ankerite, sericite, albite, quartz, and 3 to 4 percent 

pyrite and arsenopyrite (Knopf, 1929, p. 33). It is 

interlaced with veinlets of quartz, ankerite, and 

albite. Gold is intergrown with the sulfides or is 

interstitial with quartz. The mineralized schist ore 

bodies are composed chiefly of ankerite and subordinate sericite, pyrite, quartz, and albite (Knopf, 

1929, p. 34). Free gold is associated with pyrite. 

Flanking the main vein system of the Mother 

Lode on the east and west are two additional zones 

of mineralization known as the East Belt and West 

Belt. These belts are shorter and less continuous 

than the Mother Lode and may be separated from 

it by 5 to 15 miles of unmineralized country rock 

Amador County: 

1, Mother Lode; 2, Fiddletown; 3, Volcano; 4, Cosumnes 

River placers. 

Butte County: 

5, Magalia; 6, Oroville; 7, Yankee Hill. 

Calaveras County: 

8, Mother Lode, East Belt, and West Belt; 9, Placers in 

Tertiary gravels; 10, Jenny Lind; 11, Camanche; 12, 

Campo Seco. 

Del Norte County: 

13, Smith River placers. 

El Dorado County: 

14, Mother Lode, East Belt, and West Belt; 15, Georgia 

Slide; 16, Placers in Tertiary gravels. 

Fresno County: 

17, Friant. 

Humboldt County: 

18, Klamath River placers. 

Imperial County: 

19, Cargo Muchacho. 

In yo County: 

20, Ballarat; 21, Chloride Cliff; 22, Resting Springs; 23, 

Sherman; 24, Union; 25, Wild Rose; 26, WillshireBishop Creek. 

Kern County: 

27, Amalie; 28, Cove; 29, Green Mountain; 30, Keyes; 

31, Rand; 32, Rosamond-Mojave; 33, Joe Walker mine; 

34, St. John mine; 35, Pine Tree mine. 

Lassen County: 

36, Diamond Mountain; 37, Hayden Hill. 

Los Angeles County: 

38, Antelope Valley; 39, Acton; 40, San Gabriel. 

Mariposa County: 

41, Mother Lode, East Belt; 42, Mormon Bar; 43, Hornitos; 44, Merced River placers; 45, Placers in Tertiary 

gravels. 

Merced County: 

46, Snelling. 

Modoc County: 

47, High Grade. 

Mono County: 

48, Bodie; 49, Masonic. 

(Julihn and Horton, 1938, p. 4) ; nevertheless, they 

are similar to it genetically and mineralogically 

and many authors have considered them as part of 

the Mother Lode. In production reporting, however,· 

the East Belt and West Belt have been considered 

as being districts separate from the Mother Lode; 

so to avoid confusion, this distinction is also made 

in this report. 

Gold deposits are not confined to the Mother Lode 

area, for of the 58 counties in California, significant 

quantities of gold have been mined in 41. Production data for the counties are fairly complete since 

1880, but for many individual districts they are 

spotty and fragmentary, even though many such 

Napa County: 

50, Calistoga. 

Nevada County: 

51, Grass Valley-Nevada City; 52, Meadow Lake; 53, 

Tertiary placer districts. 

Placer County: 

54, Dutch Flat-Gold Run; 55, Foresthill; 56, Iowa Hill; 

57, Michigan Bluff; 58, Ophir; 59, Rising Sun mine. 

Plumas County: 

60, Crescent Mills; 61, Johnsville; 62, La Porte. 

Riverside County: 

63, Pinacate; 64, Pinon-Dale. 

Sacramento County: 

65, Folsom; 66, Sloughhouse. 

San Bernardino County: 

67, Dale; 68, Holcomb; 69, Stedman. 

San Diego County: 

70, Julian. 

San J oachin County: 

71, Clements; 72, Bellota. 

Shasta County: 

73, Deadwood-French Gulch; 7 4, I go; 7 5, Harrison 

Gulch; 76, West Shasta; 77, Whiskeytown. 

Sierra County: 

78, Alleghany and Downieville; 79, Sierra Buttes. 

Siskiyou County: 

80, Humbug; 81, Klamath River; 82, Salmon River; 83, 

Scott River; 84, Cottonwood-Fort Jones-Yreka. 

Stanislaus County: 

85, Oakdale-Knights Ferry; 86, Waterford. 

Trinity County: 

87, Trinity River; 88, Carrville. 

Tulare County: 

89, White River. 

Tuolumne County: 

90, Mother Lode; 91, East Belt; 92, Pocket Belt; 93, 

Columbia Basin-Jamestown-Sonora; 94, Groveland-Moccasin-Jacksonville. 

Yuba County: 

95, Browns Valley-Smartville; 96, Brownsville-Challenge-Dobbins; 97, Hammonton. 

FIGURE 9.-Continued. 
58 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

districts have had substantial production. In the 

publications of the U.S. Bureau of Mines (1925-34; 

1933-66) and U.S. Geological Survey (1904-24) 

production data for several counties or districts 

frequently are combined or listed as unapportioned 

to conceal production of a specific company. Thus 

in this report the production totals for counties and 

districts are minimum figures. 

AMADOR COUNTY 

The initial discoveries, in 1849, of gold-quartz 

veins in Mariposa County at the southern end of 

the Mother Lode soon led to discoveries in Amador 

County, which became the most productive of the 

Mother Lode counties. 

Placers were also productive after the 1850's, 

especially at Volcano, but also at Fiddletown and 

other localities along the Cosumnes River. 

Early gold production is unrecorded, but from 

1880 through 1959 Amador County produced 6,320,-

000 ounces. Between 1903 and 1958, a total of 

4,173,947 ounces was produced from lode mines, 

and 289,835 ounces, from placers. In 1959. only 62 

ounces, undifferentiated as to source, was produced. 

Carlson and Clark (1954, p. 164) estimated that 

lode mines produced a total of more than $160 million (about 7,729,000 ounces). 

COSUMNES RIVER PLACERS 

The Cosumnes River placers are along the Cosumnes River in the northwest part of Amador 

County, near Plymouth. 

The U.S. Bureau of Mines (1933-66) reported 

that only 166 ounces of gold was produced from this 

district since 1932; however, Carlson and Clark 

(1954, p. 199) reported that in recent years intermittent dredging operations processed 2,125,000 

cubic yards of gravel of the Cosumnes River, which 

averaged 18 cents in gold per cubic yard. This is 

roughly equivalent to 10,900 ounces of gold. 

FIDDLETOWN DISTRICT 

The Fiddletown district is in the southern part 

ofT. 8 N., R. 11 E., in northwest Amador County. 

Only meager data are available on its history and 

production. Drift mining and dredging of the Tertiary gravels began in the 1850's and continued on 

a small scale until the early 1950's (Carlson and 

Clark, 1954, p. 199). Fragmentary records indicate 

that the district produced between 10,000 and 

100,000 ounces of gold. 

MOTHER LODE DISTRICT 

The Mother Lode district, about a mile wide, 

crosses the west-central part of Amador County 

from north to south. 

The lode mines began producing in the 1850's, 

and by 1872, 35 mills were in the district. The Old 

Eureka mine, 1,350 feet deep, was acknowledged 

as the deepest shaft in the United States (Knopf, 

1929, p. 5) and was the largest producer on the 

entire Mother Lode in the early days. It was consolidated with the Central Eureka in 1924 after 

several years of inactivity. Production from these 

two mines to 1951 was about $36 million (Carlson 

and Clark, 1954, p. 174). Other important Mother 

Lode mines in Amador County were the Kennedy, 

Argonaut, and Keystone, which produced $34,280,-

000, $25,179,000, and $24,000,000 in gold respectively (Carlson and Clark, 1954, p. 166). Total production of the district through 1959 was about 

7,675,000 ounces. 

VOI,CANO DISTRICT 

The Volcano district is in T. 7 N., R. 12 E., in 

west-central Amador County. Other than brief mention by Lindgren (1911, p. 199) and Carlson and 

Clark (1954, p. 165), little has been published about 

this district. 

Volcano was the center of the early hydraulic 

mining of the gravels of the Tertiary Mokelumne 

River. As production data were not found, it can 

only be roughly estimated that of the 289,835 

ounces of gold produced from placers in Amador 

County since 1903, the Volcano district probably 

produced not more than 100,000 ounces, and this 

was before 1932. 

BUTTE COUNTY 

Butte County has held a high position among the 

gold-producing counties of California; nevertheless, 

very little has been published on the geology and 

production of the mining districts. 

Most of the gold came from placers, which produced about 3,123,115 ounces from 1880 to 1959. 

During 1903-58, Butte County produced 103,800 

ounces of gold from lode mines and 2,332,960 ounces 

from placers. Although there is no record of gold 

production before 1880, undoubtedly there was intensive activity. 

The major gold-producing districts in the county 

are Oroville (Quaternary placers), Magalia (Tertiary placers), and Yankee Hill (mostly lode, some 

Tertiary placers). 

The western half of Butte County is covered by 

alluvial gravels; the eastern half is dominated by 

the northwest-trending Sierra Nevada composed of 

granitic batholith and the intruded older metavolcanics and metasediments (O'Brien, 1949, p. 417-

433) . These older metamorphic rocks are also in-
CALIFORNIA 59 

truded by serpentine and are covered locally by 

basalt flows of Miocene and Pliocene age. 

The metavolcanics contain gold-bearing quartz 

veins in the area between Oroville, Cherokee City, 

and Oregon City. Gold-quartz veins are also present 

at Magalia. 

MAGALIA DISTRICT 

The Magalia district is in north-central Butte 

County near the town of Magalia. 

Tertiary gravels of the Magalia channel, a minor 

Tertiary stream, were mined by underground methods in the early days. The Perschbaker, one of the 

major mines of the district, produced more than 

$1 million in gold to about 1910 (Lindgren, 1911, 

p. 92). Later production is not known, but O'Brien 

(1949, p. 429) noted that the mine had been idle 

since 1947. 

The production of the entire district before 1932 

cannot be determined; from 1932 through 1959 it 

was 15,976 ounces. Adding to this the 50,000 ounces 

representing the early production of the Perschbaker mine, we arrive at a minimum total of about 

66,000 ounces for the district. 

OROVILLE DISTRICT 

The Oroville district is in southern Butte County, 

along the Feather River. 

The Quaternary flood-plain gravels of the Feather 

River near Oroville yielded a total of 1,964,130 

ounces of gold from 1903 to 1959 and therefore 

made the Oroville district the largest producer of 

Butte County. In 1898 the first floating bucketline 

dredge was successfully operated in the district 

(O'Brien, 1949, p. 420), and by 1905, 35 dredges 

were mining the Feather River gravels (Lindgren, 

1911, p. 90). Production continued at a high rate 

until the early 1950's. From 1957 through 1959 only 

a few ounces per year was reported. 

YANKEE HILL DISTRICT 

The Yankee Hill district is in T. 21 N ., Rs. 4 and 

5 E., in central Butte County. 

Most of the lode production of Butte County came 

from this district; however, published details on its 

history and geology were not found. 

From 1929 through 1959 the district produced 

34,427 ounces of gold from lode mines and 5,154 

ounces from placers. Production before 1910 was 

about $1,520,000 (57,000 ounces), mostly from the 

Hearst mine (Lindgren, 1911, p. 84). 

CALAVERAS COUNTY 

Gold was discovered in Calaveras County in 1849 

in gravels along Carson Creek, a tributary of the 

Stanislaus River. In 1850, rich lode deposits were 

found above the placer diggings on Carson Hill, 

where a single nugget from the outcrop was valued 

at more than $40,000 (Julihn and Horton, 1938, 

p. 12). 

Many methods of placer mining have been utilized 

in working the Quaternary deposits in this county: 

hand rocking, sluicing, hydraulicking, dredging, and 

dragline operations. The rich auriferous channel 

gravels of the Tertiary Calaveras River and the 

Cataract or Table Mountain channel have been 

mined by drifts. Most of the production from 1880 

through 1959 was from lode mines in the Mother 

Lode, East Belt, and West Belt districts. 

There is no record of production before 1880, 

when mining of the rich placers was at its peak, 

but Julihn and Horton (1938, p. 21) estimated that 

the placers yielded a minimum of $50 million (about 

2,415,000 ounces) in gold in the early years. From 

1880 through 1959, a total of 580,600 ounces of gold 

was mined from placer deposits, and 2,045,700 

ounces, from the siliceous ores of the Mother Lode, 

East Belt, and West Belt. Production since 1950 

decreased sharply; in 1959 the county produced 

only 167 ounces of gold. 

The Mother Lode, East Belt, and West Belt districts have produced nearly all the lode gold reported from Calaveras County. Copper ores in the 

Campo Seco district have yielded a relatively small 

amount of gold. Important placer localities are 

along the channel systems of the Tertiary Calaveras 

River and the Tertiary Table Mountain channel, 

and Quaternary gravels have been highly productive at Jenny Lind and Camanche. 

CAMANCHE DISTRICT 

The Camanche district is in northwest Calaveras 

County, near the Mokelumne River. 

Gold was recovered, by bucket-type dredges and 

draglines, from late Tertiary or early Quaternary 

gravels, some of which are in the flood plain of the 

Mokelumne River. Production is not known, but 

100,000 to 1 million ounces is estimated. 

CAMPO SECO DISTRICT 

The Campo Seco district, in Tps. 4 and 5 N., 

R. 10 E., in northwestern Calaveras County, has 

yielded gold from Quaternary gravels of the Mokelumne River and also as a byproduct of copper ores. 

Most of the placer mining was before 1900, and 

the amount of gold produced in those early operations cannot be estimated. Most of the byproduct 

gold was from the Pern mine, which operated from 

1899 to 1919 (Julihn and Horton, 1938, p. 112). 
60 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

During that time an estimated 800,000 tons of ore 

was mined which contained 0.03 to 0.10 ounce of 

gold per ton, or a total of 40,000 to 50,000 ounces. 

The mine was inactive until 1937, when the workings were unwatered, and copper was recovered 

from the mine water. Significant amounts of gold 

were produced during the 1940's, but after World 

War II when the demand for copper ceased, the 

mine became dormant. Total gold production of the 

district was about 60,000 ounces. 

The geology of the area was discussed briefly by 

Julihn and Horton (1938, p. 112-113). The ore 

bodies are massive sulfide replacement bodies in 

zones of amphibole schist and sericitized greenstone. The ore consists of an intimate mixture of 

fine-grained pyrite, chalcopyrite, and sphalerite, 

and smaller quantities of bornite and tetrahedrite. 

JENNY LIND DISTRICT 

In the Jenny Lind district, in T. 3 N., R. 10 E., 

along the Calaveras River, Quaternary and late 

Tertiary gravels have been mined on a large scale 

by dredges and draglines. The gold production is 

unknown but is probably between 100,000 and 

1 million ounces. 

MOTHER LODE. EAST BELT, AND WEST BELT 

DISTRICTS 

The Mother Lode, East Belt, and West Belt districts compose a north-trending belt in the western 

part of Calaveras County that contains about 800 

lode mines and prospects (Julihn and Horton, 1938, 

p. 94). These three districts are comOined here because it has not been possible to assign specific production data to any one district nor to determine 

with any degree of accuracy which mines are in 

which district. 

The first lodes discovered in the county were on 

Carson Hill, on the Mother Lode, where extremely 

rich gold-quartz ore was found in wallrocks adjacent to the vein outcrops. The discoveries precipitated a rush to the area which culminated in the 

founding of the town of Melones and the feverish 

exploitation of the rich ores of the now-classic Carson Hill (Julihn and Horton, 1938, p. 101-102). 

Elsewhere in the county, quartz mining developed 

more slowly. In the 1890's mines near Angels Camp 

boosted the output of Calaveras County above that 

of Amador County (Knopf, 1929, p. 6). The mines 

on Carson Hill have been the most productive in the 

county. By 1938 they had yielded a total of about 

$25 million in gold (Julihn and Horton, 1938, 

p. 107). At Angels Camp the Utica and Gold Cliff 

group produced gold valued at $16,400,000 (Julihn 

and Horton, 1938, p. 136). In the West Belt district, 

the Royal mine, discovered in the early 1870's, was 

the most important; to about 1938 its production 

was valued at about $3 million (Julihn and Horton, 

1938, p. 117). The Sheepranch mine, the deepest 

and most productive in the East Belt district, had 

yielded about $5 million in gold by 1938 (Julihn 

and Horton, 1938, p. 110). 

After 1950, lode mining in Calaveras County declined markedly; only a few ounces was produced 

in 1957-58. Total production from 1880 through 

1959 was 2,045,700 ounces. 

The geology of this district is discussed on pages 

55-57. 

PLACERS IN TERTIARY GRAVELS 

The placers in Tertiary channel gravels in Calaveras County have been productive at Mokelumne 

Hill in T. 5 N., R. 11 E., at San Andreas in T. 4 N., 

R. 12 E., and near Murphys in T. 3 N., R. 14 E. 

Two of the productive Tertiary channel systems 

-the Tertiary Calaveras River and the somewhat 

younger Cataract or Table Mountain channelpass through the county (Julihn and Horton, 1938, 

p. 22). These deposits first were worked by both 

drift and hydraulic methods, but legislation curtailed hydraulicking, and drift mining was then 

used exclusively. Production before 1880 is unrecorded but probably was large. Records of the 

placer gold mined from these deposits since 1880 

are incomplete because placer production from all 

sources was grouped in the annual reports. Incomplete records of individual drift mines total 106,000 

ounces (Julihn and Horton, 1938, p. 33-75); therefore this total may be considered a minimum production from the Tertiary gravels. 

DEL NORTE COUNTY 

The most complete published account of the geology and ore deposits of Del Norte County is that of 

O'Brien (1952b, p. 266-267, 277-279). 

The total gold production from 1880 through 

1959 was about 44,700 ounces; about 40,000 ounces 

was from early placer operations· along the Smith 

River and its tributaries. In the .eastern part of the 

county, quartz veins and stringers containing gold, 

pyrite, and arsenopyrite occur in greenstone and 

slate near the contact with diorite and granodiorite. 

An undisclosed amount of gold has been recovered 

from copper ore in the Low Divide district in the 

northwestern part of the county. 

EL DORADO COUNTY 

The discovery of gold in El Dorado County in 

1848 by James Marshall at Coloma, on the south 
CALIFORNIA 61 

fork of the American River 8 miles northwest of 

Placerville (Clark and Carlson, 1956, p. 371), was 

the widely publicized event that precipitated the 

fabulous gold rush to California in 1849. Soon thousands of gold seekers swarmed over the county, and 

in the 1850's it was one of the most populous areas 

in the State. With all the stream gravels being diligently worked, soon discoveries of vein deposits 

were made, and in 1851 lode mining began at Nashville (Clark and Carlson, 1956, p. 372). Since 1884, 

when legislation restricted hydraulic mining, lode 

mines have been the major source of gold in the 

county; however, the placers were rejuvenated 

briefly in the late 1930's, when large floating dragline dredges were introduced. 

From 1880 through 1959, a total of 1,267,700 

ounces of gold was mined in the county. From 1903, 

when systematic recording began, through 1958, 

about 190,600 ounces was mined from placers, and 

534,000 ounces, from lode mines; data before 1880 

have not been found. 

The lode deposits are in quartz veins in the 

Mother Lode, in the East Belt, and in the West 

Belt. Lode gold also occurs in contact metamorphic 

and replacement deposits. 

The most productive placer deposits were in the 

Tertiary channels near Placerville and in the 

Grizzly Flat-Fairplay-Indian Diggings area (Clark 

and Carlson, 1956, p. 431). Placer deposits are also 

found along the American and Cosumnes Rivers. 

GEORGIA SLIDE DISTRIC'l1 

The Georgia Slide district is in T. 12 N., R. 10 E., 

in the northwestern part of El Dorado County. 

This district, in the northern part of the Mother 

Lode, is characterized by its rich seams of gold that 

occur in narrow quartz veinlets that impregnate a 

zone several hundred feet wide in slate, amphibolite, 

and chlorite schist of the Mariposa Slate. Intersections of two vein systems, or of a large quartz vein, 

with a veinlet system are richest in gold. The upper 

parts of these veins were weathered extensively 

and the soluble components were removed, but the 

gold remained and was thus concentrated. In the 

1860's and 1870's these deposits were worked by 

hydraulicking. After the residual mantle was removed, the unweathered deposits were mined by 

conventional underground methods (Clark and Carlson, 1956,p.435). 

Gold production from this district through 1955 

was estimated at $6 million (Clark and Carlson, 

1956, p. 436). No activity has been reported in recent years. 

MOTHER LODE, EAST BELT, AND WEST BELT 

DISTRICTS 

The Mother Lode, East Belt, and West Belt districts, composing a zone 10 to 20 miles wide extending from north to south in western El Dorado 

County, are combined here because their individual 

production cannot be determined. 

Most of the lode gold produced in the county to 

1959 came from mines of the Mother Lode which 

were developed in the early 1850's. Two of these, 

the Union and Church mines, produced $600,000 in 

gold before 1868 (Clark and Carlson, 1956, p. 427). 

The Union was the largest in this district, with a 

total gold production of $2,700,000 to $5 million 

(Clark and Carlson,.l956, p. 427). Other mines 

with $1 million or more total ·production are the 

Big Canyon, Mount- Pleasant, Pyramid, Sliger, Taylor, and Zantgraf. 

From 1903 through 1958 the lode mines of the 

district produced roughly 500,000 ounces of gold. 

Total production could possibly be 1 million ounces 

or more. 

The geology of this district. is covered in the description of the Mother Lode on rages 55-57. 

PLACERS IN, TERTIARY GRAVELS 

Placer gold has been mined;from Tertiary gravels 

in three localities in El Dorado County: Georgetown in the northern part in T. 12 N., R. 10 E., 

Placerville in the west-central part in T. 10 N., 

R. 11 E., and Grizzly Flat about 18 miles south of 

Placerville in T. 9 N., R. 13 E. 

The most productive channels in the county were 

at Placerville where a total of $25 million in gold 

was extracted after the 1860's (Clark and Carlson, 

1956, p. 433). Production from the Georgetown and 

Grizzly Flat areas is not known. From 1903 through 

1959 the production from these three areas totaled 

about 190,000 ounces. Annual production has been 

combined with that of the Mother Lode, East Belt, 

and West Belt districts by U.S. Bureau of Mines 

(1933-1966). 

FRESNO COUNTY 

Most of the early production of Fresno County 

came from lode mines in the area now included in 

Madera County, which was created from part of 

Fresno County in 1893 (Logan and others, 1951, 

p. 503). The gold production of Fresno County from 

1880 to 1892 (Logan and others, 1951, p. 494) 

is credited to Madera County on page 67 of this 

present report. From 1880 to 1959, the placer and 

lode gold production of the area remaining in 

Fresno county was 121,000 ounces. After 1929, most 
62 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

of the gold came from placers, but some was a 

byproduct of the sand and gravel operations at 

various points along the San Joaquin River between 

Friant and Herndon. During 1940-42, $196,977 

worth of gold was recovered from sand and gravel 

processed for use in building Friant Dam on San 

Joaq·1in River (Logan and others, 1951, p. 503). 

HUMBOLDT COUNTY 

Gold is the principal mineral resource of Humboldt County. The bulk of the production has been 

from Quaternary placer deposits in channels and 

terraces along the Trinity and Klamath Rivers. 

There has also been some placer mining of beach 

sands. Averill (194lb, p. 508-516) listed six lode 

prop~rties and 12 placer properties in the county. 

Total production through 1959 was 131,300 ounces 

of gold. 

There are some lode deposits in quartz veins in 

andesite, in Precambrian schists, and in diorite, but 

details of the geology of the county have not been 

published. 

IMPE.RIAL COUNTY 

Gold deposits are scattered throughout Imperial 

County in the numerous desert mountain ranges, 

but the bulk of the production has come from the 

eastern third of the county, particularly the Cargo 

Muchacho, Picacho, and Tumco districts. Other 

smaller producing districts are the Chocolate Mountains and the Paymaster districts. 

Data on production are incomplete, but mining 

was done in the Picacho district as early as 1857. 

From 1907 to 1941 about 81,000 ounces of gold was 

mined in the county (Sampson and Tucker, 1942, 

p. 110-111); however, Henshaw (1942, p. 152) 

credited the Cargo Muchacho district alone with 

about $4 million in gold (193,500 ounces). Minimum total production for the county is about 

235,000 ounces: only a small amount was produced 

from placers, the rest came from lodes. 

Sampson and Tucker (1942, p. 112-113) gave 

brief accounts of the geology of the auriferous 

areas. In the Cargo Muchacho Mountains, the gold 

deposits consist of small gold-bearing quartz veins 

that cut metasediments and dioritic and monzonitic 

intrusives. The Picacho Mountains are composed 

of lavas, tuffs, and conglomerates underlain by 

gneisses and schists that contain the auriferous 

veins. A few small gold-producing localities are in 

the Chocolate Mountains, but their production has 

been minor. Through 1959, only the Cargo Muchacho district had produced more than 10,000 ounces 

of gold. 

CARGO MUCIIACIIO DISTRICT 

The Cargo Muchacho district is in the southeast 

corner of Imperial County, immediately northeast 

of Ogilby. 

Mining began here on a fairly large scale in 1879, 

but previously there had been desultory activity by 

explorers and Mexicans. From 1892 to 1938 the 

district produced $2,437,760 in gold (Henshaw, 

1942, p. 153). Total production of the district to 

1938 is conservatively estimated at about $4 million, 

or about 193,500 ounces (Henshaw, 1942, p. 152). 

From 1938 through 1959, the output was 31,200 

ounces of gold, mostly from lodes, but some was 

from dry placers. The district was idle in 1959. 

Rocks exposed in the district are predominantly 

quartzite, schists, and arkosite of possible Precambrian age (Henshaw, 1942, p. 149) that have been 

separated into the Vitrefrax and Tumco Formations. These were intruded by quartz diorite, quartz 

monzonite, and granite of probable Mesozoic age 

and andesite dikes of probable Tertiary age (Henshaw, 1942, p. 153-190). The ore deposits are tabular bodies of quartz, gold, and copper sulfides that 

are alined along major north-trending faults in the 

area. VVhere fractures were open, as in the metamorphic rocks and quartz diorite, economic concentrations of metals were deposited, but in the granite or quartz monzonite the fractures were rather 

tight and very little material was deposited. Gold 

occurs as fine grains disseminated through the 

country rock, as wire gold and grains in quartz 

veins, as microscopic grains in pyrite, and as placer 

nuggets (Henshaw, 1942, p. 184). 

INYO COUNTY 

Gold has been produced from numerous mines 

scattered throughout lnyo County, but, unfortunately, details of the geology and production of 

individual districts are incomplete. 

From 1880 through 1959, a total of 496,000 

ounces of gold was mined in the county. Most of 

this was lode production, but a considerable quantity was a byproduct from lead-silver, tungsten, and 

copper ores. Mining began as early as 1861 (Knopf, 

1918, p. 105) in the Russ district in the lnyo Range, 

but production data for these early years are incomplete. 

The lode deposits are scattered throughout numerous mountain ranges in the county. The most 

important gold-producing districts are the Ballarat 

and VVild Rose in the Panamint Range, the Chloride 

Cliff in the Funeral Range, the Resting Springs in 

the Nopah Range, the Sherman in the Argus Range, 
CALIFORNIA 63 

the Union in the Inyo Range, and the WillshireBishop Creek, an important tungsten district on the 

east slope of the Sierras. In the early days, gold 

placers were worked on a small scale in Mazourka 

and Marble Canyons, on the west and east slopes 

of the Inyo Range. 

BALLARAT DISTRICT 

The Ballarat (South Park) district, at about lat 

36°00' N. and long 117°10' W., is in the Panamint 

Range in south-central Inyo County. 

The Ratcliff mine, the chief mine in this district, 

was located in 1897 and in the next 6 years it produced gold valued between $300,000 and $1 million 

(Norman and Stewart, 1951, p. 47-48). After an 

indefinite period of inactivity, the mine produced 

$250,000 in gold from 1927 to 1942 (Norman and 

Stewart, 1951, p. 48). A much more conservative 

estimate of $500,000 as the total production from 

the entire district was given by Nolan ( 1936b, 

p. 39) . The district was active on a small scale in 

1959. 

The Ratcliff ore body is in a north-trending vein 

in country rock that has been described variously 

as a biotite schist, sericite schist, metaquartzite, or 

conglomerate schist (Norman and Stewart, 1951, 

p. 48) . The vein consists of quartz lenses and 

masses containing gold associated with pyrrhotite, 

pyrite, and chalcopyrite. 

CHLORIDE CLIFF DISTRICT 

The Chloride Cliff district, at lat 36°40' N. and 

long 116°55' W., is on the slope of the Funeral 

Range. 

The district, discovered about 1903, had a total 

gold production of about 60,000 ounces through 

1959, mostly from Keane Wonder mine. Most of 

the activity in the district occurred before 1916 

(Nolan, 1936b, p. 36), and since then there has been 

only sporadic small production. 

Only brief accounts of the geology of the district 

were found in the literature. Nolan (1936b, p. 36) 

reported that the deposits consisted of gold-bearing 

quartz veins in Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. 

Norman and Stewart (1951, p. 38) stated that 

lenticular quartz ore bodies are enclosed in schist 

at the Keane Wonder mine. 

RESTING SPRINGS DISTRICT 

. Gold is a byproduct from lead-silver ores in the 

Resting Springs district, which is ·5 to 10 miles east 

of Tecopa, in the southeast corner of Inyo County. 

Discovered in 1865, the district produced very 

little before 1910 (Nolan, 1936b, p. 39). The period 

1912-28 was one of fairly large scale activity and 

about $3 million in lead and silver was produced 

from the Shoshone group of mines (Norman and 

Stewart, 1951, p. 80). The amount of gold produced 

in this interval is not given. From 1939 to 1959 the 

district produced 15,005 ounces of gold. 

Only brief accounts of the geology of this district 

appear in the published literature. Nolan (1936b, 

p. 39) described the deposits as lenticular bodies 

of oxidized lead-silver ore along fissures in Paleozoic 

sedimentary rocks. Norman and Stewart (1951, 

p. 80) stated that the country rock is Noonday 

Dolomite, of Early Cambrian age, and that the ore 

deposits are fissure fillings in a fault zone that 

strikes northwest and dips moderately to the northeast. The ore is localized at the intersections of the 

main fault zone with nearly vertical north-trending 

cross fractures. The predominant ore minerals are 

argentiferous galena in the primary ore and cerussite and anglesite in the oxidized ore. 

SHERMAN DISTRICT 

The Sherman district is 10 to 15 miles southwest 

of Ballarat, in T. 23 S., Rs. 42 and 43 E., in the 

Argus Range. 

The chief gold producers have been the Arondo 

and the Ruth gold mines; other mines in the district 

worked for lead and silver have also yielded gold 

as a byproduct. 

There was some activity in the district from the 

1890's through World War I (Norman and Stewart, 

1951, p. 38). From 1939 through 1941, the district 

produced 14,184 ounces of lode gold. No production 

was reported from 1942 to 1959 and data before 

1932 have not been found. 

The deposit at the Arondo mine consists of finely 

divided free gold in quartz fragments and stringers 

mixed with talcose and clay gangue, and siderite 

and hematite in a shear zone in granitic country 

rock (Norman and Stewart, 1951, p. 38, 49). At the 

Ruth mine, the ore consists of free gold associated 

with pyrite in iron-stained quartz stringers in a 

fissure in quartz monzonite country rock. 

UNION DISTRICT 

The Union (Inyo Range) district is between lat 

36°35' and 36°45' N. and long 118°00' and 118°10' 

W., in the Inyo Range in north-central Inyo County. 

Gold deposits were discovered in the 1860's by 

Mexicans (Knopf, 1918, p. 118). Both veins and 

placers were worked, but the placers were soon 

exhausted. Many veins in the district have been 

worked, but the chief producers were the Reward 

and Brown Monster veins which produced $200,000 
64 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

in gold before 1884 (Knopf, 1918, p. 121). In more 

recent years operations in the district have been 

desultory. Total gold production for the district 

could not be determined, but was estimated to be 

between 10,000 and ·50,000 ounces. The geology of 

the area was described by Knopf (1918, p. 121-122, 

pl. 2). The country rock consists of Carboniferous 

shale, limestone, and conglomerate, and Triassic 

shales, tuffs, and volcanic breccias. These rocks were 

intruded by masses of granite and quartz monzonite 

and the veins are distributed near the contacts between the intruded and intrusive rocks. The nearsurface ore is highly oxidized and consists mainly 

of quartz and minor amounts of limonite, calamine, 

chrysocolla, and wulfenite. Unoxidized ore consists 

of quartz with small amounts of pyrite, galena, 

sphalerite, and chalcopyrite. 

WILD ROSE DISTRICT 

The Wild Rose district is at about lat 36°25' N. 

and long 117°07' W., in the Panamint Range. 

Deposits were discovered in this area about 1906, 

and the peak production period was 1908-17, when 

· about $1¥2 million, chiefly in gold, was produced 

from the Skidoo mine (Nolan, 1936b, p. 39). Since 

then various lessees have worked the property for 

short periods, but production is not known (Norman 

and Stewart, 1951, p. 51). Minimum total gold 

production for this district through 1959 was about 

73,000 ounces. 

Descriptions of the geology of this area are 

sketchy. Nolan (1936b, p. 39) reported that the 

deposits are gold-quartz veins in granitic gneiss. 

Norman and Stewart (1951, p. 51) stated that there 

are two systems of veins in a body of quartz 

monzonite and that both have been explored by 

more than a mile of underground workings. 

WILLSHIRE-BISHOP CREEK DISTRICT 

The Willshire-Bishop Creek district, 7 to 17 miles 

west of Bishop, is on the east slope of the Sierra 

Nevada and in the Tungsten Hills. 

This is predominantly a tungsten district, but 

some gold has been produced as a byproduct. Activity began about 1916 and continued through 1959. 

The Pine Creek mine, the largest domestic tungsten 

producer, was the principal source of gold mined 

in the district, and through the 1950's was the chief 

source of gold in Inyo County. The Cardinal Gold 

Mining Co. deposit was mined for gold alone, but 

it has been closed since 1938 (Bateman, 1956, p. 

80). The gold production of this district through 

1959 was between 75,000 and 100,000 ounces. 

In the mineralized parts of the district the predominant country rock consists of a complex of 

granitic to dioritic intrusive bodies and roof pendants and discontinuous septa of metavolcanic and 

metasedimentary rocks of varied lithologic types. 

The metamorphic rocks are of Paleozoic and Mesozoic age; the igneous intrusives are of later Mesozoic age (Bateman, 1956, p. 9). At the Pine Creek 

mine, a folded pendant almost 7 miles long that 

consists of marble, biotite-quartz, hornfels, and 

metavolcanic rocks is bounded by granite, quartz 

monzonite, and hornblende gabbro. The tungsten 

ore bodies are in masses of tactite in the marble 

along its contact with quartz monzonite. Scheelite 

and powellite are disseminated in pyroxene and 

garnet tactite. Molybdenum ore shoots are in silicified zones in tactite bodies containing the ore minerals molybdenite, chalcopyrite, and bornite. Gold 

is recovered from these sulfides during smelting 

(Bateman, 1956, p. 22-34). 

The deposit at the Cardinal mine is in a shear 

zone in quartzite in a quartzite and schist septum 

bordered by quartz monzonite and granodiorite. The 

ore minerals, which are finely disseminated in the 

sheared quartzite, consist dominantly of pyrrhotite 

with lesser amounts of arsenopyrite, sphalerite, 

chalcopyrite, pyrite, and molybdenite. Most of the 

gold is in the sulfides, but some of it is free (Bateman, 1956, p.80,81). 

KERN COUNTY 

Gold was discovered in Kern County in 1851 in 

Greenhorn Gulch, near the Kern River, by a member of General Fremont's party. Mining began in 

1852 at the Keyes and Mammoth mines in the 

Keyes district. From 1880 through 1959 about 

1,777,000 ounces of gold was mined, mostly from 

lode deposits. The major districts are the Amalie, 

Cove, Green Mountain, Keyes, Rand, and RosamondMojave. 

AMALIE DISTRICT 

The Amalie district is between. the south summits 

of the Piute Mountains and Caliente Creek in T. 30 

S., Rs. 33 and 34 E. The principal mine, the Amalie, 

produced $600,000 in gold through 1932 (Tucker 

and Sampson, 1933, p. 280-281). Total production 

of the district through 1959 was about 30,000 

ounces; nearly all production was from lode mines. 

The country rock is dominantly granitic and contains narrow belts of schist and slate. Most of the 

veins are found in quartz porphyry. 
CALIFORNIA 65 

COVE DISTRICT 

The Cove district is 45 miles northeast of Bakersfield near Kernville, in T. 25 S., R. 33 E. 

In the late 1850's a few placers were worked in 

the Cove district by the more persistent of the 

prospectors drawn to the area by the original discoveries in Kern County, along the Kern River, in 

1851. Gold-bearing quartz veins were found in 1860. 

The towns of Quartzburg and Kernville, which were 

founded in the boom that followed, experienced a 

period of orderly growth and prosperity. The Big 

Blue mine of Kern Mines, Inc., was discovered early 

in the history of the district. The mine became the 

major producer and was credited with $1,746,910 

in gold to 1933 (Tucker and others, 1949, p. 211) ; 

most of this production was in the first few years 

of the mine's activity. In 1883 most of the workings 

were destroyed by fire, and the mine was inactive 

until 1907 when the first of several unsuccessful 

attempts was made to rehabilitate the property. 

Total gold production of the district through 1959 

was about 262,800 ounces; none had been reported 

since 1942. 

The country rock consists of metasedimentsphyllites, quartzites, and limestone of the Kernville 

Series of Carboniferous ( ?) age, and the Isabella 

Granodiorite and acidic dikes of Jurassic ( ?) age. 

The granodiorite is probably related to the main 

Sierra Nevada batholith (Prout, 1940, p. 385-389; 

Miller and Webb, 1940, p. 378). 

The metamorphic rocks are intensely deformed 

and crumpled by the intrusive rock. Along the east 

edge of the Cove district is the north-trending Kern 

Canyon fault, the major structure in the area. 

Ore deposits consist of veins which seem to be 

related to the closing stages of igneous activity. The 

veins occur in shear zones, parallel to the Kern 

Canyon fault, and are associated with acidic dikes 

that cut the granodiorite and metasediments (Prout, 

1940, p. 386, 391-392). The veins are dominantly 

quartz with small amounts of calcite. The ore minerals are gold, which occurs in the free state, arsenopyrite, galena, and sphalerite (Prout, 1940, 

p. 411-412). 

GREEN MOUNTAIN DISTRICT 

The Green Mountain district includes the area 

between Piute, on the west slope of the Piute Mountains, and the edge of Kelsey Valley, on the east side 

of the Piute Mountains. 

Gold production of this district through 1959 was 

about 33,100 ounces. The Bright Star mine was the 

major producer, with an estimated $600,000 total 

output (Tucker and Sampson, 1933, p. 280). 

Bedrock in the ~rea consists of metasedimentary 

rocks of the Kernville Series of Carboniferous ( ?) 

age and Isabella Granodiorite of Jurassic ( ?) age 

(Miller and Webb, 1940, p. 349-358). The metasedimentary rocks occur in northwest-trending bands 

and include marble, phyllite, mica schist, and 

quartzite. The gold deposits are in small, but rich, 

shoots in narrow quartz veins. 

KEYES DISTRIC'J.1 

The Keyes district, 35 miles north of Caliente in 

T. 26 S., Rs. 32 and 33 E., produced about 39,600 

ounces of gold through 1959, all from lodes. 

Detailed accounts of the history and geology of 

this district were not found; however, Tucker and 

Sampson (1933, p. 283) reported that the deposits 

in the district are in narrow high-grade veins in 

granite. 

RAND DISTRICT 

The Rand district is on the San Bernardino-Kern 

County line. Randsburg, 45 miles northeast of 

Mojave, is in the center of the district. Although 

more than half the area is in San Bernardino 

County, nearly all the gold mined in the district 

has come from the western part, in Kern County. 

This is the most important district in Kern County, 

and it contains the largest gold mine in the county, 

the Yell ow Aster. Gold has been the chief commodity mined; silver has been a byproduct. 

Placer gold was discovered in the winter of 1893-

94 at Goler Wash, 9 miles northwest of Randsburg, 

and by 1895 the lode deposits of the Yell ow Aster 

mine were developed (Hess, 1910, p. 31-32). Of the 

estimated $9 to . $10 million worth of ore mined 

before 1910, the Yellow Aster produced $6 million 

(Hess, 1910, p. 32). 

Tucker and Sampson (1933, p. 285-286) gave 

estimates of the production and a brief account· of 

the geology. Gold production through 1959 was 

836,300 ounces, all but about 1, 700 ounces was 

from lode mines. 

The country rock in the :gold-producing part of 

the district consists of the Rand Schist and the 

Atolia Quartz Monzonite which intruded the schist. 

Numerous rhyolite pipes, dikes, and sills of late 

Miocene age are found locally. Gold ores occur in 

fissure veins and as impregnations and stockworks 

in both the monzonite and Rand schist. The 

strongest veins have been found to be in two systems-one strikes N. 80° E. and the other, north~ 

west. The principal vein minerals are quartz, arsenopyrite, pyrite, galena, gold, scheelite, iron 
66 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

oxides, and calcite. Only the oxidized parts of the 

veins have been mined. 

ROSAMOND-MOJAVE DISTRICT 

The Rosamond-Mojave district is 4 miles southwest of Mojave, in Tps. 10 and 11 N., Rs. 11, 12, 

and 13 W. Production from this district, all from 

lode mines, to about 1933 was about $3% million 

in gold and silver, and gold was apparently the 

major commodity. This includes production from 

the Tropico mines, which are a short distance outside the district (Tucker and Sampson, 1933, p. 

280-284). Total gold production through 1959 was 

about 278,250 ounces. 

Granite, the oldest rock in the district, is overlain 

by rhyolite porphyry, which is well exposed throughout the area. The rhyolite porphyry is overlain 

by sheets and remnants of rhyolite (Tucker and 

Sampson, 1933, p. 283). Gold deposits are in steeply 

dipping quartz veins in the rhyolite porphyry that 

seem to flatten at depth and then follow the 

porphyry-granite contact. The veinfilling consists 

of quartz, granite fragments, calcite, ferruginous 

clay, and manganese (Tucker and Sampson, 1933, 

p. 284). Native gold occurs in association with 

pyrite, chalcopyrite, and minor amounts of galena, 

marcasite, and sphalerite. The silver minerals are 

cerargyrite and argentite (Tucker and Sampson, 

1933, p. -284). 

OTHER LOCALITIES 

Several additional gold-producing localities in 

Kern County were listed by Tucker and Sampson 

(1933, p. 280) . These are the Joe Walker mine, 7 

miles northwest of Piute in T. 29 S., R. 33 E., with 

a production valued at $600,000; the St. John mine, 

16 miles south of Weldon in T. 28 S., R. 35 E., with 

a production worth $700,000; and the Pine Tree 

mine in T. 11 N., R. 15 W., which produced $250,000 

worth of gold. The Pioneer district, mentioned by 

Tucker and Sampson (1933, p. 280) as having produced $500,000 in gold, could not be located, and no 

additional data on this district were found in the 

literature. 

LASSEN COUNTY 

Gold production from Lassen County has come 

mainly from the Diamond Mountain and Hayden 

Hill districts. 

Production for 1880-1959 was 107,200 ounces. 

There probably was considerable production, especially from placers, before 1880, but no systematic 

records of this have been found. 

DIAJ\fOND MOUNTAIN DISTRICT 

The Diamond Mountain district is 6 miles south 

of Susanville in T. 29 N., Rs. 11 and 12 E. 

In the early days, most of the production was 

from placers; later it was almost entirely from 

lodes. The total recorded gold production through 

1959 was 21,800 ounces, of which at least 9,700 

ounces came from placers. 

The district is underlain by intrusive rocks of 

Mesozoic age that are overlain by Tertiary gravels, 

lava, and alluvium (Ave1·ill and Erwin, 1936, p. 

409-422). The intrusive rocks consist of biotitequartz diorite, hornblende-quartz diorite, and granite. Overlying the gravels and capping some of the 

mountains are andesite lavas of Pliocene age. 

The lode deposits are gold-quartz veins that occur 

in all three types of the igneous rocks, but the 

.most productive deposits are in the biotite-quartz 

diorite. The Tertiary gravels are auriferous and 

have been mined locally. 

HAYDEN HILL DISTRICT 

The Hayden Hill district is in north-central Lassen County, in Tps. 36 and 37 N., Rs. 10 and 11 E. 

Estimated production for 1880-1959, utilizing 

estimates of Hill (1915, p. 32), was about 116,000 

ounces, and all may be attributed to the lode mines, 

because there is no record of any placer production. 

Gold was discovered in this district in 1870; in 

1873 it produced $40,000 in gold. The periods 1880-

84 and 1904-9 were the most productive. In 1910 

most of the town of Hayden Hill was destroyed by 

fire (Hill, 1915, p. 30-31), and the district remained 

almost inactive through 1959. 

The geology of this district was described by 

Hill (1915, p. 30-38), and the following is from his 

report. The country rock in the Hayden Hill district 

is rhyolite tuff of Tertiary age. This is cut by two 

sets of gold-bearing quartz veins of late Tertiary 

age; one trends N. 68° W., the other N. 38° E. Unconsolidated fault breccia fills many of the veins. 

Gold, accompanied by pyrolusite, occurs with fine 

sandy material in the veins. 

LOS ANGELES COUNTY 

Gold was mined in Los Angeles County-long 

before James Marshall's discovery in El Dorado 

County in 1848-by Spaniards and Mexicans who 

worked placers 35 miles northwest of Los Angeles 

from 1834 to 1838. During the rush to California 

many prospectors settled in the Los Angeles area, 

where in 1857-58 more than 6,000 people were 

mining gold (Gay and Hoffman, 1954, p. 493). 
CALIFORNIA 67 

Most of the production from the county was from 

lode deposits, although the San Gabriel district produced considerable placer gold. Gay and Hoffman 

(1954, p. 497) reported total county gold production at more than $2lj~ million (about 109,200 

ounces). From 1957 through 1959 gold mining was 

restricted to small yields from itinerant sand-andgravel operations. 

Gold has been mined at many places in the 

county. Some of the larger producers are the Acton 

and N eenach lode districts, the Bouquet and Texas 

Canyon placer districts, and lode and placer districts 

in the San Gabriel Mountains near Mount Baldy 

and in eastern San Gabriel Canyon. More than half 

the county production from 1880 through 1953 

came from the Governor lode near Acton (Gay and 

Hoffman, 1954, p. 497). 

ACTON DISTRICT 

The Acton (Cedar and Mount Gleason) district, 

in north-central Los Angeles County, produced at 

least 50,000 ounces of gold during 1880-1959, all 

attribu.ted to lode mines, the most important of 

which was the Governor mine. 

Pyritiferous gold-bearing veins occupy faults and 

zones of fractures in basic intrusives and metamorphic rocks of the Pelona Schist (age unknown) 

and in the San Gabriel Complex of Precambrian ( ?) 

age (Gay and Hoffman, 1954, p. 494). 

ANTELOPE VALLEY DISTRICT 

The Antelope Valley district is in northwest Los 

Angeles County, south of N eenach, along the Kern 

County line. 

Gold was discovered in this area in 1934, and a 

small rush immediately followed. Although many 

claims were staked and many pits were dug, only 

the group of claims controlled by the Rivera Mining 

Co. was successful. Most of the mining was done 

during the first few years, and by 1946 all properties were idle (Wiese, 1950, p. 47). Total production was about 9, 700 ounces of gold. 

The country rock in the vicinity of the gold 

deposits is quartz monzonite of Jurassic ( ?) age. It 

contains large inclusions of limestone, hornfels, and 

quartzite, which are remnants of a metasedimentary 

sequence tentatively regarded to be of Paleozoic age 

(Wiese, 1950, p. 18-19). 

The ore deposits are in quartz veins along the 

contact between the quartz monzonite and metasedimentary rocks. The gold occurs free in the 

quartz or is associated with sulfides that are present 

in small amounts (Wiese, 1950, p. 47). 

SAN GABRIEL DISTRICT 

The San Gabriel district, in east-central Los 

Angeles County, has produced both placer and lode 

gold. The San Gabriel River area has been worked 

intermittently for placer gold since 1848, but no 

production was reported for 1957-59. Before 1874, 

more than $2 million worth of placer gold (about 

100,000 ounces) was mined; since 1880, about 

20,000 ounces was mined. The lodes are credited 

with 50,000 ounces of gold (Gay and Hoffman, 

1954, p. 495-496), most of which was probably 

mined before 1880. Total production for the district 

was about 165,000 ounces. 

The lode deposits consist of gold-quartz veins that 

cut metamorphosed igneous and other metamorphosed rocks of the San Gabriel complex (Gay and 

Hoffman, 1954, p. 495). The veins are narrow and 

discontinuous, and the ore shoots are irregularly 

distributed. 

MADERA COUNTY 

A variety of metals and nonmetals occurs in economic amounts in Madera County. In addition to 

gold, there are important tungsten deposits and 

occurrences of natural gas. 

Madera County was formed from part of Fresno 

County in 1893, and included within the new county 

were nearly all the productive gold mines. Goldquartz ore was found at or near the. contact of the 

Sierra ·Nevada batholith with pre-Cretaceous schist 

and slate in an area that extends from Grub Gulch 

to Hildreth (Logan, 1950, p. 447). In the 1950's 

small amounts of gold came from dredging operations along the Fresno, Chowchilla, and San Joaquin 

Rivers. After 1954 gold mining virtually ceased; no 

production was reported in 1959. Total production 

for the county through 1959 was 79,281 ounces, 

mostly from placers. It has not been possible to 

delineate any mining districts that have produced 

as much as 10,000 ounces of gold. 

MARIPOSA COUNTY 

Mariposa County, the southernmost of the Mother 

Lode counties, has had a long and productive mining history. Most of the gold has come from lode 

mines on the Mother Lode and West Belt and lode 

and placer mines in the Hornitos district. Quaternary gravels have been productive along the Merced 

River and near Mormon Bar. Before 1900, unrecorded amounts of gold were mined from Tertiary 

placers in the Blanchard district in the Jawbone 

Ridge area and on the ridge between Moore and 

Jordan Creeks. 
68 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

Gold production of Mariposa County for 1880-

1959 was about 2,144,500 ounces: about 583,500 

ounces came from placers and about 1,561,000 

ounces came from lodes. Production before 1880 has 

not been determined. 

Gold mining began at an early date in the county. 

Gravels along Agua Fria and Mariposa Creeks 

were worked before 1849 and were thoroughly 

mined out by the hordes of prospectors who overran the area during the gold rush of 1849. By July 

1849 a stamp mill was processing ore from the first 

lode discovery in the county, the Mariposa mine on 

the Mother Lode (Bowen and Gray, 1957, p. 39, 43). 

Lode mining in Mariposa County was inhibited 

by the controversial Las Mariposas land grant 

which gave title to 14 of the 24 miles of the Mother 

Lode in the county to Gen. John C. Fremont. This 

grant was unsurveyed and was made before gold 

was discovered. Long before Fremont attempted to 

establish his right, the grant was overrun with 

prospe·ctors and miners, who understandably were 

reluctant to give up what they considered just 

claims. After years of conflict in and out of the 

courts, Fremont's claim to the grant was formally 

recognized. But by then the property was plagued 

by mismanagement and inefficiency and the mines 

never fulfilled the expectations of the authorities 

who evaluated them (Julihn and Horton, 1940, p. 

95-96). 

Another large estate, the Cook estate, which encompassed most of the mines along a 2-mile length 

of the Mother Lode in the Coulterville area, further 

complicated operations on the Mother .Lode in Mariposa County (Julihn and Horton, 1940, p. 96-97). 

Despite the early frustrations, lode mining in 

Mariposa County flourished and was especially successful in the late 1930's and early 1940's before 

most of the mines closed in compliance with War 

Production Board Order L-208 issued in October 

1942. After World War II gold mining declined, 

and during 1950-59 the average annual gold output 

was less than 1,000 ounces. 

The western two-thirds of the county is underlain by metasedimentary rocks and metavolcanics 

of Paleozoic and Late Jurassic age, and the eastern 

one-third is underlain chiefly by intrusives of Late 

Jurassic or Early Cretaceous age (Bowen and Gray, 

1957, p. 45). The intrusive rocks consist of various 

types of granitic and peridotitic rocks, but biotitehornblende granodiorite is predominant. 

HORNITOS DISTRICT 

The Hornitos district, in western Mariposa 

County at lat 37°30' N. and long 120°14' W., is 

noted for gold production from both placers and 

lodes. 

In the early days the Quaternary gravels of 

Hornitos Creek yielded considerable gold, but these 

were nearly exhausted before 1900. The lode mines 

are all west of the Mother Lode, in the zone of veins 

referred to as the West Belt. Total production from 

the district is not known, but a minimum of 500,000 

ounces seems to be a reasonable estimate. 

The gold deposits of the West Belt are in veins 

that cut several rock types, chiefly metasedimentary 

rocks of the Mariposa Formation of Jurassic age. 

The Mariposa is intruded locally by serpentinized 

peridotite, pyroxenite, basic intrusives altered to 

hornblende schists, and acid intrusives such as 

granite and granodiorite (Julihn and Horton, 1940, 

p. 116-117). Most of the gold deposits are along 

contacts of igneous rocks and metasedimentary 

rocks. 

MERCED RIVER PLACERS 

Quaternary gravels along the Merced River west 

of Bagby were a source of placer gold in the late 

1860's and 1870's (Bowen and Gray, 1957, p. 187), 

but little activity has been reported in recent years. 

Production from these deposits is not known, but 

probably was at least 50,000 ounces of gold. 

MORMON BAR DISTRICT 

The Mormon Bar district is in T. 5 S., R. 18 E., 

about 2% miles south of the town of Mariposa. 

In the early days of mining in Mariposa County, 

the headwaters of Mariposa Creek near Mormon 

Bar was the scene of considerable placer activity. 

By 1870, however, the deposits, which were only 

about 6 feet thick, were almost worked out, and 

thereafter the placer output of the entire county 

averaged only a few hundred ounces per year 

(Julihn and Horton, 1940, p. 159, 162). In the late 

1930's a slight revival took place, and the gravels 

at Mormon Bar were worked industriously by dragline (Julihn and Horton, 1940, p. 159). Total gold 

production for the district is estimated at about 

75,000 ounces. 

MOTHER LODE AND EAST BELT DISTRICTS 

The Mother Lode, which has its southern terminus in Mariposa County, is a northwest-trending 

zone that is 3 or 4 miles wide and extends from the 

town of Mormon Bar northward through Coulterville into Tuolumne County. Roughly parallel veins 

east of this zone are referred to as the East Belt. 

Though much has been said about the production 

of the Mother Lode, the mines of the East Belt and 
CALIFORNIA 69 

West Belt (Hornitos) districts have produced most 

of the lode gold in Mariposa County. Recorded production from mines on the Mother Lode to about 

1939 totaled $6,300,000 (Julihn and Horton, 1940, 

p. 103-116). Prominent among these are the Princeton, Pine Tree and Josephine, and the Mount Ophir. 

The East Belt in Mariposa County is a continuation 

of the same belt in Tuolumne and Calaveras Counties, to the north. Incomplete production data from 

individual mines give a minimum total of almost 

$12 million in gold to about 1939 (Julihn and 

Horton, 1940, p. 134-158). The major mines in this 

area are the Original and Ferguson, Rite, and 

Mariposa. Total gold production of the Mother Lode 

and East Belt districts through 1959 was approximately 1,009,000 ounces. 

The geology of the Mother Lode, East Belt, and 

West Belt has been discussed on pages 55-57. 

PLACERS IN TERTIARY GRAVELS 

Placers in Tertiary gravels at three localities 

were reported by Bowen and Gray (1957, p. 189) 

to be gold bearing: in the Blanchard district in the 

northwestern part of the county; along the Tuolumne County line, just south of Jawbone Ridge; 

and on the ridge between Moore and Jordan Creeks, 

4 or 5 miles northwest of Bower Cave. 

The protective cap of Tertiary lavas that preserved the gravels in counties to the north probably 

did not extend as far south as Mariposa County; 

consequently, most of the Tertiary alluvial deposits 

have been eroded away. The remaining deposits 

yielded considerable gold in the early days, but their 

production is unrecorded. They probably produced 

a maximum of about 75,000 ounces of gold. 

MERCED COUNTY 

Merced County, which adjoins Mariposa County 

on the southwest, has produced considerable gold 

from one general locality-the alluvial plain of the 

Merced River between Merced Falls and Snelling. 

Small quantities of gold were mined in the early 

days; then in 1907, the Yosemite Mining and 

Dredging Co. began operating the first connected 

bucket dredge in the country, and immediately production doubled. From 1929 to 1943 several bucket 

dredges operated in the Snelling area-this was the 

era of peak gold production for Merced County 

(Davis and Carlson, 1952, p. 221-222). The War 

Production Board Order L-208 of 1942, rising costs, 

and resoiling ordinances all contributed to a marked 

decline in large-scale dredging, and gold mining in 

Merced County never regained the magnitude of 

the 1930's. 

Total production from 1880 through 1959 was 

about 516,346 ounces, all from placers. 

MODOC COUNTY 

Modoc County produced about 14,400 ounces of 

gold from 1880 through 1959. The High Grade district, in the northeast corner of the county, has 

been the only important gold-mining area. 

Gold was first discovered in the district in 1870, 

but it was not until 1909 that any great interest 

was shown in prospecting the area (Hill, 1915, 

p. 38). Apparently the district was never developed 

on a large scale, and it is doubtful that the total 

production by 1959 exceeded 11,000 ounces of gold. 

The country rock in the district consists of· a 

series of andesite, rhyolite, and basalt lava flows 

that have been displaced and tilted by movement 

along generally north-trending normal faults. The 

ore deposits are in quartz veins and mineralized 

breccia zones in rhyolite and andesite. The vein 

minerals are quartz, adularia, and small amounts 

of pyrite and gold (Hill, 1915, p. 40-47). 

MONO COUNTY 

Mining began in Mono County in 1862, when 

silver ore was discovered at Blind Springs Hill 

(Sampson and Tucker, 1940, p. 117), but gold mining became commercially important some time later. 

The most important lode districts were Bodie and 

Masonic. Small amounts of placer gold have been 

mined near the headwaters of the Walker River, 

Virginia Creek, and Dog Creek, and at Bodie Digging, north of Mono Lake (Sampson and Tucker, 

1940, p. 121). According to Rinehart and Ross 

(1956, p. 16), scattered mines in the Casa Diablo 

Mountains quadrangle have produced less than 

$1 million in gold and silver. 

Total gold production for the county from 1880 

through 1959 was 1,176,200 ounces, the bulk of 

which was lode gold. More than 90 percent of this 

came from the Bodie district. The following summary of the geology has been prepared from reports 

by Sampson and Tucker (1940, p. 118) and Rinehart and Ross ( 1956) . 

The western part of the county is underlain predominantly by granodioritic rocks of the Sierra 

Nevada batholith and a narrow belt of lower Paleozoic or Precambrian metasedimentary rocks. The 

Benton Range, in the southeastern part of the 

county, is also composed of these rocks. Most of the 

remainder of the county is underlain by bodies of 

granitic rocks, diorite, and gabbro, of Cretaceous 

( 7) age, and by basalt and rhyolite flows and rhyo-
70 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

lite tuff of Tertiary and Quaternary age. Granitic NEVADA COUNTY 

stocks of Cretaceous ( ?) age form the White Mountains, at the southeast boundary of the county, and 

Blind Springs Hill, east of Benton. 

BODIE DISTRICT 

The Bodie district is in northeast Mono County, 

in T. 4 N., R. 27 E. Mining was started in 1860, 

and the district was active until 1955. Total gold 

production was 1,456,300 ounces, most of which 

came from the Standard mine. 

Country rock in the district consists of a "complex of igneous rocks and breccias" overlain (perhaps along a fault) by Tertiary hornblende andesite 

(Brown, 1908, p. 343-344). Ore bodies occur in 

three sets of auriferous quartz veins in the andesite 

(Brown, 1908, p. 345-346). 

MASONIC DISTRICT 

The Masonic district is in northeast Mono 

County, in T. 6 N., R. 26 E. Gold occurs in quartz 

veins in metamorphic rocks and granite. The Pittsburg-Liberty mine, with a record of $470,000 in 

gold (about 34,000 ounces), has been the important 

producer (Sampson and Tucker, 1940, p. 121). The 

district was active on a small scale in 1959. No detailed descriptions of the geology were found. 

NAPA COUNTY 

Total recorded gold production for Napa County 

is 23,225 ounces, all from the Calistoga district in 

the northwest corner of the county. The first gold 

production recorded was in 1875 when $93,000 in 

combined gold and silver was listed (Davis, 1948, 

p. 165). Intermittent production continued to 1941. 

Gold has been a byproduct from the Palisade and 

Silverado silver mines (Davis, 1948, p. 183). No 

other information on this district could be found. 

Along the eastern border of the county is a 

4-mile-wide belt of folded siltstones, sandstones, 

and a few limestones composing the Shasta Series, 

of Cretaceous age (Davis, 1948, p. 162). These 

rocks are flanked on the west by a 11;2-mile-wide 

strip of the Jurassic Knoxville Formation, which is 

the lower, conglomeratic unit of the Shasta Series 

(Weaver, 1949, p. 21-22). The remainder of the 

northern half of the county is underlain by metamorphic and cherty sedimentary rocks and associated basic intrusive rocks of the Franciscan Group, 

of Jurassic age. In the western part of the county, 

the east side of the Napa Valley is covered by a 

thick section of Pliocene volcanic rocks, and on the 

west side of the valley, the Shasta Series is overlain locally by Pliocene volcanic rocks. 

The gold-quartz mines of the Grass ValleyNevada City district in Nevada County have been 

the most productive in the State, and the Empire 

mine in the same district was in continuous operation from 1850 to 1940, which at that time was the 

longest period of operation for any gold mine in 

the country (Logan, 1941, p. 375). Placer production has also been significant, especially in the early 

days; however, no consistent records have been 

kept. Tertiary gravels on San Juan Ridge, North 

Columbia, Sailor Flat, Blue Tent, Scotts Flat, 

Quaker Hill, and Red Dog-You Bet still contain 

tremendous reserves, but these are for the most 

part undeveloped because of the curtailment of hydraulic mining. 

The total gold production of the county from 

1849 through 1959 was 17,016,000 ounces, including 

Lindgren's (1896, p. 26) estimate of $133,800,000 

in gold. Since 1903, when placer and lode production have been reported separately by the U.S. Geological Survey (1904-24) and U.S. Bureau of Mines 

(1925-34, 1933-66), 286,655 ounces of placer and 

7,119,353 ounces of lode gold have been mined in 

the county. 

GRASS VALLEY-NEVADA CITY DISTRICT 

Because the towns of Grass Valley and Nevada 

City, which form the center of the Grass ValleyNevada City district, are only 4 miles apart and 

because of their similarity in geology, distribution 

and mineralogy of veins, and common history and 

development, they are discussed together. 

The initial rush to this area took place in 1850 

after rich gravels were discovered near the present 

site of Nevada City. In October of the same year, 

the first lode discovery was made at Gold Hill on 

the outskirts of Grass Valley (Johnston, 1940, 

p. 19). Almost immediately the towns of Grass 

Valley and Nevada City were founded; they grew 

rapidly, prospered, and became permanent communities. 

By 1851 quartz mines had been developed at 

Nevada City, but these early ventures failed. The 

miners turned to working the rich Tertiary gravels 

on a large scale by introducing hydraulic methods 

(Lindgren, 1896, p. 19). The discovery at Gold Hill 

was followed by discoveries of veins at Ophir Hill, 

Rich Hill, and Massachusetts Hill, and by 1867 

most of the major mines of the district had been 

located. Grass Valley, where 1,600 men were working and 284 stamps were crushing the ore, was then 

one of the leading camps in California (Johnston, 
CALIFORNIA 71 

1940, p. 19). Meanwhile new discoveries of lode 

deposits were made at Nevada City, and quartz 

mining became dominant there after 1880. Some of 

the important mines at Nevada City are the Champion, Providence, Canada Hill, Hoge, and Nevada 

City. The Empire, North Star, and Idaho-Maryland 

mines have accounted for more than two-thirds of 

the production of Grass Valley and have exerted 

considerable influence on the economic life of the 

community. Indeed, in 1938 and 1939 the IdahoMaryland had the largest gold output of any mine 

in the State. In recent years activity has declined 

in the district, and in 1957-58 most of the production was from cleanup operations at the Empire 

and North Star mines. 

Production of the Grass Valley-Nevada City district is difficult to determine accurately because of 

the incompleteness of the early records. Of the estimated $113 million worth of production from 1849 

to 1893, at least 60 percent was credited to the lode 

mines (Lindgren, 1896, p. 28). From 1903 through 

1958, Nevada County produced 7,119,353 ounces of 

lode gold and 286,655 ounces of placer gold. Almost 

all of the lode gold is assumed to have come from 

the Grass Valley-Nevada City district. Converting 

Lindgren's estimate to ounces, the total production 

of the district through 1959 was approximately 

10,408,000 ounces of lOde gold and 2,200,000 ounces 

of placer gold. 

The reports of Lindgren (1896) and Johnston 

(1940) have been drawn upon for the following 

discussion of the geology of the district. 

At the Grass Valley camp, the oldest rocks are 

schists and slates of the Calaveras Formation, of 

Carboniferous age, and relatively unaltered clay 

slates of the Mariposa Formation, of Jurassic age. 

Igneous rocks in the area consist of large masses 

of diabase, porphyrite, and amphibolite schist of 

Carboniferous to Jurassic age and serpentine, gabbro, diorite, granodiorite, and quartz porphyry, of 

Jurassic and Cretaceous age. Andesite flows of Tertiary age cover large areas east and southeast of 

the town of Grass Valley. The most characteristic 

geological feature of the Grass Valley camp is the 

elongate body of Cretaceous granodiorite which is 

5 miles long and Y2 to 2 miles wide. The ore deposits are gold-quartz veins in the granodiorite 

mass and in the serpentine, porphyrite, and diabase 

wallrock. The veins in the granodiorite, porphyrite, 

and diabase, in the central and southern part of the 

camp, strike north or slightly northwest, parallel to 

the contact of the intrusive. Veins in the northern 

part of the camp are north of the granodiorite and 

are in serpentine. These strike predominantly east. 

Quartz is the principal vein material, and it appears in several textural types representative of 

successive stages of mineralization. Comb quartz, 

milky quartz, ribbon quartz, and brecciated quartz 

are the most common varieties. Ankerite and calcite 

are common gangue minerals but are less abundant 

than quartz. The principal sulfides are pyrite, galena, and sphalerite; also present, but less common, 

are arsenopyrite and chalcopyrite. Gold occurs along 

cracks and grain boundaries in the sulfides and in 

brecciated quartz. Commonly bounding the ore 

shoots in the granodiorite are vertical or steeply 

dipping fractures, called crossings, that strike 

northeast, normal to the long axis of the granodiorite body. 

The Nevada City camp, about 4 miles northeast 

of Grass Valley, is at the south end of a large body 

of granodiorite that extends northward into Butte 

County. This mass is separate from the stock at 

Grass Valley but is probably of the same age. 

A narrow belt, 400 to 1,500 feet wide, consisting of 

argillites, quartzites, and mica schists of the Calaveras Formation, is in contact with the southern 

end of the granodiorite and crosses the Nevada 

City camp in a northwesterly direction. Masses of 

porphyrite, diabase, and amphibolite schist, of Carboniferous to Jurassic age, form irregular lenses 

and bands southwest of the Calaveras Formation. 

North of the town of Nevada City are several ridges 

of Tertiary gravels capped by andesite lava flows. 

In general, the veins of Nevada City are mineralogically similar to those at Grass Valley, the main 

difference being the larger amount of coarse gold 

in the Grass Valley veins. The Nevada City veins 

are concentrated in the vicinity of the granodioritecountry rock contact and they are arranged into 

two systems: (1) a system that trends west-northwest with steep dips to the north or south, and 

(2) a system that trends north with medium eastward dips and contains the most productive veins. 

MEADOW LAKE DISTRICT. 

The Meadow Lake district, 35 miles east of Grass 

Valley, is a relatively minor lode district and has 

been inactive since 1905. Production, which began 

in 1863, totaled at least 10,000 ounces of gold, but 

records are fragmentary. 

Bedrock consists of granodiorite intruded into 

and bordered on the east by diabase and eruptive 

rocks (Wisker, 1936, p. 192-194). Most of the veins 

are in the granodiorite, a few are in the diabase. 

There are two productive vein systems: the major 

one trends N. 25° W.; the other, composed of 

smaller veins, ranges from N. 45° W., to N. 85° W. 
72 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

Some of the larger veins are remarkably persistent 

and can be traced for as much as 6,000 feet on the 

surface. High amounts of pyrite, arsenopyrite, and 

chalcopyrite are present in the veins. Quartz is not 

as abundant as it is in the typical California goldquartz veins. Free gold is associated with pyrite 

and rarely with quartz. 

TERTIARY PLACER DISTRICTS 

The Tertiary placer districts include the placer 

deposits in the following areas: San Juan Ridge, 

North Columbia, Sailor Flat, Blue Tent, Scotts Flat, 

Quaker Hill, and Red Dog-You Bet. 

Most of the placer production of Nevada County 

before 1900 came from hydraulic mining of the 

Tertiary gravels from these localities. The production of individual areas is not known, but Lindgren 

(1911, p. 133) estimated that their aggregate production through 1909 was at least $60 million in 

gold. After passage of the California Debris Commission Act of 1893, many operators closed down, 

even though huge reserves of auriferous gravels 

still remain in these areas. In recent years, production from these areas has been sporadic and small 

scale. 

PLACER COUNTY 

Placer County, noted chiefly for its placer mines, 

has also produced substantial lode gold particularly 

from the Ophir district. Gold was discovered in 

1848 in Auburn Ravine. In the 1850's, bars in the 

American River and its tributaries were worked, 

and quartz mining also began. In the· Foresthill 

Divide area, Tertiary channels were mined by drifts, 

and in the Dutch Flat-Gold Run, Iowa Hill, and 

Yankee Jim districts, gold was extracted from 

gravels by hydraulic methods. The Michigan Bluff 

placers have also been productive. 

The center of lode mining in Placer County is the 

Ophir district. Gold-quartz mines were active in the 

Canada Hill district (Logan, 1936, p. 10), but production from this area could not be ascertained. 

Logan (1936) described the gold deposits of this 

county and was the chief source of information for 

the production and description of the districts. 

Total production for the county from 1880 through 

1959 was about 2,014,000 ounces. 

DUTCH FLAT-GOLD RUN DISTRICT 

The Dutch Flat-Gold Run district is along the 

north boundary of Placer County on the system of 

Tertiary channel deposits that extends south from 

Nevada County. 

Placer mining began in 1849, and by 1857 hydraulic and drift mines were producing on a fairly 

large scale. Though early records are almost nonexistent, it was estimated (Logan, 1936, p. 58, 

65-70) that the district produced about 479,000 

ounces of gold to 1935. In recent years, because of 

high costs and restrictive legislation, production 

has decreased to less than 1,000 ounces per year. 

Total production through 1959 was about 492,000 

ounces. 

FORESTHILL DISTRICT 

The Foresthill district is in south-central Placer 

County. Foresthill Divide is a complex system of 

Tertiary channels capped by lavas. The gravels 

have been extensively worked by drift mines which 

reached their peak of productivity in the 1860's 

(Logan, 1936, p. 49). Before 1868 the Independence, 

New Jersey, and Jenny Lind mines produced 

$2,400,000 in gold. Estimates of production of individual mines given by Logan (1936, p. 51-80) give 

a minimum total for the district of about 338,000 

ounces of gold. In recent years, the district has 

been virtually dormant. Total gold production 

through 1959 was about 344,000 ounces. 

lOW A HILL DISTRIC'l1 

The Iowa Hill district is about 5 miles east of the 

town of Colfax. Thick Tertiary gravels have been 

worked by hydraulic and drift mines in this district 

(Lindgren, 1911, p. 148-149). The Morning Star 

mine, with a production worth $1,750,000 to 1901, 

was the largest of the drift mines (Logan, 1936, 

p. 71). Total production of this district to 1910 was 

about $10 million (Lindgren, 1911, p. 149). No activity has been reported in the area since before 

1932, except in 1958 when about 300 ounces was 

produced. 

MICHIGAN BLUFF DISTRICT 

The Michigan Bluff district is in southern Placer 

County, about 5 miles east of Foresthill. 

From 1853 to 1880 considerable hydraulic and 

drift mining was done in the Tertiary channel 

gravels that underlie the eastern part of Foresthill 

Divide at Michigan Bluff. According to Logan 

(1936, p. 53-70), an area of 40 acres yielded $5 million in gold. The Big Gun mine with an output of 

about $1 million to 1882 was the largest individual 

producer of the hydraulic mines, and the Hidden 

Treasure mine was the most productive of all the 

drift mines in the Tertiary gravels in the State, 

with a total of about $4 million in gold. Several lode 

mines were important gold producers-the Pioneer, 

with $900,000 in gold, and the Rawhide, with 

$300,000, were the most productive. 
CALIFORNIA 73 

The total gold production of the district through 

1959 was about 300,000 ounces. In recent years activity has slackened, and during 1942-59 less than 

100 ounces per year was reported. 

No details on geology or history could be found. 

OPHIR DISTRICT 

\ The Ophir district, near Auburn, is the most productive lode-gold district of Placer County; it also 

has produced significant amounts of placer gold. 

The first reported production from the quartz mines 

was in 1867, when the Green Emigrant mine yielded 

$100,000 (Logan, 1936, p. 28). In the 1870's many 

mines: were developed, and although not all jprospered, the district continued to be moderately active 

until 1921. From about 1936 to 1942 the mines were 

very productive, but during 1942-59 less than 100 

ounces per year was produced. The chief lode mines 

were the Crater, Bellevue, Oro Fina, and Three 

Stars. Total estimated lode production of the district through 1959, including Logan's (1936, p. 29) 

estimate of $3 million (145,300 ounces), is about 

255,500 ounces. 

Placers along the American River in the Ophir 

district were worked as early as 1850, but these 

shallow, gravels were exhausted by 1880 (Logan, 

1936, p. 49). The production for these years is unknown. In the late 1930's, dredges started working 

the gravels near Loomis and in a few years recovered more than 73,000 ounces of gold. 

The geology of the district was briefly described 

by Logan (1936, p. 8-9). Granite, which is the 

eastern part of a batholith, is intruded into amphibolite schist. The ore deposits are near the contact and are found in both the granite and in the 

schists. The gold occurs in lenticular quartz veins 

and is associated· with small amounts of pyrite, 

galena, sphalerite, and copper sulfides. 

RISING SUN MINE 

The Rising Sun mine, 1% miles west of Colfax, 

with an estimated total production of $2 million in 

gold (Logan, 1936, p. 34), is the leading lode-gold 

producer in Placer County. 

Opened in 1866, the mine produced continuously 

until 1884. Thereafter it was in operation for several brief periods, the most recent on record was in 

1932. The Rising Sun deposit is in a zone of altered 

diabase, serpentine, and slate of the Mariposa Formation of Jurassic age, near a large stock of gabbro. The main vein averaged 18 inches in width 

and contained rich pockets of free gold in quartz 

(Logan, 1936, p. 34). 

PLUMAS COUNTY 

Placer deposits in the Tertiary gravels in Plumas 

County were worked on a large scale by hydraulic 

methods in the early years. The peak production 

was during 1855-71, when at least $60 million 

(about 2,912,000 ounces) in gold was shipped from 

the La Porte district alone (Lindgren, 1911, p. 103). 

Lode mines also were developed at an early date, 

especially in the Johnsville district where some 

mines were active as early as 1851. 

Recorded gold production of Plumas County from 

1880 through 1959 was 1,670,000 ounces. Adding to 

this Lindgren's estimated $60 million from the La 

Porte district, the total from 1855 through 1959 

was about 4,582,000 ounces. 

The geology of Plumas County was described by 

Averill (1937, p. 82-88). In brief, the rocks consist 

of a series of sedimentary, metasedimentary, and 

metavolcanic formations that have been folded, 

faulted, and intruded by granodiorite of Late Jurassic and mid-Cretaceous age. Most of the western 

two-thirds of the county is underlain by northwesttrending bands of these folded rocks; the granodiorite occupies the eastern part. 

The oldest rock in the county is metarhyolite 

which is overlain by quartzite and shale of the 

Grizzly Formation of Silurian age. The remainder 

of the stratified rocks, in ascending order, are the 

Montgomery Limestone of Silurian age, the Taylorsville Formation of Devonian age, the Calaveras 

Formation of Carboniferous age, the Hosselkus 

Limestone and Swearinger Slate of Triassic age, 

and seven other sedimentary formations of Early 

and Middle Jurassic age. Patches of Tertiary gravels mark the northward-trending course of the ancient Jura River and the northeasterly course of the 

Tertiary Yuba River. 

Igneous rocks, in addition to those already mentioned, consist of basic flows and dikes of Carboniferous age, peridotite and pyroxenite bodies of 

Jurassic age, and greenstones, amphibolites, and 

metadiorites of Jurassic age. The northwest and 

large areas of the southeast and southwest parts 

of the county are covered by rhyolite, dacite, andesite, and basalt lava flows of Tertiary and Quaternary age. 

CRESCF.NT MILLS DISTRIC'l1 

The Crescent Mills district, in T. 26 N., R. 9 E., 

has produced chiefly lode gold, but a small output 

has also been derived from Quaternary gravel deposits. The major mine in this district is the Green 

Mountain, with a production of between $1 and $2 

million in gold to 1890 (Averill, 1937, p. 111). From 
74 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

1933 to 1952 the district produced 32,069 ounces of 

lode gold and 3,255 ounces of placer gold; no production was reported during 1952-59. Total minimum production through 1959 was about 100,000 

ounces. 

The bedrock in the southwest part of the district 

consists of a northwest-trending band of metasedimentary rocks of the Calaveras Formation. This is 

bordered on the northeast by a parallel band of 

pre-Devonian metavolcanic rocks. A few small 

bodies of granodiorite, of Jurassic age, cut the 

older rocks. The ore deposits are in veins in the 

metavolcanic rocks near the granodiorite and in 

the granodiorite itself. The veins consist of quartz 

with free gold and small amounts of sulfides. 

JOIINSVIU,E DISTRICT 

The Johnsville, in the east half ofT. 22 N., R. 11 

E., in south-central Plumas County, is primarily 

a lode district, but it has produced some placer gold 

from Tertiary and possibly also from Quaternary 

gravels. 

The Plumas _Eureka mine, the largest lode mine 

in the district, began operations in 1851 and had 

a total estimated yield of $8 million in gold to about 

1925 (Averill, 1937, p. 118). In more recent years 

the district has been only sporadically active; during 1933-59, only 2,009 ounces of lode gold and 

1,413 ounces of placer gold were reported. Its total 

gold production was about 393,000 ounces. 

The bedrock in the district consists of a broad 

northwest-trending band of metasedimentary rocks 

which belong to the Calaveras Formation of Carboniferous age (Averill, 1937, map) and which are 

intruded by small bodies of andesite of Carboniferous age. The gold deposits are in the quartz veins 

in the metasedimentary rocks. 

LA PORTE DISTRICT 

The La Porte district, in T. 21 N., R. 9 E., in 

southwest Plumas County, was the center of hydraulic mining of gravels of the Tertiary Yuba 

River in the 1850's and 1860's. After the enactment 

of debris control laws, the gravels were worked by 

drift mines on a much-reduced scale. During 1932-

59 the district produced 9,347 ounces of gold. Total 

production from 1855 through 1959 was about 

2,910,000 ounces. A small amount of production was 

reported in 1957, but none was reported in 1958-59. 

The channel near La Porte is ab:mt 500 feet wide. 

Gold was concentrated on the amphibolite bedrock 

or in the lowermost 2 feet of the gravel. The main 

channel has been traced a distance of 10 miles to 

the northeast, and it ranges from 500 to 1,500 feet 

in width and from 14 to 129 feet in depth. The 

channel is offset near La Porte by numerous faults 

which have an aggregate displacement of about 500 

feet (Lindgren, 1911, p. 105-108). 

RIVERSIDE COUNTY 

Gold deposits are distributed rather widely. 

throughout Riverside County, but not one of these 

has been an exceptionally large producer. Before 

1893, particularly during 1876-86, there was considerable mining activity, and the aggregate production may have been as much as $1 or $2 million, 

mostly in lode gold; little placer mining has been 

done in the county. The Pinacate and Pinon-Dale 

districts are the major gold producers in the county, 

and small amounts of gold have been mined from 

scattered localities in the Chuckawalla Mountains 

and the Bendigo district. Total gold production for 

the county from 1893 through 1959 was 108,800 

ounces. 

The geology of the mining districts has not been 

published, but the generalization ·can be made that 

most of the gold occurs in quartz veins that occupy 

fissures in granitic rocks or in country rock near 

granodiorite bodies (Nolan, 1936b, p. 43-45). 

PINACATE DISTRICT 

The Pinacate district, in Tps. 4 and 5 S., R. 4 W., 

a few miles west and southwest of Perris, produced 

a total of about 104,000 ounces of gold through 

1959, all from lodes. The principal mine in this district is the Good Hope mine, originally worked by 

Mexicans at an unknown date; the property is 

credited with a production of about $2 million in 

gold before 1896 (Tucker and Sampson, 1945, p. 

133). The district declined until the mid-1930's at 

which time attempts were made to rehabilitate the 

Good Hope and several other mines, but these efforts were largely unsuccessful. During 1943-59 

only 3 ounces of gold was produced from the district. 

The predominant country rock in the district is 

granodiorite of undetermined age (Tucker and 

Sampson, 1945, p. 133, 135, 138-139). Quartz veins, 

containing free gold and minor sulfides, cut the 

granodiorite. 

PINON-DALE DISTRICT 

The Pinon-Dale district, a large area along the 

north boundary of Riverside County, includes Tps. 

2 and 3 S., Rs. 10 to 12 E. 

Although Nolan (1936b, p. 44) reported that the 

district has been known for a long time, published 
CALIFORNIA 75 

information on it is meager. Production of the district to 1943 was a minimum of 32,000 ounces of 

gold, and during 1943-59 only 75 ounces was reported. The major mines are the Lost Horse, with 

an estimated gold output of $350,000, and the New 

Eldorado. 

The country rock of the district consists of granite, schist, and quartzite (Tucker and Sampson, 

1945, p. 130-132). The gold occurs in quartz veins, 

most of which are in the granite. 

SACRAMENTO COUNTY 

Sacramento County ranks among the leading 

gold-producing counties in California. 

Auriferous quartz veins have been mined intermittently since the gold-rush days, but lode production is insignificant compared to the amount of gold 

dredged from the gravels along the American River. 

From 1880 through 1959, production in the county 

was 5,005,700 ounces; only about 5,000 ounces was 

from quartz lodes. 

The productive gravels are at the base of Pliocene and Pleistocene terraces or near the contact 

of the Pliocene Laguna Formation with the underlying Miocene Mehrten Formation (Carlson, 1955, 

p. 134). Bucketline and drag line dredges have been 

used extensively to mine these gravels. Folsom has 

been the center of this activity; other dredge operations were at Sloughhouse and at various localities 

along the Cosumnes River. In 1952, bucketline 

dredging was reactivated south of the American 

River, and some gold was also obtained from sand 

and gravel preparation plants. Production for several years before and through 1959, however, was 

only a few ounces annually. 

Quartz veins containing gold are found in green 

metavolcanic rocks and in the Mariposa Slate of 

Jurassic age but do not occur in any of the rocks 

of Late Cretaceous age or younger (Carlson, 1955, 

p. 133). 

FOLSOM DISTRICT 

The Folsom district is in the southeast part of 

T. 10 N., R. 7 E., along the American River, in the 

northeast corner of Sacramento County. 

Lindgren (1911, p. 222) considered this district 

to be the largest area of Quaternary gravels in the 

Sta"-e. In 1899 the first bucketline dredge used in 

Sacramento County was installed at Fo1sam. Before 

this the gravels were mined by drift and hydraulic 

methods. Huge electrically powered draglines and 

dredges were introduced in the late 1920's and 

1930's, and some of these continued operating into 

the 1950's (Carlson, 1955, p. 136-142). The largest 

dredge handled about 4 million cubic yards of 

gravel per ·year. Rising cost gradually forced curtailment of these large-scale activities, but in 1958 

some dredging was resumed in the district. Before 

1930 some drift mines were operating, but later the 

dredges accounted for most of the production. The 

total production of the district through 1959 was 

at least 3 million ounces. 

SLOUGHHOUSE DISTRICT 

The Sloughhouse district is in T. 7 N., R. 7 E., 

along the Cosumnes River. 

The auriferous gravels of the Tertiary lone 

Formation were mined by hydraulic methods in the 

early years, but most of this activity was curtailed 

by a court decree in 1884 aimed to prevent devastation of farmlands by debris-laden streams (Carlson, 

1955, p. 143). 

Large-scale dredging operations were conducted 

during the 1930's, 1940's, and early 1950's. In this 

district, as in the Folsom area, large deposits of 

late Tertiary and Quaternary gravels carried small 

quantities of gold. Total production through 1959 

is not known but was probably about 1, 700,000 

ounces. 

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY 

Gold deposits are scattered throughout San Bernardino County. They occur in the Slate Range in 

the northwest, the Whipple Mountains in the southeast, the San Gabriel Mountains in the southwest, 

and the Clark Mountain area in the northeast. The 

report of Wright and others (1953, p. 53-86) has 

been the source of information on the geology and 

gold deposits of this county. 

As early as the 1850's, placer gold was mined at 

several localities, but lode mines have been the most 

important sources of gold. Of the many mining districts in the county, the most important are the 

Dale, Holcomb, and Stedman. Production from 1880 

through 1959 was 517,000 ounces; nearly all production was from lode mines. Production has declined rapidly in recent years. Only 102 ounces of 

gold was produced in 1958, mostly as a byproduct 

from silver ore in the Rand district. Production 

for 1959 was combined with other counties. 

San Bernardino County is characterized by numerous steep mountain ranges separated by arid 

basins, many of which are undrained. Exposed in 

the higher ranges are metasedimentary rocks of 

Archean and Algonkian age. These rocks are overlain by thick sections of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks 

that range in thickness from 9,000 feet in the northeastern part of the county to more than 22,000 feet 
76 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING PISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

in the north-central part. Mesozoic sedimentary' 

rocks as much as 4,000 feet thick are found in the 

northeastern part of the county. Metavolcanic rocks 

of Triassic or Jurassic age are found in a few localities in the western part of the county. Numerous quartz monzonite stocks and small batholiths 

of late Mesozoic age intruded the sedimentary rocks, 

and most of the ore deposits are genetically related 

to mineralizing solutions that emanated from these 

plutons. Tertiary volcanic rocks form several mountain ranges in the northeastern, west-central, and 

south-central parts of the county. Numerous gold 

and silver deposits are associated with these rocks. 

Large basins were formed in Tertiary time, and in 

these, thick deposits of interbedded saline and alluvial .sediments accumulated. 

DALE DISTRICT 

The Dale district, in T. 1 S., Rs. 11 and 12 E., 

about 15 miles southeast of the town of Twentynine Palms, began producing gold as early as 1893 

from the Brooklyn mine. In the early 1900's production from the Supply and Nightingale mines 

made the district one of the more prosperous in the 

county. Production declined after World War II, 

and the district has been almost dormant in recent 

years. Total gold production through 1959 was 

about 63,500 ounces. 

Bedrock in the district, as noted in mine descriptions by Wright, Stewart, Gay, and Hazenbush 

(1953, p. 70-86), consists of quartz diorite, andesite porphyry, and granodiorite. The gold deposits 

are in quartz veins cutting these rocks-. Gold occurs 

in the free state with iron and manganese oxides 

in some mines; in others, the gold is associated with 

sulfides. 

HOLCOMB DISTRICT 

The Holcomb district is 20 to 25 miles northeast 

of San Bernardino, in Tps. 2 and 3 N., Rs. 1, 2, 

and3 E. 

Activity in this district began in the 1850's, when 

the Ozier mine was the major producer of gold ore 

(Wright and others, 1953, p. 77). In the late 1860's, 

when the gravels of Holcomb Valley were found to 

be auriferous, prospectors flocked into the area and 

in a few years took out about $7 million (about 

340,000 ounces) in gold (Vaughn, 1922, p. 409). 

The large placer production seems somewhat questionable, because nowhere else in the literature is 

any mention made of the Holcomb Valley placers. 

The lode mines flourished until the early 1900's but 

have been virtually idle since then. Only 3 ounces 

of gold was reported from the district during 1950-

59. Data are incomplete for the early years, although Wright, Stewart, Gay, and Hazenbush 

(1953, p. 70-86) estimated the output of a few of 

the lode mines. Total gold production, including 

Vaughan's estimate of the early placer output, was 

about 400,000 ounces, of which about 54,500 ounces 

was from the lode mines. 

The geology of the area has been described by 

Vaughan (1922, p. 344-411). In the vicinity of the 

mines the country rock, which is primarily a sequence of Paleozoic sedimentary formations, is complexly folded, faulted, and intruded by the Cactus 

Granite of Jurassic age. The sedimentary rocks are 

the Arrastre Quartzite of Early Cambrian age, the 

Furnace Limestone of Late Cambrian and Ordovician age, and the Saragossa Quartzite of Silurian or 

Devonian age. Most of the deposits are in quartz 

veins along limestone-granite contacts or are associated with limestone beds transected by granitic 

dikes. A few deposits are in thick quartz veins in 

quartzite. The ore minerals are pyrite, galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, and free gold. Azurite and malachite are found in the oxidized zones. 

Considerable amounts of contact metamorphic minerals such as garnet, epidote, wollastonite, and 

tremolite are found locally with the ore deposits. 

STEDMAN DISTRICT 

The Stedman district is about 7 miles south of 

Ludlow, in Tps. 6 and 7 N., R. 8 E. 

Total gold production, entirely from lode mines, 

has been in excess of $6 million (291,000 ounces), 

more than half the total recorded gold production 

of San Bernardino County (Wright and others, 

1953, p. 71). The Bagdad-Chase mine, which is the 

principal mine, was discovered in 1903, and during 

1904-10 it produced $41;2 million in gold. Large 

quantities of copper and silver were also produced 

from this mine. After 1940 the mine was operated 

by lessees; however, no production was reported 

during 1950-59. 

The geology of the Bagdad-Chase mine was described briefly by Wright, Stewart; Gay, and Hazenbush (1953, p. 71, 82). The ore is in a mineralized 

breccia zone between a body of quartz monzonite 

and rhyolite. The breccia is composed of fragments 

of both rock types cemented by silica, which carries 

gold and oxidized copper minerals. 

SAN DIEGO COUNTY 

Gold was first discovered in San Diego County in 

1869 by discharged Confederate soldiers who worked 

small placers near Wynola. Some time later gold 
CALIFORNIA 

veins were discovered in the Julian and Banner BELLOTA DISTRICT 

77 

areas which were later consolidated into the Julian 

district, the most important gold district in the 

county. Most of the data presented here are from 

Donnelly's (1934) report on the history, geology, 

and mines of the Julian district. After 1900 the 

Julian district had very little activity. A mild rejuvenation in the late 1930's and early 1940's produced about 1,500 ounces, but during 1950-59 the 

district was idle. The total gold production of San 

Diego County through 1959 was about 219,800 

ounces, mostly from the Julian district. Only about 

700 ounces of this is from placer deposits scattered 

throughout the county. 

The Julian district is about 55 miles northeast of 

San Diego, near the center of the county. The oldest bedrock in the district is quartz-muscovite-biotite schist and quartzite composing the Julian 

Formation, of Triassic and Jurassic age. These 

rocks were invaded by three intrusives of Mesozoic 

age: the Stonewall Granodiorite, Rattlesnake Granite, and Cuyamaca Gabbro and norite of the Cuyamaca. The Stonewall Granodiorite is the oldest; the 

Cuyamaca basic intrusive is believed to be the 

youngest. 

The most productive gold depos~ts are lenticular 

quartz veins in the Julian Schist. These are conformable in strike and dip with the foliation of the 

schist. Other deposits in the schist are in gold-bearing quartz lenses and V-shaped quartz rolls. The ore 

mineralogy of all three types is rather simple and 

uniform. Massive and banded quartz, accompanied 

by minor amounts of biotite, calcite, and sericite, 

comprises the gangue. The ore minerals are pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, pyrite, and native gold. The gold 

occurs most commonly in intimate association with 

pyrrhotite, but the coarser gold is embedded in 

quartz. 

SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY 

Gold production in San Joaquin County, which 

has been sporadic, has been entirely from Quaternary placers along the Mokelumne River between 

Clements and Camanche and along the Calaveras 

River near Bellota, Linden, and Jenny Lind. 

Small amounts of placer gold were mined along 

the Mokelumne River in the latter part of the 19th 

century (Clark, 1955, p. 37). From 1918 to 1920 

there was a brief spurt of activity, and from the 

mid-1930's until 1951 several dredging companies 

worked the placers, especially those in the Clements 

district. Total production from 1885 through 1959 

was 126,400 ounces. 

The Bellota district, in T. 2 N., R. 9 E., along the 

Calaveras River, in east-central San Joaquin County 

is actually the westward extension of the Jenny 

Lind district in Calaveras County. 

Quaternary gravels have been worked by dredges; 

however, details on the production and mining 

history could not be found. In 1959 this district was 

inactive and had been for several years. The scale 

of operations in the neighboring Jenny Lind district 

(Julihn and Horton, 1938, p. 75) indicates that the 

total production of the Bellota district probably was 

between 20,000 and 40,000 ounces. 

CLEMENTS DISTRICT 

The Clements district is in the northeast corner 

of San Joaquin County, along the Mokelumne River. 

The Quaternary gravels were worked on a small 

scale before 1900; after World War I, dredges were 

introduced and were very active during the 1930's. 

Activity slackened soon thereafter, and during 

1951-59 the district was dormant. Total gold production is not precisely known but probably was 

between 50,000 and 100,000 ounces. 

SHASTA COUNTY 

Lode and placer gold as well as large amounts of 

byproduct gold from the West Shasta copper-zinc 

district have been mined in Shasta County. The 

major lode districts are the Deadwood-French 

Gulch, Harrison Gulch, Old Diggings, and Whiskeytown. Placer operations are centered in the Igo district and along the Roaring River. 

Total gold production of Shasta County from 1880 

through 1959 was 2,033,000 ounces, mostly of lode 

and byproduct origin. Output of placer gold from 

1905 through 1959 was 375,472 ounces. Most of 

the foregoing production was before 1940; during 

1950-59 less than 1,000 ounces per year was 

reported. 

Precambrian rocks are exposed in the southwestern part of the county (Averill, 1939, p. 110-

111). Northeastward the country rock changes successively to the Copley Greenstone of Early ( ?) 

Devonian age, then to sedimentary rocks of Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, and Jurassic ages. The southern part of the county is 

covered with sedimentary rocks of Cretaceous, 

Tertiary, and Quaternary ages. The east half of the 

county is blanketed by a series of lava flows extruded during Tertiary and Quaternary time. Lassen Peak, the only active volcano in California, is in 

the southeast corner of the county. 

t-
78 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

DEADWOOD-FRF.NCH GULCH DISTRICT 

The Deadwood-French Gulch district is along the 

central part of the west border of Shasta County. 

Gold was discovered in this general area in 1848 

in the gravels of Clear Creek, and 4 years later 

gold-bearing veins were producing at the Washington mine (Ferguson, 1914, p. 33). Activity in the 

district continued at a rather moderate rate until 

1941, after which only a few ounces were produced 

annually. Ferguson (1914, p. 55) reported a production of $1,607,764 (78,000 ounces) through 1911. 

Production through 1959 was about 128,900 ounces 

of gold, mostly from lode mines. 

The western part of the area is underlain by 

biotite-hornblende schists of pre-Devonian age, and 

the eastern part is underlain by a younger rock, the 

Copley Greenstone, of Early ( ?) Devonian age, 

which is overlain by the Bragdon Formation of 

Mississippian age (Ferguson, 1914, p. 24). These 

rocks were invaded in Late Jurassic time by a 

series of granitic and porphyritic rocks. The gold 

deposits are in fissure veins that are most numerous 

in the Bragdon Formation, but some veins occur 

also in quartz diorite and alaskite porphyry. The 

vein minerals consist of pyrite, arsenopyrite, 

sphalerite, galena, native gold, and a minor amount 

of chalcopyrite in a quartz gangue. 

HARRISON GULCH DISTRICT 

The Harrison Gulch district is in the southwest 

corner of Shasta County. 

The Midas mine, discovered in 1894, was the 

major producer in the district and had an output of 

$3,563,587 in gold until 1914 (Logan, 1926, p. 173-

174), when a fire caused it to close. It was reopened 

the following year under new ownership, and operations continued until 1920. The district was inactive 

from 1920 through 1959. The total production for 

the district was about $4 million (Averill, 1939, 

p. 142). No placer production is recorded in this 

district. 

At the Midas mine, gold occurs in three lenticular 

quartz veins in a &chistose country rock (Logan, 

1926, p. 174). 

IGO DISTRICT 

The Igo district is in T. 31 N., R. 6 W., along 

Clear Creek. The quaternary gravels along Clear 

Creek near Igo were worked in the early days, but 

they are only briefly mentioned in the literature 

(Diller, 1914a, p. 20-21), and no published account 

of their discovery, development, or early production was found. 

The district was revived in 1933 and through 

1942 produced more than 113,000 ounces of placer 

gold, but after 1942 operations were sharply curtailed and the district was dormant in 1959. Total 

recorded production from 1933 through 1959 was 

115,022 ounces; all but a few hundred ounces was 

from placers. 

WEST SHASTA COPPER-7.INC DISTRICT 

The West Shasta copper-zinc district, 20 miles 

northwest of Redding, originally was a gold district, 

but it later became one of the chief copper producers in the State. Prospectors, drawn to Shasta 

County by the placer discoveries on Clear Creek in 

1848, soon found gold placers in the area west of 

Redding (Kinkel and others, 1956, p. 76). Copper 

deposits were also noted at this time, but interest 

was centered on the gold. In 1879 considerable excitement was aroused by the discovery of silver in 

the gossan at the Iron Mountain property in the 

southern part of the district. Later, in the search 

for precious metals, large quantities of copper sulfides were found beneath the gossan. In the early 

1900's copper was mined on a large scale from the 

Iron Mountain and Balaklala mines, and gold and 

silver were obtained as byproducts. Small bodies of 

high-grade zinc ore were mined at the Mammoth 

and Iron Mountain mines. After 1919, production 

declined, and by 1953 gold was no longer listed in 

the annual production data for the district. Total 

gold production through 1959 was about 520,000 

ounces. 

The oldest rocks of the West Shasta copper-zinc 

district are basic lava flows, breccias, and tuffs that 

characterize the Copley Greenstone of Early ( ?) 

Devonian age. This is overlain by the Balaklala 

Rhyolite of Middle Devonian age, and the Balaklala 

is overlain by the Kennett Formation, which is composed of black cherty shale, tuff, and limestone of 

Middle Devonian age. Shale, sandstone, and conglomerate of the Bragdon Formation of Mississippian age rests on the Kennett Formation. In Jurassic time the Paleozoic rocks were invaded first 

by the Mule Mountain albite granite stock and 

then by the Shasta Bally biotite-quartz diorite 

batholith. Deformation accompanied the intrusions, 

and the Paleozoic formations were folded into a 

broad anticlinorium. Numerous faults dislocate 

parts of the arch. In the southern part of the district, clastics of the Chico Formation of Late Cretaceous age and of the Red Bluff Formation of 

Pleistocene age unconformably overlie the Copley 

Greenstone (Kinkel and others, 1956, p. 8-9). 

The ore deposits, which were emplaced during 

Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous time, consist of 
CALIFORNIA 79 

massive base-metal sulfide replacement bodies in the 

Balaklala · Rhyolite. The ore minerals are pyrite, 

chalcopyrite, and sphalerite, and small amounts of 

magnetite, galena, tetrahedrite, pyrrhotite, gold, 

and silver. The ore controls are believed to be a 

combination of the anticlinorium structure, favorable lithologic features of the Balaklala Rhyolite, 

and fis.sures, which provided access for solutions 

(Kinkel and others, 1956, p. 79-100). 

WHISKEYTOWN DISTRICT 

The Whiskeytown district is along Clear Creek 

about 5 miles southeast of French Gulch. 

The mines are along the edge of a mass of 

alaskite porphyry of Jurassic or Cretaceous age 

that cuts the Copley Greenstone of Early ( ?) Devonian age and lies adjacent to a large mass of 

quartz diorite and granodiorite of Jurassic or Cretaceous age (Ferguson, 1914, p. 47). The Bragdon 

Formation, of Mississippian age, is exposed ip the 

northern part of the district. 

The Mad Mule mine, which has been the largest 

producer of the district, is in a diorite porphyry 

dike that cuts the Bragdon Formation. The ore 

bodies are small lenses of calcite that occur at 

irregularities along the contact between the dike 

and sedimentary rock. Gold occurs most commonly 

as a thin film on calcite at its junction with the 

enclosing slate. Gold also is found within the 

calcite masses along cleavage planes. Pyrite and 

manganese-bearing quartz stringers are minor constituents of the calcite lenses (Ferguson, 1914, p. 

52-54) . Other ore deposits in the district are in 

quartz veins with minor calcite and with pyrite as 

the principal sulfide. Gold occurs free in the quartz 

and in the pyrite. 

Production through 1911 was 63,300 ounces 

($1,365,000) of gold (Ferguson, 1914, p. 47-55). 

The district has been inactive for many years. 

SIERRA COUNTY 

Sierra County has two major gold-producing 

areas : . the Alleghany and Downieville districts, and 

the Sierra Buttes district. The total recorded gold 

production from 1880 through 1959 was about 

2 161 000 ounces, most of it from lode mines. If the ' ' estimated gold output before 1880 is considered, the 

total production would be about 3 million ounces. 

Large placer production has come from both Tertiary and Quaternary gravels, but the exact amount 

is not known. 

AJ,J,EGHANY AND DOWNIEVILLE DISTRICTS 

The Alleghany and Downieville districts, aUout 

5 miles apart in the southern part of Sierra County, 

are considered as one area for the purpose of this 

report. The lode mines have been productive since 

the early 1850's, and their total production through 

1959 was 1,590,990 ounces. The earliest record of 

mining was in 1852 when the Tertiary gravels 

were worked at several localities by both drift and 

hydraulic methods. Drift mining of the rich gravels 

was on a large scale to 1888, after which production declined (Ferguson and Gannett, 1932, p. 25-

26). About $10 million ( 485,000 ounces) in gold 

was produced from the drift mines, and between 

$2 million (97,000 ounces) and $4 million (194,000 

ounces) was produced from the hydraulic opera-. 

tions. 

Lode mines developed slowly because of the rich 

yields of the placers in the early years, but by 1898 

they were the chief source of gold in the districts. 

The ore has been rich but spotty; therefore, except 

for a few mines, lode mining has had alternating 

periods of prosperity and inactivity (Ferguson and 

Gannett, 1932, p. 27). The Sixteen to One mine, the 

most productive in the Alleghany district, had a total 

output of about $9 million in gold to 1928 (Ferguson 

and Gannett, 1932, p. 106). Lode mining has continued to flourish in the districts. Production of 

more than 17,000 ounces was reported in 1958, and 

an undisclosed amount was produced in 1959. Total 

minimum production through 1959, including the 

estimated early production from the placers, was 

about 2,173,000 ounces. 

The following summary has been abstracted from 

the detailed geology by Ferguson and Gannett 

( 1932, p. 5-24) . The oldest rocks in the area are 

quartzite, slate, greenschist, and conglomerate. 

These rocks make up five sedimentary formations 

that can be correlated with part of the Calaveras 

Formation of Carboniferous age. The rocks dip 

steeply and crop out as belts that trend northnorthwest. They are intruded by gabbro, now partly 

serpentinized, and younger granitic rocks. Auriferous gravels of Eocene and Miocene age, andesite 

breccia of Miocene ( ?) age, and some Pleistocene 

and Recent gravels overlie the older rocks with 

marked unconformity. The rocks were affected by 

two periods of metamorphism and deformation. The 

first period took place between Carboniferous and 

early Triassic time and resulted in folding, faulting, 

and regional metamorphism. The second period was 

at the close of the Jurassic and was accompanied 

by intrusions of basic rocks first and then granitic 

rocks, by the development of a complicated fault 

pattern, and by mineralization. 

The principal veins in the Alleghany and Downieville districts strike northwestward and dip gently 
80 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

eastward. They follow minor reverse faults that 

cross all pre-Tertiary rocks except the larger serpentine masses. Other veins have similar strikes but 

dip steeply to the west (Ferguson and Gannett, 

1932, p. 29-31). There were four stages of mineralization: (1) chloritization and serpentinization of 

the wallrock, (2) deposition of quartz and minor 

amounts of arsenopyrite, pyrite, albite, oligoclase, 

and barite, (3) replacement of quartz by gold, and 

of wallrock by ankerite and sericite, and ( 4) deposition of veinlets of fine pyrite and calcite in the 

veins and country rock, and of drusy coatings of 

these minerals on the quartz (Ferguson and Gannett, 1932, p. 38-39). 

SIERRA BUTTES DISTRICT 

The Sierra Buttes district is 10 to 12 miles east 

of Downieville. 

Lode mining began in the 1850's but no record 

could be found of any early placer mining in this 

district. The most important mine was the Sierra 

Buttes, whose total production of between $15 and 

$17 million in gold made it the largest single gold 

producer in Sierra County (Averill, 1942, p. 44). 

The mine was closed in 1938, and though cleanup 

operations were conducted in 1941, no further activity had been reported through 1959. Total gold 

production for the district was about 825,000 

ounces; nearly all production was from the Sierra 

Buttes mine. 

Most of the country rock in the district consists 

of altered quartz porphyry and rhyolite porphyry 

bordered on the west by bands of slate, quartzite, 

and limestone of the Calaveras Formation of Carboniferous age that trend north-northwest (Logan, 

1929, p. 155-156). The metasediments are probably 

older than the porphyries. The ore deposits are goldbearing quartz veins. 

SISKIYOU COUNTY 

Siskiyou County is one of the three northernmost 

counties of California. Most of the gold mined in 

this county has been from placers, the largest of 

which are along the Salmon, Scott, and Klamath 

Rivers. Considerable production also came from 

scattered lode deposits in the Humbug, Yreka, Fort 

Jones, Cherry Creek, and Cottonwood areas. Total 

production of individual districts could not be determined, and the production for the districts is 

estimated by the authors, on the basis of the sparse 

published data for the county. Gold production of 

Siskiyou County from 1880 through 1959 was 

1,773,000 ounces. 

The east half of the county is underlain by Quaternary volcanic rocks, Pleistocene lake beds, Recent 

alluvium, and scattered patches of marine sandstone of the Upper Cretaceous Chico Formation. 

The west half is underlain by interbedded sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Devonian and Carboniferous age. These are severely folded and 

faulted and are cut by bodies of granodiorite, gabbro, and peridotite of Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous age (O'Brien, 1947, p. 415). Throughout 

Cretaceous time the western part of Siskiyou County 

was an island and is devoid of any marine sediments of Cretaceous age or later (Averill, 1935, 

p. 257). 

COTTONWOOD-FORT JONES-YREKA DISTRICT 

The Cottonwood-Fort Jones-Yreka district is a 

large area extending from T. 43 to T. 47 N. and 

from R. 6 to R. 9 W. 

Much of it is covered by basal beds of the Upper 

Cretaceous Chico Formation which unconformably 

overlie the undifferentiated Paleozoic sequence of 

shale, slate, sandstone, and limestone. Some of the 

Cretaceous beds contain coal; others that are conglomeratic indicate proximity to the Cretaceous 

island of western Siskiyou County (Averill, 1935, 

p. 258). The conglomerates are auriferous, and reworking of these by recent streams such as Cottonwood and Rancheria Creeks formed placers that 

yie~ded about $4 million in gold in the 1850's (Dunn, 

1894, p. 466). The gold in the conglomerate was no 

doubt eroded from the quartz veins that transect 

the Paleozoic rocks. The early lode production of 

this district could not be ascertained; however, the 

magnitude of operations is indicated by O'Brien 

(1947, p. 437), who stated that the Golden Eagle 

mine produced $1 million (about 48,500 ounces) in 

gold before 1931. 

HUMBUG DISTRICT 

The Humbug district, in T. 46 N., Rs. 10 and 11 

W., has been chiefly a lode district; although placers 

were productive before 1900. Total production 

through 1959 probably was between 25,000 and 

50,000 ounces. 

Bedrock in this district consists of metasediments, 

serpentine, diorite, and diabase of Cambrian to 

Carboniferous age (Averill, 1935, p. 257-258). 

Most of these rocks are schistose, and the principal 

veins are concordant with the schistosity. Some ore 

is also found in serpentine. No additional information could be found on this district. 
CALIFORNIA 81 

KLAMATH RIVER DISTRICT 

The Klamath River district is a large area along 

the Klamath River in the northwest part of Siskiyou 

County. 

In the early days there was considerable hydraulicking of the Quaternary gravels of the Klamath 

River and its tributaries, and Averill (1935, p. 259) 

noted that many unworked terrace deposits still 

remained in the district. 

Gold-quartz veins have been productive at scattered localities, particularly at the Independence 

mine south of Happy Camp, and in recent years 

lode production exceeded placer production. From 

1933 through 1959 the district produced 53,619 

ounces of lode gold and 140,364 ounces from placers. 

No record could be found of earlier production. 

SALMON RIVER DISTRICT 

The Salmon River district, an area of about 800 

square miles, includes most of the drainage of the 

Salmon River. 

The Quaternary placers between Sawyers Bar 

and Forks of Salmon have produced an estimated 

$25 million in gold (Averill, 1935, p. 260) and 

therefore made this district the most productive in 

Siskiyou County. Lode deposits have also been 

developed in the district but their early production 

is not known. From 1932 through 1959 the district 

was credited with 18,868 ounces of lode gold and 

15,981 ounces from placers. No information on the 

geology of this district could be found. 

SCOTT RIVER DISTRICT 

The Scott River district, a poorly defined area, is 

centered around the town of Callahan and extends 

north along the Scott River. 

In the early days there was considerable placer 

activity near Callahan and at Scott Bar (Averill, 

1935, p. 257), and lode mines were also highly productive. Although the early placer production is not 

known, an incomplete record of lode production 

was found. The Black Bear mine produced 

$3,100,000 (about 150,500 ounces) in gold, and the 

McKeen mine, $250,000 (about 12,100 ounces) 

(O'Brien, 1947, p. 429, 447). 

The most abundant country rock in the district 

is an undifferentiated sequence of Paleozoic or prePaleozoic shales, slates, limestones, and calcareous 

sandstones. This sequence of rocks was intruded by 

masses of serpentine and then by gabbro and 

grancdiorite, all of unknown age (Averill, 1931, p. 

8-9, 18, 21-22). No details on the nature of the 

lodes could be found. 

STANISLAUS COUNTY 

All the gold mined in Stanislaus County has come 

from placers. The Quaternary gravels along the 

Stanislaus River above Oakdale (the OakdaleKnights Ferry district) and in the channels of the 

Tertiary Tuolumne River near Waterford have been 

the most productive (Charles, 1947, p. 92). In the 

early 1900's large-scale dredging of Quaternary 

gravels began along the Tuolumne River between 

La Grange and Waterford, and most of the gold 

produced in Stanislaus County from 1932 through 

1959 came from this area. In the late 1940's gold 

mining declined sharply, and during 1952-59 only 

a few ounces per year was produced as a byproduct 

of various sand and gravel operations. Gold production of the county from 1880 through 1959 was 

364,600 ounces. 

Published information on the geology and development of the individual districts could not be 

found; however, during 1932-59 the OakdaleKnights Ferry district produced 28,399 ounces, and 

the La Grange-Waterford district produced 108,512 

ounces. 

TRINITY COUNTY 

Substantial amounts of gold have been mined 

from lodes and placers in Trinity County. Mining 

began in the early 1850's with small-scale placer 

operations in the Trinity River basin. Later the 

terrace and channel gravels were worked by hydraulic methods, and huge dragline dredges were 

used near Junction City and Weaverville. Lode mining has also been successful in the Carrville district. 

Total gold production of Trinity County from 

1880 through 1959 was 2,036,300 ounces, mostly 

from placers. 

The central part of the county is traversed by a 

northwest-trending belt of schists belonging to the 

Abrams Mica Schist and the Salmon Hornblende 

Schist, both believed to be Precambrian in age, and 

concordant Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks including quartzites, cherts, slates, limestones and interbedded lavas, greenstones, and amphibolite schists 

(Averill, 194la, p. 10). Northeast of this sequence 

of metasedimentary rocks are large masses of intrusive rocks ranging in composition from granite to 

serpentine, of probable Late Jurassic age. Sedimentary rocks, possibly equivalent to the Franciscan 

Group of Jurassic ( ?) age, are exposed in the southwestern part of the county (Averill, 1941a, p. 10). 

CARRVILLE DISTRICT 

The Carrville district is about 5 miles north of 

Trinity Center, along the Trinity River near its 
82 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

junction with Coffee Creek. Almost its entire production has come from lode deposits, which produced an estimated $1 million in gold through 1910 

(MacDonald, 1913, p. 20); however, no activity has 

been reported in recent years. 

The country rock consists of schists, of possible 

Precambrian age, a complex of greenstone of preCarboniferous age, and slates and conglomerates 

that compose the Bragdon Formation of Carboniferous age (MacDonald, 1913, p. 10-14). Intrusive 

granodiorite masses of Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous age cut the foregoing rocks. Large areas of 

the district are underlain by serpentine believed to 

be Jurassic in age, and the serpentine is cut by 

numerous lamprophyre dikes. 

The most important ore bodies are replacements 

of basic dikes in or near granodiorite porphyry 

masses (MacDonald, 1913, p. 14). The ore is highly 

oxidized and sheared, and the gold occurs in the 

oxidized products of pyrite or in the country rock 

or in the veins in the form of tellurides. Small 

amounts of silver are present. 

TRINYIY RIVER BASIN. 

The Trinity River basin is a large area that includes most of the drainage of the Trinity River, 

and it extends from Coffee Creek southward through 

Trinity Center, Dedrick, Helena, Junction City, 

Weaverville, Lewiston, and Douglas City, and west 

to the Hay Fork area. 

Mining began in this area in the early 1850's and 

was still active in 1959, though on a much-reduced 

scale. Placer mining was formerly done on a large 

scale by hydraulic operations, but large dragline 

dredges have supplanted the hydraulic giants. The 

La Grange mine near Weaverville was the largest 

hydraulic mine in this area (MacDonald, 1910, p. 

51). Production of gold from the gravels of the 

Trinity River basin from 1880 through 1959 was 

about 1, 750,000 ounces. 

The gold-bearing gravels of the Trinity basin are 

related to two cycles of erosion of the Klamath 

Mountains. The older gravels are partly cemented 

and locally deformed, whereas the younger gravels 

occur along the present streams and are undisturbed (Diller, 1914a, p. 14-20). Both types contain 

workable placers. 

TULARE COUNTY 

Although more than 50 gold mines are scattered 

throughout Tulare County, only those in the White 

River district-where gold was discovered in 1853 

(Goodwin, 1958, p. 339)-have had significant production. 

Production of Tulare County from 1880 through 

1959 was about 20,325 ounces, all from lodes. The 

peak year of production was 1884, when $70,000 in 

gold was mined. Except for a brief flurry in the 

early 1930's, there has been very little activity in 

the gold mines since 1906 (Goodwin, 1958, p. 340). 

The gold in the White River district is in quartz 

veins in granite and in metasedimentary rocks 

(Goodwin, 1958, p. 340). 

TUOLUMNE COUNTY 

Tuolumne County, one of the Mother Lode counties, is in central California between Calaveras 

County on the north and Mariposa County on the 

south. 

In the 1850's the gold-rush prospectors and adventurers overran the entire Mother Lode country. 

They soon found the gold placers of Tuolumne 

County, which became the richest in California. 

During 1850-70 this county was one of the leading 

gold producers in the State. At least $151,175,000 

(about 7,338,600 ounces) of placer gold was produced before 1899, mostly from the Tertiary and 

Quaternary gravels in the Columbia Basin and the 

Table Mountain channel in the Jamestown-Sonora 

area (Julihn and Horton, 1940, p. 69). 

After 1890, as the placers were depleted, mining 

of quartz veins increased, and after 1903 lodes exceeded placers in production. Total estimated production for the county through 1959 was 10,131,000 

ounces: 2,580,000 ounces from lodes and 7,551,000 

ounces from placers. 

Nearly all the lode mines lie in a zone about 14 

miles wide that crosses the county from northwest 

to southeast. Deposits in the Mother Lode are along 

the southwest side of the zone near the contact 

between the Calaveras and Mariposa Formations. 

Deposits of the East Belt are on the northeast side, 

parallel to the Mother Lode. Between the two is a 

chain of small but rich deposits known as the Pocket 

Belt. 

COLUMBIA BASIN -.JAMESTOWN -SONORA DISTRICT 

The Columbia Basin-Jamestown-Sonora district is 

in parts of Tps. 1 and 2 N., Rs. 14 and 15 E., in 

northwest Tuolumne County. 

From 1853, when the placers were discovered, to 

1870, an area less than 2 miles in diameter-the 

well-known Columbia Basin-produced more than 

$55 million in gold (Julihn and Horton, 1940, p. 

71). Other rich deposits were at Sonora, Yankee 

Hill, and Jamestown. More than 95 percent of the 

placer gold of Tuolumne County was derived from 

Quaternary gravels, the gold of which was reworked 
CALIFORNIA 83 

from eroded Tertiary gravels (Julihn and Horton, 

1940, p. 70). In the Columbia Basin most of the 

gold was extracted by hand from natural riffles and 

from between pinnacles on the limestone bedrock 

surface at the base of the gravels. In the vicinity of 

Jamestown and Sonora, Tertiary channel gravels 

were worked by drift mines. The richest placers 

were e~hausted fairly early and by the late 1870's 

placer production dropped sharply. This trend was 

reversed for a short time in the late 1930's, but production decreased after World War II. Total gold 

production from this area was about $121 million, 

or about 5,874,000 ounces (Julihn and Horton, 1940, 

p. 69). 

The Tertiary gravels, which yielded gold valued 

at between $5 and $6 million, were worked chiefly 

by drift mines in the Table Mountain channel and 

by surface mines at Chinese Camp and Montezuma 

(Julihn and Horton, 1940, p. 70). 

EAST BELT DISTRICT 

The East Belt district includes a system of lodes 

parallel to the Mother Lode, about 10 miles to the 

east. The settlements of Pooleys Ranch, Soulsbyville, 

and Tuolumne are along the East Belt. 

The first claims on the East Belt were located in 

the mid-1850's. The deposits proved to be extremely 

rich in gold, and before 1899 the yield of 38 East 

Belt mines was about $19,340,000 (about 938,800 

ounces), a far greater output than that of the 

Mother Lode for this period (Julihn and Horton, 

1940, p. 19). These veins, however, were for the 

most part shallow, and high production could not 

be maintained for any extended period. Nevertheless, the Souls by mine has produced $6,750,000, and 

there are five other mines with a production of 

$1 million or more (Julihn and Horton, 1940, p. 52-

53). Total production through 1959 of the East 

Belt in Tuolumne County was about 965,000 ounces. 

The veins of this district are in and grouped 

around a stock of granodiorite that intruded the 

Calaveras Formation (Julihn and Horton, 1940, p. 

51-52). Pegmatites cut both the granodiorite and 

Calaveras Formation, and the gold-bearing veins 

are later than the pegmatite. Most of the veins are 

in the granodiorite and along the granodioritecountry rock contact. The veins are narrow and 

they pinch and swell; nevertheless, they are remarkably persistent. Free gold is found in these 

veins with quartz and with sulfides which include 

pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite, 

and complex sulfides of lead and antimony. 

GROVELAND-MOCCASIN .JACKSONVILLE AREA 

The Groveland-Moccasin-Jacksonville area is in 

parts of T. 1 S., Rs. 14, 15 and 16 E., in southern 

Tuolumne County. 

Before . 1899, Quaternary gravels in this area 

yielded about $34 million in gold (Julihn and 

Horton, 1940, p. 69). There is no consistent record 

of later production, although Julihn and Horton 

(1940, p. 81, 82) reported dredging operations along 

Moccasin Creek in 1937 and 1938. 

The Longfellow mine, the most productive of a 

group of lode mines near Groveland, produced an 

estimated $% million in gold (about 24,200 ounces) 

before 1899. No record was found of any later lode 

mining in this district. 

MOTHER LODE DISTRICT 

The Mother Lode district is delineated by a chain 

of about 40 mines that crosses Tuolumne County 

from northwest to southeast from a point just west 

of Tuttletown in the north to the headwaters of 

Moccasin Creek in the south, where the lode enters 

Mariposa County. 

Probably the first major property to be developed 

in this district was the Harvard mine, discovered 

in 1850 (Julihn and Horton, 1940, p. 30). In 1852 

the Dutch claim was located. The claim was later 

consolidated with the Sweeney and App-Heslep 

mines, and this combination became the most productive property in the district with an output of 

about $9 million in gold to 1928 (Julihn and 

Horton, 1940, p. 20). Another important group of 

mines, first operated in the 1860's, was the Golden 

Rule (Julihn and Horton, 1940, p. 42). The Mother 

Lode mines developed slowly, but as they were 

deepened, higher grade ore was found and their 

production increased. Probably the most active 

period was between 1890 and 1920 when the Rawhide, Harvard, Dutch-App, and Eagle-Shawmut 

were at their peaks of activity. After World War I, 

there was a long period of idleness which was ended 

by the increased price of gold in 1934. The mines 

were pumped dry and retimbered, and a short 

period of prosperity returned to the district. During 

World War II the mines were closed again, and in 

the postwar period resumption of mining was discouraged by the low grade of the ore and the constantly increasing costs made even higher by the 

great depths of the mines. 

The Mother Lode district in Tuolumne County is 

credited with $4,310,000 in gold before 1899 (Julihn 

and Horton, 1940, p. 18). The six largest mines produced a total of $29,750,000 in gold to 1928, and 

from 1933 through 1959 the Mother Lode produced 
84 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

86,112 ounces of lode gold and 41,524 ounces of 

placer gold. The placer production is probably from 

Tertiary gravels near Jamestown and no doubt 

should have been credited to that district rather 

than the Mother Lode. The minimum total production for the district is about 1,550,000 ounces. 

POCKET BELT DISTRICT 

The Pocket Belt district, 5 to 6 miles wide, is 

between the Stanislaus River and the JamestownSonora area. 

This district is known for the extreme richness 

of small veins that produced minor fortunes in a 

very short time with small investments. Perhaps the 

best known of these mines was the Bonanza, located 

in 1851, which in a single week produced about 

$300,000 worth of gold. The Pocket Belt has been 

noted for spectacular short-term operations; thus 

it exerts a persistent lure, and sporadic activity 

will probably continue indefinitely. 

Production of the district was about $5% million 

(267,000 ounces) (Julihn and Horton, 1940, p. 60). 

Bedrock is the Calaveras Formation, which has 

been fractured and laced with seams of quartz and 

calcite. Locally, where these seams swell, there are 

concentrations of coarse gold. Some of the gold is 

crystallized, and in some places it is accompanied by 

petzite, calaverite, and other tellurides. The seams 

or pockets are noted for their discontinuity (Julihn 

and Horton, 1940, p. 60). 

YUBA COUNTY 

Auriferous gravels have been highly productive 

in Yuba County. The Hammonton vicinity alone 

yielded $100 million in gold from the gravels along 

the Yuba River after dredging started in 1903 

( O~Brien, 1952a, p. 148). Considerable placer gold 

has come from Tertiary gravels but much more has 

come from the Quaternary gravels. 

Gold-bearing quartz veins have been mined in 

the Browns Valley-Smartville and BrownsvilleChallenge-Dobbins districts where the veins are 

found in metamorphic rocks near the contact with 

a granodioritic body. 

Total recorded production from 1880 through 

1959 was 5,294,600 ounces: 4,387,100 ounces from 

placers and 907,500 ounces from lodes. 

BROWNS VALI,EY-SMARTVILLE AND BROWNSVILLECHALLENGE-DOBBINS DISTRICTS 

These districts are discussed jointly here because 

of the paucity of published information regarding 

their individual history, geology, and production. 

The Browns Valley-Smartville district is in central 

Yuba County, in T. 16 N., R. 5 E. The BrownsvilleChallenge-Dobbins district is in the northern part 

of the county, in Tps. 18 and 19 N., Rs. 6 and 7 E. 

The gold deposits of these districts were described 

briefly by Lindgren and Turner ( 1895) . In the 

Browns Valley-Smartville area, gold-bearing quartz 

veins occur in amphibolitic schists and diabase. The 

principal mine here was the Hibbert and Burris. In 

the Brownsville-Challenge-Dobbins area, gold-quartz 

veins are associated with masses of granodiorite. 

Production from these districts is not known, but 

it may be assumed that it represents all the lode 

gold credited to Yuba County-907,500 ounces from 

1880 through 1959. 

Metasedimentary rocks of the Calaveras Group 

are exposed in two northwest-trending belts-one 

passes through Camptonville, the other near Challenge. A younger group of greenstones and green 

schists is also exposed in this area, but their stratigraphic relations are not known (O'Brien, 1952a, 

p. 144-145). Intrusive rocks consisting of small 

bodies of diabase, gabbro, and peridotite, and of 

large masses of granodiorite of the Sierra Nevada 

batholith cut the metasedimentary rocks and greenstones. 

HAMMONTON DISTRICT 

The Hammonton district, in parts of Tps. 15 and 

16 N., Rs. 4 and 5 E., is along the Yuba River in 

the southern part of Yuba County. 

Beginning in 1903, large-scale dredging of the 

Quaternary gravels produced about $2 million in 

gold annually, and by 1949 the district had produced about $100 million in gold (O'Brien, 1952a, 

p. 145). In 1952 six dredges were in operation. 

Total production through 1959 was about 4,387,100 

ounces. 

COLORADO 

Colorado ranks second among the States in total 

gold production, with an aggregate of about 40,776,-

000 ounces through 1965. 

Gold and other ore deposits are mostly in a 

northeast-trending belt, known as the Colorado 

mineral belt, in the mountainous western part of 

the State. From near Boulder on the northeast this 

belt extends southwest to the San Juan Mountains 

and beyond (fig. 10). The Cripple Creek district, 

the largest gold producer in Colorado, and several 

minor districts lie southeast of the mineral belt. 

Before 1858 Colorado was explored by fur trappers and special expeditions, but apparently most 

of these early adventurers paid little or no attention 

to the mineral deposits in the area .. According to 

C. W. Henderson (in Finch and others, 1933, p. 
COLORADO 85 

0 50 100 MI LES 

FIGURE 10.-Gold-mining districts of Colorado. 

Adams County: 

1, Clear Creek placers. 

Boulder County: 

2, Jamestown; 3, Gold Hill-Sugarloaf; 4, Ward; 5, Magnolia; 6, 

Grand Island-Caribou. 

Chaffee County: 

7, Chalk Creek; 8, Monarch. 

Clear Creek County: 

9, Alice; 10, Empire; 11, Idaho 

Springs; 12, Freeland-Lamartine; 

13, Georgetown-Silver Plume; 14, 

Argentine. 

Custer County: 

15, Rosita Hills. 

Dolores County: 

16, Rico. 

Eagle County: 

17, Gilman. 

Gilpin County: 

18, Northern Gilpin; 19, Central 

City. 

Gunnison County: 

20, Gold Brick-Quartz Creek; 21, 

Tincup. 

Hinsdale County: 

22, Lake City. 

Jefferson County: 

23, Clear Creek placers. 

Lake County: 

24, Leadville; 25, Arkansas River 

valley placers. 

La Plata County: 

26, La Plata. 

Mineral County: 

27, Creede. 

Ouray County: 

28, Sneffels-Red Mountain; 29, 

Uncompahgre. 

Park County: 

30, Alma; 31, Fairplay; 32, Tarryall. 

Pitkin County: 

33, Independence Pass. 

Rio Grande County: 

34, Summitville. 

Routt County: 

35, Hahns Peak. 

Saguache County: 

36, Bonanza. 

San Juan County: 

37, Animas; 38, Eureka. 

San Miguel County: 

39, Ophir; 40, Telluride; 41, 

Mount Wilson. 

Summit County: 

42, Breckenridge; 43, Tenmile. 

Teller County: 

44, Cripple Creek. 
86 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

761), the existence of gold in South Park was re- tricts, and the lode-mining industry in Colorado 

corded in a report delivered in secret to General was revived (Henderson, 1926, p. 69). 

Zebulon Pike in 1807 at Santa Fe, N. Mex., where Railroads also stimulated mining in Colorado durhe was being held prisoner by the Spaniards. Chero- ing the 1860's and 1870's with the completion of 

kee Indians of Oklahoma reportedly brought gold the Union Pacific Railroad to Cheyenne, Wyo., in 

from the headwaters of the South Platte River to 1867, the Denver Pacific from Denver to Cheyenne 

residents along the lower Missouri River from 1849 in 1870, the Kansas Pacific to Denver in 1870, and 

to 1857. a narrow-gage railroad to Blackhawk in 1872 (HenIn the spring of 1858, the Russell brothers, placer derson, 1926, p. 61). 

miners from Georgia and later from California, led Prospectors soon spread to all parts of the State 

a party who prospected along Cherry and Ralston and discovered in rapid succession many of ColoCreeks and the South Platte River near the present rado's most famous mining camps. Discovery of 

site of Denver. They were guided to the area by gold in the San Juan Mountains in southwestern 

Cherokee Indians. Although they only found gold Colorado in 1870 triggered a stampede of prospecin very small quantities, news of the discoveries tors into this region-to Summitville in 1873 and 

spread and a rush to the "Pikes Peak Country" fol- Silverton in 1874. In 1875 major ore discoveries 

lowed. By Christmas of 1858 about 1,000 men had were made at Lake City, Ouray, and Telluride. In 

arrived, and several settlements were founded in the middle and late 1870's rich ore deposits were 

the Denver area. In January 1859 the first commer- discovered on the east side of the Sawatch Range 

cial gold placers in Colorado were discovered by in the Monarch and Chalk Creek districts, in the 

George A. Jackson near the mouth of Chicago Rosita Hills in Custer County, in the Kokomo and 

Creek near Idaho Springs. This news spread and Breckenridge districts in the Tenmile Range, and 

precipitated a rush of prospectors into the sur- at Aspen on the west side of the Sawatch Range. 

rounding mountains. In May 1859, John Hamilton The placer deposits in California Gulch were deGregory found outcrops of veins with residual de- pleted in 1867, and the area was abandoned, but in 

posits of gold in the drainage basin of North Clear 1877 rich lead-silver ore was discovered and the 

Creek near Blackhawk, and in early June, W. G. Leadville district at the south end of the Mosquito 

Russell discovered placer gold in Russell Gulch near Range was founded. In 1891 rich gold ore was disCentral City. Throughout 1859 prospectors spread covered at Cripple Creek and lead-silver ore was 

to many of the streams emerging from the Front. discovered at Creede; these were the last of ColoRange, to the headwaters of the South Platte River rado's famous gold-mining camps to be established. 

and its tributaries in South Park, and up the Arkan- Except for only a few years, gold production in 

sas River and its tributaries as far as California Colorado exceeded 100,000 ounces annually from 

Gulch to what was to become the Leadville district 1860 through 1954. It gradually rose from 97,500 

(Henderson, 1926, p. 1-9; Finch and others, 1933, ounces in 1873 to about 201,000 ounces in 1890 

p. 761-768; Bastin and Hill, 1917, p. 67-69). This (Henderson, 1926, p. 69). The Cripple Creek disactivity led to many rich and significant discoveries trict boosted production to a peak of about 1,393,000 

in the following few years. Placers generally were ounces in 1900 (fig. 11). Thereafter production defound first; then gold-bearing veins or disintegrated clined at an uneven rate to about 213,700 ounces in 

oxidized residue of. gold-bearing veins, the "mother 1929. When the price of gold was raised to $35 per 

lodes," were found soon afterward. ounce in 1934, production again rose to 380,000 

In the first few years frenzied activity reigned ounces in 1941. It again declined abruptly when the 

in the newly discovered gold fields. During 1858-67 mines were closed during World War II. After the 

Colorado produced about $14,924,000 in placer gold war the annual gold output reached a maximum of 

and about $10 million in lode gold (Henderson, about 150,000 ounces in 1947, but during 1954-65 

1926, p. 69). When mining had depleted the rich it was below 100,000 ounces. Gold output reached 

placers and the free-milling oxidized ores and a low of 33,605 ounces in 1963. 

reached the underlying sulfide ore, which was not The mineral belt of Colorado trends obliquely to 

amenable to amalgamation or simple devices of the mountain ranges and crosses the San Juan 

concentration, many mines closed and mining waned Mountains in the southwestern part of the State 

(Bastin and Hill, 1917, p. 153-163). This condition and the Sawatch, Mosquito, Gore-Tenmile, and 

was in part remedied in 1868 when the Hill smelter Front Ranges in the central and north-central parts 

opened in January at Blackhawk in Gilpin County. of the State. This belt is coincident with a belt of 

It successfully treated sulfide ores from many dis- intrusive stocks, dikes, and sills of porphyritic 
COLORADO 87 

acidic igneous rocks of Late Cretaceous or Tertiary 

age. Gold, silver, and lead-zinc ore deposits occur 

throughout this belt, in rocks of various types and 

ages. In the San Juan Mountains the deposits are 

chiefly in volcanic rocks of Tertiary age ; in the 

Sawatch, Mosquito, and Gore-Tenmile Ranges they 

are in sedimentary rocks of Paleozoic age; and in 

the Front Range they are in the metamorphic and 

igneous rocks of Precambrian and Tertiary age. In 

Colorado, 44 districts-scattered in 24 countieseach have produced more than 10,000 ounces of 

gold. 

ADAMS COUNTY 

Adams County adjoins Denver County on the 

northeast, a few miles east of the Front Range. 

All the gold mined in the county has come from 

placers along Clear Creek, a tributary of the South 

Platte River. The first record of production was in 

1922, and since then the placers have yielded conYEAR 

sistent, though small, amounts of gold as a byproduct of sand-and-gravel operations. Total production 

from 1922 through 1959 was about 16,800 ounces. 

BOULDER COUNTY 

Boulder County, in north-central Colorado along 

the east side of the Front Range, ranks ninth among 

the gold-producing counties of Colorado. Its west 

boundary is the Continental Divide; its eastern 

part includes a small area of the Great Plains. All 

the metal-mining camps are in the mountainous 

western part. Gold is the chief metal produced in 

the county, but considerable silver and tungsten 

and small amounts of lead and copper have also 

been produced. Through 1959, Boulder County was 

credited with an output of about 1,048,200 ounces 

of gold; all but about 3,000 ounces was from lode 

mines. 

FIGURE 11.-Annual gold production of Colorado, 1868-1965. Sources of data: 1868-1923 from Henderson (1926, p. 69); 

1924-65 from U.S. Bureau of Mines (1925-34, 1933-66). Production reported in dollar value is converted to ounces 

at prevailing price per ounce. 
88 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

Discoveries of gold deposits in Boulder County, 

which date from 1858 (Henderson, 1926, p. 38-40, 

105-106), were among the first in the State. Though 

placers were worked first, most of the gold mined 

before 1869 was from oxidized free-milling lode ore, 

and when this was depleted, many mines closed. 

Through 1868 the annual production was less than 

$50,000 in gold. The construction of a new smelter 

at Blackhawk in 1868 stimulated activity in the 

mining camps, new veins were discovered, and 

mines and camps developed rapidly. Gold production increased from about $100,000 (4,838 ounces) 

in 1870 to $683,941 (33,089 ounces) in 1891 and to 

a peak production of $982,988 (47,556 ounces) in 

1892 (Henderson, 1926, p. 106). After the panic of 

1893, when the price of silver dropped, gold production fluctuated but generally declined; only 

$16,516 (799 ounces) in gold was produced in 1930. 

The rise in the price of gold in 1934 stimulated gold 

mining, and 33,621 ounces was produced in 1940. 

Activity again declined during World War II and 

decreased even more after the war. 

\ Boulder County has many mining camps and districts, but to 1959 only five had a total gold output 

in excess of 10,000 ounces: Jamestown (Central), 

Gold Hill-Sugarloaf, Ward, Magnolia, and Grand 

Island-Caribou. 

GOLD HILL-SUGARLOAF DISTRICT 

The Gold Hill-Sugarloaf district, the largest gold 

producer in Boulder County, contains several small 

mining camps within an area of about 12 square 

miles in the central part of the countiV; 3 to 8 miles 

northwest of Boulder. The largest of' these is Gold 

Hill; others are Sugarloaf, Rowena,. Salina, and 

Sunshine. Gold was the chief metal produced in the 

district, although in most deposits silver is associated with the gold. 

Placer gold was discovered in this district in 

January 1859, very early in the history of mining 

in the State, and $100,000 ( 4,838 ounces) worth of 

gold was worked from these placers during the 

first summer (Goddard, 1940, p. 106). Gold-bearing 

veins were discovered nearb'y · during the summer 

of 1859, and in consequence several thousand people 

flocked to the district. The oxidized surface ore 

yielded free gold and recovery was made by sluice, 

arrastre, and stamp mill. When these ores were 

mined out after a few years, activity in the district declined sharply. Mining activity · increased 

markedly in 1872 when the gold-silver telluride, 

petzite, was discovered at the Red Cloud mine at 

Gold Hill. In 1873 telluride ore was discovered in 

the Cold Spring mine. The ore was extremely rich, 

yielding an average of $1,500 per ton, and in 2 

years these two mines produced about $600,000 in 

gold from about 400 tons of ore (Henderson, 1926, 

p. 39). Many more veins were found from 1875 to 

1880 and activity was sustained at a high level until 

1904, after which mining declined (Goddard, 1940, 

tables p. 108-109). The district was rejuvenated in 

the middle and late 1930's but slumped sharply 

during World War II; after the war it failed to 

regain its former importance and was almost inactive during 1950-59. 

The lode-gold production from the Gold HillSugarloaf district from the time of discovery 

through 1903 could not be ascertained. According to 

Henderson (1926, table, p. 106), Boulder County 

from 1859 through 1903 produced about $13,435,000 

worth of gold. It seems reasonable to assume that 

the Gold Hill-Sugarloaf district produced at least 

one-fourth of this amount-about $3,360,000 or 

162,500 ounces. The minimum total output of the 

district through 1959 was about 412,000 ounces, 

mostly from lodes. The placer production probably 

did not exceed 3,000 ounces (Lovering and Goddard, 1950, p. 240). 

The following brief description of the geology 

and ore deposits of the district is mostly from Goddard (1940, p. 110-139). 

Schists and gneiss of the Idaho Springs Formation are intruded by a batholith of Boulder Creek 

Granite and dikes of Silver Plume Granite, all Precambrian in age. Sedimentary rocks of Pennsylvanian age unconformably overlie the Precambrian 

rocks about 2 miles east of the district. The Precambrian rocks have been cut by a series of porphyry dikes of Laramide age that range in composition from diabase to alaskite. The mineral deposits 

are chiefly in the northern par.t~ of the Boulder 

Creek batholith; most of the veins are in the granite and a few in: the western part of the district 

extend into the schist. 

The distribution of ore deposits was strongly influenced by conspicuous silicified, hematite-stained 

breccia zones, called breccia reefs. The most prominent of these are nearly vertical and trend N. 25°-

500 W. ; others can be grouped into sets that trend 

N. 70°-80° W., N. 60°-75° W., and N. 5°-30° E. 

The gold deposits are in telluride and pyritic veins 

that occupy fissures, most of which strike northeast. Ore is localized where these veins cross the 

breccia reefs. Most of the productive veins are more 

than half a mile long and from 1 to 5 feet wide, but 

some are from 10 to 30 feet wide. The order of 

deposition of the veins is not certain. Silver-lead 

veins appear to be the oldest in the district; these 
COLORADO 89 

are followed by the gold telluride veins, and then 

by the pyritic gold veins. A few of the silver-lead 

veins, however, seem to be related to the pyritic 

gold veins. 

Gold tellurides, the most abundant of which are 

petzite and sylvanite, are the most important ore 

minerals in the Gold Hill-Sugarloaf district, but 

free gold is also abundant. Other tellurides occurring in small amounts are hessite, altaite, and coloradoite. Fine-grained pyrite and very small amounts 

of galena and sphalerite are associated with the 

ore minerals. Horn quartz and sugary quartz are 

the chief gangue minerals. Roscoelite is closely 

associated with the tellurides and free gold. Ankerite and other carbonates also are associated with 

the telluride ores but are younger than the telluride 

minerals. 

In the pyritic gold veins, pyrite and chalcopyrite 

are the most abundant ore minerals, but free gold 

is abundant in some veins. The chief gangue mineral is sugary to glassy quartz; ankerite is found 

in some veins. 

GRAND ISLAND-CARIBOU DISTRICT 

The Grand Island-Caribou district is in southwest Boulder County, about 17 miles west of Boulder 

and 4 miles northwest of Nederland. 

Silver is the chief metal produced in the district, 

but moderate amounts of lead and some lode gold 

have also been produced. Prospectors discovered 

veins near Caribou in about 1860 (Henderson, 1926, 

p. 38) ; however, they did not recognize the silver 

ore until 1869, when one of them, after seeing some 

silver ore from Nevada, returned to the district and 

made the first location. Other claims were staked 

the same year, and by the end of 1871 most of the 

rich lodes in the district had been found and production increased rapidly. Ore was produced from 

the district until 1893, when a drop in the price of 

silver forced most mines to close; however, some 

of the richer gold mines resumed operation in 1898. 

Since 1900 activity in the area has been limited to 

sporadic attempts to reactivate certain mines or to 

mill dump material from some of the larger mines 

(Moore and others, 1957, p. 521-522). The district 

was almost dormant from 1952 through 1959. 

Nearly all the output of the district has come 

from lead-silver veins containing a little gold, 

though some gold-silver ore has been mined in outlying areas. The ore in the upper levels of many of 

the mines was very rich in silver, probably because 

of secondary enrichment (Moore and others, 1957, 

p. 521). 

There is no record of the early gold production 

from the Grand Island-Caribou district. It has been 

estimated (Moore and others, 1957, p. 522) that the 

total value of lead and silver produced before 1924 

was about $6 million, but no figures are given from 

which to estimate the gold production, though it 

was probably small. The gold production from 1932 

through 1959 was 10,006 ounces. 

The eastern and western parts of the district are 

underlain by schist and gneiss of the Idaho Springs 

Formation and by small bodies of Boulder Creek 

Granite. These rocks, which are of Precambrian 

age, were intruded by a composite stock of calcic 

monzonite and quartz monzonite which occupies the 

central part of the district. A striking feature is 

the occurrence of numerous masses of pyroxenite, 

titaniferous magnetite, and hornblendite in the 

stock (Smith, 1938, p. 171, 174). 

Lead-silver veins in the monzonite stock in the 

vicinity of Caribou Hill have been the most productive in the district. The gold veins are in the 

Precambrian rocks and are older than the leadsilver veins. Quartz, pyrite, chalcopyrite, covellite 

( ?) , and minor galena and sphalerite are the predominant minerals of the gold veins. The lead-silver 

veins chiefly contain quartz, pyrite, sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite, argentite, pyrargyrite, carbonates, and secondary azurite, malachite, native silver, 

and limonite (Moore and others, 1957, p. 526-528). 

JAMESTOWN DISTRICT 

The Jamestown (Central) district is in the Front 

Range in central Boulder County, about 9 miles 

northwest of Boulder. Gold ore was discovered in 

1865 (Lovering and Goddard, 1950, p. 255), and 

sometime between 1876 and 1881 the town of 

Jamestown was founded (Henderson, 1926, p. 40)_ 

Little else is known of the early development of the 

district, even though it is one of the major goldproducing areas in Boulder County. The Jamestown, Gold Hill, and Ward districts were the chief 

gold producers in the county from 1883 to 1912. 

Many mines were closed thereafter but were reopened during 1934-42. From World War II 

through 1959 gold mining again declined. The total 

gold production from the district through 1959 

was about 207,000 ounces. This figure includes an 

estimate by E. N. Goddard (in Vanderwilt and 

others, 1947, p. 324) of $4,700,000 worth of gold 

ore produced through 1943. 

The geology of the district is summarized chiefly 

from E. N. Goddard (in Vanderwilt and others, 

1947, p. 323-327) and Lovering and Goddard (1950, 

p. 255-279) . 

The Jamestown district, at the northeast end of 
90 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

the Colorado mineral belt, is underlain chiefly by 

schist of the Idaho Springs Formation and by some 

hornblende gneiss, intruded by the Boulder Creek 

and Silver Plume Granites. These Precambrian 

rocks have been intruded by stocks and a variety 

of dikes of porphyritic igneous rocks of early Tertiary age. The rocks are cut by silicified brecciated 

zones known as breccia reefs, which are older than 

the Tertiary porphyries, and by normal faults, the 

vein fissures, which are younger than the porphyries. 

An early set of vein fissures, trending northwestward, contains lead-silver and fluorspar deposits, 

and a later set, trending northeastward, encloses 

pyritic gold and gold telluride deposits. The ore 

deposits appear to be genetically related to a small 

quartz monzonite porphyry stock. Though their distribution around the stock is irregular, there is, 

nevertheless, a rough mineralogical zoning of the 

deposits. The lead-silver and fluorspar deposits are 

close to the border of the stock and the pyritic gold 

and gold telluride deposits are successively farther 

away. 

The chief minerals in the pyritic gold veins are 

pyrite and chalcopyrite in a quartz gangue. The 

gold is free or is intricately associated with chalcopyrite and in small amounts with pyrite. Galena 

and sphalerite are present in some veins. Silver is 

usually present in about equal amounts with the 

gold. 

The telluride veins consist of jaspery quartz, 

finely disseminated pyrite, free gold, and a variety 

of telluride minerals-predominantly krennerite 

and petzite, smaller amounts of sylvanite and altaite, and locally small amounts of hessite, coloradoite, 

and native tellurium. 

The pyritic gold veins range in width from a few 

inches to 3 feet, but some shoots occur in mineralized zones 10 to 30 feet wide. The telluride veins 

are as much as 10 feet wide, and some shoots at 

vein junctions are as much as 30 feet wide. The 

deepest workings are only about 500 feet below the 

surface, and on many veins the deepest workings 

are only 100 to 200 feet deep. Many veins are as 

strong at the bottom level as at the surface and are 

considered favorable for exploration at greater 

depth (E. N. Goddard, in Vanderwilt and others, 

1947, p. 327). 

MAGNOLIA DISTRICT 

The Magnolia district, about 4 miles southwest 

of Boulder along the east side of the Front Range, 

is small, and most of the productive veins crop out 

in an area of less than 1 square mile. 

Gold telluride ore was discovered in the district 

in 1875, 3 years after the discovery of gold telluride 

in the Gold Hill camp (Wilkerson, 1939, p. 82), and 

most of the known veins were being worked by 

1877. Small amounts of tungsten ore also have been 

mined. The productive life of the district was 

largely spent by 1905, and even the increased price 

of gold in 1934 failed to excite more than a spark 

of revival. The production of the district before 

1906 was valued optimistically at $2,815,000 and 

was mostly in gold (Lovering and Goddard, 1950, 

p. 227). Total gold production through 1959 was 

about 130,000 ounces. 

Almost all the district is underlain by gneissic 

Boulder Creek Granite of Precambrian age, which 

is cut by numerous aplite and pegmatite dikes 

(Wilkerson, 1939, p. 84). Most of the ore deposits 

are in gold telluride fissure veins that trend west 

or northwest, and ore seems to be localized at intersections of fissures. 

The Magnolia district, whose ore minerals consist chiefly of gold tellurides, was the first in Colorado to produce considerable quantities of telluride 

ore. Much of the ore was very rich. The district is 

of interest also because of the variety of the telluride minerals and the unusual association of gold 

tellurides with tungsten, vanadium, and molybdenum minerals (Lovering and Goddard, 1950, 

p. 228). Sylvanite is the main ore mineral but it 

is almost everywhere accompanied by one or more 

of the following tellurides: calaverite, hessite, petzite, coloradoite, and altaite. Other minerals found 

in the district are native gold, lionite, magnolite, 

nagyagite, henryite, tellurite, ferro-tellurite, melonite, native tellurium, ferberite, molybdenite, and 

roscoelite, and some galena, sphalerite, pyrite, marcasite, calcite, and fluorite (Lovering and Goddard, 

1950, p. 228). Gangue minerals are present in only 

minor amounts and consist mainly of light- to darkcolored varieties of extremely fine grained quartz 

or "horn." 

WARD DISTRICT 

The Ward district is in western Boulder County, 

west of the Gold Hill-Sugarloaf district and about 

9 to 13 miles northwest of Boulder. It comprises 

12 square miles in the headwaters of Lefthand and 

Fourmile Creeks and includes the mining camps of 

Sunset and Copper Rock. 

Gold was first discovered in 1861, and by 1870 

most of the major lodes had been located. The 

Niwot and Columbia mines were the largest gold 

producers; however, Worcester (1920, p. 56) noted 

that there were more than 50 mines in the district 
COLORADO 91 

that had produced more than $5,000 worth of ore. 

Gold mining in the district declined after 1893 ; it 

revived briefly during 1936-42, but it waned from 

1943 through 1959. The exhaustion of the rich oxidized ores left only low-grade sulfide ores that have 

thus f~r resisted all attempts at successful treatment. 

The early gold output of the Ward district can 

only be estimated. Using Henderson's (1926, p. 106) 

figure of $15,954,999 for Boulder County from 1859 

to 1923 and Worcester's (1920, p. 70) assumption 

that Ward produced 20 to 24 percent of the total 

dollar value of Boulder County mineral production 

through 1915, we can credit the district with a 

minimum of $3,191,000 or about 154,400 ounces of 

gold through 1923. Total gold produced through 

1959 was roughly 172,000 ounces, mostly from 

quartz veins. The small placer deposits were exhausted long ago. 

The country rock in the Ward district is largely 

Precambrian in age. Gneiss and schist of the Idaho 

Springs Formation predominate in the southern 

part of the district, whereas Silver Plume Granite 

is the major bedrock in the northern part. Several 

stocks of diorite and monzonite porphyry and 

smaller masses of sodic andesite and diorite porphyry and a wide variety of dikes of Tertiary age 

intrude the Precambrian rocks throughout the district (Lovering and Goddard, 1950, p. 203). 

Nearly all the ore in the Ward district occurs in 

veins or in shoots or chimneys that appear to be 

local enlargements of veins. Most of the productive 

veins are in the granite or granite gneiss; many 

veins feather out in the schist. The veins either 

follow or are closely associated with felsite, dacite, 

quartz monzonite, latite, or quartz latite dikes. 

Gold, silver, and lead have been mined in appreciable quantities; and copper, zinc, and tungsten 

have been produced in small amounts. Most of the 

gold has been derived from quartz veins rich in 

chalcopyrite; lesser amounts have come from quartzpyrite veins with minor molybdenite and wolframite. Native gold and gold alloyed with silver occur 

in small amounts in ores that contain sphalerite 

and argentiferous galena as the chief constituents. 

Gold telluride ores are found in mines in the eastern 

part of the district (Lovering and Goddard, 1950, 

p. 203-207). 

CHAFFEE COUNTY 

Chaffee County is near the central part of Colorado. It borders the Continental Divide on the west 

and extends eastward across the valley of the upper 

Arkansas River. Through 1959 the county produced 

about 370,500 ounces of gold, mostly from lode deposits. Placers and base-metal ores yielded small 

quantities of gold. 

Among the earliest gold discoveries in Colorado 

were placer deposits in early 1859 near the headwaters of the Arkansas River in Chaffee County 

and along Cache and Clear Creeks near Granite 

(Henderson, 1926, p. 9). By late 1860 most of the 

stream valleys in the county probably had been 

prospected, and gold placers were reported in places 

along the Arkansas River from Buena Vista southeast for 25 miles to the Fremont County line and 

in the northern part of the county near Granite 

and northward into Lake County. Other placers 

were found along Lost Canyon Gulch, Chalk Creek, 

Cottonwood Creek, Pine Creek, Bertscheys Gulch, 

Gold Run Gulch, Gilson Gulch, Oregon Gulch, and 

Ritchey's Patch. The relative importance of these 

stream placers is not given, but through 1869 Chaffee County is credited with a production of placer 

gold amounting to $400,000 (Henderson, 1926, 

p. 107). The small estimated annual production-

$80,000 or less through 1904-indicates that there 

were no rich placers, and the large number of placer 

deposits listed above indicates that few if any of 

them had a large production. The deposits along 

the Arkansas River and Cache Creek near Granite 

probably were the most productive, but whether 

they produced more than 10,000 ounces cannot be 

ascertained. Some of this production probably came 

from placers just north of Granite in Lake County. 

The date of the first discovery of lode. deposits in 

Chaffee County has not been recorded. There was 

some lode mining in 1867-68 and the lode mines at 

Granite produced $60,000 in gold in 1870 (Henderson, 1926, p. 43, 107). The large lode deposits were 

not discovered until the early 1870's and later, and 

very little work was done on these deposits until 

1883, when railroad facilities became available. 

Mining activity was accelerated during the 10 years 

following 1883 and continued at a high level until 

the close of World War I, after which production 

decreased rapidly. Gold mining remained at a low 

ebb through 1959. · 

About 15 districts in Chaffee County have produced gold, but of these probably only the Chalk 

Creek and Monarch districts have produced more 

than 10,000 ounces. Henderson (1926, p. 107) credited Chaffee County with a gold production through 

1923 valued at $7,401,354 (358,072 ounces), of 

which $1,548,179 (74,900 ounces) represented 

placer gold and $5,853,175 (283,172 ounces), lode 

gold. Most of this production was achieved before 

. 1904 when reliable and fairly complete records were 
92 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

not kept, and the source of much of this gold can 

only be conjectured. Total gold production of Chaffee County through 1959 was about 370,500 ounces. 

Most of the lode gold came from the Chalk Creek 

district, but an appreciable amount, probably 50,000 

to 75,000 ounces, came from many small mines and 

districts scattered throughout the county. 

CHALK CREim DISTRICT 

The Chalk Creek district is in western Chaffee 

County near the headwaters of Chalk Creek, 16 

miles west of Nathrop along the Arkansas River. 

The ores of the district contain gold, silver, lead, 

zinc, and a little copper. The Chalk Creek district 

probably is the only one in the county that has produced more than 100,000 ounces of gold. 

The date of discovery of ore in the district probably was in the late 1860's. The Mary Murphy mine, 

the largest and most important in the district is . ' believed to have been in continuous operation from 

1870 to 1925; thereafter it was operated intermittently (Dings and Robinson, 1957, p. 98). Although 

there are at least 20 other mines in the district, 

records of their history are fragmentary; most of 

them were inactive from 1901 through 1959. 

The Mary Murphy mine, from which has come 

about 75 percent of the output of the district, produced a total of about 220,400 ounces of gold in 

addition to large amounts of silver, lead, zinc and 

a little copper (C. S. Robinson, oral commun., 1961). 

Total gold production of the district through 1959 

was roughly 275,000 ounces. 

Two masses of Tertiary quartz monzDnite are the 

most abundant bedrock of the Chalk Creek district: 

the Mount Pomeroy, which is the older, and the 

Mount Princeton. In the southern part of the district, bodies of Tertiary andesite, quartz latite porphyry, quartz monzonite porphyry, and granite 

aplite cut these rocks; along the western edge of 

the district a large dike of quartz monzonite porphyry cuts the Mount Princeton Quartz Monzonite 

(Dings and Robinson, 1957, pl. 1). 

The ore deposits in the district are veins chiefly 

in the Mount Princeton Quartz Monzonite, although 

veins also occur in the other intrusive rocks. Most 

of the ore mined was from pyritic quartz veins 

which range from mere stringers to lodes 50 feet 

thick and more than a mile long. The Mary Murphy 

vein has been worked through a vertical range of 

about 2,200 feet. Galena and· sphalerite are the 

principal ore minerals and occur in streaks 1 to 12 

inches wide within the pyritic quartz lodes. Some 

chalcopyrite is generally present. Free gold is reported to occur in much of the ore and probably 

occurs chiefly in the oxidized ore. The chief gangue 

mineral is white quartz, locally accompanied by 

calcite, rhodonite, rhodochrosite, barite, and fluorite. A few veins have been developed as molybdenum 

prospects, and these consist of white quartz with 

small amounts of molybdenite, molybdite, pyrite, 

magnetite, beryl, and muscovite (Dings and Robinson, 1957,p.95-101). 

MONARCH DISTRICT 

The Monarch district is centered around the town 

of Garfield about 17 miles west of Salida. The district has produced chiefly silver, lead, and zinc, 

some copper, and a small amount of byproduct gold. 

The first ore was discovered in the Monarch district in 1878. Other discoveries followed shortly, 

and by 1882 most of the large ore deposits in the 

region had been found. Transportation difficulties 

inhibited early development, but by 1883 a railroad 

was built to Monarch which permitted cheap and 

rapid transportation to the smelter at Pueblo. Oxidized ore rich in silver and lead was mined during 

the next 10 years, and production was large. In 

1893, when the price of silver dropped, most mines 

were closed, and the district was nearly deserted 

(Crawford, ~!)13, p. 195-196). A demand for zinc 

revived the district, and in 1906 shipments of zinc 

carbonate ore began and continued for many years 

(Henderson, 1926, p. 43), especially during World 

War I. Between 1924 and 1940 activity was only 

intermittent. During World War II a few mines 

reopened, but these were closed again shortly after 

the war. 

The Madonna mine, which is credited with almost 

50 percent of the total output of the district, produced 4,652 ounces of gold between 1883 and 1911 

(Crawford, 1913, p. 239). Total gold production of 

the district through 1959 was probably from 15,000 

to 20,000 ounces. 

The bedrock of the district is of three agesmetamorphic and igneous rocks of Precambrian 

age, sedimentary rocks of Paleozoic age, and intrusive rocks of Tertiary age. The Precambrian rocks 

are schists and gneisses and intrusive masses of 

Pikes Peak and Silver Plume ( ?) Granites. The 

Paleozoic rocks, which contain productive ore horizons, are about 6,000 feet thick and range in age 

from Cambrian to Permian ( ?) . The sedimentary 

rocks have been eroded from a large part of the 

area, but patches have been preserved in synclines 

and in down-faulted blocks. The intrusive rocks of 

Tertiary age, the largest of which is the Mount 

Princeton batholith, are chiefly of quartz diorite 
COLORADO 93 

and quartz monzonite composition (Dings and Robinson, 1957, p. 5-27). 

The ore deposits in the Monarch district are replacement bodies, chiefly in the Paleozoic limestone 

and dolomite beds, and fissure veins. The Manitou 

Dolomite of Ordovician age and beds in the upper 

part of the Leadville Limestone of Mississippian 

age are especially favorable host rocks. The largest 

and richest replacement deposits are along faults 

in these beds near or adjacent to the Mount Princeton batholith. The chief sulfide minerals are galena, 

pyrite, sphalerite, some chalcopyrite, and local pyrrhotite. Much of the pyrite is gold bearing, and 

practically all the galena carries some silver, in 

places large amounts. The gangue consists of quartz 

and recrystallized limestone or dolomite. The bulk 

of all ore mined was at least partially oxidized, and 

the ore in the replacement deposits was more thoroughly and deeply oxidized than the ore in veins. 

Oxidation in the replacement deposits extends to a 

depth of 1,000 feet or more, whereas the oxidized 

ore in the veins is only a few feet deep. 

Most of the veins in the Monarch district occur 

in the Mount Princeton Quartz Monzonite and in 

the sedimentary rocks of Pennsylvanian age; a few 

are found in some of the older sedimentary rocks 

and in the Precambrian rocks. The mineral assemblage in the veins is very similar to that of the replacement bodies. The unoxidized parts of the veins 

consist chiefly of galena, sphalerite, and pyrite, and 

some chalcopyrite in a gangue of white quartz. 

Silver is present in most of the ores, but gold is 

erratically distributed (Dings and Robinson, 1957, 

p. 81-85). 

CLEAR CREEK COUNTY 

Clear Creek County is in north-central Colorado 

in the Front Range, west of Denver, and immediately east of the Continental Divide. 

Clear Creek County ranks seventh among the 

gold-producing counties of Colorado with a total 

of about 2,400,000 ounces through 1959, yet gold 

is second to silver in the value of minerals mined 

in the county. Substantial amounts of_ lead, zinc, 

and copper are also produced. Most of the precious 

metals have been recovered from siliceous ores in 

lodes, but in some deposits they were byproducts 

of base-metal ores. From 1859 to 1864 gold was 

almost wholly derived from placer deposits or from 

the hydraulicking of decomposed outcrops of veins. 

Prospecting parties working westward from the 

first gold discoveries in Colorado near Denver discovered gold in Clear Creek County in early April 

1859 along Chicago Creek, just above its junction 

with Clear Creek near Idaho Springs. Prospectors 

stampeded to the region, and shortly afterwards the 

first gold~bearing lodes were discovered and located. 

Later that year lodes were discovered in the Empire 

district and as far west as Georgetown. In the middle 1860's discoveries of silver veins in the Argentine and Georgetown-Silver Plume districts drew 

many mining people to western Clear Creek County 

(Spurr and others, 1908, p. 173). 

When the fre~milling oxidized ores were mined 

out, the mining industry waned until 1868 when 

the Blackhawk smelter opened and successfully 

treated the sulfide ores. The ever-widening network 

of railroads also encouraged mineral exploitation 

at this time. After 1900 mining activity was accel~ 

erated during World War I and in the 1935-41 

period. 

The country rock in Clear Creek County is a 

complex of Precambrian metamorphic and igneous 

rocks cut by Tertiary stocks and numerous dikes 

of porphyries. The most common porphyries range 

in composition from quartz monzonite to bostonite 

and alaskite. The ore deposits are also Tertiary in 

age and are genetically related to the porphyries. 

The following six districts in the county have 

each produced more than a total of 10,000 ounces 

of gold: Alice, Empire, Idaho Springs, FreelandLamartine, Georgetown-Silver Plume, and Argentine. Of these the Idaho Springs district is the 

. largest producer. 

ALICE DISTRICT 

The Alice district is about 7 miles west-northwest 

of Central City in north-central Clear Creek County 

and extends into southwest Gilpin County. 

Most of the production of the district has come 

from the Alice mine, though little is known about 

its early history. The deposit probably was first 

mined in 1883. It was first worked as a placer by 

hydraulicking, and it yielded $60,000 in gold (2,903 

ounces)". Later the oxidized ore was treated 'in a 

stamp mill, and part of the free gold was recovered 

by amalgamation. The mill operated at_a profit for 

3 years until the oxidized ore was exhausted. Attempts to treat the unoxidized ore by concentration 

met with indifferent success; only about $10,000 

( 484 ounces) in gold concentrates was shipped 

(Bastin and Hill, 1917, p. 120, 325-326). The only 

other production recorded from the district is that 

of the North Star-Mann mine, which produced ore 

worth about $116,000 (about 5,610 ounces) through 

1916 (Bastin and Hill, 1917, p. 329). 

Apparently the district was abandoned for many 

years after the oxidized ore had been removed. The 
94 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

increased price of gold caused a brief revival from 

1935 to 1941, during which time the upper enriched 

part of the sulfide zone was mined (Lovering and 

Goddard, 1950, p. 164). The district was largely 

idle from 1943 through 1959. Total gold production 

was at least 23,000 ounces through 1959. 

The country rock of the Alice district consists 

mainly of schist of the Idaho Springs Formation 

which is interfingered with granite gneiss and 

Boulder Creek Granite, all of Precambrian age. 

A stock of quartz monzonite porphyry of Tertiary 

age intrudes the Precambrian rocks. The Alice 

mine ore body is a gold-bearing pyritic stockwork 

in the quartz monzonite porphyry; other mines in 

the district are in quartz-pyrite veins in the Precambrian rocks. The deposits were oxidized near 

the surface and contained 1 to 2¥2 ounces of gold 

per._ ton. A zone of supergene sulfide enrichment, 

containing 0.20 ounce of gold per ton, was found 

beneath the oxidized zone. The primary sulfide zone, 

beneath the supergene zone, contains only 0.03 

ounce of gold per ton and is of too low grade to 

mine. Quartz and pyrite, some chalcopyrite, a little 

arsenopyrite, and local bismuth sulfide are the constituents of the primary ore. Sooty chalcocite and 

bornite are locally abundant in the supergene zone 

(Lovering and Goddard, 1950, p .. 164-165; Bastin 

and Hill, 1917, p. 323-330). 

ARGENTINE DISTRICT 

The Argentine district, located at the heads of 

Leavenworth and Stevens Creeks in southwestern 

Clear Creek County, is 6 to 8 miles southwest of 

Georgetown and Silver Plume, just east of the 

Continental Divide. The mineralized area is on 

Kelso and McClellan Mountains. Lovering and Goddard (1950, p. 135) also included in the district an 

area in Summit County at the head of Peru Creek 

on the west side of the Continental Divide, but this 

area has produced insufficient gold to be considered 

in this report. 

The early wave of frenzied gold prospectors overlooked the potential wealth of silver in Colorado ; 

consequently, silver lodes lay unnoticed until 1864 

when the Belmont silver lode in the Argentine district was discovered. A rush to the area ensued, 

resulting in additional discoveries in the Georgetown-Silver Plume district and in the Montezuma 

district in Summit County to the west. The Belmont and Baker mines were developed, slowly at 

first, but after 1869 they showed enough· promise 

to attract numerous prospectors to the district. The 

district flourished during the 1870's, but activity 

declined and became intermittent thereafter (Lovering, 1935, p. 66-67, 69, 73). 

Production records for the Argentine district are 

fragmentary. According to incomplete mine production figures listed by Lovering (1935, p. 68-116), 

the district had a minimum gold output through 

1928 of 21,990 ounces. From 1932 through 1957 

the district had a recorded production of 3,373 

ounces of go!d, or a total minimum of 25,400 

ounces, all of which was a byproduct of silver ores. 

The Argentine district is underlain by schist and 

gneiss of the Idaho Springs Formation into which 

were intruded masses of Silver Plume Granite, of 

Precambrian age. Dikes and plugs of Tertiary 

quartz monzonite porphyry and rhyolite and dacite 

porphyry cut the Precambrian rocks. The ore 

bodies are in veins that trend north-northeast and 

contain galena, pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, silver sulfantimonides, and gold (Lovering and Goddard, 1950, p. 135-136). Quartz, carbonates, and 

locally occurring fluorite are the most common 

gangue minerals. 

EMPIRE DISTRICT 

The Empire district is in north-central Clear 

Creek County about 9 miles west of Idaho Springs 

and 4 to 5 miles south-southwest of the Alice district. It includes an area of about 8 square miles, 

but the main productive veins are about 1¥2 miles 

north of Empire. 

Oxidized and disintegrated gold-bearing quartz 

veins were discovered in the district in 1860 by 

prospectors from the Central City district (Spurr 

and others, 1908, p. 172-173). The disintegrated 

material could be easily sluiced and treated the 

same way as placer gravel and these operations 

proved very profitable. The oxidized material extended to a depth of about 40 feet and there gave 

way to sulfide ore which carried some free gold. 

Amalgamation of the sulfide ore presented difficulties, and after 1875 activity declined, although 

sporadic activity continued to 1924 (Henderson, 

1926, p. 31). The district gained prominence again 

in 1934 when a group of veins north-northwest of 

Empire was developed in the Minnesota mine. Production increased from 272 ounces in 1932 to 16,693 

ounces in 1940. The mines closed during World 

War II, and there was only minor sporadic production from 1945 through 1957. Total minimum gold 

production of the district was 165,000 ounces, 

roughly half of which came from the Minnesota 

mine from 1934 through 1943. 

The following summary of the geology and ore 

deposits of the district was taken from Spurr, 
COLORADO 95 

Garrey, and Ball (1908, p. 383-386) and from 

Lovering and Goddard (1950, p. 156-161). 

The country rock of the Empire district consists 

chiefly of Precambrian rocks intruded by stocks 

and dikes of early Tertiary age. The Precambrian 

rocks include schist of the Idaho Springs Formation, hornblende gneiss, granite gneiss, and both 

the Boulder Creek and Silver Plume Granites. The 

Boulder Creek Granite occupies the greater part of 

the area. The Tertiary stocks are quartz monzonite, 

and the dikes range in composition from bostonite 

to alaskite. 

The ore deposits of the district are in pyritic 

quartz veins that are chiefly in the Boulder Creek 

Granite near the contact of the granite with a 

quartz monzonite stock. The chief metal produced 

is gold but in some veins copper also is of value. 

Few veins have been traced for more than 1,000 

feet along the surface or to depths greater than 

500 feet. The chief minerals are pyrite, chalcopyrite, 

and quartz, although small amounts of sphalerite 

and galena are found in some veins. The gold seems 

to be associated with the chalcopyrite. The ore 

ranges from about 0.2 to 0.4 ounce of gold per ton, 

and silver ranges from a few ounces to 20 ounces 

per ton. 

FREEJ.AND-J,AMARTINJ<: DISTRICT 

The Freeland-Lamartine (Trail) district includes 

about 4 square miles of the Colorado mineral belt 

and is about 3 miles west of Idaho Springs in central Clear Creek County. 

Soon after the discovery of gold placers near the 

mouth of Chicago Creek in 1859 (Spurr and others, 

1908, p. 311), the search for gold spread to the 

area along Trail Creek, which lies north of Chicago 

Creek. The first veins were discovered in 1861, but 

these were not developed until 1868, after the successful smelter operation at Blackhawk. In 1870 

railroad facilities became available to the region, 

and mining activity was stimulated still further. 

From about 1910 through 1933, mining in the district was intermittent and generally on the decline 

(Harrison and Wells, 1956, p. 36), but it was revived when the price of gold was increased in 1934. 

The mines in the district were relatively idle from 

1944 through 1959. 

Almost all production has come from lode deposits in the Lamartine and Freeland mines. Harrison and Wells (1956, p. 74) estimated that from 

1868 to 1905 ore valued at about $5 million was 

produced, and the output from 1905 to 1953 was 

valued at $13 million in gold, silver, copper, lead, 

and zinc. Total gold production through 1959 was 

about 220,000 ounces, about 100,000 of which was 

mined from the Lamartine and Freeland mines 

between 1905 and 1953 (Harrison and Wells, 1956, 

p. 74). .. 

The country rock in the district consists of the 

Idaho Springs Formation, which is composed of 

schist and gneiss of sedimentary origin and is intruded by quartz diorite, granite, and pegmatites, 

all of Precambrian age. During Tertiary time the 

Precambrian rocks were intruded by dikes and 

plugs of porphyries that range in composition from 

quartz monzonite and bostonite to alaskite. The 

structure is complex and involves two periods of 

Precambrian folding and Tertiary arching, fracturing, and faulting (Harrison and Wells, 1956, 

p. 37-67). 

The ore deposits of the district are Tertiary 

mesothermal fissure veins deposited in fractures 

near porphyritic intrusive rocks. Two principal 

varieties of veins are recognized-pyrite-gold and 

galena-sphalerite. Locally, as observed in the Lamartine tunnel, a transition zone between the two types 

contains composite ore. The primary minerals of 

the pyrite-gold veins are pyrite (partly auriferous), 

chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite-tennantite, and minor galena and sphalerite in a gangue of quartz and carbonate. The galena-sphalerite veins contain galena 

(partly argentiferous), sphalerite, and pyrite, with 

subordinate amounts of chalcopyrite and tetrahedrite-tennantite, and quartz-carbonate gangue. 

Native gold is present in both types (Harrison and 

Wells, 1956, p. 74, 75). 

GEORGETOWN-SILVER PLUME DISTRICT 

The Georgetown-Silver Plume (Griffith) district 

consists of about 25 square miles centered around 

the towns of Georgetown and Silver Plume, in 

western Clear Creek County. 

Precious metal lodes were first discovered near 

Georgetown in 1859, soon after the placer discoveries along Chicago Creek near Idaho Springs. In 

1864 when rich silver ores were found in the Argentine district, southwest of Silver Plume, many 

prospectors were attracted to the region and uncovered significant silver deposits in the Georgetown area. With the successful introduction of 

smelting at Blackhawk, the sulfide veins were mined 

after the surface ores were exhausted. As the mines 

reached greater depths, silver and lead were the 

main commodities, whereas the surface ores were 

richer in gold. By 1880, the district was the principal silver producer in Clear Creek County. This 

trend was maintained, reaching a peak in 1894, 

after which a gradual decline began (Spurr and 
96 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

others, 1908, p. 173-175). Zinc became a major 

component of the metal output after 1903, especially during World Wars I and II. Between the 

two wars the base-metal and silver mines were 

mostly idle, and most of the sporadic activity was. 

from gold mines. The raise in the price of gold in 

1934 failed to effect any marked increase in gold 

production. From the end of World War II through 

1959 the lead-silver mines yielded a few ounces of 

gold annually. 

The total gold output of the district through 1959 

was about 145,000 ounces, most of which was 

mined before 1900. 

Bedrock in the Georgetown-Silver Plume district 

is generally similar to that in the other mining districts in Clear Creek County. Contorted schist of 

the Idaho Springs Formation is cut by several types 

of Precambrian igneous rocks, including dikes and 

sheets of hornblende gneiss, bodies of gneissic 

quartz monzonite resembling Boulder Creek Granite, and large masses of Silver Plume Granite which 

makes up about half the bedrock in the district. 

Stocks and dikes of Tertiary dacite, quartz monzonite porphyry, alaskite porphyry, and granite 

porphyry were intruded into the Precambrian 

rocks (Lovering and Goddard, 1950, p. 138-140). 

The ore deposits of the district are of two mineralogical types: silver-lead-zinc veins and pyritic 

gold veins. The rich silver-bearing veins are found 

chiefly in the very productive area just north of 

Silver Plume, but ·some are also found south and 

northeast of Georgetown. The gold-bearing veins 

lie in a narrow belt between the two silver belts. 

North of Silver Plume, the veins carry silver, lead, 

and zinc, and almost no gold, whereas the goldbearing veins contain some silver and locally their 

silver content is higher than gold. The most abundant minerals of the silver-lead-zinc ores are galena, 

sphalerite, and pyrite. These ores commonly contain 

less than 0.10 ounce of gold per ton. The chief 

gangue minerals are quartz and brown carbonates. 

The principal minerals in the pyritic gold deposits 

are pyrite, chalcopyrite, gold, small amounts of 

silver minerals, and quartz gangue. Small amounts 

of galena and sphalerite are in most of these veins, 

but where galena is more abundant the veins contain larger amounts of gold and silver. Locally 

hessite and argentite have been found, and in one 

mine platinum and iridium were noted (Lovering 

and Goddard, 1950, p. 141-142). 

IDAHO SPRINGS DISTRICT 

An unbroken succession of gold deposits extends 

from Idaho Springs in Clear Creek County to Central City and Blackhawk in Gilpin County. The 

deposits form a geologic entity, separated into the 

Idaho Springs and Central City districts only by 

the county line. The area has been the largest 

source of gold in both counties and includes the 

Chicago, Ute, and Cascade Creek camps. 

Gold placers, which were found in early 1859 

along Chicago Creek near Idaho Springs, attracted 

many prospectors who combed the nearby gulches 

and surrounding mountains and who soon uncovered additional placers in Nevada and Illinois 

gulches and Missouri Flats, as well as rich gold 

quartz veins, notable among which were the Gregory, Russell, Bates, Bobtail, and Mammoth lodes 

(Henderson, 1926, p. 27, 28). After the oxidized 

ores were depleted, the mines were shut down. In 

1868 the Blackhawk smelter began treating the 

sulfide ores; the district was rejuvenated and experienced a long period of intense activity, exemplified by the 4:Y2-mile-long Argo tunnel, which was 

started in 1904. By 1918 a marked decline was evident, and this trend continued until 1932. The 

period 1932-42 was one of high production, and it 

was followed by a period of steady decline after 

World War II. 

The total minimum gold production of that part 

of the di~trict in Clear Creek County was about 

1,805,000 ounces (R. H. Moench, written commun., 

1963). The production of the Central City part of 

the district, in Gilpin County, is given in the Gilpin 

County section of this report (p. 100). 

The area is underlain by interlayered metamorphic gneiss, migmatite, and roughly concordant 

sheets of granodiorite similar to Boulder Creek 

Granite and granite similar to Silver Plume Granite (Moench and others, 1962, p. 37-38), all of 

Precambrian age. These Precambrian rocks are 

intruded by a variety of Tertiary plutons and dikes 

of porphyritic igneous rocks of the granodiorite, 

quartz monzonite, bostonite, and hornblende granodiorite groups (Wells, 1960, p. 232). 

Two episodes of Precambrian deformation are 

recognized: a plastic deformation that recrystallized the rock minerals and produced large open 

folds whose axes trend north-northeast, and a 

younger cataclastic deformation that was characterized by asymmetrical folds whose axes trend 

N. 55° E., weak recrystallization of minerals, and 

intense granulation. The major structures near 

Central City are the Central City anticline and 

smaller ~subparallel folds formed in the older period 

(Moench and others, 1962, p. 39-54). The younger 

folding is recognized only near Idaho Springs as 

part of a belt of shearing called the Idaho Springs-
COLORADO 97 

Ralston Buttes cataclastic zone (Tweto and Sims, 

1960, p. B8). Large northwest-trending faults of 

Precambrian ancestry, displaying Laramide movement, and three sets of small faults of Laramide 

age also cut the Precambrian rocks. 

Most of the ore deposits are mesothermal sulfide 

veins in fault fissures. Veins are grouped according 

to their mineral assemblages into (1) pyrite-quartz 

veins, (2) pyritic copper veins containing quartz, 

pyrite, chalcopyrite, tennantite, and minor galena 

and sphalerite, (3) pyritic lead-zinc veins containing quartz, pyrite, galena, sphalerite and subordinate chalcopyrite and tennantite, and ( 4) lead-zinc 

veins containing quartz, carbonates, galena, sphalerite, and small amounts of chalcopyrite, tennantite, and pyrite (Sims, 1956, p. 743-744; R. H. 

Moench, written commun., 1963). All four types 

contain gold, but the most important mines are in 

the pyritic lead-zinc veins. Gold occurs partly as 

discrete fine particles and is partly tied up in the 

sulfide minerals. A few gold telluride veins are 

found in the southeast part of the Central City district in Gilpin County. 

The veins are arranged in a concentric pattern of 

zones with pyrite and pyritic copper veins occupying an elliptical central area which is 2 to 3 miles 

wide and extends from Blackhawk south to the 

Idaho Springs district. This is surrounded by successive zones containing pyritic lead-zinc veins and 

galena-sphalerite veins -(Sims, 1956, p. 744-745; 

R. H. Moench, written commun., 1963). 

About a mile southwest of Central City is the 

well-known "stockwork" named "The Patch"-a 

pipe or chimney of brecciated country rock cemented by ore minerals. This mineralized body 

extends from the surface to a depth of 1,600 feet 

where it is intersected by the Argo tunnel. At this 

depth the pipe has not decreased in size, but the 

grade of ore is diminished. The ore is of two types : 

one is characterized by pyrite, chalcopyrite, quartz, 

and a little tetrahedrite; and the other, by galena, 

sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and subordinate pyrite 

(Bastin and Hill, 1917, p. 96-97). 

CUSTER COUNTY 

Custer County lies in south-central Colorado, west 

of Pueblo. Its western boundary is formed by the 

crest of the Sangre de Cristo Range, and its central 

and eastern parts include segments of the Wet 

Mountain Valley and the Wet Mountains. 

Custer County through 1959 produced about 

107,300 ounces of gold and ranks 17th in gold production in Colorado. It has also produced silver and 

lead and small amounts of copper and zinc. Nearly 

all the gold has been derived from silver-gold lodes 

and some is a byproduct of lead-silver ore. 

The first significant ore discovery was in 1872, 

when rich silver-lead ore was found in the Rosita 

Hills district, though ore specimens had been found 

earlier in the county by herdsmen searching for 

stray cattle (Emmons, 1896, p. 412-416). Prospectors flocked to the Rosita Hills; in 187 4 silver-copper 

ore was found in the Humboldt-Pocahontas vein, 

and in 1877 the rich gold ore of the Bassick mine 

was discovered. In 1878, important silver discoveries were made in the Silver Cliff area, a few miles 

northwest of Rosita Hills. Great excitement was 

generated by the ore discoveries in Custer County, 

and for a few years the properties were developed 

with much vigor, but the boom was short lived. For 

a variety of reasons-transportation problems, over,. 

optimism, unsuccessful mining methods, and reduction techniques-many of the ventures failed, and 

by 1892, production for the county was valued at 

only a few thousand dollars (Emmons, 1896, p. 412-

420). Some of the mines were reactivated during 

World War I and at brief intervals thereafter. For 

the most part, the mineral wealth of Custer County 

was earned before 1900. Gold production of the 

county through 1959 was about 84,700 ounces, all 

of which is credited to the Rosita Hills district. 

ROSITA HILLS DISTRICT 

The Rosita Hills district, in the low western foothills of the Wet Mountains about 7 miles southeast 

of Westcliffe, has produced gold, silver, lead, copper, and a small amount of zinc. 

The district was most active during 1877-90. 

Thereafter the mines were operated only sporadically; from 1932 through 1959 they were virtually 

dormant. The minimum total gold production 

through 1959 was about 84,660 ounces, most ·of 

which came from the Bassick mine. 

The rocks of the Rosita Hills district consist of 

tuffs, breccias, agglomerates, and flows of andesite, 

rhyolite, and trachyte, all of Tertiary age, which 

overlie Precambrian gneiss, schist, and granite. The 

Bassick mine is in an elliptical volcanic pipe about 

1,200 feet wide and 2,000 feet long that is enclosed 

in gneiss. The pipe is composed of andesitic agglomerate in which are embedded fragments and boulders 

of granite and gneiss. A dike of limburgite cuts the 

agglomerate. 

Most of the smaller ore bodies are in veins in the 

volcanic rocks ; however, the Bas sick ore body is a 

body of mineralized agglomerate about 30 feet wide, 
98 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

100 feet long, and at least 1,500 feet deep. The ore 

consists of thin concentric shells of minerals deposited on boulders. The minerals noted were sphalerite, galena, jamesonite, tetrahedrite, smithsonite, 

calamine, native gold, quartz, chalcopyrite, and 

gold-silver tellurides (Cross, 1896, p. 338-344; Emmons, 1896, p. 430-434). 

DOLORES COUNTY 

Dolores County, in southwestern Colorado, con~ 

tains deposits of silver, lead, and zinc in the mountainous eastern part, which is a dissected laccolithic 

dome. The western part of the county is within the 

Colorado Plateaus. A relatively unimportant gold 

mining area, Dolores County has had a total gold 

production through 1959 of about 104,500 ounces; 

almost all production has been a byproduct of silver, lead, and zinc deposits of the Rico district. 

RICO DISTRICT 

The Rico (Pioneer) district lies near the southwest end of the Colorado mineral belt (Fischer and 

others, 1946) near the headwaters of the Dolores 

River. 

Prospectors first came into the region in 1861 

(Ransome, 1901a, p. 240-242), but the first claims 

were not located until 1869. In 1872 the first smelting furnace was erected and produced three bars of 

bullion. The early results were not encouraging, 

however, and the area was abandoned. Prospectors 

came into the region again in 1877 and, in the 

spring of 1879, discovered rich oxidized silver ore 

on Nigger Baby Hill and in the Chestnut vein on 

Newman Hill. Prospectors from neighboring camps 

rushed to the region, and the town of Rico was 

founded. Other major discoveries were made soon 

afterward, smelters and mills were built, and in 

1880 the Rio Grande Southern Railroad reached 

Rico. The rich Enterprise blanket deposit was found 

in 1887, which insured some permanence to the 

district (Ransome, 1901a, p. 240-242). Mining was 

almost continuous through 1959 but it fluctuated 

considerably. Metal production was relatively high 

during the periods 1889-94, 1924-29, and during 

World War II. Before 1904 silver was of greatest 

value in the ore (Ransome, in Cross and Ransome, 

1905, p. 14), but after 1904 lead and zinc were· the 

important products. Most of the gold, which was 

a byproduct, was produced before 1910, especially 

between 1889 and 1894 (Henderson, 1926, p. 117). 

After 1910, gold production declined at an irregular 

rate, and for most years through 1959 it was below 

500 ounces. 

The total gold production of the Rico district is 

unknown, but of the 104,000 ounces credited to 

Dolores County through 1959, it seems reasonable 

to credit the Rico district with about 100,000 ounces. 

The Rico district is in the central part of a lacco~ 

lithic dome comprising the Rico Mountains in the 

southeast corner of Dolores County. In the central 

part of the uplift, Precambrian quartzite and schist 

are exposed. These are flanked on all sides by sedimentary rocks of Cambrian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, Permian ( ? ) , Triassic, and J urassic ages. All the rocks are intruded by sheets 

and sills of hornblende monzonite porphyry and by 

a stock of quartz monzonite of Tertiary ( ?) age. The 

central part of the dome is complexly faulted 

(Cross and Ransome, 1905, p. 2-11). 

Much of the ore mined in the district has come 

from mineralized solution breccia in gypsum beds 

of the Hermosa Formation of Pennsylvanian age. 

These are known as blanket deposits. Other ore deposits are replacement Qodies in Devonian and Pennsylvanian limestone beds and fissure veins. The age 

of the mineralization is thought to be late Tertiary 

(Cross and Ransome, 1905, p. 14-19). 

The ore is of two general types: (1) pyritic ore, 

most of which is of too low grade to be mined, and 

(2) silver-bearing galena ore, in which galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, argentite, proustite, 

polybasite, and silver-bearing tetrahedrite are the 

characteristic minerals. Much of this silver ore contains small amounts of gold that is associated with 

sphalerite and chalcopyrite and locally is associated 

with tellurium and bismuth (Cross and Ransome, 

1905, p. 14-15). 

EAGLE COUNTY 

Eagle County, in mountainous west-central Colorado, produced about 359,900 ounces of gold through 

1959. 

Although some prospecting was done in Eagle 

County in the 1860's it was not until 1879, after the 

great rush in 1877-78 to the Leadville district about 

20 miles to the south (Henderson, 1926, p. 41), that 

rich oxidized silver-lead carbonate ore was discovered on Battle Mountain in the Gilman district. Many 

claims were located that year, and in 1880 silver 

valued at $50,000 was produced (Henderson, 1926, 

p. 47). In the early 1880's prospectors swarmed over 

the county and opened small silver and gold mines 

here and there, but most of these early camps were 

short lived. Only the Gilman district became a major producer. More than 99 percent of the total 

metal output credited to Eagle County has come 

from this district. 
COLORADo 99 

GILMAN DISTRICT 

The Gilman (Battle Mountain, Red Cliff) district, 

in southeastern Eagle County on the northeast 

flank of the Sawatch Range, is between Gilman and 

Red Cliff, about 20 miles north of Leadville. Gold 

has been extracted from pyritic gold ores and as a 

byproduct of base-metal ores. 

The initial discovery in 1879 of silver-lead ore in 

limestone was followed in 1884 by finds of gold ore 

in the underlying quartzite. The relative importance 

of the metals mined varied periodically in the history of the district. Before 1905 silver and gold 

were the major commodities, whereas lead and copper were of minor importance. From 1905 to 1930 

zinc was the principal product and from 1931 to 

1941 silver-copper ore containing considerable gold 

was mined. Zinc again regained importance from 

1942 through 1959. The total gold production of the 

district through 1959 was roughly 348,000 ounces. 

Precambrian granite, schist, and gneissic diorite 

are exposed in the bottom of Eagle Canyon and are 

overlain by thin lower Paleozoic formations that 

include the Sawatch Quartzite of Cambrian age, the 

Harding Sandstone of Ordovician age, the Chaffee 

Formation of Devonian age, and the Leadville Limestone of Mississippian age. Overlying these units is 

a thick section of Pennsylvanian and Permian ( ?) 

sedimentary rocks. A sill of Cretac€ous or Tertiary 

quartz latite appears a few feet above the Leadville 

Limestone throughout the district. The sedimentary 

rocks dip about 12° NE. and are cut by beddingplane faults and a few weak high-angle faults (Ogden Tweto and T. S. Lovering, in Vanderwilt and 

others, 1947, p. 379-381). 

Ore bodies occur in (1) veins in Precambrian 

rocks and in the Sawatch Quartzite and (2) in replacement deposits in quartzite and limestone of 

Devonian and Mississippian age. Most production 

has come from replacement bodies in the Leadville 

Limestone and the Dyer Dolomite Member of the 

Chaffee Formation. The veins in the Precambrian 

rocks contain pyritic gold and complex sulfide ores 

in which sphalerite, chalcopyrite, galena, and pyrite 

are the chief minerals. The pyrite-gold veins are 

almost entirely of pyrite with a little gold. Most of 

the veins terminate or become thin at the base of the 

Sawatch Quartzite, but those that extend in.to the 

quartzite contain scattered pockets of gold-silver tellurides, chief among which are petzite and hessite. 

A large part of the early output from the Gilman 

district came from oxidized manto or bedding-vein 

deposits in a breccia zone in the Sawatch Quartzite, 

about 180 feet above the base. Two distinct stages 

of mineralization are recognized in these deposits. 

The first deposited largely pyrite, a very little chalcopyrite, and inconsequential amounts of gold and 

silver. During the second stage, manganosiderite, 

pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite, and pyrite 

were deposited. Gold and silver are chiefly associated 

with the chalcopyrite of the second stage. 

The replacement deposits in the limestones consist of chimneys of pyritic silver-copper ore and 

mantas of base-metal sulfide ores. The chimneys 

are downward-tapering pipes that extend from the 

ends of manto ore bodies near the top of the Leadville Limestone downward into the Parting Quartzite Member of the Chaffee Formation. The chimneys 

are roughly circular or elliptical and are as much as 

300 feet in diameter at the top and taper downward. 

There is no physical break between the two types of 

ore bodies, but there is a pronounced mineralogic 

difference. The chimney ore, the chief source of the 

gold, consists of a core of pyrite containing minor 

quantities of other minerals which make them valuable for silver, copper, and gold. The chief copper 

mineral is chalcopyrite. Silver and gold are associated with chalcopyrite, galena, and with a group of 

late copper and silver minerals including tetrahedrite, freibergite, polybasite, stromeyerite, bournonite, and schapbachite. Late accessory minerals 

include manganosiderite, dolomite, barite, apatite, 

and quartz. The galena contains small inclusions of 

hessite and a little petzite, and the petzite contains 

minute blebs and veinlets of free gold. 

The manto ore bodies are valued mainly for zinc. 

The minerals of these deposits are sphalerite, pyrite, manganosiderite, minor galena, and accessory 

chalcopyrite, barite, dolomite, and quartz. Oxidized 

parts of these deposits contain considerable lead, silver, and gold. The mantas are 50 to 300 feet wide, 

5 to 150 feet thick, and as much as 4,000 feet long. 

All are in the Leadville Limestone (Ogden Tweto 

and T. S. Lovering, in Vanderwilt and others, 1947, 

p. 381-385). 

GILPIN COUNTY 

Gilpin County, on the east slope of the Front 

Range in north-central Colorado about 30 miles west 

of Denver, ranks second among the counties of Colorado in gold production. Through 1959 it produced, 

in round numbers, 4,255,000 ounces of gold valued 

at $89,785,000. Of this production, 4,207,000 ounces 

was lode gold and 47,900 ounces was placer gold. 

Some of the first significant gold discoveries in 

Colorado were in Gilpin County. In May 1859, John 

H. Gregory found a rich and easily worked, oxidized, 

gold-bearing lode at the Gregory diggings near 
100 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

Blackhawk. Early in June 1859, W. Green Russell 

discovered gold placers and decomposed outcrops of 

lodes in what is now called Russell Gulch. By July 1, 

1859, about 100 sluices were at work in the vicinity 

of Gregory's discovery, and toward the end of September about 890 men were at work in Russell 

Gulch. Some lodes averaged $100 a day for months 

at a time and yields as large as $400 for a day's 

work were not uncommon. 

In June 1859 the miners at the Gregory diggings 

met and adopted resolutions defining the boundaries 

of the district (now known as the Central City district) and the conditions under which claims could 

be taken and held. In July a provisional local government was formed at the Gregory diggings. 

All the veins of the region were oxidized and 

gold bearing at the surface, and the decomposed 

ores could be easily and cheaply mined and treated 

in sluices and crude stamp mills. The underlying 

sulfide ores, which commonly contained silver and 

base metals as well as gold, were not amenable to 

such simple treatment, and many mines were closed 

when the oxidized ore gave way to sulfide ores at 

depths of 40 to 100 feet. Stamp mills saved only 

about one-fourth of the gold and wasted all the 

other metals in the sulfide ores (Henderson, 1926, 

p. 30). 

In 1868, the Hill matting smelter at Blackhawk 

opened and the first matte was shipped that same 

year. The successful smelting of ores stimulated the 

mining industry and made possible· a long period of 

development and production from lodes. In 1872, 

additional impetus was given to miHing in Gilpin 

County when the Colorado Central (later the Colorado and Southern) Railway was completed from 

Denver to Blackhawk. 

Records show that Gilpin County had a steady 

output of gold from 1859 through 1908, a peak production valued at $3,237,346 being recorded in 1871 

(Henderson, 1926, p. 122). From 1909, output gradually declined and in 1920 it dropped below $100,000 

for the first time since gold was discovered in the 

county. Production rose in the late 1920's and during the depression in the early 1930's, and after the 

price of gold was raised in 1934 there was a marked 

increase in output. Since 1944, mining in the county 

has been on a reduced and fluctuating scale. 

There are many small mining camps in the county 

but they are in general grouped into two districts 

referred to as the Northern Gilpin district and the 

Central City district. 

CENTRAL CITY DISTRICT 

The Central City district is along the southern 

border of Gilpin County in the vicinity of the towns 

of Central City and Blackhawk. This district is the 

northern segment of the rich chain of ore deposits 

between Central City and -Idaho Springs. 

Both the mining history and geological setting of 

Idaho Springs and Central City are so entwined that 

they are considered an entity and are discussed together in the Clear Creek County section of this 

report ( p. 96) . 

The production of the Central City district rightfully belongs under the Gilpin County heading. The 

district is credited with 95 to 99 percent of the 

$84,114,389 worth of gold mined in the county 

through 1923 (P. K. Sims, oral commun., 1959). 

Total gold production through 1959 was about 

4,200,000 ounces; all but about 30,000 ounces was 

from lode mines. 

NORTHERN GILPIN DISTRICT 

The Northern Gilpin district lies north of North 

Clear Creek in the central part of the county and 

extends north to the Boulder County line. The most 

important mines are just south of Apex and in the 

vicinity of Gilpin. 

Gold was first discovered in the district in June 

1859 in Gamble Gulch in the Perigo area, and lodes 

in both the_])irt. and Perigo mines were discovered 

in 1860 (Bastin and Hill, 1917, p. 68, 197-198). Some 

of the ore was very rich near the surface, and within 

a short time 10 or 12 stamp mills were operating 

(Henderson, 1926, p. 31). However, the rich and 

easily worked ore was soon exhausted and in 1867 

only four or five companies were still operating in 

the district. After 1868 the camp was almost deserted until 1879 when the Perigo mine again became active and continued activity at least until 

1888. The district was revived briefly during the 

1930's, but from 1943 through 1959 very little activity was reported. 

There was some placer mining near Rollinsville 

in 1897 (Henderson, 1926, p. 31). Many of the 

gulches in the district have placer ground, but production was small until 1937-39, when dredging 

operations along South Boulder Creek recovered 

7, 724 ounces of gold. 

Though the early production is unknown, it was 

probably small, and the total amount of gold mined 

in the district through 1959 was probably 35,000 

ounces. 

The bedrock of the district is a complex of Precambrian rocks, comprising schist of the Idaho 

Springs Formation and quartz monzonite gneiss, 

cut by Boulder Creek Granite and by quartz diorite. 

The Precambrian rocks are intruded by irregular 
COLORADO 101 

stocks and dikes of quartz monzonite porphyry and County, 1 to 4 miles north and northeast of Pitkin. 

Much of the gold mined in this district was a byproduct of lead-silver ores. 

dikes of bostonite porphyry of Tertiary age. 

The ore deposits are pyritic gold veins in fractures, most of which trend northeast; a few strike 

west or northwest. The primary ores are in general 

low grade and contain less than half an ounce of 

gold and 1 ounce or less of silver to the ton, but 

some veins have higher grade ore in the supergeneenriched upper parts. Many of the deposits are discontinuous lodes along shear zones that carry pyrite disseminated through several feet of sheared 

rock; however, fissure fillings are more abundant. 

Besides pyrite the ore contains variable amounts of 

chalcopyrite and locally, some galena and sphalerite. 

Quartz is the common gangue mineral in the veins 

(Lovering and Goddard, 1950, p. 193-194). 

GUNNISON COUNTY 

Gunnison County, in west-central Colorado west 

of the Continental Divide, produced about 130,000 

ounces of gold through 1959. Although the first ore 

discoveries were placer deposits, most of the gold 

produced in the county has been a byproduct of 

silver-lead ore. 

Ore was first discovered in 1861 when placer gold 

was discovered simultaneously along Taylor River 

in the Tincup district and in Washington Gulch in 

the northern part of Gunnison County (Henderson, 

1926, p. 44, 124). By 1867 placer deposits had been 

discovered along other gulches. Lode deposits also 

were known, but little work was done on them until 

1872 when silver-bearing rock was discovered in the 

Elk Mountains. In 1878 discoveries were made in 

the Gold Brick-Quartz Creek district (Henderson, 

1926, p. 125), and the years 1879 and 1880 saw the 

first rush of miners to southeastern Gunnison 

County. Several towns, including Ohio City and 

Pitkin, were founded between 1878 and 1882. In the 

fall of 1881 the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad 

was completed to Gunnison and later to Crested 

Butte. During the next .4 to 5 years, ore was discovered over a wide area, and several smelters and 

concentrating mills were built. The most productive 

years for gold mining were between 1908 and ·1913. 

The period 1934 through 1942 was one of increased 

activity, but from 1943 through 1959 most of the 

mines were closed. 

The Gold Brick-Quartz Creek district has been 

the . leading gold producer of the county, and the 

Tincup district is the only other district that has 

yielded more than 10,000 ounces. 

GOLD BRICK.QUARTZ CREEK DISTRICT 

The Gold Brick-Quartz Greek district, which includes Box Canyon, is in southeast Gunnison 

After the discovery in 1879 of a boulder of rich 

silver ore at the mouth of Gold Creek, prospectors 

flocked to the area and staked many claims in 1879 

and 1880. The town of Ohio City was founded in 

1881, and the following year the Denver, South 

Park, and Pacific Railroad reached the new town. 

Though few of the early claims were successful, 

lucrative deposits of lead and silver were found 

later, especially in the 1880's and early 1890's. By 

1893 most of the shallow ore bodies were worked 

out and the price of silver fell at this time; consequently, there was little incentive to keep the mines 

open (Crawford and Worcester, 1916', p. 12-13). 

The district remained virtually deserted until 1934 

when the increased price of gold stimulated activity, 

resulting in considerable gold production from 1934 

through 1942. From 1943 through 1959 the district 

was again dormant. 

Early records, though incomplete (Crawford and 

Worcester, 1916, p. 92-111), indicate that the district produced at least 80,000 ounces of gold through 

1959. • The following summary of the geology and ore 

deposits of the district has been compiled from the 

reports by Crawford and Worcester (1916) and 

Dings and Robinson (1957). 

The bedrock of the Gold Brick-Quartz Creek district consists of gneiss, schist, and granite of Precambrian age, sedimentary rocks of Paleozoic age, 

and intrusive rocks of Tertiary age. The Paleozoic 

rocks range in age from Cambrian to Pennsylvanian. The Tertiary rocks are chiefly intrusive sheets 

and dikes and range from rhyolite to andesite and 

diorite porphyry (Crawford and Worcester, 1916, 

p. 22-68). 

The ore deposits are chiefly fissure veins in the 

Precambrian rocks. Replacement deposits occur in 

some of the Paleozoic limestone and dolomite, but 

very little is known about them (Dings and Robinson, 1957, p. 63) and the amount of gold derived 

from them probably has been very small. The greatest values in the veins have been in silver, gold, and 

lead, and the lesser values, in copper and zinc. A 

few veins contain molybdenum and tungsten. Gold 

and silver vary in relative abundance. The bulk of 

the ore produced was limonitic quartz, and only a 

few mines produced sulfide ore; most mines have 

not reached a depth below the zone of at least partial oxidation, which extends to a depth of about 

1,300 feet. Sulfide minerals found include galena, 

sphalerite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, tetra-
102 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

hedrite, argentite, and ruby silver in a gangue of 

quartz and local barite. Huebnerite and molybdenite 

are found in some veins (Crawford and Worcester, 

1916, p. 82-83; Dings and Robinson, 1957, p. 62-63). 

TINCUP DISTRICT 

In the Tincup district in northeastern Gunnison 

County, about 25 miles northeast of Gunnison, gold 

has been obtained mainly as a byproduct of silverlead ores, although a considerable amount has come 

from placers. Most of the mines are at the head of 

Willow Creek on the southeast side of Taylor Park. 

One of the first reported gold discoveries in the 

county was in 1861 when a man named Taylor, 

searching for strayed horses, found good color in 

what became known as Tincup Gulch. During the 

next 18 years there was sporadic placer mining in 

Tincup Gulch. In 1879 the lode source of the placer 

gold was found, and soon miners streamed into the 

area. The town of Tincup had a population of nearly 

4,000 by the end of 1880. The boom lasted until the 

price of silver dropped in 1893. A second period of 

prosperity began in 1904, which attracted about 

2,000 people to the district. This was short lived, 

and by 1912 the mines were again inactive (Goddard, 1936, p. 552-554). From 1912 through 1959 

the district was virtually idle; even the increased 

price of gold in 1934 did not renew activity. 

Total gold production of the district through 

1959 was about 16,400 ounces, most of which was 

produced before 1932. 

The rocks exposed in the Tincup district are of 

three ages: schist and granite gneiss of Precambrian age, sedimentary rocks about 1,000 feet thick 

of Paleozoic age, and intrusive rocks of Tertiary 

age. The Paleozoic rocks are chiefly limestone, with 

some shale and quartzite, and range in age from 

Cambrian to Pennsylvanian. The Tertiary rocks consist of quartz monzonite porphyry and hornblende 

diorite porphyry which form dikes, sills, and a stock. 

The rocks were folded into a north-trending monocline that dips to the east. Along the east side of 

the district, the sedimentary rocks are in contact 

with the Precambrian schist along the Tincup thrust 

fault that trends about N. 25° W. Another strong 

thrust of the same trend appears in the southwest 

part of the district. Numerous small high-angle 

faults, younger than the thrusts, cut the rocks 

(Goddard, 1936, p. 557-565). 

The most productive ore deposits have been silverlead-gold blanket deposits and silver-lead-gold veins. 

Of slight importance are molybdenum-tungsten 

veins and iron blanket deposits. The metals produced, in the order of their value, are silver, lead, 

gold, and small amounts of copper. The blanket deposits have been the most productive. These occur 

at the contacts between limestone and dolomite near 

intersections with steeply dipping faults or fractures. The chief primary ore minerals are silverbearing galena and pyrite and small amounts of 

chalcopyrite and sphalerite. The gold is probably 

associated with the pyrite. The chief gangue minerals are quartz and calcite. All the ore of the blanket deposits is at least partly oxidized, and much 

of the ore consists of cerussite and anglesite, usually associated with some galena, in a limonitic and 

siliceous gangue. Oxidation of the ore bodies extends 

to a depth of more than 500 feet. 

The vein deposits, which cut the Precambrian 

granite gneiss and the sedimentary rocks, range 

from 1 to 6 feet in width and from 600 to 1,000 

feet in length. The minerals and character of the 

ore are similar to those in the blanket deposits 

(Goddard, 1936, p. 565-569). 

HINSDALE COUNTY 

Hinsdale County lies in southwestern Colorado in 

the western San Juan Mountains. Lake City, the 

county seat, lies at the junction of Henson Creek 

and Lake Fork. The mines are concentrated along 

Henson Creek for a distance of about 10 miles west 

. of Lake City and for about 5 miles along Lake Fork 

south of Lake City. Silver and lead are the chief 

metals produced, but the county has also produced 

considerable gold and some copper and zinc. 

The first significant ore discovery in the county 

was made in 1871 when silver-lead veins, called the 

Ute and Ulay veins, were discovered along Henson 

Creek about 4 miles west of Lake City. News of 

mineral wealth attracted many prospectors to the 

region, but all the land of the San Juan region belonged to the Ute Indians, who resented encroachment on their domain by prospectors. In 187 4, to 

avoid open hostilities, a treaty was made with the 

Utes, and the San Juan region was opened to settlement (Irving and Bancroft, 1911, p. 12-14). In 

August 187 4, the rich Golden Fleece vein, about 4 

miles south of Lake City, was discovered, and prospectors flocked to the region and made numerous 

discoveries. As development and production increased, Lake City became a center of activity, and 

smelters and concentrating works were built. Although rapid progress was made in the late 1870's, 

the area lacked railroad transportation and was generally inaccessible. This situation brought on a decline in activity in the late 1880's which was aile-
COLORADO 103 

viated in 1889 by construction of a branch of the 

Denver and Rio Grande Railroad to Lake City. The 

period from 1891 to 1902, inclusive, was the most 

productive in the county (Henderson, 1926, p. 51; 

Irving and Bancroft, 1911, p. 15-16). 

Depletion of the higher grade oxidized and enriched ores decreased the annual output to $100,000 

or less by 1903. After 1903 the output fluctuated, 

but for most years it was worth less than $100,000. 

Flotation units were installed in several mills during the 1920's and in 1937, but renewed activity was 

brief. Hinsdale County produced an estimated 

70,243 ounces of gold ($1,451,921) during 1875-

1923 (Henderson, 1926, p. 128), and 1,123 ounces 

of gold was produced during 1924-59. A total of 

about 71,365 ounces was produced through 1959. 

Except for a relatively small amount of ore which 

is credited to several small outlying districts, the 

Hinsdale County production came entirely from the 

Lake City district in the northern part of the county 

(W. S. Burbank, in Vanderwilt and others, 1947, p. 

439). 

LAKE CITY DISTRICT 

The Lake City district, which includes Henson 

Creek, Galena, and Lake Fork, is in northern Hinsdale County along Lake Fork and Henson Creek a 

few miles west and south of Lake City. 

The district is on the margin of the Lake City 

caldera, an oval-shaped downfaulted block of volcanic rocks which· is bounded roughly by Henson 

Creek on the north and Lake Fork on the south. 

Precambrian rocks are exposed along the south and 

west sides of the caldera, but elsewhere the prevailing rock types are Tertiary volcanics. The Silverton 

Volcanic Series, consisting of rhyolite, andesite, and 

latite lavas, tuffs, and breccias, occupies much of 

the caldera and surrounding areas. Younger Tertiary rocks, including the Sunshine Peak Rhyolite, 

Hinsdale Formation, Fisher Latite-andesite, and 

Potosi Volcanic Series, cover higher parts of the 

area. Small bodies of intrusive rhyolite, latite, and 

quartz monzonite porphyry occur in the caldera and 

in the volcanic rocks within 4 or 5 miles from the 

margin of the caldera (W. S. Burbank, in Vanderwilt and others, 1947, p. 438). 

The ore deposits are in veins whose distribution 

is related to the structural weakness around the 

margin of the caldera. Three types of veins are 

recognized: ( 1) quartz-sphalerite-galena veins, rich 

in silver, (2) tetrahedrite-rhodochrosite veins, 

valued for silver and lead, and ( 3) the telluride 

veins, characterized by krennerite, sylvanite, and 

· petzite, and important for silver and gold (W. S. 

Burbank, in Vanderwilt and others, 1947, p. 440-

441). 

JEFFERSON COUNTY 

Jefferson County lies in north-central Colorado 

immediately west of Denver. The western two-thirds 

of the county is in the Front Range, and the northeastern third is in the Great Plains. Although placer 

gold was first discovered along Cherry Creek, east 

and southeast of Denver, the early prospectors 

worked along the streams west from there into the 

mountains, and in 1859 gold placers were discovered 

along Clear Creek near Golden in what is now 

Jefferson County (Henderson, 1926, p. 27, 129). No 

production was recorded from the county until 

1885. The county is credited with a production of 

$32,769 (1,585 ounces) in placer gold during 1885-

1905 and with $29,527 (1,428 ounces) in lode gold 

during 1895-1904 (Henderson, 1926, p. 130). No 

production was recorded for 1906-31, but a consistent, though small, annual production during 

1932-59 totaled 12,478 ounces of placer and 435 

ounces of lode gold. Total county gold production 

through 1959 was about 15,900 ounces. 

Lode gold in Jefferson County probably has been 

derived as a byproduct from several small copper 

deposits found in Precambrian rocks near Evergreen, notably in the Malachite mine. The deposits 

are in or very close to amphibolite schists and 

gneisses, which may be metamorphosed diorite. The 

deposits probably are Precambrian in age (Lovering 

and Goddard, 1950, p. 67-68). 

Most of the production from Jefferson County has 

come from the placers along Clear Creek. Immediately west of Golden, Clear Creek is a narrow 

stream and the yardage of sand and gravel is 

limited. East of Golden the gravel is more extensive. In recent years most of the gold production, 

as in Adams County, has come as a byproduct from 

sand-and-gravel operations (Vanderwilt, in Vanderwilt and others, 1947, p. 122). It appears reasonable 

to credit the entire placer production of the county, 

which was about 14,000 ounces, to this district. 

LAKE COUNTY 

Lake County lies near the center of Colorado in 

a mountainous area that extends from the crest of 

the Mosquito Range on the east to the crest of the 

Sawatch Range on the west. The Arkansas River 

heads in Lake County and flows south across the 

middle of the county. 

Colorado's most important mining districts, Leadville and Climax, are in Lake County; however, 

only Leadville is important as a source of gold. 
104 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

Relatively small amounts of gold have come from 

placers in the Arkansas River valley. Through 1959 

Lake County produced about 2,983,000 ounces of 

gold as well as large amounts of silver, molybdenum, 

lead, zinc, and copper. 

ARKANSAS RIVER VALLEY PLACERS 

Most of the placer gold production in Lake County 

has come from California Gulch in the Leadville 

district, but some has come from many other 

tributaries of the Arkansas River. The more productive of these were Box and Lake Creeks, which 

enter the Arkansas River valley from· the Sa watch 

Range in southern Lake County. 

Although many of the gold placers in the Arkansas River valley were found in 1859 and in the early 

1860's, their discovery and subsequent history and 

production were obscured by news of the richer 

discoveries in California Gulch; consequently, early 

production is unknown. No placers were worked in 

Lake County during 1886-1914. From 1915 to 1924 

a bucket dredge, known as the Derry Dredge, operated successfully along the valley of lower Box 

Creek (Vanderwilt, in Vanderwilt and others, 1947, 

p. 126). These and later operations along Box Creek 

yielded about 39,000 ounces of gold. Total production of the district through 1959 was about 41,000 

o.unces. The placers were virtually idle from 1948 

through 1959. 

LEADVILLE DISTRICT 

The following brief history of the Leadville mining district and its production was abstracted from 

reports by Henderson (1926, p. 40-43, 130-176). 

The early history of Lake County is virtually the 

history of mining in the Leadville district. 

The first ores found and mined in Lake County, 

as in most of the mining camps in Western United 

States, were gold placers. At the time of the "Pikes 

Peak excitement," some of the early prospectors, 

searching for gold in stream gravels, wandered 

across the Rampart, Tarryall, and Mosquito Ranges 

into South Park and the Arkansas River valley. 

Early in the spring of 1860, placers were discovered 

in Iowa and California Gulches, tributaries of the 

Arkansas River, in what was to become the Leadville district. News of the rich discoveries spread 

with amazing rapidity, and by July 1860 the placer 

camp called Oro City boasted a population of 10,000. 

The placers, though rich, were quickly depleted, and 

within 3 or 4 years only a few hundred of the more 

persistent souls remained. It was reported that $2 

million in gold was taken out the first summer, and 

the placers continued to be productive, but at a 

diminishing rate, until1886. 

In June 1868 gold lodes were discovered which 

were mined with great success until 1877, after 

which gold production was overshadowed by silver 

and lead. 

The mining of rich silver-bearing lead carbonate 

ore began in the summer of 187 4 and brought great 

prosperity to the Leadville district, especially from 

1876 until 1902, which was the most productive 

period in its history. The first railroad to reach 

Leadville was the Denver and Rio Grande in August 

1880. The Colorado Midland Railway, running westward from Colorado Springs and across South Park, 

reached Leadville in September 1887. The period of 

general prosperity, however, was marred by declining silver content of the ores, by the financial depression of 1893, and by labor troubles. As a result, 

there was increased prospecting for gold which 

culminated in increased gold production from the 

Breece Hill area after 1893. Gold continued to be an 

important commodity through 1917, though its proportion of the total output of the district was overwhelmed by the development of the huge zinc ore 

bodies after 1903 (Emmons and others, 1927, p. 

111-133). The Leadville mines closed in 1957, and 

from 1957 to 1959 only small amounts of gold were 

recovered from fluxing material. The total gold 

output of the district through 1959 was about 

2,970,000 ounces. 

According to Behre (1953, p. 18-60), the bedrock 

in the Leadville district consists of a Precambrian 

basement complex of gneiss, schist, and granite, 

overlain by about 500 feet of Cambrian, Ordovician, 

Devonian, and Mississippian sedimentary rocks and 

2,500 feet of Pennsylvanian sedimentary rocks. The 

Precambrian and Paleozoic rocks are intruded by 

numerous sills and dikes and by a few stocks of 

porphyry and pipelike bodies of volcanic breccia, 

all of Tertiary age. The igneous rocks are chiefly 

quartz monzonitic, but some are granitic or rhyolitic. Several irregular, roughly funnel-shaped pipes 

of Tertiary agglomerate have been partly outlined 

by mine workings. 

The rocks in the Leadville district have been 

tilted and extensively faulted. According to Tweto 

(1960) , all the porphyries are older than the ores, 

and nearly all of the faults originated before the 

ore, although many faults were reactivated after 

mineralization. 

The original or hypogene ore deposits in the 

Leadville district have been classified into three 

main groups: (1) silicate-oxide deposits, (2) mixed 

sulfide veins, and ( 3) mixed sulfide replacement 
COLORADO 105 

bodies (G. F. Loughlin and C. H. Behre, Jr., in Vanderwilt and others, 1947, p. 360-365). 

The silicate-oxide deposits· are of little economic 

value; only small amounts were mined in the early 

days for smelter flux. These deposits are mixtures 

of magnetite and hematite in a gangue consisting 

mainly of serpentine, and are replacement deposits 

in dolomite. The only ore mined has come from 

pyritic gold veins that cut these deposits and enriched the adjacent wallrocks. 

The mixed sulfide veins occur mainly in siliceous 

sedimentary rocks which predominate in the eastern 

part of the district, where numerous sill-like bodies 

of porphyry intrude the grit and shale of Pennsylvanian age near the Breece Hill porphyry stock. The 

largest veins have been productive to a depth of 

about 1,300 feet below the surface. Some veins are 

too small to mine but expand into small replacement 

bodies where they cut dolomite. The veins that cut 

siliceous sedimentary rocks consist mainly of pyrite 

with a little interstitial chalcopyrite in a gangue of 

quartz. Where they grade into replacement deposits, 

pyrite and quartz persist for a short distance 

laterally but grade into a mixture of sphalerite and 

galena in dense quartz or jasperoid. The veins and 

the pyritic parts of the replacement deposits have 

been valuable mainly for gold, some of which is 

primary but much of which has resulted from 

enriChment in the secondary sulfide zone. The gold 

is accompanied by some silver and locally by 

copper. 

Replacement deposits of sulfides in dolomite are 

common in the western part of the district. These 

replacement bodies lie along fractures or sheeted 

zones, known locally as contacts, beneath impervious 

covers such as sills. The largest replacement bodies 

are at the top of the Leadville Dolomite (Mississippian), and some are more than 2,000 feet long, 800 

feet wide, and 200 feet thick. 

The mixed sulfide replacement bodies consist of 

sphalerite and galena with pyrite. The ore contains 

a few ounces of silver and 0.03 to 0.05 ounce of gold 

to the ton, but here and there small shoots have 

been found that are unusually rich in silver and 

gold and also contain bismuth. Intergrowths of 

argentite, bismuthinite, and a little galena have 

been found in this rich ore and also in veins cutting 

large bodies of the mixed sulfide ore. Tetrahedrite, 

chalcopyrite, and arsenopyrite also occur locally. 

Oxidation and supergene enrichment of the various types of hypogene sulfides produced ores of 

variable mineralogy. Some of the ores are rich in 

cerussite and cerargyrite; others, in smithsonite 

and hemimorphite, manganese-iron-bismuth oxides, 

chalcocite-covillite-gold-silver, and argentite-silver. 

Much of the coarse gold in the placers of California 

Gulch is believed to be of reworked supergene 

origin. 

LA PLATA COUNTY 

La Plata County is in southwestern Colorado just 

north of the New Mexico State line. The mineral 

deposits lie in the mountainous west-central part of 

the county, on the southwest end of the mineral belt 

of Colorado. Gold has been the most valuable 

mineral mined in the county, but silver and small 

amounts of lead and copper have also been recovered. The total metal production through 1959 

was valued at about $6,230,000, of which about 

$4,825,000 (215,375 ounces) represented its gold 

production. The sole important gold-producing district in the area has been the La Plata district in 

the La Plata Mountains (Henderson, 1926, p. 52). 

LA PLATA DISTRICT 

Spanish explorers who visited the La Plata Mountains in the 18th century may have found gold, but 

mining in the region did not begin until 1873 when 

placer gold was found along the Animas River near 

the present site of Durango (Eckel, 1949, p. 51). 

In that same year placer gold was discovered along 

La Plata River. Production during the early years 

in the La Plata district is not known, but it was 

probably small. Lode gold, which has been the chief 

commodity of the district, was also discovered in 

1873, and by the end of 1881 many locations had 

been made. The output from lodes was small through 

1901, but with the discovery of new deposits in 

1902, output increased sharply, and through 1914 

annual gold production exceeded $100,000 (5,000 

ounces). Thereafter production fluctuated considerably and rarely exceeded $100,000 annually (Eckel, 

1949, p. 54). Since 1938, mining activity has declined and, except for a few years, output usually 

has been less than 500 ounces annually. The total 

gold production of the district through 1959 was 

about 215,000 ounces, chiefly from lodes. 

The La Plata district lies within the La Plata 

Mountains, a rugged mountain group about 15 

miles in diameter, between the San Juan Mountains 

to the east and the Colorado Plateau on the west. 

The La Plata Mountains were carved from a domal 

uplift of sedimentary rocks caused by intrusion of 

numerous stocks, dikes, and sills of igneous rocks. 

Superimposed on the general dome is a curving open 

anticline whose horseshoe-shaped axis opens southward. Several faults of large displacement cut the 

outer parts of the dome, and within the dome there 

are many small faults and fractures. 
106 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

The sedimentary rocks exposed within the district 

are more than 4,500 feet thick and range in age 

from Pennsylvanian through Late Cretaceous. From 

oldest to youngest they are the Hermosa Formation 

of Pennsylvanian age, the Rico and Cutler Formations of Permian age, the Dolores Formation of 

Late Triassic age, the Entrada Sandstone, Wanakah 

Formation, Junction Creek Sandstone, and Morrison 

Formation of Jurassic age, and the Dakota ( ?) Sandstone and Mancos Shale of Cretaceous age (Eckel, 

1949, p. 7-31). 

The igneous rocks, which are of Late Cretaceous 

or Tertiary age, are of two general types-porphyritic and nonporphyritic. The more abundant porphyritic rocks are intermediate between diorite and 

monzonite in composition; the non porphyritic rocks 

consist of syenite, monzonite, and diorite. The country rocks were silicified during the doming and 

intrusion of the nonporphyritic stocks; which occurred later than the intrusions of porphyritic 

bodies (Eckel, 1949, p. 50-51). 

Most of the output of the district has come from 

veins and replacement deposits of gold- and silverbearing telluride ores. Of lesser importance are 

disseminated deposits of platinum-bearing chalcopyrite, gold-bearing contact-metamorphic bodies, replacement and breccia bodies of pyritic gold ore, 

veins of mixed base-metal sulfides with silver or 

native gold, chalcocite veins, and veins of rubysilver ore. -The gllid-bearing placers have not been 

very productive (Eckel, 1949, p. 60). 

MINERAL COUNTY 

Mineral County is in southwestern Colorado near 

the center of the San Juan Mountains. Mining has 

been conducted in three general areas in the county, 

the Creede district, the Spar City district, and the 

Wagon Wheel Gap fluorspar district, but only the 

Creede district has had significant production of 

gold. Ores in the Creede district are valuable chiefly 

for silver, lead, and zinc, but byproduct gold is important locally. From 1891 through 1959 the district 

produced about 149,200 ounces of gold. 

CREEDE DISTRICT 

The Creede and the Cripple Creek districts were 

the last of the famous mining districts in Colorado 

to be discovered, and the significant discoveries in 

both districts were made in 1891. In the 1880's the 

upper Rio Grande valley was a route of transportation between Wagonwheel Gap and the flourishing 

mining camps near Silverton and Lake City (Emmons and Larsen, 1923, p. 3-5). Some of the 

prospectors traveling this route located prom1smg 

claims at Sunnyside, about 2 miles west of the 

present site of Creede, in 1883, and in 1884 a claim 

was located on the Amethyst or Big vein near 

Creede. Interest in the area was aroused in 1889 

when the Holy Moses vein was discovered on East 

Willow Creek, and, in 1891, when rich ore was 

found on the Amethyst vein in the Last Chance, 

Amethyst, and New York mines. Within a few 

months, late in 1891 and in 1892, about 10,000 

people swarmed into the infant town of Creede 

(Emmons and Larsen, 1923, p. 4). In late 1891 the 

Denver and Rio Grande Railroad was extended from 

W agonwheel Gap to Creede, and in 1893 the Creede 

district had its largest annual production, consisting 

chiefly of silver but also some lead and gold and 

having a total value of $4,150,946. Because of the 

continued drop in the price of silver, production 

declined sharply in 1894, but there was a fair 

recovery in 1897, and the district maintained a 

fairly steady annual output worth about $1 million 

through 1910. Thereafter production declined and 

the district was virtually idle between 1930 and 

1933. From 1934 through 1959, annual production 

of silver, lead, zinc, and gold ranged from less than 

$300,000 to more than $1 million. Gold production 

was greatest from 1900 through 1911 when the output was about 92,000 ounces and was valued at 

$1,899,560 (Emmons and Larsen, 1923, p. 9-10). 

Total gold production of the district through 1959 

was about 149,200 ounces. 

The following brief description of the geology of 

the Creede district has been abstracted from a 

report by Steven and Ratte (1960a), and the summary of the ore deposits is from a report by Emmons and Larsen ( 1923) . 

The bedrock exposed in the Creede district consists of Tertiary volcanic rocks. The ore deposits 

are localized along faults in a complex graben that 

extends outward from the Creede caldera, a subcircular subsided mass of volcanic rocks about 10 miles 

in diameter. Within the caldera, quartz latitic 

welded tuff at least 6,000 feet thick is exposed. Surrounding the caldera is a mass of volcanic rocks 

at least 4,000 feet thick which accumulated from 

several volcanic centers and consists of rhyolitic 

and quartz latitic welded tuffs, nonwelded pumiceous 

tuff, and locally interlayered quartz latitic and 

dacitic lava flows and breccias. Stream and lake 

sediments and travertine, collectively called the 

Creede Formation, accumulated along the margin of 

the caldera. 

Known ore deposits of the district occur chiefly 

as veins along three of the main faults in the 
COLORADO 107 

graben. A small amount of ore has been mined from 

disseminated deposits in the basal beds of the 

Creede Formation where it rests on a highly faulted 

segment of the caldera margin. The faults in the 

graben were active many times during caldera subsidence; however, mineralization did not take place 

until the last main period of movement. The mines 

along the ·Amethyst fault zone produced $'55 million 

worth of metals; all the other veins produced about 

$2,800,000, and the disseminated deposits in the 

Creede Formation yielded about $800,000 worth of 

metals. 

The ore deposits in Creede are silver-lead-zinc 

veins. The unaltered ore is composed mainly of 

sphalerite, silver-bearing galena, and pyrite in a 

gangue of amethystine quartz, barite, and chlorite 

(thuringite). Fluorite, rhodochrosite, chalcopyrite, 

and native gold are sparingly present. Much of the 

ore is oxidized, and in some deposits enrichment 

is pronounced. 

Gold as a primary mineral is presumably very 

finely divided- and is probably included in pyrite, 

galena, sphalerite, and other minerals. The richest 

gold ore consists of gold in a gangue of manganese 

oxide in veinlets cutting the older sulfides, and ore 

with such veinlets may carry as much as 1 or 2 

ounces of gold per ton (Emmons and Larsen, 1923, 

p. 98-103). The gold is not uniformly distributed 

in the veins; for example, most of the ore mined 

from the north end of the Amethyst vein contained 

0.03 to 0.25 ounce of gold per ton, whereas ore 

from the south end of the Amethyst lode contained 

negligible amounts of gold. 

OURAY COUNTY 

Ouray County is in southwestern Colorado in an 

area drained by the headwaters of the Uncompahgre 

River, a tributary of the Gunnison River. The 

mineralized areas are in the southern part of the 

county within the San Juan Mountains and include 

the Sneffels-Red Mountain and the Uncompahgre 

mining districts. 

Ouray County was originally part of territory 

that was owned by the Ute Indian Tribe and that 

was ceded to the United States in 1873. Until 1873 

the area had been little explored, but after the 

treaty was ratified, settlers and prospectors overran the county (Henderson, 1926, p. 24). By 1874 

nearly four-fifths of the claims were on silver lodes; 

however, rich deposits of gold as well as silver were 

found in 1875 in the Mount Sneffels area, and the 

famous Camp Bird mine, the largest gold producer 

in the region, was located in 1877 (W. S. Burbank, 

in Vanderwilt and others, 1947, p. 403). The area 

developed rapidly, and additional discoveries were 

made in the Red Mountain area. By 1896, however, 

increased mining costs, a drop in the price of silver, 

and depletion of the rich surface ores caused many 

of the mines to close, although the Camp Bird continued to be a significant producer until 1917. The 

mine was reopened in 1926 and was operated 

sporadically through 1956. Total gold production of 

Ouray County through 1959 was about 1,911,000 

ounces, more than half of which came from the 

Camp Bird mine. 

SNEFFELS-RED MOUNTAIN DISTRICT 

The Sneffels-Red Mountain district is in southern 

and southwestern Ouray County, 8 to 12 miles from 

Ouray. The Sneffels camp is at the head of Canyon 

Creek in Imogene Basin west of Hayden Mountain, 

and the Red Mountain camp is at the head of Red 

Mountain Creek east of Hayden Mountain. 

The district is the principal gold producer in 

Ouray County and one of the leading producers in 

the San Juan region, but little is known about its 

production in the early years. According to W. S. 

Burbank (in Vanderwilt and others, 1947, table 8, 

p. 404-405), deposits of late Tertiary age in Ouray 

County to 1945 produced about 1,693,000 ounces of 

gold, most of which came from the Sneffels area. 

The Camp Bird mine, the principal producer of 

metals in Ouray County until it closed at the end of 

1956, produced, from 1896 to 1916, gold, silver, lead, 

and copper valued at $27,269,768, of which at least 

$21,884,894 (1,058,774 ounces) was in gold (Henderson, 1926, p. 185). Production of other mines in 

the district has been small and sporadic. Total gold 

output of the district through 1959 was indicated 

to be about 1,723,000 ounces. 

The Sneffels-Red Mountain district and the adjoining Telluride district to the southwest, in San 

Miguel County, are geologically contiguous, and 

therefore they are treated as a geologic entity in 

the following description. 

The main geologic feature of the area is the Silver 

volcanic basin which Burbank (1941, p. 151) divided into two distinct parts or provinces: ( 1) an 

interior downfaulted circular block, the caldera, 

which may be subdivided into a hub of tilted and 

locally faulted rocks, surrounded by a ring of highly 

faulted rocks, and (2) an exterior unit of relatively 

undisturbed but fissured rocks. The Sneffels and 

Telluride districts are in the exterior unit, on the 

northwest flank of the caldera; the Red Mountain 

area is in the northern part of the highly faulted 

outer ring. 
108 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

~ost of the rocks exposed throughout the area 

are Tertiary volcanic rocks; however, the older 

underlying formations are exposed at lower elevations. In the Telluride district, sedimentary rocks 

ranging from the Cutler Formation of Permian age 

to the Dakota Sandstone of Cretaceous age are 

exposed, and in the Sneffels-Red ~ountain district 

older Paleozoic as well as ~esozoic sedimentary 

rocks are found. The unconformable blanket of Tertiary rocks, which is 4,000 to 6,000 feet thick, consists of, from oldest to youngest, the Telluride 

Conglomerate, San Juan Tuff, Silverton Volcanic 

Series, and Potosi Volcanic Series. During the outpouring of these volcanic rocks, subsidence occurred 

in the caldera, and a network of circular faults and 

radial fractures was formed. Bodies of rhyolite, 

andesite, quartz latite porphyry, diorite, and quartz 

monzonite porphyry were injected into the country 

rocks ; some were guided by the preexisting fractures, and others domed and fractured the rocks 

still more. ~ineralizing solutions followed the emplacement of intrusive rocks (W. S. Burbank, in 

Vanderwilt and others, 1947, p. 419-424). 

The ore deposits are directly related to geologic 

structures and also to the forms of the intrusive 

bodies. Ores of the Red ~ountain area are chimney 

deposits, which are vertical cylindrical bodies a few 

feet to a few tens of feet in diameter in and near 

volcanic pipes filled with breccia, quartz latite 

porphyry, and rhyolite. The common ore minerals 

are pyrite, enargite, chalcopyrite, tennantite, chalcocite, covellite, stromeyerite, bornite, sphalerite, 

and galena. Gold is associated with the copper 

minerals (Burbank, 1941, p. 178-209). 

The ore deposits of the Telluride and Sneffels 

areas are in veins whose distribution is controlled 

by a zone of crustal sag extending northwestward 

from Red ~ountain to Stony ~ountain and ~ount 

Sneffels. ~any of the veins, such as the SmugglerUnion in the Telluride district, follow a swarm of 

dikes that trend northwest; a few, such as the 

Camp Bird in the Sneffels district, trend north or 

northeast. The most productive veins are in the San 

Juan Tuff, and some are remarkably persistent; the 

Smuggler-Union, for example, has been mined for 

a horizontal distance of 8,000 feet. The veins contain variable amounts of pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, galena, tetrahedrite, tennantite, and pearcite in a gangue of quartz, barite, sericite, ankerite, 

rhodochrosite, rhodonite, calcite, fluorite, adularia, 

and clay minerals. Silver is derived mainly from 

tetrahedrite, galena, and tennantite. Gold is found 

in the quartz (Burbank, 1941, p. 209-261). 

UNCOMPAHGRE, DISTRICT 

The Uncompahgre district covers about 15 square 

miles near the town of Ouray, where most of the 

mine workings are in the canyon walls of the 

Uncompahgre River. 

The headwaters of the Uncompahgre River and 

Poughkeepsie Gulch were prospected in 1874, and 

many claims near Ouray were located within the 

next few years (Henderson, 1926, p. 54). In 187'5 

gold-bearing lodes were discovered in the Permian 

and Pennsylvanian rocks in the canyon walls near 

Ouray, and a little later silver-lead deposits were 

found in the Leadville Limestone of ~ississippian 

age. Early records of the district are incomplete, but 

according to Burchard, as quoted by Henderson 

(1926, p. 184), considerable development was done 

in 1884, but because of the low grade of ore and 

the lack of economical transportation, only a few 

mines shipped ore. In 1889 phenomenally rich gold 

ore was discovered in the Dakota Quartzite at the 

American Nettie mine which, together with adjoining properties, accounted for most of the district's 

gold. output (W. S. Burbank, in Vanderwilt and 

others, 1947, p. 409). Silver-lead ore bodies, which 

had been known for many years, were not worked 

until 1892 when the Bachelor ore body, the major 

silver ·producer, was discovered. For a few years 

production of silver and lead was high, but it 

declined after 1895. Since that time the main effort 

has been to treat lower grade ores by milling. 

The total gold production of the district was 

about 200,000 ounces, most of which was mined 

before 1900. 

The canyons of the Uncompahgre River and its 

tributaries expose a vertical section of rocks nearly 

6,000 feet thick which reveals many features of 

Precambrian to late Tertiary geology. 

The Precambrian rocks are exposed south of 

Ouray in the Uncompahgre gorge and consist of a 

compressed sequence of 3,000 feet of quartzite and 

shale called the Uncompahgre Formation. The Precambrian rocks are overlain with marked angular 

discordance by a thick section of sedimentary rocks 

that includes the Elbert Formation and Ouray 

Limestone of Devonian age, the Leadville Limestone 

of ~ississippian age, the ~olas and Hermosa Formations of Pennsylvanian age, the Dolores Formation of Late Triassic age, the Entrada Sandstone, 

Wanakah and ~orrison Formations of Jurassic age, 

and the Dakota Sandstone and ~ancos Shale of 

Cretaceous age. The rocks were folded and faulted 

several times-in late Paleozoic and late Mesozoic 

or early Tertiary time-and then were covered by 

Tertiary rocks consisting of the Telluride Con-
COLORADO 109 

glomerate, San Juan Tuff, Silverton Volcanic Series, 

and Potosi Volcanic Series. Late Cretaceous or early 

Tertiary intrusive rocks are found in a northeasttrending zone just north of Ouray. The most prominent of these are laccolithic masses of granodiorite 

porphyry that intruded the Dakota-Mancos contact; 

these intrusive bodies were probably connected at 

depth by a central conduit now filled with a small 

stock that is exposed about a mile north of Ouray 

and is known as the Blowout (Luedke and Burbank, 

1962). 

The ore deposits are of two ages-Late Cretaceous or early Tertiary and late Tertiary. Most of 

the production has come from the older deposits 

which are genetically associated with the granodiorite intrusions and consist of (1) low-grade contactmetamorphic deposits containing some gold, (2) 

pyritic base-metal deposits containing silver and 

gold tellurides and native gold, and (3) siliceous 

and baritic lead-zinc deposits containing silver and 

gold. These older deposits are fissure veins and flatlying replacement deposits in the Paleozoic and 

Mesozoic sedimentary rocks. The late Tertiary deposits are weakly mineralized gold-quartz and 

silver- and gold-bearing base-metal veins distributed 

around the margins of the district (Luedke and 

Burbank, 1962). 

PARK COUNTY 

Park County is in the mountainous central part 

of Colorado and includes a central broad basin, 

called South Park, rimmed on the east and north 

by the Front Range, on the west by the Mosquito 

Range, and on the south by an unnamed range of 

low hills. The county is drained by the South Platte 

River and its tributaries, most of which head in the 

Mosquito Range. 

Gold is the principal mineral mined in the county, 

which ranks eighth in the State in gold production. 

Gold, silver, and other metals totaling $49,172,800 

in gross value had been produced through 1959. Of 

this total about $36,725,000 ( 1,364,430 ounces) 

represents gold-$27,305,000 in lode gold and 

$9,417,000 in placer gold. Most of the production 

has come from the northwest part of the county 

along the east slope of the Mosquito Range. 

Placer gold was discovered in Park County in 

1859 ; this was one of the earliest mineral discoveries in Colorado. Prospectors, some arriving by 

way of the Arkansas River and others arriving by 

way of the South Platte River, found gold in the 

streams of South Park and later rich lodes at the 

headwaters of the South Platte and its tributaries. 

Nearly all the lode gold has come from the Alma 

district, and the placer gold has come from the 

Fairplay, Tarryall, and the Alma districts. 

AL.M:A DISTRICT 

The Alma district lies east of the Leadville district along the east slope of the Mosquito Range 

and includes the Mosquito-Buckskin, Montgomery, 

Horseshoe, and Alma placers. 

The earliest discoveries in the Alma district appear to have been of lode deposits along the headwaters of Buckskin Gulch and the South Platte 

River (Henderson, 1926, p. 36-38). The Phillips 

lode in Buckskin Gulch was discovered in 1860, and 

other lodes were discovered in rapid succession soon 

after. The gold obtained from the lodes from 1860 

to 1867 was worth about $710,000 (Henderson, 

1926, p. 37, 196). After the easily disintegrated and 

oxidized ores near the surface were exhausted, the 

mines were closed because the sulfide ores at depth 

could not be successfully treated by amalgamation. 

In the summer of 1871, silver ore was discovered 

on Mount Lincoln and Mount Bross, and mining 

activity in the district increased. Silver was the 

chief metal mined through 1885, and high silver 

production was maintained until 1892 when the 

price of silver began to drop. In later years production of silver fluctuated considerably. In 1873, 

outcrops of the London vein were discovered (Singewald and Butler, 1941, p. 36}, but the London mine 

was not located and opened until 1875. It became 

the largest producer in the district and, though 

production fluctuated, it operated almost continuously until1942. 

The output of lode gold of the Alma district 

through 1959 was about 1,320,000 ounces valued at 

about $27,275,000. 

Gold placers in the Alma district are found along 

the South Platte River east of Alma. These were 

first mined in the early 1870's, and during the first 

3 years they produced $19,000 in gold (Singewald, 

1950, p. 145). The greatest productivity was from 

1904 to 1942 when about 27,600 ounces was recovered. There was some production during 1947-

52, but the amount has been reported with that of 

other districts. The placers were virtually inactive 

from 1952 through 1959. Probably less than 200 

ounces of· gold has come from some of the other 

streams in the district. The total minimum placer 

production is about 28,000 ounces. 

Exposed bedrock in the district is of Precambrian, 

Paleozoic, and Tertiary ( ?) ages. The Precambri~n 

rocks are contorted gneiss, schist, and granite. They 

are overlain by Paleozoic sedimentary rocks consist-
I 

110 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

ing of the Sawatch Quartzite of Cambrian age, the 

Manitou Limestone of Ordovician age, the Chaffee 

Formation of Devonian age, the Leadville Limestone 

of Mississippian age, the Minturn Formation of 

Pennsylvanian age, and the Maroon Formation of 

Pennsylvanian and Permian age. Intrusive sills 

and dikes of quartz monzonite porphyry of Tertiary ( ?) age cut the older rocks. The stratified rocks 

dip eastward, but the dip is locally modified by folds 

and faults. The largest fault is the London, a reverse fault along which the beds have been displaced 1,600 feet. Most of the major ore deposits 

are near the London fault or the Cooper Gulch 

fault, another major reverse fault (Singewald and 

Butler, 1941, p. 7-28). 

The principal types of ores are (1) gold-bearing 

sulfide veins in or adjoining porphyry sills near the 

base of the Lower Pennsylvanian strata, (2) silverlead deposits in limestones, and ( 3) gold deposits 

in the Sawatch Quartzite of Cambrian age. The 

gold deposits, both in the porphyry sills and in the 

Sawatch Quartzite, are flanked by small silver-lead 

deposits. 

The gold-bearing sulfide veins are composed of 

milky quartz with subordinate pyrite, sphalerite, 

galena, and chalcopyrite, and native gold which is 

seen only in exceptionally rich ore. The gold deposits 

in the Sawatch Quartzite contain the sulfides previously mentioned in a gangue of quartz and iron 

and manganese-bearing dolomite. The silver-lead . 

deposits in limestones are unimportant as a source 

of gold (Singewald and Butler, 1941, p. 38-40). 

The gold placers are glacial outwash deposits. 

The mineralized area on North Star Mountain, near 

the head of South Platte River along the Continental Divide, probably contributed to the bulk of 

the gold in the Alma placer as well as in minor 

placers farther north (Singewald, 1950, ·p. 149). 

FAIRPLAY DISTRICT 

Gold production from the Fairplay (Beaver 

Creek) district was entirely from placer deposits 

and included production from the Snowstorm and 

Fairplay placers along the South Platte River and 

small placers along Sacramento and Beaver Creeks. 

Gold placers were discovered in the district about 

1859, and through 1872 their output was valued at 

about $1 million ( 48,380 ounces) (Henderson, 1926, 

p. 36-38) . From 1872 through 1938 the placers were 

worked sporadically without any spectacular results. 

From 1939 to 1951, the district was rejuvenated 

and about 125,000 ounces of gold was produced. 

These operations were terminated in 1952, and the 

district was virtually idle from 1952 through 1959. 

The minimum total gold yield of the district through 

1959 was about 202,000 ounces. 

By far the most productive placers are outwash 

gravels which extend downstream from the moraines formed by the South Platte glacier; smaller 

deposits have been found upstream (Singewald, 

1950,p. 146-161). 

TARRYAT.I, DISTRICT 

Almost all the gold production from the Tarryall 

district has come from placer deposits along the 

upper reaches of Tarryall Creek and its tributaries, 

northwest of the town of Como. Placer gold was 

discovered in August 1859, probably a little earlier 

than the discovery in the Fairplay district. These 

placers are credited with an output from 1859 to 

1872 of about $1 million ( 48,380 ounces) (Henderson, 1926, p. 36, 187). Unrecorded and probably 

small-scale activity continued into the early 1900's. 

A brief resurgence occurred in 1941-42 and again 

in 1947, but the district was dormant from that 

time through 1959. The total minimum gold production from the Tarryall placers through 1959 was 

about 67,000 ounces. Lode mines in the district 

yielded less than 250 ounces of gold. 

The placer deposits are of two kinds: glacial moraines and outwash gravel deposits downstream 

from the moraines (Singewald, 1950, p. 147-148, 

162-168). The bulk of the gold has been mined 

from outwash deposits where the gold is concentrated just above bedrock; however, all the gravel 

contains some gold. 

The gold in the placers was probably derived from 

lodes in the mineralized area at the heads of Montgomery and Deadwood Gulches, tributaries of Tarryall Creek (Singewald, 1950, p. 148). 

PITKIN COUNTY 

Pitkin County, in mountainous west-central Colorado and west of the Continental Divide, has produced silver, lead, and zinc valued at more than 

$100 million, but only about 28,200 ounces of gold 

has been produced. The Aspen district was the 

major source of this mineral wealth; however, the 

bulk of the gold came from the Independence Pass 

district. 

INDEPENDENCE PASS DISTRICT 

The Independence Pass district is in southeastern 

Pitkin County, about 20 miles southeast of Aspen. 

In 1879, miners from Leadville crossed the 

Sawatch Range and found ore in this district on 

West Aspen Mountain (Henderson, 1926, p. 45). In 

the same year a belt of gold-bearing veins was 
COLORADO 111 

found which, during 1881-82, yielded $190,000 

(9,192 ounces) in gold. 

The veins apparently terminated abruptly, either 

against a fault or contact, and mining was halted. 

The mines were reopened in 1891, again in 1897-99, 

and possibly for a short period in 1900 (Henderson, 

1926, p. 45). Although the output of the district is 

unknown for these years, Pitkin County is credited 

with a g"old production valued at $300,000 (Henderson, 1926, p. 201) ; much of this probably came 

from the Independence Pass district. There were 

only small sporadic operations in the district from 

1932 through 1959. Total gold production through 

1959 was probably about 25,000 ounces. 

The formations of the Independence Pass district 

consist of Precambrian gneiss and granite covered 

by Tertiary breccia or rubble and rhyolite flows, all 

intruded by a granite porphyry stock (Vanderwilt 

and Koschmann, 1932). 

Not much is known about the veins. They occur 

in the Precambrian rocks or in the Tertiary intrusive rocks. Howell (1919, p. 75-102) described some 

of the veins in the Twin Lakes district east of the 

county line which are probably similar and are 

genetically related to those in the Independence Pass 

district. They consist of gold-bearing quartz associated with pyrite and galena and locally associated 

with some chalcopyrite and sphalerite. Silver is 

present in small amounts. 

RIO GRANDE COUNTY 

Rio Grande County is in south-central Colorado 

in the southeastern San Juan Mountains, on the 

west side of the San Luis Valley. The Rio Grande 

River crosses the northern part of the county. 

In the early 1880's Rio Grande County ranked 

third in the State in the production of gold, the 

county's chief metal. Gold output of the county 

through 1947 was about 257,600 ounces (about $7 

million worth) ; however, from 1949 through 1958 it 

was only 135 ounces. Small amounts of silver, 

copper, and lead valued at about $330,000 have been 

recovered from the gold ores. 

SUMMITVILLE DISTRICT 

The Summitville district is in the southwest 

corner of Rio Grande County, high in the San Juan 

Mountains. 

The earliest discoveries of gold in the San Juan 

Mountains were in 1870 in the Summitville district 

and in Arrastre Gulch in San Juan County. The 

news of these finds started a rush to the region, and 

within a few years most of the major mining camps 

were established. The early discoveries in the Summitville district were of placer gold, but available 

records indicate that placer production in the area 

was minor, probably less than $10,000 worth. The 

first lodes were located in 1871, the richest deposits 

were located by 1873, and large-scale mining began 

in 1875. 

The ore near the surface was oxidized, rich, and 

easy to beneficiate. By the end of 1887 most of the 

known oxidized ore had been mined out, and the 

underlying sulfide ores were much lower grade and 

more difficult to mill and concentrate. During 1873-

87 the Summitville district produced, mostly from 

the Little Annie mine, about $2,064,000 in gold and 

silver, 95 percent of which was gold (Steven and 

Ratte, 1960b, p. 6) . Production declined sharply in 

1888 and fluctuated considerably in the years 

through 1925. A deposit discovered in 1926 in the 

Little Annie group of mines produced, by 1930, 

about $500,000 in gold from 864 tons of sorted ore. 

This ore shoot was mined out by the end of 1930, 

and during 1931-33 the total metal production from 

the district was only slightly more than $5,000. 

In 1934 most of the properties in the district were 

brought under. one control, and the most productive 

period in the history of the district followed. From 

1934 through 1947 the total production of the district exceeded $4 million, most of which was in gold 

(Steven and Ratte, 1960b, p. 6-7). Although considerable exploration work was done after 1947, 

there was little or no production from 1948 through 

1959. 

The total gold production of the district from 

1873 through 1959 was about 257,600 ounces. 

According to Steven and Ratte (1960b, p. 9-10), 

bedrock in the Summitville district consists of volcanic rocks and related shallow intrusive rocks, all 

of middle or late Tertiary age. The oldest rocks, 

known as the Conejos Formation, are a thick succession of dark, fine-grained porphyritic rhyodacite 

flows cut by a large quartz monzonite stock. The 

north margin of the stock and the adjacent flow 

rocks were intensely altered by solfataric action. 

Erosion dissected the area and produced relief of 

at least 2,000 feet. Volcanic eruptions were renewed 

and quartz latite lavas known as the Fisher Quartz 

Latite were extruded on the irregular erosion surface. These rocks were intruded by dikes of similar 

composition, altered by hydrothermal solutions, and 

in part covered by later eruptions of quartz latite 

and rhyolite flows. Mineralization was related to the 

second period of alteration, and all known ore deposits are in the Fisher Quartz Latite (Steven and 

Ratte, 1960b, p. 38-40). 
112 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

The ore bodies are resistant pipes and veinlike 

masses of vuggy quartz and quartz-alunite rock that 

commonly contain pyrite and enargite and some 

galena and sphalerite. The resistant veins are surrounded by irregular envelopes of soft argillized 

ground in which illite, montmorillonite, and locally 

occurring kaolinite are the most abundant minerals. 

Beyond the argillized envelope the rocks are pervasively bleached, owing to the extensive alteration of 

the matrix and ferromagnesian minerals to montmorillonite, chlorite, and quartz ; only the quartz 

and feldspar phenocrysts are relatively unaltered 

(Steven and Ratte, 1960b, p. 41-48). 

ROUTT COUNTY 

Routt County is in north-central Colorado along 

the Wyoming boundary. · 

Prospectors, in search of gold, entered what is 

now Routt County early in the 1860's and discovered 

placers in the Hahns Peak area in 1865 (George 

and Crawford, 1909, p. 221). These deposits were 

the chief source of gold in the county and were 

mostly developed before 1900. Total gold production 

of the county through 1959 was about 19,000 ounces. 

HAHNS PEAK DISTRICT 

Much of the mining history of the Hahns Peak 

(Columbine) district, near Hahns Peak in northcentral Routt County, is obscure. After the initial 

discoveries in 1865, the placers were worked intermittently for several years and yielded gold worth 

$200,000 to $500,000 according to conservative estimates (George and Crawford, 1909, p. 221). Lodes 

were also developed, but their returns were disappointing. In 1959, the district had been virtually 

inactive for 30 years or more. Total gold production 

probably was between 15,000 and 20,000 ounces. 

The bedrock of the district consists mainly of 

Dakota Sandstone and Mancos Shale of Cretaceous 

age and laccoliths and sills of rhyolite, latite, and 

andesite porphyry intruded into these formations. 

The rocks are folded and faulted, and older rocks of 

Jurassic and Carboniferous age are locally exposed. 

Small irregular veins and impregnations, containing lead, silver, gold, and copper, occur in the 

porphyry (Vanderwilt, in Vanderwilt and others, 

1947,p. 186-189). 

SAGUACHE COUNTY 

Saguache County lies in south-central Colorado. 

Its east boundary is the crest of the Sangre de 

Cristo Mountains, and its western part includes the 

northeastern San Juan Mountains. The north end of 

the San Luis Valley occupies the central part of the 

county. Through 1959, Saguache County produced 

about 20,590 ounces of gold and significant quantities of silver, lead, zinc, and copper. Most of the 

gold has come from the Bonanza district. 

BONANZA DISTRICT 

The Bonanza (Kerber Creek) district is about 

12 miles north of Saguache iri the northeastern part 

of the county. 

The first mineral-bearing lode was located in the 

district in May 1880 on Kerber Creek, where large 

silver-lead fissure veins were discovered (H. C. 

Burchard, in Henderson, 1926, p. 208). After the 

discovery, prospectors swarmed into the area, and 

the town of Bonanza was founded. Most of the 

mining operations were small, however, and by 1882 

the town had lost most of its population (Patton, 

1915, p. 10). In 1911-12 the Rawley drainage tunnel 

was driven to tap the silver-lead-copper-zinc ore 

shoot of the Rawley vein (W. S. Burbank, in Vanderwilt and others, 1947, p. 445), and in 1912 annual production increased from $9,600 to $80,000. 

Most of the ore in the Rawley shoot above the 

tunnel level was mined and milled between 1923 and 

1930. District production dropped abruptly in 1931 

but was revived in the late 1930's and early 1940's. 

The mines were relatively inactive from 1952 

through 1959. Total gold production through 1959 

was about 17,000 ounces; virtually all production 

was a byproduct of base-metal and silver ores. 

Though Tertiary volcanic rocks cover much of 

the Bonanza district, older rocks are discernible in 

places, and they consist mainly of Precambrian 

schist, gneiss, and granite overlain unconformably 

by a thick succession of Paleozoic formations ranging in age from Ordovician to Permian. The Tertiary rocks overlie the older rocks with pronounced 

unconformity. They are about 4,000 feet thick, are 

chiefly lava flows, and include the Rawley Andesite, 

Bonanza Latite, Squirrel Gulch Latite, Hayden Peak 

Latite, Brewer Creek Latite. These rocks are cut by 

dikes and small intrusive bodies of granite porphyry, diorite, monzonite, rhyolite, and latite. Numerous small closely spaced faults cut the Tertiary 

rocks, and most of the ore deposits are in fissure 

fillings along these faults in the Rawley Andesite, 

the basal unit of the Tertiary section (Burbank, 

1932, p. 5-60). 

The ore deposits of the Bonanza district are 

chiefly complex base-metal ores containing pyrite~ 

sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite, bornite, enargite, 

tennantite, and stromeyerite in a gangue of quartz, 

calcite, rhodochrosite, and barite. Two principal 
COLORADO 113 

classes of ore deposits have been distinguished: (1) 

quartz veins of rather high sulfide content that contain lead, zinc, copper, silver, and a little gold, and 

(2) quartz-rhodochrosite-fluorite veins, valuable 

mainly for their silver, with only minor quantities 

of sulfides. A few veins in the northern part of the 

district contain small shoots of gold and silver 

tellurides (Burbank, 1932, p. 60). 

SAN JUAN COUNTY 

San Juan County is in the western San Juan 

Mountains in southwestern Colorado, just south of 

Ouray County. 

The county produced about 1,665,000 ounces of 

gold through 1959 and large quantities of silver, 

lead, copper, and zinc. The bulk of the gold came 

from lodes in the Animas (Silverton) and Eureka 

districts. There are no extensive placer deposits in 

the county. 

Some prospecting in the county was carried on in 

the 1860's, and the first gold ore was mined in 1870 

while the region was still part of the Ute Indian 

Reservation. The main rush to the region did not 

begin until1874, after a treaty with the Ute Indians 

opened the region to settlement (Ransome, 1901b, 

p. 19-20). About 2,000 men came into the district 

during the summer of 187 4, and at least that many 

claims were staked. San Juan County was formed in 

1876 with the county seat at Silverton. 

During the 1870's, the chief route into the region 

was by trail from Del Norte 125 miles away on the 

Rio Grande River and transportation was by pack 

train and wagon. Both transportation and ore treatment charges were high; consequently, only rich 

ore could be mined. The area, nevertheless, was actively prospected, and many lodes which subsequently proved valuable were located. In July 1882, 

the Denver and Rio Grande narrow-gage railroad 

was completed to Silverton, which reduced transportation rates and permitted the mining of lower 

grade ores. There followed a brief but turbulent 

period marked by unscrupulous promoting, squandering of large sums of money on fruitless mining 

ventures, and repeated failures to treat successfully 

the complex San Juan ores (Ransome, 1901b, p. 

21-24). In 1890, treatment of low-grade ores by 

concentration and amalgamation at the Sunnyside 

and Silver Lake mines near Silverton started a new 

period in mine development. The first large-scale 

selective flotation mill, which successfully separated 

lead and zinc from ores from the Sunnyside mine, 

began operation in 1917-18 (W. S. Burbank, in 

Vanderwilt and others, 1947, p. 403). 

Silver and lead ores were mined almost continuously in San Juan County from 1873 through 1923 

(Henderson, 1926, p. 216). Gold production, which 

began in 1873, increased steadily, and with few 

exceptions after 1894 the value of gold produced 

exceeded that of silver. Profitable operations continued until 1953, when the Shenandoah-Dives mill 

near Silverton closed. The metal output of the 

county was small from 1953 through 1959. 

ANIMAS DISTRICT 

The Animas (Silverton) district is in northcentral San Juan County near Silverton. 

The total gold production of the district is not 

recorded, but D. J. Varnes (written commun., 1960) 

estimated that the mineral output before 1901 was 

valued at $8,200,000, of. which 65 percent (about 

2·58,000 ounces) was in gold. Varnes (1963, table 6) 

credited the south Silverton mining area with a 

total of 616,000 ounces of gold from 1901 through 

1957. The total output through 1959 was at least 

874,000 ounces and it may have exceeded 1 million 

ounces. 

The mineralized area of the district is along and 

south of the south rim of the Silverton caldera, the 

major features of which are discussed under the 

Sneffels-Red Mountain district in the Ouray County 

section (p. 107). 

Overlying a dissected terrane composed of Precambrian and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks is the 

Telluride Conglomerate, the lowermost unit of a 

thick section of dominantly volcanic Tertiary rocks. 

This conglomerate is succeeded, in ascending order, 

by the San Juan Tuff and the Silverton Volcanic 

Series. After an interval of faulting and subsidence 

in the caldera, the rocks in the zones of fractures 

were intruded by dikes of andesite and latite and 

small bodies of porphyritic quartz monzonite (Burbank, 1933,p. 138-155). 

The ore deposits are in veins that fill fissures 

radial to the rim of the caldera and in veins that 

diverge from the radial fissures. Some of the fractures that intersect the radial system at high angles 

are filled with dikes and are mineralized in places. 

The largest veins of the area are the ShenandoahDives, the Aspen, Silver Lake-Nevada, and the 

Highland Mary. They are located in Arrastre Basin, 

Silver Lake Basin, and Cunningham Gulch. These 

veins are valuable mainly for silver and lead, but 

some parts contain appreciable amounts of gold 

with pyrite and chalcopyrite. Locally these veins are 

rich in specularite and fluorite. The main veins in 

the upper part of Cunningham Gulch contain 

galena, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite in a gangue of 
114 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STA.TES 

quartz and some calcite. Near the mouth of Cunningham Gulch, however, in the vicinity of a quartz 

monzonite stock, the ores change character and consist predominantly of siliceous and pyritic goldbearing ores with lesser amounts of base-metal sulfides (D. J. Varnes, in Vanderwilt and others, 1947, 

p. 432-433) . 

EUREKA DISTRICT 

The Eureka district is in northeastern San Juan 

County, at the head of the Animas River drainage 

basin, and includes mines in the Animas Forks, 

Cement Creek, and Mineral Creek areas. 

Silver, gold, lead, and zinc ores worth a total of 

$50 million have been mined from this district, 

chiefly from the Sunnyside and Gold King mines 

(W. S. Burbank, in Vanderwilt and others, 1947, p. 

433). Total gold production of the district through 

1959 was at least 500,000 ounces. 

The district is on the north side of the Silverton 

caldera along a northeast-trending graben that extends from the Silverton caldera to the Lake City 

caldera in Hinsdale Comity. Part of the district 

extends into the central downfaulted block of the 

Silverton caldera, the major features of which are 

discussed under the description of the SneffelsRed Mountain district in Ouray_ County (p. 107). 

Most of the rock exposed in the district belongs 

to the Silverton Volcanic Series of Tertiary age; in 

addition a few small bodies of intrusive rhyolite ·and 

latite are present (W. S. Burbank, in Vanderwilt 

and others, 1947, p. 434). 

The ore deposits are fissure fillings, most of which 

are in the southwest part of the graben within 1 

mile of the crescentic faults that outline the central block of the Silverton caldera. Some of the 

larger fissures, however, are mineralized in places 

along a length of 6 miles. Veins in the Sunnyside 

mine display several stages of mineralizationquartz-pyrite, base-metal sulfides, and rhodonite. 

Gold-bearing quartz cuts the base-metal sulfides and 

rhodonite (W. S. Burbank, in Vanderwilt and others, 

1947, p. 434). Ore deposits in the Cement Creek 

area are quartz-pyrite-gold veins characteristic of 

the Gold King mine, tungsten-bearing quartz veins, 

and chimney deposits rich in lead, silver, and a little gold (D. J. Varnes and W. S. Burbank, in Vanderwilt and others, 1947, p. 435, 436). 

SAN MIGUEL COUNTY 

San Miguel County is in southwestern Colorado 

and extends from the west boundary of Ouray 

County to the Utah-Colorado border. 

From 1875 through 1959 the county produced 

3,837,000 ounces of gold in addition to large quantities of silver, lead, zinc, and copper. It ranks third 

among the gold-producing counties of the State. 

The first recorded discoveries of gold and silver 

in San Miguel County were in 1875 on the Smuggler 

vein (Purington, 1898, p. 755-756). After this discovery many additional mineral locations were 

made, but because of the inaccessibility of the area 

and distance from railroad transportation very little 

ore was mined or shipped before 1881. Prior to 1882 

production was less than $50,000 annually (Henderson, 1926, p. 226), but by 1888, output had increased to $1 million annually. Mining activity was 

stimulated further in 1890 when the Rio Grande 

Southern Railroad was completed from Ridgeway to 

Telluride. The panic of 1893, during which the price 

of silver dropped, caused a minor decline, but mining again increased in 1895 and gold production 

alone was valued at $1,421,159 (68,755 ounces), almost double that in 1894. This was the first year 

the value of gold production exceeded $1 million; 

from 1901 through 1919 it generally averaged more 

than $2 million annually (Henderson, 1926, p. 226), 

and from 1920 through 1926 more than $1 million 

annually. The lowest gold production in the county 

since 1882 occurred during the depression years, 

1929 through 1933, when the annual production 

dropped below $100,000 ( 4,838 ounces). From 1934 

through 1959 the annual production for most years 

has exceeded $700,000 (20,000 ounces). 

Placers in San Miguel County have been of minor 

importance and have yielded only about 9,700 ounces 

from 1878 through 1959. 

Three districts in San Miguel County are important sources of gold-the Ophir, the Telluride, and 

the Mount Wilson. 

MOUNT WILSON DISTRICT 

The Mount Wilson district is in southeastern San 

Miguel County on one of the western spurs of 

Mount Wilson. 

The Silver Pick mine, which was the only property of importance in the district, was located in 

1882 and was worked steadily until 1909. Its period 

of greatest productivity was from 1882 to 1906, 

when ore worth $750,000 was mined. Purington 

(1898, p. 847) noted that some ore was worth as 

much as $100 to $150 per ton, with gold as the 

major constituent and silver and lead as minor constituents. The Silver Pick and most of the smaller 

mines were idle from 1909 through 1959, except for 

small-scale activity from 1932 through 1941 when 

about 520 ounces of gold was produced. Total gold 
COLORADO 115 

production of the district through 1959 was roughly 

24,800 ounces. 

The oldest rock unit of the district is the Mancos 

Shale of Cretaceous age. This is overlain in turn by 

the Telluride Conglomerate, the San Juan Tuff, and 

the Silverton Volcanic Series, all of Tertiary age. 

The main mass of Mount Wilson is a stock which 

ranges in composition from granogabbro to quartz 

monzonite. The intrusive cuts rocks as young as the 

Silverton Volcanic Series, and thus is the youngest 

bedrock unit of the district (C. S. Bromfield, oral 

commun., 1963). 

The ore deposits are in quartz veins containing 

pyrite, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, galena, sphalerite, tetrahedrite, stibnite, and calcite. Most of the 

gold is believed to be contained in chalcopyrite, 

galena, and arsenopyrite. The most productive veins, 

including the Silver Pick, are in the stock; however, 

a few veins of minor importance are in the invaded 

sedimentary rocks near the intrusive contact (C. S. 

Bromfield, oral commun., 1963). 

OPHIR DISTRICT 

The Ophir district, in eastern San Miguel County, 

includes the area south of San Miguel River, west 

of Bridal Veil Creek, and the Ophir Valley on the 

south. This district includes the Iron Springs, Ames, 

and South Telluride mining areas. 

Mines in the Ophir Valley were operating as early 

as 1878, and the ore was shipped to the Silverton 

smelter (Henderson, 1926, p. 53). In 1879 two arrastres were built in the vicinity of Ophir. In 1883 a· 

small smelter was built at the old town of Ames, but 

it was unsuccessful and was operated for only a year 

(Henderson, 1926, p. 216). According to H. C. 

Burchard, as quoted by Henderson (1926, p. 217-

218), several mines including the Alta, the largest 

producer in the district, were developed as early as 

1881. According to D. J. Varnes (in Vanderwilt and 

others, 1947, p. 427), the history of the district has 

been one of intermittent production except for a few 

large mines which operated fairly continuously. 

Most of the ore mined early from this district was 

rich in silver, and activity of the camp depended in 

part on the price of silver. Some mines, which were 

idle most of the time, became substantial producers 

during times of favorable metal prices. The district 

was almost idle from 1930 through 1936, was substantially active from 1937 through 1948, .and was 

idle again from 1949 through 1959. 

Production records are fragmentary and the 

amount of gold is usually included with the value 

of other metals (D. J. Varnes, in Vanderwilt and 

others, 1947, p. 427). The total gold output of the 

district through 1959 was probably a minimum Of 

200,000 ounces. 

The Ophir district is 5 to 7 miles west of the 

Silverton caldera, and its ore deposits are in structures related to the caldera. Paleozoic and Mesozoic 

sedimentary rocks are exposed in the bottoms of 

the deeper valleys and are overlain, in ascending order, by the Telluride Conglomerate, the San Juan 

Tuff, and the Silverton Volcanic Series. These are 

all intruded by small igneous bodies ranging in composition from quartz monzonite to diorite. The rocks 

are cut by a network of fissures and veins. The most 

productive veins trend westerly and contain pyrite, 

galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and freiburgite as 

the more common sulfide minerals. Hematite and 

magnetite also are present, and the gangue minerals 

are chiefly quartz, with some calcite, manganiferous 

iron carbonate, and barite. Some veins in the Ophir 

Valley trend north and northeast, and the minerals 

of these consist of quartz and pyrite carrying free 

gold and some silver. Gold also occurs in the altered 

and pyrite-impregnated country rock adjacent to 

the veins. The veins in the San Juan Tuff and overlying andesite commonly are more sharply defined 

than those in overlying volcanic rocks. Veins also 

occur within the sedimentary rocks. Replacement 

deposits are rare and of small extent (Cross and 

Purington, 1899; D. J. Varnes, in Vanderwilt and 

others, 1947,p. 425-427). 

TELLURIDE DISTRICT 

The Telluride (upper San Miguel) district is along 

the east border of San Miguel County immediately 

southwest of the Sneffels-Red Mountain district in 

Ouray County. The geology is described on pages 

107-108; only the history and production will be 

discussed in this section. 

The first discoveries in the Telluride district were 

made on the Smuggler vein in 1875 (Purington, 

1898, p. 752--754). There was only a small production through 1882, but in 1883 a shipment of 4 tons 

of high-grade ore from the Smuggler vein yielded 

800 ounces of silver and 18 ounces of gold per ton 

and thereafter production increased rapidly. Since 

1898, the large output of the Telluride district has 

come chiefly from the mines of three large companies-the Liberty Bell, Smuggler-Union, and the 

Tomboy (Henderson, 1926, p. 53, 224-225). The 

Liberty Bell mine, which produced only silver and 

gold, was operated from 1898 to 1921 and during 

that period had an output of 633,021 ounces of gold 

(Henderson, 1926, p. 225). The Tomboy group of 
116 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

mines closed in 1927 and the Smuggler-Union closed 

in 1928 after operating 52 years (W. S. Burbank, 

in Vanderwilt and others, 1947, p. 421). In 1940 the 

Smuggler-Union group of mines and the Tomboy 

holdings were organized as the Telluride Mines, Inc., 

which was still active in 1959. Total production of 

gold through 1959 was at least 3 million ounces; 

thus Telluride is one of the 25 leading gold-producing districts in the United States. Large quantities 

of silver, lead, zinc, and copper have also been 

produced. 

SUMMIT COUNTY 

Summit County, in north-central Colorado, is 

bounded on the west by the crest of the Gore Range, 

on the northeast by the crest of the Williams River 

Mountains, and on the southeast by the Front 

Range. 

Summit County produced, through 1959, gold, 

silver, lead, and zinc, all having a gross value of 

about $74,177,600. Of this total, a minimum of 

$21,673,180 (1,010,670 ounces) represents gold-

$15,644,143 (739,511 ounces) in placer gold and 

$6,024,769 (271,159 ounces) in lode gold. Summit 

County ranks first in Colorado in placer gold production and tenth in the State in total gold production. Almost the entire output has come from the 

southern part of the county, in which the Breckenridge and Tenmile are the major districts. 

BRECKENRIDGE DISTRICT 

The Breckenridge (Blue River) district includes 

the upper valley of the Blue River :which lies between the Front Range on the east and the Tenmile 

Range on the west. The district has produced large 

amounts of placer and lode gold, silver, lead, and 

zinc. It is credited with an output of about 1 million 

ounces of gold, of which about 735,000 ounces came 

from placers and the remainder from gold lodes and 

as a byproduct of silver-lead-zinc ores. 

Rich gold placers were discovered along Georgia 

Gulch on the north side of Farncomb Hill in 1859, 

and soon afterward placers were discovered along 

many streams and gulches in the district (Ransome, 

1911, p. 16-20). From 1859 to 1862, the Georgia 

Gulch placers reportedly yielded $3 million in gold; 

most of the $51/2 million worth of placer gold produced in Summit County from 1860 to 1869 is credited to the Breckenridge district (Henderson, 1926, 

p. 33, 245). Production of placer gold decreased in 

the 1880's and 1890's but in 1908 it was rejuvenated 

by dredging operations. By 1909, four dredges were 

operating in the district (Henderson, 1926, p. 35). 

After the late 1930's activity declined, and after 

1947 there was only small sporadic placer production. 

In 1880, about 20 years after the discovery of the 

placer deposits, gold was found in lodes on Farncomb Hill and elsewhere in rapid succession. Lodes 

were the chief source of gold in the Breckenridge 

district from about 1885 until 1908, when the largescale placer dredging operations began. 

Some gold in the Breckenridge district has also 

been derived as a byproduct from silver-lead-zinc 

ore, chiefly from the Wellington mine, which became 

an important producer in 1910 (Lovering, 1934, 

p. 3). This mine operated continuously to 1929 and 

sporadically thereafter until 1958. Lode mines in the 

district were virtually inactive in 1959. 

Precambrian schist, gneiss, and granite, which 

underlie the sedimentary rocks of the district, are 

exposed in only a few places. The Maroon Formation 

of Pennsylvanian and Permian age rests directly 

on the Precambrian rocks. It is overlain by the Morrison Formation of Jurassic age and the Dakota 

Sandstone, Benton Shale, Niobrara Formation, and 

Pierre Shale, all of Cretaceous age. Folding and 

faulting at the end of Cretaceous time was accompanied by intrusion of sills and dikes of monzonite 

and a small stock of quartz monzonite porphyry. 

The sedimentary rocks were folded into an asymmetric syncline that generally dips to the west 

(Lovering, 1934, p. 3-22). 

Ransome (1911, p. 124-157) recognized three 

major types of ore deposits in the district: zinclead-silver-gold veins, gold-silver-lead stockworks 

and veins, and the gold veins of Farncomb Hill. 

The zinc-lead-silver-gold veins are in a stock of 

quartz monzonite porphyry and in the surrounding 

country rocks. Chief minerals are sphalerite, argentiferous galena, and pyrite in a gangue of carbonate 

and very little quartz. Gold is in the pyrite. The 

Wellington mine is the chief producer in this group. 

The gold-silver-lead stockworks are masses of quartz 

monzonite porphyry interlaced with a network of 

veinlets of pyrite, sphalerite, and galena in a gangue 

of sericitized porphyry. The Farncomb Hill gold 

veins are in shale country rock near a mass of 

quartz monzonite porphyry on Farncomb Hill. 

Though some veins enter the porphyry, ore bodies 

do not. The Farncomb Hill veins are remarkably persistent considering their narrowness. They are 

rarely more than one-half inch wide, and some have 

been traced for distances of 300 feet. These veins 

are noted for their rich pockets of native gold which 

have supplied specimens of wire and leaf gold to 

museums and collectors throughout the world. The 

vein mineralogy is simple; pyrite, chalcopyrite, 

sphalerite, and galena are in a calcite gangue. Na-
COLORADO 117 

tive gold occurs in local thickenings or pockets and 

also is embedded in calcite, sphalerite, or galena. 

Placers, according to Ransome (1911, p. 175), are 

of three types-bench or high-level placers, deep or 

low-level placers, and shallow gravels in gulches. 

The gulch gravels, notably those on Farncomb Hill, 

were the first placers worked. The bench gravels 

were mined by hydraulic methods and were largely 

worked out by 1900. The deep placers, which are 

along the Swan and Blue Rivers, have been worked 

by dredges and were the source of most of the 

placer gold of the district after 1900. 

TENMILE DISTRICT 

The Tenmile district includes the mining camps 

of Kokomo, Robinson, and Frisco, which lie in the 

Tenmile valley on the west side of the Tenmile 

Range. The district has chiefly produced silver, lead, 

and zinc. Small amounts of gold have been recovered 

as a byproduct from the base-metal ores, and small 

amounts have been derived from placer deposits in 

McNulty Gulch near Kokomo. 

Gold placer deposits were discovered in McNulty 

Gulch in 1861 (Hollister, 1867, p. 326), and some 

time later oxidized gold ore in lodes was discovered 

in the Tenmile Range on the east side of the valley. 

Neither the placers nor lodes proved significant, and 

no important mining development took place until 

1879-80 after the discovery of rich silver deposits 

in 1877 in the Leadville district 12 miles to the 

south (Emmons, 1898, p. 1). Rich silver ore was 

discovered on the west side of the Tenmile valley 

during the summer of 1878, and as a result of this 

discovery many claims were located and the district 

developed rapidly (Henderson, 1926, p. 11, 36). By 

the spring of 1881 most of the properties that were 

to become the large producers had been located. 

The total mine output in 1881 was estimated to be 

worth about $2 million, and the district became the 

leading producer in Summit County (Henderson, 

1926, p. 237). The blanket of oxidized and secondarily enriched ore in the district was rapidly mined 

out between 1880 and 1890 and as a consequence the 

bonanza period of the camp came to a close. 

In 1896, the Wilfley table was put into operation. 

This device separated the components of the leadzinc sulfide ores and enabled these ores to be exploited profitably. The district entered a long period 

of prosperity that lasted until 1923 (Koschmann 

and Wells, 1946, p. 55-56). The demand for base 

metals dtiring World War II rejuvenated the mines, 

and from 1942 through 1949 the district was one 

of the most productive in the State. Falling metal 

prices caused most of the mines to close in 1950, 

and the district was virtually inactive from 1950 

through 1959. Total gold production through 1959 

was about 52,000 ounces, most of which was a byproduct of base-metal ores. An unknown but small 

amount of gold was mined from placers. 

The Tenmile district is in a belt of folded and 

faulted Paleozoic sedimentary rocks bounded on the 

east and west by high mountain ranges of Precambrian gneiss, schist, and granite (Koschmann 

and Wells, 1946, p. 57-96). The Paleozoic rocks 

are of sedimentary 9rigin and lie unconformably on 

a Precambrian basement. Because of tectonic activity during Paleozoic time, the Paleozoic section 

is incomplete from place to place. The most persisti:mt sedimentary rocks are the Minturn Formation of Pennsylvanian age and the Maroon Formation of Pennsylvanian and Permian ( ?) age. 

Tertiary intrusive rocks, which are predominantly 

sills and a few small irregular bodies of several 

textural varieties of quartz monzonite, cut the 

Paleozoic formations. 

The rocks were folded into a north-trending syncline that plunges north. The east limb of the 

syncline is cut by the north-trending Mosquito fault, 

one of the major faults in the region. 

The ore deposits of the Tenmile district are of 

two types: massive sulfide replacement bodies in 

limestone beds of the Minturn Formation and sulfide veins in Tertiary igneous rocks and Precambrian rocks. The most productive ore has been in 

the replacement deposits which consist of aggregates 

of pyrite, pyrrhotite, marcasite, sphalerite, galena, 

and chalcopyrite. Quartz and siderite are the chief 

gangue minerals. The veins are in fissures and faults 

and contain galena, sphalerite, pyrite, and local 

molybdenite in a gangue of calcite, barite, and 

quartz ( Koschmann and Wells, 1946, p. 100-105) . 

TELLER COUNTY 

Teller County is in the southern part of the Front 

Range, west of the city of Colorado Springs. The 

famous Cripple Creek district is the source of nearly 

all the mineral wealth of the county. 

CRIPPLE GREEK DISTRICT 

The Cripple Creek district is about 45 miles 

southwest of Colorado Springs, in the shadow of 

Pikes Peak. The leading gold producer of Colorado 

and the second most productive gold-mining district 

in the United States, Cripple Creek had a total gold 

output of 19,100,867 ounces through 1959. 

Though prospectors were active in the Pikes Peak 

region as early as 1859, they overlooked the ores of 
118 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

Cripple Creek. In 1874, a few fragments of gold ore 

were found in the Mount Pisgah area, but they 

generated little sustained interest. Between 1880 

and 1890, Robert Womack, an itinerant prospector 

and rancher, found gold ore in numerous shallow 

pits and diggings in the Cripple Creek area, which 

at that time was a cattle ranch. Womack's persistence finally roused the curiosity of others, who 

bought his claims in 1891. At about this time 

W. S. Stratton became interested in the discoveries 

and noted that much of the ore which the prospectors considered to be galena was in reality a goldbearing mineral that was later found to be the gold 

telluride, sylvanite. Stratton continued his investigations, and on July 4, 1891, he located the Washington and Independence claims on a barren, 

granitic-appearing outcrop that proved to be gold 

ore worth $380 per ton (Lindgren and Ransome, 

1906, p. 130-132). Within a few months the hills 

swarmed with prospectors, and in February 1892 

the town of Cripple Creek was founded. By 1893 

many of the major mines of the district, among 

them the Portland, Independence, Granite, and 

Strong, were in production. Labor strife in 1894 

caused a temporary setback, but new mines, including the Vindicator, Golden Cycle, Victor, Isabella, 

and Cresson, were opened in the following few 

years. Peak production was in 1900, when 878,167 

ounces of gold were mined (Henderson, 1926, p. 

247). Activity slowly declined until 1934, when the· 

price of gold was raised. The revived production in 

the late 1930's was further stimulated by construction of the Carlton drainage tunnel in 1941, which 

relieved many of the pumping difficulties found in 

the deeper mines. Output declined during World 

War II and increased thereafter, but it did not increase to the prewar level. Only a few mines were 

operating in the district in 1959. 

The following brief description of the geology 

and ore deposits has been abstracted from reports 

by Lindgren and Ransome (1906), Loughlin and 

Koschmann ( 1935) , and Koschmann ( 1949) . 

The ore deposits of the Cripple Creek district are 

within or at the margin of an irregular mass of 

Miocene fragmental rocks composed of stratified 

terrigenous sediments and volcanic breccia, collectively known as breccia according to local usage. 

These rocks occupy a steep-walled basin or caldera 

about 4 miles long and 2 miles wide, in granite, 

gneiss, and schist of Precambrian age. Locally the 

surrounding Precambrian rocks are capped by sandstone, grits, and volcanic rocks that are older than 

the fragmental rocks in the basin. As the breccia 

accumulated in the basin, it subsided intermittently 

along steep faults. Subsidence also produced shear 

zones in the breccia and adjacent Precambrian 

rocks, and these were filled with dikes and irregular 

masses of latite-phonolite, syenite, phonolite, and 

alkaline basaltic rocks (lamprophyres). A small 

pipe of basaltic breccia, known as the Cresson blowout, cuts the fragmental rocks in the south-central 

part of the caldera. 

The subsurface structure and configuration of the 

basin can be deciphered only in a general way. 

Available data show that the basin is composite in 

structure and comprises three minor basins or subbasins separated by buried granite ridges and spurs. 

The basin walls, as determined from underground 

exposures, are irregular but in general steep. In 

most places their average slopes range from 46° to 

80° toward the center of the corresponding subbasin. In places, however, notably along the southwest wall, they overhang, and in places along the 

northeast wall they slope as little as 23°; in still 

other places they consist of gently sloping benches 

with steep walls above and below. 

Three stages of mineralization followed the recurrent fissure formation. The first stage is characterized by quartz-fluorspar veins and coarse pyrite. 

Gold tellurides, silver and copper tellurides, pyrite, 

sphalerite, galena, tetrahedrite, and the gangue 

minerals quartz, fluorspar, dolomite, ankerite, celestite, and roscoelite, mark the second stage. During 

the third stage, open fractures were filled with 

quartz, chalcedony, fine-grained pyrite, calcite, and 

local cinnabar. 

The ore deposits in the Cripple Creek district 

occur in relatively short individual veins along narrow long vein zones. Many of these vein zones lie 

close to the margin of the breccia mass ; others 

persist into the breccia; some cross the contact and 

extend into the adjacent Precambrian rocks for 

2,000 feet or more. Most of the known vein zones 

are related in position and strike to the abrupt 

bends or recessions along the basin walls or to 

buried granite spurs or ridges within the basin. 

GEORGIA 

The gold deposits of Georgia occur in several 

northeast-trending mineralized zones in the crystalline schists and gneisses that underlie the northern 

third of the State. Intruded into the foliated rocks 

are many bodies of granitic rock ranging from dikes 

to stocks. The gold deposits are associated with the 

dikes (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 18). In this gold 

belt are about 500 properties reported to contain 

gold (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 124), but only three 

localities-the Creighton mine in Cherokee County, 
GEORGIA 119 

the Dahlonega district in Lumpkin County, and the 

Nacoochee district in White County-have had significant production. 

Gold was discovered in Georgia in 1829 in the 

Nacoochee River valley in White County, near 

Dahlonega in Lumpkin County (Jones, 1909, p. 17), 

and in Habersham County (Becker, 1895, p. 257). 

Thousands of people flocked to these areas to wash 

gold f~:om the surficial deposits along creeks and 

streams. By 1838, production was large enough for 

the Government to establish a branch of the mint 

at Dahlonega. Although the richer and more accessible placers were soon exhausted, the mint remained operative until 1861, when Georgia seceded 

from the Union (Jones, 1909, p. 17). The Civil War 

halted mining in Georgia, but after the war,· activity was resumed, with emphasis on lode mining, and 

a few thousand ounces of gold was produced annually until the early part of World War I. During 

1916-34 only a few hundred ounces was produced 

annually. When the price of gold was increased in 

1934, most mines were reactivated for a brief period. In 1942 the mines were closed by Federal order, and when controls were lifted in 1945, few were 

able to reopen under the prevailing high costs. Production of only 156 ounces of gold was reported 

during 1942-52, and none was reported during 

1953-59. 

Before 1900, Georgia produced an estimated $16 

to $17 million in gold and silver, mostly from the 

Dahlonega district in Lumpkin County (Lindgren, 

1906b, p. 122); from 1830 through 1959 the State 

produced about 870,665 ounces of gold (fig. 3). 

CHEROKEE COUNTY 

The Creighton (Franklin) lode mine, 7 miles 

southeast of Ball Ground on the Etowah River in 

eastern Cherokee County, was one of the oldest and 

most successful lode properties in the State; it was 

worked successfully as early as 1840. Early operations were restricted to mining the residual mantle 

of decomposed bedrock (McCallie, in Yeates and 

others, 1896, p. 176); after these ores were exhausted, the sulfide ore in the unweathered bedrock 

was successfully mined. The mine was active in the 

early 1900's when it was considered the most important in the State, but in 1909 it was flooded by a 

cave-in beneath the dammed Etowah River (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 129). No record could be 

found of any subsequent mining. Total gold production of the property was between $750,000 and 

$1 million (about 35,400 to 48,500 ounces) (Pardee 

and Park, 1948, p. 129). 

Pardee and Park (1948, p. 129), who summarized 

the findings of earlier workers, noted that the country rock in the mine area is mica schist with layers 

of amphibole gneiss. Two major lodes or vein systems, the Franklin and McDonald, occur. The Franklin was the more productive. The deposits consist 

of aggregates of quartz stringers parallel to the 

strike and dip of the foliation of the schist and 

gneiss. Auriferous pyrite is a constituent of the 

stringers and also occurs in the wallrock. Calcite, 

muscovite, and chalcopyrite are minor minerals in 

the ore. 

LUMPKIN COUNTY 

Gold was discovered in Lumpkin County in 1828 

or 1829 near the town of Dahlonega in the Dahlonega district, in the south-central part of the 

county, and it was actively mined until 1849 when 

many miners drifted on to California (Yeates and 

others, 1896, p. 271-27 4). In the post-Civil War 

period, lode mining and dredging operations produced steadily, though not at the prewar scale. The 

mines revived markedly in the mid-1930's because 

of the increased price of gold, but by 1938 their 

activity was sporadic and on a small scale. 

Lumpkin County and especially the Dahlonega 

district produced most of the total gold output of 

the State. Exact figures could not be found, but the 

total production through 1959 probably was between 

400,000 and 500,000 ounces. The Findley mine, one 

of the most important of the Dahlonega district, 

produced $200,000 in gold before the Civil War 

(Yeates and others, 1896, p. 373). 

Four general rock types can be recognized in the 

district-mica schists, feldspathic gneisses, hornblende schist, and granite (Eckel, 1903, p. 58-59). 

The mica schists and feldspathic gneisses are the 

oldest rocks and are regarded as of Precambrian or 

early Paleozoic age. They were intruded by diorite 

which later was metamorphosed to the hornblende 

schist. The granite which is exposed in some of the 

mines is the least sheared rock in the area and may 

therefore be the youngest. 

The earliest deposits worked were stream placers. 

Later the free-milling gold of the entire saprolite 

was mined by hydraulic methods. This gold has been 

released by weathering from the sulfides with which 

it had been associated in the quartz veins at depth. 

The quartz veins in the fresh rock seem to be best 

developed and richest in gold along the contact of 

the mica schist with either granitic rock or the 

sheared hornblende schist. 
120 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

WHITE COUNTY 

The first discovery of gold in White County-and 

probably in Georgia-was in 1829 near the town of 

Nacoochee, in the Nacoochee district, at the junction of the Nacoochee and Chattahoochee Rivers in 

the east-central part of the county (King, in Yeates 

and others, 1896, p. 33). 

The Nacoochee district may be considered the 

northeastward extension of the Dahlonega gold belt, 

which crosses the county from southwest to northeast. Small-scale sporadic production continued until the outbreak of the Civil War and was resumed 

after the war on a slightly more ambitious and better organized level. In the early and mid-1930's 

(Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 141-143), a few lode 

mines were opened in the district, and some of the 

alluvial placers were worked by hydraulic methods. 

From 1940 through 1959, however, no production 

was reported from the Nacoochee district. The total 

production of this district could not be ascertained 

with any degree of accuracy. Estimates by King (in 

Yeates and others, 1896, p. 33-79) of production 

from a few mines in the district range from $600,000 

(30,000 ounces) to $1 million (50,000 ounces) in 

gold. No further record appears until the mid-1930's, 

when the mines in White County, presumably in the 

Nacoochee district, produced 2,235 ounces of gold 

from 1935 to 1940. Total production of the district 

through 1959 probably was 35,000 to 52,000 ounces. 

The gneisses, mica schists, and hornblende schists 

in the district strike northeast, grade into one another along strike, and are cut in places by a coarsegrained granitic rock (King, in Yeates and others, 

1896, p. 35). Most of the exposures are saprolitic, 

but in some of the stream valleys fresh rock can be 

found (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 142). The gold 

deposits are in saprolite, alluvial placers, and lodes. 

The lodes consist of closely spaced gold-bearing 

quartz stringers in the schist. 

IDAHO 

Gold placers were discovered in Idaho in 1852 

along the Pend Oreille River (Ross, 1930b, p. 2) ; 

however, Staley (1946, p. 5) considered the placer 

discovery at Pierce City in 1860 as the earliest discovery of consequence in the State. Other placers 

were discovered in Elk City, Orofino, and along the 

Salmon River in 1860 and 1861, and a year later 

discoveries were made at Florence, Warren, and 

Boise Basin. 

Placers were the major source of gold in Idaho 

before 1900 (fig. 12) ; however, most of them were 

exhausted after the period of feverish exploitation 

from 1860 to 1870. Ross (1930b, p. 3) estimated 

that the value of placer gold produced to 1864 was 

about $20 million (about 1 million ounces). 

With a slight decline of placer mining after 1870, 

lode deposits, which had been known and worked on 

a small scale since 1861, became more important, 

though placering was rejuvenated in 1897 by 

cheaper dredging operations and it continued to 

furnish most of the gold. After a lull in mining 

from 1870 to 1880, the industry revived, but after 

1900 gold declined in importance among the mineral 

commodities mined in Idaho (Ross, 1930b, p. 3). 

From 1863 to 1965 Idaho produced 8,322,930 

ounces of gold. If the 1 million ounces that was 

produced before 1864 is added to this amount, the 

total gold production was about 9,300,000 ounces 

(fig. 13). 

The lode gold deposits of Idaho are related to the 

huge Idaho batholith, a mass of granitic intrusive 

rocks that occupies much of the central part of the 

State. Most of the deposits are near the contact of 

the batholith, either in the granitic rocks or in intruded rocks which consist of sedimentary, metasedimentary, and volcanic rocks. 

It is almost impossible to ascertain accurately the 

gold production of individual counties in Idaho. 

Much of Idaho's gold was produced before 1864, 

when the area became a territory and was politically subdivided. Counties were formed gradually, 

and many of the younger counties were formed 

from parts of older ones ; consequently, some mining districts were originally in one county but later 

in another, and part of their production was reported by both counties. Further complicating the 

issue is the lack of any county production data 

before 1880, except for Boise and Idaho Counties. 

Total recorded production for all counties accordingly is less than that for the State. 

ADA COUNTY 

BLACK HORNET DISTRICT 

In Ada County, in the southwest part of the 

State, the only important gold production came 

from the Black Hornet district in the northeast 

corner of the county about 10 miles east of Boise. 

Lode mines in this district probably were developed 

in 1862, at the time discoveries were being made 

in the Boise Basin, but the earliest record of production was in 1895-96, when gold ore valued at 

$24,000 was shipped from the district (Lindgren, 

1898, p. 704). Small amounts of gold were produced 

annually through 1955, but during 1942-59 the 
IDAHO 121 

output was only 119 ounces. Total recorded production from 1880 through 1959 was 21,431 ounces. 

The geology of the district, according to Lindgren (1898, p. 704), is fairly simple. The country 

rock consists of granite of the Idaho batholith, 

which is cut locally by granite porphyry dikes. The 

ore deposits are gold-bearing quartz veins that contain variable amounts of pyrite, arsenopyrite, sphalerite, and galena (Ross, 1941, p. 5). The granite 

adjacent to the veins has been sericitized. 

BINGHAM COUNTY 

Gold has been mined from placers at several localities along the Snake River in Bingham County. 

Staley (1946, p. 13) credited the county with a 

total of 24,242 ounces of gold since 1885, all presumably from the Snake River placers. These deposits were not worked from the mid-1930's through 

1959. 

BLAINE COUNTY. 

Prospectors, drawn to central Idaho by the rich 

gold strikes in the Boise Basin in 1862, went from 

there into what is now Blaine County. Silver-lead 

deposits were found in the Wood River region in 

1864, but these were ignored for a few years, because the chief interest was in gold (Umpleby and 

Ross, in Umpleby and others, 1930, p. 81). Gold 

deposits in the Camas district southwest of Hailey 

were developed in 1879. By 1880 the Wood River 

silver-lead deposits were worked, and gold was 

yielded as a byproduct. A decline in mining in the 

county began in the early 1900's and, except for a 

few brief revivals, continued until the early 1940's, 

when a period of high productivity of base-metal 

ores with gold as a byproduct commenced. Mining 

in the county slowly declined from the late 1940's 

through 1959. 

Production of gold from 1874 through 1942 was 

176,262 ounces (Staley, 1946, p. 13) ; total production from 187 4 through 1959 was 212,638 ou.nces. 

CAMAS DISTRICT 

The Camas (Hailey, Mineral Hill) district is in 

west-central Blaine County, 5 to 15 miles southwest 

of Hailey in T. 1 N., Rs. 16 and 17 E. 

Gold was first discovered in this district in 1865 

at the site of the Camas 2 mine, but there was no 

production until 1879 (Anderson and Wagner, 1946, 

p. 9). Other discoveries were made in 1880, and the 

period from 1880 to the early 1900's was one of 

great prosperity in the district. The chief mine, the 

Camas 2, produced ore valued at $11,4 million before it was closed in 1898 (Anderson and Wagner, 

1946, p. 9). Most of the mines in the district remained closed, but the Camas 2 and the Hattie were 

reopened for short periods in the 1930's, 1940's, and 

1950's. 

Production records are not complete, especially for 

the years of peak activity before 1900. Of the 

175,770 ounces of gold produced in Blaine County 

from 1874 to 1900, Anderson and Wagner (1946, 

p. 9-10) estimated that more than half of it came 

from the Camas district. Umpleby and Ross (in 

' Umpleby and others, 1930, p. 84) listed a total of 

7,019 ounces produced from the Mineral Hill camp 

between 1902 and 1926; 7,161 ounces were produced from 1932 through 1959. Total gold production, including the estimate of Anderson and Wagner (1946, p. 9), was about 102,000 ounces. Much 

silver, lead, and zinc was mined also. 

The district is underlain by granodiorite and 

quartz monzonite of the Idaho batholith of middle 

Cretaceous age, which is cut by many aplite and 

pegmatite dikes and a few lamprophyre dikes (Anderson and Wagner, 1946, p. 4-9). Remnants of a 

once-extensive cover of Tertiary basalt that buried 

an erosion surface carved into the granitic rock 

are found at a few places. The gold occurs in 

quartz veins along gently dipping faults in the 

batholith. The veins are generally rich in silver and 

carry two to four times as much silver by weight 

as gold. Some contain moderately large amounts of 

sulfides (Anderson and Wagner, 1946, p. 10). 

In the northeastern part of the district, near 

Hailey, the country rock consists of tightly folded 

Paleozoic sedimentary rocks-the Milligen (Mississippian and Devonian) and the Wood River (Pennsylvanian) Formations. These have been faulted 

and intruded by several stocks, which are probably 

related to the Idaho batholith (Ross, 1941, p. 13). 

Most of the deposits are in shear zones in the Mississippian sedimentary rocks, which largely are 

thin-bedded carbonaceous argillites. The ore minerals are argentiferous galena, sphalerite, and tetrahedrite, with minor pyrite in a gangue of altered 

and crushed country rock, siderite, and a little 

quartz (Ross, 1941, p. 13). 

WARM SPRINGS DISTRICT 

The Warm Springs district, between lat 43°35' 

and 43°50' N. and long 114°10' and 114°30' W., 

near Ketchum, is predominantly a silver-lead district; gold is produced as a byproduct. 

Though the initial discoveries were made in 

1864, the district was not developed until 1880. 

Production was high from 1880 to 1887, when many 

of the richer ore bodies were exhausted. Depletion 
122 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

FIGURE 12.-Gold-mining districts of Idaho. 
IDAHO 123 

of ore and a decrease in the price of silver forced 

closure of many of the mines. Activity in the district gradually decreased through the 1900's, although the Triumph mine, which was reopened in 

1927 and which became the largest producer of 

base-metal ore in the district, continued to be productive until 1957, when the ore bodies were mined 

out and the mine was abandoned. 

Value of gold produced before 1902 is not known, 

although Ross (1941, p. 15) credited the district 

with more than $3 million worth of combined metals 

from 1880 to 1902. From 1902 through 1926, the 

district produced 6,069 ounces of gold (Umpleby 

and Ross, in Umpleby and others, 1930, p. 84). 

From 1932 through 1959, a total of 70,570 ounces 

was produced; almost all production was from the 

Triumph mine. Total recorded gold production was 

76,639 ounces, a byproduct of the silver-lead ores. 

Metasediments composing the Hyndman and East 

Fork Formations of Algonkian ( ?) age are the oldest rocks in the district and are exposed in the 

mountainous areas in the eastern part. Overlying 

these is a thick series of Paleozoic sedimentary 

rocks consisting of the Phi Kappa Formation of 

Ordovician age, the Trail Creek Formation of Silurian age, the Milligen Formation of Devonian ( ?) 

and Mississippian age, and the Wood River Formation of Pennsylvanian age (Westgate and Ross, in 

Umpleby and others, 1930, p. 9-34). 

Numerous masses of -plutonic rocks ranging in 

composition from granite through quartz monzonite 

to granodiorite cut the Paleozoic rocks. Tertiary 

and Quaternary andesite, basalt, and rhyolite lavas 

interbedded locally with tuffs cover large parts of 

Ada County: Custer County: 

tlie district (Westgate and Ross, in Umpleby and 

others, 1930, p. 43-61). Pre-Tertiary rocks are complexly folded and faulted, and some of the faults 

offset Tertiary rocks. 

The important ore deposits are in Mississippian 

and Pennsylvanian sedimentary rocks, according to 

Umpleby and Ross (in Umpleby and others, 1930, 

p. 88-112), and are of two general types: lodes in 

shear zones in sedimentary and granitic rocks, and 

contact metamorphic deposits in calcareous beds 

adjacent to intrusive bodies. The shear-zone deposits, from which most of the production came, contain argentiferous galena, sphalerite, tetrahedrite, 

pyrite, and variable amounts of gold in a gangue 

of crushed and altered country rock, siderite, and 

quartz. 

The contact metamorphic ore deposits are a skarn 

of garnet, epidote, diopside, augite, actinolite, and 

wollastonite through which is disseminated variable amounts of argentiferous galena, sphalerite, 

chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, magnetite, and pyrite. 

BOISE COUNTY 

Placers were discovered in Boise County in 1862 

about 25 miles northeast of Boise in Boise Basin, 

an area of about 300 square miles. The placer operations led to the discoveries of lodes at the heads of 

streams, and some of these lodes were mined as 

early as 1863 (Anderson, 1947, p. 176). The lodes 

were never developed to sustain any extended yield ; 

first one district would be active for a few years, 

then another. Placers, on the other hand, had a less 

erratic history and remained highly productive 

through the 1890's. In the early 1900's they were 

Lemhi County: 

1, Black Hornet. 

Bingham County: 

12, Alder Creek; 13, Loon Creek; 

14, Yankee Fork. 

30, Blackbird; 31, Carmen CreekEldorado-Pratt Creek-Sandy 

Creek; 32, Gibbonsville; 33, Mackinaw; 34, Mineral Hill and Indian 

Creek; 35, Kirtley Creek; 36, 

Texas; 37, Yellow Jacket. 

2, Snake River placers. 

Blaine County: 

3, Camas; 4, Warm Springs. 

Boise County: 

5, Boise Basin; 6, Pioneerville; 7, 

Quartz burg. 

Bonneville County: 

8, Mount Pisgah. 

Camas County: 

9, Big and Little Smoky-Rosetta. 

Cassia, Jerome, and Minidoka Counties: 

10, Snake River placers. 

Clearwater County: 

11, Pierce. 

Elmore County: 

15, Atlanta; 16, Featherville; 17, 

Neal; 18, Pine Grove; 19, Rocky 

Bar. 

Gem County: 

20, Westview. 

Idaho County: 

21, Buffalo Hump; 22, Elk City; 

23, Dixie; 24, French Creek-Florence; 25, Orogrande; 26, SimpsonCamp Howard-Riggins; 27, Tenmile; 28, Warren-Marshall. 

Latah County: 

29, Hoodoo. 

FIGURE 12.-Continued. 

Owyhee County: 

38, Silver City. 

Power County: 

39, Snake River placers. 

Shoshone County: 

40, Coeur d'Alene region. 

Valley County: 

41, Thunder Mountain; 42, Yellow Pine. 
124 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

150,--------.---------.--------.---------.--------.---------.~-------.------ -----, 

125 

(f) 

UJ 

(.) 

z 

:::J 

0 

u. 

o 

(f) 75 Cl 

z 

< (f) 

:::J 

0 

I 

r50 

Silver City and 

Boise Basin --+-

districts 

Large-scale dredging 

- in placer districts -

Decline in placer 

_operations;____. 

interest in Pb-Zn 

deposits 

YEAR 

""'Output of ;tlanta, Yellow 

Pine, Boise Basin, and 

Warren-Marshall districts 

FIGURE 13.-Annual gold production of Idaho, 1880-1965. Sources of data: 1880-1923 from U.S. Geological Survey (1883-

1924); 1924-65 from U.S. Bureau of Mines (1925-34; 1933-66). Production reported in dollar value was converted 

to ounces at prevailing price per ounce. 

worked by dredges, and some time later, by largescale hydraulicking (Ballard, 1924, p. 31-32). 

The Boise Basin is divided into many mining districts. In this report that part of the basin that includes the Idaho City, Moore Creek, Gambrinus, 

and Centerville camps is referred to as the Boise 

Basin district. The Pioneerville (Summit Flat, 

Grimes Pass) and Quartzburg (Gold Hill, Granite, 

Placerville) districts are considered separately. 

In general, bedrock in the mineralized parts of 

Boise County consists of quartz dioritic and quartz 

monzonitic facies of the Idaho batholith, which are 

cut by groups of porphyry dikes of Tertiary age. 

Certain areas are covered by Tertiary lake beds, 

by basalt lavas of the Columbia River Basalt of 

Miocene age, or by Quaternary alluvial deposits 

(Anderson, 1947, p. 129). 

Recorded production in the county began in 1863 

(Jones, 1917, p. 86). Total gold production for the 

county from 1863 through 1959 was 2,891,530 

ounces, about 95 percent of which came from the 

Boise Basin. 

BOISE BASIN DISTRICT 

The Boise Basin (Idaho City, Moore Creek, Gambrinus, Centerville) district is in the central and 

southern part of the Boise Basin. 

All the districts in the Boise Basin have a common history related to the original placer discoveries in 1862 and subsequent development of both 

placer and lode gold mines. The first placer discoveries in Boise County were made in this area in 

1862. Most of the county's gold production came 

from the rich placers during the first few years of 

mining. Estimated production from 1863 to 1896 

from the Idaho City camp was valued at $44,651,-

800 (2,167,500 ounces) (Lindgren, 1898, p. 655). 

The district produced 129,038 ounces from 1939 
IDAHO 125 

through 1958; its total production was about 2,300,-

000 ounces, mostly from placers. 

Lode mines in the Gambrinus area were active 

from time to time. Two of the most productive were 

the Illinois and Gambrinus with outputs valued at 

$225,000 and $263,000 respectively (Lindgren, 1898, 

p. 685-686) . 

Most of the Boise Basin is underlain by a quartz 

monzonite facies of the Idaho batholith of middle 

Cretaceous age (Anderson, 1947, p. 130-132). In 

the Gambrinus area, many thin aplite dikes, dikes 

and stocks of diorite and granodiorite, and several 

lamprophyre dikes, all of early Tertiary age, cut 

the quartz monzonite. Near Idaho City and Centerville, patches of lake beds are interstratified with 

basalt lava and volcanic ash. This sequence is considered lower Miocene (Anderson, 1947, p. 153). 

Alluvial deposits of two ages, Pleistocene and Recent, cover much of the district. The younger deposits are more restricted to the present stream 

valleys, whereas the older deposits cover low ridges 

and form terraces over a considerably wider area. 

The younger gravels were the source of most of 

the placer gold (Anderson, 1947, p. 156-159). 

The lode deposits, which are mainly in the Centerville and Gambrinus area, are of early Tertiary 

( ?) age. They consist of fissure fillings in fracture 

zones in the quartz monzonite. The fissures were 

formed by reverse faults, in contrast with the fissures formed by horizontal movement, which characterize the lodes of Miocene age in the Pioneerville 

and Quartzburg districts (Anderson, 1947, p. 181). 

The vein mineralogy is simple, consisting of 

quartz and small amounts of pyrite, arsenopyrite, 

sphalerite, tetrahedrite, chalcopyrite, galena, and 

stibnite. Gold occurs with quartz or with the sulfides (Anderson, 1947, p. 183). 

PIONEERVILLE DISTRICT 

The Pioneerville (Summit Flat, Grimes Pass) 

district is at about lat 44°00' N. and long 115°50' 

W., near the settlements of Grimes Pass and Pioneerville, in the northern part of the Boise Basin. 

This has been predominantly a lode-mining district; 

its mining history is closely associated with that 

of Boise Basin. The district was most active before 

1920. The Golden Age mine produced ore worth 

$200,000 between 1895 and 1920, and the Mammoth 

mine, $472,000 in the early days (Ballard, 1924, 

p. 75-76, 95). Most of this was in gold, although 

it included considerable silver and some lead. Only 

3,340 ounces of gold was produced from 1939 

through 1959. Total production for the district from 

1895 through 1959 was about 25,000 ounces. 

The Pioneerville district is at the north end of 

the "porphyry belt" discussed by Ross (1933a, p. 

330-333) and Anderson (1947, p. 191). The country rock is quartz monzonite of the Idaho batholith 

which is cut by a zone of northeast-trending dikes 

of dacite porphyry, rhyolite, granophyre, granite 

porphyry, and diabase. These were intruded along 

preexisting shear zones in the quartz monzonite. 

The ore deposits are closely associated with the 

porphyry dikes and were emplaced in fissures that 

resulted from later movements along the old shears. 

The principal metallic minerals of the veins are 

pyrite, tetrahedrite, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, galena, and sphalerite. These occur in a gangue of 

sericitized dike rock and quartz monzonite, quartz 

lenses, and some calcite. Native gold occurs most 

abundantly in quartz or in or near the bismuth 

minerals galenobismutite, bismuthinite, and tetradymite. Some deposits, characterized by abundant 

miargyrite and pyrargyrite, are mined for silver 

alone. Electrum, containing about equal amounts of 

silver and gold by weight, is the chief ore mineral 

at the Comeback mine (Anderson, 1947, p. 195-

203). 

QUARTZBURG DISTRICT 

The Quartzburg (Gold Hill, Granite, and Placerville) district is in T. 7 N., R. 4 E., near the town 

of Quartzburg. 

Soon after the initial placer mining rush to the 

Boise Basin, lode mining began in the Quartzburg 

district. The Gold Hill mine, discovered in 1863, 

was worked almost continuously until 1938 (Anderson, 1947, p. 176). Other important producers were 

the Mountain Chief and Belshazzar mines. 

Ross (1941, p. 20) mentioned a total of $8 million 

(about 400,000 ounces) in gold from this district; 

however, the district was virtually idle from 1940 

through 1959. Production since 1932 must have 

been combined with production reported from other 

districts because this district does not appear in 

the annual volumes of "Minerals Yearbook." 

The Quartzburg district is at the southwest end 

of the "porphyry belt" that crosses the northern 

part of Boise Basin. The country rock is quartz 

monzonite of the Idaho batholith which was cut by 

northeast-trending shear zones, which in turn were 

intruded by porphyry dikes during Miocene time 

(Anderson, 1947,p. 129-150;Jones, 1917, p. 89-97; 

Ross, 1933a, p. 330-331) . The gold lodes are fissure 

veins and small stockworks in or along the dikes 

and in adjacent quartz monzonite. The deposits are 

extensively oxidized, and most of the early production came from this easily treated ore which had 

high gold content. The hypogene minerals are py-
126 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

rite, galenobismutite, arsenopyrite, native gold, 

sphalerite, tetradymite, pyrrhotite, stibnite, chalcopyrite, and either tetrahedrite or tennantite. Gangue 

consists primarily of altered host rock and quartz 

(Ross, 1933a, p. 339-341). 

BONNEVILLE COUNTY 

MOUNT PISGAH DISTRICT 

The total recorded gold production of Bonneville 

County, about 16,600 ounces, was from the Mount 

Pisgah district, in T. 4 S., R. 44 E., in the Caribou 

Mountains. 

Both placer and lode mines were productive, but 

all the recorded production was from placers, which 

in the 1870's yielded $250,000 in gold annually 

(Mansfield, 1927, p. 348). In later years mining in 

the district declined, although some time after 1920 

several unsuccessful attempts were made at dredging. From 1939 through 1959 only 459 ounces of 

gold was produced. 

The geology of the district was outlined briefly 

by Ross (1941, p. 26), who stated that most of the 

country rock consists of Mesozoic sedimentary rocks 

cut by dioritic dikes and sills. The deposits were 

described as large tabular masses of quartz that 

were shattered and then mineralized with calcite 

and auriferous pyrite. In most of the deposits, the 

pyrite is oxidized and the gold is free. 

CAMAS COUNTY 

The only gold-producing district in the area now 

included in Camas County-the Big and Little 

Smoky-Rosetta district-was most active before 

Camas County was formed, and its production was 

credited largely to Blaine County, which was originally known as Alturas County, a large area covering many of the present counties. 

The Big and Little Smoky-Rosetta district covers 

about 150 square miles near Carrietown in eastern 

Camas County. Ores rich in silver, lead, and zinc 

were discovered in this district in the early 1880's. 

For about 10 years mining flourished, then it declined rapidly, and by 1900 most of the properties 

were abandoned (Ross, 1930a, p. 19). 

From 1917 through 1942 gold production in the 

district was 8,249 ounces (Staley, 1946, p. 16). The 

total gold production is not known, but the gross 

value of the ores, estimated at $1,200,000 by Ross 

(1930a, p. 19), indicates that possibly as much as 

10,000 ounces of gold was recovered as a byproduct. 

The district is underlain mostly by granitic rock 

of the Idaho batholith and sedimentary rock of the 

Wood River Formation of Pennsylvanian age. The 

ore deposits are in impure quartzite and limestone 

in the Wood River Formation. Dikes of granophyre 

and porphyry cut both the granite and sedimentary 

rocks. Large areas in the southern part of the district are covered by the Challis Volcanics of Tertiary age (Ross, 1930a, p. 23). 

Most of the ore deposits are replacement bodies 

in shear zones in the sedimentary rocks near the 

contacts with the granitic rock. A few are in the 

granitic rock. The dominant ore minerals are galena, sphalerite, pyrite, and tetrahedrite in a gangue of quartz, siderite, and altered country rock 

(Ross, 1930a, p. 23). 

CASSIA, JEROME, AND MINIDOKA COUNTIES 

At several localities along the Snake River in 

Cassia, Jerome, and Minidoka Counties (fig. 12), 

placer deposits were productive in earlier years. 

The gold production of the counties is extremely 

difficult to ascertain because of the haphazard nature of early reporting and also because of the 

creation of new counties from old ones. For example, Cassia and Jerome Counties were formed 

from part of Lincoln County, so that a certain 

amount of Lincoln County's early gold production 

must be credited to the placer districts in the newly 

formed counties. At any rate, Staley (1946, p. 30) 

credited about 22,000 ounces of gold to Snake River 

placers of Cassia County, 1,736 ounces to Jerome 

County, and 133 ounces to Minidoka County. 

CLEARWATER COUNTY 

PIERCJ.: DISTRICT 

Clearwater County, which was formed in 1911 

from parts of Nez Perce, Shoshone, and Idaho 

Counties, had a total gold production through 1942 

of about 29,136 ounces (Staley, 1946, p. 18) ; from 

1943 through 1959, it produced 1,001 ounces. Most 

of the gold credited to Clearwater County came 

from the Pierce district in Tps. 36 and 37 N., Rs. 

4 and 5 E. However, most of the gold mining in 

this district occurred before Clearwater County 

was in existence; hence, the early production is included with other counties. 

In the fall of 1860, E. D. Pierce led a party of 12 

miners into the upper Clearwater River region, a 

territory then guarded by the Nez Perce Indians. 

Within a short time, substantial amounts of gold 

were found in the gravels of Orofino Creek, a tributary of the Clearwater River. Before the end of the 

year, the town of Pierce was founded, and enough 

gold was mined to attract a horde of prospectors 

despite forceful Indian objections (S. M. Barton, 
IDAHO 127 

M. W. Wells, and E. Oberbillig, written commun., 

1958). The placers of this district were the first in 

Idaho to be worked on a large scale, and their development accelerated interest in gold prospecting 

throughout the State. 

Unlike many other districts that collapsed completely after the initial boom, the Pierce district 

continue.d to be active, though after 1875 the pace 

was slower. Ross (1941, p. 37) estimated a total 

production of between $5 and $10 million in gold 

before 1875. Lindgren (1904, p. 102) reported the 

production before 1902 in this manner: "A guess 

may be hazarded that the total output of Pierce is 

in the vicinity of $5 million." According to S. M. 

Barton, M. W. Wells, and E. Oberbillig (written 

commun., 1958), the most productive period was 

between 1861 and 1867, when gold with an estimated value of $3,400,00 was produced. A noticeable decline in production began in 1866 because 

lower grade deposits were being mined by Chinese 

labor employed at low wages. In later years the 

district was rejuvenated periodically by large-scale 

dredging operations. Some time before 1905 lode 

mines were developed and yielded about $250,000 

in gold. The most important of these was the Wild 

Rose mine (Thomson and Ballard, 1924, p. 114). 

The placers were worked on a moderate scale 

through the 1930's, but after 1941 they produced 

only a negligible amount. Total production of the 

district through 1959 was about 385,000 ounces. 

The Pierce district is underlain by granitic rocks 

of the Idaho batholith, Precambrian metasedimentary rocks of the Belt Series, and Columbia River 

Basalt (Ross, 1941, p. 37). The lode deposits are 

discontinuous fissure fillings of quartz, auriferous 

pyrite, free gold, and some arsenopyrite. They are 

distributed in or near gneissic bodies and are 

closely associated with pegmatite, aplite, and diabase dikes. 

The placers are in stream channels and on terraces as much as 500 feet above present streams. 

Terrace deposits possibly were formed along 

stream channels dammed by the Columbia River 

Basalt (Ross, 1941, p. 37) and were left in their 

present perched positions by subsequent erosion of 

later diverted drainage systems. Perched or bench 

placer deposits are characteristic of much of the 

area in central Idaho. 

CUSTER COUNTY 

The major gold-producing districts of Custer 

County are in its western part. 

From 1881 through 1942, the county produced 

252,879 ounces of gold (Staley, 1946, p. 18); total 

production through 1959 was 329,586 ounces. The 

Yankee Fork district was the most productive, although the Loon Creek district also produced considerable gold. Small amounts of gold were produced as a byproduct of the copper ores of the 

Alder Creek district and the lead, zinc, and copper 

mines in the Bayhorse district. Placers were worked 

at several localities along the Yankee Fork of the 

Salmon River. 

ALDER CREEK DISTRICT 

The Alder Creek district is in southeastern Custer County near Mackay and includes Tps. 6 and 

7 N., Rs. 23 and 24 E. 

Ores rich in copper were discovered in this district in 1884, after the rich lead-silver discoveries 

at Nicholia to the northeast at the site of the district's chief mine, the Empire (Ross, 1930a, p. 7). 

After many failures to produce copper and after 

the expenditure of about $3 million, success was 

finally achieved in 1905 (Umpleby, 1917, p. 93), 

and the mine remained active through 1929. Sporadic production was also reported from 1940 

through 1951. Mining resumed in 1957 and was 

continuing in 1959. 

From 1884 to 1913 the Empire produced about 

$100,000 (about 5,000 ounces) in byproduct gold 

(Umpleby, 1917, p. 94). The Empire and Horseshoe 

mines produced 24,710 ounces from 1912 through 

1928 (Ross, 1930a, p. 8-9), and the district produced 3,770 ounces from 1939 through 1959. Total 

gold production for the district through 1959 was 

about 33,500 ounces. 

The district is underlain by folded Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, intrusive granitic and monzonitic 

rocks, and volcanic rocks of the Challis Volcanics. 

The Paleozoic rocks are mostly thick-bedded dolomitic limestone containing Mississippian fossils 

(Ross, 1930a, p. 13). In the Empire mine area the 

limestone is intruded by a large mass of granitic 

rocks and by a swarm of porphyritic dikes that 

follow a broad zone of regional faulting. 

Ore deposits in the district are largely of the contact-metamorphic type and are along the limestonegranite contact. Some ore bodies of the Empire 

deposit are in large blocks of limestone isolated 

well within the granite (Umpleby, 1917, p. 97). 

The primary ores contain intergrowths of garnet 

and chalcopyrite and subordinate amounts of pyroxene, pyrite, and pyrrhotite. Oxidized ores, which 

were highly productive, contain a mixture of 

chrysocolla, azurite, malachite, and cuprite. Secondary copper sulfides are rare (Umpleby, 1917, p. 

98-99). 
128 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

LOON CREEK DISTRICT 

The Loon Creek district is between lat 44°32' and 

44°38' N. and long 114°45' and 114°52' W., in the 

Loon Creek drainage area. 

The first mineral discoveries in this area were in 

1869 when gold placers were found along Loon 

Creek near the abandoned town of Casto (Ross, 

1934, p. 117). During the next 10 years the placers 

were worked out, having yielded between $1!2 and 

$2 million in gold. 

Lode mining became significant in the district 

about 1902 when the Lost Packer gold-copper prospect was developed. Despite transportation difficulties, the mine remained operative through 1917, 

but was mostly inactive after that time. Ross ( 1934, 

p. 118) reported a production of $600,000 worth of 

ore for this mine, but he did not mention the 

amount of gold. 

Considering the more conservative estimates of 

early placer production and assuming that at least 

half of the lode output of the Lost Packer mine was 

in gold, the total production of the district through 

1959 was about 40,000 ounces. This, however, is a 

conservative estimate, and the production may have 

been several times that amount. 

The geology in the vicinity of the Lost Packer 

mine was described by Ross ( 1934, p. 120, pl. 8) . 

The ore body is in contorted Precambrian schist 

that was intruded by dikes and irregular bodies of 

aplite, lamprophyre, dacite porphyry, granophyre, 

and quartz monzonite. Elsewhere in the district, 

large areas are covered by flows and tuffs of the 

Casto Volcanics of Permian ( ?) age and the Challis 

Volcanics of Oligocene ( ?) age. 

Chalcopyrite is the principal ore mineral in the 

lodes, which occupy steplike fissures in the schist. 

Also present are small amounts of tetrahedrite, pyrite, and pyrrhotite, and near the surface is bornite, 

native copper, and oxidized iron and copper minerals (Ross, 1934, p. 121-123). Gold is associated with 

the chalcopyrite and in some veins, with quartz. 

YANKEE FORK DISTRICT 

The Yankee Fork district is between lat 44°20' 

and 44°30' N. and long 114°40' and 114°50' W., in 

northwestern Custer County. 

Gold was discovered in the gravels of Jordan 

Creek in the mid-1870's, but these yielded only 

about $50,000 in gold (Umpleby, 1913a, p. 89). 

Ores from silver-gold lode deposits, the first of 

which was discovered in 1875, proved to be extremely rich. The General Custer mine alone produced $8 million before 1900 (Anderson, 1949, p. 

14). However, these high-grade deposits proved to 

be shallow, and the district began to decline in the 

1890's, and its mill closed in 1905. There were sporadic attempts to revive some properties, but no 

significant activity occurred until the reopening of 

the Lucky Boy mine in 1939. Placer mining along 

the Yankee Fork was also renewed about that time. 

World War II curtailed activities, but a few properties were reopened in 1946 and 1947. Production 

in the late 1940's was almost entirely by a dredge 

that operated along the Yankee Fork, although 

some small-scale production from lode deposits continued through 1957 (T. H. Kiilsgaard, written 

commun., 1962). The most productive placers in the 

district were along the Yankee Fork of the Salmon 

River, from the mouth of Jordan Creek almost to 

the mouth of the Yankee Fork. 

Anderson (1949, p. 14) credited the district with 

a total production of gold and silver valued at $13 

million to about 1948. Of this, $12 million was 

mined before 1910. Umpleby (1913a, p. 78) estimated that about 40 percent of this was in gold 

(about 252,400 ounces). From 1948 through 1959 

the district produced 14,253 ounces; most of it was 

from dredging operations. Total gold production 

through 1959 was about 266,600 ounces. 

Bedrock in the Yankee Fork district, according to 

Anderson ( 1949, p. 8-11), consists of contorted 

Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary and volcanic 

rocks that are intruded by quartz monzonite and 

granodiorite of Mesozoic age. The Paleozoic rocks 

are the Wood River Formation of Pennsylvanian 

age and the Casto Volcanics of Permian ( ?) age. 

These are cut in the northwest part of the district 

by quartz monzonite of the Idaho batholith. The 

Paleozoic rocks were subjected to two periods of 

deformation-one at the close of the Jurassic and 

one at the close of the Cretaceous. During Oligocene 

time the Challis volcanic flows covered most of the 

older rocks, and these were intruded in Miocene 

time by relatively small masses of dacite and rhyolite porphyry (Anderson, 1949, p. 8-10). The Challis Volcanics were gently warped and fractured, 

and these fractures were filled by epithermal silvergold deposits. Most of the lodes are simple fissure 

fillings, but where the rock was complexly fractured, the ore minerals are disseminated and the 

deposits resemble stockworks (Anderson, 1949, 

p. 15). Typical veinfilling is quartz which may be 

fine grained, coarse comb, or drusy. Veins characteristically contain pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, 

tetrahedrite, arsenopyrite, enargite, galena, stephanite, miargyrite, pyrargyrite, argentite, aguilarite, 

gold, and electrum; some calcite may be present. 

In the weathered zones, native silver, argentite, 
IDAHO 129 

cerargyrite, azurite, malachite, chalcocite, and covellite are present in variable amounts (Anderson, 

1949, p. 16-17). 

ELMORE COUNTY 

Most of the gold-producing districts in Elmore 

County are clustered in its northeastern part, in an 

area underlain by granitic rocks of the Idaho batholith. Shear zones that trend nearly east contain lode 

deposits of gold and silver, which have yielded 

most of the gold produced in Elmore County, although placers were important in the Featherville 

and Rocky Bar districts, especially before 1900. 

Gold lodes were discovered in 1862 in the Rocky 

Bar district and soon afterward at Atlanta. The 

1870's and 1880's were years of intense lode-mining 

activity, but by the early 1900's many of the mines 

closed. Gold mining in Elmore County, with the 

exception of that in the Atlanta district, continued 

to decline, although by 1956 the Atlanta district 

also ceased significant production. Gold production 

for the county from 1889 through 1942 was 381,396 

ounces (Staley, 1946, p. 19) and from 1943 through 

1959 it was 60,300 ounces. A total of 441,696 

ounces was produced through 1959. 

ATLANTA DISTRICT 

The Atlanta (Hardscrabble, Middle Boise, Yuba) 

district is in T. 5 N., Rs. 11 and 12 E., in rugged, 

mountainous country 65 to 70 miles east of Boise. 

Gold was first discovered in the district in 1864, 

in veins on Atlanta Hill, but extreme inaccessibility 

of the area hindered its development for almost 10 

years (Ballard, 1928, p. 7-8). The greatest activity 

was in the 1870's and 1880's. Ballard (1928, p. 10) 

reported that the Monarch Mining Co. shipped ore 

valued at $700,000 in the period 1876-78. Mining 

declined after the 1880's but was rejuvenated in 

1929 (Ross, 1941, p. 51) and increased steadily until1956. 

The total gold production of the Atlanta district 

is difficult to ascertain because figures for both gold 

and silver were combined in the early reporting. 

According to Ross (1941, p. 51), total metal production to 1936 was valued at $6 million, but the amount 

of this in gold was not stated. From 1932 through 

1959 the district produced 243,175 ounces of gold. 

If at least half of the early production worth $6 million was in gold, most of which was from lode 

deposits, total district gold production may have 

been 385,000 ounces. Placers were worked in the 

district, but their yield was not great (Ballard, 

1928, p. 9). 

The country rock in the district is granite of the 

Idaho batholith which was fractured and intruded 

by aplite and porphyry dikes. These fractures and 

dikes are arranged in a zone about 1% miles wide 

that trends northeastward. The ore deposits are in 

veins filling the fissures (Ballard, 1928, p. 13-18). 

The chief vein is the Atlanta on which most of the 

workings of the district are located. Stephanite and 

pyrargyrite are silver minerals characteristic of the 

ores that were mined in the early days. Ore mined 

more recently contains auriferous pyrite (Ross, 

1941, p. 51). 

FEATHERVILLE DISTRICT 

The Featherville district is in T. 3 N., R. 10 E., 

along the South Fork of the Boise River. 

This placer district has only a partial production 

record. From 1922 to 1927, dredging operations produced a total of 32,777 ounces of gold (Ross, 1941, 

p. 48). No additional production data were noted 

except for 1951 when 33 ounces was reported. 

NEAL DISTRICT 

The Neal district is in Tps. 2 and 3 N., R. 5 E., 

about 15 miles southeast of Boise, near the Arrowrock Dam. 

This district, discovered in 1889, was noted chiefly 

for its lode mines, but small amounts of gold were 

also produced from intermittently worked placers. 

Since 1911 the district has been virtually inactive. 

Estimates of the early production vary widely. 

Lindgren (1898, p. 699) noted that about $200,000 

worth of gold was produced from the district between 1889 and 1896. Ross (1941, p. 49) later estimated that $2 million in gold was produced, but 

much of this could have been produced from 1906 

to 1911, when the district was fairly active. 

The predominant country rock is granodiorite of 

the Idaho batholith. It is cut by numerous dikes of 

porphyry and lamprophyre, and the veins seem to 

be closely associated with the lamprophyre dikes. 

Vein minerals consist of quartz, pyrite, gold, galena, 

sphalerite, arsenopyrite, and local garnet, in altered 

granitic rock (Ross, 1941, p. 49). 

PINE GROVE DISTRIC'I: 

In the Pine Grove district, which is in Tps. 1 and 

2 N., Rs. 9 and 10 E. near the town of Pine, gold 

and silver have been produced from lode mines and 

on a small scale from placers. 

The principal mine was the Franklin, which produced $750,000 in gold and silver before it was 

closed in 1917 (Ross, 1941, p. 49). No other details 

on history or production are available. 
130 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

The country rock in the Pine Grove district is 

granite, presumably of the Idaho batholith (Ballard, 

1928, p. 18-19). This is cut by numerous northeasttrending dikes of diorite, rhyolite, and diabase. The 

veins occupy a zone 11,4 miles wide that trends 

north-northwest. The upper parts of the veins are 

oxidized and contain free gold and iron and manganese oxides. Primary ore contains pyrite, galena, 

sphalerite, and some arsenopyrite and chalcopyrite 

in a gangue of quartz. 

ROCKY BAR DISTRICT 

The Rocky Bar district is in T. 4 N., R. 10 E., 

near the town of Rocky Bar. Placers discovered in 

1862 on Bear Creek produced from 1863 until about 

1873 (Ballard, 1928, p. 22). The gold in the placers 

was traced to lode deposits which were quickly 

developed; the principal mines were the Elmore 

and Pittsburg. According to Ross (1941, p. 47), the 

quartz mines of the district produced about $2 million in gold and silver and the placers, about $2 million in gold to 1882. Ballard (1928, p. 25) estimated 

a total production of ore worth from $31,4 to $3% 

million, presumably in gold, from the Elmore and 

Pittsburg mines alone. About 1900 the district became inactive and remained so except for small 

operations-in 1938 and 1939, which yielded no gold. 

Granitic rock, part of the Idaho batholith, forms 

the bedrock here, as in most of the other gold districts of Elmore County. Numerous aplite, rhyolite, 

diorite porphyry, and mafic dikes, all trending eastnortheast, cut the granite (Ballard, 1928, p. 22). 

The major veins strike eastward and consist of 

quartz gangue and auriferous pyrite. Small amounts 

of galena and sphalerite are in some veins. 

GEM COUNTY 

WF.STVn;w DISTRICT 

The gold production of Gem County is virtually 

equivalent to that of the Westview (Pearl-Horseshoe 

Bend) district, which sprawls across the Boise-Gem 

County line, about 18 miles north-northwest of the 

city of Boise. 

Gold was mined chiefly from lodes in the Westview district. According to Anderson (1934, p. 17-

18), the first development of note was at the Red 

Warrior in 1870, although greatest activity occurred 

between 1900 and 1907. Thereafter, interest waned 

as the easily milled oxidized ores were depleted. 

Lindgren (1898, p. 708) estimated that the district 

produced $80,000 in gold (about 4,000 ounces) . to 

1896, but Anderson (1934, p. 18) listed an estimate 

(by R. N. Bell) of ores worth more than $1 million. 

Including Lindgren's estimate for the early production, the minimum total gold production for this 

district was about 20,000 ounces. 

Country rock in the Westview district consists of 

a batholithic mass of quartz diorite and granodiorite 

(Anderson, 1934, p. 5-12). An elongate mass of 

diorite cuts the granodiorite and a large number of 

porphyry dikes cut both the granodiorite and diorite. These dikes, which are in a belt that trends 

east-northeast, are composed of dacite porphyry, 

granite porphyry, syenite porphyry, and rhyolite 

porphyry; some are moderately mafic in composition. The ore deposits are mineralized fissures in the 

dike zone, and they may be in granodiorite, diorite, 

or in or along the dike contacts (Anderson, 1934, 

p. 18) . The deposits are stringers of arsenopyrite 

and pyrite and contain subordinate sphalerite and 

galena and small amounts of chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite, boulangerite, and stibnite. Small amounts 

of quartz, dolomite, and calcite gangue accompany 

the ore minerals, but the chief gangue component is 

broken and altered wallrock. Gold accompanies the 

sulfides and is extremely fine grained (Anderson, 

1934, p. 19). 

IDAHO COUNTY 

Many districts throughout Idaho County-such as 

Buffalo Hump, Dixie, Elk City, Orogrande, Simpson, Tenmile, and Warren-Marshall-have made the 

county the second largest producer of gold in the 

State. 

The first gold discoveries in this general area 

were made in 1857 along Orofino Creek, in what is 

now Clearwater County, by Jean deLassier, a trapper. Later, E. D. Pierce made the well-known discoveries at Pierce, and a rush to the region followed. 

By 1861 a group from the Orofino area explored the 

unknown country to the south and found placer 

gold along the South Fork of the Clearwater River 

at Elk City, in what is now Idaho County. In a few 

months more than 2,000 people rushed to the new 

area. Other discoveries were made in 1861 at 

Florence by another group from Orofino, and at 

almost the same time placers were found at Newsome, Dixie, and along the Salmon River. By 1872 

the richest placers were depleted, and the Chinese 

took over most of the workings. After 1900, lowgrade placers were worked at several localities, but 

it was not until the 1930's that a real revival of the 

placers was made possible by higher prices, development of new mining equipment, and improved 

transportation facilities (Lorain and Metzger, 1938, 

p. 6-8, Thomson and Ballard, 1924, p. 13-14). 

Gold-bearing veins were worked as early as 1866 
IDAHO 131 

in the Warren district (Ross, 1941, p. 62), but the 

important lode mines at Elk City, Dixie, and Buffalo 

Hump were developed in the 1880's and 1890's. 

After a few years of intense activity, lode mining 

declined in Idaho County and reached a low in 1920 

(Lorain, 1938, p. 7). Activity increased in the 1930's 

because of higher prices and improved transportation, but a general decline in both lode and placer 

activity was again dominant from 1950 through 

1959. 

Total gold production before 1904 was estimated 

at from $35 to $55 million by Lindgren (1900, p. 

233, 238; 1904, p. 84) and at $47 million by Thomson and Ballard ( 1924, p. 13). Production from 

1905 through 1936 was 101,354 ounces of· placer 

and 122,008 ounces of lode gold (Lorain and Metzger, 1938, p. 9). From 1905 through'l959 a total of 

455,554 ounces of gold was produced in Idaho 

County. Staley (1946, p. 20, 21) presented yearly 

production data from 1862 through 1942 that totaled 2,176,550 ounces. 

In general the oldest rocks in Idaho County are 

gneisses, schists, quartzites, and limestones of the 

Belt Series of Precambrian age (Shenon and Reed, 

1934, p. 10). These were intruded by the Idaho 

batholith, a granodiorite and quartz monzonite body 

that underlies much of central Idaho and most of 

Idaho County. Unconformably overlying these rocks 

at low altitudes are remnants of the Columbia River 

Basalt, basaltic lavas which were poured out on a 

mature erosion surface during Tertiary time. Goldbearing fissure veins occur in both the metasedimentary rocks of the Belt Series and in the granitic 

rocks of the Idaho batholith near intrusive contacts 

(Shenon and Reed, 1934, p. 24). 

BUFFALO HUMP DISTRICT 

The Buffalo Hump district is between lat 45°30' 

and 45°40' N. and long 115°35' and 115°45' W., in 

the west-central part of Idaho County. 

Gold was discovered in this remote district in 

1898 at the Big Buffalo property which developed 

into its chief producer. The rush to this new area 

was more frantic than to most areas and the lawlessness and excesses, for which it became known, 

were perhaps intensified by its remoteness and 

primitiveness. Several towns were built, and despite 

almost impassable roads, machinery was brought in 

and mining flourished (Thomson and Ballard, 1924, 

p. 98, 103). But metallurgical problems, high costs, 

relatively small deposits, and transportation problems were obstacles too large to overcome, and the 

boom collapsed after a few years. Except for smallscale operations, the mines have been idle for many 

years. 

According to Shenon and Reed (1934, p. 4) and 

Ross (1941, p. 52), the Buffalo Hump district pro:.. 

duced ore valued at about $700,000, most of which 

was in gold, with undetermined amounts of silver 

and copper. From 1939 through 1941 the district 

produced 2,307 ounces of gold, but no activity has 

been reported since that time. Total gold production 

through 1959 was about 27,000 ounces. 

The bedrock in the district consists of quartzite 

and schist of the Belt Series and quartz monzonite 

of the Idaho batholith. The metasedimentary rocks 

were folded into a northwest-trending overturned 

anticline and then invaded by the quartz monzonite. 

The veins, about 20 in all, occupy an area 5 miles 

long and 1;2 to 1% miles wide in a shear zone along 

the crest of the anticline (Shenon and Reed, 1934, 

p. 26). Individual veins usually are less than half 

a mile long and terminate by horsetailing and splitting into thin stringers. Pyrite, tetrahedrite, sphalerite, chalcpoyrite, galena, and native gold are the 

common ore minerals of the veins. Small amounts of 

arsenopyrite, stibnite, molybdenite, and tellurides 

may be present, and quartz is the dominant gangue 

mineral (Shenon and Reed, 1934, p. 27). 

DIXIE DISTRICT 

In the Dixie district, which is in Tps. 25 and 26 

N., R. 8 E., about 20 miles south of Elk City, gold 

placers were discovered in 1861 and were extensively 

and successfully mined during the early years. Lode 

deposits were developed in 1891 (Thomson and 

Ballard, 1924, p. 73), but their exploitation was 

hampered by the remoteness of the area. There has 

been very little activity in the district in recent 

years. 

Production data for this district are incomplete. 

Lorain and Metzger ( 1938, p. 50) noted that 

$270,500 (13,000 ounces) worth of placer gold was 

shipped from the district from 1861 to 1863 and 

that the total production of the placers was probably less than $1 million ( 48,500 ounces). Thomson 

and Ballard (1924, p. 13), however, estimated $1% 

million (72,800 ounces) in gold as the production of 

the district. Lode mines, according to Ross (1941, 

p. 55), produced gold worth about $50,000 (2,400 

ounces). Total production for the district through 

1959 was approximately 40,000 to 7'5,000 ounces. 

The geology of the Dixie district is similar to that 

of the Elk City district. Quartz monzonite or granodiorite of the Idaho batholith is the dominant rock. 

Numerous inclusions of the older country rockschist, gneiss, and quartzite-are incorporated in 
/ 

132 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

the igneous intrusion and are exposed locally 

(Thomson and Ballard, 1924, p. 73). The ore deposits are in quartz veins containing pyrite and 

gold. 

ELK C1TY DISTRICT 

The Elk City district is in parts of Tps. 29 and 

30 N., R. 8 E., near Elk City. 

The first gold discovery in Idaho County was at 

Elk City in 1861. Here rich placers attracted 2,000 

people the first year, but by 1872 the best ground 

was worked out, and the Chinese took over the 

operations. In 1870 gold-quartz veins were found at 

the Buster property, but very little gold was mined 

until 1902. The Buster mine became the largest lode 

producer in the district and produced about $300,000 

in gold between 1907 and 1909 (Lorain, 1938, p. 28). 

The mines produced fairly steadily from the early 

1900's through the 1930's, but since World War II 

they have been inactive. Placers, on the other hand, 

were active through 1957. 

The early gold production of the district was estimated at $5 to $10 million by Lindgren (1904, 

p. 84) and at $18% million by Thomson and Ballard 

(1924, p. 13). From 1902 to 1939 the lodes produced 

more than $725,000 in gold (Ross, 1941, p. 55) ; 

from 1933 to 1959 lodes and placers produced 75,575 

ounces. Total production, including the early estimates, was about 550,000 to 800,000 ounces. 

Bedrock in the Elk City district consists of granite 

gneiss, a kind of gneissic shell formed along the 

contact of the Idaho batholith with metasedimentary 

rocks of the Belt Series (Thomson and Ballard, 

1924, p. 22-23, 60). Small patches of the quartz 

monzonite of the batholith are exposed at various 

localities near Elk City, and Tertiary sediments 

underlie the valley at Elk City. 

The veins are quartz lenses as much as 20 feet 

thick and 300 feet long. They are arranged in a 

radial pattern in the gneiss, near the quartz monzonite contact (Shenon and Reed, 1934, p. 24-26), 

and most of them trend at right angles to the foliation in the gneiss. The ore minerals of the veins are 

native gold, pyrite, tetrahedrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and galena. 

The placers of the district are in so-called highlevel gravels of Tertiary age (Reed, 1934, p. 8-16). 

FRENCH CREEK-FLORENCE DISTRICT 

The French Creek-Florence district is in T. 25 N., 

Rs. 3 and 4 E., about 42 miles from Grangeville, the 

nearest supply point. 

In the 1860's this area was one of the most productive in the State; the gulches and stream beds 

swarmed with miners working the rich gravels. The 

gravels were only 4 to 10 feet thick, and the richer 

parts soon were exhausted, after which the Chinese 

took over and reworked the tailings. The total output of the district, most of which was produced in 

the 1860's, was valued between $15 and $30 million 

(Lindgren, 1900, p. 233). By the 1880's, production 

had dropped to between $30,000 and $45,000 worth 

of gold per year (Lindgren, 1900, p. 233). A few 

small lode properties were developed in later years 

but the district has been deserted for a long time 

except for a brief revival in the late 1930's. Total 

production through 1959 was about 1 million ounces; 

nearly all production was from the early placers. 

Bedrock in the district consists of soft, decomposed quartz monzonite which is cut by numerous 

small, but rich, gold-quartz veins (Lorain and Metzger, 1938, p. 47). These veins were the source of the 

gold in the stream gravels. 

OROGRANDE DISTRICT 

The Orogrande district is in T. 27 N., R. 7 E., 

about 12 miles southwest of Elk City. 

Lode mines were developed in the late 1890's; 

however, the largest mines, the Orogrande-Frisco 

and the Gnome, were not productive until 1902 and 

1932 respectively (Shenon and Reed, 1934, p. 52). 

The Gnome produced 11,582 ounces of gold from 

1932 to 1937, when it was closed (Lorain, 1938, p. 

44). The district produced small quantities of gold 

annually through 1957 and through 1959 its total 

was 32,000 ounces; almost all production was from 

lodes. 

Country rock in the Orogrande district consists 

of quartz monzonite and granodiorite of the Idaho 

batholith and schist of the Belt Series (Shenon and 

Reed, 1934, p. 30, 31, pl. 1). The ore deposits are 

of two types: gold-pyrite disseminated through a 

silicified shear zone in the schist, and small veins 

and stringers of quartz and sulfides in granodiorite 

and dacite. The dacite intruded the granodiorite and 

the mineralization is related to the dacite. Ore 

minerals consist of pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, tetradymite, molybdenite, native gold, gold telluride, 

wolframite, and scheelite. 

SIMPSON-CAMP HOWARD-RIGGINS DISTRICT 

The Simpson-Camp Howard-Riggins placer district, in Tps. 24 to 28 N., R. 1 E., along the Salmon 

River between Riggins and Freedom, has been intermittently productive since the 1860's. Most of the 

activity immediately followed the initial discoveries; 

from 1862 to 1866 an estimated $575,000 in gold 
IDAHO 133 

was produced (S. M. Barton, M. W. Wells, and 

E. Oberllig, written commun., 1958). In the 1930's, 

large-scale but unsuccessful mining methods were 

introduced (Lorain and Metzger, 1938, p. 80). The 

district, which was still active in 1959, produced a 

total of 9,578 ounces of gold from 1903 through 

1959. 

The placer deposits are in bench and stream 

gravels. The bench gravels, which have been more 

productive (Lorain and Metzger, 1938, p. 82-85), 

occur along the main stream canyon as much as 

several hundred feet above present stream level. 

The stream gravels consist of small bars along the 

present river course. 

TENMILE DISTRICT 

The Tenmile district is between lat 45°33' and 

45°55' N. and long 115°31' and 115°44' W., immediately north of the Buffalo Hump district and west of 

the Elk City district. 

Both placer and lode deposits were worked. in 

this district, but the placers were more productive. 

Gold was discovered in 1861 in Newsome basin in 

the gravels of Newsome Creek. Most of the gravels 

were soon exhausted, but they yielded approximately 

$2 million (about 100,000 ounces) in gold (Ross, 

1941, p. 61). Lode properties were developed as 

early as 1888 (Lorain, 1938, p. 30), and ;they 

emerged . in recent years as the more important 

sources of gold. The lode mines produced an estimated minimum of 18,400 ounces of gold to about 

1932 (Shenon and Reed, 1934, p. 71-82). From 1932 

through 1959 the district produced 28,671 ounces. 

Total estimated gold production was about 147,000 

ounces . 

. · Bedrock in the area consists of gneiss and quartzite of the Belt Series and granodiorite and quartz 

monzonite of the Idaho batholith. The granitic rocks 

intrude the gneiss. The ore deposits are in quartz 

veins that fill fractures and faults in gneiss, quartz 

monzonite, and quartzite. Variable amounts of the 

sulfides, pyrite, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite,· chalcocite, galena, covellite, and sphalerite occ:ur in the 

v~ins, and gold is associated with the sulfides 

(Shenon and Reed, 1934, p. 71-82). 

WARREN-MARSHALL DISTRICT 

The Warren-Marshall (Resort) district is in 

southern Idaho County between Tps. 20 and .24 N., 

and Rs. 4 and 8 E. 

Rich placers were discovered in Warren Meadows 

in 1862 shortly after the discoveries at Florence; 

rich lode deposits were found as early as 1866 

(Lindgren, 1900, p. 238-239). Before 1900 an estimated $15 million in gold was mined from the 

district; most of it, from placers. After the initial 

boom period which lasted through the 1860's, activity continued on a much-reduced scale, especially 

from 1902 to 1932 (Reed, 1937, p. 25). Bucket 

dredges were introduced in 1932, and large-scale 

placer production re-created on a lesser scale the 

booming days of the 1860's. Production from placers 

gradually diminished through the 1950's. 

Detailed production data for the district from 

1902 through 1936 were listed by Reed (1937, p. 

25). From 1902 through 1928, the combined output 

of lodes and placers was 21,581 ounces of gold. From 

1929 through 1935, lode mines yielded $37,992 

(about 1,765 ounces) and placers $1,593,062 (about 

56,640 ounces). From 1936 through 1959 the district 

·produced 98,519 ounces. Total gold production, including Lindgren's estimate. of early production, 

was about 906,500 ounces. 

The oldest rocks in the Warren-Marshall district 

are quartzite, gneiss, and schist of the Belt Series 

of Precambrian age. These rocks are intruded by 

quartz monzonite of the Idaho batholith, the predominant bedrock in the district (Reed, 1937, p. 8) ; 

over most of the district, the quartz monzonite is 

deeply weathered. Locally, lamprophyre dikes of 

middle Miocene age also intrude the older rocks. 

The gold lodes are known collectively as the 

Warren vein system, consisting of quartz veins in a 

strong set of northeast-trending joints in the quartz 

monzonite. Mineralization probably occurred in Late 

Cretaceous time before the intrusion of the lamprophyre dikes. The primary vein minerals are gold, 

galena, sphalerite, tetrahedrite, stibnite, and pyrite 

·in a gangue composed mainly of quartz and locally 

abundant calcite and muscovite. Arsenopyrite, ruby 

silver, chaJcopyrite, and scheelite may be found at 

some localities, and silver is rare (Reed, 1937, p. 

35-37). 

The most productive placers in the district occur 

in unconsolidated deposits called younger gravels by 

Reed (1937, p. 13-15) and in Recent alluvium. 

These are distinguished from older gravels which 

are believed to be middle Miocene to Wisconsin in 

age (Reed, 1937, p. 12). The younger gravels include 

bench gravels and high meadow deposits; the Recent 

alluvium consists of broad sand and gravel deposits 

along present streams. The older gravels have been 

mined locally but have sustained no large production. 

LATAH COUNTY 

Early settlers who were attracted to Latah County 

by visions of mineral wealth soon found that lumbering, cattle raising, and agriculture were far more 
134 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

rewarding. Gold placers that were found in the 

Hoodoo district in 1860 produced more than 10,000 

ounces of gold and were the chief sources of mineral 

production in the county; gold and copper lodes 

were also worked on a small scale (Hubbard, 1957, 

p.l.O). 

Across the northern part of the county, Precambrian metasedimentary rocks of the Belt Series are 

exposed in a 6- to 12-mile-wide zone; on the east 

edge of the county they crop out in another zone 

4 to 8 miles wide. The central part of the county is 

underlain by granodiorite of the Idaho batholith 

which intrudes the Belt rocks. About one-third of 

the county is underlain by upper Tertiary Columbia 

River Basalt and younger lavas interlayered with 

lacustrine deposits composing the Latah Formation. 

Auriferous quartz veins with variable amounts of 

copper sulfides occur in both the granodiorite and 

the metasedimentary rocks near stocks of the granodiorite or near diorite bodies (Hubbard, 1957, p. 4-

5, 9-14). 

Though placer gold mining began in 1860, production figures are available only since 1904. Hubbard (1957, p. 7) listed annual production of Latah 

County from 1904 through 1955 which totaled 

17,165 ounces of placer gold and 76 ounces of lode 

gold. In 1956 the county produced only 4 ounces 

of gold, and during 1957, none. 

HOODOO DISTRICT 

The Hoodoo district, about 28 square miles in T. 

42 N., Rs. 1 and 2 W., in the Hoodoo Mountains in 

northeastern Latah County, has been the chief gold 

producer in the county. Most of the gold came from 

placers along the Palouse River and Poorman Creek. 

Gold was first found in the district in 1860 in 

Hoodoo Gulch, along the South Fork of the Palouse 

River (Hubbard, 1957, p. 10). These placers were 

quickly exhausted, but Chinese reworked the deposits in the 1870's. The district then declined and 

was dormant until the mid-1930's when a dredge 

was installed on the North Fork of the river (Hubbard, 1957, p. 10-11). Production was curtailed 

during World War II. Attempts were made in 1950 

to revive the placers, and small quantities of gold 

were produced for a few years; however, in 1959 

the district was again inactive. 

LEMHI COUNTY 

In 1866, prospectors from the Elk Creek area 

found gold on Napias Creek in the unexplored 

north-central part of Lemhi County. The town of 

Leesburg was soon founded and became a base from 

which discoveries were made in the northern part 

of the county at Gibbonsville, Moose Creek, Bohannon Bar, and Yellow Jacket (Umpleby, 1913b, p. 

21). Gold placers and then lode deposits were discovered at Yell ow Jacket in 1868. Nearly all the 

gold discoveries in Lemhi County were made before 

1900, and most of the production, which was largely 

from placers, occurred in the early days. In recent 

years byproduct gold from copper-cobalt ores in 

the Blackbird district caused a significant increase 

in gold output. 

Umpleby (1913b, p. 21) estimated that the total 

gold production of Lemhi County to 1911 was worth 

$13,702,256 (about 665,060 ounces), of which $6 

million represented the output of placers before 

1881. 

Staley (1946, p. 22) listed annual gold production 

data for Lemhi County from 1874 through 1942. 

Total output for this period was 514,430 ounces. 

From 1942 through 1958, the county was credited 

with 56,295 ounces of gold. Total production through 

1959 was 570,725 ounces, according to Staley's data, 

or 720,000 ounces, according to Umpleby's estimate. 

The oldest rock is Archean granitic gneiss, exposed around Shoup, in the northwestern part of 

Lemhi County. This is unconformably overlain by 

argillites, phyllites, and quartzites of the Belt Series 

of Precambrian age. In the southern part, the Precambrian rocks are overlain by Cambrian quartzite 

and Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, and Mississippian limestones and dolomites (Umpleby, 1913b, p. 

30-35). Farther north in the Leesburg quadrangle, 

Ordovician quartzite lies unconformably on the Belt 

Series (Shockey, 1957, p. 10). Lake beds of Miocene 

age, occupying an area 8 miles wide and 90 miles 

long, occur in the valley of the Lemhi River near 

the east boundary of the county. At several localities in the northern part, granitic rocks probably 

related to the Idaho batholith cut the pre-Tertiary 

rocks (Umpleby, 1913b, p. 42-43). Numerous dikes, 

ranging from granite porphyry to lamprophyre, are 

associated with the larger intrusives. The dominant 

igneous rocks of Tertiary age are lava flows and 

welded tuffs that cover much of the central part 

of the county. These are known regionally as the 

Challis Volcanics of Oligocene age (Shockey, 1957, 

p. 12). 

The gold lodes are fissure veins and replacement 

deposits along shear zones. There are two recognized periods of mineralization: Late Cretaceous 

or early Eocene, and late Miocene or early Pliocene 

(Umpleby, 1913b, p. 49). 

BLACKBIRD DISTRICT 

The Blackbird district, about 35 miles southwest 

of Salmon, was discovered in 1893. Ores were first 
IDAHO 135 

worked for gold, with discouraging results, but copper was found in 1896 and cobalt in 1901 (Umpleby, 

1913b, p. 160). Before 1957 the district produced 

only 1,205 ounces of gold. However, increased activity at the Calera cobalt-copper mine yielded 3,683 

ounces of gold in 1957, a total of 9,506 ounces in 

1958, and an undisclosed amount in 1957; all production was a byproduct of cobalt-copper ore. 

Rocks of the Blackbird district are metamorphosed sedimentary rocks of the Belt Series of Precambrian age, intruded by granitic rocks of the 

Idaho batholith (Vhay, 1948, p. 2). At the Calera 

mine, the only significant producer in the district, 

quartz-biotite and garnet-chloritoid schists are the 

favorable host rocks for copper-cobalt deposits. 

These rocks are contained in a structural unit, the 

Blackbird block, which is 5 miles long, 2 miles wide, 

and is elongate northward. Copper-cobalt mineralization is controlled by north-trending shear zones 

and north-plunging folds; deposits are in veins and 

lenses formed by replacement. The ore minerals are 

chalcopyrite, cobaltite, safftorite, and gold; the gold 

is present in trace amounts to a few hundredths of 

an ounce per ton. 

CARMEN CREEK-ELDORADO-PRATT GREEKSANDY CREEK DISTRICT 

Carmen Creek, Eldorado, Pratt Creek, and Sandy 

Creek are contiguous small camps in the northeastern part of Lemhi County along the flanks of 

the Beaverhead Mountains. The Kirtley Creek camp 

is also in this area but it will be considered separately. 

Mining first began in the 1870's in the Eldorado 

area, where Chinese were mining the gravels on 

Bohannon Bar. From 1895 through 1911, the placers 

produced $350,000 in gold (Umpleby, 1913b, p. 123-

124). Lode mines were also developed but were not 

very successful. 

In the Carmen Creek camp, only small amounts 

of bullion were produced (Umpleby, 1913b, p. 125). 

The only property of significance was the Oro Cache 

mine, opened about 1897. At Pratt Creek, gold lodes 

were found in the early 1890's at the Goldstone 

mine. According to Ross (1941, p. 68), total production from all camps was about $1 million, including $500,000 in gold credited to the Kirtley 

Creek camp (Anderson, 1956, p. 64). Considering 

that about $350,000 came from the Eldorado camp, 

the Pratt Creek, Carmen Creek, and Sandy Creek 

camps produced about $150,000 in gold. In the 

1930's and 1940's this area was active, but only 

small amounts of gold were mined. Total gold production through 1959 was about 24,500 ounces. 

The rocks underlying this district are quartzites, 

quartzitic slates, and schists of the Precambrian 

Belt Series which are covered in the valleys by Miocene lake beds. The Precambrian rocks are cut loca,lly by diorite dikes and granitic intrusions (Umpleby, 1913b, p. 121-127; Ross, 1941, p. 68). Most 

of the lode deposits are found in the metasedimentary rocks and are fissure fillings of quartz with 

variable amounts of pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, and 

sphalerite. Gold occurs with the sulfides. 

GffiBONSVILLE DISTRICT 

The Gibbonsville district, at the northern apex of 

Lemhi County, was discovered in 1877. Gold placers 

were worked extensively and several lode properties, 

particularly the A. D. and M. mine, were. very productive (Umpleby, 1913b, p. 128). From the time of 

a disastrous fire in 1907 through 1959 mining was 

sporadic. Total production, according to Ross (1941, 

p. 70), was about $2 million in gold, about half of 

which came from the A. D. and M. mine (Umpleby, 

1913b, p. 132). 

Bedrock in the district consists of thick beds of 

quartzite, quartzitic slate, and micaceous slate, 

which strike northwest and dip steeply to the east 

(Umpleby, 1913b, p. 129). Ross (1941, p. 70)- assigned these rocks to the Belt Series of Precambrian 

age. Diorite dikes which cut the Precambrian rocks 

were believed to be Precambrian in age by Umpleby 

(1913b, p. 129) and Mesozoic by Ross (1941, p. 70). 

The gold lodes occur in the quartzite and slate as 

narrow east-trending veins that are broken by numerous faults. The primary vein minerals are auriferous pyrite and chalcopyrite in a gangue of quartz 

and local calcite. 

KIRTLEY CREEK DISTRICT 

The Kirtley Creek district, in Tps. 21 and 22 N., 

R. 23 E., about 6 miles east of Salmon, was for a 

short time the most productive placer area in ·the 

State. Gold-bearing gravels were found along Kirtley Creek some time before 1890, and extensive hydraulic operations were conducted in them between 

1890 and 1894. Production in the district declined 

in the late 1890's but was revived in 1910 when a 

dredge was brought in which successfully mined the 

gravels until the deposits were depleted in 1918 

(Anderson, 1956, p. 63-64). From 1932 through 

1959 the district was active for short periods on a 

small scale. 

During 1910-18 about $500,000 (about 24,300 

ounces) in gold was dredged from the placers (Anderson, 1956, p. 64). No data were found on the 
136 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

production before 1910. Production from 1932 to 

1947 was 2,146 ounces; none was reported from 

1947 through 1959. 

Some gold-quartz veins at the head of Kirtley 

Creek were worked (Umpleby, 1913b, p. 124-12~). 

At the White House mine, $40,500 in gold was produced. The veins contain pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, and free gold in a quartz gangue. 

Total minimum production from the district was 

about 27,500 ounces, mostly from placers. 

MACKINAW DISTRICT 

The Mackinaw (Leesburg) district is about 10 

miles west of Salmon, near lat 45°14' N. and long 

114°10' w. 

In 1866 gold placers were discovered at Wards 

Gulch along Napias Creek, and for the next 14 years 

these placers were worked on a large scale. The 

population of the town of Leesburg in the district 

was 7,000 during this period, but by 1911 it had 

dwindled to 25 (Umpleby, 1913b, p. 145-146). Lodes 

were productive in this district, though on a much 

smaller scale than the placers. The vein deposits 

were first developed in 1870 but were worked for 

only a few years (Umpleby, 1913b, p. 146); however, the placers were worked intermittently to 

about 1954. The district was inactive from that date 

through 1959. 

Umpleby (1913b, p. 146) estimated the value of 

placer production of the district at not more than 

$5 million and the lode output at about $250,000. 

Shockey (1957, p. 32, 33) listed annual production 

from 1902 through 1954, which totaled 7,635 ounces 

from placers and 1,146 ounces from lodes. Total 

gold production through 1959 from all sources, including the estimate of early production, was about 

271,200 ounces. 

The oldest rocks in the area are phyllite and 

quartzite of the upper ( ?) Belt Series of Precambrian age (Shockey, 1957, p. 7-20). These are overlain by the Kinnikinic Quartzite of Ordovician age. 

Intrusive into these metasedimentary rocks are 

quartz monzonite apophyses of the Idaho batholith. 

After a long period of erosion, the rocks were buried 

by early Tertiary conglomerate and later by the 

Challis Volcanics. Parts of the Leesburg basin are 

underlain by Tertiary lake beds, and these sediments are overlain by late Tertiary volcanic ash 

deposits. Prior to Ordovician sedimentation, the 

Precambrian rocks were deformed, and afterward 

the Precambrian and Ordovician rocks were faulted 

and compressed into a northwest-trending synclinorium some time before the monzonitic intrusion. During Tertiary time minor warping occurred. 

The lode deposits, according to Umpleby (1913b, 

p. 150-152), are of five types: (1) quartz veins and 

stockworks in quartz monzonite, containing pyrite, 

sphalerite, specularite, and a little galena; (2) replacement veins along fault planes in metasedimentary rocks and quartz monzonite, containing quartz 

and pyrite as the chief constituents; (3) replacement deposits along a shear zone in schist, containing garnet, epidote, and magnetite; ( 4) mineralized 

lenses in schist and probably monzonitic rock, possibly the source of much of the placer gold; and (5) 

quartz veins along biotite monzonite dikes, containing chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and subordinate pyrite 

and galena. All five types are of equal economic 

importance as lode-gold producers (Ross, 1941, p. 

73). 

The placers were distributed along Moose Creek, 

Beaver Creek, and Napias Creek and its tributaries; 

most of the production was from the Leesburg 

basin, an area drained by Napias Greek. Umpleby 

(1913b, p, 150) regarded some of the placers as of 

Miocene and Pliocene age, but Ross (1941, p. 74) 

was of the opinion that much of the auriferous 

gravel was Pleistocene or younger. 

MINERAL lULL AND INDIAN CREEK DISTRICT 

The Mineral Hill and Indian Creek district is in 

Tps. 23 and 24 N., Rs. 17, 18, and 19 E., in northwestern Lemhi County, near the town of Shoup. 

Most of the gold mined in the district was from 

lodes, but small amounts came from placers along 

Boulder Creek (Lorain and Metzger, 1939, p. 70-71). 

In the Mineral Hill area most of the lode properties 

were discovered and developed in the 1880's. These 

include the Kentuck and Grunter mines which were 

discovered in 1882. In the Indian Creek area there 

was some activity in 1895, but no extensive development occurred until 1901 when the Kittie Burton 

and Ulysses lode mines became operative (Umpleby, 

1913b, p. 134, 139). Most of the production of the 

district was before 1910. The early productionwhich in addition to gold included an undisclosed 

amount of silver and small amounts of base metals 

-was estimated at $1,350,000 by Umpleby (1913b, 

p. 135, 139) and at $1,400,000 by Ross (1941, p. 

7 4). From 1932 through 1959 the district produced 

only 21,937 ounces of gold. 

The rocks of this area, as summarized by Ross 

(1941, p. 7 4), consist of schist and quartzite of the 

Belt Series and intrusive gneissic granite that Umpleby (1913b, p. 139) believed to be Precambrian in 

age but Ross (1941, p. 74) believed to be related to 

the Idaho batholith. Much of the southern part of 
IDAHO 137 

the district is underlain by granitic rocks of the 

Idaho batholith. Mineral deposits occur as fissure 

fillings and also as replacement deposits in both the 

schistose and granitic rocks. Quartz, pyrite, arsenopyrite, galena, sphalerite, and some calcite, magnetite, and muscovite are the predominant vein minerals. Gold occurs with the pyrite (Umpleby, 1913b, 

p. 141). 

TEXAS DISTRICT 

The Texas district is in parts of Tps. 13 and 14 N., 

Rs. 26 and 27 E., near Gilmore. 

In the early 1880's prospectors swarmed over the 

east slope of the Lemhi Range in search of leadsilver deposits similar to those discovered at Nicholia to the southeast. Some promising deposits were 

found in the area known as the Texas district, but 

after about 10 years of occasional activity, the district became dormant for 10 to 12 years. After the 

discovery of large ore bodies at the Pittsburg-Idaho 

mine in 1902, the future looked bright for the Texas 

district; however, transportation difficulties hampered any major activity. In 1910, a railroad was 

constructed that linked the mines to a smelter (Umpleby, 1913b, p. 90-91) ; large-scale mining then 

began and continued through 1929. After a decline 

for a few years, the district again became active, 

and infrequent small-scale operations continued 

through 1956. 

Production which was mainly in silver and lead 

from the Pittsburg-Idaho mine, was small during 

1903-10; data before 1903 were not found. Total 

gold production from 1903 to 1959 was 21,745 

ounces. 

Most of the district is underlain by eastwarddipping sedimentary rocks of Cambrian, Ordovician, 

Silurian ( ?) , Devonian ( ?) , and Mississippian age 

(Umpleby, 1913b, p. 92). With the exception of 

the Cambrian rocks, which are quartzite, all the 

Paleozoic strata are limestone or dolomitic limestone. Unconformably overlying the Paleozoic rocks 

in the eastern part of the district are Miocene lake 

beds. 

The ore deposits occur in the belt of calcareous 

rocks, an area bounded by the Cambrian quartzite 

on the west and the lake beds on the east. They are 

in flat and steeply dipping veins, parallel with the 

strike of the country rocks; some of the larger and 

more productive deposits occur at the intersection 

of the steep and flat veins ( T. H. Kiilsgaard, written 

commun., 1962). Most of the ore is valued for its 

lead and silver, but one deposit, the Martha vein, 

was mined for gold alone. Almost all the workings 

were in oxidized ore containing cerussite, anglesite, 

smithsonite, calamine, cerargyrite and iron, and 

manganese oxides. 

YELLOW JACKET DISTRICT 

The Yellow Jacket district is at about lat 44°58' 

N. and long 114°31' W., near the settlement of 

Yellow Jacket, in west-central Lemhi County. 

Lode deposits were discovered in the district in 

1868, and they were worked in the early 1870's, but 

their greatest production was during 1893-97 (Anderson, 1953, p. 15). Activity throughout the district declined with the closing of the Yell ow Jacket 

mine in 1897, and except for intermittent activity 

during 1911-14, in the latE: 1920's, and in the 1930's, 

'the district never approached its pre-1900 production. 

Umpleby ( 1913b, p. 170) estimated production 

from the. Yellow Jacket mine at $450,000 (about 

21,840 ounces) in gold. Ross (1934, p. 108) listed 

a total of $121,761.56 in bullion from the Yellow 

Jacket mine for 1893-97. From 1902 through 1949 

the district produced 3,85·5 ounces of gold (Anderson, 1953, p. 17), and from 1949 through 1959, only 

8 ounces. Gold has been the chief commodity, but 

small amounts of silver, copper, and lead have also 

been recovered. Total gold production, according to 

Umpleby's estimate, was about 25,000 ounces. 

The Yell ow Jacket district is underlain by sedimentary, metasedimentary, and igneous rocks that 

were folded and faulted into a complex pattern and 

then mineralized (Anderson, 1953, p. 4-11). The 

oldest sedimentary rocks consist of two subdivisions 

of the Belt Series-the Yellowjacket Formation, 

which is composed of argillite and calcareous 

quartzite, and the Hoodoo Quartzite. In the western 

part of the district these are overlain by Challis 

Volcanics of Oligocene age. Intrusive rocks of three 

ages are in the district : dikelike and stocklike 

bodies of gabbro of Precambrian ( ?) age; a large 

body of hornblende-biotite diorite and smaller bodies 

of syenite, diabase, diorite, and gabbro, all of Late 

Cretaceous or early Tertiary age; and dikes of 

granophyre, granite porphyry, and vitrophyre, all 

of Miocene age (Anderson, 1953, p. 6-11). The older 

rocks were deformed and fractured by several 

diastrophic events. 

Most of the lodes are either fissure fillings or replacement deposits in breccia zones. The Yellowjacket Formation, which has been deformed most 

extensively, contains most of the ore deposits (Anderson, 1953, p. 18). Primary minerals in the deposits are quartz, calcite, siderite, and barite in the 

gangue, and the ore minerals are pyrite, specularite, 

chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite, galena, and gold. The 
138 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

ores are somewhat oxidized near the surface: much 

of the early production was from these free-milling 

oxidized ores (Anderson, 1953, p. 19-23). 

OWYHEE COUNTY 

Gold deposits in Owyhee County are grouped in 

the Silver City district, in the northwestern part of 

the county. Placers along the Snake River also 

yielded gold, but the quantity yielded and the locations of the placers are not known. 

Total gold production of Owyhee County from 

1863 through 1942 was 1,058,694 ounces (Staley, 

1946, p. 25) ; from 1943 through 1959 it was 44,851 

ounces-a total of 1,103,545 ounces from 1863 

through 1959. 

SILVER CITY DISTRICT 

The Silver City district, which includes the De 

Lamar, Flint, and Florida Mountain-War Eagle 

Mountain camps, is in parts of Tps. 3, 4, and 5 S., 

Rs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 W., in northwestern Owyhee 

County. 

The first mineral discoveries were gold placers 

found along Jordan Creek in 1863. That same year, 

prospectors followed the Jordan Creek placers to 

their source-the lodes on War Eagle Mountain. 

By 1865 the richest placers were exhausted, but the 

Chinese continued lower grade placer mining for 

a number of years. After the discovery of rich oxidized gold=silver ores at the Poorman and Orofino 

mines in 1865, the district erupted into a period of 

frantic activity accompanied by so much violence 

and disorder that federal troops were called in to 

quell the disturbances. The area prospered, developed, and grew despite extremely high costs engendered by poor transportation facilities. Silver 

City, with a population of 4,000, was the largest 

settlement, but the towns of Ruby City, Fairview, 

Booneville, and Wagontown were also thriving communities (Piper and Laney, 1926, p. 51-52). 

By the early 1870's much of the rich oxidized 

ore was mined out, and in 1876, when the Bank of 

California failed, financial support was withdrawn 

and mining in the Silver City area collapsed. Thus 

the first phase of mining in the Silver City district 

ended with a production of $12% million in gold 

and silver (Piper and Laney, 1926, p. 53). 

In 1889, discoveries at the Black Jack mine at 

Florida Mountain and the De Lamar mine at Wagontown started a second boom of greater magnitude 

but with less hysteria than the first. This was a 

period of consolidation and systematic development. 

By 1914, after $23 million in precious metals had 

been mined, the ores were depleted, and the activity 

again ended (Piper and Laney, 1926, p. 55-56). 

~ince then, there has been no major revival; operations have been sporadic and on a small scale. Piper 

(in Piper and Laney, 1926, p. 58) estimated the 

gold production of Owyhee County (which would 

in effect be the production of Silver City) as 900,000 

ounces. Ross (1941, p. 81) estimated the total gold 

production of the district at "over 1,000,000 ounces." 

Recorded gold production from 1941 through 1959 

was only about 8,500 ounces and would not greatly 

change Ross' estimate. 

Metasedimentary rocks consisting of graphite 

and . biotite schists are the oldest rocks in the district, though they are present in only a few outcrops. The most abundant rock unit is a granodiorite stock probably related to the Idaho batholith. 

The granodiorite is cut by aplite, dacite, and diorite 

porphyry dikes, which may or may not be genetically related to the stock (Ross, 1941, p. 81). During Miocene time, basaltic lavas were poured onto 

an erosion surface cut on the granodiorite, and 

rhyolite flows covered the basalt (Piper and Laney, 

1926, p. 20-36). 

The rocks of the Silver City district are cut by 

faults of several ages. The oldest are a set of highangle fractures and joints in the stock. After extrusion of the rhyolite flows, the rocks were dislocated by a second system of fractures that strike 

northwest and are nearly vertical (Piper and 

Laney, 1926, p. 39-40). The youngest faulting occurred after the ore deposits were formed. 

The veins of the district are fracture fillings and 

may be classified into four types (Piper and Laney, 

1926, p. 63): (1) veins characterized by white or 

milky quartz as in the Flint district, (2) veins 

composed of lamellar quartz typical of the De 

Lamar district, (3) silicified shear zones such as the 

Poorman, and ( 4) quartz-cemented breccias of 

which the Orofino-Golden Chariot vein is an example. All types are remarkably persistent and are 

traceable for thousands of feet along strike and as 

much as 2,500 feet below the surface (Ross, 1941, 

p. 81). 

The ore minerals are argentite, electrum, jamesonite, ruby, silver, naumannite, owyheeite, stibnite, 

and tetrahedrite. Arsenopyrite, galena, pyrite, and 

marcasite occur in minor amounts (Ross, 1941, 

p. 81). Included in the gangue are quartz, barite, 

calcite, chalcedony, and valencianite, a rare variety 

of orthoclase occurring as gangue in some ore deposits (Lindgren, 1900, p. 166-167). 

POWE.R COUNTY 

Founded in about 1912, Power County was 

formed from the part of Oneida County that bordered the Snake River. 
IDAHO 139 

In the late 1800's and early 1900's, placers were 

worked along the Snake River near American Falls. 

Staley (1946, p. 30) listed gold production of 17,039 

ounces for Oneida County from 1880 through 1912 

and 1,446 ounces from Snake River placers in 

Power County from 1913 to 1942. This total of 

18,485 ounces represents probably only a small 

fraction of the total yield, for as Staley (1946, 

p. 30) noted, the poorly kept records do not do 

justice to the actual production of the placers. In 

the 1950's these placers were inactive. 

SHOSHONE COUNTY 

The important mineral deposits of Shoshone 

County are in the Coeur d'Alene Mountains, along 

its northeast boundary. This mineralized area covers about 500 square miles and includes about eight 

mining districts, known collectively as the Coeur 

d'Alene region. 

The county's gold production from 1881 through 

1942 was 393,088 ounces (Staley, 1946, p. 27) ; 

from 1943 through 1959 it was 41,113 ounces-a 

total of 434,201 ounces for 1881-1959. 

COEUR D'ALJ<;NE REGION 

The Coeur d'Alene region is in northeastern 

Shoshone County between lat 47°25' and 47°40' N. 

and long 115°40' and 116°10' W., and includes the 

districts of Beaver, Eagle, Evolution, Hunter or 

Mullan, Lelande or Burke, Placer Center or Wallace, Summit, and Yreka. Wallace is its principal 

town. 

The first mineral discoveries were lodes in 1878, 

but it was not until rich placers were discovered 

along Prichard and Eagle Creeks in the early 1880's 

that any concentrated interest was shown in the 

area. The town of Murray was founded in the 

placer area, and it soon became the county seat of 

Shoshone County. In 1885 rich deposits of lead and 

silver were discovered along the South Fork of the 

Coeur d'Alene River; at the same time the placers 

at Murray began to decline (Ransome and Calkins, 

1908, p. 78-80). A railway into the region was 

completed in 1887, and by that time many properties-among them the Bunker Hill and Sullivan, 

Mammoth, Tiger, Morning, Poorman, and Granite 

-were producing substantial amounts of ore. The 

succeeding decade was marked by strife between 

the miners' unions and the mine owners, and several times troops were called in to restore order 

(Ransome and Calkins, 1908, p. 81). Meanwhile the 

Murray placers experienced a revival. The bench 

gravels were worked, and several new lode properties began producing. By 1911 the lead-zinc mines 

at Murray reached their peak, and many continued 

operating until 1933, when all of them closed 

(Shenon, 1938, p. 15). The region became slightly 

active again in the mid-1930's and remained so 

through 1959. 

Most of the early gold production of the region 

was from placers and gold-quartz veins near Murray; the lead-zinc ores at Murray contained only 

negligible amounts of gold. A total of 227,890 

ounces of gold was produced in the region from 

1884 to 1905 (Ransome and Calkins, 1908, p. 82). 

From 1906 through 1934 the Murray area produced 

66,092 ounces of placer and 3,154 ounces of lode 

gold (Shenon, 1938, p. 17), and from 1935 through 

1951 a total of 16,275 ounces of placer and lode 

gold was produced (Hosterman, 1956, p. 740). 

Mines in the Coeur d'Alene region, including the 

Murray district, produced a total of $7,180,151 

(348,550 ounces) in gold from 1884 through 1931 

(Ross, 1941, p. 85). Total gold production of the 

region through 1960 was about 439,000 ounces 

(Shenon, 1961, p. 1). 

The geology of the region was described in detail 

by Ransome and Calkins (1908, p. 23-77), and the 

following was abstracted from their report. The 

oldest and most abundant rocks underlying the district are Precambrian sedimentary rocks of the 

Belt Series. These are subdivided into six formations, from the oldest to youngest : Prichard Formation, Burke Formation, Revett Quartzite, St. 

Regis Formation, Wallace Formation, and Striped 

Peak Formation. All these formations, except the 

Striped Peak, are intruded along a northeast-trending belt by bodies of quartz monzonite. The intruded 

rocks, especially the calcareous types, are metamorphosed extensively along the contacts. In addition 

to quartz monzonite, other igneous rocks of the 

district are dikes of diabase and lamprophyre. 

The age of the intrusions and deformation is not 

clearly revealed. The rocks were folded and then 

faulted, but the intrusions may have occurred at 

any time during or prior to the faulting, as some 

faults cut the monzonite. 

The rocks are thrown into several large asymmetrical folds which trend west-northwest, north, 

or northeast. Complicating the structure are smaller 

folds superimposed on the limbs of the major ones. 

The rocks are extensively dislocated by normal and 

reverse faults, the main group of which strikes 

nearly east and a smaller group, north to slightly 

west of north. The Osburn, Placer Creek, Big 

Creek, and White Ledge faults are examples of the 

first group; the Dobson Pass, Carpenter Gulch, and 

O'Neil Gulch faults are typical of the second. 
140 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

Mineral deposits in the Coeur d'Alene region primarily contain silver-lead-zinc ores, and some copper and gold are recovered as byproducts. Gold 

lodes have been mined near Murray. The silverlead-zinc ores are mostly in the main part of the 

region, between Mullan and Kellogg. They are in 

veins and in tabular replacement bodies most of 

which are in the Revett and Burke Formations 

(Ransome and Calkins, 1908, p. 106). Argentiferous galena, pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and local tetrahedrite are the most abundant 

metallic minerals; siderite and locally occurring 

quartz are the dominant gangue minerals (Ransome 

and Calkins, 1908, p. 107-111). 

Gold deposits occur in four different structural 

environments: (1) mineralized shear zones with 

steep dips, (2) quartz veins along bedding planes, 

(3) quartz veins along low-angle thrust faults, and 

( 4) placers (Shenon, 1938, p. 18). Of these, the 

placers were the most productive, followed by the 

bedding-plane veins, then by the mineralized shear 

zones and thrust-fault deposits. All the gold lodes 

occur in beds of the Prichard Formation. Beddingplane veins usually are found in argillite. They contain quartz and some ankerite, sericite, albite, chlorite, and apatite. The ore minerals, which form as 

much as 5 percent of the vein material, are arsenopyrite, pyrite, galena, chalcopyrite, specularite, 

scheelite, and gold. Selenium is sparse (Shenon, 

1938, p. 20) . The .shear-zone deposits are mineralogically similar to the bedding-plane veins except 

that they also contain pyrrhotite and sphalerite 

but no scheelite or specularite (Shenon, 1938, p. 19). 

The minable thrust-fault deposits are restricted to 

only one mine, the Wakeup Jim. The mineralogy 

also is similar to that of the bedding-plane veins. 

Although copper deposits in this region are classified as a distinct type occupying an area in the 

southeast part of the district, they were worked by 

only one mine, and it was closed in 1915. The ores 

are disseminations of bornite, chalcocite, and chalcopyrite in the Revett Quartzite (Ransome and 

Calkins, 1908, p. 150). Gold is a minor constituent. 

VALLEY COUNTY 

Valley County, in west-central Idaho, was formed 

in 1917 and is one of the newest counties in the 

State. The early gold production of the area now 

known as Valley County was reported under Idaho 

or Boise Counties. Staley (1946, p. 28) credited 

Valley County with 96,578 ounces of gold from 1917 

through 1942. Total gold production from 1917 

through 1958 was 324,460 ounces, most of which 

was mined from lode deposits of antimony-gold ore 

in the late 1940's. The gold districts are in the 

northeastern part of the county in a triangularshaped area with Edwardsburg at the apex and the 

Yellow Pine and Thunder Mountain districts at the 

southwest and southeast corners respectively. Each 

side of the triangle is about 15 miles long. Edwardsburg, however, had only minor gold production and 

will not be discussed here. 

THUNDER MOUNTAIN DISTRICT 

The Thunder Mountain district is in T. 19 N., 

R. 11 E., on Monumental Creek, in northeastern 

Valley County. 

Discovered in 1896, the Thunder Mountain district is a typical example of the effect of rumor on 

the gold-fever-ravaged minds of that day. Accounts 

of wondrously rich gold ore attracted several thousand people to the district in 1902, and the towns 

of Belleco and Roosevelt sprang up; Roosevelt was 

the principal business center (Shenon and Ross, 

1936, p. 18). The boom lasted until 1907 when the 

principal producer, the Dewey mine, closed regular 

operations. In 1909 a landslide destroyed the town 

of Roosevelt, and this disaster stifled the enthusiasm 

of those still remaining in the district (Shenon and 

Ross, 1936, p. 19). After 1909 there were only intermittent operations in the district, chiefly at the 

Dewey and Sunnyside mines. 

The total value of production of the district to 

about 1940 was $400,000, most of which came from 

the Dewey and Sunnyside mines (Ross, 1941, p. 96). 

Although most of this was in gold, silver was also 

important as evidenced by the Dewey mine production record of 14,342 ounces of gold and 8,484 

ounces of silver from 1902 to 1919 (Shenon and 

Ross, 1936, p. 38). Total gold production of the district through 1959 was probably about 17,500 

ounces. 

Bedrock in the Thunder Mountain district consists of tuffaceous and rhyolitic rocks interbedded 

with sandstone, shales, and breccias, all considered 

part of the Challis Formation of late Oligocene or 

early Miocene age (Shenon and Ross; 1936, p. 10). 

Locally, patches of basalt cap the higher areas. 

The ore bodies are in altered rock, usually in the 

more permeable beds; at the Dewey mine, for example, the ore is in altered rhyolitic tuff, sandstone, 

rhyolitic lava, and breccia, in a steeply dipping 

shear zone. Pyrite and pyrargyrite were the only 

recognized ore minerals, and the gold was associated with pyrite irregularly concentrated in the 

rocks. The host rocks are highly silicified ( Shenon 

and Ross, 1936, p. 39). At the Sunnyside mine the 

ore occurs in flow breccia overlain by interbedded 
IDAHO 141 

sandstones, shales, and conglomerate; a mudfl.ow 

overlies much of the area. At some places where the 

mudflow is close to the breccia, blanketlike ore 

bodies are formed. Apparently the mud acted as an 

impermeable barrier to the upward-moving ore solutions. The ore is highly oxidized although patches 

of pyrite can be found locally. 

YELLOW PINE DISTRICT 

The Yellow Pine district is between lat 44°50' N. 

and long 115°00' and 115°30' W., near the town of 

Stibnite. 

In about 1900, during the rush to the Thunder 

Mountain district, deposits of quicksilver, antimony, 

and gold were found in the Yellow Pine district. 

No work of any consequence was done, however, 

until 1917, when the demand for quicksilver encouraged development of several properties, notably 

the Fern and Hermes mines (Cooper, 1951, p. 152}. 

Gold-antimony deposits were developed in 1929 at 

the Meadow Creek mine, but this property was 

closed in 1938. The Yellow Pine deposit, the major 

producer of the district, was discovered in the early 

1900's but was not mined until 1937. At first only 

gold and antimony were recovered, but in 1941 

scheelite was found. Activity accelerated, and during World War II the Yellow Pine mine became the 

largest tungsten producer in the United States. 

The tungsten ore was exhausted by 1945; nevertheless, large-scale mining of the antimony-gold ore 

continued (Cooper, 1951, p. 174-175}. At the end 

of 1952, the Yellow Pine mine was shut down and 

virtually no gold was produced from the district 

afterward. The nearby town of Stibnite was almost 

deserted by 1958. The Hermes mine remained active, however, and was still producing mercury in 

1959. 

The gold production of the Yellow Pine and 

Meadow Creek mines through 1945 was 101,437 

ounces (Cooper, 1951, p. 155}. Little if any gold 

was produced from any of the other properties. 

Total district gold production through 1959 was 

309,734 ounces. 

The oldest rocks in the Yell ow Pine district are 

quartzite, quartzitic conglomerate, mica schist, altered limestone, dolomite, and tactite, all probably 

Ordovician in age (Cooper, 1951, p. 156). These 

rocks were folded and faulted, then intruded by a 

mass of quartz monzonite related to the Idaho batholith of middle Cretaceous age. There was also some 

postintrusion faulting that dislocated the igneous 

rocks (Cooper, 1951, p. 162-163). Dikes ranging 

from basalt to rhyolite in composition cut the quartz 

monzonite and fill many of the faults and shear 

zones. 

Ore deposits, according to Cooper (1951, p. 164), 

are of two types: deposits of low-grade disseminated gold ore containing local concentrations of 

antimony, silver, and tungsten; and deposits of 

quicksilver. Currier (1935, p. 16-17), on the other 

hand, classified three types : arsenical gold ores, 

antimony-gold-silver ores, and mercury ores. 

The gold-bearing deposits are characterized by 

auriferous pyrite and arsenopyrite, scheelite, and 

stibnite. Cooper (1951, p. 165) noted a zoning of 

the deposits. East of a north-south line, 1 mile east 

of Stibnite, only mercury deposits are found; west 

of the line the important tungsten-antimony-silvergold deposits are found. All deposits are localized 

along faults; the zoning is probably due to depth 

below the land surface at the time of mineralization 

(Cooper, 1951, p. 165). Most of the deposits consist of a network of small mineralized fractures and 

disseminations in the adjacent wallrock. 

r MICHIGAN 

The only significant output of gold in Michigan 

came from a small area in the Upper Peninsula 

about 3 to 5 miles west-northwest of Ishpeming on 

the north side of the Marquette Range in Marquette 

County. This area yielded gold bullion valued at 

about $625,000, of which about $605,000 came from 

the Ropes mine (Allen, 1912, p. 358). The ratio of 

gold to silver is not known, but ore produced from 

the Ropes mine in 1895 yielded $34,838 ( 1,686 

ounces) in gold and $1,373 in silver-a ratio in 

value of about 25 to 1. Total gold production of 

Michigan through 1959 probably was about 29,000 

ounces. 

Gold in upper Michigan was probably first discovered in the early 1840's by Dr. Douglass Houghton, Michigan's first State geologist, who found 

gold in a streambed while studying the geology of 

the Upper Peninsula (Allen, 1912, p. 356), but the 

exact location of this discovery is not known. Gold 

mining in Michigan began with the discovery of the 

gold-bearing quartz vein in the Ropes mine in 1880 

and continued until 1897, when the mine was closed 

(Allen, 1912, p. 355-356). Very small amounts of 

gold that were reported periodically after 1897 

were derived from reworking of tailings. The workings of the Ropes mine reached a depth of about 

850 feet but none of the other mines exceeded 80 

feet in depth. 

The ores in the Ropes mine are in veins in peridotite in the Keewatin (Precambrian) rocks (Allen, 
142 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

FIGURE 14.-Gold-mining districts of Montana. 

Beaverhead County: 

1, Bannack; 2, Argenta; 3, Bryant. 

Broadwater County: 

4, Confederate Gulch; 5, White Creek; 6, Winston; t, 

Park; 8, Radersburg. 

Cascade County : 

9, Montana. 

Deer Lodge County: 

10, French Creek; 11, Georgetown. 

Fergus County: 

12, Warm Springs; 13, North Moccasin. 

Granite County: 

14, First Chance; 15, Henderson Placers; 16, Boulder 

Creek; 17, Flint Creek. 

Jefferson County: 

18, Clancy; 19, Wickes; 20, Basin and Boulder; 21, 

Elkhorn; 22, Tizer; 23, Whitehall. 

Lewis and Clark County: 

24, Rimini-Tenmile; 25, Helena-Last Chance; 26, Missouri River-York; 27, Sevenmile-Scratchgravel; 28, 

Marysville-Silver Creek; 29, Stemple-Virginia Creek; 

30, McClellan; 31, Lincoln. 

1912, p. 355). The veins are lenticular, and they 

are associated with talcose slate that probably was 

formed from sheared and altered peridotite. Free 

gold occurs with galena, pyrite, and copper ore 

minerals in a gangue of quartz. The mined ore 

ranged in value from $2 to $6 per ton. Some goldLincoln County: 

32, Libby; 33, Sylvanite. 

Madison County: 

34, Virginia City-Alder Gulch; 35, Norris; 36, Pony; 

37, Renova; 38, Silver Star-Rochester; 39, Tidal Wave; 

40, Sheridan. 

Mineral County: 

41, Cedar Creek-Trout Creek. 

Missoula County: 

42, Ninemile Creek; 43, Elk Creek-Coloma. 

Park County: 

44, Emigrant Creek; 45, Jardine; 46, Cooke City. 

Phillips County: 

47, Little Rocky Mountains. 

Powell County: 

48, Finn; 49, Ophir; 50, Pioneer; 51, Zosell. 

Ravalli County: 

52, Hughes Creek. 

Silver Bow County: 

53, Butte; 54, Highland. 

bearing quartz veins m the district are also in 

diorite and granite. 

MONTANA 

In Montana, 54 mining districts distributed in 17 

counties (fig. 14) each have produced more than 
MONTANA 143 

10,000 ounces of gold. Four districts-Butte, Helena, Marysville, and Virginia City-have produced 

more than 1 million ounces, and 27 other districts 

produced between 100,000 and 1 million ounces. 

Montana generally is credited with lode and placer 

gold production of 17,752,000 ounces from 1862 

through 1965. Almost two-thirds of the total was 

mined before 1900 when records were poorly kept; 

thus a large part is estimated. Figure 15 shows annual gold production of Montana from 1900 through 

1965. 

In 1852 gold was first discovered in Montana in 

gravels along Gold Creek in Powell County (Lyden, 

1948, p. 118). The influx of prospectors, however, 

started with the discovery in 1862 of placers along 

Grasshopper Creek, near Bannack, in Beaverhead 

County (Winchell, 1914a, p. 18). Other discoveries, 

both placer and lode, came in rapid succession. In 

May 1863, the very rich ~deposits along Alder Gulch 

near Virginia City in Madison County were discovered; these proved to be the most extensive and the 

most productive placers in Montana. The Last 

Chance placers on the present site of Helena in 

Lewis and Clark County, among Montana's most 

productive placers, were discovered in the summer 

of 1864 (Knopf, 1913, p. 15) as were the placers 

in the Butte district in Silver Bow County (Lyden, 

1948, p. 144-145). These rich discoveries stimulated 

a rush of prospectors to Montana who searched the 

valleys and gulches for gold-bearing gravels. Placer 

mmmg flourished during the 1860's. Some of the 

deposits were quickly worked out, but others were 

worked on a substantial scale up to World War II. 

Winchell (1914a, p. 19) described this extended activity as follows: 

By the gradual installation of ditches, flumes, and hydraulic 

and sluicing apparatus the life of the placer-mining industry has been extended for half a century, though with decreasing yield at nearly all places, except where new and 

virgin ground was opened by late discovery or by bringing 

water upon ground previously too dry to work. * * * The 

introduction of dredges increased the annual output to about 

half a million doll!lrs, though the newness of the method 

and the many difficulties that had to be overcome caused 

for a time great fluctuations in the yield. Since about the 

first of the century, however, the product has been large 

and increasing, and, despite the marked decrease in the 

amount of gold won by other placer methods, the annual 

placer production has formed an important portion of the 

total gold output of the State. 

In 1895 dredging was first attempted in Montana on 

Grasshopper Creek near Bannack (Winchell, 1914a, 

p. 21) . Dredges operated by electric power have 

been used since 1906. Since World War II very little 

placer mining has been done. 

Although placer deposits were the first to be discovered in most districts, lode deposits were discovered soon afterward or even contemporaneously, 

and in the 1870's lode production became significant. 

Among the first rich lode discoveries in 1864 were 

the Whitlatch:..Union in the Helena district (Knopf, 

1913, p. 15), the Black Chief (Travona) lode in the 

300r---------.-------r--------.------,r--------.--------,,----, 

~200" u 

z 

;:, 

0 

.... 

0 

en 

Cl 

z 

~ ::> 

~ 100 tYEAR 

FIGURE 15.'----Annual gold production of Montana, 1900-65. Sources of data: U.S. Geological Survey 

(1883-1924); U.S. Bureau of Mines (1925-1934; 1933-1966). 
144 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

Butte district (Weed, 1912, p. 18), and several lodes available records, none of these placers yielded more 

in the Blue Wing and Sheridan districts (Winchell, than 3,000 ounces. 

1914a, p. 69, 133). Lodes were found in the Silver The lode deposits are chiefly in the north half of 

Star district in 1867 (Winchell, 1914a, p. 139-140). the county where the Mount Torrey granitic stock 

Early development of the mines was impeded by and several smaller satellite bodies (Corry, 1933, 

lack of an adequate transportation system. By 1870 fig. 6) intrude Precambrian, Paleozoic, and Mesothe placers had been largely exhausted, and a period zoic sedimentary rocks. Most of the deposits are in 

of inactivity followed because lode mining was or near the granitic intrusives and are valuable 

hindered by high freight charges (Knopf, 1913, chiefly for silver and lead, but significant amounts 

p. 16). Mining supplies and equipment had to be of gold and copper have also been recovered. Gold 

brought in by wagon train in the early years; con- production from lode deposits has come mainly 

sequently, only the richest ore could be mined. Rail- from the Bannack, Argenta, and Bryant (Hecla) 

road transportation in the region became available districts. 

in 1882 on completion of the Utah and Northern 

Railway, a part of the Union Pacific Railroad system, from Ogden, Utah, to Silver Bow, near Butte, 

Mont. (Winchell, 1914a, p. 20). In 1883 the main 

line of the Northern Pacific Railway was completed 

across the State, and a spur was built from Garrison through Silver Bow to Butte (Winchell, 1914a, 

p. 20). 

The principal mining districts in Montana are 

scattered in the southwestern part of the State and 

are associated with the Boulder batholith and nearby stocks and dikes of Late Cretaceous or early 

Tertiary age (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, pl. 1). 

The ore deposits are found in the margins of the 

granitic rocks or in the wallrocks. 

BEAVERHEAD COUNTY 

Beaverhead County, in the southwest corner of 

the State, had a recorded gold produc~ion of about 

370,000 ounces through 1959, but early production 

records are incomplete and total output may be 

considerably larger. Before 1900 production from 

placers probably was considerably larger than from 

lodes; however, from 1904 through 1958 the county 

produced about 116,350 ounces of lode gold and 

only about 14,800 ounces of placer gold. 

Rich gold placer deposits were discovered at 

Bannack along Grasshopper Creek in 1862. These 

deposits were the first significant ore discoveries 

in Montana and started the first rush of prospectors 

to Montana. The first lode mine in Montana, also 

in the Bannack district, was located in 1862, soon 

after discovery of placer gold (Shenon, 1931, p. 27). 

The placer deposits along Grasshopper Creek 

have been the most productive in the county and 

probably are the only placers that have produced 

more than 10,000 ounces of gold. Gold has been 

recovered from placers along many of the other 

streams in the county (Lyden, 1948, p. 8-12), but 

operations have been intermittent and, according to 

ARGENTA DISTRICT 

The Argenta district, about 12 miles west of 

Dillon, has produced gold, silver, and lead, and 

smaller amounts of copper and zinc, mostly from 

lode deposits. After the discoveries of placer deposits in the Bannack district in 1862, some placer 

deposits were discovered near Argenta in the early 

1860's, but apparently (Winchell, 1914a, p. 66) 

these were successfully mined on a small scale for 

only a short time in the 1870's. No figures are available as to the amount of placer gold produced. Lode 

deposits in the district were discovered in the 

spring of 1865 (Shenon, 1931, p. 57), and the early 

lode discoveries presumably consisted of rich argentiferous lead ore which carried only small amounts 

of gold. According to fragmentary early mining 

records, eight furnaces were built at Argenta in the 

first few years. The ore bodies were soon depleted, 

and by 1875 the district was almost deserted. The 

next 50 years was a period of dormancy, broken by 

brief periods of activity (Winchell, 1914a, p. 66). 

In 1926 the Ermont deposits were discovered and 

the bulk of the gold production of the district has 

come from them (W. B. Myers, written commun., 

1947). The amount of gold produced prior to 1904 

has not been ascertained but it probably was very 

small. From 1904 through 1957 the district produced about 65,350 ounces of gold. 

The geology and ore deposits of the Argenta district were briefly described by Sheilon (1931, p. 44-

77) and by Winchell (1914a, p. 65-69). 

The Argenta district is underlain by folded and 

complexly faulted sedimentary rocks of Precambrian and Paleozoic age that are intruded by a stock 

of quartz monzonite and by sills and dikes of andesite and dacite of Late Cretaceous or Tertiary age. 

The ore occurs chiefly in contact metamorphic 

deposits in limestone, in pipelike bodies in limestone, in tabular shoots along bedding planes in 

limestone, and in . veins in both the sedimentary 
MONTANA 

rocks and in the quartz monzonite. The deposit at BRYANT DISTRICT 

145 

the Ermont mine, the most productive in the district, is in andesite along the Ermont fault and in 

shale beneath an andesite sill. The ore is oxidized 

and contains gold and limonite which is pseudomorphic after pyrite (W. B. Myers, written commun., 1947). 

BANNACK DISTRICT 

The Bannack district, about 22 miles west-southwest of the town of Dillon, is best known for the 

rich placer deposits discovered along Grasshopper 

Creek in 1862, but lode deposits on both sides of 

Grasshopper Creek have produced significant 

amounts of gold, silver, lead, and copper. Winchell 

( 1914a, p. 19, 75) credited the placer deposits along 

Grasshopper Creek with a gold production prior to 

1905 of about $2¥2 million (120,950 ounces) to 

$3 million (145,140 ounces), most of which was 

mined during the 1860's, whereas Shenon (1931, 

p. 28, 43-44) reported the total placer production 

for about the same period to be about $8 million 

( 387,034 ounces) . Winchell ( 1914a, p. 7 5) reported 

that the Bannack district produced about $1¥2 million (72,569 ounces) in gold bullion from its lode 

deposits, whereas Shenon (1931, p. 28) listed the 

gold production from lodes to be over $2 million 

(96,760 ounces). Total gold production through 

1959 was at least 240,400 ounces-132,000 ounces 

from placers and 108,400 ounces from lodes. The 

district was virtually idle from 1950 through 1959. 

The Bannack district is underlain by the Madison 

Limestone of Mississippian age, the Quadrant 

Quartzite of Carboniferous age, and red beds of 

Triassic ( ?) age. These rocks were intruded by several small masses of granodiorite. The eastern part 

of the district is covered by Tertiary volcanic rocks. 

The sedimentary rocks are folded and cut by faults, 

the most prominent of which is a thrust fault along 

which Madison Limestone overrides folded Triassic 

( ?) red beds (Shenon, 1931, p. 14-26). 

The ore deposits are chiefly irregular replacement 

bodies in the Madison Limestone near the granodiorite (Shenon, 1931, p. 39). They have yielded 

silver and gold and smaller amounts of lead, zinc, 

and copper. Much of the ore is oxidized. The most 

common ore minerals are native gold, tetrahedrite, 

chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite, pyrite, specularite, 

and magnetite, and their oxidation products-malachite, azurite, chrysocolla, cerussite, anglesite, smithsonite, and manganese and iron oxides. The gangue 

minerals include calcite, quartz, siderite, garnet, 

epidote, and vesuvianite (Shenon, 1931, p. 39-40). 

The Bryant (Hecla) district, in northeastern 

Beaverhead County about 12 miles west of Melrose, 

produced chiefly silver and lead and minor amounts 

of copper, gold, and zinc. Mining began with the 

first discovery of rich silver-lead ore in 1873 

(Winchell, 1914a, p. 86) and continued through 

1920, although production declined sharply after 

1904 and was intermittent and small during the 

1920's. After the price of gold was raised in 1934, 

the district again was active through 1949, but 

since then it has been idle. From 1873 through 1912 

ore valued at about $15,425,000, chiefly in silver 

and lead, was mined, including 11,744 ounces of gold 

valued at $242,800 (Winchell, 1914a, p. 86). Total 

gold production through 1959, all from lode deposits, 

was about 17,440 ounces. 

Paleozoic and Cretaceous sedimentary rocks and 

a stock of quartz monzonite and basic dikes of Late 

Cretaceous or Tertiary age underlie the district. 

The rocks were warped into a dome and subjected 

to compressive forces that produced overturned 

folds, thrusting, and tear faults. Later, probably at 

the end of Tertiary time, the rocks were offset by 

normal faults (Karlstrom, 1948, p. 15-50). 

Most of the ore deposits are replacement shoots 

and pockets in dolomitic limestone of Cambrian age 

near the quartz monzonite intrusive. Small deposits 

have also been found in the quartz monzonite and 

along dikes (Winchell, 1914a, p. 79-86). Most of the 

ore is oxidized, but sulfides are found in the lower 

levels of some mines. The oxidized ores contain native silver, gold, cerargyrite, cerussite, malachite, 

azurite, chrysocolla, cuprite, smithsonite, and calamine; the sulfide ores contain galena, tetrahedrite, 

argentite, pyrite, sphalerite, chalcocite, and chalcopyrite. The gangue consists chiefly of calcite, dolomite, hematite, and quartz (Karlstrom, 1948, p. 

50-51). 

BROADWATER COUNTY 

Broadwater County, in west-central Montana, was 

noted for its gold placers, which were among the 

most productive in the State. Though production 

before 1904 was not recorded, it was large. The estimated placer gold production of Confederate Gulch 

alone was about $12 million (580,550 ounces) (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 172-173), and significant 

production has also come from placers along White, 

Avalanche, Beaver, Indian, and Crow Creeks (Lyden, 1948, p. 17-20). Early lode production is also 

unrecorded, but it probably was small. Total gold 

production for the county from 1901 through 1959 

was approximately 362,000 ounces-about 327,500 
146 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

ounces from lodes and 34,500 ounces from placers; 

from the beginning of mining through 1959 the total probably was about 1 million ounces. 

CONFEDERATE GULCH DISTRICT 

The Confederate Gulch (Backer) district is along 

Confederate Gulch, a tributary of the Missouri 

River in northern Broadwater County, about 11 

miles north of Townsend. Gold has been mined 

chiefly from placer deposits along Confederate Gulch 

and its tributaries; only a little production has come 

from lode deposits. The placers along Confederate 

Gulch were discovered in 1864 and proved to be 

exceedingly rich; they were higher in grade, though 

lower in tonnage, than the well-known placers along 

Alder Gulch in Madison County and along Last 

Chance Gulch in Lewis and Clark County. The total 

yield is estimated to be worth about $12 million 

(580,550 ounces), most of which was achieved in 

the first 5 years of mining. After 1869 placer mining 

declined rapidly and by 1880 only a few miners remained in the district (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, 

p. 171-173). Lod~ production in the early years was 

of little consequence, but from 1908 through 1951 

lodes were worked continuously on a small scale, 

except during World War II. No activity was reported in either lodes or placers from 1953 through 

1959. 

'J'he total gold production of the district through 

1959 was 'between 550,000 and 600,000 ounces; all 

but about 10,000 ounces was from placers. 

The placers are in stream terrace gravels believed 

to be Pleistocene in age (Pardee and Schrader, 

1933, p. 174-175). They were deposited at several 

levels by streams during the process of excavating 

the Confederate Gulch drainage basin. Pardee concluded that the distribution of the gold-bearing 

gravel indicates that the chief, if not the only, 

source of the gold is the quartz lodes on Miller 

Mountain at the head of Montana Gulch. 

Most of the district is underlain by Precambrian 

shaly, slaty, and calcareous rocks of the Belt Series. 

These are disconformably overlain by Paleozoic sedimentary rocks that include the Flathead Quartzite, 

Wolsey Shale, and unnamed limestone and shale, all 

of Cambrian age ; limestone and shale of Devonian 

age; and the Madison Limestone, Quadrant Quartzite, and Phosphoria Formation, all of Carboniferous 

age. These rocks were folded into a large northwesttrending anticline, exposing the Precambrian rocks 

in the eastern part of the district and steeply dipping bands of Paleozoic rocks in the western part. 

The rocks were also cut by prominent thrust faults 

and were intruded during Late Cretaceous or early 

Tertiary time by sills, dikes, and small stocks of 

quartz diorite and quartz monzonite (Pardee and 

Schrader, 1933, p. 123-132). Gold-quartz veins are 

along fractures in the quartz diorite and bedding 

planes in adjacent Precambrian shale. A few lodes 

are replacement bodies in the quartz diorite. Quartz, 

pyrite, and galena are characteristic minerals of 

both types of lodes. The oxidized parts of the deposits contained quartz, iron oxides, and small 

specks of native gold (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, 

p. 139-146). 

PARK DISTRICT 

The Park (Indian Creek, Hassel) district, on the 

east side of the Elkhorn Mountains between Winston and Radersburg, has produced lode and placer 

gold, silver, and a little lead and zinc. Placer deposits were discovered about 1860 along Indian 

Creek near Hassel, and gold veins were discovered 

later (Stone, 1911, p. 90). The placers yielded about 

$50,000 (2,370 ounces) in 1871, but little else is 

known of the early placer operations (Lyden, 1948, 

p. 19). There was placer mining in 1911-15, 1933-

43, and again in 1945-49. 

Records of the early lode mining are meager. According to Stone (1911, p. 90), tunnels and open-pit 

mining along some large mineralized zones produced 

about $500,000 (23,690 ounces) in gold, probably 

prior to 1908. With few exceptions there was some 

production every year from 1908 through 1957. The 

district was idle from 1957 through 1959. M. R. 

Klepper (written commun., 1962) summarized gold 

production as follows: 1864-1904, $850,000; 1905-

28, $50,000; 1929-56, $1,250,000. Production from 

1864 to 1904 was mainly from placers and from 

some lode mines in the Hassel area. From 1929 to 

1956, production was mainly lode gold from the 

Marietta mine. Total production for all three periods was about 80,300 ounces of gold valued at 

$2,150,000. 

Most of the lode deposits in the Park district are 

quartz veins in andesite which is intruded by quartz 

monzonite. The ore consists chiefly of auriferous 

pyrite accompanied by arsenopyrite and galena; the 

principal value is in gold (Stone, 1911, p. 89-91). 

RADimSBURG DISTRICT 

The Radersburg (Cedar Plains, Crow Creek) district, on the east side of the Elkhorn Mountains in 

southern Broadwater County, was the largest producer of lode gold in the county; it also produced 

some placer gold and significant amounts of silver, 

copper, lead, and a small amount of zinc. 
MONTANA 147 

Placer and lode deposits were discovered in 1866 

(Winchell, 1914a, p. 173, 182). By the late 1870's 

the easily worked oxidized gold ores were depleted, 

and most of the mines closed. In 1883 railroad connections were made with the large smelters at Butte 

and Helena that treated sulfide ores at low costs. 

The mines at Radersburg were reactivated and continued in operation through 1956. The district was 

idle from 1956 through 1959. 

Placer deposits are found for several miles along 

Crow Creek and Johnny Gulch near Radersburg. 

Old residents of the district estimated the placer 

production from 1866 to 1904 at $500,000 (24,380 

ounces) to $1 million ( 48,379 ounces) (Winchell, 

1914a, p. 182). Placer production after 1904 was 

about 850 ounces. The total gold production of the 

district through 1959, including both lode and 

placer, was about 325,000 ounces. 

The principal gold deposits in the Radersburg district are in veins· in andesitic volcanic rocks and 

associated intrusive diorite porphyry of Late Cretaceous age (M. R. Klepper, written commun., 

1962). A stock of monzonite cuts these rocks about 

a mile south of the major mines. Ore deposits, which 

are valued mainly for silver, lead, and zinc, are 

along or near contacts of intrusive rocks with Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks. The most valuable deposits are gold-bearing pyrite veins containing a very small amount of chalcopyrite and very 

little quartz or other gangue material. A few veins 

contain quartz and small amounts of sphalerite, 

arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, and galena. The ore along 

or near the igneous contacts is accompanied locally 

by calcite, siderite or ankerite, limonite, and pyrolusite. Cerussite, wulfenite, and hematite are in the 

oxidized parts of a few deposits. 

WHITE CREEK DISTRICT 

The White Creek district, in northern Broadwater 

County northwest of Confederate Gulch, includes 

the drainage basins of White Creek, Avalanche 

Creek, and upper Magpie Gulch, all of which are 

tributaries of the Missouri River. Production of the 

district consists chiefly of placer gold and a small 

amount of lode copper. Gold was discovered in the 

gravel along White Creek in 1865, and the placers 

along the upper part of White Creek and Johnny 

Gulch, a tributary, were mined for about 20 years 

(Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 179). The deposits 

were rich but production data are not available. 

Johnny Gulch was mined for a mile or more, and 

below its mouth in White Creek, drift mining was 

undertaken for a mile or more. Based on the amount 

of gravel moved, Pardee (in Pardee and Schrader, 

1933, p. 179) estimated the yield at about $1 to $1lj2 

million worth of gold. The Avalanche Creek placers 

yielded at least $100,000 and Magpie Gulch yielded 

about $330,000 in gold (Lyden, 1948, p. 18, 73). 

Most of the production was before 1904; only a few 

ounces was reported in the 1920's and 1930's from 

desultory diggings along White Creek and Magpie 

Gulch. Total gold production through 1959 was between 68,000 and 92,000 ounces. 

The country rock of the White Creek district is 

almost the same as in the Confederate Gulch district 

and consists of folded and faulted Precambrian and 

Paleozoic sedimentary rocks and intrusive diorite 

and quartz diorite, chiefly dikes, of Cretaceous or 

Tertiary age (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, pl. 15). 

The placer gold along White Creek was derived from 

the same gold quartz veins on Miller Mountain that 

supplied the gold of Confederate Creek (Pardee and 

Schrader, 1933, p. 162-163,174, 179). The source of 

the placer gold in Magpie Gulch and its tributaries 

and in Avalanche Gulch is considered to be the 

quartz veins that are associated with diorite dikes 

in the area (Lyden, 1948, p. 7 4; Pardee and 

Schrader, 1933, p. 179). 

WINSTON DISTRICT 

The Winston (Beaver Creek) mining district is in 

north Broadwater County in the drainage basin of 

Beaver Creek, a tributary of the Missouri River. 

Production of the district has come chiefly from 

lode mining of gold and mixed sulfide ores; placer 

gold mining, which began about 1866, has been relatively unimportant. According to Lyden (1948, p. 

19), there is no record of placer mining since 1915. 

The first lode was discovered in 1867 on the East 

~ Pacific property; there were other early discoveries, 

but apparently little mining was done until 10 to 20 

years later (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 211-212, 

216). After 1900 the greatest activity was during 

1908-18 and 1926-53. The district was idle from 

1953 through 1959. 

Early production records are fragmentary, but 

the production of precious and base metals through 

1928 was estimated to be at least $3 million, of 

which about $2% million was mined before 1908 

(Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 212). Though the 

amount of gold was not stated, it must have been a 

major constituent, especially of those ores that were 

oxidized. Total gold production through 1959 was 

worth about $2,750,000, of which 90 percent was 

from lodes and 10 percent from placers (M. R. 

Klepper, written commun., 1962). This amounts to 

roughly 106,000 ounces from lodes and 12,000 

ounces from placers. 
148 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

In the Winston district (Stone, 1911, pl. 3), small 

stocks of quartz monzonite of probable Late Cretaceous age intrude a thick sequence of andesite flows, 

tuffs, and breccias of Late Cretaceous age (M. R. 

Klepper, oral commun., 1962). The ore deposits are 

in quartz veins in the andesite and in quartz monzonite. The ore minerals are pyrite and locally occurring galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, or their oxidation products. Arsenopyrite and tetrahedrite are 

rare components (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 

214). Gold occurs in all the veins and is the main 

valuable constituent in oxidized ores; it is relatively 

less abundant in unoxidized ores, where it is associated with the sulfide minerals. 

CASCADE COUNTY 

Gold production in Cascade County has been almost entirely from lode deposits in the Montana 

(Neihart) district. 

MONTANA DISTRICT 

The Montana (Neihart) district in the southeast 

corner of Cascade County, in the central Little Belt 

Mountains just east of Neihart, has produced chiefly 

silver and lead, some copper and zinc, and gold as a 

byproduct. Rich silver ore was discovered in 1881, 

and the district had an estimated gold production 

of $800,000 (38,703 ounces) from 1881 to 1898 

(Weed, 1900, p. 404). The gold production from 

1902 to 1948 inclusive (Robertson, 1951, table 3) 

was 28,010 ounces, and from 1949 through 1952, 

about 188 ounces. There was no recorded production 

from 1952 through 1959. Total recorded gold production through 1959 was about 67,000 ounces. 

The oldest rocks of the Montana district are contorted Precambrian gneiss and schist and a Precambrian diorite phacolith. They are overlain by 

rocks of the Precambrian Belt Series of which the 

basal unit, the Neihart Quartzite, forms the country rock in the southeastern part of the area 

(Schafer, 1935, p. 6-12, pl. 2; Weed, 1900, p. 371-

381, pl. 41). All the rocks are intruded by stocks, 

laccoliths, and dikes of granite porphyry and quartz 

porphyries and black mafic dikes, all probably of 

early Tertiary age. 

The economically important deposits occur in 

veins in the gneisses and schists and in the diorite, 

along contacts of these rocks with the Tertiary intrusive rocks, and locally as disseminated low-grade 

deposits in the brecciated Tertiary intrusive bodies 

(Robertson, 1951, p. 18-19). In the Snow Creek area 

gold is an important constituent of veins that cut 

the Neihart quartzite and Tertiary porphyry 

(Schafer, 1935, p. 15, 26-29). 

The common ore minerals are galena, pyrite, sphalerite, polybasite, argentite, pyrargyrite, native silver, gold, and chalcopyrite; the gangue minerals are 

quartz, barite, and ankerite (Weed, 1900, p. 405-

410). 

DEER LODGE COUNTY 

Deer Lodge County in southwestern Montana has 

produced large amounts of silver and both lode and 

placer gold. The total production of the county has 

not been accurately determined, for records of early 

production, especially placer production, were not 

kept. Although there was a large placer output in 

the 1860's and 1870's, the deposits were soon depleted and have been virtually dormant since 1900. 

Production prior to 1904 was probably between $3% 

(169,330 ounces) and $81,4 million (399,135 ounces), 

of which about $2¥2 to $3 million represents lode 

production and the remainder represents placer gold. 

From 1904 through 1952, the county produced about 

303,000 ounces of lode gold and only 2,243 ounces of 

placer gold. The total minimum gold production of 

the county through 1959 was about 470,000 ounces. 

Most of the gold mined in Deer Lodge County came 

from the Georgetown and French Creek districts. 

Georgetown yielded almost all the lode gold; French 

Creek yielded the placer gold. 

FRENCH CREER DISTRICT 

The French Creek district is in southern Deer 

Lodge County about 12 miles south of Anaconda. 

The gold of the district came from placer deposits 

near the headwaters of French Creek and its tributaries. The total placer gold has not been ascertained, and the estimates of the early production 

vary considerably. The deposits were discovered in 

1864 and, according to Lyden (1948, p. 24), they 

were credited by R. W. Raymond with having produced about $1 million (48,380 ounces) to the end 

of 1869, but other estimates listed by Lyden 

(1948, p. 24) credited the district with a yield of $5 

million during the same period. Between 1900 and 

1902, a dredge and several hydraulic installations 

were operating in the district, but their productivity 

was not recorded. The deposits were again worked in 

the 1930's, but only a few ounces of gold was recovered. The district was inactive from 1940 through 

1959. Total gold production probably was between 

50,000 and 250,000 ounces through 1959. 

GEORGETOWN DISTRICT 

The Georgetown district, which includes the Cable 

mine and placer deposit, is in the northwestern part 

of Deer Lodge County in the upper drainage basin 
MONTANA 149 

of Warm Springs Creek about 10 to 15 miles northwest of Anaconda and about 10 miles southeast of 

Philipsburg. Gold is the most valuable commodity 

mined in the district, but small amounts of silver 

and copper are also obtained. Virtually the entire 

output of lode gold of Deer Lodge County has come 

from the Georgetown district. 

The Cable mine, the most productive in the district, was located in 1866, and a mill to treat the 

ore was built the following year (Emmons and 

Calkins, 1913, p. 221-222). The production of the 

mine to 1872 was worth about $400,000. In 1877, 

the mine changed ownership and a new mill was 

built. From 1877 until 1891, more than $2 million 

(96,760 ounces) in gold· was recovered. The ore 

shoots were supposedly exhausted in 1891, and the 

mine closed. Under new management the mine was 

developed to deeper levels; additional ore was found 

and production was sustained for some time. The 

Southern Cross mine, another large gold producer in 

the district, was also located in 1866, but the claim 

was allowed to lapse. It was relocated in the early 

1870's, and ore worth a total of $600,000, mainly in 

gold, was mined intermittently through 1905 (Emmons and Calkins, 1913, p. 231). The lode mines 

were moderately active until 1943. Production 

ceased for the following 6 years, and only a few 

hundred ounces of gold was produced from 1950 

through 1959. 

Significant amounts of placer gold were mined in 

the early years, chiefly from the Cable placer, near 

the Cable mine, and from the Georgetown placers. 

The Cable placer was a bonanza deposit. In 1872 and 

1873 it yielded $51,000 in gold, and, it was worked 

for many years during which the total returns probably amounted to several hundred thousand dollars 

(Emmons and Calkins, 1913, p. 264). The Georgetown placers, near Georgetown, produced about 

$40,000 (1,935 ounces) in gold in 1870. No other 

figures have been found covering placer production 

through 1934, and only 96 ounces was recorded from 

1935 through 1959. 

The total gold output of the district through 1959 

was at least 460,000 ounces, most of which was from 

lode mines. 

Faulted and folded sedimentary rocks, mainly of 

Paleozoic age, are intruded by a small stock and 

several smaller bodies of granitic rock (Emmons and 

Calkins, 1913, p. 221). The most productive mines 

are in the sedimentary rocks near the intrusive contacts, but some deposits are a mile or more from 

such contacts and some are in the intrusive rock. 

The deposits include gold-copper replacement deposits of contact-metamorphic origin, gold-bearing replacement veins in sedimentary rocks, and goldbearing veins in granite (Emmons and Calkins, 

1913, p. 221-242). The chief ore minerals are pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, gold, and magnetite 

in a gangue of quartz, calcite, and garnet. The ore 

bodies at the Cable mine are large irregular replacement deposits in a large limestone block nearly 

surrounded by granite. In most of the other mines 

the ore deposits are chiefly replacement veins in 

limestone and calcareous shale. 

FERGUS COUNTY 

Fergus County in north-central Montana is east 

of the main mining area of the State. Gold accounts 

for about 99 percent of the value of metals produced in the county. From 1886 through 1950 the 

total gold production of Fergus County was about 

653,000 ounces; all but 500 to 1,000 ounces was from 

lodes. The periods of greatest activity were 1901-22 

and 1936-42. The bulk of the gold production from 

Fergus County has come from the Warm Springs 

district in the Judith Mountains and from the North 

Moccasin district near Kendall in the North Moccasin Mountains. 

NORTH MOCCASIN DISTRICT 

Located in the North Moccasin Mountains in 

west-central Fergus County about 15 to 18 miles 

north-northwest of Lewistown, the North Moccasin 

(Kendall) district produced about 425,000 to 450,000 

ounces of gold through 1959, about two-thirds of the 

county production. In 1903 and 1904, when Fergus 

County was the leading gold producer in Montana, 

nearly all the gold came from this district. 

These deposits were discovered in 1893, about 13 

years after the discovery of gold ore in the Judith 

Mountains, but they were not developed until about 

1900, when a cyanidation plant was built to recover 

the gold from the refractory ores which were not 

amenable to amalgamation. Mining thereafter was 

almost continuous through 1922, at which time the 

North Moccasin mine, the most productive in the 

district since 1911, closed (U.S. Bureau of Mines, 

1924, pt. 1, p. 350). The district was practically idle 

until the middle 1930's. In 1936 the old Barnes-King 

property was reopened, a 50-ton cyanide plant was 

built, and there was substantial production from the 

district through 1942. Only small-scale operations 

were carried on after World War II, and the district 

was idle from 1948 through 1959. 

The North Moccasin Mountains, which lie west of 

the Judith Mountains, are a single, major, domeshaped uplift formed by the laccolithic intrusion of 
150 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

syenite porphyry into Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks. Dikes and sills are also present 

(Blixt, 1933, p. 5). 

The gold deposits are irregularly distributed in 

bituminous and argillaceous layers in limestone near 

the top of the Madison Formation, but some ore has 

also been found in dikes and in sandstone and shale. 

Mining has centered on the eastern slope of the 

mountains near Kendall. The ore is oxidized and 

consists of finely disseminated native gold, quartz, 

fluorite, and limonite. Unoxidized ore in prospects 

contains chalcopyrite, argentiferous galena, sphalerite, and pyrite (Blixt, 1933, p. 21). 

WARM SPRINGS DISTRICT 

The Warm Springs (Maiden-Gilt Edge) district 

is near the southwest end of the Judith Mountains 

in the central part of the county about 10 miles 

northeast of Lewistown. The first ore discoveries in 

Fergus County, which were placer gravels in the 

Judith Mountains, were made in either 1879 or 1880 

~(Lyden, 1948, p. 28). Soon afterward gold-silver 

lodes were found. The placers were worked on a 

small scale but their output is not known. The lode 

mines of the district yielded gold ores worth 

$939,230 (about 45,400 ounces) before 1900 

(Robertson, 1950, table 4, p. 10). Lode mining continued after 1900; the most prosperous period probably was 1901-21. From 1932 through 1954 activity 

was desultory, and the district was idle from 1954 

through 1959. Total gold production through 195~ 

was about 200,000 ounces. 

The Judith Mountains are a group of dome-shaped 

uplifts formed by laccolithic intrusions of Late 

Cretaceous or early Tertiary age into sedimentary 

rocks that range from Cambrian to Cretaceous in 

age (Weed and Pirsson, 1898, p. 457). Associated 

with the laccoliths are sills and dikes. The intrusive 

rocks are chiefly acidic porphyries. The major ore 

deposits are found in limestone near porphyry contacts. The ore minerals are gold and sylvanite accompanied by pyrite, galena, argentite, sphalerite, 

and chalcopyrite. The gangue minerals are calcite, 

chalcedonic quartz, and fluorite (Corry, 1933, p. 39-

40). 

GRANITE COUNTY 

Granite County, in west-central Montana, through 

1959 produced a total of 710,000 ounces of gold376,000 ounces from silver lodes and 334,000 ounces 

from placers. The most prosperous period was 1881-

93 when the Granite Mountain, Hope, and a few 

other silver mines were at their peaks. Most of the 

lode gold has been a byproduct of silver ores in the 

Flint Creek, First Chance, and Boulder Creek districts (Emmons and Calkins, 1913, p. 192). 

Placers along Bear Creek in the First Chance 

district and along Henderson Creek in the Henderson district were also productive, mostly before 

1900. Lodes and, to a lesser extent, placers continued 

to yield substantial amounts of gold until 1946, but 

their output diminished through the 1950's. 

BOULDJo:R CREEK DISTRICT 

The Boulder Creek district is in the east-central 

part of Granite County, about 7 to 9 miles northeast of Philipsburg. Most of the gold has come from 

lode deposits that also yielded some silver, lead, 

and copper. There were intermittent placer operations along Boulder Creek and its tributaries 

through 1942, but production from these was small 

(Lyden,1948,p.40-41). 

Although lode deposits were found in districts 

surrounding the Boulder Creek basin in the 1860's, 

important discoveries were not made on Boulder 

Creek and its tributaries until 1885 (Emmons and 

Calkins, 1913, p. 192). The district was active until 

1906 when the Royal mine, the most productive in 

the district, was put under lease (Emmons and 

Calkins, 1913, p. 246-247) and thereafter activity 

declined. Production again increased during the 

1930's after the price of gold was raised, but from 

1943 through 1959, activity was minor. 

The early lode production is not known. The 

Royal mine is credited with a production, principally in the late 1890's, of about $1 million ( 48,379 

ounces) in gold, and a small production came from 

other mines (Emmons and Calkins, 1913, p. 246). 

Total gold production of the district through 1959 

was about 58,450 ounces, including about 1,400 

ounces from placers. 

The country rock in the Boulder Creek district 

consists of extensively faulted and tilted sedimentary 

rocks ranging in age from Precambrian to Mesozoic 

and biotite granite of Tertiary age which intruded 

the sedimentary rocks. Some of the faults cut the 

granite. The ore deposits are chiefly fissure veins 

in the granite, in siliceous Precambrian rocks, and 

in Carboniferous or Mesozoic quartzite and impure 

limestone. A few replacement veins are in relatively 

pure Paleozoic limestone. The most productive deposits are gold veins that contain small amounts of 

silver. A few veins are· silver or silver-lead veins 

that contain a little gold. The principal sulfides of 

the gold ores are pyrite and galena in quartz 

gangue; the silver ores carry also tetrahedrite and 

sphalerite (Emmons and Calkins, 1913, p. 246-250). 
MONTANA 151 

FIRST CHANCE DISTRICT 

The First Chance (Garnet) district is in northern 

.Granite County in the drainage basin of Bear Creek, 

a tributary of the Clark Fork River. Both placer 

and lode deposits were found in the district. The 

placer deposits along Bear Creek and its subsidiary 

gulches were the most productive in Granite County 

and were among the more productive of the early 

placer operations in Montana. The placer deposits 

were discovered in 1865, and up to 1917, according 

to Pardee (1918, p. 231-232), they produced gold 

valued between $5 million (241,900 ounces) and 

$7 million (338,660 ounces), mostly in the first few 

years of operation. From 1917 through 1959 the 

district produced a minimum of 15,200 ounces, most 

of which was mined during the period 1939-42. The 

total placer production from the district through 

1959 was between 260,000 and 355,000 ounces. 

The lode deposits are valuable chiefly for gold, but 

some copper and silver have also been produced. The 

first lodes were located in the district in 1867 but 

were not exploited to any extent until 1896 (Pardee, 

1918, p. 171-172). A continuous but fluctuating production was maintained through 1942. After World 

War II the district had only minor activity and was 

virtually idle through the 1950's. The total lode gold 

production through 1959 was probably 85,000 to 

90,000 ounces. The total lode and placer production 

combined is probably between 345,000 and 445,000 

ounces. 

The rocks of the Garnet district are quartzite and 

shale of the Belt Series of Precambrian age over: 

lain by limestone of Paleozoic age. These rocks 

were folded into a northwest-trending arch and 

were intruded by a mass of granodiorite of Late 

Cretaceous or Tertiary age. The ore deposits are in 

veins in the granodiorite and along bedding planes 

in quartzite and schist. Quartz is the dominant vein 

mineral; barite and ankerite are locally abundant. 

The ore minerals are pyrite, tetrahedrite, chalcopyrite, galena, and in rare occurrences, gold tellurides 

and moiybdenite. Most of the gold is associated with 

pyrite (Pardee, 1918, p. 172-177). 

FLINT CREEK DISTRICT 

Most of the mines of the Flint Creek (Philipsburg) district, which includes the Red Lion camp, 

are in a 3-square-mile area just east of Philipsburg. 

This district is the largest lode-gold producer in 

Granite County even though gold accounts for only 

10 percent of the value of the ore. Silver forms the 

remaining 90 percent. Some lead, copper, and zinc 

have been produced but they are of no great economic importance. From 1950 through 1959 the 

Algonquin mine produced large tonnages of manganese ore, which yielded gold as a byproduct. The 

principal mines of the district are the Granite, 

Bimetallic, and Hope mines. 

Ore was discovered at the Hope mine in December 1864, and lodes were soon located in many 

other places in the district and in the adjacent 

region (Emmons and Calkins, 1913, p. 191-193). 

The town of Philipsburg, just south of the Hope 

mine, was founded in 1867. 

The Granite Mountain mine, the most productive 

in the Flint Creek district, was located in 1872. 

From 1875 to 1892 it yielded about $20 million in 

silver and gold and for a time was the most pro·-

ductive silver mine in the United States (Emmons 

and Calkins, 1913, p. 202-203). The Bimetallic mine, 

on the same ore shoot as the Granite Mountain, 

began operations in about 1882. Because of the fall 

in the price of silver, the mine was shut down in 

1893 and was consolidated with the Granite mine in 

1898 under the name of the Granite-Bimetallic Consolidated Mining Co. From 1898 to 1904 these mines 

produced silver ore valued at about $1 million a 

year, but in August 1905 they were again shut down 

because of the low price of silver and decreasing 

grade of the ore. In 1906 the mine was opened to 

leasers. With the exception of the depression years, 

1930-32, the Flint Creek district maintained a substantial annual production through 1945, when activity slackened. From 1946 through 1956 only a 

small amount of gold was mined. No activity was 

reported from 1957 through 1959. 

Early mining operations in the district were very 

expensive because of the remoteness of supply 

points. Milling costs were especially high; for example, salt, which was used in large quantities in 

silver mills, had to be transported from Utah and 

cost $120 a ton at Philipsburg in 1871. In 1883 the 

Northern Pacific Railway was completed through 

Drummond, only 30 miles from Philipsburg. A railroad from Drummond to Philipsburg was completed in 1887 (Emmons and Calkins, 1913, p. 192), 

and low-cost shipment of ore to smelters at Helena, 

Anaconda, and Great Falls was made possible. Some 

ore, however, was still treated in silver mills near 

the mines. 

The gold production of the Flint Creek district 

before 1904 was estimated by Emmons and Calkins 

( 1913, p. 201, 203) to be worth about $3,200,000, or 

about 155,000 ounces. Total production through 1959 

was about 260,000 ounces. 

The rocks exposed in the mineralized area east of 

Philipsburg comprise the upper part of the Spokane 

Formation of Precambrian (Algonkian) age and 
152 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

sedimentary rocks of Paleozoic age. These rocks are 

intruded by granite and granite porphyry of Cretaceous or Tertiary age and are folded and cut by 

numerous faults of small displacement (Emmons 

and Calkins, 1913, p. 28-126; 201). 

The precious-metal deposits consist of silverbearing veins in granite and in sedimentary rocks 

and silver-bearing replacement deposits in calcareous sedimentary rocks (Emmons and Calkins, 1913, 

p. 201-219). The Granite-Bimetallic lode, which produced the bulk of the ore in the district, is in the 

granite. This lode consists of pyrite, arsenopyrite, 

stibnite, tetrahedrite, tennantite, galena, sphalerite, 

and small amounts of pyrargyrite, proustite, realgar, and orpiment in a gangue of quartz, rhodochrosite, and calcite. This ore contained 20 to 30 ounces 

of silver per ton and from $1.50 to $3.00 worth of 

gold per ton. Much of the ore was enriched and 

secondary cracks are filled with pyrargyrite (ruby 

silver), argentite, and tetrahedrite (gray copper) 

and, locally, sphalerite and chalcopyrite. The secondary ore carried from 50 to 1,000 ounces of silver 

per ton and from $4.00 to $8.00 worth of gold per 

ton. 

The replacement ore, which has been exploited 

chiefly in the Hope mine, consists of quartz, calcite, 

fluorite, barite, and rhodochrosite, and the ore minerals are argentite, chalcocite, and argentiferous 

tetrahedrite. Pyrite and galena are rare, because 

much of the ore was oxidized. There is almost no 

gold in this type of ore (Emmons and Calkins, 1913, 

p. 163). 

HENDERSON PLACERS 

Located along Henderson Creek about 10 to 12 

miles north of Philipsburg, the Henderson placers 

were discovered in 1866 and yielded gold valued at 

about $300,000 prior to 1870. By 1913 the total 

placer gold production was estimated at more than 

$1 million ( 48,3 79 ounces) (Emmons and Calkins, 

1913, p. 263). The deposits were worked by sluicing 

and, where the gravel was coarse and contained 

large boulders, by drifting. In about 1936 scheelitebearing sand was discovered in these placers (Hundhausen, 1949, p. 2), and they were mined throughout World War II. The district was inactive from 

1950 through 1959. Total gold production through 

1959 was about 81,800 ounces, including about 1,300 

ounces from lodes between 1932 and 1949. 

JEFFERSON COUNTY 

From 1864, wh~n gold was discovered in the 

county, through 1959, Jefferson County produced at 

least 700,000 ounces of gold-about 575,000 ounces 

from lodes and about 125,000 ounces from placers. 

Mining began in Jefferson County in about 1864 

with the discovery of silver, lead, and gold ore near 

Wickes (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 232-234) 

and has continued at a fluctuating rate to the 

present time. Gold mining declined during the late 

1920's, increased after the price of gold was raised 

in 1934, and again declined sharply in 1950. 

Most of the deposits, both lode and placer, are in 

the northern part of the county. The most productive placer deposits have been the gravels along 

Prickly Pear Creek and its tributaries in the Clancy 

district, about 14 miles southeast of Helena, but 

small production has also come from placers in the 

Basin and Boulder district. The output of lode gold 

has come chiefly from the Clancy, Basin and 

Boulder, Elkhorn, and Whitehall districts. 

Some of the ore deposits are in granitic rocks of 

the Boulder batholith, and some are in sedimentary 

and volcanic wallrocks and roofrocks near the contact with the batholith. 

BASIN AND BOULDER DISTRICT 

In the Basin and Boulder district, in central Jefferson County near the headwaters of Boulder 

River, gold has been recovered from gold lodes, 

from silver and base metal ores, and from placers. 

The district includes Basin Creek, Cataract Creek, 

Lowland Creek, and the upper Boulder River. 

Lodes were discovered in this area before 1870, 

but mining has been sporadic (Pardee and Schrader, 

1933, p. 286). The periods of peak activity were 

1905-8, 1916-20, 1924-26, and 1935-41. From the 

end of World War II through 1954 activity was on 

a small scale, and from 1954 through 1959, no production was recorded. Relatively small amounts of 

gold were mined from gravels along Lowland Creek, 

Basin Creek, Cataract Creek, and Boulder River 

(Lyden, 1948, p. 48-50). Total gold production of 

the district through 1959 was about 188,200 ounces, 

about two-thirds of which was produced before 

1928 (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 186). About 

12,000 ounces of gold from placers is included in the 

total figure. 

Bedrock in the Basin and Boulder district is predominantly quartz monzonite of the Boulder batholith and remnants of older andesitic flows of Late 

Cretaceous age that were intruded by the quartz 

monzonite. Patches of dacite flows of Tertiary age 

unconformably overlie the quartz monzonite. Dikes 

of dacite and rhyolite cut all these rocks (Pardee 

and Schrader, 1933, p. 286-287). 

The ore deposits are of at least two ages. The 

principal group of lodes is older than the Tertiary 

volcanics and is valuable for silver, lead, gold, zinc, 
MONTANA 153 

and copper. Younger lodes in Tertiary volcanics are 

found in a small area along Lowland Creek. These 

are epithermal veins and are mined for gold and 

silver (M. R. Klepper, written commun., 1962). 

Billingsley and Grimes (1918, p. 313) noted a 

tendency toward mineral zoning in veins near Basin. 

Veins in the upper part of the batholith and in the 

roofrocks contain quartz, tourmaline, and arsenopyrite. Underneath this zone, from 200 to 500 feet 

below the roof of the batholith, galena predominates but gives way downward to sphalerite. The 

deepest ore is the lowest in grade and contains 

pyrite and copper minerals. 

CLANCY DISTRICT 

The Clancy district is in the northern part of the 

county, about 10 miles south of Helena. Though primarily a placer district, most of the gold produced 

in the district before 1900 was a byproduct of 

flourishing silver mines. 

Placer mining began about 1865 along Prickly 

Pear Creek and the following year rich silver lodes 

were found. By 1910, however, most of the mines 

were idle, and the once-thriving town of Lump 

Gulch City was deserted (Pardee and Schrader, 

1933, p. 227). In 1933 a dredge was installed on 

Prickly Pear Creek. In 1937 and 1938 additional 

large-scale operations, which resulted in considerable placer production through 1948, were undertaken on Prickly Pear and Clancy Creeks. From 

1949 through 1957 the placer operations were 

suspended. In 1958 and 1959 placers were again 

mined on Prickly Pear Creek, but production data 

were not recorded. 

Total gold production of the district through 

1959 was about 101,000 ounces from placers and at 

least 2,000 ounces from lodes. 

The predominant bedrock in the district is quartz 

monzonite and is part of the Boulder batholith of 

Late Cretaceous or Tertiary age. Remnants of a 

once-extensive cover of Tertiary rhyolite occur in 

the eastern and northeastern parts of the district. 

The lode deposits are in veins in quartz monzonite. 

The richest deposits contained silver-bearing galena, 

sphalerite, and tetrahedrite in a 'chalcedonic quartz 

gangue. Other veins produced small amounts of 

gold. These consisted mainly of quartz and pyrite, 

and small amounts of galena, sphalerite, and arsenopyrite (Knopf, 1913, p. 102-104). 

ELKHORN DISTRICT 

Located in the Elkhorn Mountains east of Boulder, the Elkhorn district was prospected before 

1870, but the highly productive Holter lode in the 

Elkhorn mine was not discovered until 1875. The 

early economic importance of this district depended 

almost wholly on the Elkhorn mine (Knopf, 1913, 

p. 128) which produced mostly silver and lead ore 

and small amounts of byproduct gold. After 1911 

as many as 16 mines operated in a single year, but 

the bulk of the more recent production came from 

the Golden Curry and Swissmont mines and the 

reworked tailings of the Elkhorn mine (Pardee 

and Schrader, 1933, p. 299-300). The total gold 

production of the district through 1953 was 70,015 

ounces (Klepper and others, 1957, p. 64). From 

1954 through 1959 only 97 ounces was recorded. 

The Elkhorn district lies on the eastern margin 

of the Boulder batholith. The oldest rock in the district is metamorphosed shale of the Belt Series 

which is overlain by metamorphosed Paleozoic limestone, shale, and quartzite, ranging in age from 

Cambrian to Pennsylvanian, and by Mesozoic sandstone, shale, and impure limestone. These are overlain by a bedded series of andesitic breccias, tuffs, 

and lavas of Late Cretaceous age. The sedimentary 

and volcanic rocks are folded, faulted, and cut by 

small igneous masses of diverse composition that 

are slightly older than the Boulder batholith, by 

quartz monzonite of the batholith, and by aplite 

(M. R. Klepper, written commun., 1962). 

A wide variety of ore deposits is found within 

the Elkorn district: magmatic sulfide deposits at 

the Golden Curry property, auriferous contact metamorphic deposits in the Dolcoath mine, auriferous 

lead-silver replacement deposits at the Elkhorn 

mine, and mineralized breccia pipes at the Elkhorn 

Queen and Skyline mines (Klepper and others, 1957, 

p. 64). Magmatic sulfide ore consists of a mixture 

of pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite intergrown with 

augite. The contact ore body in the Dolcoath mine 

consists of chalcopyrite and an auriferous sulfide 

and telluride of bismuth intergrown with silicates 

and calcite. The ore at the Elkhorn mine consists 

mainly of argentiferous galena, sphalerite, pyrite, 

and tetrahedrite as replacement bodies in dolomite 

beneath hornstone. At the Elkhorn Queen and Skyline mines pipelike bodies of brecciated rock are 

cemented by quartz, black tourmaline, pyrite, galena, sphalerite, and sparse chalcopyrite and arsenopyrite (Klepper and others, 1957, p. 64). 

TIZER DISTRIC'I1 

The Tizer (Wilson Creek) district is about 20 

miles southeast of Helena, immediately northeast of 

the Elkhorn district. 

Two lode mines in this district-the Callahan and 

Center Reef-have produced a total of 9,536 ounces 
154 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

of gold (Klepper and others, 1957, p. 72-73). 

Klepper (written commun., 1962) estimated that 

other lodes in this district produced about 500 

ounces of gold and that placers along Wilson and 

Crow Creeks produced between 500 and 1,000 ounces 

-a total of roughly 10,500 ounces. The Callahan 

property was productive as recently as 1951, but no 

activity was reported from 1952 through 1959. 

At the Callahan mine, the ore deposits are in 

narrow veins in andesitic extrusive rocks of Late 

Cretaceous age. The veins, which are as much as 

6 feet thick, consist of pyritic andesite and quartz 

with sparse pyrite, galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, 

and specks of gold and tetrahedrite (?). 

The country rock at the Center Reef mine is 

similar to that at the Callahan. The ore is in a 

narrow vein with mineralogy similar to that of the 

Callahan deposit (Klepper and others, 1957, p. 72-

73). 

WHITEHALL DISTRICT 

Located on the south end of Bull Mountain in the 

south-central part of the county, the Whitehall 

(Cardwell) district has produced lode gold, silver, 

and lead. 

The chief mine, the Golden Sunlight, was opened 

in 1890 and was operated almost continuously until 

1957 (Roby and others, 1960, p. 82-83). Roughly 

three-quarters of the recorded gold production of 

71,850 ounces between 1902 and 1957 came frqm 

this mine. Production of the Golden Sunlight from 

1890 to 1910 was $11/2 million in gold and silver 

(Roby and others, 1960, p. 83). Total gold production of the district through 1959 was at least 

100,000 ounces. 

The rocks of the district are shales, sandstones, 

and sandy limestones of the Precambrian Belt Series 

conformably overlain by a thick sequence of Paleozoic rocks, mainly limestone. The sedimentary rocks 

are intruded by quartz porphyry, andesite, and 

basalt dikes. The ore occurs in veins in the sedimentary rocks and in the porphyry. The ore contains auriferous pyrite, galena, and sphalerite in a 

quartz gangue (Winchell, 1914a, p. 97-99). 

WICKES DISTRICT 

In the Wickes (Colorado) district, in north Jefferson County, about 20 miles south of Helena, gold 

has been a byproduct of rich silver-lead ores. 

Lode mining began in 1864 with the discovery of 

the Gregory lode. Four mines-the Gregory, Alta, 

Comet, and Minah-have been the sources of nearly 

all the metals produced in the district. The most 

active period was from 1880 to 1893; however, the 

district was active almost continuously through 

1959. 

Gold production from 1864 to 1928 was estimated 

at $4,325,000 (about 210,000 ounces) from lodes 

and $25,000 (about 1,200 ounces) from placers 

(Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 186). Total production through 1959 was roughly 264,000 ounces from 

lodes and 2,200 ounces from placers. 

The oldest rocks in the district are andesites and 

latites of Cretaceous age, which occur as roof remnants in quartz monzonite of the Boulder batholith. 

The quartz monzonite is intruded by large masses 

of aplite. 

The ore deposits are in quartz veins in altered 

andesite or sericitized quartz monzonite or aplite. 

The principal ore minerals are galena, sphalerite, 

pyrite, chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite, and arsenopyrite. 

In the oxidized zone are cerussite, anglesite, bournonite, and covellite. Tourmaline is abundant in the 

wallrock and in the veins (Pardee and Schrader, 

1933,p.234-235). 

LEWIS AND CLARK COUNTY 

Lewis and Clark County produced between 4 and 

5 million ounces of gold through 1959 and is one of 

three counties in Montana to exceed an output of 

1 million ounces. Within the county two districtsHelena and Marysville-have each produced in excess of 1 million ounces, and six others have produced in excess of 100,000 ounces. The gold yield 

is roughly divided equally between placer and lode 

deposits. 

The first mineral deposits discovered and mined 

in the county, either in 1863 or 1864, were the goldbearing gravels along Iowa Gulch in the northern 

part of the Scratchgravel Hills, about 4 miles northwest of Helena (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 36). 

The famous Last Chance Gulch placers on the 

present site of Helena were discovered shortly afterwards in the sum111er of 1864, and rich gold lodes 

were discovered a few miles south of Helena in 

September of the same year (Knopf, 1913, p. 15). 

Most placer deposits and some lode deposits were 

quickly exhausted, and mining languished by 1900. 

However, after the price of gold was raised to $35 

per ounce in 1934, both placer and lode districts 

were reactivated and gold mining again became a 

major industry. 

The placers of the Helena-Last Chance district 

have been the most productive in the county, but 

other highly productive placer deposits occur chiefly 

in the western part of the county and, from south to 

north, include the following (Lyden, 1948, p. 54-

74) : Tenmile Creek and its tributaries in the 
MONTANA 155 

Rimini district, Sevenmile Creek in the Scratchgravel district, Silver Creek in the Marysville district, Virginia Creek in the Stemple district, 

McClellan Creek west of Stemple, and Lincoln Gulch 

in the Lincoln district. Rich placers were also 

exploited in the southeastern part of the county 

east of Helena in the York district on the western 

slope of the Belt Mountains along the Missouri 

River, York Gulch, and Oregon Gulch (Pardee and 

Schrader, 1933, p. 120-122, 176-182; Lyden, 1948, 

p. 68-74). 

The chief lode deposits are in and near the Boulder batholith and its satellite stocks and in the 

roofrocks (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, pl. 1). The 

Boulder batholith, of Late Cretaceous or early Tertiary age, is 60 miles long from north to south and 

averages 18 miles in width. The Marysville district 

has been the largest producer of lode gold in the 

county, but sizable production has also come from 

the Helena, Rimini, Stemple, Dry Gulch, and 

Scratchgravel districts. 

IIELF.NA-LAST CHANCE DISTRICT 

The Helena-Last Chance district, in the southern 

part of Lewis and Clark County, in and around 

Helena, the capital of Montana, includes the famous 

Last Chance Gulch placer deposits, among the 

richest and most productive in Montaria. Placer gold 

was discovered in Last Chance Gulch in 1864; other 

placer deposits in neighboring gulches were discovered soon after, and in the fall of the same year 

lode gold was discovered at the Whitlatch-Union 

mine, the most productive lode in the district. Gold 

accounts for more than 99 percent of the total value 

of the mine production from the district. 

Most of the rich placers and lodes were mined out 

before 1900, and mining operations after that time 

were intermittent and on a small scale until 1934, 

when the gold price increase reawakened activity. 

During 1935-50 a successful dredging operation 

yielded considerable gold. Lode mines were also reactivated and were productive to 1940 but declined 

thereafter (Lyden, 1948, p. 56-57). There was no 

recorded production from lodes or placers during 

1954-59. 

The estimated value of the early placer gold production, most of which was taken out before 1868, 

ranges from $10 to $35 million (Knopf, 1913, p. 15, 

86). Pardee and Schrader (1933, p. 186) credited 

the district with a placer production of $17,079,000 

(826,275 ounces) and with lode production of 

$6,304,000 (305,000 ounces) from 1864 through 

1928. From 1929 through 1959 the district produced 

about 40,120 ounces of lode gold and about 110,600 

ounces of placer gold. Thus the total production of 

the district through 1959 was at least 345,000 

ounces of lode gold and about 940,000 ounces of 

placer gold. 

The Helena-Last Chance district lies along the 

north edge of the Boulder batholith, a mass of 

quartz monzonite and related rocks of Late Cretaceous or early Tertiary age which has intruded 

a thick sequence of sedimentary rocks of late 

Precambrian, Paleozoic, and Mesozoic age and volcanic rocks of Late Cretaceous age. Other igneous 

rocks in the district are porphyry dikes and sheets 

of pre-Tertiary age and small intrusive masses,. 

lava flows and tuffs of rhyolite, all of Miocene age. 

The sedimentary and volcanic rocks were folded 

into a large dome about 25 miles in diameter which 

extends beyond the district. The folds were ruptured by the intrusion of the Boulder batholith, and 

additional faulting occurred as the intrusive forces 

relaxed. 

The ore deposits are mainly near the contact of 

the batholith with the sedimentary rocks; some are 

in the granitic rocks, and others are in the adjacent 

hornfels or tactite. The ore minerals in the contact 

deposits are pyrite, pyrrhotite, and gold, and local 

chalcopyrite and galena; they occur in aggregates 

of lime-silicate minerals, tourmaline, quartz, ankerite, and chlorite. 

The Whitlatch-Union lode, the most productive in 

the district, lies partly in the granite and partly in 

hornfels. The vein ranges in width from a thin seam 

to 15 feet and averages about 4 feet. The ore taken 

out in the early years averaged from $20 to $25 per 

ton in gold (Knopf, 1913, p. 99). 

LINCOLN DISTRICT 

The Lincoln district includes Lincoln Gulch and 

several other tributaries of the Blackfoot River 

near the town of Lincoln in the western part of 

Lewis and Clark County. Most of the gold mined in 

the district was from placer deposits; a small 

amount was from lodes. The gold placers, which 

were discovered about 1865, were rich and hastily 

worked, and by about the middle 1870's the camp 

was virtually abandoned (Pardee and Schrader, 

1933, p. 115-117). Pardee and Schrader (1933) 

estimated that during these early years a stretch 

of the gulch 7,400 feet long yielded about $7 miiiion 

(338,653 ounces) in gold. The placers were worked 

intermittently from 1904 through about 1955 and 

yielded at least 2, 700 ounces of gold. The total placer 

production through 1959 was about 342,000 ounces. 

Lode production, which probably totaled less than 
156 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

200 ounces, was mined sporadically, mostly during 

the 1930's. 

Low-grade gold ore, which averages $2.20 to $3 

per ton, is found in a diorite dike that has intruded 

calcic argillite of the Belt Series (Pardee and 

Schrader, 1933, p. 116-117). The lode follows a 

shear zone and is as much as 30 feet wide. The 

diorite in the shear zone is largely replaced by 

quartz, siderite, and pyrite. 

McCLELLAN DISTRICT 

All production of the McClellan district, which is 

in the western part of Lewis and Clark County 

about 8 miles south of Lincoln, has been placer gold. 

Placer mining in McClellan Gulch dates back to 

1864, and by 1875 these deposits yielded an estimated $7 million (338,653 ounces) in gold (Pardee 

and Schrader, 1933, p. 117). The gravels were very 

rich and have been reworked in places as many as 

two or three times since 1875. The amount of gold 

recovered since 1875 is not known. The total minimum production of these placers through 1959 was 

about 340,000 ounces. About 10 ounces of lode gold 

was produced in the late 1940's. 

The source of the gold probably was the lowgrade gold-quartz lodes that crop out on the slopes 

at the head of the gulch (Pardee and Schrader, 

193~p.118). . 

MARYSVIJ,J,E-SILVER CREEK DISTRICT 

The Marysville-Silver Creek (Ottawa) district, 

near the headwaters of Silver Creek about 18 miles 

northwest of Helena, also includes the Bald Butte 

area. The district has been one of the most productive precious-metal mining districts in Montana. 

Most of the gold has come from veins, although a 

smaller amount has come from placer deposits. 

Some mines have also produced substantial amounts 

of lead. 

The first placer mining in the district was along 

Silver Creek in 1864, and these placers accounted 

for at least 75 percent of the placer production of 

the district (Lyden, 1948, p. 60). The placers were 

rich and were mined out in the early years; in fact, 

no placer activity was reported in the district from 

1904 to 1933 (Lyden, 1948, p. 60). From 1938 to 

1941, dredging and dragline shovel operations were 

undertaken. 

The placer production during the early period 

was estimated at about $3,200,000 (154,813 ounces) 

(Lyden, 1948, p. 60), and the total through 1959 

was about 164,500 ounces. 

Lode mining dates back to 1876 and the discovery of the rich Drumlummon lode, the most productive and most steadily mined lode in the district 

(Knopf, 1913, p. 61-62). In the early 1890's, the 

Drumlummon property became involved in protracted litigation and the mine was worked only 

intermittently. In 1911 the mine was sold, and the 

new owners rehabilitated both the milling plant and 

mine and began exploration for new ore bodies. In 

later years tailings from the Drumlummon mill 

were also reworked (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, 

p. 63). The last significant lode gold production was 

reported in 1951. The lode production of the district 

before 1903 was valued at about $30 million in gold 

and silver (Knopf, 1913, p. 62), of which possibly 

60 percent was in gold. About half of the early production was from the Drumlummon mine. Total 

lode gold production through 1959 was about 1,145,-

800 ounces. If placer production is included, the district had a total yield through 1959 of about 1,310,-

000 ounces. 

The Marysville-Silver Creek district is centered 

around a small stock of quartz diorite of Late 

Cretaceous or Tertiary age that has intruded limestone and shale of the Belt Series of Precambrian 

age (Barrell, 1907, p. 7-19). The sedimentary rocks 

adjacent to the stock have been metamorphosed to 

a hard and dense-textured hornstone locally called 

slate, in a zone ranging from lf2 to 2 miles in width. 

Numerous dikes of pegmatite, aplite, and diorite 

porphyry cut the stock and the sedimentary rocks. 

The ore deposits are steeply dipping gold and 

silver veins around the border of the quartz diorite 

stock. Some veins are in the marginal part of the 

diorite, but most are in metamorphosed sedimentary 

rocks. The gold is finely divided and accompanies 

the ore minerals tetrahedrite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, 

sphalerite, and galena. The gangue minerals are 

chiefly lamellar quartz and calcite (Knopf, 1913, 

p. 64-66) ; the calcite contains some iron and manganese. 

MISSOURI RIVER-YORK DISTRICT 

Located in the southeast corner of Lewis and 

Clark County, on the west side of the Belt Mountains, the Missouri River-York district includes 

Trout Creek, York, Clark, Oregon, Cave, and Magpie Gulches-all tributaries of the Missouri River. 

Most of the production of this district came from 

placer deposits, but a significant amount came from 

lodes. 

Placer gold was discovered in this area in 1864 

about half a mile above the mouth of York Gulch 

(Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 176); placers along 

its tributaries and other streams in the district 

were discovered about the same time . or a year or 
MONTANA 157 

two later. Most of the placers were rich, and within 

a few years after discovery they were either mined 

out or the richest parts had been depleted and they 

were then abandoned. Years later some were worked 

by dredges, and again substantial amounts of gold 

were produced, especially during the periods 1909-

13 and 1934-44. No placer production was reported 

from 1950 through 1959. 

Authentic records of the early placer production 

of the Missouri River-York district have not been 

found. On the basis of the size of deposits and reported grades, the production to about 1928 of the 

individual deposits was estimated (Pardee and 

Schrader, 1933, p. 177-182) as follows: 

York-Trout Creek ---------------

Clark and Oregon Gulches _______ _ 

Cave Gulch ----------------------

Magpie Gulch -------------------

Missouri River terraces ----------

$500,000 

800,000 

900,000 

280,000 

2,150,000 

Total ----------------------- $4,630,000 

Ounces 

24,190 

38,704 

43,542 

13,546 

104,016 

223,998 

The figures given probably should be accepted as 

the minimum production of these placers. Some 

estimates of the output of the York-Trout Creek 

placers alone were as high as $5 million (Pardee 

and Schrader, 1933, p. 176). The production of the 

district from 1928 through 1950 was about 41,200 

ounces. The minimum placer production of the district was therefore about 265,000 ounces. 

The lode deposits occur chiefly in Dry Gulch and 

other tributaries of Trout Creek above the old town 

of York. Discovery of the first lode in the district, 

the gold-quartz lode of the Old Amber mine, was 

probably made soon after mining had begun (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 120), and a mill to work 

the ore was built before 1870. Outcrops of goldbearing quartz, occurring mainly in shale along a 

dike, attracted early attention. Numerous veins 

along the dike were developed, and the ore was 

hauled to Trout Creek or other streams where it 

was worked in small mills and arrastres. Several 

mines were active between 1895 and 1900 (Pardee 

and Schrader, 1933, p. 121), but after 1900 all were 

abandoned except the Golden Messenger mine in 

Dry Gulch, the most productive in the district. 

Mining of the Golden Messenger began in 1899 

(Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 121, 146) and continued through 1942. The lode mines were virtually 

idle from 1942 through 1959. 

Incomplete records credit the lode mines with 

production worth $450,000 to $600,000, chiefly in 

gold, before 1932 (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 

121-122). Lode production from 1933 through 1943 

was about 51,440 ounces, most of which came from 

the Golden Messenger mine. The mm1mum lode 

production of the Missouri River-York district was 

about 70,000 ounces. The district can thus be credited with a total gold output through 1959 of about 

335,000 ounces from lodes and placers. 

The area is underlain by shaly, slaty, and calcareous rocks of the Belt Series, which are folded 

into a large northwest-trending anticline whose 

northeast limb is cut by an overthrust fault. The 

sedimentary rocks are cut by quartz diorite dikes 

and stocks of Late Cretaceous or Tertiary age 

(Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 123-134). 

The lodes and the placer deposits of the Missouri 

River-York district are closely associated with the 

quartz diorite dikes. Most of the lodes are small 

quartz veins in fractures in diorite and along the 

bedding planes in the adjacent shale. The veins are 

valuable chiefly for gold (Pardee and Schrader, 

1933, p. 139-144; 147-160) ; silver and lead are 

minor constituents. The veins consist almost entirely of quartz, a little pyrite, and scattered grains 

of galena. The ore shoots range from a few inches 

to several feet in width and from a few feet to several hundred feet in length. The ore bodies in the 

Golden Messenger mine are irregular replacement 

deposits along fractures in the quartz diorite which 

has been altered and more or less replaced by 

quartz, ankerite, and small amounts of sulfides. 

Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide, but galena, 

· sphalerite, and small amounts of chalcopyrite are 

also present. Most of the ore mined, both in the 

replacement shoots and in the veins, was oxidized. 

RIMINI-TENMILE DISTRICT 

The Rimini-Tenmile (Vaughn) district in the 

valley of Tenmile Creek in the southern tip of Lewis 

and Clark County, about 14 miles southwest of 

Helena, has produced chiefly gold, silver, and lead. 

The first location was probably made on the Lee 

Mountain lode in 1864, and the first mine was a 

tunnel driven on the Eureka vein in 1865 (Pardee 

and Schrader, 1933, p. 246). Through 1957 the district had an output of about 194,000 ounces of lode 

gold and about 4,275 ounces of placer gold. The 

most active and productive period of the district 

was before 1907, when about 169,500 ounces of 

gold was mined. Thereafter the deposits were 

worked on a small scale until 1957, and the district 

was idle from 1957 through 1959. 

The prevailing country rock is coarse-grained 

quartz monzonite and aplite of the Boulder batholith, which is intrusive into Upper Cretaceous andesitic and quartz latitic volcanic rocks. Rhyolite of 
158 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

Tertiary age caps the older rocks (Knopf, 1913, 

p. 80-85, and pl. 1). 

In the Remini-Tenmile district, two periods of 

mineralization are recognizable: one of Late Cretaceous and one of late Tertiary age (Knopf, 1913, 

p. 81). The older and more productive ore bodies 

are auriferous silver-lead veins in tourmalinized 

and sericitized quartz monzonite in the upper part 

of the batholith. The principal ore mineral is galena 

accompanied by sphalerite, pyrite, arsenopyrite, 

and a little chalcopyrite and tetrahedrite; most of 

the lodes are notably tourmaline-bearing. The Tertiary deposits are low grade and consist of altered 

rhyolite impregnated with gold along small fractures (Knopf, 1913, p. 82). The rhyolite rests unconformably on the eroded surface of the quartz 

monzonite. 

SEVENMILE-SCRATCHGRA VEL DISTRICT 

The Sevenmile-Scratchgravel district includes the 

Scratchgravel Hills which are about 4 miles northwest of Helena and immediately north of Sevenmile 

Creek. The ore deposits include gold placers, rich 

silver-lead veins, and gold veins (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 35-62). 

Placer deposits were discovered in Iowa Gulch, 

in the northern part of the Scratchgravel Hills, 

. shortly before gold was discovered in Last Chance 

Gulch at Helena in 1864. These deposits were not 

large, and there has been little activity on them 

since the early days. The amount of gold produced 

is not known (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 36). 

Other placer deposits along Sevenmile Creek and 

its tributaries, including Greenhorn Creek, were 

considerably more productive. 

These creeks were mined for an aggregate length 

of 12 miles or more, and by 1930 yielded an estimated $1,200,000 (58,055 ounces) worth of gold 

(Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 59). From 1930 

through 1959 the yield probably was less than 750 

ounces (Lyden, 1948, p. 58-59). 

The lode deposits were discovered before 1872. 

Some rich silver-lead ore was mined in the early 

years, and in 1914 rich gold ore was found in the 

Franklin and Scratchgravel mines. The period 

1916-18 was one of great prosperity in which the 

lode mines, primarily the Franklin and Scratchgravel mines, produced at least $550,000 (26,600 

ounces) in gold. By 1919, however, costs of supplies and labor forced these mines to close, and lode 

production was then limited to desultory output of 

several smaller mines. Total lode gold production 

of the district through 1959 was about 48,700 

ounces; total lode and placer production through 

1959 was at least 108,000 ounces. 

The country rock consists of shale, sandstone, and 

limestone of the Belt Series of late Precambrian 

age and quartzite, shale, and limestone of Cambrian, 

Devonian, and Mississippian age. The bedded rocks 

are folded and are intruded by diorite and quartz 

monzonite, probably offshoots of the Boulder batholith, of Cretaceous or Tertiary age (Pardee and 

Schrader, 1933, p. 36-37; 59). 

The ore deposits in the Scratchgravel Hills include contact-metamorphic deposits, gold veins, and 

lead-silver veins. Most of the gold deposits are goldquartz veins in quartz monzonite. Pyrite is the most 

common ore mineral in the unoxidized ores, and in 

some veins there are scattered grains and bunches 

of galena and a little .sphalerite. Gold can be panned 

from the oxidized ore (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, 

p. 37-58). 

In the Sevenmile Creek area the lodes yielded 

chiefly silver, lead, copper, and gold. The lodes are 

irregular pockets or pipelike bodies in limestone 

near the quartz monzonite contact. Most of the ore 

was oxidized and the chief constituents were iron 

oxides, gold, silver-bearing galena, and copper carbonates. 

STEMPLE-VIRGINIA CREEK DISTRICT 

Located about 28 to 35 miles northwest of Helena 

in the drainage basin of Virginia Creek, the Stemple 

(Gould) -Virginia Creek district contained both 

placer and lode ore deposits. The lode ore was valued chiefly for gold; only about 5 percent of its 

value was silver (Lyden, 1948, p. 63). Mining began at least as early as 1878 when the Homestake 

lode in the Stemple area was located; in 1884 the 

Jay Gould, the principal mine in the district, was 

discovered (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 77, 86). 

These and other mines in the district were worked 

intermittently. Beginning in 1922 the Jay Gould 

mine operated almost continuously to 1942 when 

all minework was suspended. A small production 

from the district was reported for the period 

1943-51. 

The gravels along Virginia Creek have been 

mined from Stemple to its mouth, a distance of 

about 8 miles. Their date of discovery has not been 

ascertained. The gravels were moderately rich but 

not very deep; prior to 1927 they yielded at least 

$600,000 (29,028 ounces) in gold (Pardee and 

Schrader, 1933, p. 86). From 1927 to 1942 small 

intermittent production was reported (Lyden, 1948, 

p. 63) , but it probably totaled less than 200 ounces. 
MONTANA 159 

The Stemple-Virginia Creek district was most 

productive during the early years, but the amount 

cannot be definitely ascertained. The production of 

the Jay Gould mine to 1914 has been estimated to 

be worth $2¥2 million, more than 95 percent of 

which was the value of gold and the remainder, 

silver. The lode production of the Gould area, including some silver, through about 1927 was about 

$3 million (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 77, 81) 

or about 135,000 ounces of gold. In the Stemple 

area the output before 1927 was about $420,000 

(20,319 ounces) in gold (Pardee and Schrader, 

1933, p. 86). Total production of lode gold through 

1959 was about 216,000 ounces, most of which was 

from the Jay Gould mine. Placers yielded about 

29,200 ounces, which made a district total of about 

245,000 ounces. 

The country rock of the district comprises shale 

and argillite of the Belt Series, a stock of quartz 

diorite, and a sill and dikes of diorite, all of Cretaceous or Tertiary age. Near the contact with the 

stock, the sedimentary rocks are altered to hornstone. The rocks are tilted and cut by small faults 

(Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 78). 

The ore bodies are in veins in sedimentary rocks 

and in the quartz diorite. The Jay Gould vein cuts 

the metamorphosed sedimentary rocks that adjoin 

the stock of quartz diorite. The vein is banded, has 

probably filled an open fissure, and consists largely 

of lamellar calcite, quartz, and small amounts of 

chalcopyrite, argentite, and native gold distributed 

along streaks and· bands. Small amounts of iron and 

manganese oxides and malachite accompany the 

streaks of ore minerals. The argentite and gold are 

closely associated. The veins in the stock consist 

of coarse granular quartz, with pay streaks of goldbearing iron oxide and copper carbonate (Pardee 

and Schrader, 1933, p. 79-84). 

LINCOLN COUNTY 

Lincoln County is in the northwest corner of 

Montana along the Idaho border. Its most valuable 

mineral deposits are vermiculite deposits near 

Libby. Lead-silver ores are also important; gold 

is a minor commodity. Although both placers and 

lodes were worked before 1901, there are no production data on this early activity. From 1901 

through 1957 a minimum of about 29,000 ounces 

of lode gold and 4,318 ounces of placer gold was 

mined. Most of the lode production came from the 

Libby and Sylvanite districts and the placer production came chiefly from the Libby district. 

LIBBY DISTRICT 

The Libby (Snowshoe) district, in southwest 

Lincoln County south of the town of Libby in the 

Libby Creek drainage basin, was the largest producer of both lode and placer gold in the county. 

Placer gold was discovered as early as 1867, but 

it was not until the early 1880's that the first mining was done, on Libby Creek (Gibson, 1948, p. 67). 

After 1904 these placers contributed at least 75 

percent of the placer gold of Lincoln County (Lyden, 1948, p. 76-78). There was a small but steady 

placer production from 1931 to July 1947, when 

operations were suspended. 

Lodes of lead-silver ore were discovered about 

1887, but gold-quartz veins were not discovered 

until the 1890's (Gibson, 1948, p. 67), and the most 

productive mines were developed in the early 1900's. 

Production from these deposits was sporadic and 

small, and no lode gold production was recorded 

from 1945 through 1959. 

From 1901 through 1937 the Libby district produced a total of about 12,400 ounces of gold (Gibson, 1948, p. 70) including about 650 ounces of 

placer gold. The total gold production of the district 

from 1901 through 1959 was about 16,300 ounces 

from lodes and 3,225 ounces from placers. 

The following notes on geology and ore deposits 

of the Libby district were abstracted from the report by Gibson (1948). 

The area is underlain by Precambrian sedimentary rocks of the Belt Series, consisting chiefly of 

quartzite, slate, and calcareous and magnesian argillite and having a total thickness of about 40,000 

feet. They have been folded and faulted and intruded by metadiorite sills and dikes of Precambrian 

age and by stocks and dikes of granodiorite and 

quartz monzonite of probable Late Cretaceous or 

early Tertiary age. 

The lodes in the Libby district are gold-quartz 

veins, silver-lead-zinc veins that carry some gold, 

and a few scattered and commercially unimportant 

copper veins. The lodes occupy faults and shear 

zones in Precambrian sedimentary rocks of the Belt 

Series and in metadiorite dikes and sills that intrude the Belt Series rocks. Some of the veins, especially the gold-bearing veins, have formed along 

bedding planes. Most of the gold has been recovered 

as a byproduct from the silver-lead-zinc veins, in 

which galena, pyrite, and sphalerite are accompanied by quartz and calcite. The gold-bearing veins 

are chiefly in a small area about 20 miles south of 

Libby. They are quartz veins with small amounts of 

native gold, pyrite, galena, sphalerite, and pyrrhotite. The less common minerals in these veins are 
160 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, tetrahedrite, magnetite, 

and scheelite (Gibson, 1948, p. 71-81). 

SYLVANITE DISTRICT 

The Sylvanite (Yaak) district is a little-known 

district in northwest Lincoln County. As early as 

1905 Sylvanite was a ghost town; the mines were 

idle, presumably having been abandoned when the 

oxidized ore was mined out (Gibson, 1948, p. 69). 

From 1901 to 1930 the district produced only about 

75 ounces of gold (Gibson, 1948, p. 70), but from 

1932, when the mines were reactivated, through 

1940 it produced about 10,850 ounces of lode gold. 

Since then only desultory work has been done in the 

district. 

In the Sylvanite district gold-bearing quartzpyrite veins are in sandstones that were intruded 

by mafic dikes (Emmons, 1937, p. 140). 

MADISON COUNTY 

The gold production of Madison County is exceeded in Montana only by that of Silver Bow and 

Lewis and Clark Counties. Most of its gold was 

produced before 1904 from the placer deposits of 

Alder Gulch, by far the richest placers in the State. 

About 40 other gulches in the county produced 

placer gold, but only in small amounts (Lyden, 1948, 

p. 80-95). After 1904, lodes became increasingly important gold sources. 

Most of the gold lodes and other auriferous deposits are near the contacts of Precambrian metamorphic and Paleozoic sediment~ry rocks with the 

Tobacco Root batholith and other smaller intrusives 

and satellite stocks that are probably related to the 

Boulder batholith (Hart, in Tansley and others, 1933, 

p. 23-55). Some deposits are in the igneous rocks. 

The more productive lode areas are the Norris, 

Pony, Renova, Sheridan, Silver Star-Rochester, Tidal 

Wave, and Virginia City districts. 

The total gold production of the county through 

1959 was at least 3,7 46,000 ounces-2,605,000 from 

placers and 1,141,000 from lodes. This must be considered a conservative figure, for as Lyden noted 

(1948, p. 80), estimates of the Alder Gulch placer 

production ranged from $50,612,000 to $125 million. 

NORRIS DISTRICT 

Located in the northeastern part of Madison 

County, the Norris district, which includes Norwegian, Lower Hot Springs, and Washington, has 

produced chiefly gold and smaller amounts of silver, 

copper, and lead. 

Placer deposits along Norwegian Gulch and South 

Meadow Creek were discovered in early 1864, and 

Norwegian Gulch yielded $150,000 in gold by 1874 

(Winchell, 1914a, p. 111). By 1902 the district had 

produced at least $300,000 (14,514 ounces) in placer 

gold (Winchell, 1914a, p. 118), and the placers were 

worked on a fairly large scale from 1936 through 

1942. 

Quartz lodes also were discovered in 1864, and 

within 5 years the district had at least 8 mills 

(Winchell, 1914a, p. 111). Production fluctuated but 

was almost continuous through 1953. 

Winchell (1914a, p. 118) estimated that the total 

lode output to 1902 exceeded $3 million in combined metals. From 1902 through 1912 gold accounted for about 90 percent of the value of mine 

production; if the same ratio was applicable before 

1902, the lode mines of the district produced about 

$2,700,000 (130,600 ounces) during that period. The 

total lode production of the district was about 

235,000 ounces and the total minimum production 

of both lodes and placers through 1959 was about 

265,000 ounces. 

The geology and ore deposits were described by 

Winchell (1914a, p. 111-118) and by Hart (in Tansley and others, 1933). 

The Norris district is on the northeast side of the 

Tobacco Root batholith of Late Cretaceous age. The 

batholith consists chiefly of quartz monzonite and is 

intrusive into gneiss and schist of Precambrian age. 

Small remnants of rhyolite and basalt of Late Cretaceous or Tertiary age intrude and cap the older 

rocks. 

Most of the ore deposits occur in the quartz monzonite but some are in gneiss near the intrusive 

contact. The ore occurs in quartz veins, which are 

oxidized in the upper part, and contains iron oxide, 

gold, and silver. In the Revenue mine, the most 

productive in the district, the zone of oxidation extends to the 200-foot level. Some oxidized ore also 

carries copper carbonate and silicate minerals. Below the zone of oxidation the most common ore mineral is auriferous pyrite, but some ore also contains 

galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, bornite, and chalcocite (Hart, in Tansley and others, 1933, p. 52). 

PONY DISTRICT 

The Pony district, which includes Mineral Hill 

and South Boulder (Mammoth), is in the northeastern part of Madison County in the Willow Creek 

drainage basin. Almost its entire output has come 

from lodes which have produced chiefly gold and 

small amounts of silver, lead, zinc, and copper. 

Placer gold was noted in 1870 (Lyden, 1948, p. 89), 
MONTANA 161 

but placer production of the district has been small. 

Lode deposits were discovered in the early 1870's 

and were actively exploited during the 1880's and 

1890's (Winchell, 1914a, p. 119). Production apparently was continuous through 1918, but it declined 

thereafter. The district again was active from 1928 

through 1944. There was no significant gold production from 1944 through 1959. 

Winchell (1914a, p. 126) estimated that the mine 

production of the Pony district, exclusive of the 

South Boulder camp, through 1901 was valued at 

about $2,600,000. Based on production records from 

1902 to 1912, it would seem reasonable that gold 

constituted about 90 to 95 percent of the early production or about $2,350,000 (113,690 ounces). The 

~ gold production of the South Boulder camp before 

1900, all from lodes, was estimated at about $2 

million (96,758 ounces) (Lyden, 1948, p. 87). From 

1902 through 1930 the district produced about 

76,500 ounces (Hart, in Tansley and others, 1933, 

p. 24), and from 1933 through 1944, about 58,950 

ounces. The total gold production of the district 

through 1959 was about 346,000 ounces; probably 

less than 250 ounces was placer gold. 

Most of the mines in the Pony district are in 

Precambrian gneiss near the contact with quartz 

monzonite of the Tobacco Root batholith, but some 

are in the marginal part of the batholith; others are 

associated with aplitic and pegmatitic dikes (Winchell, 1914a, p. 119-129). 

The mineral deposits in the district are arranged 

in a rude zonal pattern (Hart, in Tansley and others, 

1933, p. 25). At or near the gneiss-quartz monzonite 

contact, the veins consist of either (1) chalcopyrite, 

pyrite, and molybdenite in quartz, (2) auriferous 

pyrite, chalcopyrite, and quartz, or (3) tungstenfluorite minerals. Galena and silver are the important vein constituents peripheral to these deposits, 

and auriferous pyrite is less abundant. 

In the Clipper mine, the most productive in the 

district, and in the adjacent Boss Tweed mine, the 

ore deposits consist mostly of silicified and pyritized 

gneiss between two approximately parallel faults 

from 10 to 160 feet apart (Winchell, 1914a, p. 121-

124). Some of the ore is oxidized. The economic 

deposits are found chiefly in shoots, but much of the 

gneiss between the faults contains gold. 

RENOV A DISTRICT 

The Renova district, which includes Bone Basin, 

is located in northern Madison County in the north 

end of the Tobacco Root Mountains. The district 

produced chiefly gold and some silver, most of which 

came from the Mayflower mine. The date of discovery of ore in the district is not known, but there 

was little mining activity until 1896 when the Mayflower ore body was discovered, after which the 

region became prominent (Winchell, 1914a, p. 97). 

The Mayflower mine closed in 1905, and other mines 

in the district operated only intermittently and on 

a small scale through 1912. The district again became active during the early 1930's; the Mayflower 

mine was reopened in July 1935 and again became 

the chief producer. The district reached a peak 

production of 21,539 ounces of gold in 1940, but 

activity declined sharply after 1942 and no production was recorded from 1953 through 1959. 

Production prior to 1896 was probably of little 

significance. From 1896 through 1912 the district 

produced 60,023 ounces of gold valued at $1,282,052; 

most of this was from the Mayflower mine and was 

produced before 1905 (Winchell, 1914a, p. 101). 

From 1932 through 1953 production was 102,036 

ounces, or a total of about 162,000 ounces. 

The geology and ore deposits of the Renova district were briefly described by Winchell (1914a, p. 

99-101). The oldest rocks are arkosic sandstone, 

sandy shale, and slate of the Belt Series of Precambrian age. These are overlain by rocks of Cambrian age and possibly younger rocks, consisting, in 

ascending order, of a basal conglomerate, quartzite, 

and shale, and limestone. Dikes of andesite and 

quartz porphyry cut the sedimentary rock. 

The Mayflower ore, consisting chiefly of telluride 

minerals, is along a bedding fault in limestone. The 

ore above the 300-foot level was oxidized. 

The ore in the other mines of the district is in 

veins that cut rock of the Belt Series. This ore is 

oxidized and contains free gold in iron oxide and 

quartz. The unoxidized ore consists of pyrite, chalcopyrite, and galena in a gangue of calcite, dolomite, 

and siderite. 

SHERIDAN DISTRICT 

Located in the western part of Madison County 

10 to 12 miles northeast of Virginia City, the Sheridan district, which includes Ramshorn, is important 

chiefly for gold, but silver, copper, and lead have 

also been recovered. Small amounts of gold have 

been mined from placers. Quartz veins were discovered in 1864 (Winchell, 1914a, p. 133), and mills 

were erected as early as 1865. The district was a 

steady producer through about 1952, although output dropped sharply after 1948. No activity was reported in 1959. 

Production data for 1864-1904 are not available 

(Winchell, 1914a, p. 139); however, several mines 
162 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

are known to have produced more during that period than after 1904. The total gold production from 

1905 through 1952 was about 33,500 ounces, of 

which about 2,100 ounces was from placers. 

The Sheridan district is underlain by Precambrian 

schist and gneiss interbedded with quartzites and 

limestones. These rocks are intruded by small stocks 

of quartz monzonite and dikes and sills of porphyry 

of Late Cretaceous or Tertiary age (Winchell, 1914a, 

p. 133-139; Hart, in Tansley and others, 1933, p. 

40-45). 

The ore deposits are veins and limestone replacement deposits in the Precambrian rocks. The chief 

sulfide minerals are pyrite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, and tetrahedrite in a gangue of quartz 

and small amounts of siderite. The gold occurs with 

the pyrite. Tellurides are not common but have 

been reported in the Indian Creek area (Hart, in 

Tansley and others, 1933, p. 41). Much of the ore 

was oxidized and consisted of gold in hematite with 

some copper oxides and carbonate. 

SILVER STAR-ROCHESTER DISTRICT 

Located in northwestern Madison County, west of 

the Jefferson River, the Silver Star-Rochester district produced ores that were valuable chiefly for 

gold, but silver, lead, zinc, and copper also were recovered. Though mining began in the 1860's, it did 

not reach its peak until 1935-42. Interest declined 

thereafter, and the district was virtually dormant 

from 1951 through 1959. The Watseca mine in the 

Rochester area and the Green Campbell, Iron Rod, 

and Broadway mines in the Silver Star area were 

the major mines of the district. 

Incomplete records indicate that the gold- output 

through 1903 was worth about $2 million (about 

97,000 ounces) (Sahinen, 1939, p. 5-7; Winchell, 

1914a, p. 144). Total production through 1959 was 

about 185,700 ounces, all from lodes. 

The geology and ore deposits of the district were 

briefly described by Winchell (1914a, p. 126-132; 

139-144) and Sahinen (1939), from which this summary is abstracted. 

The Silver Star-Rochester district lies at the 

south end of the Boulder batholith. The bedrock 

consists dominantly of schist and gneiss of Precambrian age which in the western part of the 

district and in the area around Silver Star are locally overlain by sedimentary rocks that range in 

age from late Precambrian to Pennsylvanian. All 

the older rocks are intruded by quartz monzonite of 

the Boulder batholith, by a stock of diorite, by small 

aplite intrusive bodies, and by dikes and sills of 

acidic rocks, all of Cretaceous or Tertiary age. Remnants of andesite and basalt flows are found locally. 

The most important ore deposits are northeasttrending veins in gneiss and schist (Sahinen, 1939, 

p. 26-34). These veins are rich in gold and silver 

and contain arsenopyrite, pyrite, and subordinate 

amounts of lead, zinc, and copper minerals in a 

quartz gangue. A few veins in this group are rich 

in lead-silver ore. Several narrow veins that trend 

east carry gold with small amounts of pyrite in 

greasy-appearing quartz. Much of the ore has been 

oxidized to a depth of 600 feet and consists of 

quartz, limonite, and oxidized copper and lead 

minerals. 

Considerable gold has been mined from contact 

deposits in the Silver Star area. The ore deposits 

form irregular shoots in Paleozoic limestone along 

the quartz monzonite contact. Much of the ore was 

highly oxidized and consisted of jasper, gold, and 

oxidized minerals of iron and copper. The unoxidized ore consists of pyrite, chalcopyrite, bornite, 

and covellite in a gangue of quartz and contact silicate minerals. 

TIDAL WAVE DISTRICT 

Located in northwestern Madison County, along 

the western slope of the Tobacco Root Mountains, 

the Tidal Wave (Twin Bridges) district has produced chiefly gold, silver, and lead, and smaller 

amounts of copper. The initial discoveries in about 

1864 were silver-lead ore but these aroused little 

excitement. Only gold was sought in those early 

days. By 1874, however, the value of the argentiferous lead ores was realized, and claims were rapidly located and developed (Winchell, 1914a, p. 145). 

Production records date back only to 1904, but the 

production during the latter part of the 19th century probably was greater than in the early 1900's 

(Winchell, 1914a, p. 146). The district remained active from 1904 through 1955, and the total recorded 

gold production through 1959 was about 33,400 

ounces; nearly all production was from lodes. 

The Tidal Wave district lies on the west side of 

the Tobacco Root batholith, a mass of quartz monzonite of Cretaceous or Tertiary age which here has 

intruded, faulted, and tilted Precambrian gneiss and 

schist and Paleozoic limestone, quartzite, and interbedded shale. These rocks also are cut locally by 

sills of porphyry and by aplite dikes. 

The ore deposits in the district are contact deposits in limestone and lodes in gneiss and schist, 

and more rarely they occur in the quartz monzonite near its contact with the country rocks. Most 

of the veins contain gold and lesser amounts of lead, 
MONTANA 163 

silver, copper, and zinc. A few veins in the Paleozoic 

limestone near the contact were mined for lead and 

silver, or copper and gold. The contact metamorphic 

deposits are valued mainly for copper and lead, with 

silver and gold as minor constituents (Winchell, 

1914a, p. 145-158; Hart, in Tansley and others, 

1933, p. 34-39). 

VIRGINIA CITY-ALDER GULCH DISTRICT 

The Virginia City-Alder Gulch district, which includes the Summit area, is in central Madison 

County at the south end of the Tobacco Root Mountains. It is the leading producer of placer gold in 

Montana and has also produced a small amount of 

lode gold. The discovery of rich gold placer deposits 

in Alder Gulch in 1863 marked the beginning of 

mining activity in Madison County. Gold-quartz 

veins were discovered in the district later in the 

year (Winchell, 1914a, p. 159). The richness of the 

placers attracted hordes of prospectors to the area, 

and within 18 months Virginia City boomed to a 

town of 10,000 population. Within 3 years, placer 

gold valued at $30 million was recovered from Alder Gulch and its tributaries (Knopf, 1913, p. 15). 

The Alder Creek placers, extending for about 20 

miles, were the longest and most productive ever 

discovered in Montana. From 1863 until 1899 the 

gravels were worked by sluice boxes, pans, and 

rockers. In 1899 the Conrey Placer Mining Co. began dredging operations that lasted until1922, when 

the gravels were considered mined out. The peak 

year of dredging, 1915, resulted in more than 

$800,000 in gold recovered from 6 million cubic 

yards of gravel (Lyden, 1948, p. 80-82). During the 

14 years following 1922 only small-scale sluicing 

operations were undertaken. In 1935 dryland dredges 

were installed (Lyden, 1948, p. 82) and were successfully operated through 1942, when operati<:ms 

closed for the duration of World War II. Dredging 

was resumed in 1946 but was suspended in late 1948. 

The gold-bearing gravel in Alder Gulch is 30 to 50 

feet deep; the most valuable gravel is about 6 feet 

above the soft, plastic bedrock (Kirk, 1908, p. 330). 

The placer gold probably was weathered directly 

from the thousands of veins of the district (Lyden, 

1948, p. 83). 

Various estimates have been made regarding production of the Alder Gulch placers before 1904. In 

addition to the $30 million produced during the first 

3 years (1863-66), Hart (in Tansley and others, 

1933, p. 46) estimated that Alder Gulch and its 

tributaries yielded $42% million from 1867 through 

1903. The Montana Bureau of Agriculture, Labor, 

and Industry (1900, p. 188) estimated production at 

$150 to $200 million in gold through 1899. Kirk 

(1908, p. 330) estimated the output by 1908 at $125 

million. Lyden (1948, p. 80) believed that Hart's 

estimate was low and Kirk's was high. Almost certainly Hart's figure of $42% million (2,068,215 

ounces) is a conservative estimate for the period 

1863-1903. From 1904 through 1930 the production 

was 380,351 ounces (Hart, in Transley and others, 

1933, p. 46), and from 1932 through 1959, about 

24,500 ounces. Therefore the total production through 

1959 was at least 2,475,000 ounces. 

Lodes also were productive in the Virginia City 

district. The first lode deposits were developed soon 

after 1864, and by 1871 at least 8 mills had been 

erected to treat the gold-quartz ores (Winchell, 

1914a, p. 159). Much of the early lode production 

came from the Oro Cache and Kearsarge mines, in 

the Summit camp, which produced an estimated 

$500,000 and $150,000 in gold, respectively by 1881 

(Winchell, 1914a, p. 159). Hart (in Tansley and 

others, 1933, p. 46) estimated the lode production 

during 1867-90 at $1 million (48,379 ounces), and 

during 1891-1903, at $269,256 (13,026 ounces). 

Lode production fluctuated but continued at a moderate scale through 1914 and ranged from $131,000 

in 1910 to only $12,856 in 1912 (Hart, in Tansley 

and others, 1933, p. 46). Thereafter, production was 

sporadic and it declined sharply until the price of 

gold was raised in 1934. Annual production after 

1934, except during World War II, ranged from 

about 1,300 to 4,500 ounces. Very small amounts of 

lode gold were mined in the 1950's. Total lode production of the district was about 142,000 ounces, 

and the minimum total placer and lode production 

through 1959 was about 2,617,000 ounces. 

The following brief summary of the geology and 

ore deposits has been abstracted from reports by 

Winchell (1914a, p. 159-165) and Hart (in Tansley 

and others, 1933, p. 47-50). 

The district is underlain by gneiss and schist of 

Precambrian age and intrusions of aplite and andesite porphyry of Cretaceous or Tertiary age. East 

of Virginia City the uplands are capped by basalt 

flows of Tertiary age. The lode deposits are chiefly 

in the gneiss and schist, but one vein system is in 

aplite. The lodes are quartz veins and stringers that 

contain auriferous pyrite, galena, sphalerite, and 

chalcopyrite and lesser amounts of gold tellurides, 

tetrahedrite, argentite, and stibnite. Most of the ore 

shipped was oxidized and consisted of gold and free 

silver in quartz, iron oxides, manganese oxides, and 

a little locally occurring copper stain. 
164 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

MINERAL COUNTY 

Located in western Montana along the Idaho 

border, Mineral County was formed in 1914 by partition of Missoula County. All gold mined before 

1914 from the area now included in Mineral County 

is credited to Missoula County. Almost the entire 

gold output came from placer deposits along the 

creeks that drain the east side of the Bitterroot 

Mountains and that flow into Clark Fork River between Tarkio and Superior. The most productive 

placers, and the only ones that produced more than 

10,000 ounces of gold, were those along Cedar and 

Trout Creeks and their tributaries. Estimates by 

Lyden (1948, p. 98-103) suggest that placer production before 1904 may have exceeded 120,000 

ounces. From 1904 through 1956 the county produced placer gold valued at about $665,000 (32,175 

ounces), most of which was produced before 1942. 

Lode gold production in Mineral County has been 

of relatively minor importance. The known lode deposits in the county are valuable chiefly for lead, 

zinc, silver, and copper; gold has probably been a 

byproduct (Wallace and Hosterman, 1956, p. 602-

608). 

CEDAR CREEK-TROUT CREEK DISTRICT 

Cedar and Trout Creeks, about 6 miles apart, are 

on the east slope of the Bitterroot Mountains, southwest of Superior. The placers of Cedar Creek were 

discovered in 1869 ; those along Trout Creek, in 

1872. There was some placer mining along these 

creeks or their tributaries almost every year up to 

World War II (Lyden, 1948, ·p. 100-102). From 

1946 through 1959 operations were small scale and 

desultory. Estimates of early production along Cedar Creek and its tributaries ranged from $2 to $10 

million in gold; Lyden (1948, p. 100) considered $2 

million (96,758 ounces) to be more nearly correct. 

The early production of the Trout Creek placers is 

not known, but it was much smaller than that of 

Cedar Creek. The district produced about 20,000 

ounces of gold from 1908 through 1959; its total 

production through 1959 was about 120,000 ounces. 

The gold from this district was notably fine; some 

gold that was 982 fine was recovered and it was not 

unusual for it to be as high as 960 to 970 fine 

(Lyden, 1948, p. 102). 

MISSOULA COUNTY 

Missoula County, in western Montana, at one time 

included several adjacent counties-Ravalli, Sanders, Lincoln, Mineral, and Lake-and parts of 

Granite, Powell, and Flathead Counties. Only a part 

of the gold production of Missoula County as reported in "Mineral Resources of the United States" 

(U.S. Geological Survey, 1904-23) prior to 1914 

came from deposits within its present boundaries 

(Lyden, 1948, p. 103). Gold production of Missoula 

County has been chiefly from placer deposits in the 

Elk Creek-Coloma and Ninemile districts, but an 

appreciable amount has also come from lode deposits 

in the Elk Creek-Coloma district. The total minimum gold production through 1959 was about 

150,000 ounces from placers and 20,000 ounces from 

lodes. 

ELK CREEK-COLOMA DISTRICT 

The Elk Creek-Coloma district is about 30 miles 

east of Missoula in the southeast corner of the 

county. Elk Creek rises in the Garnet Range, and 

the district lies on the north side of the range north 

of the famous mining camp of Garnet in the First 

Chance district in Granite County. Both lodes and 

placers were exploited for gold in this district. 

Gold placers were discovered along Elk Creek 

about 1865 (Pardee, 1918, p. 231), and the early 

production of the district came from these deposits. 

Reliable figures on the early production are not 

available, but Pardee (1918, p. 232), judging from 

the extent of the old placer workings, estimated 

that the production must have been worth between 

$1 million and $2 million. After the first few years 

of frantic activity, the rich gravels were depleted; 

the boom was over. Most of the claims were abandoned, though a few were worked intermittently 

through the 1930's. Dredging operations from 1938 

to 1940 yielded about 2,500 ounces. After 1940 and 

continuing through 1959 the placers were again 

abandoned. Gold lodes, discovered about 1867 in the 

Coloma area, were not developed until 1897. The 

Comet and Mammoth mines accounted for most of 

the early lode production. Both mines closed after a 

few years of operation, and the camp has been 

largely idle since then. About $250,000 in gold was 

produced from lode mines before 1916 (Pardee, 

1918, p. 195-196). 

Total gold production of the district through 1959 

was between 70,000 and 117,000 ounces. This included 52,000 to 100,000 ounces from placers; the 

remainder was from lodes. 

The rocks in the Elk Creek-Coloma district are 

chiefly limestones of Paleozoic age and granodiorite 

of Late Cretaceous or early Tertiary age that intruded the limestone. Just west of Coloma the limestones are underlain by sedimentary rocks of the 

Belt Series (Pardee, 1918, p. 196-199, pl. 7). The 

veins are in granodiorite adjacent to limestone. 

Most of the ore was oxidized and was rich in gold. 
MONTANA 165 

The sulfide ore, which is relatively low grade, is 

banded and consists of gold-bearing pyrite, chalcopyrite, and tetrahedrite with quartz gangue. 

NINEMILE CREEK DISTRICT 

Located in the northwest corner of Missoula 

County, Ninemile Creek is a tributary of Clark Fork 

River. Almost the entire gold production of this district has been from placer deposits along Ninemile 

Creek and its tributaries. The first discoveries were 

made in the district in 1874 (Lyden, 1948, p. 103). 

Some of the deposits were rich and several miles 

of placer ground was quickly located and patented 

(Lyden, 1948, p. 103-104). The amount of gold 

mined in this district prior to 1908 has not been 

ascertained but is reported to have been several 

million dollars (Lyden, 1948, p. 104). Placer operations along the creek were sustained for many 

years, but production declined sharply after 1915 

and was intermittent in the 1920's. The pace of 

mining increased in the 1930's and, except for the 

war years of 1943-45, continued at a significant 

level through 1948. In 1954 dredging operations 

recovered 1,340 ounces of gold; otherwise the district was idle from 1949 through 1959. Total production through 1959 was probably between 100,000 

and 125,000 ounces. 

The gold-bearing gravels of the district are reported to be either in glacial till or glacial moraine 

(Lyden, 1948, p. 107). The gravel is cemented with 

clay and is difficult to break up, and although it is 

gold bearing, some of the deposits have yielded 

little or no profit. The source of the gold is probably 

the scattered gold veins in the mountains at the 

head of the creeks (Pardee, 1918, p. 234). 

PARK COUNTY 

Park County, in southern Montana just north of 

Yellowstone Park, was organized in 1887. Gold 

placers were discovered in the area as early as 1862 

near Gardiner, and by 1870 gold-quartz veins were 

found near the present site of Jardine and in the 

Cooke City district. The history of mining in the 

county is punctuated by brief periods of development and longer intervals of decline, litigation, and 

idleness (Reed, 1950, p. 7-9). Mineral production 

prior to 1887 is estimated at not more than 

$500,000, a large part of which was in gold. From 

1887 through 1947 the county produced 250,513 

ounces of gold (Reed, 1950, p. 10, table 5) and from 

1948 through 1959, about 22,660 ounces. Total gold 

production through 1959 was roughly 295,000 

ounces, more than half of which was mined from 

1933 to 1953. The Emigrant Creek, Jardine, and 

Cooke City districts have been the major sources of 

gold in Park County. 

EMIGRANT CREEK DISTRICT 

Emigrant Creek is a tributary of Yellowstone 

River, which it joins about 24 miles north of Gardiner. The date of discovery of ore deposits in the 

Emigrant Creek district has not been ascertained, 

but gold lodes in the district were worked in the 

1870's (Reed, 1950, p. 52). The lodes, however, 

never were economically important. The earliest 

placer production records date back to 1901 (Reed, 

1950, p. 14). Prior to 1941 these gravels were 

worked in drift mines, or with hydraulic giants, or 

by ground sluicing. In 1941 a large bucket dredge 

was assembled on Emigrant Creek and was operated until October 1942. In April 1946 these operations were again resumed, but they were unsuccessful because of increased mining costs. The district 

remained dormant through 1959. These placers accounted for one-half to two-thirds of the annual 

production of placer gold in the county (Lyden, 

1948, p. 110). Total placer production from 1901 

through 1959 was 15,606 ounces. During 1901-3 the 

district also produced 395 ounces of lode gold 

(Reed, 1950, p. 14). 

The placer gold was derived from the mineralized 

area at the headwaters of Emigrant Creek (Reed, 

1950, p. 50-54). The country rock consists of Precambrian granite, gneiss, and schist, Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, and Tertiary volcanic and intrusive 

rocks. Small quartz stringers and veins containing 

galena, sphalerite, pyrite, and chalcopyrite, and 

small amounts of gold are found in the volcanic 

rocks, although a few deposits are in the Precambrian rocks. A few veins are valued chiefly for 

molybdenite and also contain small amounts of gold 

and silver. 

JARDINE DISTRICT 

The Jardine ( Sheepea ter) district is 6 miles east 

of Gardiner in the southern part of Park County. 

Gold and arsenic are its major products; tungsten 

has been recovered as a byproduct of gold mining. 

Placer gold was discovered in the gravels along 

Yellowstone River near Gardiner in 1862 and near 

the mouth of Bear Gulch in 1866 ; a search for its 

origin led to the discovery in 1870 of gold-quartz 

veins at the present site of Jardine (Reed, 1950, 

p. 7). The early activity in the district consisted 

chiefly of placer operations, which produced only 

small amounts of gold. Little development was done 

on the lodes until 1884 when completion of a. fivestamp mill ushered in a period of successful lode 
166 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

mining that lasted until the panic of 1893 (Seager, 

1944, p. 6-7). From 1893 to 1902 activity was intermittent and production was relatively small. Mining 

activity during 1902-42 was interrupted by an 

extended period of litigation from 1909 to 1916 and 

by a shutdown from 1926 to 1932 (Reed, 1950, 

p. 8). Operations were temporarily suspended in 

1942 because of the Federal restrictions on gold 

mining, but increasing war demands for arsenic led 

to the reopening of the mines, which operated until 

May 1948, when fire destroyed the cyanide plant. 

There was no recorded production from 1948 

through 1959. 

The recorded gold production from the Jardine 

district from 1902 through 1947 was 174,888 ounces, 

including 407 ounces of placer gold (Reed, 1950, 

p. 11). The district produced an additional 6,498 

ounces of lode gold in 1948. The total gold production through 1959 was probably between 190,000 

and 200,000 ounces. 

The Jardine district is underlain by a complex of 

schist and quartzite intruded by masses of granitic 

rocks, all of Precambrian age. These are overlain 

by Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks and 

Tertiary volcanic rocks. The ore deposits are in the 

Precambrian schist and are the only gold deposits 

of Precambrian age in Montana (Seager, 1944, p. 

43). In many respects these ore bodies are similar 

to the gold deposits in the Homestake mine, South 

Dakota (Seager, 1944, p. 43). 

The ore deposits are in veins of two mineralogic 

types: quartz veins in quartz-biotite schist, and 

arsenopyrite (sulfide) veins in quartz-cummingtonite schist. The quartz veins are the more abundant. 

Both types of veins are replacements of country 

rock rather than fissure fillings; as a result, they 

are characteristically uneven in thickness, continuity, and grade, and although parallel in general 

with the foliation, a few veins crosscut foliation 

(Seager, 1944, p. 44-45). The most common ore 

minerals in the quartz veins in the quartz-biotite 

schist are arsenopyrite, pyrite, galena, gold, and 

scheelite. The arsenopyrite veins in the cummingtonite schist have a much higher and more uniform 

sulfide content and contain more gold and less tungsten than the quartz veins. They also are the chief 

source of arsenical ore. These veins contain variable 

amounts of pyrite, pyrrhotite, and gold in addition 

to arsenopyrite (Seager, 1944, p. 48-50). 

COOKE CITY DISTRICT 

Located in the southeast corner of Park County, 

the Cooke City (New World) district has produced 

silver, copper, lead, and zinc ores from which small 

amounts of gold have been recovered as a byproduct. 

Rumors of rich lead, silver, and gold deposits in 

the New World district were reported as early as 

1868, and in 1869 trappers, fleeing from an Indian 

raiding party, discovered a manganese-stained outcrop on the property which was later developed as 

the Republic mine. In 1870 the first claims were 

located in the district, although it was still part of 

the Crow Indian Reservation (Lovering, 1930, p. 

44). A furnace was built in 1875, and lead ore was 

smelted until an Indian raid in 1878 terminated 

these efforts. In April 1882 the district was withdrawn from the Crow Indian Reservation and 

opened to settlement (Lovering, 1930, p. 45). This 

resulted in increased mining in the district, and a 

lead smelter and roasting furnace were erected. 

However, high freight rates prevented any extensive development, and finally the Republic mine, the 

most productive in the district, and the smelter 

were closed in 1887. Only sporadic exploration continued, resulting in small production of gold ore in 

the early 1890's (Lovering, 1930, p. 46). 

From 1904 through the 1920's several properties 

in the district were mined for short periods, but 

most of these operations ended in failure; only highgrade lead-silver ore was shipped (Lovering, 1930, 

p. 46-47). In 1933 a concentrator was built that 

successfully treated low-grade pyritic gold-copper 

ores (Reed, 1950, p. 8-9). This activity continued 

through 1953, and small-scale lead-silver mining 

was carried on through 1957. 

Early production statistics are not available but, 

according to Lovering ( 1930, p. 48), smelter records show that 438 ounces of gold was recovered in 

1886 in addition to considerable amounts of silver 

and lead. From 1901 through 1932 only 270 ounces 

of byproduct gold was produced (Reed, 1950, table 

on p. 12). Gold recovered from 1933 through 1959 

amounted to 65,245 ounces. Total gold production 

of the district through 1959 was at least 66,000 

ounces. 

The Cooke City mining district is on the southwest flank of the Beartooth-Snowy Mountain anticlinorium. Granite, gneiss, and basalt porphyry of 

Precambrian age are exposed in the central part of 

the structure. Overlying the Precambrian rocks are 

sedimentary rocks of Cambrian, Ordovician, Devonian, and Carboniferous age. After these rocks were 

folded into the large anticline and erosion had modified the relief, Tertiary lavas and pyroclastics 

covered the surface, and plugs, stocks, dikes, and 

sills of gabbro, porphyritic quartz monzonite, granodiorite, diorite, syenite, and basalt intruded the 

rocks (Lovering, 1930, p. 12-40). 
MONTANA 167 

The district contains a variety of ore deposits, 

most of which are clustered around two stocksone of quartz monzonite and the other of syenite. 

Mineralogically, the deposits can be classified into 

copper-platinum, copper-lead-gold, pyritic copper, 

gold-quartz, copper-lead, lead-silver, lead-zinc-silver, 

carbonate-silver, and gold placers. Most of the gold 

has come from the pyritic copper deposits which 

were exploited from 1933 through 1953. These are 

veins containing quartz and pyrite and smaller 

amounts of chalcopyrite, galena, and sphalerite. In 

the higher grade ore, the value of gold ranges from 

$5 to $15 per ton (Lovering, 1930, p. 49-52). 

PHILLIPS COUNTY 

Located in north-central Montana, Phillips County 

is the easternmost gold-producing area in the State. 

Prior to 1915 Phillips County was part of Blaine 

County and before 1912 both were part of Chouteau 

County. Almost the entire metal production of the 

county has come from gold-silver lodes in the Little 

Rocky Mountains. Gold placers were discovered in 

1884 and were worked intermittently for a number 

of years, but they yielded rather insignificant returns. Gold lodes were found in 1893 at the site of 

the August mine, and small amounts of gold were 

mined, even though the area at that time was part of 

the Belknap Indian Reservation. The mineral-rich 

land was thereupon withdrawn from the reservation; soon additional deposits were found and developed, mills were built, and by about 1906, the 

mines produced $950,000 worth of ore (Emmons, 

1908, p. 97). Except for the periods 1919-21, 1925-

29, and 1943-45, the lode mines were fairly active 

until 1951. The Ruby Gulch a1;1d August mines were 

the major gold-producing properties. From 1951 

through 1959, only 6 ounces of gold was reported 

from Phillips County. Total gold production through 

1959 was about 380,000 ounces; virtually all production was from lodes. 

LI'ITLE ROCKY MOUNTAINS DISTRICT 

The Little Rocky Mountains (Zortman-Landusky) 

district is in southwestern Phillips County. Its 

history and production are synonymous with that of 

Phillips County and need not be repeated here. A 

laccolithic dome forms the Little Rocky Mountains. 

Its core of Precambrian gneiss is exposed in the 

deeper gullies in the central part of the mountains. 

Overlying the Precambrian rocks are, in ascending 

order, the Flathead Sandstone of Cambrian age, the 

Emerson Formation of Cambrian and probable Ordovician age, the Bighorn Dolomite of Ordovician 

age, the Maywood Formation and Jefferson Limestone of Devonian age, the Three Forks Shale ( ?) of 

Devonian and Mississippian age, and the Madison 

Group of Mississippian age. Unconformably overlying rocks of the Madison Group is the Rierdon 

Formation of Jurassic age, and this is succeeded 

upward by the Swift and Morrison Formations of 

Jurassic age, the Kootenai Formation, the First Cat 

Creek sand (of drillers) , the Thermopolis Shale, 

Mowry Shale, Warm Creek Shale, and the Montana 

Group of Cretaceous age (Knechtel, 1959, p. 726-

7 45). These Mesozoic sedimentary rocks have an 

aggregate thickness of 4,000 feet. 

The sedimentary formations were arched and invaded by magma which spread along bedding and 

formed laccolithic masses. These igneous rocks 

range in composition from syenite porphyry to 

tinguaite porphyry (Corry, 1933, p. 32). The rocks 

are offset by a complex system of thrusts and circular faults. 

The major ore deposits are in shear zones in 

porphyry; other less important deposits are replacement bodies in limestone. The mineralized shear 

zones contain auriferous pyrite and sylvanite in a 

gangue of quartz and fluorite. Native gold and 

limonite and manganese oxides are the principal 

components of the oxidized deposits (Corry, 1933, 

p. 33-35). 

POWELL COUNTY 

Powell County is in west-central Montana, west 

of the Continental Divide and west of Lewis and 

Clark County. Most of the gold production has come 

from placer deposits in the southern part of the 

county. Gold-bearing gravels discovered along Gold 

Creek in 1852 were probably the first gold discoveries in Montana (Lyden, 1948, p. 118-120), although they were not mined until 1862. The important placers of Powell County are in the Pioneer 

district, which includes the Gold Creek placers, and 

the Ophir and Finn districts. Gold lodes were 

worked in the Ophir and Zosell districts. Powell 

County through 1959 produced about 517,000 ounces 

of placer gold and about 50,000 ounces of lode gold. 

FINN DISTRICT 

The Finn district includes Washington, Jefferson, 

and Buffalo Gulches. Streams in the district along 

the western slope of the Continental Divide, about 

15 miles north of Avon, have yielded moderat"e 

amounts of placer gold, mostly before 1890 (Pardee 

and Schrader, 1933, p. 114). The deposits were discovered in the early or middle 1860's and according 

to Raymond, as quoted by Lyden (1948, p. 128), 

they yielded gold worth about $11;2 million by 1869. 
168 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

The most productive placers in the district have 

been those along Washington Creek. After 1890 the 

placers in the district were worked intermittently; 

the two most prominent periods were 1908-16 and 

1931-42. No activity was reported from 1951 

through 1959. The recorded production from 1908 

through 1932 was about 1,480 ounces, and from 

1933 through 1942, about 6,472 ounces. Less than 

100 ounces were produced from 1942 through 1959. 

The total placer production of the district through 

1959 was about 81,000 ounces. 

From 1933 through 1959 the district also produced a little over 600 ounces of lode gold, probably 

from quartz lodes (Lyden, 1948, p. 128). No description of the geology of the area has been found. 

OPHIR DISTRICT 

The Ophir (Avon) district, which includes Nigger 

Hill, is on the west side of the Continental Divide 

and comprises several formerly productive placer 

deposits and lodes valuable for gold, silver, and 

copper. 

The placer deposits were found in 1865, and the 

town of Blackfoot City, now called Ophir, was 

founded (Knopf, 1913, p. 15). The placer deposits 

along Carpenter Creek, locally called Ophir Creek, 

and its tributaries were the richest and most productive (Lyden, 1948, p. 126-128), but after 1875 

they were largely exhausted and were worked in 

subsequent years by the Chinese. In 1934 a Yuba 

connected-bucket dredge was operated on Carpenter 

Creek, but in July 1935 it was dismantled (Lyden, 

1948, p. 127). Only minor activity was reported 

from 1938 through 1954 and none from 1955 

through 1959. 

Pardee and Schrader (1933, p. 30) concluded that 

the value of the early placer production was at least 

$3% million (169,325 ounces) and Lyden (1948, 

p. 127) credited the district with a production of 

about $5 million (about 242,000 ounces). From 1908 

through 1954 a minimum production of about 9,150 

ounces was recorded, of which 8,460 ounces represents the output of the dredging operations in 1934-

35. The total minimum placer output through 1959 

was about 180,000 ounces. 

The placer deposits are in the present stream 

gravels and in terraces and benches. Ophir Gulch 

was mined for a length of 8 miles and Carpenter 

and Snowshoe Gulches have each been mined for a 

length of several miles (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, 

p. 31). 

Mining of lode deposits in the Ophir district 

began as early as 1888 (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, 

p. 32-35) and continued on a small scale and intermittently until 1954, the greatest activity being in 

1909-18 and 1936-41. Lode gold output through 

1959 was about 8,250 ounces; total lode and placer 

production was about 188,250 ounces. 

The country rock in the Ophir district is limestone, shale, and quartzite of early Paleozoic age, 

intruded by small stocks of quartz monzonite of 

Cretaceous or Tertiary age (Pardee and Schrader, 

1933, p. 30-35). The lodes are irregularly shaped 

pipelike replacement bodies in limestone and are 

genetically related to the quartz monzonite. Pyrite 

and chalcopyrite are the principal sulfide minerals 

in a gangue of quartz, and garnet, diopside, magnetite, and hematite occur locally. Tetrahedrite was 

found in some lodes, and gold tellurides and ruby 

silver were reported from one lode (Pardee and 

Schrader, 1933,p.31). 

PIONEER DISTRICT 

Located in southwestern Powell County, west of 

. Garrison, the Pioneer district includes Gold and 

Pikes Peak Creeks and was the site of Montana's 

first gold discovery along Gold Creek in 1852. 

Though the initial find was not rich enough to mine, 

sufficient interest was aroused to attract others who 

found more encouraging gravels along Gold Creek 

in 1858, 1860, and 1861. The deposits were not rich 

and were neglected during the frantic stampedes to 

other bonanza discoveries in western Montana in 

the 1860's. Thus no significant development occurred 

until 1868-69, when a ditch 16 miles long was completed to deliver water to mine high terraces along 

Pikes Peak Creek (Pardee, 1951, p. 74-75). By 1871 

a total of eight hydraulic giants were utilized in 

placer mining on Pioneer Creek and French Gulch 

(Lyden, 1948, p. 120), and more than $1 million in 

gold was recovered from terrace gravels on Pioneer 

Bar in the late 1870's and 1880's. By 1920 most of 

the favorable ground had been worked and only one 

large-scale hydraulic plant was active (Pardee, 

1951, p. 75). About $1,350;000 worth of gold was 

recovered during 1933-41 from dredging operations 

in Pioneer Gulch. From 1942 through 1959 the district was almost inactive. 

Gold production of the district through 1942 was 

valued at $5,667,248 (Pardee, 1951, p. 97) and included an estimate of $4 million for the period 

before 1897, when dependable records were not 

kept. Total production through 1959 was approximately 246,200 ounces. 

The placers of the district, which were described 

in detail by Pardee (1951, p. 86-96), include creek 
MONTANA 169 

placers, terrace or bench placers, and gold-bearing 

glacial drift. Some of the gold in the creek and 

bench placers may have been concentrated from 

glacial material (Lyden, 1948, p. 121). 

The Pioneer district produced less than 1,000 

ounces of lode gold through 1959. A small part of 

the district is included in the northeast corner of 

the Philipsburg quadrangle and is described by 

Emmons and Calkins (1913, p. 251). The country 

rock is granite of Tertiary age. The veins consist of 

quartz, calcite, pyrite, and chalcopyrite; some also 

contain a little sphalerite, galena, and gray copper. 

These deposits may be the source of the placer 

gold in the district. 

ZOSELL DISTRICT 

The Zosell (Emery) district is located in southern 

Powell County on the west slope of the Continental 

Divide about 8 miles east-southeast of Deer Lodge. 

The district includes small formerly productive 

placer deposits and lodes valued for gold, silver, and 

lead. 

Gold placers were discovered in the district about 

1872 and during the next 20 years yielded about 

$75,000 (3,625 ounces) in gold (Pardee and 

, Schrader, 1933, p. 283). There has been no placer 

mining in the district since 1904. 

Lode mining in the Zosell district dates back to 

about 1888. The chief producer has been the Emery 

mine, though a score of mines were operated intermittently through 1951 (Robertson, 1953, p. 2-4). 

The production of the lodes from 1891 to 1928 was 

valued at about $675,000, of which about 45 percent, $303,750 (14,695 ounces), represents the value 

of the gold (Pardee and Schrader, 1933, p. 270). 

The district was most active from 1891 to 1905 and 

from 1935 to 1942. Total gold production through 

1959 was about 39,450 ounces from lodes and 3,625 

ounces from placers. 

The district is underlain by andesite and basalt 

flows, tuffs and breccias, probably of Late Cretaceous age (Robertson, 1953, p. 5-8). On the east, 

just beyond the Continental Divide, these rocks are 

intruded by the Boulder batholith, and a few miles 

south of the district, an outlier of the Boulder 

batholith is exposed. The volcanic rocks are warped 

into a west-plunging syncline and offset by faults. 

The ore deposits are veins that have filled open 

spaces along fractures ; locally the veins replaced 

the broken rock, and several feet of wallrock are 

mineralized. The veins are narrow but rather persistent in length and depth (Pardee and Schrader, 

1933, p. 272-283). The principal ore mineralspyrite, arsenopyrite, sphalerite, boulangerite, tetrahedrite, chalcopyrite, and galena-are in a gangue 

of quartz and carbonate minerals (Robertson, 1953, 

p. 9-12). Oxidized ore is generally somewhat lower 

grade than the sulfide ore (Pardee and Schrader, 

1933, p. 273). 

RAVALLI COUNTY 

Gold production in Ravalli County, in western 

Montana, has come chiefly from placer deposits 

along Hughes Creek. Of the 9,055 ounces of gold 

the county produced from 1904 through 1945, about 

8,000 ounces was from these placers (Lyden, 1948, 

p. 132). From 1946 through 1959 the Hughes Creek 

district produced 336 ounces, including 36 ounces of 

lode gold. No production figures are available for the 

years before 1904; however, Lindgren pointed out 

(1904, p. 88) that the Hughes Creek placers were 

known since the early days of mining and that 

claims had been staked out for a distance of 15 miles 

from the mouth to the divide. It is therefore highly 

probable that the Hughes Creek district had a total 

output of more than 10,000 ounces of gold. 

SILVER BOW COUNTY 

Silver Bow County is immediately west of the 

Continental Divide in western Montana. It is the 

leading mining county of Montana and is one of 

the most productive mining areas in the United 

States. In addition to copper and gold, Silver Bow 

County has produced large amounts of silver, lead, 

zinc, and some manganese. Almost all the metals 

have come from the immensely rich copper deposits 

at Butte. The Highland district, south of Butte, has 

yielded a moderate amount of gold. The total gold 

production of the county from 1864 through 1959 

was about 2,800,000 ounces. 

BUTI'E DISTRICT 

The Butte (Summit Valley) district is in northeastern Silver Bow County in the vicinity of the 

city of Butte. More than 90 percent of the annual 

mineral output of Montana comes from the Butte 

district, one of the great copper camps of the world. 

Gold has been a byproduct of the copper ores, although some gold was mined from placers before 

1875. Silver, zinc, lead, and manganese have also 

been recovered in substantial amounts. The total 

gold production of Butte through 1959 was approximately 2,725,000 ounces, which includes about 

363,000 ounces of estimated production from placers 

in the district (Winchell, 1914a, p. 102; Lyden, 

1948,p. 143-144). 
170 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

The first mineral discoveries were the gold-bearing gravels found in 1864 in Missoula Gulch, at a 

point now within the Butte city limits. Later that 

same year placers were found along Silver Bow 

Creek and in German Gulch. These deposits were 

fairly profitable in the 1860's and 1870's. In the 

first 3 years about $1% million worth of gold was 

recovered (Weed, 1912, p. 18). The placers, which 

were not very rich, soon declined in importance, as 

interest was diverted to developing the manganesestained silver lodes which were also located in 1864. 

Silver mining reached its peak in 1887, at which 

time about 500 tons of ore, averaging $25 per ton 

in silver and gold, were treated daily in stamp 

mills and smelters in the district (Weed, 1912, 

p. 19). The drop in the price of silver in 1893 put 

an end to large silver-mining operations in the district. Copper lodes were developed slowly and 

gained prominence in the 1880's when railroads 

afforded cheap transportation. A significant event 

in the history of the district was the organization 

of the Amalgamated Copper Co. in 1899, a venture 

that consolidated most of the large copper mines 

and provided sufficient capital for future expansion. 

Exploration and development continued through the 

early 1900's. The Anaconda Co., the largest of the 

consolidated properties, assumed increasing importance and has been the controlling interest in the 

district for many years. 

Bedrock in the district is mainly quartz monzonite and is part of the Boulder batholith of Late 

Cretaceous age or Early Tertiary age. It is cut by 

dikes and sheets of aplite and by dikes of quartz 

porphyry. A mass of dacite-rhyolite, partly intrusive into the quartz monzonite and partly extrusive, 

is exposed in the western part of the district and 

forms the butte from which the city received its 

name (Weed, 1912, p. 26-46). The quartz monzonite, aplite, and quartz porphyry-but not the 

rhyolite-are cut by numerous faults and fissures, 

along some of which the mineralizing solutions 

traveled. Extensive studies in the district (Sales, 

1914; Sales and Meyer, 1948) resulted in grouping 

these fissures into the following systems, listed 

chronologically and beginning with the oldest: 

1. Anaconda or east-west system (contains the most 

extensive and persistent veins). 

2. Blue system (also heavily mineralized). 

3. Mountain View breccia faults (slightly mineralized). 

· 4. Steward system (slightly mineralized). 

5. Rarus fault (barren). 

6. Middle faults (barren). 

7. Continental fault (barren). 

Sales (1914, p. 58-61) recognized a distinct concentric zoning of the ores of the Butte district. The 

central zone contains veins in which chalcocite and 

enargite are the major copper minerals and the 

gangue is pyrite and quartz. Veins in the intermediate zone are characterized by sphalerite, and 

bornite, chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite, and tennantite 

are more abundant than in the central zone. Rhodonite and rhodochrosite are relatively common. 

The peripheral zone contains veins valued for silver, gold, and zinc. Rhodonite, rhodochrosite, galena and sphalerite are abundant; quartz is the 

major gangue mineral, and pyrite is common. The 

copper minerals chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite, tennantite, chalcocite, and bornite occur in only small 

amounts. 

Detailed studies of the wallrock alteration of the 

Butte district revealed that all veins are accompanied by two types of alteration-a sericite zone adjacent to the ore-bearing fracture and an argillized 

zone between the sericite and fresh quartz monzonite. These changes reflect mineralogical stability 

ranges of the wallrock in response to a new physical 

and chemical environment produced by the mineralizing solutions rather than in response to abrupt 

changes in the composition of the solutions (Sales 

and Meyer, 1948, p. 25). 

HIGHLAND DISTRICT 

The Highland district is in southern Silver Bow 

County about 15 miles south of Butte, 2 or 3 miles 

east of the Continental Divide in the Highland 

Mountains. It contains both placer and lode gold 

deposits. Placer deposits were discovered along the 

upper course of Fish Creek in 1866. Lodes also were 

located in the early years. The town of Highland, 

established near the head of Fish Creek, was larger 

than Butte in 1869; however, the richest placer 

deposits were soon exhausted, and the town was 

virtually abandoned by 1876 (Winchell, 1914a, 

p. 87). The lode mines were reactivated in about 

1931 and operated through 1944; their peak output 

was 9,945 ounces in 1939. Activity declined sharply 

after 1941, and there was only small sporadic production through 1959. Total gold production of the 

district through 1959 must have been in excess of 

50,000 ounces. 

The bedrock of the Highland district consists of 

slate and quartzite of the Belt Series of Precambrian age and contact-metamorphosed limestone, 

sandstone, and shale of Paleozoic age along the 

southeast border of the Boulder batholith (Winchell, 

1914a, p. 87-89; Weed, 1912, pl. 1). 
NEVADA 171 

The ore deposits include veins, chimneys, and 

irregular contact deposits in marbleized Paleozoic 

limestone and irregular veins in the quartz monzonite near the contact (Winchell, 1914a, p. 89-90). 

The sulfide ore consists of chalcopyrite, bornite, 

galena, pyrite, pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, tetradymite, argentite, and pyrargyrite. Much of the ore 

was oxidized and contained native gold and silver 

ana oxidized copper and iron minerals. 

NEVADA 

In Nevada, gold production has been greatly exceeded by silver production; most of the gold produced has been a byproduct of silver or base-metal 

ores. The major gold districts are Goldfield, Silver 

Peak, Aurora, Rawhide, Jarbidge, National, Round . 

Mountain, Manhattan, Delamar, Wilson, Potosi, and 

Lynn, although the largest gold production has 

come from the Comstock Lode district, . principally 

a silver district (fig. 16). · 

Mining began in the State in the early 1850's, and 

1859-79 was the boom era of the Comstock Lode 

and the Reese River districts. Mining, except in the 

Comstock Lode, declined steadily after 1880 until 

the discoveries of the silver ore deposits of Tonopah 

in 1900 and the bonanza gold deposits of Goldfield 

in 1902. These finds stimulated prospecting in new 

areas and rejuvenated mining activity in the State 

(fig. 17). The old silver-, lead-, and copper-mining 

camps of Pioche, Yellow Pine, Ely, and Eureka 

were reopened as new techniques made mining and 

milling more economic. From World War I through 

1965, lead, zinc, and copper production dominated 

mining activity in Nevada, but precious-metal output regained part of its former prominence with 

the inception in 1938 of the large-scale opencut 

mining operation at the Getchell mine in the Potosi 

district and the opening of the Carlin mine in the 

Lynn district in 1965. From 1859 through 1965 a 

total of 27,475,395 ounces of gold was mined in the 

State. 

Ferguson (1944, p. 78-80) has summarized the 

major features of the geology of Nevada. Paleozoic 

sedimentary rocks occur throughout the State. 

Mesozoic sedimentary· rocks are exposed in the 

western part and in the west-central part as far 

east as Nye County. Along the west border of the 

State lies the huge Sierra Nevada batholith, and 

just east of it and related to it are numerous smaller 

bodies of granitic rock. Along the east, and extending southwestward through Clark County, is a belt 

characterized by folding and large-scale thrusting 

and granitic intrusions; both the deformation and 

intrusion are believed to be of early Tertiary age. 

There are many areas of granitic rocks in the central part of the State, but their geologic age is uncertain. Volcanic and nonmarine sedimentary rocks 

of Cenozoic age are found over wide areas. All 

these rocks have been dislocated by normal faults 

that have produced the present basin-and-range 

topography. Some of this faulting has continued 

into Recent time. 

Ore deposits are associated with nearly all the 

rocks mentioned above. There are veins, contact 

metamorphic deposits, and replacement deposits 

associated with the granitic intrusive rocks and the 

invaded rocks. There are epithermal vein deposits 

in the Tertiary volcanic rocks. 

CHURCHILL COUNTY 

Churchill County, in the northern Great Basin, 

is characterized by many elongate, narrow mountain ranges separated by flat, relatively narrow 

valleys. Dry or seasonal lakes, the larger of which 

are in Humboldt and Carson sinks, occupy some of 

these valleys. 

Churchill County, created in 1861, was one of the 

nine original counties in the State. In later years, 

parts of the co1;1nty were used to form Lander, 

Lyon, and Nye Counties. 

Settlers, drawn west by the lure of California 

gold, crossed Nevada by two main routes, both of 

which passed through Churchill County. The hot, 

dry areas occupied by Humboldt and Carson sinks 

were not inviting; consequently, few people lingered, and the mineral deposits of the county remained undiscovered for some time. 

In the early 1860's discoveries were made at Silver Hill, Mountain Well, and Clan Alpine (Browne 

and Taylor, 1867, p. 128), but it is doubtful that 

any significant production was achieved. 

The discovery at Tonopah, in Nye and Esmeralda 

Counties in 1900, generated considerable activity, 

and prospectors overflowed into Churchill County. 

Discoveries were made at Fairview and Wonder in 

the early 1900's, and these soon became the most 

productive gold- and silver-producing areas in the 

county. 

Records of production before 1904 are incomplete, but the value of gold mined from 1890 to 

1903 was estimated at $32,300 (about 1,600 ounces). 

From 1904 to 1937, a total of 12 ounces of placer 

gold and 123,537 ounces of lode gold was mined in 

the county (Vanderburg, 1940, p. 10-13). Total 

gold production through 1959 was 164,605 ounces. 
172 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

FAIRVIEW DISTRICT 

The Fairview district is in southeast Churchill 

County, 42 miles southeast of Fallon on the west 

slope of Fairview Peak. 

The district was founded in 1906 and became a 

boom camp immediately. Activity leveled off after 

a few years, and the Nevada Hills mine emerged as 

the sustaining producing property until 1917, when 

it closed. After that time only sporadic small-scale 

41° 

0 50 

activity was carried on in the district (Vanderburg, 

1940, p. 23, 24). Production from 1906 through 

1959 was about 53,100 ounces of gold, which was a 

byproduct from ores that were rich in silver and 

contained small amounts of lead and copper. 

The rocks of the district consist of pre-Tertiary 

crystalline schists and limestones, intruded by granite (Greenan, 1914). Overlying these older rocks 

are dacite tuff, two andesite flows, tuff, and rhyoI 

I r ____ , 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

'"' 35Q'..::l_ I 

FIGURE 16.-Gold-mining districts of Nevada. 
NEVADA 173 

lite, all of Tertiary age. A light-gray rhyolite plug 

cuts all these formations. 

Veins occur in fissures in the earlier of the two 

andesites. The more prominent veins, the Nevada 

Hill the Eagle and the Dromedary, strike north- ' ' west and dip steeply southeast. Ore minerals are 

argentite, stephanite, horn silver, ruby silver, chalcopyrite, pyrite, tetrahedrite, galena, sphalerite, and 

gold. Gangue consists of quartz, calcite, and minor 

rhodochrosite and pyrolusite. 

SAND SPRINGS DISTRICT 

Although the Sand Springs district, which is 25 

to 30 miles southeast of Fallon, was prospected in 

1905, its first gold production was not until 1919. 

To 1937 only $30,000 (about 1,450 ounces) in gold 

was produced, all of it from the Dan Tucker mine 

(Vanderburg, 1940, p. 40). From 1937 to 1951 the 

district yielded 20,875 ounces of gold as a byproduct 

of silver ores. From 1951 through 1959 no activity 

was reported. 

The ore bodies occur in an east-trending silicified 

zone that cuts country rock consisting of schist, 

limestone, and andesite. Free gold and minor silver 

chloride occur in a gangue of sugary quartz and 

crushed andesite (Vanderburg, 1940, p. 41). 

WONDER DISTRICT 

The Wonder district is on the west slope of the 

Clan Alpine Range in east Churchill County, 55 

miles east of Fallon. 

The initial gold discoveries were made in 1906, 

Churchill County: 

1, Fairview; 2, Sand Springs; 3, Wonder. 

Clark County: 

4, Eldorado; 5, Goodsprings; 6, Searchlight. 

Elko County: 

7, Edgemont; 8, Gold Circle; 9, Jarbidge; 10, Tuscarora. 

Esmeralda County: 

11, Divide; 12, Goldfield; 13, Hornsilver; 14, Lone Mountain; 15, Silver Peak. 

Eureka County: 

16, Buckhorn; 17, Cortez; 18, Eureka; 19, Lynn. 

Humboldt County: 

20, Awakening; 21, Dutch Flat; 22, Gold Run; 23, National; 24, Paradise Valley; 25, Potosi; 26, Warm 

Springs; 27, Winnemucca. 

Lander County: 

28, Battle Mountain; 29, Bullion; 30, Hilltop; 31, Lewis; 

32, New Pass; 33, Reese River. 

Lincoln County: 

34, Delamar; 35, Pioche. 

and a rush began immediately (Vanderburg, 1940, 

p. 54-57). The Nevada Wonder mine soon became 

the leading producer, a position it never relinquished. The boom was short lived, and after 1919 

operations declined to small-scale activities by 

lessees. 

From 1907 through 1959 the district produced 

73,890 ounces of gold which was derived from ores 

rich in silver. The gold-to-silver ratio was 1 to 94. 

Minor amounts of copper and lead were also produced. 

The following description of the geology is summarized from Burgess (1917). The area is underlain by Tertiary rhyolite, dacite, andesite, and 

basalt. The oldest of these, the Wonder Rhyolite, 

contains the ore-bearing veins, grouped near small 

intrusives in the rhyolite. There are many small 

veins in the district, but only the Nevada Wonder 

has been productive. The vein is partly on the contact between the Wonder Rhyolite and an intrusive 

body of dacite. 

Silver occurs in the form of argentite and the 

halogen salts embolite, iodobromite, and iodyrite. 

The gold is partly included in argentite and is 

partly free. 

CLARK COUNTY 

The mmmg districts of Clark County are scattered through the many north-trending mountain 

ranges characteristic of this part of the State. 

Although there is some indication of early small~ 

scale mining by Indians and Spanish explorers, it 

Lyon County: 

36, Silver City; 37, Como; 38, Wilson. 

Mineral County: 

39, Aurora; 40, Bell; 41, Candelaria; 42, Garfield; 43, 

Gold Range; 44, Hawthorne; 45, Mount Montgomery and 

Oneota; 46, Rawhide. 

Nye County: 

47, Bruner; 48, Bullfrog; 49, Ellendale; 50, Gold Hill; 

51, Jackson; 52, Jefferson Canyon; 53, Johnnie; 54, 

Lodi; 55, Manhattan; 56, Northumberland; 57, Round 

Mountain; 58, Tonopah; 59, Tybo; 60, Union. 

Pershing County : 

61, Humboldt; 62, Rochester; 63, Rye Patch; 64, Seven 

troughs; 65, Sierra; 66, Spring Valley. 

Storey County: 

67, Comstock Lode. 

Washoe County: 

68, Olinghouse. 

White Pine County: 

69, Cherry Creek; 70, Ely; 71, Osceola. 

FIGURE 16.-Continued. 
174 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

was not until 1855, when the Mormon settlers began operating the Potosi mine in the Goodsprings 

district, that large-scale lode mining began. The 

Potosi is the oldest lode mine in the State (Vanderburg, 1937a, p. 9). Gold-silver deposits were discovered in the Eldorado district in 1857, and some 

time later, in the Goodsprings and Searchlight districts. These three districts produced most of the 

metals in the county. 

Total recorded county production from 1908 

through 1959 was 291,770 ounces. Of this total only 

200 ounces was from placers ; the remainder was 

from lode mines or a byproduct of silver, copper, 

and base-metal ores. 

ELDORADO DISTRICT 

The Eldorado district is 6 miles wide and 12 miles 

long in the northern Opal Mountains in southeastern Clark County, about 25 miles south of Boulder 

City. 

Mining began in this district in 1857, but it never 

received the publicity given many other areas, possibly because it was overshadowed by concurrent 

greater booms at the Comstock Lode, Eureka, and 

Ely (Ransome, 1907, p. 64). The major mines of 

the district were the Techatticup, Eldorado Rand, 

Crown Queen, Wall Street, Mocking Bird, Rambler, 

Rover, and Flagstaff. 

The early production of the Eldorado district was 

estimated (Ransome, 1907, p. 65) at between $2 and 

$5 million, mostly in gold. From 1907 through 

1959 the production was 101,729 ounces of lode and 

byproduct gold and 168 ounces of placer gold. 

Gneiss and schist, possibly Precambrian in age, 

have been intruded by a mass of quartz monzonite 

and are flanked locally by patches of Tertiary volcanic rocks (Ransome, 1907, p. 65-68). Ores occur 

in fissures in the gneiss and schist and in the quartz 

monzonite. Most of the veins are small, but very 

persistent. The minerals present are pyrite, galena, 

and sphalerite in a gangue of quartz and some calcite. The gold and silver probably are associated 

with the sulfides; native gold has not been seen 

(Ransome, 1907, p. 76-79). 

GOODSPRINGS DISTRICT 

The Goodsprings (Yell ow Pine) district comprises several hundred square miles in the southern 

Output of Goldfield, Tonopah, 

and Comstock Lode districts 

800 

CJl "' w () 

(J c 

~600 ~5 oo~ 0 

.._ 0~ 

0 <l>ll'l 

U('O') 

CJl ~~ 

Cl 0.0 

z c- = <( ·-" :;; CJl "'"' "' . 3: 5 400 coo 

J: "'"' t;~ 

1- EE 

,g 

Paso 1920 1965 

YEAR 

FIGURE 17.-Annual gold production of Nevada, 1880-1965. Sources of data: 1880-1923 from U.S. Geological Survey 

(1883-1924); 1924-65 from U.S. Bureau of Mines (1925--34; 1933-66). Production reported in dollar value was 

converted to ounces at prevailing price per ounce. 
NEVADA 175 

Spring Mountain Range, in southwestern Clark 

County. The town of Goodsprings, in the center of 

the district, is 8 miles northwest of Jean and 28 

miles southwest of Las Vegas. 

Mormon missionaries are credited with the first 

discoveries in the district, and in 1856 work was 

begun at the Potosi mine. After several unsuccessful attempts to smelt the ore and recover lead, work 

was abandoned, and for the next several decades 

activity in the district consisted of desultory prospecting of gold-bearing iron gossans, copper-stained 

gossans, and lead veins. In the 1890's the district 

was reactivated, and considerable gold was mined 

from the Keystone, Bass, and Clementine properties. In 1905 the completion of the railroad between 

Los Angeles and Salt Lake City provided the district with adequate shipping facilities, and the following year significant quantities of oxidized zinc 

minerals were recognized in the ores. These two 

events permitted a more orderly growth and development in the following years. Platinum was discovered in the Bass mine in 1914, but production 

of this element never fulfilled any of the expectations its discover.y generated (Hewett, 1931, p. 

69-71). 

Gold is chiefly a byproduct of zinc-lead-silver ore. 

From 1902 through 1959 a total of 58,815 ounces 

of gold was produced; none of it was from placers. 

The predominant bedrock consists of a thick section of Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks that were 

folded, thrust faulted, and intruded by granitic 

dikes and sills (Hewett, 1931, p. 9-55). The Paleozoic rocks are predominantly limestone; the Mesozoic rocks are largely sandstone, shale, and conglomerate. Ores were deposited in breccia zones and 

fractures in limestone of pre-Permian age. Ore deposits are of three types: gold-copper with accessory cobalt, nickel-silver, and zinc-lead with accessory vanadium. Gold deposits are in fractures in 

and near the intrusive bodies, copper deposits are 

in Devonian or older beds and are more remote 

from the intrusive bodies, and zinc and lead deposits occur in Lower Mississippian beds (Hewett, 

1931, p. VIII). The gold deposits consist of pyritic 

fracture fillings, weathered to free gold and iron 

and manganese oxides; quartz is not present (Hewett, 1931, p. 89-90). 

SEARCHLIGHT DISTRICT 

Located in southeastern Clark County, 40 miles 

south of Boulder City and 22 miles east of Nipton, 

Calif., the Searchlight district is one of the more 

recently developed in the State; the first production was recorded in 1898. The deposits have 

yielded gold and subordinate silver, copper, and 

lead. 

Most of the production has come from the· Duplex 

and the Quartette mines. The Quartette had a total 

yield worth well over $2,800,000 and the Duplex 

mine produced ore worth in excess of $650,000, 

mainly in gold (Callaghan, 1939, p. 161, 165). 

The period of greatest activity in the district was 

1902-16. After that time, activity steadily declined. 

Gold production from 1902 through 1959 was 

246,997 ounces from the lode mines and only 26 

ounces from placer workings. 

The oldest rock of the district is gneiss of possible Precambrian age (Callaghan, 1939, p; 140-

141). It is intruded by a large quartz monzonite 

body of Tertiary age and by andesite porphyry 

which may be an early facies of the quartz monzonite. The quartz monzonite is the most extensive 

rock in the district. A younger series of lava flows 

and volcanic ( ?) breccias lies on the eroded surface 

of the quartz monzonite and older rocks. 

The veins are in fractured zones in the older 

rocks around the margin of the quartz monzonite. 

Most of the production has come from oxidized and 

weathered vein material which extends to depths 

of 800 feet, or more, in which galena is the only 

unweathered sulfide present. Unweathered vein material consists of a breccia of country rock cemented 

with vuggy quartz. Sphalerite, galena, and chalcopyrite occur in equal amounts in the quartz. The 

oxidized vein material contains gold, traces of copper and chalcopyrite, galena, chalcocite, quartz, 

chalcedony, cuprite, hematite, cerussite, malachite, 

calcite, brochantite, limonite, leadhillite, chrysocolla, wulfenite, vanadinite, mottramite, hemimorphite (Callaghan, 1939, p. 152-153). 

ELKO COUNTY 

Elko County is in the northeastern part of the 

State, and most of its gold production has come 

from districts in the northern and western parts 

of the county. Lode mines in the Jarbidge and Tuscarora districts have been the principal source of 

the gold, but in the early days considerable amounts 

of placer gold were mined at Tuscarora, Aura, 

Charleston, Gold Basin, Island Mountain, and 

Mountain City. Lesser amounts of lode and byproduct gold came from Gold Circle, Mountain City, 

Aura, and Edgemont. 

The production of the county from 1903 through 

1959 was 561,187 ounces-554,737 ounces from 

lodes and 6,450 ounces from placers. Before 1903 

there was considerable production, primarily from 

Tuscarora and Edgemont, but no complete record 
176 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

could be found. From 1879 through 1896, the county 

produced $1,017,051 in lode gold (Nolan, 1936a, 

p. 13). In addition, the Tuscarora district produced 

about $700,000 in placer gold (Nolan, 1936a, p. 14). 

Total gold production through 1959 was about 

614,000 ounces. 

EDGEMONT DISTRICT 

The Edgemont district is in northern Elko 

County, on the west slope of the Centennial Range, 

about 10 miles north of Deep Creek. 

Before about 1907 the Lucky Girl and Bull Run 

mines yielded about $1 million in gold (Emmons, 

1910, p. 75). From 1907 through 1959 the district 

was dormant, producing only 4 ounces in 1950 and 

7 4 ounces in 1951. 

The deposits consist of fissure veins in contorted 

and fractured quartzite. Gold is associated with 

pyrite, galena, and pyrrhotite (Emmons, 1910, 

p. 75-76). 

GOLD CIRCLE DISTRICT 

The Gold Circle district is 45 miles north of 

Battle Mountain, 50 miles northeast of Golconda, 

and 35 miles west of Tuscarora. 

Gold was discovered in 1907, and a brief boom 

followed. This has been a gold-silver district; a 

total of 109,765 ounces of lode gold and 45 ounces 

of placer gold was produced from 1908 to 1958, 

mostly from the Elko Prince mine. 

The country rocks-from oldest to youngestconsist of rhyolite, andesite, and postandesite rhyolite flows and tuff (Rott, 1931, p. 10). The rocks 

were faulted and then mineralized. Most of the 

veins follow northwest-trending shear zones in the 

older rhyolite and the fractured contact between 

rhyolite and andesite. Vein material is principally 

silicified breccia and minor calcite and adularia. 

The dominant minerals are pyrite, stromeyerite, 

and native gold. Minor constituents are tetrahedrite, 

proustite, chalcopyrite, and sphalerite. 

JARBIDGE DISTRICT 

The Jarbidge district is in northern Elko County 

about 60 miles west of the Utah State line and 

5 miles south of the Idaho State line. 

Gold ore was first discovered in 1904 (Schrader, 

1912, p. 15), but the major discovery was not until 1909. A rush to the area took place the following year, and the town of Jarbidge was soon 

founded. 

Production totaled about 217,800 ounces from 

1911 through 1959. 

The Jarbidge Mountains, of which the mining district is a small part, separate two major physiographic provinces: the Snake River Plain to the 

north and the Great Basin to the south. 

The district is underlain by Tertiary volcanic 

rocks that were extruded on an eroded surface of 

Paleozoic rocks that had been intruded by granitic 

stocks and dikes (Schrader, 1923, p. 12-35). The 

Paleozoic sedimentary rocks consist of quartzite, 

limestone, and shale and have been considerably 

folded. The intrusive rock is a gray coarsely crystalline hornblende-biotite granodiorite of probable 

Cretaceous age. The Tertiary volcanic rocks, mostly 

rhyolites, are divided into two series separated by 

an erosion surface. 

The ore deposits are gold-bearing fissure veins 

in the older rhyolites. These veins range from 1 to 

30 feet in width and from several hundred feet to 

several miles in length. They are grouped into a 

west and east system. In the west system the veins 

are the more valuable; they strike north-northwestward and dip steeply eastward. In the east system 

the veins are narrow but persistent; they strike 

northward and are exposed in rocks nearer the 

crest of the range. 

The economic metals of the district are gold and 

silver, and they occur as native gold, electrum, 

argentite, cerargyrite, and naumannite (Schrader, 

1923, p. 26). Pyrite is also present. The gangue 

consists chiefly of quartz and adularia. Other minerals present in minor amounts are apatite, barite, 

calcite, chalcedony, chlorite, epidote, fluorite, hematite, hyalite, kaolin, halloysite, leverrierite, limonite, 

psilomelane, pyrolusite, marcasite, opaline silica, 

sericite, and talc. 

TUSCARORA DISTRICT 

The Tuscarora district is 45 miles northwest of 

Elko, near the headwaters of the South Fork of the 

Owyhee River. 

Gold was discovered in the area in 1867 in stream 

gravels (Browne, 1868, p. 429-430), and outcrops 

of auriferous vein material were found soon afterward. During the following 9 years placers were 

mined, but there was no intense activity until 1876 

when high-grade ore was found in the Grand Prize 

mine (Nolan, 1936a, p. 7-9). The usual boom 

period followed, accompanied by mismanagement, 

waste, litigations, and profiteering, so typical of 

the histories of mining camps throughout the West. 

By 1886 the bonanza ores were exhausted, but new 

discoveries to the north and west created another 

boom, though of lesser proportions. A third revival 

was created by the mining of low-grade gold ores 
NEVADA 177 

from the Dexter mine (Nolan, 1936a, p. 9), and 

most of the production of the district from 1895 

to 1912 was from this mine. In recent years the 

district declined steadily with no production reported from 1955 through 1959. 

Nolan (1936a, p. 10-14) in reviewing the production history of the district noted that estimates 

of production before 1902 varied widely, but that 

a reasonable compromise would be about $10 million in gold and silver. From 1902 through 1959, 

a total of 15,662 ounces of gold was mined, most 

of it from lodes. The placer gold production of the 

district, most of it mined in the early days, 

amounted to about $700,000 (Nolan, 1936a, p. 14). 

Total gold production of the district through 1959 

probably was at least 100,000 ounces. 

The bedrock of the area consists of bedded volcanic breccias and tuffs about 5,000 feet thick and 

dark-green andesite porphyry that is intrusive into 

the pyroclastics (Nolan, 1936a, p. 14-35). The 

bedded rocks have been tilted to the east and 

southeast. The rocks are also faulted, but the nature and extent of faulting are not clear. 

There are three types of deposits: (1) silver 

lodes rich in native silver and silver halides, argentite, stephanite, proustite, pyrargyrite, pyrite, enargite, arsenopyrite, bornite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, 

and galena with quartz and calcite gangue, in the 

andesite masses; (2) gold deposits consisting of 

quartz and adularia fissure fillings and zones of 

quartz stringers in the bedded pyroclastics; and 

(3) gold placers. 

ESMERALDA COUNTY 

Until the discoveries at Goldfield in 1902, the 

gold deposits of Esmeralda County were in themselves relatively insignificant; most of the gold had 

been produced as a byproduct of rich silver ores. 

Yet, gold was the metal sought in the early days, 

and in at least one instance, at Gold Mountain in 

the Divide district, the search for gold led to the 

discovery of rich silver deposits. 

The silver-gold deposits of the county are of two 

general types: veins associated with granitic bodies 

of Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous age, and fissure filling in Tertiary volcanics. The deposits at 

Silver Peak, Windypah, Hornsilver, Lida, Montezuma, and Klondike belong to the first type ; those 

at Divide and Goldfield to the second. Production 

in the county from 1903 through 1959 was 4,912,112 

ounces of lode gold, mostly from Goldfield, and 

2,071 ounces of placer gold. 

DIVIDE DISTRICT 

The Divide (Gold Mountain) district, 5 miles south 

of Tonopah, has been primarily a silver camp; it 

was founded in 1901. Between 1901 and 1917 there 

was only sporadic exploitation of the gold-bearing 

veins on Gold Mountain and the silver lodes in the 

Crown Divide property. Then, in 1917, a rich silver 

lode was discovered on Gold Mountain which immediately created a boom that lasted until 1919. The 

principal mines in the district are the Tonopah 

Divide, the Divide Extension, and the Tonopah 

Hasbrouck (Knopf, 1921b, p. 148-170). 

Gold production from 1910 through 1959 was 

26,483 ounces, mostly as a byproduct of ores mined 

for silver. 

The predominant rock in the district is the Fraction Rhyolite Breccia (of the Siebert Formation) 

of probable late Miocene age. Several stocks of 

Oddie Rhyolite and Divide Andesite (of late Miocene age) intrude the rhyolite breccia. Latite flows 

of Pliocene age cap the higher peaks. The ore 

bodies are mineralized fracture zones in the Fraction Rhyolite Breccia. Cerargyrite is the main silver-bearing mineral; some sooty argentite is present, and molybdite and powellite are abundant 

locally. A few narrow gold-quartz veins have been 

found in the Oddie Rhyolite. V einfilling in these 

consists of rhyolite fragments, quartz, and pyrite. 

GOLDFIELD DISTRICT 

Located near the east border of Esmeralda 

County, 28 miles south of Tonopah, the Goldfield 

district is on the south rim of a desert basin which 

is the southern extension of a much larger basin 

west of Tonopah. This rim is formed by a group 

of hills, known as the Goldfield Hills. 

Gold was discovered in the district in 1902, but 

no important shipments were made until 1904 

(Ransome, 1909a, p. 17) during a brief period of 

high production. In 1905 the district declined because of exhaustion of many of the high-grade ore 

shoots. In 1906 important new discoveries on the 

Mohawk property spurred exploration and development throughout the district. High-grading and 

strife between labor unions and management curtailed production and eventually assumed such proportions during this period that Federal troops 

were called in to maintain order. In March 1908 

labor troubles were settled and soon the district 

settled down to a more peaceful era of development 

and production. 

From 1903 through 1959 the district produced 

about 4,194,800 ounces of gold. Small amounts of 

silver were produced as a byproduct. 
178 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

The oldest rocks in the district are dark flinty 

shale and quartzite of Cambrian age (Ransome, 

1909a, p. 32). Intruded into these metasedimentary 

rocks are masses of alaskite and granite, of probable Early Cretaceous age. Overlying these rocks 

is a thick series of volcanic rocks and lake deposits, 

all of Tertiary age. Ransome (1909a, p. 36-74) 

divided them into the prelacustrine volcanic rocks, 

lacustrine rocks composing the Siebert Formation, 

of Miocene age, and postlacustrine volcanic rocks. 

Both sets of volcanic rocks consist of rhyolite, dacite, tuff, and andesite. The lake sediments consist 

of volcanic ash, gravel, and scattered beds of diatomaceous earth. A thick flow of mica basalt occurs 

in the sediments. The postlacustrine volcanics are 

capped by the Malpais Basalt. This entire Tertiary 

sequence has been warped into a dome and faulted. 

Most of the ore deposits are found in topographically prominent silicified zones of small intersecting ramifying shears in the dacite, one of the prelacustrine rocks. Other deposits occur in andesite, 

and a few, in rhyolite (Ransome, 1909a, p. 150-

155). The ores are complex sulfides consisting of 

pyrite, bismuthinite, goldfieldite, and a mineral resembling famatinite in a dark-gray flinty quartz 

gangue. Alunite is a common gangue in some ore. 

Native gold, commonly very fine grained, is associated with these minerals. Typical of the ore is 

its concentric banded character, its extreme richness; and the erratic behavior of ore shoots (Ransome, 1909a, p. 165-167). 

Later work by Searls (1948) modified some of 

Ransome's earlier conclusions regarding the age 

of mineralization, the relation of faulting to mineralization, and relation of the dacite to earlier 

flows. Searls concluded (1) that the dacite was not 

intrusive into any of the earlier rocks (whereas 

Ransome had indicated that it was), (2) that the 

age of mineralization was somewhat earlier than 

Ransome had thought, and (3) that the Columbia 

Mountain fault, the major fault in the district, was 

the distributing agent for the mineralizing solutions. Ransome (1909a, p. 196, 197) postulated that 

the hot mineralizing solutions rose along complicated fissures in the dacite. 

HORNSILVER DISTRICT 

In the Hornsilver district, which is 20 miles 

south-southwest of Goldfield, prospectors were active in 1868, but their discoveries were not very 

productive (Ransome, 1909b, p. 41-42). In 1907 

larger ore bodies were found, and the district prospered for a few years. No activity was reported 

from 1956 through 1959. 

Total gold production from the Hornsilver district 

from 1903 through 1959 was about 25,000 ounces. 

The rocks of the district are limestone and calcareous shale that were intruded and metamorphosed by masses of granite (Ransome, 1909b, p. 

41-42). The veins strike N. 55°-60° W. and cut 

across the bedding of the shale. Most production 

has come from the Great Western and Grand Central veins. The important ore constituents are native gold and silver chloride (Ransome, 1909a, p. 

41-42). 

LONE MOUNTAIN DISTRICT 

Located in eastern Esmeralda County, in T. 1 S., 

R. 41 E., the Lone Mountain district is predominantly a silver camp with a recorded production 

from 1903 through 1949 of 31,961 ounces of gold. 

No activity was reported from 1949 through 1959. 

The bedrock is Cambrian limestone and shale 

complexly folded and intruded by masses of diorite 

and by dikes and sheets of diorite porphyry (Ball, 

1906, p. 57, 58). Deposits containing cerussite, malachite, azurite, chrysocolla, galena, and pyrite occur 

in altered limonite-stained limestone near its contact with diorite porphyry sheets. 

SIJ,VER PEAK DISTRICT 

The Silver Peak (Mineral Ridge) district is in 

central Esmeralda County, in T. 5 S., R. 39 E. 

The first discoveries in this district were made 

in 1864. These were silver deposits which were 

worked for several years with rather meager returns. Some time later gold lodes were discovered, 

and these soon became the more important. The 

Drinkwater and Crowning Glory have been the major mines. 

The gold production to 1905 was about 59,100 

ounces (Spurr, 1906, p. 35). The interval 1906-15 

was one of high production, but during 1915-31 

only about $50,000 in gold was produced per year. 

Total production during 1903-32 was 323,085 ounces 

(Nolan, 1936b, p. 60). The mid-1930's to early 1940's 

was another period of high production, followed by 

the abrupt decline in production caused by World War 

II. From 1943 through 1959 there was only small-scale 

activity in the district. Total gold production of the 

district through 1959 was about 568,000 ounces. 

The rocks of the district consist of Cambrian and 

Ordovician limestones, slates, and quartzites that 

were intruded by a Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous alaskitic rock (Spurr, 1906, p. 9-12). The gold 

deposits are in quartz lenses in the limestones and 

probably are genetically related to the late siliceous 

phase of the alaskite. Native gold is finely dissemi-
NEVADA 179 

nated in the quartz. Gold is also associated with 

scattered sulfides in the lenses. 

EUREKA COUNTY 

Eureka County was formed in 1873 from the 

eastern part of Lander County and from small parts 

of White Pine and Elko Counties. North-trending 

mountain ranges separated by wide valleys, typical 

of Great Basin terrain, are the predominant land 

forms in the county. 

The first mineral discoveries were made in 1863 

in the Cortez district, and the following year additional discoveries were made in the Eureka and 

Diamond districts. The Eureka district quickly 

emerged as the county's leading producer; the mining history of the county is largely a history of the 

Eureka district. 

Gold production before 1902 is difficult to determine because of the practice in the early days of 

combining production of all metals and reporting it 

in dollar values. It can be stated, however, that a 

minimum of 1 million ounces of gold was mined 

from the Eureka district alone up to 1883 (Vanderburg, 1938a, p. 13). From 1902 through 1959 a total 

of 203, 597 ounces of gold was mined in the county 

-9,618 ounces was from placers, and the remainder 

was a byproduct from silver ores. 

BUCKHORN DISTRICT 

The Buckhorn district is in the south end of the 

Cortez Mountains, 5 miles northeast of Cortez. 

The production of the district, which is virtually 

that of the Buckhorn mine discovered in 1908, was 

39,632 ounces in gold from 1910 through 1959. The 

BuckhOrn was mined for- gold, and silver was a by..: 

product. 

The highest grade ore occurs along a nearly vertical fault that disrupts country rock corp.posed of 

basalt and interbedded scoria. Both sulfide and oxide 

ore are present. The oxide ore consists of kaolinized 

breccia with high gold and silver values; the sulfide 

ore is primarily fine grained pyrite in talc-rich rock 

(Vanderburg, 1938a, p. 19-21). 

CORTEZ DISTRICT 

The Cortez district is about 36 miles south of 

Beowawe at about the middle of the boundary line 

between Eureka and Lander Counties. 

The district was founded in 1863 and was an active producer for many years. The principal mine 

is the Garrison mine. Silver has been the chief commodity, and lead, copper, and gold have been byproducts. From 1863 to 1903, a minimum of $500,000 

(about 24,270 ounces) in gold was produced, and 

from 1902 to 1936, a total of 8,267 ounces of gold 

was produced (Vanderburg, 1938a, p. 23-24). Total recorded production of gold frorri 1863 to 1958 

was about 48,720 ounces. 

The country rock consists of Paleozoic limestone 

of probable Cambrian age, overlain by quartzite of 

probable Ordovician age (Emmons, 1910, p. 101-

103). These were intruded by a mass of granite and 

by porphyry dikes. Ore occurs as replacement bodies in the limestone and in the quartzite. Most of it 

is in fissures parallel to the dikes. The ore minerals 

are galena, stibnite, pyrite, sphalerite, stromeyerite. 

Gangue minerals are quartz and calcite. The galena 

is rich in silver. Ore such as this is reported (Emmons, 1910, p. 104) to carry from $3 to $15 per ton 

in gold. Some of the ore is oxidized and consists of 

silver chloride, copper carbonates, and iron and manganese oxides. 

EUREKA DISTRICT 

The Eureka district is located at the town of 

Eureka, in southeastern Eureka County. 

The first locations were made in 1864, but little 

was produced until1869, when large ore bodies were 

found on Ruby Hill (Hague, 1892, p. 6). The period 

of greatest production was 1871~88. Hague (1892, 

p. 6-7) estimated that $20 million in gold was produced from 1869 to 1883. During this period two 

mines emerged as the major producers-the Eureka 

Consolidated and the Richmond. After 1888 the major ore bodies were exhausted, the smelters were 

shut down, and the district entered a period of inactivity broken only by sporadic small-scale mining 

by lessees. In 1905 .the Richmond and Eureka properties were consolidated, and, after the old workings were rehabilitated, shipments of low-grade ore 

were ·made. But the low-grade ores could not be 

profitably mined under constantly increasing costs, 

and the workings were again closed except for 

small-scale leasing operations. Several unsuccessful 

exploratory ventures took place in 1919 and 1923. 

In 1937, however, the Eureka Corp., Ltd., discovered a new ore body. The Fad shaft was sunk to 

exploit this ore, but in 1949 work was halted at a 

depth of 2,500 feet because of the large flows of 

water that were encountered. Other more recent 

exploration in the Adams Hill area was more successful; considerable ore was mined from the T. L. 

shaft. There has also been a renewal of activity in 

the Diamond mine, about 4 miles south of Eureka 

(Nolan, 1962, p. 2-3). 

The production of the Eureka district is difficult 

to ascertain, but annual production has been tabu-
180 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

lated by Nolan (1962, p. 56-59) from what he considered to be reliable sources. 

Using Hague's (1892, p. 6-7) estimate of $20 

million (967,585 ounces) in gold from 1869 to 1883 

and Nolan's (1962, p. 58-59) data from 1884 through 

1959, we arrive at an approximate total gold production of 1,230, 7 48 ounces, which, in view of the 

generalized nature of Hague's estimate, should be 

rounded off to 1,230,000 ounces. 

The rocks of the Eureka district consist of a thick 

section of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, a Cretaceous 

sedimentary formation, and Cretaceous and Cenozoic igneous rocks. 

The Cambrian formations, which in total are 

about 9,000 feet thick, are, in ascending order, the 

Prospect Mountain Quartzite, Pioche Shale, Eldorado Dolomite, Geddes Limestone, Secret Canyon 

Shale, Hamburg Dolomite, Dunderberg Shale, and 

the Windfall Formation (Nolan, 1962, p. 5-9). 

Rocks of Ordovician age are about 2,200 feet thick 

and consist of the Pogonip Group, Eureka Quartzite, and Hanson Creek Formation. The Devils Gate 

Formation of Devonian age, the Chainman Shale 

and Diamond Peak Formation of Mississippian age, 

and the Carbon Ridge Formation of Permian age 

complete the Paleozoic sequence. Scattered outcrops 

of the Newark Canyon Formation of Early Cretaceous age unconformably overlie the older rocks 

(Nolan, 1962, p. 9-13). Igneous rocks of Cretaceous 

age consist of a plug of quartz diorite and a sill-like 

mass of quartz porphyry. Other igneous rocks range 

in age from Oligocene to late Tertiary or Quaternary and include hornblende andesite, rhyolite, rhyolite tuff, andesite, and basalt (Nolan, 1962, p. 13-17). 

The structure, which is exceedingly complex, was 

considered by Hague (1892, p. 8-30) and Nolan 

(1962, p. 18-29) as a series of structural blocks 

separated from one another by faults of large displacements. Nearly all the ore bodies of the district 

are within the north-trending Prospect Ridge block, 

which is bounded on the east by the Hoosac fault 

and on the west by the Dugout Tunnel thrust and 

the Spring Valley, Sharp, and Cave Canyon faults. 

Recognized within the Prospect Ridge block are 

three thrust zones, two normal fault zones, and a 

transverse fault (Nolan, 1962, p. 18-26). The 

greater part of the deformation is thought to have 

occurred in the late Mesozoic, though the older 

structures were formed in Paleozoic time, and movement on some faults took place in Pleistocene or 

Recent time (Nolan, 1962, p. 27-29). 

Ore bodies are grouped into five geographic 

groups or clusters, of which the most productive 

has been the Ruby Hill cluster. Most of the ore at 

Eureka has been mined from irregular replacement 

deposits in dolomite which consist of irregularly 

shaped masses of fine-grained anglesite, cerussite, 

plumbojarosite, mimetite, and galena and minor 

wulfenite, pyrite, arsenopyrite, hematite, sphalerite, calamine, smithsonite, calcite, aragonite, siderite, quartz, clay minerals, azurite, and malachite. 

Cerargyrite and native gold are present in small 

quantities. Gold ore from the Windfall mine is distinctive in that textures of the replaced dolomite 

have been preserved, and the dolomitic gangue has 

been converted to a "sand" by the mineralizing solutions. The Windfall ore is further characterized 

by relative absence of sulfides and their oxidation 

products (Nolan, 1962, p. 30-47). 

LYNN DISTRICT 

Located about 20 · miles northwest of Carlin in 

northern Eureka County, the Lynn district was until 1962 a placer district. Gold was produced from 

placer deposits over a wide area, including Lynn, 

Simon, Rodeo, and Sheep Creeks. In 1962, however, 

a large lode deposit, the Carlin mine, was discovered. This mine is in a window in the Roberts Mountains thrust fault. The ore consists of very finegrained gold, mostly less than 5 microns in size, in 

fractured and altered siltstone and limestone of 

Silurian and Devonian age below the thrust fault. 

In 1966, published reserves were 11 million tons of 

ore containing about 3.5 million ounces of gold. 

Vanderburg (1936a, p. 83) reported total production of the district to about 1935 at $140,000, 

or approximately 6,800 ounces of gold. Total production through 1959 was only about 9,000 ounces. 

The opening of the Carlin mine in May 1965 brought 

about a large increase in production; during 1965 

and 1966 the mine yielded almost 390,000 ounces of 

gold. 

HUMBOLDT COUNTY 

Mining began in Humboldt County in the early 

1860's and for many years there was sporadic production from several districts. The discovery of 

fabulously rich gold ores in the National district in 

1907 probably was the most significant event in the 

mining history of the county. These rich ores were 

soon depleted, and mining activity declined until 

1935, when it increased with the discovery of ore 

in the Jumbo mine in the Awakening district. The 

Getchell mine, in the Potosi district, became active · 

in 1938, and for several years thereafter it was the 

largest gold producer in the State. Most of the gold 
NEVADA 181 

mined in Humboldt County has come from lodes, but 

there has also been considerable placer gold produced from the Dutch Flat district. 

Vanderburg (1938b, p. 13, 14) listed production 

data for gold as early as 1890 and for silver and 

gold as early as 1870. For the period 1870-90, a 

total of $4.975,372 in gold and silver was produced. 

From 1890 through 1903 about 31,830 ounces of 

lode and placer gold was mined. From 1905 through 

1959, a total of 811,712 ounces of lode gold and 

36,720 ounces of placer gold was produced. 

Humboldt County contains several north-trending mountain ranges, separated by arid undrained 

valleys, many of which contain playa lakes. 

AWAKENING DISTRICT 

The Awakening district is about 45 miles northwest of Winnemucca in the Slumbering Hills. 

About 1910 mining began in this area, and there 

was a small production of gold and silver from 1912 

to 1918. In 1935 the discovery of the Jumbo mine 

opened a new period of large-scale activity. The 

early production could not be determined, but from 

1935 through 1959, a total of 25,648 ounces of gold 

was produced. 

Metamorphosed muds and impure sandstones, 

now slates and schists of probable Mesozoic age, are 

exposed throughout most of the area (Calkins, 

1938, p. 9-15). A body of quartz monzonite has 

intruded the Mesozoic rocks and produced zones of 

contact metamorphism. Aplite and pegmatite dikes 

are associated with the intrusive. Tertiary latite and 

andesite flows, underlain by lake beds, cap the 

higher parts of the area. 

Most ore deposits are gold-bearing quartz veins 

in the slates (Calkins, 1938, p. 15-22). Most of the 

veins are less than 1 foot thick and have numerous 

branches. Their average strike is north and their 

dips are variable. The Jumbo deposit, however, is 

completely different from the other veins of the 

district. Its most characteristic feature is the abundant adularia and sparse quartz in the gangue. The 

veins are small and irregularly distributed, as in a 

stockwork (Calkins, 1938, p. 19-20). 

DUTCH FI,AT DISTRICT 

The Dutch Flat placer district, 18 miles northeast 

of Winnemucca and 18 miles north of Golconda, was 

discovered in 1893 and produced about $75,000 in 

gold the first year (Vanderburg, 1936a, p. 94). Total gold production through 1959 was about 10,000 

ounces. 

The deposits are stream and slope-wash gravels in 

an area 1% miles long and 300 to 2,000 feet wide 

(Willden and Hotz, 1955, p. 666). In addition to 

gold, significant quantities of scheelite and cinnabar 

occur in the placers. The ore minerals come from 

low-grade lode deposits in a granodiorite stock and 

in folded early Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. The 

lode deposits are of two types: gold-quartz veins 

that contain some sulfides and a little scheelite, and 

disseminated cinnabar in a shear zone that cuts 

metamorphosed shale and feldspathic quartzite 

(Willden and Hotz, 1955, p. 665). 

GOLD RUN DISTRICT 

Located in southeast Humboldt County, 12 miles 

south of Golconda, the Gold Run (Adelaide) district 

was organized in 1866. Gold has been a byproduct 

of ores mined for copper and silver. Placer gold was 

mined sporadically along Gold Run Creek, and total 

production from this source was about 2,000 ounces. 

Production of byproduct gold from 1907 through 

1959 was 23,747 ounces. 

At the Adelaide mine, the principal mine of the 

district (Vanderburg, 1938b, p. 24), the ore occurs 

as replacements of limestone beds and consists of 

chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, sphalerite, and galena in a 

gangue of calcite, garnet, vesuvianite. Some specimens contained a little scheelite. 

NATIONAL DISTRICT 

The National district is in northeastern Humboldt 

County on the west slope of the Santa Rosa Range, 

18 miles southeast of McDermitt. 

Although the Santa Rosa Range had been prospected with minor success since the 1860's, it was 

not until 1907 that the rich deposits at National 

were discovered. The unusually high grade ore body 

at the National soon made it the leading mine in 

the district. Some of the ore was valued at $30 per 

pound. As may be expected, this attracted many 

individuals of questionable character, and the history of the camp is marked by numerous· incidents 

of violence and disorder and a trial that attracted 

wide attention (Lindgren, 1915, p. 19, 20, 52-54). 

The rich ore shoots were mined out within a few 

years, and after about 1917 the properties were 

worked intermittently by lessees. 

Production of the district from 1909 through 1959 

was 177,000 ounces, all from lode deposits. 

The northern part of the Santa Rosa Range is 

composed predominantly of basaltic lava flows of 

probable Miocene age (Lindgren, 1915, p. 21-22). 

At National mine, basaltic tuffs and lacustrine beds 

are overlain by latite, basaltic flows, and a rhyolite 
182 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

flow. Necks and dikes of this rhyolite cut all the 

older rocks. Locally basalt flows cover the rhyolite. 

The rocks dip go to 15° NE. 

The ore deposits are in fissure veins that have a 

northward trend and steep east or west dips. The 

veins cut the youngest rocks in the district and are 

therefore believed to be Miocene or post-Miocene in 

age (Lindgren, 1915, p. 32). Most of the veins are 

rich in silver; ruby silver is the chief ore mineral. 

The National ore shoot is an exception. Here the ore 

mineral is coarse electrum irregularly distributed 

near the footwall of the quartz vein (Lindgren, 

1915, p. 31, 32). Stibnite is the characteristic mineral of all the veins. Other sulfides present are pyrite, calcopyrite, arsenopyrite, sphalerite, and galena 

in a gangue of banded and vuggy quartz. 

PARADISE VAJ,LEY DISTRICT 

Located on the east slope of the Santa Rosa 

Range, 11 miles northwest of the town of Paradise 

Valley, the Paradise Valley district was discovered 

in 1868. During 1879-91 the mines reached their 

peak production; then, operations ceased abruptly. 

Brief revivals took place in 1907-15 and 1931-35 

(Vanderburg, 1938b, p. 38). From 1947 through 

1959, only 10 ounces of gold was reported. 

Silver is . the chief commodity mined in this district; gold is a byproduct. Some placer gold was 

produced in 1909-15. Total gold production through 

1959 was about 70,000 ounces. 

The ore deposits are quartz veins in shale, calcareous slate, and porphyry. The veins, which strike 

north and dip steeply east, contain cerargyrite, chalcopyrite, pyrargyrite, sphalerite, and pyrite, in a 

gangue of quartz (Vanderburg, 1938b, p. 38-40). 

POTOSI DISTRICT 

The Potosi district is in T. 38 and 39 N., R. 42 E., 

in the northern Osgood Mountains. 

Gold mining in the district was insignificant until the discovery of the Getchell ore body in 1934. 

Large-scale open-cut mining of the Getchell began 

in 1938, and during 1939-41 it was the leading goldproducer in the State. The mine was permitted to 

remain open during World War II in order to produce tungsten and arsenic which were in short supply. A scarcity of labor and materials forced the 

mine to close in 1945. Large-scale mining of gold 

was resumed in 1948 and continued through 1950, 

when attention was diverted to mining of tungsten 

ores. During 1952-57 the Getchell and Riley mines 

were the major tungsten producers in Nevada. Exploration and development of gold properties in the 

Getchell mine area during 1959-61 were successful, 

and gold mining was resumed in 1962. 

Published data are incomplete and show gold production of only 116,015 ounces. Total gold production is probably worth about $17 million or roughly 

485,700 ounces (R. L. Erickson, oral commun., 1963). 

The geology of the district is fairly complex. The 

eastern part is underlain by shale, slate, and limestone of the Preble Formation of Cambrian age and 

by limestone, shale, and conglomerate of Pennsylvanian and Permian age. The higher central part 

of the district is occupied by a stock of granodiorite 

of Cretaceous age. Overlying the granodiorite in the 

north-central part of the district is a thrust plate 

of phyllite, calc-silicate rock, marble, and recrystallized chert, representing part of the Comus Formation of Ordovician age. North-trending normal 

faults dislocated the rocks after the period of thrust 

faulting (Hotz and Willden, 1961). 

The major ore deposits, which are along the 

north-trending Getchell fault, are sheetlike masses 

that are distributed irregularly in veins along various fault branches near the surface but that coalesce 

at depth along the main fault. The veins consist of 

sheared and mineralized sedimentary rock which is 

cut by quartz and calcite veinlets and which contains a soft carbonaceous gumbo. Most of the gold 

is in the gumbo. Gangue, in addition to gumbo, consists of small amounts of barite, chabazite, gypsum, 

and fluorite. Pyrite, pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, marcasite, orpiment, realgar, stibnite, ilsemannite, cinnabar, magnetite, gold, and scheelite are the major 

ore minerals. Gold occurs as minute particles associated with magnetite and carbonaceous material in 

the gumbo and also as submicroscopic particles in 

pyrite and marcasite. The richer gold accumulations 

are characterized by abundant realgar (Joralemon, 

1951, p. 270-282). 

R. L. Erickson (oral commun., 1963) noted a relationship of arsenic, mercury, and tungsten in geochemical anomalies in the district and suggested 

that these anomalies are worthy of exploration for 

gold. 

WARM SPRINGS DISTRICT 

The Warm Springs district is in northwest Humboldt County near Denio, Oreg. The first discoveries 

were in 1863, but production was hindered for some 

time by the hostile Bannock Indians, who burned a 

mill and drove out the miners (Vanderburg, 1938b, 

p. 49). The principal mine in the district is the 

Ashdown. 

Production of the district is not known, but 

Vanderburg (1938b, p. 49) estimated that it was 
NEVADA 183 

$400,000, mostly in gold from the Ashdown mine. 

From 1937 through 1957, a total of 5,178 ounces of 

lode gold and 10 ounces of placer gold was reported. 

Total gold production through 1959 was about 

24,000 ounces. 

The country rock is slate of undetermined age and 

is intruded by granite and porphyry. At the Ashdown mine the ore deposit is in a quartz vein in 

granite. Free gold occurs in a gangue of quartz. 

WINNEMUCCA DISTRICT 

The first discovery in this district, which is 4 

miles northwest of the town of Winnemucca, was 

made in 1863 by an Indian named Winnemucca 

(Vanderburg, 1938a, p. 51-54). The most important 

mine in the early days was the Pride of the Mountain, which produced an estimated $1 million in 

precious metals (Ferguson and others, 1951). In the 

early 1900's, high-grade gold ore discoveries near 

Barrett Springs created a short-lived rush; from 

1937 through 1943 there was a renewal of activity, 

mainly at the Pansy Lee mine. 

Production data are incomplete for the early 

years. During 1910-35, a total of $132,433 in gold 

and silver was produced (Vanderburg, 1938a, p. 51), 

and during 1935-59, about 10,070 ounces of gold was 

produced. Total gold production through 1959, including early production from the Pride of the 

Mountain mine, was probably 35,000 ounces. 

The deposits on Winnemucca Mountain include 

veins and replacement deposits in hornfels and limestone of the Winnemucca Formation, of Late Triassic age. This formation locally is intruded by diorite (Ferguson and others, 1951). In the Barrett 

Springs area, the deposits are gold- and silver-rich 

quartz stringers and veins in the slates of the 

Raspberry Formation of Late Triassic age (Ferguson and others, 1951). 

LANDER COUNTY 

Lander County lies within the vast arid Great 

Basin, wherein narrow, northward-trending, treeless 

mountains rise a mile or more above sun-baked 

valleys. 

The hordes of early gold seekers who crossed the 

State in 1849 and 1850 were intent on reaching 

the lush gold fields of the Mother Lode ; they wasted 

no time crossing the forbidding wastes of Nevada. 

It was not until after the rich strike at Comstock in 

1859 that Nevada was seriously considered for 

worthwhile prospecting. 

In 1862 precious metal in Lander County first was 

discovered in the Reese River district. Almost immediately news of the rich silver ores started a 

rush. The town of Austin was formed and had a 

population of 6,000 by 1863 (Vanderburg, 1939, p. 

11). The Reese River district flourished, and Austin 

was the center of mining activity. Important gold 

discoveries were made in the 1860's and 1870's at 

the Battle Mountain and Lewis districts, and, in 

1905 in the Bullion district. Almost all the gold 

mined in the county from 1945 through 1959 came 

from the Bullion district. 

Lander County is noted for its silver production, 

the great silver output of the Reese River district 

overshadowing the output of all other metals; nevertheless, the county has produced considerable ·gold, 

both placer and lode. Before 1890, gold and silver 

values were combined in production reports, and it 

is impossible to determine gold or silver production 

alone. The precious metal production of the county 

during 1870-89 was $16,676,405, most of which was 

silver from the Reese River district (Vanderburg, 

1939, p. 15). Beginning in 1890, gold production and 

silver production were recorded separately: from 

1890 through 1901, $510,270 (about 24,700 ounces) 

in gold was recorded; from 1902 through 1936, production was 48,899 ounces of placer gold and 75,004 

ounces of lode gold (Vanderburg, 1939, p. 15-16); 

and from 1937 through 1959, a total of 435,325 

ounces of lode gold and 23,347 ounces of placer gold 

was mined. Total gold production in the county 

through 1959 was about 607,000 ounces. 

BATI'LE MOUNTAIN DISTRICT 

The Battle Mountain district, in northwestern 

Lander County, includes the Battle Mountain Range, 

an area 15 miles long and 12 miles wide. The town 

of Battle Mountain is the supply center. 

The district was organized in 1866 after ores rich 

in silver and copper were found (Hill, 1915, p. 71-

72). By 1885 the district was mostly inactive, but it 

revived slightly in 1900 and gold prospects created 

a mild flurry about 1910. The demand for copper 

during World War I stimulated activity; but after 

1918, the copper mines were worked only intermittently. In 1932 additional gold discoveries led to 

increased production (Vanderburg, 1939, p. 19). 

In the earlier years, the gold produced in the 

Battle Mountain district was a byproduct of copper 

and silver ores, but in more recent years the deposits were mined chiefly for their gold and the copper 

and silver were byproducts. 

Data on gold production before 1902 were not 

found. From 1902 through 1936, a total of 47,633 

ounces of placer gold and 27,173 ounces of lode and 
184 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

byproduct gold was mined (Vanderburg, 1939, p. 

20). From 1937 to 1958, a total of 62,082 ounces of 

lode and byproduct and 12,484 ounces of placer gold 

was produced. Total recorded gold production 

through 1959 was 149,372 ounces. 

The Battle Mountains are composed primarily of 

Paleozoic sedimentary rocks which are, from bottom 

to top: black shale and white quartzite, 900 to 1,000 

feet thick; red sandstone, 1,500 feet thick; and limestone of probable Pennsylvanian age, 2,000 feet 

thick (Hill, 1915, p. 66-76). Dikes and sheets of 

intrusive granite porphyry, monzonite, and quartz 

diorite, of possible Late Cretaceous or early Tertiary age, cut the sedimentary rocks. Volcanic rocks 

-rhyolite and augite andesite-cap the mountains 

locally. The ore deposits occur along simple fissures 

or wide shear zones in the complexly folded and 

faulted sedimentary rocks. There are four mineralogic vein groups: 

1. Silver-lead deposits-mostly fracture filling in 

the sedimentary rocks-that contain galena, 

sphalerite, pyrite, and tetrahedrite. Some veins 

contain a zone of secondary enrichment that 

consists of polybasite, pyrargyrite, argentite, 

and tetrahedrite. Near the surface these veins 

were oxidized, and cerussite was the most 

abundant ore mineral. 

2. Copper deposits-slightly auriferous copper ores 

in fractures in sediments. The ore, some of 

which is oxidized, consists of chalcopyrite, pyrite, sphalerite, and galen_a, associated with 

contact metamorphic minerals. 

3. Gold deposits-iron-stained quartz veins carrying 

free gold and pyrite. 

4. Antimony deposits-quartz-stibnite veins in sediments. 

BULLION DISTRICT 

The Bullion district is on the east slope of the 

Shoshone Range, 23 miles southwest of Beowawe, 

in sees. 8, 9, 16, and 17, T. 28 N., R. 47 E. 

Ore was first discovered in the early 1870's; silver was the chief product. In 1905 gold was discovered and a small rush to the camp of Tenabo began 

(Vanderburg, 1939, p. 39). Later, placer gold was 

found near Tenabo. In recent years the Gold Acres 

open pit has been the largest operation mining 

solely for gold in the State, but in 1958 and 1959 its 

production was surpassed by the Round Mountain 

district. 

No reliable statistics on production are available 

for the district before 1902 (Vanderburg, 1939, p. 

39). Gold production from 1902 through 1959 was 

146,154 ounces of lode and 10,373 ounces of placer 

gold. 

The country rock in the district comprises Carboniferous sedimentary rocks that have been intruded by granodiorite. Locally, patches of Tertiary 

andesite cap the sediments (Lincoln, 1923, p. 111). 

Fissure veins occur in all these rocks. Most of the 

ore is made up of various sulfides in which the gold 

probably occurs. 

HILLTOP DISTRICT 

The Hilltop district is on the northwest slope of 

Shoshone Peak, 18 miles southeast of Battle Mountain, in sees. 3, 4, 5, and 6, T. 29 N., R. 46 E. 

No important discoveries were made in this area 

until 1907, and a rush started the following year. 

After 1921, however, the district declined; most of 

the activity was conducted by lessees. The principal 

mines have been the Hilltop and the Pittsburg Red 

Top (Vanderburg, 1939, p. 47). 

Production of the district from 1909 through 

1959 was 119 ounces of placer gold and 17,834 

ounces of lode gold. Considerable quantities of silver and small amounts of lead and copper were 

produced. 

The bedrock in the district consists of Carboniferous quartzite, cut by dikes of altered granodiorite 

(Lincoln, 1923, p. 111-112). Ore occurs in a zone of 

fractured quartzite that is cut by small intrusive 

bodies of leached porphyry. Quartz stringers that 

carry free gold occupy parts of the shattered zone; 

bodies of pyrite and galena that contain silver and 

gold are in other parts. 

LEWIS DISTRICT 

The Lewis district is 17 miles southeast of Battle 

Mountain, in the southeast quarter of T. 30 N., R. 

45 E. 

Silver deposits were discovered here in 1867, and 

shortly afterward the gold deposits of the Pittsburg 

and Morning Star mines were discovered (Vanderburg, 1939, p. 59). In the early 1920's the Betty 

O'Neal mine produced silver ore on a large scale, 

but most of the early production is attributed to the 

Pittsburg and Morning Star mines whose production 

was chiefly gold. Vanderburg estimated (1939, p. 

59) that about $1,200,000 worth of ore was produced before 1903. Assuming that the bulk of this 

was in gold, about 48,000 ounces of gold is estimated. From 1902 through 1959 the output was 

3,124 ounces, about half of which was byproduct 

gold from silver ores. 

The rocks of the district are Carboniferous sedi-
NEVADA 185 

mentary rocks, intruded by a mass of granodiorite 

porphyry, and quartz porphyry dikes (Emmons, 

1910, p. 122-123). The ore deposits are fissure veins 

that carry auriferous pyrite and occur in quartzite 

and granodiorite porphyry. The silver deposits are 

replacement bodies in limestone with barite as a 

gangue. 

NEW PASS DISTRICT 

The New Pass district is on the east slope of New 

Pass Range near the boundary of Lander and 

Churchill Counties, 31 miles west of Austin. 

Gold was discovered here in 1865, but production 

was never large (Vanderburg, 1939, p. 65); the 

total through 1959 was about 16,000 ounces. 

The country rocks are limestone, gabbro, and 

porphyry; the ore deposits are gold-quartz veins ·in 

the gabbro. Vein minerals are quartz, native gold, 

argentiferous galena, auriferous pyrite, copper sulfide, azurite, and malachite (Lincoln, 1923, p. 114). 

Rl<~SE RIVER DISTRICT 

The Reese River district is in southern Lander 

County near Austin. 

This has been overwhelmingly a silver-producing 

district, but small unrecorded amounts of gold contained in the ore from the huge silver production 

probably qualify the district as a minor goldproducing area. 

Silver was discovered in 1862 a few miles west 

of the present town of Austin. Production was low 

the first few years, but after consolidation of many 

properties by the Manhattan Silver Mining Co. in 

1870, it increased and remained at a fairly high 

level until after 1910, when most of the properties 

were taken over by lessees (Vanderburg, 1939, p. 

69). From 1935 to 1937 there was a marked increase 

in production and from 1947 to 1950 several companies conducted exploration in the district (Ross, 

1953, p. 42-46). 

The period of highest production was 1862-87, 

when silver ore worth an estimated $20 million was 

produced (Ross, 1953, p. 47). In the period 1887-

1938 about $1 million worth of ore was mined. In 

the early days, payment was made for silver only 

(Ross, 1953, p. 34) ; the small amounts of gold and 

other metals present were considered impurities and 

served to decrease the value of the bullion. 

From 1902 through 1936, a total of 2,813 ounces 

of gold-2,810 ounces of byproduct gold and 3 

ounces of placer gold-was produced in the district. 

The rocks in the northern part of the district 

are quartzites, tentatively assigned to the Cambrian. 

Underlying most of the remainder of the district 

:J 

is a pluton of quartz monzonite of Jurassic ( ? ) age. 

Numerous xenoliths of the sedimentary rocks are 

found in the intrusive. Aplite, pegmatite, and lamprophyre stringers and dikes are common. Around 

the edges of the district and resting on the quartz 

monzonite are Tertiary dacite flows and welded 

tuffs (Ross, 1953, p. 9-10, 17-18). 

Ore deposits are veins in joints in the quartz monzonite and along bedding planes in the quartzite 

(Ross, 1953, p. 23). Ore minerals are ruby silver 

minerals and tetrahedrite and varying amounts of 

pyrite, arsenopyrite, galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, stibnite, covellite, chalcocite. Two or three 

varieties of quartz make up the gangue. 

LINCOLN COUNTY 

The total recorded gold output of Lincoln County 

through 1959 was 556,800 ounces. The only major 

gold districts in the county are the Delamar, the 

largest gold producer, and the Pioche, which yielded 

considerable gold from silver-copper-lead-zinc ores 

from 1935 through 1959. 

DELAMAR DISTRICT 

The Delamar district is in south-central Lincoln 

County on the west slope of the Meadow Valley 

Range, 29 miles southwest of Caliente. 

Callaghan's (1937) report of the district is the 

chief reference for the summary of the history and 

ge9logy that follows: 

The first gold discovery was in 1891, and the district was organized the following year. The Delamar 

mine soon became the major mine in the district. 

Statewide, it outproduced all but a few mines at 

Goldfield and Tonopah. Despite primitive and costly 

means of transportation and lack of water in its 

early years, the district developed steadily until 

1909, when the Delamar mine was closed. Only a 

few ounces of gold was produced in the ensuing two 

decades. In 1931, exploration at the Magnolia mine, 

the Jumbo claim, and several other leased properties was successful, and significant production began 

again in 1932. 

Before 1902, district production of precious metals 

was reported in dollar values instead of ounces, but 

it may be assumed that most of this early production was in gold. According to Callaghan (1937, p. 

38-40) the gross yield of the major mines from 

1894 through 1901 was $9,407,555. From 1902 

through 1957 the district produced 217,240 ounces 

of gold, all from lode mines. 

A thick section of tilted and faulted Cambrian 

sedimentary rocks is exposed in the district. ·These 
186 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

rocks are overlain by Tertiary latites, andesites, 

tuff, and rhyolite that are also faulted but are less 

tilted than the Cambrian rocks. Small bodies of 

diorite and dikes and sills of basalt and rhyolite cut 

the sedimentary rocks. The rhyolite dikes are related to the flows. The mineral deposits were emplaced some time during the period of volcanic 

activity, as indicated by the fact that some dikes 

are older and some are younger than the ores. 

The major deposits of the district were in the 

oldest rock, the Prospect Mountain Quartzite of 

Early Cambrian age. The deposits are of three 

types: ( 1) quartzite breccia, cemented and partly 

replaced by vuggy fine-grained quartz containing 

comb quartz and sulfides in the vugs, (2) small 

veins of fine-grained quartz containing free gold 

and sulfides, and ( 3) bedded quartzite with gold 

deposited in small fractures and along bedding 

planes. Other deposits are in volcanic breccia, intruded by rhyolite dikes, as at the Magnolia mine 

and in several of the limestone units where scattered prospect pits have revealed small amounts of 

silver. 

PIOCHE DISTRICT 

The Pioche district is 19 miles west of the UtahNevada State line; the town of Pioche is the county 

seat of Lincoln County. 

This is primarily a silver-lead-zinc copper district; gold is produced as a byproduct. Production 

began in 1869 but did not reach bonanza proportions until about 1870. Hostile Indians and poor 

transportation facilities prevented large-scale operations for the first few years. Westgate (in Westgate 

and Knopf, 1932, p. 5) reported two periods of 

accelerated production: from 1869 to 1875, and from 

1911 through 1958. In the early days two companies 

-the Meadow Valley Co. and Raymond & Elydominated mining in the district, but they were 

mostly inactive after 1875. The second period of 

activity was accelerated by the entrance of Combined Metals Reduction Co. into the district in 1915. 

Gold production was not recorded before 1906, 

but in view of the fact that $17 million in metals 

was produced in 6 years in the early days (Young, 

1950, p. 111), considerable gold must have been 

produced before 1906. From 1906 to 1959, a total of 

104,583 ounces of gold was mined in the district. 

A thickness of 17,000 to 18,000 feet of Paleozoic 

sedimentary rocks is exposed in the Pioche district. 

These are, according to Westgate (in Westgate and 

Knopf, 1932, p. 6-7), in ascending order: the Prospect Mountain Quartzite and Pioche Shale (Lower 

Cambrian); Lyndon Limestone, Chisholm Shale, and 

Highland Peak Limestone (Middle Cambrian); the 

Mendha Limestone (Upper Cambrian); Yellow Hill 

Limestone and Tank Hill Limestone (Lower Ordovician) ; Eureka Quartzite (Middle Ordovician) ; 

Ely Springs Dolomite (Upper Ordovician); dolomite of Silurian age; Silverhorn and West Range 

Dolomites (Devonian), Bristol Pass Limestone; 

Peers Spring Formation, Scotty Wash Quartzite 

(Mississippian) ; and Bailey Spring Limestone 

(Mississippian and Pennsylvanian). Unconformably 

overlying the sedimentary rocks is a thick series of 

Tertiary or late Mesozoic lava flows consisting of 

dacite, latite, andesite, and a little rhyolite and 

basalt. Tuffs are interbedded with the flows. Locally, 

stocks and dikes of quartz monzonite cut the sedimentary rocks and lava flows which have been 

metamorphosed by the intrusions. The Paleozoic 

formations have been gently folded and the Paleozoic and pre-Pliocene(?) rocks have been shattered 

by block faults and thrusts. 

Ore deposits, according to Knopf (in Westgate 

and Knopf, 1932, p. 45), are of three types: ( 1) 

silver-bearing fissure veins in Lower Cambrian 

quartzite, (2) argentiferous lenses and pods in 

granite porphyry dikes, and (3) replacement deposits of sulfides in limestone and dolomite units in 

the Pioche Shale, Lyndon Limestone, Mendha Limestone, and the Highland Peak Limestone. The deposit of the Combined Metals mine is in a limestone 

unit of the Pioche Shale. The deposits all seem to 

have been contemporaneous, having been formed 

between two periods of Tertiary dike injection 

(Knopf, in Westgate and Knopf, 1932, p. 51). The 

bonanza output of the initial years came from the 

·fissure veins in the quartzite; more recently, interest has focused on the sulfide replacement ores. 

Minerals of the fissure veins are argentite, cerargyrite, cerussite, and galena in quartz gangue. The 

podlike deposits in porphyry dikes contain the same 

minerals as the fissure veins. The replacement deposits are masses of argentiferous pyrite, sphalerite, 

and galena (Knopf, in Westgate and Knopf, 1932, 

p. 48-50). 

LYON COUNTY 

The first gold discovery in Nevada was in Lyon 

County in 1849 in Gold Canyon in the Silver City 

district. This discovery sparked the discovery of the 

Comstock Lode, in Storey County, 10 years later. 

Lyon County is on the west edge of the Great 

Basin; the Sierra Nevada is immediately to the 

west. Mining districts are in the narrow, northtrending mountain ranges, typical of the Great 

Basin province. The most important gold districts 
NEVADA 187 

are Silver City, Como, and Wilson. The major 

copper district of Yerington has not produced significant quantities of gold and is therefore not included in this report. 

Total gold production for the county from 1903 

through 1959 was 254,722 ounces. 

COMO DISTRICT 

The Como (Palmyra, Indian Springs) district is 

10 miles southeast of Dayton. Quartz veins were 

discovered in the early 1860's and, with the Comstock fever still raging, people flocked to this new 

area, and a town was built before the deposits were 

properly evaluated (Stoddard and Carpenter, 1950, 

p. 76). For the next 50 years there Was no significant production from the district. Several attempts 

were made in 1916, 1929, and in more recent years 

to mine the low-grade ores, but none could be considered an unqualified success. 

The Como mines produced ore valued at $212,698 

through 1936 (Stoddard and Carpenter, 1950, p. 

77). The Hully and Logan mine produced a total of 

$76,995 worth of ore from 1900 to 1940, and the 

Star of the West mine produced $1,118 in 1939. 

These data are admittedly incomplete. Though gold 

was the principal commodity, the amount of gold 

included in these totals is not known; however, 

10,000 to 15,000 ounces seems to be a reasonable 

assumption. 

The rocks of the district are Tertiary volcanics, 

primarily andesite, several thousands of feet thick 

(Stoddard and Carpenter, 1950, p. 76). Quartz 

veins, striking east, contain gold, silver, and small 

amounts of copper in a quartz gangue. 

SILVER CITY DISTRICT 

The Silver City district is in the western tip of 

Lyon County, in T. 16 N., R. 21 E. 

The lode mines of this district are in the southern 

extension of the mineralized area of the Comstock 

Lode district. In addition to the lode mining of the 

district, there have been numerous placer operations 

which date back to the original discoveries. 

The history of the Silver City district is intimately intertwined with that of the Comstock Lode 

district and is a vivid and brawling episode in the 

development of the West. In 1849 gold was first 

found in Nevada in what was later to be the Silver 

City district by a party of California-bound Mormons who happened to pan the gravels in Gold 

Canyon. For the next 10 years the placers were 

worked,· and as they were worked out, the miners 

searched the hills for gold-bearing veins. These 

searches led to the discoveries near Silver City and 

later to the main Comstock Lode itself at Gold Hill 

and Ophir Ravine. 

The Silver City district was always in the shadow 

of the great Comstock Lode, and although it was a 

steady producer, it never .achieved the status of its 

neighbor. Gianella (1936, p. 18) stated that the total 

production of the district is indeterminable because 

so much has been included with the Comstock data. 

Couch and Carpenter (1943, p. 93-94) recorded a 

total mineral production from 1871 through 1940 of 

$12,740,785, but the amount of this apportioned to 

gold is not known. Placer production data for more 

recent years is available. Vanderburg (1936a, p. 

112) listed a production of 14,625 ounces of placer 

gold from 1920 to 1923. The largest reported placer 

production for the district was from 1941 to 1943 

when $1,115,752 in bullion was mined (Stoddard 

and Carpenter, 1950, p. 81). In this operation, the 

largest drag line and floating washer plant on record 

was used. Total recorded gold production for the 

district through 1959 was about 190,000 ounces. 

The oldest rocks in the district are limestone, 

shale, and schist of possible Triassic age. These 

rocks have been folded and deformed and are unconformably overlain by Triassic metavolcanics 

about 1,000 feet thick. Quartz monzonite, similar to 

that in the Sierra Nevada,_ intruded the Triassic 

rocks in Late Jurassic time. A thick series of volcanic rocks-andesite, rhyolite, basalt, breccia, and 

tuff-of early Tertiary age overlies the older rocks. 

During late Miocene time or post-Miocene time, the 

Tertiary rocks were faulted and mineralized 

( Gianella, 1936, p. 32-35). The early Tertiary rocks 

are overlain by a series of Pliocene ( ? ) and Pleistocene lavas, breccias, and agglomerates. Later movement occurred along the early faults, some of it in 

comparatively recent time. 

The important veins of the district are in fissures 

and faults. The principal vein, the Silver City vein, 

occupies a fault closely parallel to Gold Canyon and 

is a southern branch of the Comstock Lode ( Gianella, 1936, p. 88-89). The gangue of the Silver 

City vein is quartz and calcite. The ore minerals are 

pyrite, gold, silver, electrum; argentite, and minor 

chalcopyrite. The sulfides make up only 1 or 2 percent of the veinfillings (Gianella, 1936, p. 92). 

WILSON DISTRICT 

The Wilson (Pine Grove, Rockland, Cambridge) 

district is in south-central Lyon County in parts of 

Tps. 9 and 10 N., Rs. 25 and 26 E. This district was 

in Mineral County until 1933, when a boundary 

change put it in Lyon County. 
188 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

Gold was discovered in some outcrops in this area 

in 1866, and soon afterward the Wilson and the 

Wheeler mines were producing. The district produced steadily to 1893, and to that time the Wilson 

mine had produced ore valued at $5 million, and the 

Wheeler, $3 million (Hill, 1915, p. 136). Hill reported a production from 1902 to 1911 of $142,524 

(about 7,000 ounces) in gold from the district. The 

Rockland mine produced $263,071 worth of ore 

during 1915-16 (Stoddard and Carpenter, 1950, p. 

96). From 1917 through 1959 the district was idle 

except for a brief period of small-scale activity in 

the late 1930's and early 1940's. Total gold production through 1959 was about 408,000 ounces. 

The district is underlain by quartz monzonite, 

very similar to that in the Sierra Nevada batholith 

(Hill, 1915, p. 134, 135). The ore deposits are in a 

sheared zone that crosses the quartz monzonite in 

a northwesterly direction. The quartz monzonite is 

also cut by at least one granite porphyry dike and is 

overlain by a series of pink and gray rhyolite flows. 

The ore consists of lenses of quartz and pyrite 

in the crushed zone of monzonite just south of the 

major fault. The valuable constituents are gold and 

silver, and the highest grade ore is in the oxidized 

zone near the surface. 

MINERAL COUNTY 

In 1910 this county was created from what was 

formerly the north part of Esmeralda County. 

Typical of the Great Basin, Mineral County contains 

narrow, elongate mountain ranges separated by 

valleys having interior drainage. Most of the mountain ranges are mineralized; the principal ranges 

are the Wassuk, Gabbs Valley, Gillis, Pilot, and 

Excelsior. A great variety of mineral products has 

been mined in this county; gold has been the most 

valuable product, but considerable amounts of silver, 

lead, zinc, copper, tungsten, and mercury have been 

mined. 

Mining began in what is now Mineral County in 

1860 at Aurora. Soon afterward discoveries were 

made at Candelaria, Garfield, Oneota, Sante Fe, and 

Silver Star. The period of greatest mining activity 

was before 1900. 

Production data for the county go back only to 

1910, when the county was founded. Vanderburg 

(1937b, p. 10) listed 219,435 ounces of lode gold 

and 1,963 ounces of placer gold for 1910-34. From 

1935 through 1959 production was 43,986 ounces of 

lode gold and 738 ounces of placer gold. Total gold 

production for Mineral County from 1910 through 

1959 was 266,122 ounces. 

AURORA DISTRICT 

The Aurora district is in western Mineral County, 

3 miles east of the Nevada-California State line and 

30 miles southwest of Hawthorne. 

Gold-silver veins were discovered here in 1860. 

Almost immediately a town named Esmeralda was 

built, but less than a year later it was abandoned 

in favor of a site 1% miles north that is the present 

location of the town of Aurora, which by 1864 had 

a population of about 10,000 (Hill, 1915, p. 141). 

Despite litigation over claims and uncertainty about 

the location of the California-Nevada boundary, the 

district prospered until the mid-1880's when the 

high-grade ore was depleted. In the 1930's there 

was only small-scale mining by lessees, and the 

town of Aurora, though substantially built, was 

almost in ruins (Vanderburg, 1937b, p. 14). 

Data for production in the early days are incomplete. Hill ( 1915, p. 142) estimated at least $27 

million in gold and silver from 1861 to 1869. For 

the same period, Vanderburg (1937b, p. 14, 15) 

estimated at least $30 million in precious metals. 

From 1910 to 1920 the district produced $1,882,861 

(about 91,400 ounces) in gold; the total through 

1959 was about 93,600 ounces. 

The following account of the geology is condensed 

from Hill (1915, p. 143-150). Nearly all the rocks 

exposed in the area are of volcanic origin and consist, from oldest to youngest, of biotite-quartz 

latite, andesite, rhyolite, and basalt. After each of 

the periods of extrusion of andesite, rhyolite, and 

basalt were periods of erosion. The oldest flow was 

extruded on a granitic basement rock. 

The ore deposits are in veins that cut the biotitequartz latite and andesite. Most of the veins strike 

about N. 45° E. and dip moderately southeast. Most 

of the veins are 1% to 4 feet thick, but some are as 

much as 80 feet thick. The veins send off numerous 

branches which become, in many places, an interlacing network of veinlets. Fine-grained quartz that 

is usually banded makes up the bulk of the veins; 

small cavities lined with tiny quartz crystals are 

common. The ore consists of quartz, adularia, 

argentiferous tetrahedrite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, and 

a soft blue-gray material containing gold and possibly silver with selenium. Free gold is present in 

the richest ores. The occurrence of selenium without 

tellurium in these ores is unusual and has been 

noted in only a few mining camps. 

BEJ.L DISTRICT 

The Bell (Cedar Mountain) district is in the 

Cedar Mountain Range in eastern Mineral County 

near the Nye County border. 
NEVADA 189 

The silver-lead deposit at the Simon mine was 

discovered in 1879, but the gold deposits in this 

area were not found until later. Gold was discovered 

at the Copper Contact mine in 1902 and at the 

Olympic (or Omco) mine in 1915 (Vanderburg, 

1937b, p. 19). 

Before 1919 the Olympic mine yielded $700,000 

(about 32,000 ounces of gold) in ore that contained 

gold with a fineness of 500 (Knopf, 1921a, p. 381). 

Total gold production of the district through 1959 

was about 34,000 ounces. 

The gold deposits are associated with Tertiary 

volcanic rocks-rhyolites and andesites-that underlie lake beds of the Esmeralda Formation 

(Knopf, 192la, p. 377-380). At the Olympic mine, 

the vein is in the upper of two rhyolite flows that 

have a trachyte flow between them. The vein consists of white sugary quartz containing gold that 

is not readily visible and is faulted in several places. 

At the Golden Mile and Clay Peters mines, goldbearing quartz veins occur in the Luning Formation 

of Triassic age (Ross, 1961, table 6.1). 

CANDELARIA DISTRICT 

Silver veins were discovered in the Candelaria 

district, which is 22 miles south of Mina in the 

Candelaria Mountains, in 1863 by a party of 

Spaniards. The town of Columbus was founded, 

but the district developed slowly because of the 

complex mineralogy of the oxidized ores. In the 

1870's, the Northern Belle mine was successfully 

developed. The town of Candelaria was soon constructed near the mine, rail connections were made, 

and the district became one of the leading silver 

camps in the State. In 1884 the Northern Belle mine 

was involved in litigation and was sold. About this 

time the Mount Diablo mine became an important 

producer, and this mine and the Argentum (the 

consolidated Holmes and Northern Belle) kept the 

district booming until the bonanza ores were exhausted in the early 1890's (Knopf, 1923, p. 4-5). 

The camp declined until 1919, when a brief revival 

took place under the sponsorship of the Candelaria 

Mines Co. (Vanderburg, 1937b, p. 25). No important activity has been recorded since, although 

small-scale operations were reported as recently as 

1955 (Page, 1959, p. 9). 

The Candelaria has been a silver-producing district, and only relatively insignificant quantities of 

gold have been recovered. The early production data 

gave no figures on gold. Knopf (1923, p. 5) mentioned a minimum of $20 million worth of silver to 

about 1920. From 1903 through 1958, a total of 

13,024 ounces of gold was produced. 

The oldest rock unit of the district is the Palmetto 

Formation, composed of chert, dolomite, and shale 

of Ordovician age (Page, 1959, p. 15-44). This is 

unconformably overlain by sandstone of the Diablo 

Formation of Permian age. Overlying the Diablo is 

the Candelaria Formation, which is composed of 

sandstone, shale, and a few limestone beds and is of 

Early Triassic age. A large west-trending mass of 

serpentine containing fragments of Candelaria shale 

is exposed in the east-central part of the district. 

Numerous basic dikes, older than the serpentine and 

acidic dikes and younger than the serpentine, occur 

throughout the district. In the vicinity of the 

Northern Belle mine a rock is exposed which is a 

complex of sheared and brecciated metasedimentary 

rocks and metadolerite. All the foregoing rocks are 

unconformably overlain by Tertiary and Quaternary 

volcanic rocks, consisting of basalt, dacitic tuffs and 

flows, rhyolite, and andesitic breccia. 

The pre-Tertiary rocks were complexly folded 

and faulted, perhaps during several episodes, before 

deposition of the Candelaria Formation. Folding on 

an east-west axis occurred during post-Triassic, preTertiary time and was accompanied by shearing, 

faulting, intrusion of peridotite and dikes, an<J 

finally by deposition of metalliferous lodes. Additional faulting began in early Pleistocene time and 

culminated in the fault blocks which characterize 

the presentphysiography. 

Several types of veins are found in the Candelaria 

district, but only one type is of economic importance-mineralized fault zones recognizable on the 

surface by limonite-stained outcrops of fault breccia. Primary ore consists mainly of pyrite and 

sphalerite and minor galena, chalcopyrite, and arsenopyrite in a gangue of altered country rock, 

quartz, and dolomite. Oxidized ore, most of which 

was mined in the early days, is composed predominantly of limonite and manganese oxide with small 

amounts of bindheimite, anglesite, smithsonite, and 

cerussite (Page, 1959, p. 47-58). 

GARFIELD DISTRICT 

The Garfield district is 10 miles northwest of 

Mina and 25 miles southeast of Hawthorne, just 

north of a line comiecting Hawthorne and Mina. 

Silver-gold ore was discovered here in 1882, and 

in the early days several millions of dollars worth 

of ore was produced from the principal mine, the 

Garfield. In later years, the Mabel mine has been 

an important producer. 

Early production of the district is estimated at 

several million dollars in combined metals (Vanderburg, 1937b, p. 33). Production of gold from 1903 
190 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

through 1957 was 4,933 ounces. Total gold production of the district through 1959 was probably 

between 10,000 and 50,000 ounces. 

The ore deposits are in quartz veins ( ?) in volcanic rocks of the Excelsior Formation of Triassic 

and possible Permian ages and limestone of the 

Luning Formation of Triassic age (Ross, 1961, p. 

82). 

GOLD RANGE DISTRICT 

The Gold Range (Silver Star, Camp Douglas) 

district is in the Excelsior Mountains in southern 

Mineral County, about 7 miles northeast of Mina. 

In 1893 veins containing gold and silver were 

discovered and about $500,000 was produced in the 

first 10 years (Vanderburg, 1937b, p. 71). Smallscale production continued to 1934, when the increased price of gold caused a noticeable spurt in 

activity. In 1910 tungsten was discovered in the 

district. 

Total gold production for the district through 

1959 was about 97,000 ounces. No activity was reported from the district from 1948 through 1959. 

The deposits of the Gold Range district are in 

veins that branch out from two major faults with a 

horst between them (Ferguson and others, 1954). 

Veins on the north fault produced only gold and a 

little scheelite; veins of the south fault, the Silver 

Dyke system, were rich in silver and carried only 

small amounts of gold, and scheelite was encountered at depth. The veins are probably of Pliocene 

age. Most of the veins are in the Excelsior Formation (Triassic) and the Dunlap Formation (Jurassic) ; a few cut some Tertiary rhyolite, The major 

constituents of the auriferous veins are free gold 

and pyrite with comb quartz and some adularia. 

HAWTHORNE DISTRICT 

The Hawthorne district, near the town of Hawthorne at the south end of Walker Lake, is predominantly a silver district, but it has produced considerable gold as a byproduct. 

Mining began at least as early as the 1880's at 

the Pamlico and LaPanta mines, which are 10 miles 

east-southeast of the town of Hawthorne but are 

included in the Hawthorne district. Hill (1915, p. 

157) reported an estimated $200,000 worth of production from the LaPanta and about $500,000 from 

the Pamlico. The amount of gold represented in his 

production was not given. Vanderburg (1937b, p. 

38) reported $300,000 production, mostly in gold, 

from the LaPanta. In 1906 the Lucky Boy mine was 

discovered and became the chief producer for a few 

years, but production from the entire district decreased in recent years. 

Vanderburg (1937b, p. 36) listed yearly production from 1904 through 1935-a total of 155 ounces 

of placer gold and 4, 700 ounces of byproduct gold 

was produced. From 1936 through 1959, a total of 

5,067 ounces of gold was mined in the district. 

Hill (1915, p. 151-155) described the geology 

in the vicinity of the Lucky Boy mine. Cherty limestones, shales, and sandstones of probable Mesozoic 

age were faulted and intruded by a granodiorite 

mass which was later cut by aplitic and basic dikes. 

Near the intrusion the limestones were metamorphosed, producing a skarn of garnet, tremolite, 

diopside, quartz, and calcite. The vein at the Lucky 

Boy is in a fracture that cuts the limestone and 

granodiorite. The average width of the vein is 2 to 

3% feet; Ore consists of fine-grained galena and 

tetrahedrite and a little pyrite. High-grade ore 

carries 2,000 to 3,000 ounces of silver per ton, and 

medium-grade ore carries 50 to 400 ounces of silver 

to the ton. 

MOUNT MONTGOMERY AND ONEOTA DISTRICTS 

The Mount Montgomery and Oneota districts are 

combined here because they adjoin and are geologically similar. They are at the north end of the White 

Mountain Range, about 4 miles east of Queen, in 

the southern tip of Mineral County. 

The Oneota district was organized in 1862, but 

no mining was attempted until after 1870 (Vanderburg, 1937b, p. 49). The Indian Queen and the 

Poorman mines were its major producers. In the 

Mount Montgomery district, gold, silver, mercury, 

and fluorspar have been mined. The chief gold 

mines are the Tip Top and Golden Gate (Vanderburg, 1937b,p.47,48). 

About $150,000 in gold and silver was produced 

from the Mount Montgomery district, and about 

$1 million in gold and silver was produced from the 

Oneota district up to 1935 (Vanderburg, 1937b, 

p. 47-49). The amount of gold represented in these 

totals is not known, but at least 10,000 ounces is 

assumed. Production of gold from 1935 through 1959 

was only 161 ounces; therefore, this combined district is not included in table 10. 

Country rock consists of Cretaceous ( ?) granitic 

rocks intruded into schists of possible Precambrian 

age. In the northern part of the district these rocks 

are overlain by Tertiary felsic volcanic rocks, 

younger than the Esmeralda Formation. Quartz 

veins containing gold and silver occur in the volcanic rocks (Ross, 1961, p. 65, 80, pl. 2). 
NEVADA 191 

RAWHIDE DISTRICT 

The Rawhide (Regent) district, at the south end 

of the Sand Springs Range in northeastern Mineral 

County, is 29 miles east of Schurz and 50 miles 

southeast of Fallon. 

The summary of this district is abstracted from 

Vanderburg's reports (1936a, p. 120-121; 1937b, 

p. 58-64). 

The initial discoveries were made in 1906. Less 

than 2 years later the town of Rawhide had. been 

built and was populated by about 4,000 people, but in 

September 1908 a large part of the town was detroyed by fire. This is predominantly a gold camp, 

and most production has come from numerous small 

mines rather than a few large ones. From 1908 

through 1935, a total of 1,818 ounces of placer gold 

and 49,034 ounces of lode gold was produced. Total 

production from 1908 through 1959 was 2,065 

ounces of placer and 50,707 ounces of lode gold. 

Although most of the gold came from the lode 

mines, there was considerable working of placer 

deposits. The most productive placers were in an 

area ¥2 mile wide and 1 mile long on the southeast 

slope of Hooligan Hill. Vanderburg (1936a, p. 120) 

reported $250,000 total placer production. This conflicts sharply with the $39,953 total compiled by 

C. W. Merrill (in Vanderburg, 1937b, p. 60). 

The lode deposits are in a network of veinlets that 

cut the country rocks-rhyolite, dacite, and andesite. Kaolinized rhyolite seems to be most strongly 

mineralized. Ore minerals are electrum, argentite, 

and cerargyrite. 

NYE COUNTY 

Nye County, founded in 1864, comprises more 

than 17,000 square miles in south-central Nevada 

and is studded with north-trending mountain 

ranges. The intermontane valleys are not drained, 

and streams terminate in. sinks or salt-encrusted 

flats. 

Sedimentary rocks of Paleozoic and Mesozoic 

ages are exposed in the mountains in the north; in 

the western ranges only Mesozoic formations are 

exposed. In the eastern and central parts of the 

county, the mountains are composed chiefly of 

Paleozoic rocks. Masses of granitic rocks of Jurassic and Cretaceous ages have intruded the older 

rocks and are exposed over large areas. Tertiary 

lava flows and intrusive rocks are abundant in the 

southern part of the county. 

The most important mineral commodities of the 

county have been the precious metals. Some of the 

more successful gold districts are Bullfrog, Tonopah, Round Mountain, and Tybo, where gold- and 

silver-bearing veins occur in Tertiary rocks. Another highly productive district is the Manhattan, 

where the highest yields were from veins in Paleozoic rocks. 

Gold production for the county from 1903 

through 1959 was 2,975,034 ounces-298,593 ounces 

was from placers and 2,676,441 ounces was from 

lode mines. 

BRUNER DISTRICT 

The Bruner (Phomolite) district is in northwestern Nye County at !at 39°05' N. and long 1176 46' E. 

The district was founded in 1906 when small production was reported from the Paymaster mine. 

In 1936 the Penelas mine, the main producer of the 

district, was discovered (Kral, 1951, p. 26). 

Production of gold from the district from 1936 

through 1959 was 17,213 ounces. Earlier production could not be ascertained. 

Tertiary rhyolite and andesites cover the area 

(Kral, 1951, p. 26). Metavolcanic rocks probably 

underlie the extrusives. The ore deposits are in 

quartz veins in the younger volcanic rocks with 

free gold associated with silver. 

BULLFROG DISTRICT 

The Bullfrog district is in southern Nye County, 

60 miles south-southeast of Goldfield. The principal 

town is Beatty. 

The original claims were located in 1904; the 

customary rush ensued during which the settlements of Bullfrog, Bonanza, Beatty, and Rhyolite 

mushroomed and competed with one another for 

new settlers. Competition became so intense that 

three railroads served the area. The peak period 

was 1907-10 when $1,687,792 in gold and silver 

was produced (Kral, 1951, p. 29), mostly from the 

Montgomery-Shoshone mine. In more recent years 

activity declined to sporadic small-scale mining. 

Gold production from 1905 to 1959 was 120,401 

ounces, and considerable silver has also been produced. 

Ransome, Emmons, and Garrey (1910) described 

the geology and ore deposits in considerable detail. 

The oldest rocks in the district are contorted quartzites and mica schists of Ordovician age or older, 

and they are overlain locally by limestone, shale, 

and quartzite of Silurian age. Overlying the Paleozoic rocks is a sequence of Tertiary flows and tuffs, 

6,000 feet thick, composed of 16 rhyolite units, five 

flows of basalt, one flow of quartz latite, and one 

flow of quartz-bearing basalt that caps the sequence. The entire area has been broken by normal 

faults that trend north to northwest, and the result-
192 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

ing fault blocks are tilted eastward. A late set of 

faults trends northeast. Ore deposits are mineralized faults or fault zones in the rhyolites. Many of 

the veins are simple but there are many zones of 

stringers or veinlets with ill-defined boundaries. 

The vein material consists of quartz and calcite 

and finely divided auriferous pyrite. The quartz is 

crustified and has a porcelaneous texture. Oxidized 

ore contains gold in limonite; the calcite is partly 

dissolved, and manganese oxide has been introduced. 

Varying amounts of silver may be alloyed with the 

gold. 

ELLENDALE DISTRICT 

The Ellendale district is a few miles east of Tonopah, in T. 2 N., R. 43 E. High-grade gold ore was 

discovered in 1909, and for the next few years the 

district flourished but by 1916 was deserted (Ferguson, 1917, p. 122). According to Kral (1951, 

p. 56), the only later activity was in 1938-39, when 

dump material valued at $7,215 was shipped from 

the Ellendale mine, the only mine of any importance 

in the district. Total recorded production of gold to 

1948 was $166,015 (about 8,060 ounces), but estimates put the total production at between $1;2 and 

$1 million (Kral, 1951, p. 55). Because much production by lessees was not reported, the true production of the district must be in excess of 8,000 

ounces. 

Ferguson (1917, p. 123) noted that most of the 

deposits are in rhyolite near its contact with andesite porphyry. The ore bodies are in irregular veins 

filled with iron-stained quartz. 

GOLD HILL DISTRICT 

The Gold Hill district is 6 miles north of Round 

Mountain, in the southern Toquima Range, in T. 11 

N., R. 44 E. It is mentioned only briefly in the published literature. Ferguson and Cathcart (1954) 

noted that the major production of the district was 

in 1931-32, when 24,725 ounces of gold was mined. 

The district was dormant from 1933 through 1959. 

According to Couch and Carpenter (1943, p. 120), 

the total value of production of the district was 

$902,152, but how much of this was in gold is not 

known. 

The major production came from a single quartz 

vein in rhyolite (Ferguson and Cathcart, 1954). 

The veinfilling is fine-grained banded quartz that 

contains some calcite, small particles of free gold, 

auriferous pyrite, and argentite. 

. JACKSON DISTRICT 

The Jackson (Gold Park) district is on the west 

slope of the Shoshone Mountains in northwestern 

Nye County (lat 39°7' W., long 117°33' E.). Originally called the North Union district, the name was 

changed in 1878 to Jackson. Early production data 

are fragmentary, but Kral (1951, p. 76) estimated 

an output of $1;2 to $1 million, principally in gold. 

There has been little activity in the area since 1911. 

The oldest rock in the area is meta-andesite of 

Carboniferous ( ?) age which is overlain by Tertiary 

rhyolite tuff (Kral, 1951, p. 76). Ore occurs in 

quartz veins that cut the meta-andesite. Variable 

amounts of galena and pyrite and small amounts of 

chalcopyrite are present. 

JEFFERSON CANYON DISTRICT 

The J e:fferson Canyon district is 6 miles northeast of Round Mountain (lat 38°43' N., long 

117° E.) on the west slope of the Toquima Range. 

Gold and silver were discovered here in 1866, but 

no activity was reported until 1871. The principal 

mines were the J e:fferson and the Prussian. Lincoln 

(1923, p. 171) reported the early production of 

combined silver and gold at $1 million; the amount 

of gold represented by this figure is not given. In 

the past several decades there has been only sporadic activity in this district. Only 3 ounces of gold 

was produced from 1932 through 1959. 

The country rock consists of Ordovician limestone, Cretaceous granite, and Tertiary rhyolite 

porphyry (Kral, 1951, p. 80-81). The Prussian 

vein, the principal vein in the district, is along the 

contact of the limestone and porphyry. Silver minerals-sulfides, sulfantimonides, and chlorides-are 

the most valuable constituents of the Prussian vein; 

however, gold is the important component in many 

other veins. 

JOHNNIE DISTRIC'r 

The Johnnie district is in the extreme southeast 

part of Nye County (lat 36°26' N., long 116°04' E.). 

Organized in 1890, the district had a recorded 

production of $382,681 by 1913, although Kral 

(1951, p. 86) estimated that more than $1 million 

in ore was produced from 1910 through 1913. Nolan 

(1936b, p. 69) estimated $500,000 worth of gold 

was produced before 1904, and 24,653 ounces of 

gold was produced during H)OS-32. Total gold production through 1959 was about 40,000 ounces, 

mostly from the Johnnie mine. 

The bedrock is the Prospect Mountain Quartzite 

of Cambrian age (Kral, 1951, p. 86-87). The beds 

are predominantly quartzite, but some conglomerate, shale, and limestone units are also present . 

Well-defined gold-bearing quartz veins cut these 

sedimentary rocks. Gold and galena are the chief 

economic minerals. 
NEVADA 193 

LODI DISTRICT 

The Lodi (Granite, Marble, Quartz Mountains) 

district is in northwest Nye County (T. 13 W., 

R. 36 E.) . In 1863 the area was part of the original 

Mammoth district, but in 187 4, the Lodi district 

was formed from the part of the Mammoth that 

included the Lodi Hills. 

Gold is a byproduct of silver and lead ores which 

have been the mainstay of the district. Tungsten 

and some talc also have been produced. The most 

important mines in the district are the Illinois and 

the San Rafael (Kral, 1951, p. 94-96). 

Available production data are not complete and 

give combined output only; therefore, the amount 

of gold represented can only be inferred. Couch and 

Carpenter (1943, p. 113) reported a total of 

$809,905 in silver, gold, lead, and copper from 1866 

through 1940. The total for 1932 through 1959 was 

1,079 ounces of gold (U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1933-

66). 

Kral (1951, p. 93-94) briefly summarized the 

geology of the district. The rocks of the district 

are deformed limestone and dolomite of Triassic 

age intruded by granodiorite of Jurassic or Cretaceous age. The major ore deposits of lead and silver were deposited in the deformed and ruptured 

limestone and dolomite during the closing stages 

of the intrusion. In Tertiary time, lava flows covered the area. These were succeeded by andesite 

intrusions after which considerable faulting took 

place. A second period of mineralization filled the 

fault fissures. 

MANHATTAN DISTRICT 

Manhattan, at the south end of the Toquima 

Range about 35 miles north of Tonopah, is a gold 

district, silver being produced as a byproduct. Although mining had been done in the Toquima Range 

since 1865, it was not until 1905 that gold was 

found in the Manhattan area in sufficient quantity 

and grade to precipitate a rush. By 1906 there were 

3,000 people in the general area (Ferguson, 1924, 

p. 8). The next few years were marked by numerous fraudulent promotion schemes that gave the 

district widespread notoriety and seriously delayed 

its development. But placer mining flourished and 

reached its peak by 1912, after which there was a 

steady annual decline (Ferguson, 1924, p. 8-9). 

Lode mining became important after 1908. 

From 1906 through 1921 the district produced 

136,514 ounces of lode gold and 58,686 ounces of 

placer gold (Ferguson, 1924, p. 9) ; through 1959, 

the total was 280,022 ounces of lode gold and 

206,340 ounces of placer gold. 

The bedrock of the district is composed of quartzite, limestone, and schist of the Gold Hill Formation of Cambrian age and chert, slate, quartzite, 

and limestone of the Palmetto Formation of Ordovician age (Ferguson and Cathcart, 1954). Small 

patches of granite, of Jurassic age, are exposed 

locally. Tertiary lavas, tuffs, and intrusive bodies 

comprise the bedrock in the northern part of the 

district. The Gold Hill Formation is thrust over the 

Palmetto Formation, and the productive deposits 

are in the hanging wall of this thrust fault, in limestones and quartzose schist of the Gold Hill Formation. The ore bodies in the limestone show a complex 

assemblage of metals, including pyrite, stibnite, 

realgar, orpiment, cinnabar, and free gold in a 

gangue of calcite, quartz, fluorite, sericite, leverrierite, and sparse adularia. Ore bodies in the quartzose 

schist have been more productive and consist of 

networks of small quartz-adularia veins, carrying 

pyrite and free gold. 

The placer gold has come from deep gravels in 

Manhattan Gulch. 

NORTHUMBERLAND DISTRICT 

The Northumberland district on on the east side 

of Toquima Range, 25 miles north of Belmont and 

76 miles northeast of Tonopah. It is primarily a 

silver-producing district and was founded in 1866. 

By 1891 activity had ceased, and the district was 

dormant until 1936 when large deposits of lowgra.de gold ore, amenable to open-pit mining, were 

discovered (Kral, 1951, p. 135-136). During 1939-

42, gold totaling 32,756 ounces was mined. The War 

Production Board Order L-208 of 1942 caused operations to be recessed until after World War II. 

Total gold production from 1936 through 1959 was 

35,353 ounces. 

The rocks consist of dolomitic limestone and carbonaceous and calcareous shale (Kral, 1951, p. 136). 

A mass of monzonite and a younger porphyritic 

rhyolite or quartz latite intruded the sediments. The 

gold deposits occur in a carbonaceous shale bed, 

60 to 70 feet thick, in the vicinity of the roof of the 

monzonite intrusion. 

ROUND MOUNTAIN DISTRICT 

The Round Mountain district is on the west flank 

of the Toquima Range, 45 miles north of Tonopah 

and about 8 miles north of Manhattan. 

Rich gold ore was discovered in 1906, but no 

production was recorded until 1907. Both placer 

and lode mines were worked from the beginning. 

The lodes were worked until 1935, but the placers 
194 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

were still being worked, on a fairly large scale, in 

the early 1950's by the Round Mountain Gold 

Dredging Corp. Their operations were suspended 

during 1953-57, but were resumed in 1958; in 

1958-59 this company was the largest gold producer 

in Nevada. 

Ferguson and Cathcart (1954) estimated the total 

gold production of the district to be worth $8 million, of which about 15 or 20 percent was from 

placers and the remainder was from lodes. This 

would amount to about 329,000 ounces of lode gold 

and 58,200 ounces of placer gold. Most of the district's production during 1950-59 was combined 

with reports from other districts, but it was probably about 150,000 ounces. Total gold production 

for the district through 1959 was about 537,000 

ounces. 

The oldest rocks in the area are lower Paleozoic 

limestone, jasper, and dark slaty schist (Ferguson, 

1922, p. 386-398). These rocks are intensely folded 

and were intruded during Cretaceous time by bodies 

of granitic magma. Tertiary rocks, chiefly porphyritic rhyolite (Oddie Rhyolite) and lake beds of the 

Siebert Formation, overlie the folded Paleozoic 

rocks. 

There were two periods of mineralization. The 

first occurred just after the granitic intrusions and 

is characterized by huebnerite-bearing veins in the 

granite. The second period of mineralization is of 

Tertiary age and resulted in the formation of epithermal gold-bearing quartz veins in the rhyolite. 

The mineralogy of these veins is relatively simple 

and consists of gold, auriferous pyrite, and sparse 

realgar in a gangue of drusy and comb quartz, 

adularia, and alunite. After the primary gold mineralization, additional fissures were formed in which 

iron and manganese oxides and gold were deposited 

by supergene solutions. The gold in these later 

fractures was probably derived from the primary 

auriferous pyrite. 

TON OF Ali DISTRICT 

This district is in the southern San Antonio 

Mountains near Tonopah, the county seat of Nye 

County and the largest town in the county. 

Tonopah was predominantly a silver district, but 

it also yielded large amounts of gold. The first 

claims were staked in 1900, and by 1901 there was 

vigorous activity which lasted until the late 1940's; 

thereafter, production declined. The principal companies were the Tonopah Mining, the Tonopah Belmont Development, and the Tonopah Extension 

(Kral, 1951, p.171). 

Lincoln (1923, p. 186) listed the gold production 

of Tonopah from 1901 through 1921 as $30,360,903 

(about 1,473,830 ounces). From 1901 through 1959, 

a total of 1,880,000 ounces of gold was produced. 

The rocks exposed in the Tonopah district are 

all of Tertiary age and consist of a series of lava 

flows, volcanic breccias, tuffs, and intrusives that 

have been somewhat displaced from their original 

attitudes by extensive faulting. Seven formations 

recognized in the district (Nolan, 1935b, p. 13) are, 

from oldest to youngest: the Tonopah Formation 

(volcanic tuffs, breccias, flows), Sandgrass Andesite (dark lavas inter layered with the Tonopah 

Formation), Mizpah Trachyte (2,000-foot-thick 

flows and breccias overlying the Tonopah), Extension Breccia (tabular intrusive mass in west half 

of district), West End Rhyolite (sills as much as 

600 feet thick that intrude the older formations), 

Fraction Breccia Member of Esmeralda Formation 

(volcanic breccia unconformably overlying ore 

bodies), and postore rhyolite (dikes and lenticular 

bodies that intrude the older rocks). Numerous 

faults cut the Tertiary rocks, and Nolan (1935b, 

p. 28-39) divided them into three general groups: 

the Halifax fault zone which strikes generally 

northward; the Tonopah, a compound fault that in 

cross section has a trace that is convex upward; 

and the youngest group which includes a fault 

which strikes northwest, another which strikes 

northeast, and a third which strikes north and dips 

west. 

The ore bodies are replacement veins in faults or 

fractures (Nolan, 1935b, p. 40-49). The Tonopah 

fault is believed to have exerted a major control 

on the movement of mineralizing ,solutions. Ore 

bodies are found in all three groups of faults, but 

the Tonopah and Halifax seem to be more heavily 

mineralized. Hypogene ore contains electrum, argentite, polybasite, and pyrargyrite in a gangue of 

quartz, pink carbonate, barite, and altered wallrocks. There has been some supergene enrichment 

locally, but the hypogene ore has been most important. 

TYBO DISTRIC'l' 

The Tybo (Hot Creek, Keystone, Empire) district 

is in northeastern Nye County, in the Hot Creek 

Range, 65 miles northeast of Tonopah and about 

100 miles southwest of Ely (lat 38°23' N., long 

116°23' E.). In the district, gold is a byproduct of 

ores mined primarily for their lead and silver content. The first mineral discoveries were made in 

1865, and the town of Hot Creek was the population 

center during the early days (Kral, 1951, p. 189). 

The district prospered from the rich near-surface 
NEVADA 195 

silver ores until 1888. The principal mine during 

this period was the Tybo mine. Despite several attempts at renewing operations, the district remained dormant from 1888 until 1929, when a 

concentrator was built that successfully separated 

the galena from sphalerite (Ferguson, 1933, p. 43-

44). Gold production from 1872 to 1888 was 20,360 

ounces (Ferguson, 1933, p. 43); from 1929 to 1958 

it was 6,923 ounces. 

The geology of the area was described by Ferguson (1933, p. 13-42). The rocks consist of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks and Tertiary fresh-water 

sediments, dikes, and flows. The Paleozoic rocks 

include Cambrian, Ordovician, and Silurian formations. These rocks were tightly folded and faulted; 

then Tertiary sediments and lavas were deposited. 

Dikes and masses of Tertiary quartz latite porphyry cut all the older rocks. The Esmeralda Formation, consisting of water-deposited tuffs of late 

Miocene age, overlies the latite masses, and it in 

turn is overlain by a series of dacite and andesite 

flows. There were several periods of faulting that 

began before Tertiary time and ended after extrusion of the post-Esmeralda lavas. 

The ore bodies were deposited after the intrusion 

of the quartz latite porphyry. They are tabular replacement bodies along the 2-G fault, the oldest 

major fault in the area. The primary minerals consist of pyrite, sphalerite, argentiferous galena, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, and arsenopyrite. Quartz and 

calcite accompany the sulfides. The ores first mined 

were oxidized deposits within 300 feet of the surface. 

UNION DISTRICT 

The Union district, in northwestern Nye County 

in the Shoshone Range (lat 38°55' N., long 117°35' 

E.), was organized in 1863, and the town of lone 

was soon built. After a few brief flurries of activity 

which yielded about $1 million in gold and silver 

by 1880 (Lincoln, 1923, p. 196), the district became 

almost dormant. The discovery of cinnabar in 1907 

revived activity somewhat, and since then production of mercury has been fairly consistent; however, gold production from 1903 through 1959 was 

only 7 48 ounces. Total gold production cannot be 

ascertained, but it is assumed that at least 10,000 

ounces was produced before 1903. 

The oldest rocks in the district are meta-andesites of Carboniferous age (Kral, 1951, p. 196). 

These are overlain by Triassic slates, limestones, 

and conglomerates. A small granodiorite stock cuts 

the sedimentary rocks. The youngest rocks in the 

area are Tertiary rhyolite and andesite. The mercury and gold deposits are associated with the Tertiary rocks; however, the ore at the Berlin mine, 

the largest mine in the district, consists of leadcopper-zinc-antimony sulfides in quartz veins in the 

Carboniferous meta-andesites (Kral, 1951, p. 199-

200). 

PERSHING COUNTY 

Pershing County, created in 1919, is the youngest 

of the 17 counties of Nevada. 

The topography of the county, although less 

rugged than in most of the State, is typical of that 

of the Great Basin and consists of north-trending 

mountain ranges separated by dry valleys. 

Pershing County has a wide variety of mineral 

resources, but silver, gold, tungsten, and mercury 

have been the mainstays. Mining activity in the 

area now embraced by Pershing County began in 

1860 in the Humboldt district. Soon afterward the 

Star and Buena Vista districts were discovered, and 

the town of Unionville became the center of mining 

activity in the county. The first successful smelter 

in the State was built at Oreana to treat the basemetal ores. Gold placer deposits were discovered in 

1881 in American Canyon, Spring Valley, and Dry 

Gulch, and these were worked successfully for 

about 10 years. Discoveries at Seven Troughs and 

Rochester highlight the mining in the county after 

1900 (Vanderburg, 1936b, p. 6). 

Production from Pershing County is recorded 

from 1919, when the county was created. Production of individual districts, in the descriptions that 

follow, includes the years before Pershing County 

existed, thus there is a considerable discrepancy 

between district and county totals. 

From 1919 through 1958 Pershing County produced 16,233 ounces of placer· gold and 162,109 

ounces of lode gold, a total of 178,342 ounces. 

HUMBOLDT DISTRICT 

The Humboldt (Imlay, Eldorado) district, on the 

north end and west flank of the Humboldt Range, 

was organized in 1860 as the first district in the 

area now included in Pershing County. By 1863, 

Humboldt City had been founded and had a population of 500. The principal mine was the Imlay, 

from which a considerable but unknown amount of 

silver ore was shipped. The Star Peak mine yielded 

$130,000 in silver and gold up to 1935 (Vanderburg, 

1936b, p. 17). Early production data for the entire 

district are lacking, but from 1932 through 1959 

the district produced 35,483 ounces of gold. 

The deposit at the Imlay mine consists of a goldand silver-bearing quartz vein that contains a little 
196 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

lead and copper (Vanderburg, 1936b, p. 16). The 

country rock is shale, quartzite, and limestone, probably Triassic in age. Ransome (1909a, p. 46) stated 

that the ores of the northern Humboldt Range, 

called the Star Peak Range, have several common 

characteristics-they occur in Triassic rocks; they 

seem to have a common age, probably Early Cretaceous; and they contain antimony, more silver than 

gold, and very little lead or zinc. 

ROCHESTER DISTRICT 

In the Rochester district, in the central Humboldt 

Range 9 miles east of Oreana, activity began in the 

1860's during the intensive search for silver in the 

Star Peak Range. The placers in nearby Limerick 

and American Canyons yielded $11 million in gold 

(Ransome, 1909a, p. 12). There was no great lode 

production until 1912, when the rich silver-gold 

ores on Nenzel Hill were discovered. For the ensuing 16 years, production remained at a high 

level. In 1929, the Rochester Silver Corp., the principal operator, closed down, and activity remained 

at a low level through 1959. 

The following summary of the geology and ore 

deposits of the Rochester district is from a more 

detailed account by Knopf (1924, p. 9-58). 

The oldest rocks in the district are felsitic trachytes and keratophyres 5,000 feet thick, composing 

the Rochester Trachyte, of Triassic age. Overlying 

this is a sequence of rhyolite flows also of Triassic 

age. Downfaulted limestone beds of Triassic age are 

found in the western part of the district. Intrusive 

into the Triassic rocks are large masses of aplite of 

probable Late Jurassic age. Coarse, angular detritus 

of possible Pliocene age, capped by basalt of late 

Pliocene age, occurs locally on the flanks of the 

Humboldt Range. At the end of Jurassic time, the 

Triassic rocks were folded into a broad north-trending anticline. This was accompanied by reverse 

faulting. A later period of faulting occurred at the 

end of the Pliocene. 

Mineralization occurred in Late Jurassic time and 

was associated with the intrusion of the igneous 

masses. All ore deposits are in the Triassic rocks; 

they consist of silver-bearing quartz veins, silverbearing stockworks, and gold veins (of minor importance). The silver veins, enriched by supergene 

argentite, have been the most productive deposits. 

RYE PATCH DISTRICT 

The Rye Patch (Echo) district is on the west 

flank of the Humboldt Range in central Pershing 

County, 4 miles east of Rye Patch. 

Mining in the district began in 1864 in the principal mine, the Rye Patch. To 187 4, this mine produced about $1 million chiefly in silver (Vanderburg, 1936b, p. 33). Presumably no gold was produced in the early days, but in 1935 intensive development was in progress at the Gold Standard property to test the possibility of mining large tonnages 

of low-grade gold ore. The development apparently 

was moderately successful because during 1935-59, 

a total of 9,453 ounces of gold was produced. 

The deposit at the Rye Patch mine is in black 

limestone, the basal unit of the Star Peak Formation, of Middle Triassic age (Lincoln, 1923, p. 204). 

Several irregular fissures filled with brecciated wallrock, quartz, and calcite cut the limestone. The ore 

minerals, which are associated with the quartz in 

these fissures, consist of argentiferous tetrahedrite, 

galena, sphalerite, and small amounts of gold. 

SEVEN TROUGHS DISTRICT 

Located on the west slope of the Seven Troughs 

Range 30 miles west of Lovelock, the Seven Troughs 

district is primarily a gold-producing district, but 

the ores also contain considerable silver. Its first 

acclaim came in 1907 when the Mazuma Hills mine 

was opened. Although the district never achieved a 

bonanza output, it maintained a small, but fairly 

steady gold production which from 1908 through 

1959 totaled 160,182 ounces. 

The following summary of the geology is based on 

Ransome (1909a, p. 16-25). The oldest rocks in the 

area are Jurassic ( ?) slates which were intruded by 

a mass of granodiorite. Overlying the slates are 

mica andesite, basalt, and rhyolite of Tertiary age. 

The ore deposits are in breccia zones or fissures in 

the extrusive rocks. Veins are narrow and contain 

friable quartz and shattered country rock. Gold, in 

small particles or clusters of grains, is the valuable 

constituent. Some silver is alloyed with the gold. 

SIERRA DISTRICT 

The Sierra (Dun Glen, Chafey) district, at the 

north end of the East Rang~ in the northeast part 

of T. 33 N., R. 36 E., was founded in 1863 when 

lode gold and placer gold were discovered in the area. 

Some of the important lode mines were the Tallulah, 

Auld Lang Syne, Munroe, Mayflower, and Auburn 

(Vanderburg, 1936b, p. 39). 

The placers were very productive during the early 

days. Vanderburg (1936a, p. 156) estimated that 

$4 million worth of placer gold was mined during 

the 18&0's and 1890's from Auburn, Barber, Wright, 

and Rock Hill Canyons. Most of this output was by 

Chinese operators, who habitually neglected to re-
NEVADA 197 

port any production; therefore, the estimate probably is not very accurate. Placer mining in recent 

years has been on a small scale. 

Vanderburg (1936b, p. 39) estimated $1 million, 

mostly in gold, as total lode production for the district. Most of this was mined between 1862 and 

1880. From 1908 to 1921 gold production was valued 

at $314,441. In recent years, however, activity 

slackened considerably. Total gold production 

through 1959, including the early placer output, was 

about 241,000 ounces. 

The rocks in the Sierra district dip steeply and 

consist of the Star Peak Formation of Triassic age, 

dark slates of Jurassic age, and a thick series of 

andesitic flows and flow breccias (Ransome, 1909a, 

p. 50-51). Diabase dikes cut the sedimentary and 

the extrusive rocks. Ore deposits are in veins, many 

of which follow the diabase dikes in the volcanics. 

Vein minerals are quartz, galena, pyrite, sphalerite, 

and native gold. 

SPRING VALLEY DISTRICT 

The Spring Valley district is on the east slope of 

the Humboldt Range, 14 miles east of Oreana. 

The gold production has come chiefly from placer 

deposits. The only productive lode mine was the 

Bonanza King located in 1868 (Vanderburg, 1936b, 

p. 42). It produced at most only ·a few thousand 

ounces of gold. The placer deposits in American and 

Limerick Canyons and in Spring Valley were the 

most productive in the State. Before 1900, a total 

of $11 million in gold was extracted from these 

gravels, mostly by the Chinese who operated the 

placers after the Americans skimmed off the more 

accessible deposits (Ransome, 1909a, p. 12). Periodically through the later years there was smallscale activity, but only 255 ounces was produced 

from 1932 through 1959. 

STOREY COUNTY 

Storey County, in western Nevada, is one of the 

smallest counties in the State and encompasses only 

about 200 square miles; yet, it was by far the most 

important mining county. Its metal output consisted 

chiefly of silver and gold. 

The mining history of this county is essentially 

the history of the Comstock Lode which began producing in 1859 and continues to be a vital factor in 

the present mineral industry of Nevada. The 

Flowery district, on a separate mountain range a 

few miles east of the Comstock Lode, is the only 

other precious-metal district in the county. As the 

production of the Flowery district is often combined 

with that of the Comstock Lode, in this report 

they will be combined under the Comstock Lode 

district. 

Production of gold in Storey County from 1859 

through 1959 was about 8,560,000 ounces. 

COMSTOCK LODE DISTRICT 

The Comstock Lode district is in southern Storey 

County (lat 39°16' to 39°20' W., long 119°37' to 

119°40' E.). 

In the turbulent mining history of the west, there 

are a few names that stand out in bold relief-one 

of these is the Comstock Lode, the richest mining 

camp in Nevada. Its fabulous bonanza ores influenced politics as well as the mining industry. National interest centered on the production of the 

Comstock Lode mines when money was needed to 

conduct the Civil War, and the early entry of 

Nevada into the Union was due in large part to this 

contribution. The discoveries at Comstock also 

brightened the hopes of discouraged prospectors 

who were swarming over the crowded California 

goldfields. Nevada was a new El Dorado, and over 

the Sierra snows came thousands of Californians to 

mine the ores at Comstock and to make new discoveries at Peavine, Jumbo, Galena, and elsewhere 

throughout western Nevada. 

Placer gold was mined in Gold Canyon as early 

as 1852, but it was not until 1859 that the rich 

silver-gold lode deposits were discovered on Gold 

Hill by placer miners (Smith, 1943, p. 3). In the 

beginning the claims were worked as placers, but 

shortly the diggings revealed .vein deposits beneath 

the overburden. At first the discovery did not generate any particular excitement because the deposits 

were worked for gold values only, and the black 

material, rich in silver sulfides, was regarded as a 

nuisance. In June 1859, an analysis of some of the 

black sulfides showed that it was worth as much as 

$3,876 per ton in silver and gold (Smith, 1943, p. 9). 

News of this spread, and a horde of prospectors and 

miners from the overcrowded goldfields of California 

poured into this new silver camp. 

The period 1860-80 was one of intermittent 

bonanza production that made the Comstock Lode 

the most important and productive camp in the 

world (Smith, 1943, p. 19). The initial rush in 1860 

was followed by a larger one in 1863, when the 

Ophir and the Gould and Curry mines yielded a 

record $12,400,000 in gold and silver (Smith, 1943, 

p. 27). In 1862 the "Washoe process" was developed 

to treat the Comstock Lode ores. This was a rapid 

technique of crushing, grinding, and amalgamating 

the gold and silver from the pulp by steam heating 
198 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

(Smith, 1943, p. 41-45). The near-surface bonanzas 

were exhausted by 1869, but the discovery of the 

deeper Crown Point-Belcher ore body in 1871 revived the district (Lincoln, 1923, p. 223). The later 

discovery and development of the "Big Bonanza" by 

the Bonanza Kings-Mackay, Fair, O'Brien, and 

Flood-brought the district its greatest period of 

prosperity, 1875-80. By 1881 the large ore bodies of 

the Consolidated Virginia, Yellow Jacket, and other 

mines were nearly depleted and in the following 

decade the existing mines were explored to greater 

depths-more than 3,000 feet. Heat that was almost 

unbearable, soft ground, and enormous volumes of 

hot water were encountered. There were no significant discoveries of ore at these greater depths, and 

for some time most of the production came from 

low-grade ore that had been overlooked in the early 

days. In 1894 the first cyanide plant in Nevada was 

built on the Comstock Lode, and it enabled profitable 

extraction of gold from low-grade ores and tailings 

(Stoddard and Carpenter, 1950, p. 22). 

After 1900, consolidation made it possible to dewater many of the old workings and to do more 

extensive development work. The most productive 

mines during this period were the old Ophir, the 

Mexican, and the Consolidated Virginia (Stoddard 

and Carpenter, 1950, p. 23-25). In the mid-1920's 

the Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa entered 

the Comstock Lode, and, after merging and consolidating several properties in the central part of 

the district, became the chief operator for a few 

years (Stoddard and Carpenter, 1950, p. 30). A significant spurt in activity marked the increase in 

the price of gold in 1934, and the district enjoyed 

a mild prosperity until the imposition of Order 

L-208 of the War Production Board, whic~ closed 

nearly all gold and silver mines. After World War 

II, the Comstock Lode district slowly reawakened, 

but annual output in the 1950's was meager compared to that of the early years. 

From 1859 through 1921, $164,023,917 (about 

7,935,360 ounces) in gold was mined (Lincoln, 1923, 

p. 225-226). Total gold production through 1959 was 

about 8,560,000 ounces. 

The geology of the Comstock Lode was described 

first by Richthofen (1866), a German geologist employed by the Sutro Tunnel Co. His report was reproduced almost entirely by Becker (1882). Others 

who have reported on the geology of the district are 

King (1870), Lincoln (1923), Gianella (1936), and 

F. C. Calkins (unpub. data, 1944). Stoddard and 

Carpenter (1950, p. 55-73) briefly reviewed the 

reports of the earlier workers and summarized the 

geology of the district. 

The oldest rocks of the district are folded and 

faulted limestone, shale, schist, quartzite, and metavolcanic rocks of Triassic ( ?) age. These are intruded by quartz monzonite of Late Jurassic age 

and are covered by a series of Tertiary volcanic 

rocks consisting of the Hartford Hill Rhyolite of 

Eocene age, Alta Andesite of Miocene age, Kate 

Peak Andesite and Knickerbocker Andesite of Pliocene age, and American Flat Basalt of Quaternary 

age. The Hartford Hill Rhyolite and Alta Andesite 

are cut by the Davidson Diorite of late Miocene age. 

This intrusion was followed by normal faulting, 

and veins, including the Comstock Lode, were deposited along the faults. Later movement in late 

Pliocene or early Pleistocene time produced new 

faults and additional displacement along the older 

ones. 

The lode is a complex shear zone-Y -shaped in 

cross section, about 13,000 feet long, and several 

hundred feet wide. Many large blocks of country 

rock were found in the dominantly quartz gangue in 

the upper part of the vein system. Calcite is a minor 

component of the gangue. The ore minerals are 

argentite, stephanite, and native gold. Coats (1936, 

p. 532) reported the silver sulfoselenide, aguilarite, 

associated with silver and argentite in the ores. 

Sphalerite, galena, pyrite, and chalcopyrite are usually present but not necessarily abundant. Within a 

few hundred feet of the surface, oxidized ores contained native silver, gold, polybasite, argentite, 

covellite, chalcocite, anglesite, and wulfenite. Widespread propylitized and sericitized wallrock is characteristic of the Comstock Lode. 

WASHOE COUNTY 

Located in the northwest corner of Nevada, 

Washoe County does not have the basin-and-range 

topography so characteristic of most of Nevada. 

Instead, it contains a series of valleys-former lakes 

-separated by low divides. Many lakes still fill the 

valleys in the northern part of the county, and 

Pyramid and Winnemucca Lakes in the central part 

are the largest natural bodies of water in the State. 

The Virginia Mountains extend northwestward 

across the central part of the county. South of 

Reno, the Sierra Nevada is the dominant feature 

of the western part of the county. The northern 

part of the county is underlain by lavas, tuffs, and 

lake beds that, for the most part, contain no economic mineral deposits, but several mining districts 

in the southern part of the county have produced 

considerable amounts of gold and silver (Overton, 

1947, p, 46-47). Prominent among these are Oling-
NEVADA 199 

house, Leadville, Wedekind and Pyramid. Consider~ 

able placer mining was done in the early days at 

Little Valley, Peavine, and Olinghouse, but there 

are no reliable production data on these operations 

(Vanderburg, 1936a,p. 163-166). 

The prospectors who flooded into Comstock soon 

overflowed into adjacent southern Washoe County 

and discovered mineral deposits in the Jumbo, 

Ga1ena, and Peavine districts. 

Production of gold in the county from 1902 

through 1959 was 46,107 ounces. 

Although small amounts of gold have been produced from most of the districts in the county, 

only the Olinghouse may be considered primarily a 

gold district; it alone has produced more than 10,000 

ounces. 

OLINGHOUSE DISTRICT 

The Olinghouse (White Horse) district is in 

southeast Washoe County (lat 39°40' N., long 

119°25' E.), about 12 miles south of Pyramid Lake. 

The district was prospected first in 1860, but very 

little work was done until 1901-3, the period of 

greatest activity (Hill, 1910a, p. 103). In the mid1930's there was a brief revival of activity; during 

the 1940's and 1950's there was only small-scale 

production by lessees (Overton, 1947, p. 71-72). 

Production from 1902 through 1921 was $509,530 

(about 24,700 ounces) in gold (Lincoln, 1923, p. 

240). Total gold production through 1959 was about 

36,000 ounces. 

The dominant country rock is an older andesite of 

Tertiary age (Hill, 1910a, p. 104-105) intruded by 

dikes and sills of porphyritic rhyolite and later andesite. The ore deposits are in the older andesite and 

consist of zones of altered country rock adjacent to 

the intrusives. The ore minerals are free gold and 

small amounts of silver chloride. Minor amounts of 

chalcopyrite, pyrite, calcite, and quartz are present 

(Overton, 1947, p. 71). 

Vanderburg (1936a, p. 164-166) reported some 

small-scale placer mining in this district throughout 

its history, but he gave no production data. 

WHITE PINE COUNTY 

Prospectors attracted by the silver strikes at 

Reese River used the town of Austin as a supply 

point and headquarters from which they explored 

most of eastern Nevada. Rich silver ore soon was 

discovered at Battle Mountain, Egan Canyon, White 

Pine, and Pioche. Indeed, it was probably the rich 

silver strike at White Pine that influenced the formation of White Pine County from part of Lander 

County in 1869. 

The mines of the county have been noted chiefly 

for their high-grade silver, copper, and lead ores, 

but considerable quantities of gold have been produced from the Cherry Creek, Ely, and Osceola 

districts. Gold production of the county from 1903 

through 1959 was 2,049,895 ounces. 

CHERRY CREF.K DISTRICT 

The Cherry Creek (Egan Canyon, Gold Canyon) 

district is in the Egan Range, 50 miles north of Ely. 

Gold was discovered here in 1861 by a group of 

soldiers, and the district was organized in 1863 

(Lincoln, 1923, p. 243). Ores rich in silver, gold, and 

lead were mined on a fairly large scale from 1872 

to 1883. The principal mines during this early period 

were the Teacup, Star, Exchequer, and Cherry 

Creek. In the late 1880's a decline began, culminating in a virtual shutdown in 1893. By 1895, however, 

the district had revived and the mines continued to 

produce on a small scale (Schrader, 1931, p. 29). 

Estimates of the early production range from $6 to 

$20 million in combined metals, but the amount of 

gold has not been determined. From 1902 through 

1959 the district produced 36,197 ounces of gold. 

From 1952 through 1959 it produced considerable 

tungsten from scheelite deposits. 

The rocks exposed in the Cherry Creek district 

are chiefly quartzite, shale, and limestone of Cambrian age intruded by small masses of quartz monzonite and diabase (Hill, 1916, p. 160-163). The ore 

deposits are veins in the quartzite. Ore minerals are 

galena, sphalerite, pyrite, stromeyerite, copper carbonates, scheelite, and gold (R. M. Smith, written 

commun., 1962). 

ELY DISTRICT 

The Ely (Robinson) district is slightly south of 

the center of White Pine County, 50 miles west of 

the Utah-Nevada boundary. 

As a result of silver-lead-gold ore discoveries in 

the area, the district was organized in 1868 and was 

named the Robinson district after a member of the 

original party that entered the area. The first settlement in the district was Mineral City which by 

1873 had a population of 600 (Spencer, 1917, p. 93). 

The early years were characterized by desultory 

activity, and interest shifted to the Ward, Osceola, 

and Taylor districts. In 1886 the county seat was 

moved from Hamilton to Ely, an event that seemed 

to coincide with revived activity in the district. At 

this time silver and gold were the chief metals 

mined. During 1906-7 there was much activity: ore 

bodies were developed, mills were constructed, and 

new companies were formed. Copper was first pro-
200 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

duced from porphyry ores in 1908, an event that 

marked the beginning of sustained significant production from the district. 

Before 1902 accurate records of production were 

not kept. Spencer (1917, p. 98) estimated the production before that date at $500,000 to $600,000 in 

combined metals. From 1902 through 1959, a total 

of 1,959,659 ounces of gold was extracted from the 

copper ores of the district. 

Spencer's (1917, p. 23-130) classic report on the 

Ely district is the principal reference for the following outline of the geology and ore deposits. Most of 

the area is underlain by limestone, quartzite, and 

shale aggregating 9,000 feet in thickness and ranging in age from Ordovician to Pennsylvanian. These 

have been extensively faulted and somewhat folded 

and then invaded by bodies of monzonite porphyry 

of probable immediate post-Jurassic age. A long 

period of erosion followed; then in late Tertiary 

time the area was covered with tuff, agglomerate, 

and rhyolite flows. Recent erosion has stripped 

away most of this volcanic cover. Both the invaded 

sediments and monzonite porphyry were extensively 

altered, causing development of garnet, jasperoid, 

and marble in the limestone, pyritization of the 

shale, and development of sericite and deposition of 

chalcocite in the porphyry. 

Ore deposits occur in an east-trending zone, 9 

miles long and 1f2 to 1% miles wide. The most important ore bodies are blanketlike masses of 

supergene-enriched pyritized monzonite porphyry, 

the chief ore mineral being chalcocite. Small 

amounts of gold, silver, and other metals are recovered. Small bodies of copper ore are also found 

in the sedimentary rocks near the monzonite contact, and bodies of silver-lead ore occur farther 

from the monzonite. 

OSCEOLA DISTRICT 

The Osceola district is on the west slope of the 

Snake Range, 35 miles east of Ely. Work began in 

1877 on the gold placers of Dry Gulch and continued 

to 1900 (Weeks, 1908, p. 122-123); there was also 

small-scale production from lodes during the early 

days. To 1907, the placers had produced gold worth 

about $1,800,000, and the lodes, about $200,000 

(Weeks, 1908, p. 123). After 1900, the district has 

had a lethargic development with only brief productive intervals. Total gold production through 

1959 was 131,700 ounces-91,555 ounces was from 

placers, and 40,145 ounces was from lodes. 

The following is summarized from Weeks ( 1908, 

p. 119-127). The oldest rocks, exposed near the 

crest of the Snake Range a short distance south of 

• 

the district, are granite and schist of Precambrian 

age. These are overlain by a thick section of Cambrian formations consisting of conglomerate, argillite, quartzite, shale, and dark-blue and gray 

limestone. Locally, granite porphyry of postCarboniferous age has invaded the sedimentary 

rocks. Ore deposits are of two types: ( 1) sheeted 

zones, and (2) shattered masses in quartzite adjacent to deposits of the first type. All deposits dip 

steeply and are confined to well-defined zones in 

the quartzite. Gold is the only economic constituent; 

quartz is abundant and pyrite is sparsely disseminated in the veins. 

NEW MEXICO 

The gold-producing districts of New Mexico are 

distributed in a northeastward-trending mineral belt 

of variable width that extends diagonally across the 

State, from Hidalgo County in the southwest corner 

to Colfax County along the north-central border. 

From 1848 through 1965 New Mexico is credited 

with a gold production of about 2,267,000 ounces; 

however, several million dollars worth of placer 

gold was mined prior to 1848. 

Mining in New Mexico began long before discoveries were made in any of the other Western 

States (Lindgren and others, 1910, p. 17-19; Jones, 

1904, p. 8-20). The copper disposits at Santa Rita 

were known and mined late in the 18th century, 

and placer gold mining began as early as 1828 in the 

Ortiz Mountains south of Santa Fe. In 1839 placer 

deposits were discovered farther south along the 

foot of the San Pedro Mountains. The earliest lode 

mining, except the work at Santa Rita, dates back 

to 1833 when a gold-quartz vein was worked in the 

Ortiz Mountains. 

New Mexico was incorporated as a Territory of 

the United States at the close of the Mexican War in 

1846, but, because of its isolation, the general lack 

of knowledge of the region, and the hostility of the 

Apache Indians, it was not until about 1860 that 

prospectors and miners were'attracted to the region. 

All mining in the Territory was suspended during 

the Confederate invasion in 1861-62, and later 

mining was frequently interrupted by Indian raids 

(Lindgren and others, 1910, p. 18). 

New ore discoveries in the middle and late 1860's 

and in the 1870's stimulated mining in the Territory. In 1865 placers and, soon afterward, quartz 

lodes were found in the White Mountains in Lincoln 

County; in 1866 placer deposits were discovered at 

Elizabethtown in Colfax County, and silver-lead 

deposits were discovered in the Magdalena Range in 
NEW MEXICO 201 

Socorro County. In 1877 placers and gold-quartz 

veins were found at Hillsboro, and in 1878 phenomenally rich silver ore was found at Lake Valley in 

Sierra County. Extension of the Southern Pacific 

and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroads 

through the southern and central parts of New 

Mexico frcm 1879 through 1882 was a great stimulus to mining. Rich silver ores were discovered in 

the 1870's and 1880's, and silver mining flourished 

until the shallow rich ores were depleted. The drop 

in the price of silver in 1893 further discouraged 

silver mining. 

At the beginning of the 20th century base-metal 

mining in New Mexico was resumed, but gold and 

silver mining was not. In 1912 large-scale copper 

mining began in the Central district in Grant 

County and since then most of the State's gold output has come as a byproduct from copper and other 

base-metal ores (fig. 18). 

The mineral belt of New Mexico is in moun80 --- --r---- -,-----,------,-------,------,---------,--------,----, 

70 

60 

50 

en 

UJ 

(.) 

z 

:::J 

0 

~40 en 

a 

z 

<( 

en 

:::J 

0 

I 

f--

30 

Production of 

Mogollon district 

Production of Central , Lordsburg, 

and Willow Creek districts 

= 

~----L----~----~-------L-------L-----~----- -------L--~ 1881 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1965 

YEAR 

FIGURE 18.-Annual gold production of New Mexico, 1881-1965. Sources of data: U.S. Geological Survey (1883-1924) ; 

U.S. Bureau of Mines (1925-34; 1933-66). Production reported in dollar value was converted to ounces at prevailing 

price per ounce. 
202 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

tainous terrain that lies between the Colorado 

Plateau on the northwest and the Great Plains on 

the east. It is a zone of crustal disturbance in which 

the rocks were folded and faulted and intruded by 

stocks, dikes, and laccoliths of monzonitic rocks. 

Deposits of copper, lead, zinc, gold, and silver occur 

locally throughout this belt. Some deposits of copper 

and gold are Precambrian in age (Lindgren and 

others, 1910, p. 47-51), but most of the ore deposits 

are associated with Upper Cretaceous or Tertiary 

intrusive rocks. The gold placers were probably 

derived from the weathering of these deposits. In 

later Tertiary time lavas spread out over wide areas 

of the State, and fissures within these rocks were 

later mineralized (Lindgren and others, 1910, p. 67-

74). These fissure veins are rich in gold and silver, 

but in most places they are relatively poor in base 

metals. 

In New Mexico, 17 districts in 13 counties yielded 

more than 10,000 ounces of gold each through 1957 

(fig.19). 

BERNALILLO COUNTY 

Bernalillo County is along the Rio Grande in 

north-central New Mexico. Mining has been of slight 

economic importance in the county, and gold production has come only from the Tijeras Canyon district, between the Sandia and Manzano Ranges. 

TIJE.RAS CANYON DISTRICT 

Information on the discovery and production of 

gold in the Tijeras Canyon district is meager. Total 

gold production was about 34,488 ounces (Martin, 

1953, p. 645), most of which was mined from 1882 

through 1903. In 1959 the Tijeras Canyon district 

was included in the Sandia military base and was 

made inaccessible to prospectors or miners. 

The ore occurs in a north-trending system of 

fissures and faults in Precambrian granite and 

metamorphic rocks and along the contact of the 

Precambrian rocks with the overlying limestone of 

Pennsylvanian age. The ore chiefly contains lead 

and silver and smaller amounts of copper and gold. 

Fluorspar is a common gangue. Apparently most of 

the ore was mined from the oxidized zone (Ellis, 

1922, p. 40-42). 

CATRON COUNTY 

Catron County, which was separated from Socorro 

County in 1921, lies along the western border of the 

State, and ranks second, next to Grant County, in 

the production of gold in the State. Through 1959 

it had yielded about 362,225 ounces of gold, of which 

362,132 ounces was produced through 1950 (Martin, 

1953, p. 645). During 1904-42 about 40 percent of 

all the silver and 25 percent of all the gold produced 

in New Mexico came from this county. Except for 

small shipments of tin concentrates during 1940-43, 

the entire metal output of the county came from 

lodes in the Mogollon (Cooney) district in the 

southwest corner of the county, about 85 miles 

northwest of Silver City, the nearest railhead (Anderson, 1957, p.31-32). 

MOGOLLON DISTRICT 

A sergeant named James C. Cooney, who was stationed at Fort Bayard, staked the first claims in the 

Mogollon (Cooney) district in 1875, but hostile 

Apache Indians prevented the shipment of ore until 

1879. Intermittent Indian raids continued to harass 

the miners until the defeat of Geronimo in 1885. 

The mines were then developed rapidly; by 1905 

the district had produced $5 million worth of copper, silver, and gold (Ferguson, 1927, p. 34). By 

1924 many of the original mines, including the 

Cooney, were closed because of depletion of the 

surface ores. Exploitation of the lower grade sulfide 

ores at depth demanded large-scale mining methods, 

and as a result, most properties were consolidated 

under the Mogollon Mines Co. The district was 

moderately active through 1946, but it was virtually 

idle from 1947 through 1959. The entire gold production of Catron County through 1959 came from 

the Mogollon district. 

The Mogollon Range, in which the ore deposits 

are found, is composed of a section more than 8,000 

feet thick of Tertiary lavas and pyroclastic rocks 

interbedded with subordinate amounts of sandstone 

and conglomerate. The ubiquitous Gila Conglomerate of Pliocene or Pleistocene age unconformably 

overlies the older Tertiary rocks. The rocks are cut 

by a network of normal faults of several ages (Ferguson, 1927, p. '5-25). 

The ore deposits are in silver- and gold-bearing 

quartz veins along faults. The composition of the 

wallrock apparently exerted little influence on the 

content of the veins; however, the fracturing characteristics of the wallrock controlled the size and 

altitude of the ore bodies (Ferguson, 1927, p. 44-

45). Calcite, quartz, and fluorite are the principal 

gangue minerals; adularia is present, but it is rare. 

The primary metallic minerals in the veins are 

pyrite, chalcopyrite, bornite, chalcocite, sphalerite, 

galena, stromeyerite, and probably tetrahedrite. 

Silver in the form of argentite is the valuable component in most veins. The upper parts of the veins 

are oxidized to irregular depths and contain limonite, malachite, azurite, chrysocolla, cerargyrite, and 
Bernalillo County: 

1, Tijeras Canyon. 

Catron County: 

2, Mogollon. 

Colfax County : 

3, Elizabethtown-Baldy. 

Dona Ana County: 

4, Organ. 

Grant County: 

NEW MEXICO 203 

FIGURE 19.-Gold-mining districts of New Mexico. 

5, Central; 6, Pinos Altos; 7, Steeple Rock. 

Hidalgo County: 

8, Lordsburg. 

Lincoln County: 

9, White Oaks; 10, Nogal. 

Otero County: 

11, Jarilla. 

Sandoval County: 

12, Cochiti. 

San Miguel County: 

13, Willow Creek. 

Santa Fe County: 

14, Old Placer; 15, New Placer. 

Sierra County: 

16, Hillsboro. 

Socorro County: 

17, Rosedale. 
204 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

sparse native silver and native gold (Ferguson, 

1927, p. 38-50). 

COLFAX COUNTY 

Colfax County, which lies just south of the New 

Mexico-Colorado border, has been an important 

source of lode and placer gold. Small quantities of 

silver, copper, and lead have also been mined. The 

metal mining districts in Colfax County are centered in the Cimarron Range which is along the 

western edge of the county. Martin (1953, p. 645) 

reported a total gold production for Colfax County 

through 1952 of 282,717 ounces. This may be too 

low; the amount credited to the two principal districts in this report totals about 358,000 ounces 

through 1959. 

The most productive placer deposits are in the 

Moreno Creek valley near Elizabethtown on the 

west side of the Cimarron Range, and the most productive lode deposits are in the Baldy (Ute Creek) 

area on the east side of the range, east of the 

Elizabethtown district. 

ELIZABETHTOWN -BALDY DISTRICT 

Copper float, found by an Indian on the upper 

slope of Baldy Peak, was exhibited at Fort Union 

early in the 1860's (Graton, in Lindgren and others, 

1910, p. 92-93). This was the first mineral discovery in the Elizabethtown-Baldy district, and 

some of the men stationed at the fort located claims 

where the float had been found. In the fall of 1866, 

men sent by the owners to do assessment work did 

some panning along Willow Creek and discovered 

rich placer deposits; a boom followed in the spring 

of 1867. Although some locations were made on 

lodes, including the famous Aztec lode, most were 

on placers. To provide sufficient water for placering, 

a ditch about 41 miles long was dug from the headwaters of the Red River and was completed in 1868. 

The placer deposits along Grouse and Humbug 

Gulches, tributaries of Moreno Creek, each yielded 

more than $1 million in placer gold and silver. Another $2 million worth of placer gold and silver was 

recovered from the valleys of Moreno and Willow 

Creeks (Anderson, 1957, p. 38-39), and some gold 

also came from the gravels along Ute Creek. Graton 

(in Lindgren and others, 1910, p. 93) estimated the 

placer production of the Elizabethtown-Baldy district prior to 1904 at $2.5 million, and C. W. Henderson (in U. S. Bureau of Mines, 1929, pt. 1, p. 

7 40) estimated the production through 1929 at 

about $3 million (145,138 ounces). The total placer 

production through 1959 was about 146,980 ounces. 

Most of the lode gold of Colfax County has come 

from the Baldy area. Graton (in Lindgren and 

others, 1910, p. 93, 97) estimated production at 

about $2 million (96,760 ounces) through 1903. The 

Aztec mine, discovered in 1868 and one of the oldest 

and richest gold mines in the State, accounted for 

more than half of the early output. The lode mines 

were virtually idle from 1941 through 1959. 

Through 1959, total lode production was about 

221,400 ounces, and total lode and placer production 

was 368,380 ounces. 

The Cimarron Range consists of eastward-tilted 

and faulted sedimentary rocks-the Pierre Shale of 

Cretaceous age and the Raton Formation of early 

Tertiary age. These two formations are separated 

by an unconformity and both are intruded by dikes 

and sills of quartz monzonite porphyry (Lee, 1916, 

p. 327-329) . 

The principal ore bodies are in pockets and 

stringers in the basal conglomeratic sandstone of 

the Raton Formation along the unconformity. Much 

ore is in the underlying Pierre Shale, as much as 

5 feet below its contact with the Raton Formation. 

Minute fissures filled with ore minerals interlace the 

shale and extend upward into the conglomerate. The 

gangue is mainly calcite, and ore minerals are 

pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and possibly galena. 

Native gold is present as wire gold and irregularly 

shaped masses (Lee, 1916, p. 329-330). Most of the 

deposits are associated with the porphyry intrusive 

bodies. Chase and Muir (1923, p. 272) noted that 

some ore bodies are in contact metamorphic deposits 

in calcareous rocks adjacent to quartz monzonite 

porphyry. These are few in number and have been 

less productive than the veins. 

DONA ANA COUNTY 

Dona Ana County is in the center of the southernmost tier of counties in New Mexico. The total 

gold production of the county through 1959 was 

about 13,500 ounces; almost all production has 

come from the Organ district, which includes the 

north end of the Organ Mountains and the extreme 

south end of the San Andres Mountains. 

ORGAN DISTRICT 

Ore was discovered in the Organ district in 1849 

(Dunham, 1935, p. 185-191), and, from the time of 

discovery to 1952, the district produced copper, 

lead, silver, zinc, and gold valued at about $2¥2 

million (Anderson, 1957, p. 40). Of this total, gold 

amounts to about $242,227 or 11,435 ounces. Most 
NEW MEXICO 205 

of the gold output was before 1906; the district was 

inactive from 1951 through 1959. 

The Organ Mountains consist chiefly of quartz 

monzonite intruded into Paleozoic sedimentary 

rocks. At the north end of the district the bedrock 

consists of westward-tilted Paleozoic formations 

overlying Precambrian granite and metamorphic 

rocks (Lindgren and others, 1910, p. 205-213; 

Dunham, 1935, p. 26-89). 

The ore deposits in the Organ district occur in or 

near the quartz monzonite batholith. The principal 

ore deposits contain mixed sulfides of copper, lead, 

silver, and zinc with smaller amounts of gold. 

Locally the values are principally in gold. The lode 

ore deposits comprise (1) veins, both in the Precambrian rocks and in the intrusive quartz monzonite, (2) deposits along the Torpedo-Bennett fault, 

a major fault zone, which extends along the west 

side of the Organ Mountains, and (3) replacement 

deposits in the sedimentary rocks (Dunham, 1935, 

p. 111-136). 

Most of the gold has been recovered from veins. 

Veins in the Precambrian rocks are valuable chiefly 

for gold, and gold has also been recovered from ores 

·along the Torpedo-Bennett fault. A few veins that 

cut the quartz monzonite are valuable for gold, but 

most of them are mined for silver. 

The ore deposits vary considerably in mineral 

composition. The veins in the Precambrian rocks 

consist mainly of pyrite and chalcopyrite in quartz; 

sphalerite and galena are less common. The fact 

that the gold content is related to the copper content suggests that the gold is most commonly associated with chalcopyrite; some gold was found as 

inclusions in pyrite. 

Other common ore minerals in other deposits in 

the district include tetrahedrite, argentite, enargite, 

and tetradymite (bismuth telluride). The most 

common gangue minerals in addition to quartz are 

green fluorite, siderite, and local barite. 

In parts of the district there is a crude zonal 

arrangement of ore with respect to the quartz 

monzonite (Dunham, 1935, p. 136-140). The ore 

bodies nearest the quartz monzonite contain copper 

and are succeeded outward by zinc deposits, which 

in turn grade into lead deposits. Gold is found 

chiefly in the copper and zinc zones. 

GRANT COUNTY 

Grant County, in southwestern New Mexico, contains several highly productive mining districts 

and ranks first in the State in the production of 

mineral wealth. The ore deposits are diverse and 

have yielded copper, lead, zinc, silver, gold, iron, 

manganese, and molybdenum. 

Total gold production of the county through 1959 

was about 501,000 ounces. Before 1900 placers and 

oxidized ores were the chief sources of the gold, 

but from 1912 through 1959 much gold has been 

a byproduct of base-metal mining. The major districts are the Central, Pinos Altos, and Steeple 

Rock. 

CENTRAL DISTRICT 

The Central district, which includes Santa Rita, 

Hanover, Fierro, and Bayard, is in eastern Grant 

County and has produced copper, zinc, iron, lead, 

and small amounts of gold and silver. From 1904 

through 1959 the entire district produced about 

140,000 ounces of gold, mostly as a byproduct from 

base-metal ores. Gold production before 1904 is not 

known but presumedly was negligible. 

Copper ores at Santa Rita were probably known 

to the Indians at an early date and to the Mexicans 

before the American occupation. Small amounts of 

copper were produced in this distri<;t intermittently 

for a century beginning in 1804, and large-scale 

copper mining began in 1911 (Spencer and Paige, 

1935, p. 5-9; Lasky, 1936, p. 102-105; Graton, in 

Lindgren and others, 1910, p. 306). 

In 1906 a detailed study was undertaken to determine the feasibility of open-pit mining of the copper deposits of the Santa Rita basin in the Central 

district. In September 1910 stripping began and 

by 1912 copper was being produced in large quantities (Spencer and Paige, 1935, p. 8-9). Silverbearing lead carbonate ores were mined in the 

Bayard area as early as 1870, and lead-zinc deposits 

in the Hanover area were developed on a large 

scale by 1912. The district continued to be a significant producer of copper, lead, and zinc through 

1959. Gold and silver were byproducts. 

The following summary of the geology and ore 

deposits is from Spencer and Paige (1935) and 

Lasky (1936). 

The Central district is underlain by a relatively 

complete section of Paleozoic ,sedimentary rocks, in 

which every system of the Paleozoic Era is represented. These rocks are unconformably overlain by 

Cretaceous sedimentary rocks. Folding and faulting related to igneous activity took place in Cretaceous and Tertiary time. The igneous rocks include 

sills, stocks, and dikes of quartz diorite and granodiorite and also include younger quartz latite tuffs 

and andesitic basalt flows. Locally, the sedimentary 

and intrusive rocks are intensely altered. Additional 

faulting occurred after the latest igneous activity. 
206 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

Ore deposits are of three principal types: contact 

metamorphic deposits, veins, and disseminated copper deposits in granodiorite porphyry. The contact 

metamorphic deposits are in certain limestone beds 

adjacent to the Hanover-Fierro stock. Some deposits are commercially valuable magnetite bodies 

with subordinate amounts of pyrite, chalcopyrite, 

and chalmersite. Others are masses of sphalerite, 

galena, hedenbergite, ilvaite, and manganese-bearing calcite, which are valuable for their zinc content. The veins are mineralized fractures related to 

the quartz diorite and granodiorite intrusions. 

Sphalerite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, and galena are the 

chief sulfide constituents of these deposits. Quartz 

and sericite are common gangue minerals. The disseminated copper deposit at Santa Rita is in the 

upper highly fractured part of a granodiorite stock 

and in the invaded sedimentary rocks near the contact. Primary pyrite and chalcopyrite were converted to rich deposits of chalcocite by supergene 

enrichment processes. The chalcocite is overlain by 

a blanket of malachite, azurite, chrysocolla, cuprite, 

and native copper (Spencer and Paige, 1935, p. 64-

75) . The gold content of all the primary ore is very 

low; however, the enriched and oxidized parts of 

the veins and disseminated copper deposits yield 

considerable amounts of gold as a byproduct. 

PINOS ALTOS DISTRICT 

The Pinos Altos district is about 8 miles northeast of Silver City in the Pinos Altos Mountains. 

Both placer and lode gold were discovered in 1860, 

and within 2 years about 30 lode mines were being 

worked. The Civil War and the postwar depredations of Apache Indians brought about almost complete abandonment of the camp for several years 

(Lindgren and others, 1910, p. 297). In 1867, operations were resumed and they continued with brief 

interruptions until the late 1950's. Gold was the 

principal product in the early years. Silver, copper, 

and lead later gained significance, and after 1912, 

zinc was of major importance. 

Gold production in ounces is summarized in the 

following table: 

Lode 

1860-1904 1 ----------------------- 69,445 

1905-29 1 ------------------------- 25,380 

1930-59 -------------------------- 10,150 

Total ------------------------- 104,975 

Placer 

36,690 

3,949 

2,008 

42,647 

1 Wells and Wootton (1940, p. 11) and Lasky and Wootton (1933, p. 

59-60). 

The most productive placer deposits were found 

along Bear Creek Gulch, Rich Gulch, Whiskey 

Gulch, and unnamed gulches near the old Gillette 

shaft. The principal lode mines are on the east side 

of the Pinos Altos Mountains; a few are on the 

upper western slope. 

The Pinos Altos Mountains consist of eastwardtilted and faulted limestone of Pennsylvanian age, 

Cretaceous quartzite, shale, and andesite breccia. 

These rocks are intruded by hundreds of mafic 

dikes, and by masses of diorite and granodiorite 

of Late Cretaceous or early Tertiary age. North of 

the Pinos Altos district the sedimentary and intrusive rocks are covered by younger Tertiary tuff 

(Paige, 1911, p. 109-125). 

The lode deposits are of two types: veins in 

igneous rocks and-replacement deposits in the limestone. 

The veins range in length from a few hundred 

feet to nearly a mile and have an average width 

of 2% feet. The ore minerals are pyrite, sphalerite, 

galena, and chalcopyrite. Quartz is the principal 

gangue, but calcite, barite, and rhodochrosite are 

locally present. Gold and silver are present in all 

the veins. 

The replacement deposits occur at two distinct 

horizons in the limestone, 4 to 15 feet apart. The 

ore consists of intimately intergrown sphalerite, 

chalcopyrite, pyrite, quartz, and carbonate minerals. 

Zinc, copper, silver, and small amounts of gold are 

recovered from these ores (Paige, 1911, p. 113-

125). 

STEEPLE ROCK DISTRICT 

The Steeple Rock district is in western Grant 

County, about 4 miles from the New Mexico-Arizona 

boundary. Shortly after the initial discoveries in 

1880, the Carlisle mine was developed and by 1897 

its production was valued at about $3 million in 

gold and silver (Graton, in Lindgren and others, 

1910, p. 327). Production figures from 1897 through 

1931 are not available, and although ore was 

shipped, the total production is believed to have 

been small (Anderson, 1957, p. 76). A fairly prosperous interval began in 1932 and lasted through 

1955. During this period 34,050 ounces of gold, in 

addition to considerable silver, copper, lead, and 

zinc, was produced. The district was idle from 1956 

through 1959. 

The rocks in the district are lavas of Tertiary 

age and range in composition from soda rhyolite 

to diorite. Quartz, accompanied by small amounts 

of calcite, is the predominant gangue mineral. Pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and galena are the 

ore minerals, 
NEW MEXICO 207 

HIDALGO COUNTY 

Hidalgo County, in the southwest corner of the 

State, was part of Grant County until 1920. Its 

chief mineral products are copper, gold, silver, and 

lead; through 1952 it is credited with a gold production of about 227,000 ounces. More than ninetenths of this production has come from the Lordsburg district, which has yielded gold as a byproduct 

of base-metal ores. 

LORDSBURG DISTRICT 

The Lordsburg district is 3 to 8 miles southsouthwest of the town of Lordsburg at the north 

end of the Pyramid Mountains. It includes the 

Pyramid camp on the south end of the district and 

the Virginia (Shakespeare) camp on the north end. 

Copper has been the most important metal mined, 

and gold and silver have been valuable byproducts. 

Recorded gold production of the Lordsburg district from 1904 through 1959 was about 223,750 

ounces, of which about 189,000 ounces was produced 

before 1933. Prior to 1904 the total production of 

silver, copper, lead, and gold from the district had 

a value of about $500,000 (Lasky and Wootton, 

1933, p. 72), but the amount of gold has not been 

ascertained. 

Prospecting for silver began about 1870; however, the major early interest in the area was generated after it had been salted with diamonds. The 

ensuing stampede resulted in discovery of a few 

silver deposits, but development lagged until the 

copper potential of the area was considered. After 

several years of sporadic exploration, the Emerald 

vein was developed in the early 1900's, and by 1932 

workings on this vein were the deepest in the State. 

The Emerald vein yielded nine-tenths of the ore 

mined in the district (Lasky, 1938, p. 25-27). Activity continued at a moderate rate through 1959. 

Rocks of the Lordsburg district consist mainly of 

basalt, intrusive rhyolite breccia, and rhyolite volcanic necks of early Cretaceous age and s stock of 

granodiorite of Late Cretaceous or early Tertiary 

age. Numerous dikes of quartz latite and felsite cut 

the granodiorite and older rocks (Lasky, 1938, 

p. 9-11). 

The ore deposits in the district are characterized 

by abundant tourmaline and chalcopyrite. The ore 

occurs in veins along faults that were repeatedly 

reopened during mineral deposition. Six stages of 

mineral deposition are recognized, but only the 

second stage yielded exploitable ore deposits (Lasky, 

1938, p. 31-33). The important ore minerals are 

chalcopyrite, pyrite, specularite, sphalerite, and 

galena; the most common gangue minerals are 

quartz, calcite, tourmaline, barite, and manganosiderite. The Emerald vein (Lasky, 1938, p. 28) 

has been traced on the surface for more than 6,000 

feet, mined to a vertical depth in the Eighty-five 

mine of 1,900 feet, and explored to a depth of 2,250 

feet. Lasky (1938, p. 34) pointed out that the grade 

of ore mined and the ratio between the different 

metals are remarkably uniform and that the roots 

of the main shoot in the Emerald vein are almost 

identical in grade with the average grade of the 

last 850,000 tons of ore mined. 

LINCOLN COUNTY 

Gold lodes are the most important deposits in 

Lincoln County. The total gold production of Lincoln County through 1959 was about 163,647 ounces; 

however, mining virtually ceased from 1943 through 

1959. Although production has come from a number 

of districts (Graton, in Lindgren and others, 1910, 

p. 175-184), only the White Oaks and Nogal districts have produced more than 10,000 ounces of 

gold. 

NOGAL DISTRICT 

The Nogal district, in the Sierra Blanca Range 

about 6 miles southwest of the town of Nogal, has 

produced minor amounts of placer and lode gold, 

mostly before 1908. Gold placers were found in 

Dry Gulch, northeast of Nogal Peak, in 1865, and 

lode deposits were found at the site of the American Lode mine in 1868. Mining did not begin, however, until this region was withdrawn from the 

Mescalero Indian Reservation in 1882. By 1910 ore 

worth about $250,000 had been mined, but operations declined th~reafter (Anderson, 1957, p. 92). 

The district was mostly idle from 1936 through 

1959. Total gold production was about 12,850 

ounces; most of it was from lode mines. 

Bedrock in the Nogal district is predominantly 

monzonite porphyry which has intruded Cretaceous 

sedimentary rocks that are exposed east, west, and 

north of the Sierr:;t Blanca Range. The monzonite 

porphyry is cut by dikes of diorite porphyry. Scattered patches of andesite flows and tuff,s, of probable Tertiary age, are found near Nogal Peak, but 

their relations with the other rocks are not clear 

(Graton, in Lindgren and others, 1910, p. 176-177). 

The ore deposits are in stringers of quartz and 

dolomite in the monzonite porphyry and quartzcalcite veins in andesite. The ore minerals are gold, 

pyrite, sphalerite, galena, and chalcopyrite. A mass 

of bleached, kaolinized, and brecciated porphyry, 

located about 1 mile southeast of Nogal Peak, has 
208 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

also yielded gold and a little silver (Graton, in 

Lindgren and others, 1910, p. 178). 

WHITE OAKS DISTRICT 

The White Oaks district has produced about 

seven-eighths of the gold in Lincoln County. It is 

about 12 miles northeast of Carrizozo in the White 

Oaks Mountains, which form the northern continuation of the Sierra Blanca Range. A small amount 

of placer gold was produced intermittently in the 

1850's and 1860's in Baxter Gulch (Graton, in 

Lindgren and others, 1910, p. 179). The gold-bearing vein deposits were not discovered until 1879 in 

what is now known as the Homestake mine. The 

Old Abe mine was the most productive in the district and reached a depth of 1,375 feet (Jones, 1904, 

p. 172-173) . The total production of the district 

through 1903 was $2,860,000 (Jones, 1904, p. 175) . 

From 1903 to 1926 a small amount of gold was 

produced in most years, and through 1925 the total 

production was about $3 million; most of it was 

lode gold (Lasky and Wootton, 1933, p. 78). Only 

small-scale activity was reported through the 1930's, 

and the district was practically idle from 1941 

through 1959. The total gold production of the district through 1959 was about 146,500 ounces; most 

of it was from lodes. 

The rocks in the White Oaks district (Graton, in 

Lindgren and others, 1910, p. 179-180) are Cretaceous shale and post-Cretaceous fine-grained monzonite. Both are cut by lamprophyre dikes. 

The ore deposits are in veins that cut the monzonite, lamprophyre dikes, and the· shale. Most of the 

veins are narrow stringers, but where the intervening wallrock is impregnated with ore minerals, 

the deposits are irregular shoots. Gold, auriferous 

pyrite, and huebnerite are the common ore minerals. Quartz, albite, fluorite, and tourmaline are associated vein minerals. 

OTERO COUNTY 

Otero County, in southern New Mexico along the 

Texas border, is relatively poor in mineral deposits, 

yet a few small mines in the Jarilla district produced a total of about 16,500 ounces of gold 

through 1959. 

JARILLA DISTRICT 

The Jarilla (Orogrande) district is in the Jarilla 

Mountains about 50 miles north-northeast of El 

Paso in the southwest corner of Otero County. The 

first prospecting was done in 1879, but little interest 

was generated until turquoise was discovered about 

20 years later (Jones, 1904, p. 194). Gold and copper lodes were mined on a small scale, and a little 

gold was recovered from dry placer operations. 

The most active period was 1905-18; the district 

was dormant from 1948 through 1959. 

The Jarilla Mountains are underlain by Carboniferous limestone intruded and domed by an irregular 

mass of fine-grained monzonite porphyry. Near the 

contact, the limestone is metamorphosed to a skarn 

of garnet, diopside, epidote, quartz, and tremolite. 

The ore deposits are in fracture zones and along 

bedding planes in the metamorphosed limestone. 

Specularite and gold- and silver-bearing pyrite and 

chalcopyrite are the chief primary ore minerals; 

oxidized ore contains much limonite, malachite, and 

chrysocolla (Graton, in Lindgren and others, 1910, 

p. 185-186). The placer ground that has been 

worked is on the southeastern slope of the Jarilla 

Mountains. Most of the placer gold has been recovered with some form of dry washer. Black sand 

constitutes approximately 1 percent of the gravel 

and is reported to run about $40 per ton in gold, 

which is equivalent to about 40 cents in gold Pel 

ton of gravel. The black sand also carries magnetite, ilmenite, hematite, and zircon (Wells and Wootton, 1940, p. 14). 

SANDOVAL COUNTY 

Sandoval County, in northwestern New Mexico, 

is mostly west of the Rio Grande. Small amounts 

of gold and silver were produced from veins in the 

county, and copper has been produced from sandstone deposits. The gold and silver came from the 

Cochiti district in the foothills of the Valles Mountains, about 30 miles west of Santa Fe. 

COCHITI DISTRICT 

The Cochiti district was prospected in the 1870's 

or 1880's, but boundary disputes with Mexico dampened any early enthusiasm to locate claims. By 1889 

much exploration was underway, resulting in the 

discovery of the Albemarle deposit in 1894. During 

a period of feverish activity from 1894 through 

1904 more than $1 million in gold and silver was 

mined (Lindgren and others, 1910, p. 150). In 1905 

mining ceased and was never resumed except for 

brief flurries in 1914-16 and 1932-40. The district 

was mostly idle from 1941 through 1959. The total 

gold production through 1959 was about 41,500 

ounces. 

The country rock of the Cochiti district consists 

of sandstone of probable Cretaceous age which has 

been intruded and domed by monzonite and related 

porphyries, also probably of Cretaceous age. Overlying these rocks is rhyolite 500 to 800 feet thick 
NEW MEXICO 209 

of probable Miocene age (Lindgren and others, 

1910, p. 151). The ore bodies consist of quartz lodes 

as much as 150 feet wide in shattered and brecciated zones in the monzonite. Ore minerals extend 

into the wallrock, but nowhere do the veins extend 

into the overlying rhyolite (Lindgren and others, 

1910, p. 153-162). Sphalerite, pyrite, and chalcopyrite are the most abundant sulfides, but argentite 

is probably the principal ore mineral. Galena occurs 

sparingly. Gold may be associated with the pyrite. 

None of the base-metal sulfides was sufficiently 

abundant to be of economic importance. The deepest ore known in the district pinched out at a depth 

of about 600 feet. 

SAN MIGUEL COUNTY 

San Miguel County, in northeastern New Mexico, 

adjoins Santa Fe County on the east. Deposits of 

gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc are found in the 

mountainous northwest corner of the county in the 

Willow Creek district. The total gold production of 

the county through 1959 was 178,961 ounces. 

WILLOW CREEK DISTRICT 

Almost the entire production of the Willow Creek 

(Pecos) district came from the Pecos mine, formerly 

known as the Hamilton or Cowles mine. Discovered 

in 1881, the deposit was developed slowly, and in 

the early 1900's, it was developed primarily as a 

copper mine. Intensive exploration that began in 

1916 later revealed large reserves of lead-zinc ore 

at depth. From 1926 through 1939, under the ownership of American Metal Co., the mine produced $36 

million in gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc. Aside 

from minor activity in 1943-44, the district was 

dormant from 1940 through 1959. Total gold production for the district through 1959 was roughly 

178,300 ounces. 

Precambrian diabase, granite, and schist are exposed in the deeper canyons of the district where 

they are unconformably overlain by the Magdalena 

Formation of Pennsylvanian age. The unconformity 

and overlying sedimentary rocks dip 7°-12° SW. 

(Krieger, 1932, p. 351-352). 

The ore deposits are in a mineralized shear zone 

in the Precambrian schist. Both the shear zone and 

ore are believed to be of Precambrian age, for 

neither extends into the overlying Pennsylvanian 

rocks. Pyrite and sphalerite are the most abundant 

ore minerals; chalcopyrite and galena are less abundant, and pyrrhotite, bornite, argentite, and proustite are sparse (Krieger, 1932, p. 462, 463). Harley 

(1940, p. 84) reported minor roscoelite, and Lasky 

(in Lasky and Wootton, 1933, p. 93) reported sparse 

tetrahedrite. The gangue minerals are quartz, chlorite, actinolite, sericite, and tourmaline. The gold 

is associated with quartz and chalcopyrite (Harley, 

1940, p. 84). 

SANTA FE COUNTY 

Santa Fe County is in north-central New Mexico, 

along the western edge of the Great Plains physiographic province. 

Gold has been mined from placers and lodes along 

the western boundary of the county in the Cerrillos 

Hills, Ortiz Mountains, and San Pedro Mountains. 

These ranges are circular in outline and were formed 

by doming of Carboniferous and Cretaceous sedimentary rocks by laccolithic sheets of Tertiary monzonite porphyry (Lindgren, in Lindgren and others, 

1910, p. 163-165). 

Gold placers were mined as early as the 1830's; 

therefore, the early production can only be estimated. The principal gold districts are the Old 

Placer and the New Placer; each produced an estimated $2 million in gold (Lindgren, in Lindgren 

and others, 1910, p. 75, 168). Total county gold 

production through 1959 probably was between 

150,000 and 200,000 ounces. 

NEW PLACER DISTRICT 

The New Placer (San Pedro) district is on the 

west side of the San Pedro Mountains between the 

towns of San Pedro and Golden. Most of the gold 

production came from placers that were mined before 1880, but after 1904 there was also an appreciable output of lode gold. The placer deposits were 

discovered in 1839 (Lindgren, in Lindgren and 

others, 1910, p. 174), 11 years after those of the 

Old Placer district were discovered. The placers are 

in Lazarus Gulch and in branches of Tuerto Creek 

near Golden on the west side of the mountains. 

It has been estimated that the New Placer district produced about $2 million (96,759 ounces) 

from beginning of production to 1904 (Lindgren and • 

others, 1910, p. 75). This figure represents chiefly 

placer gold but it may also include some lode gold; 

figures on lode production before 1904 are not available. From 1904 through 1957 the district produced 

2,931 ounces placer gold and about 16,000 ounces 

of lode gold. Total gold production was about 115,700 

ounces. There was no recorded production from 1957 

through 1959. 

The San Pedro Mountains consist of Carboniferous formations at least 700 feet thick intruded by a 

laccolith, sheets, and dikes of monzonite and related porphyries probably of Late Cretaceous or 
.. 

210 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

early Tertiary age (Lindgren and others, 1910, p. 

170-175). Numerous small gold-bearing veins, containing quartz, calcite, pyrite, and free gold, occur 

both in the porphyry and in the sedimentary rocks. 

In the lower part of the laccolithic roof are found 

small copper-bearing contact metamorphic deposits, 

and in limestone farther away from the igneous 

contact are found replacement deposits rich in 

galena. 

The placer gold is found in alluvial fans along the 

mountain front and in the gravels of streams that 

have reworked the alluvial fans. 

OLD PLACER DISTRICT 

The Old Placer (Ortiz, Dolores, Cerrillos) district is on the east side of the Ortiz Mountains. 

Placer deposits were found in the Old Placer district in 1828-probably the first gold discoveries in 

New Mexico. Gold-quartz veins were discovered in 

the district 5 years later. The richest placers were 

found at the mouth of Cunningham Gulch near the 

old town of Dolores where the gravels form a mesa, 

a remnant of the upper part of an alluvial fan. 

Lower grade placers were mined in Dolores Gulch, 

west of Cunningham Gulch, and on the south side 

of the Ortiz Mountains. Unrecorded but probably 

small amounts of gold were mined from lodes which 

were known as early as 1833 (Lindgren and others, 

1910, p. 168-169). Total gold output of the district 

is about 99,300 ounces, most of which was mined 

from placers before 1900. 

The Ortiz Mountains and Cerrillos Hills were 

formed from laccolithic masses of monzonitic rock 

intruded into sedimentary rocks, chiefly shale, of 

Cretaceous age (Lindgren, in Lindgren and others, 

1910, p. 164-170). The monzonite is laced with numerous small veins, some of which cut across the 

contact into the surrounding shales. Rich shoots 

containing free gold were found in the oxidized 

zone, and below it the gold is probably contained 

in the sulfides, which include pyrite, chalcopyrite, 

sphalerite, silver-bearing galena, some arsenopyrite, 

and locally molybdenite. The veins also contain specularite and magnetite. Gangue minerals are quartz 

and calcite. The contact-metamorphic ores are found 

in garnetized limestone which contains grains of 

gold-bearing chalcopyrite. 

SIERRA COUNTY 

Located in the southwestern part of the State, 

Sierra County contains many mining districts, 

which in earlier years made the county one of the 

foremost mining centers in New Mexico. Gold has 

been produced from numerous districts, but only the 

Hillsboro district has yielded more than 10,000 

ounces. Total gold production of the county through 

1959 was about 183,900 ounces. 

HILLSBORO DISTRICT 

The Hillsboro (Las Animas) district is about 25 

miles southwest of Truth Or Consequences. Both 

lodes and placers were discovered in 1877 and were 

worked intensively from 1884 through 1905 (Harley, 1934, p. 139-140). Mining was resumed from 

1931 through 1942, but was spasmodic from the end 

of World War II through 1959. Harley (1934, p. 

140-141) estimated gold production from 1877 

through 1931 at $2,200,000 (106,400 ounces) from 

placers and $4,700,000 worth of combined metals 

from lode mines. Total gold production through 

1959 was probably about 149,000 ounces, roughly 

two-thirds of which was from placers. 

The gold placer deposits of the district cover an 

area of about 18 square miles of dissected alluvial 

fans east of the Animas Hills, about 6 miles northeast of the town of Hillsboro (Harley, 1934, p. 125, 

137-138, 166-169). The most productive deposits 

were the Luxemburg placers at the apex of the fan 

now drained by Grayback, Hunkidori, and Greenhorn Gulches. 

The most productive lode mines are in the southwest part of a mineralized area in the Animas Hills, 

north of the Rio Percha. Bedrock is predominantly 

extrusive andesite and latite, intruded by two small 

monzonite masses and related dikes. Drill holes 

about 1,150 feet deep have penetrated lower Paleozoic limestone beneath the volcanic rocks (Harley, 

1934, p. 131). Most of the lode gold has come from 

quartz veins, 2 to 8 feet wide, that are along dikes 

of latite in the andesite (Harley, 1934, p. 133-139). 

The ore minerals are chalcopyrite, bornite, and pyrite, accompanied by gold and silver. Molybdenite is 

an accessory ore mineral and tetradymite is found 

locally. 

SOCORRO COUNTY 

Socorro County, in the west-central part of the 

State along the Rio Grande, contains a variety of 

mineral deposits valued mainly for copper, lead, 

zinc, and, to a lesser extent, gold and silver. In 1921 

Catron County was formed from part of Socorro 

County, and much of the early gold output attributed to Socorro County came from the Mogollon 

district now in Catron County. Total gold production through 1959, excluding the Mogollon district, 

was about 32,000 ounces, mostly from the Rosedale 

district. Though the Magdalena district is the most 
NEW MEXICO 211 

important camp in the county, its ores are rich in 

lead and zinc and have yielded less than 4,000 

ounces of gold. 

ROSEDALE DISTRICT 

The Rosedale district is in the northern San 

Mateo Mountains in the southwest corner of Socorro County, about 25 miles southwest of Magdalena. 

Gold was discovered in the district about 1882. 

Development work was delayed by frequent Indian 

attacks, but operations began in the 1890's and production was maintained until 1916 (Wells and 

Wootton, 1940, p. 19). The Rosedale mine, the most 

productive in the district, was active from 1934 

through 1937. No detailed early production figures 

have been found, but Wells and Wootton (1940, p. 

19) reported that the district produced about 

$500,000 (24,190 ounces) in gold through 1916. 

There was no placer production. No production was 

recorded from 1941 through 1959. The total gold 

production of the district through 1959 _was about 

27,750 ounces. 

The San Mateo Mountains consist of rhyolite, 

tuffs and breccias (Gordon, in Lindgren and others, 

1910, p. 259-260). The veins are in well-defined 

mineralized shear zones in rhyolite and rhyolite 

porphyry. Most of the ore is oxidized and consists 

of free-milling gold in a gangue of bluish-white 

quartz and small amounts of iron and manganese 

oxides. Sulfides appear below water level at a depth 

of about 725 feet. The higher grade ore is said to be 

associated with manganese oxide (Lasky, 1932, p. 

95). 

NORTH CAROLINA 

North Carolina, which has produced more gold 

than any of the other Southeastern States, has 

many gold mines arranged in zones within two 

physiographic provinces-the Piedmont and the 

Blue Ridge. Most of the deposits and the most productive mines are in the Piedmont province in 

Mecklenburg, Rowan, Cabarrus, and Davidson Counties (fig. 20). Deposits in the Blue Ridge province 

are in Burke and Transylvania Counties. 

Much of the bedrock in the gold-producing areas 

is granite, mica schist, and gneiss and hornblende 

gneiss of Precambrian, Precambrian (?) and Paleozoic ( ?) age. All these rocks were intruded by granite, diorite, and monzonite of Paleozoic age (Stuckey 

and Conrad, 1958, p. 12-26). Also syenite, pyroxenite, and dunite of Paleozoic age form small intrusive 

masses in both physiographic provinces. 

The first information on gold production in North 

Carolina was the mint returns for the State in 1793, 

but no information is available as to source (:Bryson, 1936, p. 7). The first record of discovery of gold 

in North Carolina was in 1799, when a 17-pound 

nugget was found on the Reed plantation in Cabarrus County. This discovery and others on the Reed 

property stimulated interest in gold mining in the 

Southeastern States, and by 1825 mining was in 

full swing. During the period 1829-55, the most 

productive in the State's history, 393,119 ounces of 

gold was produced (Broadhurst, 1955, p. 18). 

An interesting sidelight, pointing out the importance of North Carolina as a gold producer, was the 

private coinage of gold by Christian Bechtler and 

his son, jewelers, who coined gold in $1.00, $2.50, 

and $5.00 denominations with the consent of the 

Federal Government (Bryson, 1936, p. 10-11) from 

1831 to 1857. No record of gold coined was maintained for these 26 years; therefore, total gold production for the pre-Civil War years is very difficult 

to estimate. 

The first production in North Carolina was from 

placers and saprolite; by 1850 several important 

lode mines were opened, namely t:he Reed, Gold 

Hill, Kings Mountain, Rudisil, Conrad Hill, and 

Phoenix. These mines were closed during the Civil 

War, but most of them were reactivated after the 

war. The periods that stand out as especially productive in the post-Civil War history of North Carolina are 1882-91, 1902-6, and 1912-15 (Bryson, 

1936, p. 12). From 1954 through 1960 a few thousand ounces of gold was produced from the Ore 

Knob mine in Ashe County and the Hammee mine 

in Vance County as. a byproduct in the mining of 

copper and tungsten. 

Total gold production of North Carolina from 

1799 through 1960 is estimated at 1,168,000 ounces. 

BURKE COUNTY 

In Burke County the Mills property (Brindletown 

placers), 13 miles southwest of Morganton in the 

South Mountain region, was worked as early as 

1828, and by 1916, this property had produced an 

estimated $1 million (50,000 ounces) in gold (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 65). A few small quartz veins 

were worked for a time, but the placers were the 

more productive. The only activity ih this area in 

recent years was an unsuccessful attempt in 1953-

54 to mine placer monazite with byproduct gold on 

the upper part of the First Broad River about 8 

miles southeast of Brindletown at the southern end 

of Richland Mountain. Apparently little, if any, gold 

was produced (W. C. Overstreet, written commun., 

1962). 
212 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

FIGURE 20.-Gold-mining localities of North Carolina. 1, Mills property; 2, Phoenix mine; 3, Reed mine; 4, Cid district; 

5, Portis placers; 6, Kings Mountain mine; 7, Gardner Hill, Lindsey, North States, Jacks Hill mines; 8, Rudisil and 

St. Catherine mines; 9, lola and Uwarra mines; 10, Russell and Steel mines; 11, Hoover Hill mine; 12, Gold Hill 

district; 13, Parker mine; 14, Fairfield Valley placers; 15, Howie mine. 

The South Mountains are composed of mica and 

hornblende schists and gneisses, which are locally 

garnetiferous, and are cut by dikes of granite, pegmatite, diorite, and gabbro (Bryson, 1936, p. 133-

134). Weathering has progressed to great depths, 

and most of the outcrops are saprolite. The schists 

and gneisses are cut by small quartz veins consisting of milky quartz and decomposed sulfides and 

small amounts of gold. 

CABARRUS COUNTY 

PHOENIX MINE 

In Cabarrus County, the Phoenix mine, 6 miles 

southeast of the town of Concord, was discovered 

some time before 1856 and was worked for short 

intervals until 1906 (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 67). 

There is no record of more recent activity. The total 

gold production was about $400,000 (about 19,400 

ounces). 

Although the mine is in a mass of diabase, Nitze 

and Hanna (1896, p. 121) and Bryson (1936, p. 89) 

considered the country rock near the mine to be 

schist, but Pardee and Park (1948, p. 67) considered 

it to be fine-grained diorite, partly altered to epidotechlorite schist. The principal vein of the deposit is 

the Phoenix, a quartz vein ranging in thickness 

from about 1 to 4 feet and containing pyrite, chalcopyrite, gold, and galena in a gangue of quartz, 

barite, and calcite-ankerite-siderite. 

REED MINE 

The Reed (Reid) mine is 2% miles south of the 

town of Georgeville in Cabarrus County. 

This mine was the site of the first authenticated 

discovery of gold in North Carolina. In 1799, Conrad Reed, a 12-year-old boy, found a nugget of gold 

weighing 17 pounds in the gravels of a creek on his 

father's plantation (Bryson, 1936, p. 7-8). Between 

1803 and 1835 additional nuggets, weighing an aggregate 115 pounds, were found on the property. 

In 1831 lode deposits were discovered and were 

worked profitably for a few years, but for a long 

time the mine was idle pending the settlement of 

the Reed Estate. There were brief periods of activity in the 1880's and 1890's; the most recent work 

in the area consisted of some small-scale placer operations in the mid-1930's. Production of the mines 

is estimated at somewhat in excess of $1 million 

(about 50,000 ounces) in gold (Pardee and Park, 

1948, p. 69) 0 

Country rock in the vicinity of the mine is chiefly 

fine-grained volcanic tuff which is intruded by a 

greenstone sill (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 70). The 

volcanic rocks are Paleozoic(?) in age and are part 

of the Carolina slate belt sequence (Stuckey, 1958). 

The fresh bedrock is covered with a thick mantle of 

saprolite which locally has yielded' gold. The lodes 

are in the greenstone sill, which is interlaced with 

gold-bearing quartz fissure veins. 

DAVIDSON COUNTY 

The Cid district is an area of about 125 square 

miles in southern Davidson County that extends 

from the Yadkin River on the southwest to about a 

mile beyond the village of Cid on the northeast. 
NORTH CAROLINA 213 

The earliest record of activity in this district is 

in 1832 at which time the Conrad Hill mine was already producing (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 72). 

The Silver Hill mine began operation a few years 

later. Other important mines in the district were 

the Cid and the Emmons. Except for the Civil War 

period when the mines were closed, most of the 

activity of the Cid district occurred before 1885 

(Pogue, 1910, p. 96). The last brief flurry was in 

1906-7 (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 73). In 1959 the 

mines were inaccessible and the buildings were in 

ruins. 

Production for this district is difficult to determine because of fragmentary early records. Pardee 

and Park (1948, p. 72-73) estimated the total yield 

to be $75,000 to $250,000 in gold from the Conrad 

Hill mine and $1 million or more in lead, silver, zinc, 

and a little gold from the Silver Hill mine. Total 

gold production from all mines probably did not 

exceed 20,000 ounces. 

Bedrock in the Cid district was described by 

Pogue (1910, p. 26-38). In general it consists of 

bands of volcanic rocks-tuff, breccia, dacite, rhyolite-that trend northeast to north and have been 

metamorphosed to slates and schists, compressed 

into large folds, and intruded by dikes of gabbro 

and diabase. The ore deposits at the Conrad Hill 

mine are quartz-chalcopyrite-ankerite veins oxidized 

to depths of 50 feet. The veins of the Silver Hill 

mine contain argentiferous cerussite extending from 

the surface to a depth of 60 feet, and below 60 feet 

they consist of manganese oxide, galena, and sphalerite (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 73). 

FRANKLIN COUNTY 

In Franklin County the only important gold production has come from the Portis placers in the 

northeast corner of the county, just east of the 

Wood Post Office. 

From 1840 to 1935, placer mining was sporadic in 

this area. Both alluvial placers and saprolite deposits were worked, but scarcity of water for hydraulic 

mining was a great obstacle to any large-scale operations (Nitze and Hanna, 1896, p. 26). Total gold 

production is unknown, but estimates of value range 

from several hundred thousand to more than one 

million dollars (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 73). 

Bedrock is mostly sericite schist and a schistose 

diorite weathered at the surface to a thick layer of 

saprolite. These rocks are intruded by several dikes 

and sills of a granitic rock which, where decomposed, consists of a mixture of quartz and kaolin, 

known locally as the "white belt." Gold was released and concentrated by the weathering of quartz 

veinlets that crisscross the "white belt" (Pardee 

and Park, 1948, p. 74). 

GASTON AND CLEVELAND COUNTIES 

The Kings Mountain mine is about 2 miles south 

of the town of Kings Mountain, near the GastonCleveland County line. 

The lode deposit at Kings Mountain was worked 

intermittently from 1834 to about 1895 and produced an estimated $750,000 to $1 million in gold 

(Keith and Sterrett, 1931, p. 8). Most of the gold 

came from quartz veins, but some came from placers in the streams below the mine and some came 

from saprolite. 

The ore deposits are found in a belt of chloritic 

mica schist within which are enclosed layers of dolomitic marble and graphite schist. Bordering the 

chloritic mica schist on the northwest is a layer of 

black sericite schist. The rocks occur in various 

stages of metamorphism, are intruded on the southeast by gneissic granite, and are much faulted 

(W. C. Overstreet, written commun., 1962). Also, 

the rocks are compressed into a series of northeasttrending folds whose limbs dip at high angles. The 

ore deposits are in veins in the dolomitic marble. 

The veins are predominantly siliceous dolomite, 

quartz, and pyrite and carry small amounts of pyrrhotite, fluorite, tetrahedrite, galena, sphalerite, 

chalcopyrite, and gold. 

GUILFORD COUNTY 

Most of the gold production of Guilford County 

came from the Gardner Hill, Lindsay, North States, 

and Jacks Hill mines, which are grouped in the 

southern part of the county, 8 to 12 miles southwest of Greensboro. 

The mines were opened in the early 1850's, but by 

1860 most of them were closed, and after a brief 

revival in the 1880's, they remained closed. No production records were found for the mines, but the 

value of their output was estimated to be $225,000 

including an undetermined amount in copper (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 75-76). 

Granite is the bedrock in this area. The gold, 

which was associated with the sulfides, was deposited in quartz veins containing pyrite, chalcopyrite, 

and siderite. At depth these veins were rich in copper, which became the principal commodity as mining progressed (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 75-76). 

MECKLENBURG COUNTY 

The St. Catherine and Rudisil mines, the principal 

gold producers in Mecklenburg County, are in the 
214 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

city of Charlotte about half a mile apart on opposite 

ends of the same vein. 

The St. Catherine mine was opened in 1826. Its 

early history is obscure, and after the Civil War it 

was worked by the operators of the Rudisil mine 

(Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 80). 

The Rudisil mine, discovered in 1829, produced 

$30,000 in gold during 1 month in 1830; thereafter, 

ownership of the property changed several times. 

The mine operated from 1840 until the outbreak of 

the Civil War, from 1880 to 1887, and from 1905 to 

1908 (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 78). In 1934 the 

mine was dewatered, reopened, and was productive 

through 1937. It was idle again from 1937 through 

1959. Total gold production from these two mines 

was probably not less than 60,000 ounces. 

The country rock at the Rudisil mine is granite 

and schist (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 79). The ore 

is in pockets in two quartz veins known as the 

"back vein" and the "front vein" (Bryson, 1936, p. 

111). These veins follow approximately the graniteschist contact and are cut by several diabase dikes. 

The ore bodies consist chiefly of intensely fractured 

pyrite and quartz and are located at places where 

the veins flatten (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 79). 

MONTGOMERY COUNTY 

The lola and Uwarra mines, in eastern Montgomery County 2 miles west of the town of Candor, 

exploited the same vein. They were discovered in 

1900 and are among the more recent gold discoveries in the Piedmont. By 1915, the lola had produced 

$900,000 (about 45,000 ounces) and the Uwarra, 

$100,000 (about 5,000 ounces) in gold (Pardee and 

Park, 1948, p. 82). Operations were suspended in 

1916, and the properties remained idle through 

1959. 

Ore deposits are along the contact of the Cretaceous Coastal Plain sediments with the metamorphosed tuffs, flows, and breccias of the Paleozoic ( ?) volcanic rocks of the Carolina slate belt 

(Stuckey, 1958). The deposits are in narrow veins, 

in siliceous pyritic zones in schist, and in groups of 

stringer veins (Hafer, 1914, p. 27). Most of the ore 

came from the lola vein, which was worked for 

2,000 feet along its strike. The ore contained very 

few sulfides and was free milling. 

RUSSELL AND STEEL MINES 

The Russell and Steel mines are in northwestern 

Montgomery County along the Uwharrie River, 2 to 

3 miles west of Ophir. 

The early history of these two lode mines is obscure. Gold was discovered at the Steel mine about 

1832, but no information concerning time of its 

discovery at the Russell site could be found (Pardee 

and Park, 1948, p. 83). Both mines have been idle 

for a long time; the buildings were in ruins and the 

workings were inaccessible at the time they were 

visited by Pardee and Park before 1948. Production 

data are fragmentary and are based on estimates. 

Total production_ of the Russell mine is estimated at 

about $300,000 (about 15,000 ounces) in gold. Production data of the Steel mines is available only for 

1887, when $150,000 (about 7,500 ounces) in gold 

was produced (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 83). 

According to Nitze and Hanna (1896, p. 74, 77) 

country rock in the vicinity of the mines is argillaceous slate, but according to Pardee and Park 

(1948, p. 83, 84) it is silicified schist. At the Russell 

mine the ore occurs in silicified and pyritized zones 

in the country rock; at least six such zones have 

been worked successfully by open cuts. At the Steel 

mine ore consists of thin seams of free gold, galena, 

sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and pyrite (Nitze and 

Hanna, 1896, p. 77). These seams are conformable 

with the slaty cleavage or schistosity. 

RANDOLPH COUNTY 

The Hoover Hill mine, the principal gold producer in Randolph County, is about 12 miles westnorthwest of Asheboro, on the east side of the 

Uwharrie River. The lode deposit was discovered in 

1848 and was worked for several years by lessees, a 

practice which inhibited its efficient development. In 

1881, the Hoover Hill Gold Mining Co., Ltd., of 

London, England, gained control of the mine, and 

in the following 14 years a total of $300,000 in gold 

was extracted (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 86). The 

mine was inactive from 1895 to 1914. Small-scale 

activity was reported in 1914 and again in 1917, 

after which the property was closed and remained 

so through 1959. Total gold production was about 

$350,000 (about 17,000 ounces). 

The deposit is in a dark-gray rhyolite and flow 

breccia of Paleozoic ( ?) age in the sequence of sedimentary and pyroclastic rocks in the slate belt 

(Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 16, 85). The ore bodies 

occur in sheared northeastward-trending zones interlaced with quartz seams which contain free gold 

and a very small amount of sulfide. The ore is free 

milling (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 86). 

ROWAN COUNTY 

GOLD HILL DISTRICT 

The Gold Hill district is a strip about 18 miles 

long and 8 miles wide in southeastern Rowan 
NORTH CAROLINA 215 

County and northeastern Cabarrus County and extends from the Yadkin River on the north to near 

the town of Mount Pleasant on the south. The settlement of Gold Hill is near the center of the 

district. 

The search for gold in this part of North Carolina was stimulated by the discoveries of the large 

nuggets on the Reed plantation in 1799. Gold was 

first found in the Gold Hill district at the Barringer 

mine before 1824, and by 1842 the principal veins 

of the district had been located (Laney, 1910, p. 

78). The district developed fairly rapidly and produced an estimated $3 million in gold before the 

Civil War (Laney, 1910, p. 79). The mines were reopened after the war and were active until they 

were closed in 1915. The principal mines of the district were the Randolph, Barnhardt and Old Field, 

the Honeycutt, the Troutman, the Union Copper, 

and the Whitney. Their combined production was 

about $3,300,000 or about 160,000 ounces, in gold 

(Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 89). The shaft of the 

Randolph mine was 820 feet deep and was one of the 

deepest in the Piedmont (Laney, 1910, p. 98). 

The Gold Hill district is underlain by two general types of bedrock : ( 1) rocks of the volcanic 

series consisting of slates, tuffs, breccias, and flows 

and (2) intrusive greenstone, granite, and diorite 

(Laney, 1910, p. 115-118). These are separated by 

a fault, known as the Gold Hill fault; the greenstone, granite, and diorite occur in the northwest 

half of the district and the volcanic rocks, in the 

southeast half. The volcanic rocks have been tightly 

folded near their contact with the intrusives. Of 

intrusive rocks, the granite is the youngest, the 

greenstone, the oldest. Most of the veins of the 

district are in volcanic rocks in a zone of minor 

faulting just southeast of the Gold Hill fault. Veins 

are of two types: quartz veins in extensively silicified wallrock, and stringers of ore minerals along 

foliation planes in schistose volcanic rocks. The 

quartz veins and the adjacent silicified wallrock 

contain the important gold deposits of the district. 

The stringers contain copper and small amounts of 

gold. The ore minerals common to both types of 

veins are auriferous pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, 

and sphalerite. 

STANLY COUNTY 

PARKER MINE 

The Parker mine, located at the town of New 

London in northern Stanly County, was one of the 

first mines to be worked in North Carolina and was 

very productive in the years before the Civil War. 

Most of the gold was mined from colluvial placers, 

although veins were worked in later years. In the 

1890's considerable underground exploration was 

done with favorable results, but apparently there 

was no sustained production (Pardee and Park, 

1948, p. 94). In 1935, there was brief activity at the 

Parker mine when a rich pocket in a quartz vein 

yielded several hundred ounces of gold (Pardee and 

Park, 1948, p. 94). The property was inactive from 

1935 through 1959. Total gold production from the 

Parker mine was somewhat in excess of the 10,000 

ounces estimated from the early placer operations 

(Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 93). 

The country rock near the mine consists of argillaceous, sericitic, and chloritic slates and schists of 

volcanic origin, which are typical of sequences observed elsewhere in the slate belt (Bryson, 1936, 

p. 64-79). The country rock is intruded by dikes and 

sills of greenstone porphyry and other basic intrusives. The lode deposits consist of groups of quartz 

stringers that interlace the country rock in many 

directions. The placers were derived from the deep 

saprolite that blankets most of the area. Gold was 

mechanically concentrated in colluvial deposits 

wherein the upper part of the saprolite moved downhill in response to frost action and gravity. These 

placers were worked by hydraulic methods. 

TRANSYLVANIA COUNTY 

FAIRFIELD VALLEY PLACERS 

The Fairfield Valley placers are in southern Transylvania County between lat 35°03' and 35°08' N. 

and long 82°50' and 83°00' W., in the northern 

drainage area of the Toxaway River. 

This area has been only briefly discussed in the 

published literature. Most of the production was in 

the 1800's; deposits have been idle for many years. 

Accorging to Nitze and Hanna (1896, p. 191-192), 

the gravels along Georgetown Creek, one of the 

tributaries of the Toxaway, yielded between 

$200,000 and $300,000 in gold (about 10,000 to 

15,000 ounces). They reported that considerable reserves of auriferous gravels remained in the area. 

UNION COUNTY 

HOWIE MINE 

The Howie mine, which is 3 miles northwest of 

Waxhaw, was the largest in Union County. It was 

developed some time before 1840 as a consequence 

of placer mining in the vicinity. The lodes were 

quickly exploited, yielding an estimated $250,000 in 

1854 (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 98). After a period 

of idleness brought on by the Civil War, the mine 

was again opened in 1885 and remained· active on a 
216 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

small scale at intervals until 1934. No activity was 

reported from 1934 through 1959. Estimated production of the mine was about 50,000 ounces of gold 

(Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 98). 

The deposit is in a fine-grained sericite schist, 

which has the texture of a fine-grained tuff and is 

part of the sequence of rocks in the slate belt (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 16; Bryson, 1936, p. 64). 

These rocks strike northeast and dip steeply northwest. They are cut by many diabase dikes. The upper 50 feet or more of bedrock is weathered to saprolite in which original textures and structures have 

been preserved. The ore bodies are concentrations 

of gold-bearing stringers in schist that has been 

impregnated with fine-grained quartz, pyrite, pyrrhotite, and a little gold (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 

98). This zone is conformable in general with the 

schistosity of the country rock. 

OREGON 

Oregon had been rather heavily traversed by 

settlers on their way to the more populous coastal 

communities long before gold was discovered in the 

State. Fear of hostile Indians no doubt discouraged 

many from prospecting the promising-looking 

mountain ranges and stream channels at any distance from the main immigration routes. It was 

not until 1852 that gold placers were worked at 

Rich Gulch in Jackson County and Josephine Creek 

in Josephine County (Raymond, 1870, p. 214, 217). 

The more widely publicized discoveries of placer 

gold at Griffin Gulch in Baker County in 1861 

(Wagner, 1959, p. 21) and at John Day and Canyon 

Creek in Grant County slightly later (Rand, 1959, 

p. 44) triggered an avalanche of prospectors and 

miners of sufficient magnitude to eventually establish the gold mining industry in tlie State (fig. 21). 

Other early placer operations were in the Willow 

Creek country in Malheur County, where several 

districts were organized (Browne, 1868, p. 591). 

After the initial period of high production during 

which the richer placers were exhausted, discoveries 

of auriferous quartz veins helped stabilize the mining economy. Lode mining began as early as 1859 

on the Gold Hill vein in Jackson County (Raymond, 

1870, p. 214-232) ; gold-bearing quartz veins were 

also worked in the 1860's in the Canyon Creek district, the Eagle Creek district, the Mormon Basin 

district, and the Baker district. 

The first boom in Oregon expired about 1870, but 

it had been strong enough to attract people with 

diversified talents so that other industries such as 

farming and cattle raising cushioned the shock. 

In addition, the gold rush was responsible for the 

early entry of railroads into the State, and this 

hastened the growth of cities and provided a more 

stable economy. 

Although mining of gold in Oregon was at an 

alltime low in 1965 (fig. 22), mining of nickel, 

uranium, mercury, and a host of nonmetals was 

flourishing as one of the important industries in the 

State. 

Total production of gold in Oregon from 1852 

through 1965 was 5, 796,680 ounces. This total includes estimates of Lindgren (1901, p. 569-571) for 

production before 1900 and data from the U.S. 

Geological Survey (1904-24) and the U.S. Bureau 

of Mines (1925-66) for the years 1902-65. Production data for districts are fragmentary, especially 

where production of several districts was combined 

in the reports, thus the totals for districts are 

minima. 

BAKER COUNTY 

Gold was first discovered in eastern Oregon in 

1861 in Griffin Gulch in the Baker district, Baker 

County. The town of Auburn was soon established 

as the first settlement and base for exploration. By 

about 1870 the richest placers were exhausted, but 

quartz lodes were discovered and developed, although slowly, and by 1900 were substantially productive in the Cracker Creek, Cornucopia, and 

Sumpter districts. As placer production decreased, 

Auburn declined, and Baker became the most important town in the county. 

Production data for Baker County before 1880 

were not found. From 1880 to 1899, the county produced $8,958,073 (about 434,850 ounces) in gold 

(Lindgren, 1901, p. 573). From 1904 through 1957, 

it produced 747,548 ounces of lode gold, 402,490 

ounces of placer gold, and 11,626 ounces unidentified 

as to source. Total recorded gold production through 

1959 was about 1,596,500 ounces; from 1954 

through 1959 only a few hundred ounces was 

produced. 

Placer mining revived after 1912, and after 

World War II it was more productive than lode 

mining. Most of the county's gold production in 

recent years was from the Sumpter district placer 

mines, which were closed in 1955. 

Lode deposits of Baker County generally are 

fissure veins that are related to intrusions of 

granitic, dioritic, and gabbroic rocks (Lindgren, 

1901, p. 614). The deposits most commonly are 

found near contacts of these intrusive rocks with 

sedimentary or metasedimentary rocks. 
OREGON 217 

0 50 100 MI LES 

FIGURE 21.-Gold-mining districts of Oregon. 

Baker County: 

1, Baker; 2, Connor Creek; 3, Cornucopia; 4, Cracker 

Creek; 5, Eagle Creek; 6, Greenhorn; 7, Lower Burnt 

River valley; 8, Mormon Basin; 9, Rock Creek; 10, 

Sparta; 11, Sumpter; 12, Upper Burnt River; 13, Virtue. 

Grant County: 

14, Canyon Creek; 15, Granite; 16, North Fork; 17, 

Quartzburg; 18, Susanville. 

BAKER DISTRICT 

Production in the Baker district has been chiefly 

from the placers in Griffin Gulch but this was in the 

early years and was unrecorded. After 1900 more 

than half of the gold produced in the district came 

from lode mines. Production of gold from 1906 

through 1959 was 19,825 ounces from lode mines, 

Jackson County: 

19, Ashland; 20, Gold Hill; 21, Jacksonville ; 22, Upper 

Applegate. 

Josephine County : 

23, Galice; 24, Grants Pass; 25, Greenback; 26, Illinois 

River; 27, Lower Applegate; 28, Waldo. 

Lane County: 

29, Bohemia; 30, Blue River. 

Malheur County: 

31, Malheur. 

10,890 ounces from placers, and 5,437 ounces undifferentiated-a total of 36,152 ounces. 

The oldest rocks of the district are greenstone, 

phyllite, quartz schist, and limestone composing the 

Burnt River Schist of probable pre-Carboniferous 

age (Gilluly, 1937, p. 9-13) and the Elkhorn Ridge 

Argillite, composed of argillite, tuff, lava, chert, and 
218 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

125.--------,--------,---------~--------.--------.---------.---------.--------~--~ 

(/) 

UJ 

(.) s 75 

0 

"-0 

~ z 

<( 

(/) 

6 50 J: 

"""" 

25 

Production of Canyon Creek, 

Waldo, and Galice districts -----+ 

~ :0 "' 

c 

·;;; 

CD "' 

c 

0 

E 

0 

::2 

= 

YEAR 

FIGURE 22.-Annual gold production of Oregon, 1881-1965. Sources of data: 1881-1923 from U.S. Geological Survey 

(1883-1924); 1924-65 from U.S. Bureau of Mines (1925-34, 1933-66). Production reported in dollar value was converted to ounces at the prevailing price per ounce. 

greenstone, of Permian and Triassic age (Bostwick 

and Koch, 1962). An unconformity separates these 

rocks from the superjacent Tertiary andesite and 

basalt flows. The pre-Tertiary rocks are thrown 

into strong folds that strike west, but the Tertiary 

rocks are only gently warped (Gilluly, 1937, p. 8). 

The lode deposits are fissure and replacement 

veins in the pre-Tertiary rocks (Gilluly, 1937, p. 

92). Gold, pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and 

locally stibnite and galena occur in a gangue of 

quartz, sericite, carbonate, and a little clay and 

scheelite. 

Placers have been worked in nearly all the gulches 

on the south end of Elkhorn Ridge, on Marble 

Creek, and on Salmon Creek. The most important 

placers were in Blue Canyon near Auburn, where 

some of the early discov~ries were made. 

CONNOR CREEK DISTRICT 

The Connor Creek district is along the west 

drainage of the Snake River between lat 44 °21' and 

44°44' N. and long 117°03' and 117°18' W. 

Placer mining began in this district in the 1860's 

along Connor Creek, and in 1871 lode gold was discovered at Connor Creek mine. After an estimated 

maximum production of $2 million in gold (Lindgren, 1901, p. 757), the mine was closed in 1910 and 

was reopened only briefly in 1915-18 ( Gilluly and 

others, 1933, p. 50). Small amounts of placer gold 

were produced from the district until 1942. From 

that time through 1959 there was virtually no production. The district produced about 97,000 ounces 

of lode gold and about 6,100 ounces of placer gold 

through 1959. 

The following summary of the geology of the district is from Gilluly, Reed, and Park (1933, p. 50). 

The country rock is dominantly black carbonaceous slate and quartz phyllite and contains small 

amounts of greenstone, chlorite schist, and limestone. These rocks are of possible Triassic and 

Jurassic age. The beds dip steeply to the northwest 

and strike N. 20°-45° E. Granitic rocks have intruded the metasediments west of the district. The 

gold deposits are in northwest-trending quartz veins 

that dip steeply southwest. Free gold occurs in the 

Connor mine with some argentite and pyrite. 
OREGON 219 

CORNUCOPIA DISTRICT · 

The Cornucopia district, between lat 44°57' and 

45°05' N. and long 117°00' and 117°15' W., reported 

very little activity until 1880-85 (Lindgren, 1901, 

p. 742). Its gold production to 1903 was valued at 

$1,008,000 (Oregon Department of Geology and 

Mineral Industries, 1939, p. 25). Production was 

fairly steady from 1903 through 1941, but it was 

only a few ounces from 1942 through 1959. Recorded production from 1907 through 1959 was 

255,698 ounces of lode gold, 2,441 ounces of placer 

gold, and 5,800 ounces undifferentiated as to origin. 

The oldest rocks in the area are metavolcanics 

and clastics of the Clover Creek Greenstone, of 

Permian age (Ross, 1938, p. 21). Other metasedimentary rocks that overlie the Clover Creek Greenstone have obscure stratigraphic relations with one 

another and are classed as Carboniferous and Triassic. Overlying the Paleozoic rocks are the Martin 

Bridge Formation and a thick section of younger 

sediments, all of Late Triassic age. At the close of 

the Jurassic the rocks were folded and metamorphosed, and in mid-Cretaceous time a granodiorite 

batholith intruded the series (T. P. Thayer, written 

commun., 1962). During the closing stages of this 

igneous activity, the veins were formed, uplift and 

dissection followed, then the basalt flows of the 

Columbia River Basalt were poured out on this 

erosion surface. 

The veins occupy shear zones in both the metamorphic and granitic rocks. The larger veins strike 

N. 40° E. and dip 40° W.; many are offset en 

echelon. Vein minerals consist of pyrite, sphalerite, 

chalcopyrite, galena, tetrahedrite, tellurides, and 

native gold, with quartz as gangue (Goodspeed, 

1941, p. 185). Successive stages of microbrecciation 

and turbid quartz are not noticeable features of 

these veins. 

CRACKER CREEK DISTRICT 

The Cracker Creek district is between lat 44 ° 48' 

and 44°54' N. and long 118°03' and 118°17' W., 

north of Sumpter. 

The most important lode in this district and 

in Oregon, the North Pole-Columbia, was discovered 

in 1887, and it produced about $9 million in gold 

(Oregon Dept. Geology and Mineral Industries, 

1939, p. 34). From 1907 through 1959 a total of 

189,389 ounces of gold was recorded from the 

district. 

The country rock in the district is the Elkhorn 

Ridge Argillite, which probably is of Permian and 

Late Triassic age. Cutting this argillite is the North 

Pole-Columbia lode, a vein system that trends northwest to east and continues unbroken for a distance of 

5 miles (Lindgren, 1901, p. 658). The vein material 

consists of quartz, arsenopyrite, pyrite, and some 

chalcopyrite. Most of the gold occurs in the fine 

arsenopyrite (Parks and Swartley, 1916, p. 61). 

Comb structure is common, and some of the earlier 

minerals are crushed and shattered indicating some 

movement along the fissure system during deposition. 

EAGLE CREEK DISTRICT 

The Eagle Creek district is between lat 44 ° 49' 

and 45°05' N. and long 117°00' and 117°45'· W., in 

the southern end of the Wallowa Mountains. The 

boundaries of this district overlap those of the 

Cornucopia district, and rightly so, for the goldbearing gravels of the Eagle Creek district were 

derived from the Cornucopia stock. 

Mining began in this district in the early 1860's 

when placers along Eagle Creek were worked. Those 

along Paddy Creek were worked also, but most of 

the gold production was from lodes and some was a 

byproduct of copper ore. The Sanger mine, the 

largest producer in the district, yielded an estimated $1% million in gold from auriferous quartz 

veins (Lindgren, 1901, p. 738). The total early production of the district was estimated at $1,687,400 

(about 82,000 ounces) in gold (Lindgren, 1901, p. 

738-739). Total recorded production from 1931 

through 1951 was 5,782 ounces of lode gold and 

69 ounces of placer gold; from 1952 through 1959, 

no production was recorded. 

The country rock of the area is chiefly Triassic 

greenstone and limestone cut by granitic and diabasic dikes (Gilluly and others, 1933, p. 63). The 

veins contain pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, 

and free gold in a gangue of quartz and some 

calcite. 

GREJ<:NHORN DISTRICT 

The Greenhorn district is between lat 44 °33' and 

44°44' N. and long 118°25' and 118°32' W. in Baker 

and Grant Counties. 

Both silver and gold veins were mined in the district before 1910. The Bonanza, the chief mine, produced $1% million in gold before 1904; it operated 

only sporadically from 1904 through 1916 (Parks 

and Swartley, 1916, p. 39). After 1930 the bulk of 

production was from placers. The total gold production of the district through 1959 was 89,200 ounces 

from lodes and 10,382 ounces from placers. 

The following summary of the geology of the district is taken from "Oregon Metal Mines Hand-
220 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

book" (Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral 

Industries, 1939, p. 52-53). The district, which is 

on the eastern lower slopes of Vinegar Hill, is 

underlain by greenstone, argillite, serpentine, and 

granodiorite, and is surrounded by younger lava 

flows of Tertiary age. The granodiorite was intruded 

into the greenstone and argillite, and the ore deposits probably were emplaced during the closing 

stages of the intrusion. The deposits in the Bonanza 

mine and its vicinity are in argillite; those near the 

town of Greenhorn are in greenstone. The ores 

contain mostly gold and silver, but varying amounts 

of copper and lead are locally present. 

Placers near Winterville, Parkerville, and McNamee Gulch were successfully worked. The value of 

boulders of silicified Tempskya (Cretaceous) "fern 

wood" in Eocene ( ?) gravels exceeded the value of 

the goid (T. P. Thayer, written commun., 1962). 

LOWER BURNT RIVER VALLEY DISTRICT 

The Lower Burnt River valley district, which includes Weatherby, Gold Hill, Durkee, Chicken Creek, 

and Pleasant Valley, is between lat 44°17' and 

44°43' N. and long 117°10' and 117°41' W., along 

Burnt River in southern Baker County. 

The lode mines in this district were worked in the 

early 1880's, and the placers probably were worked 

earlier. Small production from the Weatherby area 

was maintained until 1955; however, most of the 

production was in early days, when no accurate 

records were kept. Some of the major lode mines 

were the Gold Ridge, Gleason, Little Bonanza, and 

Little Hill. Estimates of early lode production total 

$928,000 in gold (about 45,000 ounces) (Lindgren, 

1901, p. 765; Oregon Department of Geology and 

Mineral Industries, 1939, p. 67-71). Total production for the district through 1959 was at least 

50,000 ounces of lode gold and 3,500 ounces of 

placer gold. Production data for placers are reliable 

only for the period since 1932. 

Slates, schists, and limestones of possible Triassic 

age (Lindgren, 1901, pl. 64) are cut by a mass of 

granodiorite, diorite, and quartz diorite. The sedimentary rocks strike N. 70°-80° E. and dip steeply 

to the north (Lindgren, 1901, p. 763). Associated 

with the intrusive masses are discontinuous small 

quartz veins that are rich in gold. 

Nearly all the gulches and streams that drain 

into the Burnt River in this district contain auriferous placers. 

MORMON BASIN DISTRICT 

The Mormon Basin (Dixie Creek, Rye Valley, 

Malheur) district is between lat 44°22' and 44°31' 

N. and long 117°23' and 117°40' W. in southern 

Baker County and northern Malheur County. 

As early as 1863 placers were mined in the Rye 

Valley area and were credited with a production of 

$1 million in gold (Swartley, 1914, p. 228). Although quartz veins were known in the district in 

the early days, their gold production was not significant until after 1900; it was valued at about $21,4 

million for the period 1906 to 1916 (Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, 1939, p. 

76). About half of this was from the Rainbow, the 

largest gold mine in the district, and, from 1913 to 

1915, the most productive in the State ( Gilluly and 

others, 1933, p. 38). The district reported only 

small production from 1915 through 1948, and it 

was idle from 1949 through 1959. Total gold production through 1959 was about 177,500 ounces 

from lode mines and 56,200 ounces from placer 

workings. 

Gilluly, Reed, and Park (1933, p. 31-49) discussed in some detail the geology and mines of the 

Mormon Basin area. The oldest rocks exposed are 

quartzite, quartz schist, slate, greenstone, and 

chlorite schist of unknown age. These were intruded 

by masses of gabbro, dunite, pyroxenite, and harzburgite altered for the most part to greenstone, 

amphibolite, serpentine, and talc. These igneous 

rocks have been highly sheared and are foliated. A 

large mass of quartz diorite makes up Pedro Mountain, a prominent landmark, and there are smaller 

bodies of this same rock throughout the district. 

The lower parts of the basin are covered by Tertiary stream deposits interbedded with dacite and 

andesite flows. The gold deposits are in veins in preTertiary rocks near the quartz diorite masses. Vein 

minerals are quartz, ankerite, and fuchsite as 

gangue and pyrite, arsenopyrite, galena, sphalerite, 

polybasite, hessite, tetrahedrite as ore minerals. 

ROCK GREEK DISTRICT 

The Rock Creek district is between lat 44°49' and 

45°03' N. and long 118°00' and 118°15' W., 10-15 

miles northwest of Baker. 

The district, discovered in the late 1880's, was a 

steady gold producer until 1914, after which activity declined; it was idle in 1959. The principal 

mine, the Baisley-Elkhorn, produced an estimated 

$950,000, chiefly in gold (Oregon Department of 

Geology and Mineral Industries, 1939, p. 85). 

Estimated early production of the district was 

$1 million, mostly in gold (Lindgren, 1901, p. 646). 

Production from 1934 through 1959 totaled 3,282 

ounces of lode gold and 193 ounces of placer gold. 
OREGON 221 

A conservative total for the district would be about 

51,000 ounces of gold. 

The following is summarized from Lindgren's 

(1901, p. 645-647) description of the geology of 

the district. The north end of Elkhorn Ridge is 

composed of granodiorite, the south part is dominantly argElite, and the Rock Creek district is along 

the contact between them. Diorite dikes cut the 

argillite near the contact. Near its borders the intrusive is dioritic, becoming granodioritic toward 

the interior. Most of the veins are discontinuous 

but form a zone in the diorite approximately parallel to the argillite-diorite contact. Gangue is quartz 

with some calcite. Gold occurs in pyrite or as an 

intergrowth with sphalerite. Other sulfides are 

galena, chalcopyrite, and locally ruby silver. 

SPARTA DISTRICT 

The Sparta district is between lat 44°36' and 

44°57' N. and long 117°02' and 117°23' W. 

Although placer deposits were known in the area 

at an early date, it was not until 1873, when the 

Sparta ditch was completed, that enough water was 

available to exploit the gravel-filled gulches which 

yielded about $157,000 in gold before 1900 (Lindgren, 1901, p. 737). Quartz veins were discovered 

a few years after the discovery of the placers, and 

from 1889 to 1892 they yielded $677,000 in gold 

(Lindgren, 1901, p. 736). Shortly thereafter the district declined rapidly, and from 1952 through 1959 

it was idle. Total production from the district 

through 1959 was about 35,200 ounces of lode gold 

and about 7,700 ounces of placer gold. 

The district is underlain by quartz diorite and 

albite granite of presumable Mesozoic age (Gillully 

and others, 1933, p. 57-58). These rocks intruded 

Permian greenstone, only remnants of which remain 

in the area. Columbia River Basalt unconformably 

overlies the older rocks. The ore deposits are goldbearing quartz veins in the diorite and granite. Most 

of the veins are narrow and cannot be followed for 

any great distance. 

SUMPTER DISTRICT 

The Sumpter district, between lat 44°37' and 

44°48' N. and long 118°00' and 118°18' W., is predominantly a placer district, but there has been a 

small gold production from quartz veins . that cut 

argillite. Placer deposits were discovered here in 

1862, and production was almost continuous until 

1955. 

Records of production· before 1932 have not been 

found, but from 1932 through 1955 the district produced 129,004 ounces of placer gold and 2,206 ounces 

of lode gold. No production was reported from 1955 

through 1959. 

Terrace gravels along the Powder River and 

gravels in its tributary gulches, above the town of 

Sumpter, contain varying amounts of gold. Damming of the Powder River by lavas of the Columbia 

River Basalt resulted in thick accumulations of 

gold-bearing gravels in the Sumpter Valley (Lindgren, 1901, p. 655-656). As the river cut through 

the barrier, lower terraces were created, and these 

also were worked extensively. 

UPPER BURNT RIVER DISTRICT 

The Upper Burnt River district, which includes 

Bridgeport, Bull Run, Unity, and Hereford, is in 

southern Baker County, between lat 44°15' and 

44°36' N. and long 117°35' and 118°20' W. It is a 

large district and includes many localities that have 

produced small amounts of both placer and lode 

gold. Early production data are scant, but apparently some placers were worked before 1900. Total 

gold production through 1959 was about 9,300 

ounces from all sources. 

According to the Oregon Department of Geology 

and Mineral Industries (1939, p. 97-98), the eastern 

part of the district is predominantly argillite and 

contains some limestone and lava flows, and the 

western part is covered by more recent flows. 

Auriferous gravels along the Burnt River have been 

mined. 

VIRTUE DISTRICT 

The Virtue district is between lat 44 ° 43' and 

44°57' N. and long 117°22' and 117°45' W. 

This is predominantly a lode district; placer 

operations consisted of small-scale diggings in some 

of the gulches below the veins. The Virtue mine, 

discovered in 1862, was one of the largest gold producers in eastern Oregon (Lindgren, 1901, p. 722). 

Other mines in the district that have produced significant quantities of gold are the Brazos, Flagstaff, 

Hidden Treasure, and White Swan. The latest production reported from the district was in 1956. 

Early production of the district was about 

$2,500,000 iri gold (about 121,000 ounces) ; about 

$2,200,000 came from the Virtue mine, which had -

its best years before 1900 (Gilluly, 1937, p. 73). 

Yearly production data for the district go back only 

to 1935. The total for the period 1935 through 1957 

was 4,837 ounces from lode mines and 288 ounces 

from placers. Total gold production for the district 

through 1959 was about 126,000 ounces. 
222 PRINCIPA~GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

In the northern part of the district a strongly W. and includes most of the drainage area of the 

sheared diorite is the predominant country rock, John Day River in Grant County, is noted chiefly 

whereas the southern part is underlain by argillite for its gold placers along the river. Lindgren (1901, 

that strikes east-west (Lindgren, 1901, p. 721-722). p. 717) estimated that the early production from 

Most of the more prominent veins strike northwest these placers was about $15 million in gold (about 

and they occur in both the diorite and argillite: 725,000 ounces). Hydraulic operations were conGilluly (1937, p. 94) noted that the veins consist of ducted in the 1880's, and dredges were in operation 

quartz, calcite, scheelite, and a little sericite. Small sporadically after 1900. 

amounts of native gold, pyrite, and chalcopyrite Recorded gold production for the district from 

are present. 1904 through 1959 was 899 ounces from lode mines , 

GRANT COUNTY 

Grant County covers much of the southwestern 

part of the Blue Mountain region of northeastern 

Oregon where pre-Tertiary gold-bearing rocks are 

exposed. 

The geology of the county, as summarized by the 

Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (1941, p. 14-15), includes rocks that range in 

age from Paleozoic to Tertiary. The oldest rocks are 

greenstone, argillite, and chert containing small 

lenses of Permian limestone. Several tens of thousands of feet of Upper Triassic and Jurassic rocks , mostly tuffaceous sandstone, shale, and some limestone, are exposed in the southwest part of the 

county. The Paleozoic rocks were intruded by 

peridotite, gabbro, and diorite, and all, including the 

Mesozoic rocks, were intruded by granodiorite. Tertiary rocks cover much of the county. These are 

the Clarno and John Day Formations (tuff, lava, 

and agglomerate of Eocene age) the Columbia . . , River Basalt (Mwcene age), Mascall Formation 

(tuffs that overlie the Columbia River Basalt), and 

Rattlesnake Formation (tuffs and lavas of Pliocene 

age). 

Soon after the initial discoveries of placer gold 

at Griffin Gulch in 1861, discoveries were made at 

Sumpter and Canyon Creek, and by 1864 nearly all 

the mining districts of the Blue Mountains area 

were known (Lindgren, 1901, p. 563__;564). The important gold-producing districts in Grant County 

were the Canyon Creek, Granite, Greenhorn (partly 

in Baker County), North Fork, Quartzburg, and 

Susanville. 

From 1880 to 1899, Grant County produced 

$3,022,564 (about 146,000 ounces) in gold (Lindgren, 1901, p. 573). From 1904 through 1957 it 

produced 77,840 ounces of lode gold, 226,835 ounces 

of placer gold, and 19,967 ounces undifferentiated 

as to source. Approximate total gold production 

through 1959 was 470,600 ounces. 

CANYON CREEK DISTRICT 

The Canyon Creek district, which is between lat 

44°11' and 44°30' N. and long 118°45' and 119°33' 

91,711 ounces from placers, and 504 ounces from 

undifferentiated sources. Total production, including 

Lindgren's estimate of early production, was about 

818,000 ounces. 

Quartz veinlets containing rich pockets of native 

gold occur in carbonatized gabbro, serpentine, and 

greenstone in the vicinity of Little Canyon Mountain. Although these deposits were spectacular, they 

were small, and their production was not sustained. 

GRANITE, DISTRICT 

The Granite district is between lat 44°45' and 

44°54' N. and long 118°18' and 118°33' W., in eastern Grant County. 

As early as 1862 placer gold was mined from the 

gravels of Granite Creek, Clear Creek, and Bull 

Run; in 1874 lode mining became commercially important when the Monumental and La Belleview 

mines, the most productive lode mines in the district, were discovered. Much of the early placer 

mining was done by the Chinese, who at one time 

outnumbered the Americans (Lindgren, 1901, p. 

686). From World War II through 1959 the district 

was virtually idle with the exception of the Buffalo 

mine which supplied nearly all the lode gold mined 

in eastern Oregon during that period (Koch, 1959, 

p. 1). 

Bedrock in the Granite district consists predominantly of a group of bedded metasedimentary rocks 

that were originally shales and small amounts of 

limestone, sandstone, and interbedded lava flows 

(Koch, 1959, p. 3-5). In the eastern part of the 

district a large granodiorite intrusion cuts the 

metasedimentary rocks. The layered rocks were 

thrown into east-trending isoclinal folds. Unconformably overlying these rocks are less severely 

folded and somewhat faulted Tertiary auriferous 

gravels, andesite tuff-breccias, and lava flows (Koch, 

1959, p. 3-5). 

The lode deposits are in veins in the pre-Tertiary 

metasedimentary rocks near or in the granodiorite. 

The veins are of two types: (1) open-space fillings 

characterized by quartz and calcite gangue and 

fragments of unreplaced wallrock, and (2) dike 
OREGON 223 

material, gouge, crushed country rock, and sparse 

quartz and calcite. In veins of the first type, the 

major metallic constituents are pyrite, chalcopyrite, 

tetrahedrite, arsenopyrite, sphalerite, and galena. 

In veins of the second type, pyrite is predominant, 

and in many veins it is the sole metallic mineral 

(Koch, 1959, p. 9-11). 

Koch (1959, p. 38) estimated the total lode production of the Granite district to be $1,800,000, 

most of which was in gold and in small amounts 

of silver. This would represent, conservatively, about 

75,000 ounces of gold. Recorded lode production for 

the district from 1904 through 1959 was 37,250 

ounces. Placers yielded $1,033,000 in gold through 

1914 (Oregon Dept. Geology and Mineral Resources, 

1941, p. 40). Recorded placer production from 1904 

through 1959 was 34,080 ounces and total gold production for the district was about 160,000 ounces. 

GREENHORN DISTRICT 

The Greenhorn district straddles the BakerGrant County line. The western part of the district, 

in Grant County between lat 44°33' and 44°45' N. 

and long 118°18' and 118°43' W., will be discussed 

here. 

The mines in the Greenhorn district reached their 

peak of productivity between 1895 and 1910 (Allen, 

1951, p. 398). From 1910 until 1942 there was only 

sporadic activity, and from 1942 through 1959, almost none. Only fragmentary records of early production are available. A total of the estimates of 

early production of individual mines is $346,000 

(about 16,800 ounces) in gold (Oregon Department 

of Geology and Mineral Industries, 1941, p. 66-97). 

Recorded production from 1932 through 1959 was 

4,829 ounces from lode mines, 4,612 ounces from 

placers, and 425 ounces undifferentiated as to source. 

The following summary of the geology of the district is from T. P. Thayer (written commun., 1962). 

Paleozoic meta-argillites and greenstones were intruded by lower Mesozoic ultramafic rocks, by diorite, and by related dikes of probable mid-Cretaceous age. These rocks are folded and faulted. 

Tertiary flows and tuffs overlap the older rocks on 

the south and east. The ore deposits are mostly 

fissure fillings within or near dikes that were emplaced in fractures in pre-Tertiary rocks. Quartz, 

pyrite, arsenopyrite, pyrrhotite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and tetrahedrite were deposited during the 

first of two stages of mineralization. A second stage 

included the preceding minerals and galena, calcite, 

specular hematite, and gold. 

NORTH FORK DISTRICT 

The North Fork district includes the drainage 

area of the North Fork of the John Day River and 

Desolation Creek between lat 44°45' and 45°00' N. 

and long 118°15' and 118°55' W. 

This is a placer district that dates back to the 

early 1860's. Pardee and Hewett (1914, p. 10) estimated the total minimum production to 1914 at 

$893,000 in gold (about 43,000 ounces); since then, 

only 1,336 ounces have been reported from the district. The principal mines were the French Diggings 

and the North Fork. At the French Diggings both 

moraine and stream gravels were mined, and at the 

North Fork a gold-bearing terminal moraine was 

mined (Parks and Swartley, 1916, p. 97, 164). 

QUARTZBURG DISTRICT 

The Quartzburg district is in eastern Grant 

County between lat 44°28' and 44°36' N. and long 

118°35' and 118°47' W. 

In 1862, placers at Dixie Creek were discovered, 

and shortly afterward lode mines were producing 

in the district. After the initial boom of placer 

mining, in which estimated production ranged from 

$600,000 to $6 million (Swartley, 1914, p. 198), the 

district slowed down to sporadic small-scale activity. Lindgren (1901, p. 710) stated the production 

from lode mines to 1900 did not exceed $100,000. 

From 1904 through 1959, the recorded gold production from the district was 954 ounces from lodes, 

8,534 ounces from placers, and 624 ounces undifferentiated as to source. Total production through 

1959, using the $600,000 figure for the early placer 

production, was about 45,100 ounces. 

The dominant rocks exposed in the Quartzburg 

district (Gilluly and others, 1933, p. 86-88) are 

meta-andesite, metadiabase, other volcanics, and 

small amounts of argillite, of possible Carboniferous age. Diorite, gabbro, and serpentine bodies and 

their associated porphyritic dikes cut the metavolcanics and sediments. A mid-Cretaceous series of 

more acid intrusives-quartz diorite and granodiorite--is exposed in the Dixie Creek valley and near 

the head of Ruby Creek. The Columbia River Basalt 

once covered the entire area, but it has been eroded 

from the mineralized area. Gold and small amounts 

of copper and cobalt occur in fissure veins in the 

pre-Tertiary rocks. These veins probably are related 

to the quartz diorite intrusions. Quartz, dolomite, 

and calcite compose the gangue, and pyrite, arsenopyrite, glaucodot, cobaltite, bismuth, bismuthinite, 

tetrahedrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, 

and galena are the chief metallic minerals. Much 
224 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

gold came from oxidized parts of these veins in the 

early days (Lindgren, 1901, p. 710). 

SUSANVIJ,LE DISTRICT 

The Susanville district is between lat 44°41' and 

44°47' N. and long 118°41' and 118°52' W., in eastern Grant County. 

Most of the production from this district was 

from placer mining before 1900. The placers were 

discovered in 1864, and those along Elk Creek and 

along the north side of the Middle Fork of the John 

Day River yielded $600,000 in gold (Swartley, 1914, 

p. 169). These placers were inactive in 1930 (Gilluly 

and others, 1933, p. 117). The Badger mine, discovered in the late 1860's, was the most important lode 

property in the district (Swartley, 1914, p. 170), 

but after several years of successful operation it 

was closed in 1905, reopened briefly in 1922, and 

closed again (Gilluly and others, 1933, p. 111). 

Most of the recent production from the district was 

from dredging operations. From 1932 through 1959 

the district produced 937 ounces of lode gold and 

17,809 ounces of placer gold. Total production 

through 1959, including the estimated early placer 

production, was about 48,750 ounces. 

Gilluly, Reed, and Park (1933, p. 106-111) described the geology and ore deposits in some detail. 

The country rock throughout most of the Susanville 

district is schist of unknown age. This was intruded 

by bodies of gabbro and peridotite which are now 

mostly altered to serpentine. A large quartz diorite 

mass borders the district on the north and aplitic 

dikes from this intrusion cut the schist and ultrabasic rocks. Higher areas in the district are capped 

by Columbia River Basalt. Ore deposits are fissure 

veins parallel to the schistosity in the country rocks. 

Many veins seem to be related to the aplite dikes. 

Quartz is the dominant gangue mineral; metallic 

minerals include pyrite, marcasite, arsenopyrite, 

chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, sphalerite, galena, stibnite, 

tetrahedrite-tennantite, and chalcocite. Gold occurs 

in the sulfides and also as free gold. 

JACKSON COUNTY 

The first gold mining in the State was in Jackson 

County. In 1852, placers along Jackson Creek were 

worked. Soon afterward placers were discovered 

along other creeks in the vicinity, and mining of 

these deposits became a major industry in the 

county (Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, 1943, p. 11). Lode deposits were 

discovered as early as 1859, but the chief gold production has come from the placers. The major districts in the county are Ashland, Gold Hill, Jacksonville, and Upper Applegate. 

Much of the gold production from the county was 

before 1880, when there were no reliable records 

of the output; however, Winchell (1914b, p. 29), 

combining estimates and recorded data, reported 

gold production worth $7,110,333 from 1852 

through 1912. From 1904 through 1959 the county 

produced 35,067 ounces of lode gold, 136,030 ounces 

of placer gold, and 16,787 ounces undifferentiated 

as to source. Total gold production from 1852 

through 1959, including Winchell's estimates, was 

about 495,000 ounces. 

The geology of Jackson County is given in 

"Oregon Metal Mines Handbook" (Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, 1943, 

p. 13-19). Schists of pre-Mesozoic age underlie the 

southwest part of the county, and Triassic greenstones and metasedimentary rocks, named the 

Applegate Group by Wells (1956), underlie its 

western part. In the northwest part of the county 

is a small patch of black slate, conglomerate, and 

tuffaceous sandstone of the Galice Formation, of 

Jurassic age. The schists, greenstones, and Galice 

sedimentary rocks were intruded first by masses 

of peridotite, now altered to serpentine, and later 

by granitic rocks. In the central part of the county, 

in Bear Creek and Cottonwood Creek valleys, remnants of the marine Hornbrook Formation of Cretaceous age are present (Wells, 1956). A narrow 

band of sandstones of the Tertiary Umpqua Formation underline Bear Creek valley, which crosses the 

county in a northwest direction. Lavas, breccias, 

and tuffs of Miocene and Pliocene age cover the 

central one-third of the county; these were intruded 

by small bodies of basalt and diorite. Pliocene and 

Pleistocene lavas and cinder cones-the High Cascade Series-cover much of the eastern part of the 

county. The gold deposits are concentrated in the 

western part of the county and are found in rocks 

of the Applegate Group and in the granitic and 

dioritic intrusives. 

ASHLAND DISTRICT 

The Ashland district is between lat 42°01' and 

42°11' N. and long 122°31' and 122°48' W., in 

south-central Jackson County. 

Mining began here in 1858 (Winchell, 1914b, 

p. 77) when placers were discovered at Forty-nine 

Diggings. These were highly productive for about 

20 years. Lode deposits were worked as early as 

1890, and the chief producer was the Ashland mine 

which yielded about $150,000 in gold from 1892 to 

1899 (Winchell, 1914b, p. 77). The total production 
OREGON 225 

of this mine was estimated to be worth $1,300,000 

(Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, 1943, p. 25). There was sporadic activity in 

the district up to 1942, but only a few ounces have 

been reported since that time. Production of the 

district from 1933 through 1959 was 1,764 ounces 

of lode gold and 163 ounces of placer gold. Total 

production through 1959, including estimates of 

early production, was about 66,400 ounces of gold. 

At Forty-nine Diggings, the major placer mine 

in the district, Quaternary gravels were originally 

mined, but productive channels were also found 

later in conglomerates of the Cretaceous Hornbrook 

Formation (Anderson, 1914, p. 90-93). Other 

placers were in the Quaternary gravels along Bear 

Creek and its tributaries. 

GOLD HILL DISTRICT 

The Gold Hill district is between lat 42°23' and 

42°43' N. and long 122°47' and 123°15' W., in 

northwestern Jackson County, and includes the 

Foots Creek area. 

Placers were worked in the district as early as 

1853, but the big strike occurred in 1859 when lode 

gold was discovered; an estimated $400,000 was 

mined from the Gold Hill pocket in the first year 

(Winchell, 1914b, p. 154). The chief lode mines in 

the district were the Braden, Sylvanite, and Whitney. The lode deposits were important in the early 

days, but, with the exception of the Sylvanite mine, 

they were small though rich and were quickly mined 

out. The placers on Foots, Sam, Galls, Sardine, 

Evans, and Pleasant Creeks were worked on a fairly 

large scale for many years. Dredges and hydraulic 

methods were in use from the early days until as 

late as the early 1940's (Oregon Department of 

Geology and Mineral Industries, 1943, p. 42). The 

district was active on a small scale as recently as 

1957. 

Complete early production data could not be 

found. Parks and Swartley (1916, p. 109, 193) reported that total production from the Gold Hill 

pocket was at least $700,000 in gold, and the Revenue pocket is said to have produced $100,000 in 

gold. From 1908 through 1959, scattered production 

data totaled 2,847 ounces of lode gold and 35,021 

ounces of placer gold. Total gold production through 

1959, including the estimated early production from 

the Gold Hill pocket, was a minimum of 80,000 

ounces. 

Metavolcanic rocks of Triassic age are the most 

abundant country rock in the Gold Hill district 

(Wells and others, 1940). These were intruded by 

masses of peridotite and granite, and considerable 

folding and thrusting accompanied the intrusions. 

Conglomerates and arkoses of Cretaceous age cover 

parts of the area, and Tertiary sediments occur in 

the central part of the district. The veins are genetically related to the granitic intrusive and occur in 

it or in the surrounding Triassic sediments. 

The veins consist of quartz lenses in fractures 

a few hundred feet long (Wells, 1956) . In many 

veins, crushed rock fills the fractures between 

quartz lenses. The ore zones consist of mineralized 

quartz or crushed rock, commonly accompanied by 

seams and masses of chloritic material. Most of the 

gold is free and unassociated with sulfides, but in 

some veins pyrite, pyrrhotite, and minor galena 

and sphalerite may constitute as much as 3 percent 

of the ore. 

JACKSONVILLE DISTRICT 

The Jacksonville district is between lat 42°11' and 

42°23' N. and long 122°45' and 123°03' W., in the 

Bear Creek valley. Medford is the chief town in 

the district. 

The initial gold discoveries in Oregon were made 

in this district in 1851 on Jackson Creek, and mining began the following year. The placers were 

profitable until about 1870, after which the Chinese 

worked the lower grade gravels that remained (Winchell, 1914b, p. 138). In the 1930's the old placer 

workings were dredged (Oregon Department of 

Geology and Mineral Industries, 1943, p. 132). 

Quartz veins were discovered in the 1860's; the 

chief mines were the Town and the Opp. The lode 

deposits of this district are similar to those of the 

Gold Hill district in that they are extremely rich 

pockets of auriferous quartz which can be mined 

out in a short time. With this type of activity it is 

difficult to keep production records; consequently, 

estimates must be accepted in lieu of factual data. 

Early placer production from the Jacksonville 

district is also unrecorded. J. T. Pardee (in Shenon, 

1933a, p. 37) credited the Town pocket with a production of at least $100,000 in gold, and Winchell 

(1914b, p. 149) credited the Opp mine with production of at least $100,000. The district was fairly 

active up to 1942; thereafter, production decreased 

and remained very low through 1959. 

Production of the district from 1904 through 

1959 was 7,090 ounces of lode gold and 9,172 ounces 

of placer gold. The district probably yielded a minimum of 26,000 ounces, including the early estimates of the Opp and Town mines, and possibly 

twice that much, if the early unknown placer production is included. 

Wells (1956) mapped and described the geology 
226 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

of the district. Its southern and western parts are 

underlain by altered basic flows, breccias, and pyroclastics interlayered with sedimentary rocks, 

known as the Applegate Group of Late Triassic ( ?) 

age. These rocks were intruded by a diorite mass, 

part of which crops out in the northwest corner of 

the district. Rocks of the Hornbrook Formation (of 

Late Cretaceous age) are exposed in a band along 

the west edge of the Bear Creek valley. From Medford eastward, the district is underlain by the 

Umpqua Formation, a succession of sandstones, 

shales, and conglomerates of Tertiary age. A wide 

strip of alluvium in the central part of the district 

fills the valley of Bear Creek. The lode deposits are 

gold-quartz veins containing minor amounts of 

sulfides. The veins cut rocks of the Applegate Group 

and may be related to the diorite intrusive. 

UPPER APPLEGATE DISTRICT 

The Upper Applegate district is in southwestern 

Jackson County between lat 42°01' and 42°20' N. 

and long 123°00' and 123°15' W. 

This was predominantly a placer district. Placers 

first were discovered along Forest Creek, and the 

district was organized in 1853 (Winchell, 1914b, 

p. 125). The original discoveries were soon worked 

out, but other rich placers were found along Ferris 

Gulch, and Althouse, Humbug, Keeler, and Sterling 

Creeks. Hydraulic methods were introduced in the 

early 1880's; the Sterling mine, with an estimated 

early production of $3 million (Diller and Kay, 

1909, p. 69), was one of the most successful of the 

hydraulic mines. Other large producers were the 

Layton, Pearce, Spaulding, and Old Sturgis mines. 

More recently draglines were used in this district. 

Only one lode mine, the Steamboat, was commercially important; before 1869 it produced $350,000 

in gold from gold-quartz veins in altered andesite 

(Winchell, 1914b, p. 136). 

Early production data are fragmentary, but the 

estimates from Winchell (1914b) and from the 

Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (1943) give a minimum of 165,000 ounces of 

gold before 1905. From 1904 through 1959 the district produced 2,135 ounces from lodes, 45,900 

ounces from placers, and 779 ounces undifferentiated as to source. Total production through 1959 

was about 210,000 ounces. 

JOSEPHINE COUNTY 

Josephine County has been one of the leading 

producers of gold in Oregon and has yielded significant amounts of the State's chrome and copper 

output. Gold was found on Josephine Creek as early 

as 1852, and the following year additional discoveries on Althouse Creek precipitated a rush during 

which prospectors .spread throughout southwestern 

Oregon. Hydraulic methods were introduced as 

early as 1856 to mine the placers. 

As in many other mining camps, the depletion 

of the placers in Josephine County led to the search 

for lode deposits. By the early 1860's quartz mines 

were active in the Grants Pass district, and somewhat later, in the Galice, Greenback, and Waldo 

districts. 

Diller (1914b, p. 47) estimated that from 1852 

to 1900 the annual production of gold in the county 

exceeded $450,000, or a total of about $21,600,000 

(about 1,048,000 ounces) for those years. From 

1901 through 1959 the county produced 187,913 

ounces of gold. Total gold production from 1852 

through 1959, including Diller's estimate, was about 

1,235,000 ounces. 

The geology of Josephine County is summarized by R. C. Treasher (in Oregon Department of 

Geology and Mineral Industries, 1942, p. 11-15). 

The oldest rock is greenstone of Triassic ( ?) age 

which underlies much of the southern part of the 

county, extends north-northeastward, and crops out 

in the northeast corner. Quartz veins containing 

iron, copper, zinc sulfides, and gold are common in 

this rock. The western part of the county is underlain by interbedded sedimentary and volcanic rocks 

of Jurassic age that strike parallel to the Triassic 

greenstone. The sedimentary rocks, the Galice and 

Dothan Formations, are predominantly black slates 

that contain varying amounts of sandstone, conglomerate, and tuff. Interbedded with these two 

formations is a greenstone unit. Peridotite and serpentine occupy belts several miles wide within the 

Jurassic sequence and strike concordantly with the 

regional north-northeast trend. Sulfide and goldbearing quartz veins fill fractures in the Jurassic 

sediments and greenstone. 

Masses of igneous rock of Jurassic or Cretaceous 

age that range in composition from granite to diorite are exposed in the southeast, northeast, and 

northwest parts of the county. A small patch of 

Horsetown ( ?) Formation, of Cretaceous age, is 

exposed in the Takilma area in the southwest part 

of the county. 

At numerous localities throughout the county, 

channels, which were eroded into rocks of Cretaceous age and older, were filled with gold-bearing 

conglomerates of Tertiary age (Shenon, 1933b, 

p. 152-154). Gold placers also occur in high terraces of Pleistocene age along the Rogue River. 
OREGON 227 

The major gold-producing districts in Josephine 

County are the Galice, Grants Pass, Greenback, 

Illinois River, Lower Applegate, and Waldo. 

GALICE DISTRICT 

The Galice district is between lat 42°28' and 

42°44' N. and long 123°28' and 123°54' W., in the 

northwest corner of Josephine County, and includes 

the Mount Reuben district in this report. 

Placer mining began in this district along Galice 

Creek in 1854. By the 1880's the richer deposits 

were mined out and Chinese took over many of the 

operations (Oregon Department of Geology and 

Mineral Industries, 1942, p. 16). The Old Channel 

and the Benton mines were among the important 

gold producers in southwestern Oregon. The Old 

Channel mine, about 1 mile west of Galice, was first 

worked in 1860 and was one of the largest, if not 

the largest, hydraulic mine in Oregon (Oregon 

Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, 

1942, p. 48-59). The workings were in a gravel 

terrace about 600 feet above the Rogue River. The 

Benton, a lode mine in the Mount Reuben area, was 

located in 1893 and was worked until 1905. It was 

reopened in 1936 and closed again from 1942 

through 1959. During 1940 and 1941 the Benton 

was the largest underground mine in southern 

Oregon (Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, 1942, p. 17). Other important mines 

in the Galice district were the Almeda, Gold Bug, 

Oriole, Black Bear, and Robertson. The periods of 

greatest production from the quartz mines were 

from 1900 to 1910 and from 1939 to 1942. The district was practically inactive from 1951 through 

1959. 

The Galice district produced about $5 million in 

gold to 1913 (Diller, 1914b, p. 47). From 1914 

through 1959, gold production included 16,600 

ounces from lode mines, 7,258 ounces from placers, 

and 1,941 ounces undifferentiated as to source. 

Total production, including estimates of early production, was about 268,000 ounces. 

The following description of the geology of the 

Galice district has been summarized from Wells 

and Walker ( 1953). Steeply dipping sedimentary, 

volcanic, and metamorphic rocks of Late Jurassic 

age cross the district in a northeastward-trending 

belt. From oldest to youngest these consist of sandstone, shale, and siltstone of the Dothan Formation, 

altered lava flows, tuffs, breccias, and agglomerates 

of the Rogue Formation, and mudstone, sandstone, 

tuff, and agglomerate of the Galice Formation. 

These rocks were intruded by sheets and dikes of 

peridotite, gabbroic amphibolite, quartz diorite, and 

dacite porphyry, all ranging in age from Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous. The rocks were compressed 

into isoclinal folds that trend northeastward and 

were later torn by faults, the most prominent of 

which are high-angle reverse faults that strike concordantly with the strike of the rocks. There are 

a few northwest-trending normal faults in the area. 

Gold is the chief commodity of the Galice district, 

but considerable copper, silver, and a little lead, in 

addition to gold, have been produced at the Almeda 

mine (Shenon, 1933c, p. 24). 

The veins of the Galice district fill fractures in 

many of the Jurassic igneous rocks-the gabbroic 

amphibolite, diorite, and dacite bodies. Veins· also 

occur in the Rogue Formation and its metamorphosed equivalent; however, there are no mineralized fractures in the Dothan or Galice Formations. 

The veins dip steeply and most of them strike 

north or north-northeast. In most deposits the gold 

is free and is associated with pyrite, pyrrhotite, 

and some chalcopyrite in a quartz gangue. 

At the Almeda mine a second period of mineralization is recognized. It is characterized by abundant 

chalcopyrite and a little sphalerite and galena in a 

gangue of barite (Wells and Walker, 1953). 

GRANTS PASS DISTRICT 

The Grants Pass district is in east-central Josephine County between lat 42°24' and 42°35' N. and 

long 123°15' and 123°35' W. Included within this 

district are the Jumpoff Joe Creek, Rogue River, 

Winona, and Merlin camps. 

The earliest mining was along Picket and Jumpoff Joe Creeks several years after the discoveries 

along Josephine Creek in 1852. Although records 

are scanty, apparently this district was not important until lode quartz mining began in the 1890's 

(Winchell, 1914b, p. 215). The major lode mine was 

the Daisy or Hammersley. Some of the important 

placer mines were along J umpoff Joe Creek, the 

Rogue River, and the Dry Digging at the town of 

Grants Pass. The district was sporadically active 

through the 1930's, but only a few mines were in 

operation in 1942 (Oregon Department of Geology 

and Mineral Industries, 1942, p. 66). From 1951 

through 1959 only a few ounces was reported from 

the district. Estimates of early lode production 

credit the Granite Hill mine with $65,000 in gold 

(Diller and Kay, 1909, p. 58), the Daisy with 

$200,000, and the Baby with $20,000 (Winchell, 

1914b, p. 225, 228). Incomplete production data for 

the district from 1904 to 1932 total 5,218 ounces. 

From 1932 through 1957 the district produced 540 

ounces of lode gold and 6,087 ounces of placer gold. 
228 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

Total production through 1959, including the estimates of early production, was about 22,000 ounces. 

The predominant country rock in the Grants Pass 

district consists of northeast-trending bands of serpentine, greenstone, and Galice sedimentary rocks, 

all of Jurassic age (Diller and Kay, 1924, p. 2-7). 

A dioritic intrusive of Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous age transects the other rocks. The lode 

deposits are in small quartz veinlets and stringers 

in greenstone and in the diorite intrusive. The 

veinfilling is mainly quartz with small amounts of 

pyrite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, and local 

pyrrhotite. Most of the gold occurs in the free state 

with quartz, but some of the sulfides carry varying 

amounts of gold. 

GREENBACK DISTRICT 

The Greenback district, which includes Graves, 

Wolf, and Coyote Creeks, is in the northeast corner 

of Josephine County, between lat 42°37' and 42°43' 

N. and long 123°16' and 123°28' W. 

The date of gold discovery in this district is unknown, but placers along Graves and Wolf Creeks 

probably were discovered in 1860 (Winchell, 1914b, 

p. 182) and were productive through the 1940's. In 

the late 1890's and early 1900's, lode mines such as 

the Greenback, Dorothea, and Livingston were discovered, and they exceeded the placers in production. For some time in the early 1900's the Greenback mine was regarded as the largest producer in 

southwest Oregon (Diller, 1914b,_ p. 31). After the 

1930's, however, production from placers was much 

greater than that from the lode mines. From World 

War II through 1959 the Greenback district produced. only 100 to 200 ounces of gold annually. 

Records of early production in the Greenback 

district do not exist and estimates are fragmentary. 

The Dorothea mine produced $50,000 in gold, and 

the Livingston, $20,000 (Oregon Department of 

Geology and Mineral Industries, 1942, p. 101, 110). 

Winchell (1914b, p. 184) reported early production 

of $400,000 from placers along Graves Creek. Total 

recorded production for the district from 1904 

through 1959 was 37,062 ounces-2,001 ounces from 

lode mines, 28,853 ounces from placers, and 6,208 

ounces undifferentiated. Total gold production 

through 1959, including Winchell's estimate of 

early placer production from Grave Creek, must 

have been at least 55,000 ounces. 

The geology of the Greenback district is very 

similar to that of the Grants Pass district. Alternating bands of greenstone, serpentine, and sediments 

of the Galice Formation cross the district in a 

northeasterly direction (Diller and Kay, 1924). · 

Most of the lode mines are in greenstone near the 

contact with serpentine bodies. The deposits are in 

small veins and stringers. V einfilling is mainly 

quartz and small amounts of pyrite, arsenopyrite, 

chalcopyrite, galena, and local pyrrhotite. Gold 

occurs chiefly in the free state; some is associated 

with the sulfides. 

ILLINOIS RIVER DISTRICT 

The 111inois River district is along the west 

boundary of Josephine County between lat 42°13' 

and 42°29' N. and long 123°38' and 124°05' W. 

Placer mining was reported as early as 1852 in 

the gravels of Josephine Creek, a tributary of the 

Illinois River (Raymond, 1870, p. 217-218), but 

records of early production are so fragmentary that 

the early output from the district is uncertain 

(Wells and others, 1949, p. 21). Scattered data 

attribute 2,006 ounces to the district from 1904 to 

1932 (·U.S. Geological Survey, 1904-24; U.S. Bu"" 

reau of Mines, 1925-32). From 1932 through 1959 

the district produced 327 ounces of lode gold and 

3,670 ounces of placer gold. Total recorded production through 1953 was 6,003 ounces, but the unrecorded early production must have been at least 

5,000 to 10,000 ounces. There was no recorded production from 1954 through 1959. 

The geology of the Illinois River district was 

described by Wells, Hotz, and Cater (1949, p. 2-21). 

The country rock is chiefly tuffs, agglomerates, and 

flows of the volcanic member of the Galice Formation of Jurassic age. These rocks strike northeast 

and dip fairly steeply to the southeast. Discontinuous bodies of serpentine and larger masses of peridotite are also present. An elongate mass of hornblende diorite occupies the northwestern part of 

the district and borders the serpentine and peridotite. Lode gold deposits are of two types-small 

tabular quartz bodies or pockets containing free 

gold and sulfides, and auriferous gossans from 

which the sulfides have been leached. Both occur in 

noncarbonaceous rocks of the Galice Formation at 

a considerable distance from the hornblende diorite. 

The most productive placers have been those along 

the 111inois River. 

LOWER APPLEGATE DISTRICT 

The Lower Applegate district is in southeastern 

Josephine County between lat 42°07' N. and long 

123°15' and 123°36' W. 

The recorded production of this district from 

1904 through 1959 was only 4,180 ounces and does 

not warrant its inclusion in this report; however, as 
OREGON 229 

placers were mined along Williams Creek soon after 

1852 and through the 1870's (Winchell, 1914b, p. 

229), it seems logical to assume a total production of 

well over 10,000 ounces. Most of the production was 

from placers, but lode mines were discovered as 

early as 1860 (Winchell, 1914b, p. 229) and were 

active on a small scale until 1950. The major lode 

mines were the Humdinger, Oregon Bonanza, and 

Porcupine. The most productive placers were along 

Williams, Slate, and Oscar Creeks and Missouri 

Flat. 

The Lower Applegate district is underlain by 

Triassic(?) greenstone that is intruded by diorite 

and serpentine. Galice sedimentary rocks of Jurassic age are exposed in the western part of the district. The gold deposits are in quartz veins in the 

greenstone, diorite, and sedimentary rocks. Shenon 

(1933a, p. 50-51) postulated that the ores are related to the acidic intrusives and were formed at 

shallow depths and at moderate temperatures. 

Quartz, calcite, pyrite, galena, arsenopyrite, and 

native gold are the vein constituents. Shenon 

(1933a, p. 50) noted apophyllite as gangue in the 

Humdinger mine. 

WALDO DISTRICT 

The Waldo district is in southern Josephine 

County between lat 42°00' and 42°10' N. and long 

123°30' and 123°50' W. 

Placers have been the mainstay of this district; 

however, there are a few lode mines, and some gold 

is produced as a byproduct from some of the copper 

mines. Placers were discovered along Althouse 

Creek in 1853 (Shenon, 1933b, p. 178-179) and were 

developed mainly by a group of sailors who constructed a long ditch to carry sufficient water to 

work the placers. By 1901 production declined, but 

the district was rejuvenated shortly afterward when 

hydraulic mining enabled substantial economical 

production from lower grade gravels. The district 

was active until 1942, but from then until 1959 it 

was virtually idle. Shenon (1933b, p. 179) estimated 

a total minimum placer gold production of $4 million (about 194,000 ounces) up to 1932. From 1932 

through 1959 the district produced 1,228 ounces 

from lode mines and 18,614 ounces from placers. 

Total production through 1959 was about 213,800 

ounces. The principal placer mines were the Llano 

de Oro, Deep Gravel, and Platerica mines. The Queen 

of Bronze copper mine, whose total production was 

valued at more than $1,350,000, yielded ore containing from 0.04 to 0.44 percent gold and 5.16 to 16.33 

percent copper (Shenon, 1933b, p. 163). 

The geology of the Waldo district was described 

in considerable detail by Shenon (1933b, p. 148-

161). Triassic metamorphosed conglomerate, limestone, chert, argillite, and sandstone crop out in a 

narrow band trending north-south through the central part of the district. The Galice Formation of 

Jurassic age underlies the southwest corner of the 

district, and conglomerate and sandstone of the 

Cretaceous Horsetown ( ?) Formation underlie much 

of the northwestern part. Patches of Tertiary conglomerate, which is gold bearing, occur along the 

East Fork of the Illinois River in the central part 

of the district. Quaternary gravels, among them 

the auriferous Llando de Oro Formation, fill the 

valley of the East Fork of the Illinois River and its 

tributary streams and gulches. Metabasalt, metagabbro, and serpentine underlie most of the southeastern part of the district. The serpentine is believed to be of Jurassic or Early Cretaceous age, 

but the age of the metagabbro and metabasalt is 

unknown. Near the greenstone-serpentine contacts 

copper sulfides were deposited as irregular lenses in 

fractures. These deposits are in both the greenstone 

and serpentine. Small irregular deposits of chromite in the serpentine also have been mined. 

LANE COUNTY 

Lane County has been a relatively small gold 

producer even though mining of the precious metals 

began as early as 1858 and continued in a desultory 

fashion through the 1940's. Most of the gold has 

come from veins in the Bohemia and Blue River 

districts. 

Total recorded gold production of Lane County 

from 1880 through 1959 was slightly more than 

46,000 ounces. Considering that mining began in 

1858, it seems reasonable to assume that at least 

50,000 ounces of gold was produced. The rocks exposed in the county are sedimentary and igneous 

and range in age from Eocene to Recent (Smith and 

Ruff, 1938, p. 11-22). The oldest rocks are sandstones, shales, and volcanics composing the Umpqua 

Formation of Eocene age. This is overlain by the 

Calapooya Formation, also of Eocene age, consisting dominantly of pyroclastics. The uppermost Eocene formation is the Tyee Sandstone. Oligocene 

sediments are the Fisher Formation (tuffs and breccias) and the Eugene Formation (tuffaceous sandstone and shale). The Eocene and Oligocene sediments are present in the western half of the county, 

generally west of the Willamette River valley. A 

thick section of Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene 

basalt and andesite lava flows, associated tuffs and 
230 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

agglomerates, and some dioritic intrusives younger 

than the Miocene lavas compose most of the bedrock of the eastern part of the county, including 

the Cascade Range. Some of the volcanic activity 

extended into Pleistocene and Recent time. 

The gold deposits are in oxidized-sulfide veins of 

Eocene or younger age. 

BLUE RIVER DISTRICT 

The Blue River district is in Lane and Linn Counties, between lat 44°10' and 44°20' N. and long 

122°10' and 122°25' W. 

The Lucky Boy mine, the only large producer in 

the district, was discovered in 1887. Gold production from the district was estimated to be worth 

$50,000 to $100,000 before 1896, and it was 7,728 

ounces from 1896 to 1924 (Callaghan and Buddington, 1938, p. 115-116). Only 44 ounces was reported 

from the district from 1924 through 1959. The total production, using the lower estimate of Callaghan and Buddington, was about 10,200 ounces. 

The geology of the district, as described by Callaghan and Buddington (1938, p. 114-117), is characterized by flat-lying andesitic lavas and breccias 

of probable Miocene age which have been intruded 

by small plugs and dikes of diorite. The ore deposits 

are in small . quartz veins containing sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite, pyrite, and local tetrahedrite. 

Apparently most of the ore bodies are in the oxidized parts of these veins. 

BOHEMIA DISTRICT 

The Bohemia district is 35 miles southeast of 

Cottage Grove between lat 43°35' and 43°45' N. and 

long 122°35' and 122°45' W. on the divide between 

the Umpqua and Willamette drainage systems. 

The district was described by Callaghan and Buddington (1938, p. 38-81), and the information that 

follows, unless otherwise noted, was abstracted 

from their report. 

The district was discovered in 1858, and some 

ore was mined until 1877, when the mill closed and 

the district became inactive (Diller, 1900, p. 7). In 

1891 there was a revival of activity that continued 

until about 1912. Since then, activity has been 

somewhat sporadic. There was no recorded production from 1952 through 1959. 

The entire gold production of 14,591 ounces in 

Lane County from 1880 to 1900 is credited to the 

Bohemia district. From 1902 through 1930 the district produced 13,695 ounces, and from 1931 through 

1959 it produced 10,270 ounces of lode gold and 81 

ounces of placer gold. Total recorded gold production through 1959 from the district is 38,637 

ounces. 

Most of the district is underlain by bedded Miocene ( ?) volcanic rocks with an aggregate thickness 

of 6,500 feet. These rocks are composed of approximately equal amounts of tuffs, andesite lavas, and 

volcanic breccias. Several small dioritic plugs, dikes, 

and a stock intrude the volcanics, and the gold deposits seem to be arranged around the intrusives. 

The deposits are oxidized sulfide veins containing in 

the unweathered state drusy quartz, galena, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and specularite. 

MALHEUR COUNTY 

Considerable gold has been produced from the 

Malheur district, in northern Malheur County, and 

from the Mormon Basin district which extends into 

Baker County and has been described on page 220. 

As might be expected, early production from such 

border-straddling districts was reported with little 

consideration for geography; however, it is fairly 

certain that the bulk of the Mormon Basin output 

was from the part of the district in Baker County. 

Gold production data for Malheur County are 

complete from 1904, but data on district production 

before 1932 are fragmentary. From 1904 through 

1959 Malheur County produced 13,522 ounces of 

lode gold and 13,860 ounces of placer gold. More 

than one-third of this came from the Mormon Basin 

district. 

MAJ,HEUR DISTRICT 

The Malheur district is about 10 miles west-southwest of the Mormon Basin district in northern 

Malheur County. 

Information on this district is fragmentary. The 

district's greatest production was in 1875, just after 

the completion of the Eldorado ditch which provided sufficient water to mine the gulch gravels on 

a fairly large scale. Production for that year was 

$150,000 in gold (Lindgren, 1901, p. 772-773). 

Lindgren (1901, p. 773) also reported some quartz 

mines in the district, but apparently these never 

proved to be of any importance. No further mining 

was reported until the late 1930's and early 1940's. 

From 1932 through 1942, the district produced 36 

ounces of lode gold and 2,277 ounces of placer gold. 

From 1942 through 1959 no production was reported. The minimum total production for the district through 1959, including Lindgren's report of 

$150,000 for 1875, was about 9,600 ounces of gold. 

MORMON BASIN DISTRICT 

The Malheur County part of the Mormon Basin 

district produced 4,133 ounces of lode gold and 5,199 
PENNSYLVANIA 231 

ounces of placer gold between 1904 and 1959, but 

before 1932 not all the annual production was reported. From 1952 through 1959, no gold production was reported from the district. 

The geology and history of this district have 

been described under Baker County (p. 216-218). 

PENNSYLVANIA 

Jn Pennsylvania, gold has been produced in significant quantities only at the Cornwall iron mine, 

about 5 miles south of Lebanon in the southern part 

of Lebanon County. 

Mining of the Cornwall deposit began in 1742 

(Hickok, 1933, p. 194) and was still active in 1959. 

Iron has been the chief commodity, but small 

amounts of copper, gold, and silver have also been 

recovered. The first gold production recorded was 

in 1908, when about 35 ounces was refined from 

copper concentrates. The total gold output of the 

Cornwall mine through 1959 was 37,459 ounces, 

most of which was produced after 1937. 

The oldest rocks of the area, according to Geyer 

and others (1958), are of Cambrian age and consist of five limestone and dolomite members of the 

Conococheague Formation. These are overlain by 

four formations of the Beekmantown Group of Ordovician age, and by the Annville, Myerstown, and 

Hershey Limestones and Martinsburg Formation, 

also of Ordovician age. In the immediate vicinity of 

the Cornwall deposit are two rock units of doubtful 

age: one of these is known as the Mill Hill slate 

and may be an outlier of Martinsburg Shale; the 

other is conglomerate or breccia called "blue conglomerate" by the miners. The entire Paleozoic 

section was folded into a recumbent synclinorium 

that trends east-northeast. Considerable thrust 

faulting accompanied the folding. 

The Paleozoic rocks are unconformably overlain 

by shales, sandstones, and conglomerates of the 

Gettysburg Formation of Triassic age. These rocks 

are warped into a homocline that dips north. The 

contact between the two series of rocks trends east 

and in many places is a fault. Large sills, dikes, and 

plugs of diabase of Triassic age intrude all the sedimentary rocks, and in part of the area a sill separates the Triassic and Paleozoic rocks. 

The Cornwall deposit is a contact metasomatic deposit at the contact of a diabase dike and Cambrian 

limestone. The dike has an elliptical outcrop pattern 

but at depth becomes sheetlike, which creates a 

trough where the ore bodies of replaced limestone 

are situated. The ore consists chiefly of magnetite 

and actinolite and lesser amounts of chalcopyrite, 

pyrite, diopside, phlogopite, chlorite, and serpentine. 

Small amounts of gold are recovered from copper 

concentrates, which suggests that it occurs with 

chalcopyrite. 

SOUTH CAROLINA 

Gold was discovered in South Carolina in 1827 in 

placers at the Haile mine, which was to become the 

largest gold producer in the Southeastern States 

(Newton and others, 1940, p. 1). Placers were also 

worked at the site of the Brewer mine before 1830. 

The first record of gold production in South Carolina was in 1829, when a shipment was sent to the 

mint (Becker, 1895, p. 256). Another major .goldproducing property in South Carolina, the Dorn 

mine in McCormick County, became productive in 

1852. The early period of intense activity was terminated by the Civil War, and though the mines 

were reopened afterward, the Haile mine was the 

only property in South Carolina that prospered. But 

by the early 1900's production at the Haile also 

declined, and except for a brief revival during 

World War I, the gold mines of South Carolina were 

largely dormant from 1900 to 1937. With the rejuvenation of the Haile mine in 1937, South Carolina 

became the leader in gold production in the Southeast. The War Production Board Order L-208 forced 

the shutdown of the gold mines, and the State has 

not produced any gold since 1943. Total gold production of South Carolina through 1959 was 318,801 

ounces (fig. 3). 

The geology of the gold belt of South Carolina is 

similar to that of North Carolina. The Haile and 

Brewer mines are in the schistose rocks of the slate 

belt (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 16). The Dorn mine, 

in rocks of similar character, is in the southwest 

part of the State, near the Georgia border. 

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY 

The Brewer mine is about 11;2 miles west of J efferson in northwest Chesterfield County. 

Gold placers were discovered in 1828 on this property and were worked even after the vein deposits 

were discovered. In the 1880's the surficial deposits 

were mined on a fairly large scale by hydraulic 

methods; the vein deposits also continued to be 

worked (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 106). By 1894 

or 1895 the mine was closed and was operated only 

during brief intervals after that time. The most 

recent activity was in 1939 when 8 ounces of gold 

was recovered from placers. Production of the 

Brewer mine was estimated at about $450,000 in 

gold (about 21,840 ounces) (Pardee and Park, 1948, 

p. 106). 
232 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

The country rock in the Brewer mine is quartz 

sericite schist, derived from bedded tuffs that are 

part of the slate belt (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 

106-107). These have been folded into a northeastward-trending syncline. North of the area, a body 

of granite is exposed, and it is believed that this 

intrusion is responsible for most of the hydrothermal alteration of the schist in the mine area (Par~ 

dee and Park, 1948, p. 107). The ore deposit is an 

ill-defined mass of silicified schist that contains 

pyrite and minor amounts of enargite, covellite, cassiterite, and bismuth. Most of the gold occurs with 

the pyrite, but some free gold is present. An unusual feature of this deposit is the large body of 

fine-grained topaz that constitutes much of the 

northwest part of the lode (Pardee and Park, 1948, 

p. 109). The lode is weathered to depths of 40 to 60 

feet, and the weathered material forms a sandy 

mantle in which native gold is concentrated. This 

material also comprises the placer deposits. 

LANCASTER COUNTY 

The Haile mine, in southern Lancaster County 

and 3% miles northeast of Kershaw, is the most 

productive gold mine in the Southeastern States 

and is probably the oldest mine in South Carolina. 

In 1827 gold-bearing placers were discovered along 

one of the creeks on the property. By 1829 the lode 

deposits were found and were quickly developed; 

lode mining supplanted the placer activity. The California gold rush and the Civil War curtailed operations, but by 1880 the Haile w~s again active and 

remained open until1918 (Newton and others, 1940, 

p. 2). During this period pyrite, useful for manufacturing sulfuric acid, was an important product 

in addition to gold. The mine was opened again in 

1935 after the increase in the price of gold, and from 

1937 through 1942, it produced a total of 60,013 

ounces. During this period the Haile accounted for 

most of the gold production of the southern Appalachian States. The Haile mine was closed at the 

end of 1942 and remained idle through 1959. Total 

gold production of the Haile mine through 1959 was 

278,080 ounces. 

The host rock of the ore deposits is light-gray 

sericite schist of the slate belt sequence. The rock 

was originally a tuff or volcanic ash (Pardee and 

Park, 1948, p. 114). About 3 miles northeast of the 

mine the bedrock is granite, but the contact between 

the schist and granite is concealed by the Cretaceous sandstones that unconformably overlie the 

older rocks. Several northwest-trending diabase 

dikes cut across the trend of the schistosity of rocks. 

There are two types of ore bodies at the Haile 

mine: large masses of pyritized schist and quartzpyrite bodies containing gold. During World War I 

the pyrite deposits were mined to produce sulfuric 

acid (Schrader, 1921, p. 332). The gold-bearing 

quartz and pyrite deposits are replacement bodies in 

two zones in the schist. These zones trend northeastward and are conformable with the general 

trend of schistosity (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 114-

115). The mineralized rock consists mostly of finegrained quartz through which is scattered much 

fine-grained pyrite and extremely fine-grained gold. 

Locally, sphalerite and pyrrhotite are present in 

small amounts. 

The mine has more than 6,000 feet of under,;, 

ground workings and at least five open cuts 

(Schrader, 1921,p.333). 

McCORMICK COUNTY 

The Dorn mine is in the town of McCormick, in 

central McCormick County. 

The first record of gold production from this 

property was for a shipment in 1853 worth $300,000 

(Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 119). Although little 

else could be found concerning its early history, the 

mine probably was operated for several years before 

the Civil War. It was idle from 1880 to 1932, at 

which time some development work was done. No 

production was reported from this most recent activity; the mine was apparently closed and remained 

inactive through 1959. Total gold production through 

1959 (Sloan, 1908, p. 27) is estimated to be worth 

$900,000 (43,700 ounces). 

The predominant bedrock in the area is sericite 

schist. This is cut by a basic dike and a light-gray 

rock containing clusters of quartz and feldspar, locally called "birdseye porphyry" (Pardee and Park, 

1948, p. 119). The ore deposits are lenticular bodies 

and groups of stringers. The lenticular lodes are 

replacement deposits of quartz and sericite with 

pyrite and a little covellite, chalcopyrite ( ?) , and 

manganese minerals (Sloan, 1908, p. 26). Gold 

probably occurs in association with the sulfides. The 

stringers consist of galena, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 119). 

SOUTH DAKOTA 

The gold deposits of South Dakota are in the 

Black Hills, in the western part of the State (fig. 

23). South Dakota ranks third among the States in 

total gold production and has been the leading gold 

producer in recent years. Its total gold production 

through 1965 was 31,207,892 ounces. 

The first documented discovery was made in 187 4, 
SOUTH DAKOTA 233 

during General George A. Custer's expedition to 

reconnoiter the Black Hills. The actual discovery is 

credited to two miners named Ross and McKay, who 

were attached to the expedition and found gold in 

gravel bars along French Creek. News of this discovery attracted many prospectors to the area, even 

though the country then belonged to the Sioux Indians who were not enthusiastic to have their domain overrun. Equally adamant in this respect was 

the United States Government which was bound by 

a treaty to keep white men out of the Black Hills. In 

1875, another expedition under the direction of 

W. P. Jenney was sent to the Black Hills to officially report on the potential mineral wealth of the 

region. The French Creek discoveries were confirmed, and numerous additional occurrences of 

placer gold were reported (Newton and Jenney, 

1880, p. 226-294). In 1876 the Black Hills were 

ceded to the United States, and prospectors flooded 

into the area and found gold in Deadwood Gulch, 

Nigger Hill, and Rockerville. By 1880 from $6 to $8 

million worth of placer gold had been mined, about 

half of which came from Deadwood Gulch (Lincoln, 

1937, p. 11-12). 

The first lode claims were located in December 

1875 in Precambrian rocks in the Lead district; 

these were later purchased to form the original 

holdings of the Homestake Mining Co. As the placers became depleted, the Homestake Co., through 

acquisition of other properties and intelligent development, became the leading operator in the Black 

Hills and the largest gold producer in the United 

States (fig. 24). Several smaller companies also 

developed gold lodes in the Deadwood-Two Bit, Garden, Bald Mountain, Squaw Creek, Hill City, and 

Keystone districts. 

The Black Hills consist of a core of Precambrian 

rocks surrounded by concentric bands of Paleozoic 

and Mesozoic rocks that dip gently away from the 

core. They are intruded by sills, stocks, and dikes 

of igneous rocks that range in composition from 

rhyolite and phonolite to quartz monzonite (Darton and Paige, 1925). 

The Precambrian rocks are exposed in a northwest-trending oval area about 60 miles long and 25 

miles wide, and they form the highest part of the 

Black Hills. These rocks consist of (1) intensely 

folded metasedimentary rocks, including schist, 

FIGURE 23.-Gold-mining districts of South Dakota. 1, Deadwood-Two Bit; 2, Lead; 3, Garden; 4, Bald Mountain; 

5, Squaw Creek; 6, Hill City; 7, Keystone. 
234 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

slate, and quartzite, (2) amphibolites that cut the 

metasedimentary rocks, and (3) granite that intrudes the other two (Noble and Harder, 1948). 

The famous Homestake ore body occurs in a cummingtonite schist unit, known as the Homestake 

Formation, which ranges from 200 to 300 feet in 

thickness and lies stratigraphically about 2,000 feet 

above the base of the Precambrian rocks exposed in 

the Lead area. 

Encircling the outcrop area of Precambrian rocks 

is a thick section of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks 

which are, in ascending order, the Cambrian Deadwood Formation, the Ordovician Whitewood Formation, the Mississippian Englewood and Pahasapa 

Formations, the Pennsylvanian Minnelusa Formation, and the Permian Opeche Formation and Min500 

(/) 

w 

u 

z 

::J V> 

0 400 Q; 

(.) 

w 

z a. "' u:: .r::: 

(.) 

w... :; 0 Cl 

(/) "0 

0 0 

~ 300 

0 

3: 

"0 (/) "' ::J 

0 0 "' I 0 fnekahta Limestone. The outer rim of the Black 

Hills is made up of a series of rims and hogbacks 

of Mesozoic rocks. The main period of deformation 

that produced the Black Hills dome occurred in 

post-Cretaceous time, during the Laramide orogeny. 

The structures seem to be a result of vertical forces, 

caused probably by magmatic intrusions (Noble, 

1952). 

The gold deposits of the Black Hills can be 

grouped into the following classes: 

1. Replacement deposits in Precambrian rocks. 

2. Deposits that resemble placers in the basal conglomerate of the Cambrian. 

3. Replacement deposits of Tertiary age in the 

Deadwood Formation and Pahasapa Limestone. 

YEAR 

FIGURE 24.-Annual gold production of South Dakota, 1875-1965. Sources of data: 1875-80 and 1894 from O'Harra and 

Todd (1902, p. 52), 1881-1923 from U.S. Geological Survey (1883-1924, 1896-1900), and 1924-65 from U.S. Bureau 

of Mines (1925-34, 1933-66). Production reported in dollar value was converted to ounces at the prevailing price 

per ounce. 
SOUTH DAKOTA 235 

4. Deposits in the Tertiary eruptive rocks. 

5. Recent placer deposits. 

In the early days of mining in the Black Hills 

substantial amounts of gold, silver, and lead were 

obtained from deposits in the Paleozoic rocks, but 

these were soon exhausted and the bulk of the gold 

has come from the Homestake replacement ore bodies: The main gold-producing area consists of about 

100 square miles in the northern Black Hills. Seven 

districts have produced more than 10,000 ounces of 

gold; five are in Lawrence County and two, in Pennington County. 

LAWRENCE COUNTY 

Lawrence County is in western South Dakota 

along the Wyoming State line. It includes much of 

the northern part of the Black Hills and most of 

the mineralized area, including the famous Homestake mine in the Lead district. 

Through 1959, Lawrence County produced a total of 26,386,000 ounces of gold, mostly from the 

Homestake mine in the Lead district. Other gold 

districts that have yielded more than 10,000 ounces 

are the Deadwood-Two Bit, Garden, Bald Mountain, 

and Squaw Creek. 

BALD MOUNTAIN DISTRICT 

The Bald Mountain district, which includes the 

Portland area, is 3% miles southwest of the Lead 

district. 

Claims were located in the Portland area in 1877, 

but early mining was handicapped by the highly 

refractory nature of the ore. By 1891 the milling 

and metallurgical difficulties were overcome by the 

chlorination process, and in 1892 cyanidation proved 

successful (Connolly and O'Harra, 1929, p. 143-

147). The district entered a period of prosperous 

development that ended at the close of World War I 

owing to high costs. The increased price of gold in 

1934 caused a pronounced reactivation which lasted 

until World War II. After the war, mining was resumed on a small scale, but increased operating 

costs again forced the owners to close in 1959. 

About $3 million worth of bullion, mostly in gold, 

was produced by the Mogul Mining Co. up to 1900 

(Allsman, 1940, p. 38). Other companies were also 

active during this early period. Total gold production of the district through 1959 was roughly 

1,400,000 ounces. 

Rocks of the district are chiefly southwest-tilted 

strata of the Cambrian Deadwood Formation, underlain by the Precambrian schist. Numerous 

sheets, dikes, and irregular bodies of Tertiary phonolite and rhyolite porphyry cut the older rocks 

(Irving and others, 1904, p. 144-145). 

The gold deposits are in replacement bodies in 

the Deadwood Formation and are the most productive deposits of this type in the Black Hills. Ore 

bodies are in two zones known locally as the "upper 

contact" and "lower contact." Deposits in the "lower 

contact" are in lenticular dolomite beds interbedded 

with shale within a stratigraphic interval of from 

6 to 30 feet above the basal quartzite unit of the 

Deadwood Formation. The "upper contact" is defined as a sequence of mineralized dolomite beds and 

shale 12 to 18 feet below the Scolithus sandstone, 

which is the uppermost m~j.t of the Deadwood Formation (Irving and others, 1904, p. 122-123). 

Ore deposits occur in vertical shoots, probably 

mineralized fractures through which the ore solutions moved and from which replacement was 

started. The distance to which replacement has extended away from the fractures varies with the_ 

character of the beds and intensity of the mineralizing action. The widths of the vertical shoots range 

from thin seams up to 10 feet, and rarely up to 

40 feet. Ore bodies of considerable width may be due 

either to coalescence of several parallel shoots or to 

the existence of many intersecting fractures (Irving 

and others, 1904, p. 134-136). The vertical extent 

of the shoots depends upon the thickness of the 

dolomitic rocks through which they pass, although 

some shoots extend into both overlying and underlying sandstone or shale. The maximum length of 

the shoots is several hundred feet; the longer shoots 

probably overlap fractures arranged en echelon. 

The ore is classified under two types: blue ore 

which is the primary ore, and red ore which is 

oxidized ore. The primary ore consists of pyrite and 

probably arsenopyrite, most of which is very fine 

grained to microscopic in size. In some ore the gold 

telluride sylvanite has been found, but most of the 

gold is believed to be associated with the finegrained pyrite (Connolly and O'Harra, 1929, p. 

162). Small amounts of galena and sphalerite are 

seen in polished sections of the ore. The gangue is 

chiefly quartz and some fluorite, gypsum, and barite. 

Most of the ore mined is the red ore, which consists 

mainly of gold-bearing limonite and is amenable to 

cyaniding. Blue ore is highly refractory and is not 

extensively mined. 

DF..ADWOOD-TWO BIT DISTRICT 

The Deadwood-Two Bit district is near the town 

of Deadwood in east-central Lawrence County. The 

district includes mining camps on Deadwood, Two 

Bit, Strawberry, and Elk Creeks. Both placers and 
236 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

lodes have been productive; however, most of the 

gold has come from placers in Deadwood Gulch. The 

total minimum gold output through 1959 was about 

284,000 ounces. 

The Deadwood Gulch placers, discovered in 1875, 

yielded an estimated $4 million (193,500 ounces) in 

gold by 1880. Stimulated by the rich placer finds, 

prospectors combed the area and quickly found a 

variety of other gold-bearing deposits, including 

placerlike deposits in the basal conglomerate of the 

Cambrian Deadwood Form .. tion. 

The first quartz mill brought into the Black Hills 

reached Deadwood in September 1876 and was 

erected near Gayville in Deadwood Gulch (Connolly 

and O'Harra, 1929, p. 138). It treated conglomerate 

ore from the Hidden Treasure mine in Spring Gulch 

and before the close of the year had produced 

$20,000 in gold. Additional mills were built, and 

by the early part of 1878, milling of conglomerate 

ore was at its height with 20 mills and 500 stamps 

in operation. After 1878 the richer deposits gradually became exhausted, and by 1881 work upon them 

had practically ceased. The amount of gold recovered is not known (AUsman, 1940, p. 22-23; 

Irving and others, 1904, p. 98-111). 

In 1878 gold ore was discovered in the Precambrian rocks in the Cloverleaf mine in the southeastern part of the district near Roubaix on Elk 

Creek about 8 miles southeast of Deadwood. It was 

worked for only about 10 years, but during this 

period $400,000 in gold was extracted. Periodic 

operations continued in later years, but the mine 

was closed in 1937. Total production of the mine 

was about 43,885 ounces of gold and about 300 

ounces of silver (AUsman, 1940, p. 14, 15). 

The earliest record of production from replacement deposits in the Deadwood Formation is in 

1892, when the Mascot mine, about 3% miles east 

of Deadwood, began shipping ore (AUsman, 1940, 

p. 50) . The discovery of veins in the Tertiary eruptive rocks in Strawberry Gulch, about 3 to 4 miles 

southeast of Deadwood, dates back at least to 1893 

when the Oro Fino property of the Gilt Edge 

Mines, Inc., was worked (Allsman, 1940, p. 56). 

The history of the Deadwood-Two Bit district is 

characterized by sporadic activity, and there has 

been no major producer with sustained output. The 

district was virtually dormant from 1937 through 

1959. 

The deposit of the Cloverleaf mine is in Precambrian rock composed of mica schist, slate, chlorite 

schist, quartzite, and amphibolite. The ore consists 

of galena, sphalerite, pyrite, and native gold in a 

saddle-shaped mass of quartz on a southeastplunging anticlinal fold in the mica schist (Connolly 

and O'Harra, 1929, p. 113). 

The so-called placer deposits in the Deadwood 

Formation consist of a gold-bearing conglomerate 

overlying the Precambrian rocks. Pebbles and small 

boulders of quartz, quartzite, and schist are 

cemented by pyrite or iron oxide where the conglomerate is gold bearing. The barren conglomerate 

is characterized by a quartzitic or calcareous matrix. 

Though Irving and Emmons (in Irving and others, 

1904, p. 99, 111) did note that some of the gold 

may have been introduced with the pyrite and some 

may have been chemically reprecipitated in the 

conglomerate by ferric sulfate solutions, they postulated that much of it was of detrital origin and was 

derived from erosion of the gold lodes in the Precambrian rocks nearby. Noble (1950, p. 246), on the 

other hand, considered it doubtful that any of the 

gold was of placer origin. 

Gold has also been mined from replacement deposits in dolomite beds of the Deadwood Formation. 

Two zones, known as the "lower contact" and "upper contact," contain the ore bodies. The "lower 

contact," which ranges from a few feet to 30 feet 

in thickness, consists of several dolomite beds interlayered with shale beneath an impervious shale and 

immediately overlying the basal conglomerate unit. 

The "upper contact" is near the top of the formation 

and consists of two to six beds of dolomite separated 

by shale. The ore bodies are lenticular masses parallel to bedding and consist of aggregates of quartz, 

chalcedony, barite, and fluorite and contain disseminated fine-grained pyrite, arsenopyrite, and 

local stibnite. Tellurium is present in analyses, and 

the gold and silver probably occur in fine-grained 

telluride minerals (Irving and others, 1904, p. 124-

143). 

A few gold deposits in the Deadwood-Two Bit 

district, near Strawberry Gulch, occur in Tertiary 

eruptive rocks and in adjacent brecciated Precambrian and Cambrian rocks. Most of the ore is in the 

form of auriferous limonite fissure fillings in a 

large mass of decomposed ·quartz monzonite porphyry. The limonite gives way at depth to pyrite 

and a little galena and copper sulfides (AUsman, 

1940, p. 57). 

GARDEN DISTRICT 

The Garden (Maitland) district is 1 to 3 miles 

northwest of Lead, in Blacktail and Sheeptail 

Gulches and False Bottom Creek. 

The dates of mineral discovery and earliest mining in this district have not been ascertained, but 

it is probable that some properties were being 
SOUTH DAKOTA 237 

worked in the 1880's. In 1902 the Maitland mine, 

which became the principal mine in the district, was 

put into operation. Activity continued until 1942, 

when the Maitland was closed. From 1943 through 

1959, no production was reported from the district. The total gold output of the district through 

1959 was at least 176,000 ounces; the Maitland 

mine is credited with 137,000 ounces. 

The district is in the northeast part of the Precambrian core of the Black Hills dome. Bedrock 

consists of slate, schist, and quartzite beds of Precambrian age, the Deadwood Formation of Cambrian age, and bodies of intrusive quartz monzonite 

porphyry and rhyolite of Tertiary age (Darton and 

Paige, 1925). The ore deposits are replacement 

bodies in dolomite beds in the lower part of the 

Deadwood Formation, immediately above the basal 

conglomerate. Fractures, parallel to the foliation of 

the Precambrian rocks, extend upward into the 

Deadwood and provided avenues for the mineralizing solutions. Primary ore consists of finely divided 

gold and silver in pyrite, but most of the ore mined 

was oxidized and was probably mostly gold- and 

silver-bearing limonite (Allsman, 1940, p. 42). 

LEAD DISTRICT 

The Lead district, which includes Yellow Creek, 

is in central Lawrence County in the central part of 

the mineralized area of the Black Hills. The district 

contains the famous Homestake mine, the leading 

gold producer in the United States and the only 

major operation in the district. 

Through 1959, the Homestake Mining Co. produced a total of about 24,450,000 ounces of gold and 

5,830,000 ounces of silver. Of this amount, about 

1,552,665 ounces of gold and 305,600 ounces of 

silver were mined before 1904 by companies that 

were later consolidated with the Homestake (data 

furnished by and published with permission of the 

Homestake Mining Co.). 

The Homestake Mining Co., which was incorporated in 1877, originally held only two fractional 

claims covering about 14 acres. These claims were 

purchased from prospectors who had located them 

in 1876 and had taken out about $5,000 in gold. 

Other companies-the Father de Smet, Highland, 

and Deadwood-Terra-were organized and in operation in 1878, but they were gradually assimilated by 

Homestake (Irving and others, 1904, p. 57). By 

1931 the Homestake Co. controlled 654 mining 

claims covering 5,639 acres (Allen, 1931, p. 290). 

The expanding operations are best reflected by 

production data. From 1881 through 1894, annual 

gold output ranged from 45,960 ounces to 66,280 

ounces. In 1900, about 172,000 ounces was produced, 

and in 1910, about 225,000 ounces. Production exceeded 500,000 ounces in 1935 and, except for the 

period 1942-52, it remained above 500,000 ounces 

per year through 1959. 

Rocks in the Lead district are mainly Precambrian in age and consist of six formations with a 

total thickness of about 20,000 feet. A few erosional 

remnants of the basal conglomerate of the Cambrian Deadwood Formation cap some of the hills 

and ridges. Igneous rocks are of two ages: amphibolite bodies derived from Precambrian gabbroic 

rocks, and small stocks, plugs, and dikes of Tertiary 

porphyries that range in composition from granite 

to syenite (Noble and Harder, 1948, p. 942-954). 

The Precambrian rocks are dominantly ironmagnesium schistose rocks in the lower part of the 

sequence and argillaceous phyllites and schists in 

the upper part. They were isoclinally folded in 

Precambrian time and deformed further during the 

time of Tertiary intrusive activity. In the vicinity 

of the Homestake mine the lower three Precambrian formations-the Poorman, Homestake, and 

Ellison Formations-are exposed. All the major ore 

bodies occur in the Homestake Formation, which is 

a sideroplesite schist containing many bands of 

recrystallized chert. Where the Precambrian rocks 

were metamorphosed to the garnet zone of progressive metamorphism, the sideroplesite schist of the 

Homestake Formation was converted to cummingtonite schist (Noble and Harder, 1948, p. 963-965). 

The ore bodies are linear or pipelike replacement 

deposits in the Homestake Formation. The schist is 

chloritized and has masses of quartz and crosscutting and conformable veins of quartz, quartzchlorite-arsenopyrite, pyrrhotite, quartz-ankerite, 

and calcite-pyrite. Arsenopyrite is also abundant in 

the chloritized rock near the conformable quartz 

veins. Four distinct stages of mineralization have 

been recognized. Gold is associated with arsenopyrite and also occurs in chloritized rock along the 

walls of quartz veins. Chlorite-pyrrhotite schist 

which surrounds conformable quartz masses also 

contains considerable gold (Noble, 1950, p. 231-

236). 

Noble (1950, p. 224-231) noted that the ore 

bodies were localized in zones of younger cross 

folds superimposed on the older isoclinal folds. 

Dilatancy, or increase of porosity in these zones, 

permitted a free circulation of mineralizing fluids. 

The age of mineralization of the Homestake deposits has been postulated as both Precambrian and 

Tertiary. After reviewing the evidence and the 

opinions of earlier workers, Noble (1950, p. 245-
238 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

247) concluded that the problem was far from tures and in irregular masses of silicified limestone 

solved. in the Pahasapa. The most productive ore bodies, 

In addition to those just described, two other west of Ragged Top Mountain, are fiat shoots near 

types of gold deposits have been mined on a small the surface, which apparently are lateral extensions 

scale in the district. Auriferous conglomerate in the from the tops of vertical fissure veins. A thin, relathin remnants of the Deadwood Formation in the tively impervious capping, which seems to cover 

hills just north of the town of Lead supported small most of the deposits, apparently caused the rising 

gold-mining operations, and replacement deposits mineralizing solutions to spread below the cap, thus 

in the lower dolomite bed of the Deadwood Forma- forming the fiat ore bodies (Allsman, 1940, p. 52). 

tion in the Yellow Creek area yielded about 125,070 The ore body consists of light-buff silicified limeounces of gold to 1920 (Connolly and O'Harra, stone and purple fluorite containing gold, silver, and 

1929, p. 137-142; Allsman, 1940, p. 40). The Wasp tellurium. The presence of tellurium indicates that 

No. 2 mine was the chief producer in the Yellow the precious metals probably occur as tellurides in 

Creek area. the unaltered ore. In general the veins are shallow 

SQUAW CREEK DISTRICT and are said to become narrow at depth; in places 

ore bodies pinch out at depths of 60 feet. The veins 

have not been explored generally to any great depth 

(Irving and others, 1904, p. 173-177). 

The Squaw Creek district, which includes the 

Ragged Top, Elk Mountain, and Carbonate areas, 

is in western Lawrence County west of the Bald 

Mountain and Garden districts. The recorded gold 

production of the district through 1959 was about 

76,000 ounces, of which about 75,800 ounces came 

from the Ragged Top Mountain area. 

Lead and silver ores were discovered in the Carbonate area in the early 1880's and peak production 

was from 1885 to 1891. Only small amounts of gold 

were recovered as a byproduct from this ore (Ailsman, 1940, p. 53). In 1896 considerable excitement 

was caused by the discovery of boulders of silicified 

limestone containing gold in the Ragged Top Mountain area. Shortly thereafter gold lodes were found 

west and south of Ragged Top Mountain and in the , 

Squaw Creek and Annie Creek areas. The deposits 

north of Ragged Top Mountain yielded about 

$316,000 in gold (15,285 ounces) from 1896 to 

1899. The mines west of Ragged Top Mountain were 

most active from 1899 to 1906 (Allsman, 1940, p. 

53). After 1914 the district declined, and only a few 

ounces of gold from scattered placer activities was 

reported from 1915 through 1959. 

The Squaw Creek district is a plateau 2% miles 

wide and 5 miles long on the northwest side of the 

Black Hills dome. The Mississippian Pahasapa 

Limestone, which forms the caprock on the plateau, 

is underlain by the Cambrian sedimentary rocks 

which are exposed along streams that have cut 

through the limestone. The sedimentary rocks are 

intruded by Tertiary porphyry bodies, and in the 

Ragged Top Mountain area a laccolith of phonolite 

is intruded at the base of the Carboniferous beds 

(Irving and others, 1904, p. 172). The ore bodies 

occur in the fiat-lying Pahasapa Limestone adjoining the phonolite mass. 

The ore deposits occur in silicified vertical fracPENNINGTON COUNTY 

Pennington County lies just south of Lawrence 

County and includes part of what is known as the 

southern Black Hills. From available production 

records, which are very fragmentary and incomplete, it is estimated that Pennington County had a 

minimum production through 1959 of about 128,000 

ounces of gold; most of it was from lode deposits 

and small amounts were from placers. 

Gold was found in 1875 in the gravels of Spring 

Creek, Palmer Gulch, Castle Creek, and Rapid Creek 

by the Jenney expedition (Newton and Jenney, 

1880, p. 238-272). Most of the placers were of low 

grade, and the discouraged prospectors turned 

northward to the more promising diggings in the 

Deadwood area and left the southern part of the 

Black Hills virtually deserted. The new arrivals 

found that most of the favorable ground around 

Deadwood had been claimed; accordingly, some of 

them, prospecting enroute, returned to the southern 

Black Hills (Hughes, 1924, p. 21-26). In 1876 the 

Columbia lode in the Keystone district was located; 

the nearby Bullion lode was found in 1877 (Connolly and O'Harra, 1929, p. 118-119). In the Hill 

City area, the Gold Metal deposit was explored as 

early as 1878 (Allsman, 1940, p. 72). Gold mining 

in the early years was apparently conducted in a 

desultory .fashion, and production probably was 

small. 

In May 1883, tin ore was discovered in what is 

now known as the Etta spodumene mine, and other 

discoveries of tin ore in the Harney Park area followed. The tin boom lasted until about 1894, after 

which gold prospecting was resumed and several 
SOUTH DAKOTA 239 

significant discoveries were made (Connolly and 

O'Harra, 1929, p. 115-116). Among these were the 

Keystone and the Holy Terror lodes which were 

located in 1892 and in 1894 respectively. In 1898 

the Keystone was sold to the Holy Terror Co. ; the 

combined properties have been the largest producers 

in the southern Black Hills (Allsman, 1940, p. 91-

94). After 1903 the most active period was in the 

early 1940's, when the Keystone mine was reopened 

briefly. Most of the mines in Pennington County 

were idle during 1906-27. In 1928 and 1929 some 

mines were revived in the Keystone district; in 

1935 some lode mines and placers in the Hill City 

district were worked. Gold mining in Pennington 

County practically ceased from 1943 through 1959. 

In the county, only the Keystone and Hill City districts have produced more than 10,000 ounces of 

gold. 

HILL CITY DISTRICT 

The Hill City district is an area of widely scattered gold deposits in western Pennington County 

in the vicinity of Hill City, near the headwaters of 

Spring Creek and around Rochford to the northwest 

of Hill City. Although production figures are incomplete for the early years, it is estimated that the 

Hill City district had a minimum total output 

through 1959 of roughly 35,400 ounces of gold, 

mostly from lodes. The district was dormant from 

1939 through 1959. 

The Hill City district lies along the west side of 

the mass of Precambrian rocks that forms the core 

of the Black Hills. The Precambrian rocks consist 

of complexly folded and distorted schist and quartzite. A short distance to the southeast of the district 

these rocks are intruded by the Precambrian Harney 

Peak Granite (Darton and Paige, 1925, p. 3-5; 

Connolly and O'Harra, 1929, p. 129-134). 

The lode-gold deposits occur in quartz fissure 

veins and lenses and mineralized shear zones. The 

deposits southwest and east of Hill City are chiefly 

quartz veins that cut the metamorphic rocks (Allsman, 1940, p. 69). The veins range in width from 

a few inches to 6 feet. Most of them are shallow, 

although a few have been mined to depths of 700 

feet. The veins consist predominantly of quartz in 

which free gold is irregularly distributed. West of 

Silver City, a quartz vein in the schist contains 

masses and streaks of lead-antimony sulfide, arsenopyrite, pyrite, a little sphalerite, and free gold 

(Paige, in Darton and Paige, 1925, p. 28). 

The mineralized shear zones are !host common in 

a belt extending northwest from Hill City (Ailsman, 1940, p. 69). These are zones of brecciated 

schist cemented by granular quartz and arsenopyrite, pyrite, sphalerite, and free gold. Most of these 

deposits are low grade. 

In the Rochford area gold deposits are found in 

quartz veins and lenses that cut the cummingtonite 

schist (Connolly and O'Harra, 1929, p. 129-134). 

The ore minerals are arsenopyrite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, a little magnetite, and gold which 

is associated particularly with the arsenopyrite. 

The gangue minerals are cummingtonite, quartz, 

carbonates, biotite, garnet, and chlorite. The general 

character of the ore and the geologic relations are 

analogous to those in the Homestake ore body 

(Noble and Harder, 1948, p. 954-955). 

KEYSTONE DISTRICT 

The Keystone district is in western Pennington 

County and extends from about 3% miles northwest 

of the town of Keystone to 1112 miles southeast. 

From available records, it is estimated that the 

Keystone district had a minimum output through 

1959 of about 85,000 ounces of lode gold, of which 

about 76,000 ounces came from the Keystone-Holy 

Terror mine (AUsman, 1940, p. 91-94). No figures 

are available on the amount of placer production, 

which apparently was small. 

The Keystone district is on the northeast side of 

the Harney Peak batholith near the eastern margin 

of the core of Precambrian rocks of the Black Hills 

(Darton and Paige, 1925). Precambrian rocks consisting of schist, quartzite, amphibolite, and many 

granite and pegmatite dikes, are the predominant 

rock units of the district. The rocks are tightly 

folded and are cut by faults and shear zones, some 

of which are mineralized (Connolly and O'Harra, 

1929, p. 120-121). 

The ore bodies are in quartz veins or lenticular 

replacement deposits which trend parallel to the 

foliation of the enclosing schist. The Holy Terror 

vein was mined for a maximum distance of 1,200 

feet along the strike and to a depth of 1,200 feet, 

and it ranged from a few inches to 6 feet in width. 

The gangue consisted of white quartz arid the ore 

mineral was coarse flaky gold (AUsman, 1940, p. 

91). Other deposits contained a wider variety of 

minerals, including arsenopyrite, pyrrhotite, pyrite, 

chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and native gold as ore minerals and quartz, hornblende, biotite, ankerite, 

chlorite, graphite, and garnet in the gangue. In some 

deposits the gold was very fine grained. The ore 

deposits are believed to be Precambrian in age and 

genetically related to the Harney Peak Granite 

(Connolly and O'Harra, 1929, p. 123-129). 
240 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

TENNESSEE 

Almost all Tennessee's gold has come from placer 

deposits in Monroe County and from the copper 

ores of the Ducktown district in Polk County, both 

in the southeast corner of the State. 

Gold was discovered on Coker Creek, Monroe 

County, in 1827, and by 1854 a total of $46,023 

worth of gold had been extracted from placers in 

this area (Ashley, 1911, p. 83-84), where sporadic 

small-scale operations continued from the close of 

the Civil War to about 1911. Total production from 

the Coker Creek area was about 9,000 ounces 

(R. A. Laurence, written commun., 1962). Fissure 

veins, high terrace gravels, present stream gravels, 

and alluvial cones were mined (0. N. Rove, unpub. 

data, 1926). The vein deposits are too low grade to 

be of economic value. 

The search for gold in the early 1840's led to 

discoveries of copper ores at Ducktown, and mining 

of the rich chalcocite deposits began in 1847. By 

1879 these ores were exhausted. Though there 

were large reserves of primary sulfide ore, the 

status of copper metallurgy and prices at that time 

made further mining unprofitable (Emmons and 

Laney, 1926, p. 31). After 1890 new roasting techniques were developed; the mines were reopened 

and were active through 1959. 

Gold ores, as such, were not mined in the Ducktown district, but small amounts of gold and silver 

were recovered from the sulfide ores after 1904. 

Although early records are incomplete and inaccurate, the best available data indicate that Tennessee's total gold production from 1831 through 1959 

was about 23,800 ounces, of which 14,872 ounces 

was recovered from the Ducktown ores (R. A. 

Laurence, written commun., 1962). 

The country rocks in the Ducktown district consist of graywacke, conglomerate, mica schist, slate, 

staurolite schist, and garnet schist, all units of the 

Great Smoky Group, of late Precambrian age. 

These are cut by several gabbro dikes. The rocks 

have been intricately folded, but the major pattern 

consists of three northeastward-plunging anticlines 

on which are superimposed numerous drag folds 

(Emmons and Laney, 1926, p. 14, 24). Three fault 

systems, some preore and others postore, cut the 

rocks (Simmons, 1950, p. 68). The ore deposits are 

tabular or lens-shaped replacement bodies in limestone in the mica schist, which has been complexly 

folded and faulted (Emmons and Laney, 1926, p. 

64) . Ross ( 1935, p. 40-43, 97-101) , on the other 

hand, believed the deposits to be multistage hydrothermal vein depos.;.ts. The ore is of three types: 

surficial gossan, rich in hydrous iron oxides ; secondary sulfide ore, just below the water table; and 

the primary sulfide ore. The primary minerals are 

pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, sphalerite and 

minor amounts of galena, bornite, magnetite and 

arsenopyrite. Gangue minerals in the primary ore 

are actinolite, tremolite, garnet and some zoisite, 

quartz, calcite, and dolomite. In the secondary ore, 

chalcocite is the most abundant ore mineral. Covellite, marcasite, and numerous copper sulfates are 

sparse, and small amounts of gold and silver occur 

in the primary and secondary sulfide ores (Emmons 

and Laney, 1926, p. 41-51, 76). 

UTAH 

Most of the ore deposits in Utah are found in its 

western part-in the mountain ranges in and flanking the Great Basin. The most productive districts, 

principally the Bingham, Tintic, Camp Floyd, and 

Park City, are south and east of Salt Lake City. 

Through 1960 Utah produced about 17,765,000 

ounces of gold and ranked sixth among the States 

in total gold production; 13 districts in 9 counties 

yielded more than 10,000 ounces of gold each 

through 1957 (fig. 25). 

The State's early development was influenced 

more by religious motives than by the gold fever 

which drew settlers to the other Cordilleran States. 

Furthermore, placer deposits, the first incentive to 

prospecting in the other Western States, were unimportant in Utah. 

In 1847, when Utah was still part of Mexico, the 

Mormons crossed the plains and formed a settlement in the valley of Great Salt Lake. Under the 

direction of the church, they established other settlements in a few years on nearly all the important 

streams where irrigation was practicable or where 

conditions were especially favorable for stock raising. Mining, however, was discouraged (Butler and 

others, 1920,p. 117-118). 

Nevertheless, the presence of metallic deposits in 

Utah was known to the early Mormon settlers, for 

small amounts of lead ore were mined in the 1850's 

for making bullets. Active prospecting, however, 

was first undertaken in 1862 by members of the 

California Volunteers, stationed at Camp Douglas 

near Salt Lake City, many of whom were prospectors and miners from the gold fields of California. 

Though lead ore was mined earlier from the Rollins 

mine in Beaver County, the first claim in Utah was 

located on outctops of lead carbonate in Bingham 

Canyon in September 1863. In December of that 

year the first mining district, the West Mountain, 
L _____ _ 1 T00£Lt 

I 

Beaver County: 

1, San Francisco. 

Iron County: 

2, Stateline. 

Juab County: 

3, Tintic. 

UTAH 

FIGURE 25.-Gold-mining districts of Utah. 

Piute County: 

4, Gold Mountain; 5, Mount Baldy. 

Salt Lake County: 

6, Cottonwood; 7, Bingham. 

Summit and Wasatch Counties: 

8, Park City. 

Tooele County: 

I 

I 

241 

r 

9, Camp Floyd; 10, Ophir-Rush 

Valley; 11, Clifton; 12, Willow 

Springs. 

Utah County: 

13, American Fork. 
242 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

600,---------------,---------------~--------------.----------------,----------,---~ 

500 

400 (f) 

UJ 

(.) 

z 

::::> 

0 

"-0 

(f) 300 Cl 

z 

<( 

(f) 

::::> 

0 

:I: 

I200 

100 

CJ) 

t) 

E 

CJ) 

i'i 

u 

·.;::; 

c 

i= 

""C 

c 

"' E 

"' .r::: 

OD 

c 

iii 

-

"' 

CJ) 

~ CJ) 

i'i 

Higher gold content of Bingham 

and Park City ore deposits 

FIGURE 26.-Annual gold production of Utah, 1865-1965. Sources of data: 1865-1917 from Butler, Loughlin, and Heikes 

(1920, p. 127-128); 1918-23 from U.S. Geological Survey (1919-24); 1924-65 from U.S. Bureau of Mines (1925-34; 

1933-66). Production reported in dollar value was converted to ounces at the prevailing price per ounce. 

was formed. Gold placers were found in Bingham 

Canyon in 1864 and were mined the following year. 

Their total yield was only 91,000-95,000 ounces. By 

1870 production from silver-lead lode deposits became important throughout the State (Butler and 

other,s, 1920, p. 118). 

As in the other Western States, the ore deposits 

of Utah are closely related to stocks and small 

batholiths mostly of Tertiary age. Small amounts 

of gold occur in all the mineral deposits of the State, 

except the iron and uranium-vanadium deposits. 

Most of the gold, however, was recovered as a byproduct of base-metal ores (fig. 26). The large porphyry copper deposit at Bingham is the largest 

producer of byproduct gold in the United States. 

BEAVER COUNTY 

Beaver County, in southwestern Utah, contains 

extensive deposits of silver, lead, zinc, copper, and 

relatively small amounts of gold. 

It is credited with the first mineral output in 

Utah, a few tons of lead ore produced from 1860 

to 1863 at the Rollins mine in the Lincoln district 

(Butler and others, 1920, p. 503). It became important in mining when silver was discovered in the 

early 1870's in the San Francisco, Star, and Beaver 

Lake districts and remained important until 1926. 

Gold production was mainly from 1860 to 1950; 

total production from 1860 through 1959 was about 

55,850 ounces. The San Francisco was the only district that produced more than 10,000 ounces. 

SAN FRANCISCO DISTRICT 

The San Francisco district, located in the San 

Francisco Mountains in the central part of Beaver 

County, has yielded 60 percent of the gold output 

of the county, mostly as a byproduct of base-metal 

ores. Records of early production are incomplete, 

but Butler (in Butler and others, 1920, p. 503) 

credited the district with a gold output of 21,822 

ounces through 1917. Total production through 

1959 was about 33,400 ounces. 

Ore was discovered in about 1871, but the district 

was of little importance until the Horn Silver mine 

became productive in 1876 (D. B. Huntley, quoted 

by Butler, 1913, p. 111). For about 10 years this 

mine was one of the most successful in the State. 

Several other mines in the district also were active 
UTAH 

intermittently, depending on the fluctuating prices STATELINE DISTRICT 

243 

of base metals and silver. 

The following description of geology and ore 

deposits is by D. M. Lemmon (written commun., 

1963). 

Sedimentary rocks exposed in the San Francisco 

Mountains are in three thrust plates. The top plate, 

which makes up Frisco Peak, is composed of upper 

Precambrian quartzite and argillite; the middle 

plate is Upper Cambrian and Ordovician dolomite, 

limestone, shale, and quartzite; and the lower plate 

is Mississippian and Pennsylvanian dolomite, limestone, and minor sandstone. After thrusting, the 

older rocks were largely covered by Tertiary volcanic rocks and then intruded by quartz monzonite. 

The ore deposits that have yielded much of the 

byproduct gold are the silver-lead-copper-zinc replacement deposits in volcanic and carbonate rocks 

at the Horn Silver mine. At the surface, the main 

ore bodies are along a fault contact between Upper 

Cambrian carbonate rocks in the footwall and volcanic rocks in the hanging wall ; the fault enters 

silicified carbonate at about 750 feet and remains 

in the altered sedimentary rocks to the 1,600-foot 

level. Deepest ore found was on the 1,200-foot level, 

but principal output was above the 1,000-foot level. 

The principal primary ore minerals are galena, 

pyrite, and sphalerite, and the less important ore 

minerals are chalcopyrite, sulfantimonides, and 

sulfarsenides. A large suite of secondary minerals 

is developed through oxidation and through secondary enrichment of sulfides. All the ore contains a 

small amount of gold, perhaps 0.01 to 0.02 ounce 

per ton. 

The copper ore of the Cactus mine is in breccia 

pipes in quartz monzonite. The principal primary 

ore minerals are pyrite and chalcopyrite, and small 

amounts of tetrahedrite, bornite, and cosalite are 

present. The important gangue minerals are hematite, sericite, quartz, tourmaline, siderite, anhydrite, 

and barite. In 1905-12, gold recovery was about 

0.008 ounce per ton from 1,230,302 tons of copper 

ore treated. The ratio of silver to gold recovered 

was about 22: 1. 

IRON COUNTY 

Iron County is in southwestern Utah, south of 

Beaver County along the Nevada border. In the 

central part of the county, the Iron Springs district 

produced major amounts of iron; in the extreme 

western part, the Stateline district produced silver, 

lead, and gold. Most of the 12,760 ounces of gold 

credited to the county through 1959 came from the 

Stateline district. 

The Stateline (Gold Springs) district is along 

the Utah-Nevada boundary at about lat 38° N. 

Though the area was well traveled for many years, 

the mineralized outcrops that mark the ore deposits 

were neglected, primarily because gold had not been 

found in the stream gravels and partly because the 

limestone containing rich silver and lead deposits 

elsewhere in the State was not exposed in the Stateline district. Prospecting began in earnest in 1896, 

and success was almost immediate (Heikes, in Butler and others, 1920, p. 564, 565). The district entered a period of sustained development about 1917, 

after which decreasing ore reserves and increasing 

pumping costs forced most mines to close. Some 

mines were reopened during 1932-42, but all were 

virtually inactive from 1943 through 1959. 

The bedrock of the district consists of extrusive 

latite, rhyolite, and rhyolite tuff (Butler, in Butler 

and others, 1920, p. 563-567). In the vicinity of 

Gold Springs, latite is exposed in the lower areas 

and is overlain by rhyolite; to the north around 

Stateline, rhyolite is the prevailing rock. All the 

formations appear to be horizontal but are extensively fissured. 

The ore deposits occur in north-trending veins; 

in the Gold Springs camp the most productive veins 

were found in the latite and in the Stateline area 

some of the best deposits were found in the rhyolite (Butler and others, 1920, p. 565). The veins are 

crustified and consist chiefly of chalcedonic to finegrained quartz, adularia (locally known as "yellow 

quartz"), carbonates, and generally a small amount 

of fluorite. The ore minerals are pyrite and native 

gold. Some gold is light colored and probably contains considerable silver. Some rich ore carries 

abundant tellurium; thus, a telluride of gold and 

silver may be one of the primary minerals. Oxidized 

ores contain cerargyrite, molybdite, ::tnd native mercury. In general the deposits are relatively shallow, 

but some in the Ophir mine were explored to a 

depth of 500 feet. Some veins end at depths of less 

than 100 feet where they separate into numerous 

quartz stringers in highly altered rock. 

JUAB COUNTY 

Juab County, in western Utah along the Nevada 

boundary, is in the eastern part of the Great Basin. 

The most important ore deposits are in the Tintic 

district, in the northeastern corner of the county, 

where large amounts of silver, gold, lead, copper, 

and zinc were mined. Several other districts pro-
244 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

duced gold, but only the Tintic had an output of 

more than 10,000 ounces. It produced approximately 

2,648,000 ounces through 1959; however, this total 

included production of the East Tintic district, 

which is contiguous with the main Tintic district 

but is in Utah County. 

TJNTIC DISTRICT 

The Tintic district, which includes the East Tintic district in Utah County, is about 60 miles south 

of Salt Lake City in the central part of the East 

Tintic Mountains. Eureka, the principal town, is 

near the center of the area. 

One of the three most important mining districts 

in Utah, the Tintic yielded about $428,000,000 

worth of silver, lead, gold, copper, and zinc through 

1959. Of the 2,648,000 ounces of gold produced 

through 1959, about 65 percent came from the 

main Tintic district and about 35 percent from the 

East Tintic. The principal mines were the Chief, 

Centennial Eureka, Mammoth, Gemini, Eureka Hill, 

Iron Blossom, Tintic Standard, North Lilly, and 

Eureka Lilly. 

The first claim was located in December 1869, 

and the district was organized the following year. 

In 1870, many deposits of silver-bearing lead-carbonate ore were found but were not developed on 

a large scale because of poor transportation facilities. The small amounts of rich silver and gold ores 

that were mined in the early 1870's were shipped 

to smelters at San Francisco, Calif., Baltimore, 

Md., and Swansea, Wales. Somewhat later most of 

the· ores were sent to Argo and Pueblo, Colo., and 

the Salt Lake valley, Utah, for treatment (Lindgren 

and Loughlin, 1919, p. 105). 

Railroad transportation, which became available 

in the late 1870's and early 1880's, had an immediate impact on the district. In 1879 the output of 

the district nearly doubled; production for 1885 

was valued at $1 million and for 1890, at $5 million 

(Lindgren and Loughlin, 1919, p. 106). 

The success of the district was established by 

important discoveries of several concealed ore 

bodies. In 1881 and 1882 the Iron Blossom and 

Godiva ore bodies were found at depths of a few 

hundred feet below the surface, and the subsurface 

extension of the Gemini ore zone was located. In 

1909, drifts on the Chief 1 mine intercepted rich 

silver-lead ore from the northward continuation of 

the Mammoth ore zone (Cook, 1957, p. 76, 77). In 

1916, exploration in the East Tintic area reached 

its climax when the large silver-lead ore body of 

the Tintic Standard mine was found at a depth of 

more than 1,000 feet (M. B. Kildale, in Cook, 1957, 

p. 104). 

The annual gold production in the Tintic district 

was relatively small through most of the 1880's 

but it increased sharply in 1889, and in 1907 

reached its peak of 113,000 ounces valued at 

$2,335,000 (V. C. Heikes, in Lindgren and Loughlin, 1919, p. 108). Except for declines during World 

Wars I and II, the district was active until 1957. 

No mining was reported in 1958 and 1959. 

According to H. T. Morris (in Cook, 1957, p. 

4-26), the East Tintic Mountains are composed of 

a section of sedimentary rocks more than 32,000 

feet thick, which are complexly faulted and folded . ' mtruded by quartz monzonite and monzonite stocks, 

plugs, and dikes, and covered by quartz latite and 

latite flows and pyroclastics. The oldest rocks are 

late Precambrian in age and are phyllitic shales 

and quartzites tentatively correlated with the Big 

Cottonwood Formation of the Wasatch Range. 

Rocks of Cambrian age are the Tintic Quartzite 

and the superjacent carbonate and shale formations 

consisting of the Ophir Formation, Teutonic Limestone, Dagmar Limestone, Herkimer Limestone, 

Bluebird Dolomite, Cole Canyon Dolomite, Opex 

Formation, and Ajax Limestone. The carbonate 

lithology is persistent throughout the remainder 

of the Paleozoic section, which consists of the following formations: Opohonga Limestone and Fish 

Haven Dolomite of Ordovician age, the Bluebell 

Dolomite of Late Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian age, the Victoria Formation of Devonian age, 

the Pinyon Peak Limestone of Late Devonian and 

Mississippian ( ?) age, the Madison Limestone, 

Deseret Limestone, Humbug Formation, and Great 

Blue Limestone of Mississippian age, the Manning 

Canyon Shale of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian 

age, the Oquirrh Formation of Pennsylvanian age, 

and the Diamond Creek ( ?) Sandstone and Park 

City ( ?) Formation of Permian age. 

This entire sedimentary section was folded into 

a series of north-trending anticlines and synclines, 

the most prominent of which are, from west to east, 

the North Tintic anticline, the Tintic syncline, and 

the East Tintic anticline. The rocks were also complexly faulted several times and were intruded by 

quartz monzonite and monzonite porphyry stocks 

and latite, andesite, and diabase plugs, dikes, and 

sills. Tertiary extrusive rocks, consisting of the 

Packard and Fernow Quartz Latites and younger 

latite and basalt, cover large areas in the southern 

and eastern part of the East Tintic Mountains 

(H. T. Morris, in Cook, 1957, p. 30-51). 
UTAH 245 

The ore deposits occur in limestone replacement 

bodies and in fissure veins, which have a spatial 

relationship with each other and with the intrusive 

rocks. Many of the replacement bodies, which were 

by far the most productive deposits in the district, 

are on the northward projection of fissure veins. 

Four principal replacement ore zones are recognized-the Gemini, Chief, Godiva, and Iron Blossom. They are elongate bodies, continuous in strike 

but discontinuous vertically, occupying a stratigraphic interval of 6,000 feet. The ore zones are 

continuous across faults; at certain fault intersections, chimneys of ore as much as 2,400 feet in vertical dimension are present (Cook, 1957, p. 63-70). 

The common ore minerals of the replacement deposits are galena, sphalerite, argentite, enargite, 

and tetrahedrite. Oxidation of these deposits extends to depths of 2,000 feet and is marked by accumulations of malachite, azurite, chrysocolla, covellite, anglesite, cerussite, smithsonite, calamine, 

hydrozincite, cerargyrite, native silver, and plumbojarosite. Ore minerals of the fissure veins are chiefly 

enargite, argentite, and galena, and minor amounts 

of sphalerite, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, and tetrahedrite are present. Gangue minerals are pyrite, 

quartz, calcite, and barite (Cook, 1957, p. 70-71). 

. Both types of ore deposits are associated with 

bands of hydrothermal alteration. Near fissure 

veins, the rocks are impregnated with pyrite, jasperoid, barite, and sericite; the replacement deposits 

are surrounded by zones of jasperoid, clay minerals, 

dolomite, pyrite, and sericite (F. H. Howd, in Cook, 

1957, p. 124-134). 

Native gold is a rare constituent of the Tintic 

ores, though some oxidized ore shoots of the Mammoth mine contained flakes of native gold associated with jasperoid and quartz. Most of the gold is 

recovered from ore containing abundant enargite 

(Lindgren and Loughlin, 1919, p. 142). 

PIUTE COUNTY 

Piute County, one of Utah's smaller counties, is 

in the south-central part of the State and is immediately east of Beaver County. Gold lodes in the 

Tushar Range in the western part yielded most of 

its mineral wealth; through 1959 about 240,000 

ounces was produced, mainly from the Gold Mountain and Mount Baldy districts. Silver, lead, and 

copper were also mined on a smaller scale. 

Gold-bearing sand was discovered in about 1868 

in Pine Gulch Creek in the Ohio district about 6 

miles southwest of Marysvale. Later in the same 

year gold lodes were found (Butler and others, 

1920, p. 541). Discoveries of lodes immediately 

north of the Ohio district led to the organization 

of the Mount Baldy district in 1878. Data from 

these two districts are combined in this report. 

After the successful introduction of the cyanide 

process, interest was concentrated on an area north 

of the Mount Baldy district that contained gold 

deposits which previously had resisted the amalgamation treatment. These deposits were developed, 

and by 1889 the Gold Mountain district was organized (Butler and others, 1920, p. 540). Mining 

flourished in the county until 1941, after which 

activity decreased; production remained small 

through 1959. 

GOLD MOUNTAIN DISTRICT 

The Gold Mountain (Kimberly) district in the 

northwest part of Piute County is just south of the 

Sevier County line and about 10 miles west-northwest of Marysvale. Some deposits are in the adjacent part of Sevier County. 

After the perfection of the cyanide process for 

treating complex ores, previously known gold-silver 

lodes were developed. The Gold Mountain district 

was organized in 1889, and a mill was built at the 

Annie Laurie mine which was to become the most 

productive mine of the area. During the most prosperous period, from 1901 through 1913, a total of 

134,744 ounces of gold was mined, chiefly from the 

Annie Laurie and Sevier mines (Butler and others, 

192Q, p. 540-541). Activity declined after 1914, and 

the district was virtually idle from 1918 to 1934. 

A brief resurgence occurred from 1934 through 

1940 which was followed by intermittent smallscale activity through 1959. Total gold production 

through 1959 was about 159,000 ounces. 

Bedrock in the Gold Mountain district consists 

of a basement of sedimentary rocks of pre-Tertiary 

age overlain by two groups of volcanic rocks-an 

earlier Tertiary ( ?) sequence of andesite, dacite, 

and quartz latite breccias and tuffs with a few 

intercalated flows predominantly of quartz latite 

and a later Tertiary ( ?) sequence of white rhyolite 

tuff with a few local interbedded quartz latite flows. 

The older sequence of volcanic rocks is intruded 

by masses of quartz monzonite (Callaghan, 1938, 

p. 98-100). 

The ore deposits are silver- and gold-bearing 

quartz veins 3 to 30 feet thick in the earlier Tertiary ( ?) volcanic rocks. The ore minerals are gold, 

finely divided argentite, and pyrite in a gangue of 

quartz, carbonates, adularia, and barite (Lindgren, 

1906a). Locally the veins contain copper stains and 

quicksilver (Butler and others, 1920, p. 544) .. 
246 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

MOUNT BALDY DISTRICT 

The Mount Baldy (Ohio) district is on the east 

side of the Tushar Range about 6 miles southwest 

of Marysvale. The early records of the district are 

fragmentary, but the first mineral discoveries in 

the Ohio camp were made about 1868 and in the 

Mount Baldy camp about 1878. Though many claims 

were located in both camps, early production apparently was small; records show an output of 

8,000 to 10,000 tons of ore from 1868 to 1903 (Butler and others, 1920, p. 542). Mining was intensified 

from 1910 through 1940 but was sporadic thereafter. No activity was reported in 1959. Production 

before 1904 cannot be determined (Butler and 

others, 1920, p. 542), but from 1904 through 1959 

it was 77,500 ounces of gold, most of which came 

from lead-silver-gold replacement deposits in the 

Deertrail mine. 

The geology is similar to that of the Gold Mountain district. Sedimentary rocks of Carboniferous, 

Triassic, and Jurassic ages are overlain by volcanic 

rocks of Tertiary age. The lowermost unit is a bed 

of quartzite more than 200 feet thick. It is overlain 

by interbedded dolomite and quartzite about 650 

feet thick which contain Permian fossils near the 

top. A 500-foot-thick interval of Triassic limestone 

overlies the Permian rocks, and 2,100 feet of nonmarine shales, sandstones, and quartzite overlies 

the Triassic rocks. Lying upon these nonmarine 

beds are limestones, shales, and sandstones of Jurassic age (Callaghan, 1938, p. 98-99). The sedimentary rocks are overlain by Tertiary volcanic rocks, 

which are separated into two units. The lowermost 

unit, of earlier Tertiary ( ?) age, consists of volcanic 

breccia and tuff and a few interbedded flows predominantly of quartz latite. The upper unit, of later 

Tertiary ( ?) age, is mainly rhyolite tuff containing 

a few local flows of porphyritic quartz latite (Callaghan, 1938,p.99-100). 

All the rocks are cut by faults. The steep eastern 

and western flanks of the Tushar Range are 

bounded by fault systems, and within the range 

there are many faults parallel to the ones that 

bound it (Butler and others, 1920, p. 539-540). 

Throughout most of the area, the strata, though 

locally warped, dip toward the west and southwest 

(Callaghan, 1938, p. 102). 

The ore deposits are in replacement bodies and 

veins. The Deertrail mine, which is the largest producer, is in a limestone replacement body, the only 

important deposit of this type in the district. Ore 

consists of oxidized products of galena and pyrite 

having a high gold and silver content. The gangue 

is sericite, quartz, and iron oxide. The ore body i.s 

a blanket deposit that replaced the upper part of a 

Jurassic limestone bed and possibly part of the 

overlying quartzite. At several places the ore is in 

two zones separated by 20 to 25 feet of unaltered 

rock (Butler and others, 1920, p. 550). 

The vein deposits (Butler and others, 1920, p. 

543-545, 555-557) occurred chiefly in the Ohio 

camp but their yield of gold and silver was small, 

and the yield of lead, copper, and zinc was smaller. 

However, some veins contain alunite and were of 

interest as a source of potash and alumina. The 

gold-silver veins occur almost exclusively in the 

volcanic rocks, where they occupy faults and fissures. The typical gangue minerals are quartz, carbonate, and local barite, adularia, and fluorite. The 

ore minerals are galena, chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite, 

pyrite, and sphalerite. In the rich oxidized gold ore, 

the gold is in part free and may be combined with 

silver as a telluride. Most of the mined ore was 

oxidized. 

SALT LAKE COUNTY 

Salt Lake County, in north-central Utah, is 

bounded on the northwest by the Great Salt Lake, 

on the east by the Wasatch Mountains, on the south 

by the Traverse Mountains, and on the west by the 

northern part of the Oquirrh Range. It is distinguished politically by Salt Lake City, the State capital, and economically by Bingham, the most productive mining district in the State. 

Most of the 10,651,000 ounces of gold produced 

through 1959 came from this district; about 30,000 

ounces came from the Cottonwood district. 

Soldiers, attached to the California Volunteers 

under Gen. P. E. Connor, arrived in Utah in 1862 

and established Camp Douglas, overlooking Salt 

Lake City. Many of the men, who were prospectors 

and had experienced the gold fever in California, 

began prospecting the ranges near Salt Lake City. 

The first mineral locations were made in Bingham 

Canyon in September 1863; other discoveries followed rapidly. Gold placers also were mined in 

Bingham Canyon in 1865 and within a few years 

had yielded about $1 million in gold ( 48,379 ounces). 

They were the only important placer-gold producers 

in the State (Butler and others, 1920, p. 118, 340). 

Ore deposits were discovered in the Little Cottonwood camp near Alta in 1865 and in the Big 

Cottonwood camp in 1868 or 1869 (V. C. Heikes, 

in Calkins and Butler, 1943, p. 71-72, 77). 

BINGHAM DISTRICT 

The Bingham (West Mountain) district, about 

20 miles southwest of Salt Lake City on the east 
UTAH 247 

slope of the Oquirrh Range, is the leading mining 

district in Utah and is one of the major copper 

districts in the United States. It is also the fourth 

largest gold producer in the United States; its total 

production through 1959 was about 10,610,000 

ounces. In addition to copper-its chief commodity 

-and gold, large amounts of lead, zinc, silver, and 

molybdenum have been produced from the district. 

One of the major stimuli to early prospecting in 

this region was Gen. P. E. Connor, who was in 

charge of the Third California Infantry stationed 

at Camp Douglas near Salt Lake City in 1862. Many 

of the troops had previous mining experience in 

California and were encouraged by General Connor to search for mineral deposits. By September 

1863, they found outcrops of lead carbonate in 

Bingham Canyon. This was formally located as the 

West Jordan claim, and in December 1863 the West 

Mountain district was formed. Handicapped by lack 

of transportation facilities and suitable reduction 

plants, the miners made little progress. In 1864, 

however, placers were found in Bingham Canyon, 

and these yielded $1 million in gold by 1871 and an 

additional $500,000 in later years. The completion 

of rail facilities to Bingham by 1873 removed the 

major obstacle to exploiting the lodes (Boutwell, 

1905, p. 81-85). 

Lead and silver were the principal products of 

the district until the financial depression of 1893, 

when the price of silver dropped. Interest turned to 

copper deposits that previously were considered too 

low-grade to be mined. Experiments for treating 

low-grade copper ore were undertaken at the Highland Boy mine in 1896, and exploration revealed 

large pyritic copper ore bodies. Elsewhere in the 

district several mills were built to treat disseminated copper deposits in monzonite. After several 

years of experimentation, exploration, and consolidation of properties, large-scale mining of the disseminated copper deposits was begun in 1907 by the 

Utah Copper Co. (Boutwell, 1935, p. 349). Mining 

continued at an increased rate. In 1936 the Utah 

Copper Co. was absorbed by Kennecott Copper 

Corp., and Kennecott became the major producer in 

the district. The large-scale exploitation of the disseminated copper deposits, which continued through 

1959, is responsible for Bingham's status in the 

mining industry. 

Most of the gold is recovered as a byproduct of 

the copper ore; thus, the gold output, which was 

mined from vein and replacement deposits in sedimentary rocks before 1907 and which was less than 

10,000 ounces annually, jumped significantly with 

the inauguration of large-scale copper mmmg and 

reached a high of about 450,000 ounces in 1953. 

The predominant bedrock in the Bingham district 

is the Oquirrh Group of Pennsylvanian age, which 

consists of about 16,000 feet of limestone and sandstone units. Four formations are recognized in the 

Oquirrh Group. In ascending order they are the 

Maple Formation, White Pine Formation, Butterfield Formation, and Bingham Mine Formation (J. 

E. Welsh and A. H. James, in Cook, 1961, p. 7-11). 

Many limestone and sandstone units within these 

formations are mappable units; some are formally 

named, others are not, especially in the mine areas. 

In the northern part of the district, a considerable 

area is underlain by the Curry, Clinker, and Park 

City Formations of Permian age. These rocks are 

intruded by several granite, granite porphyry, and 

monzonite stocks of Tertiary age-notably the 

Bingham and Last Chance stocks-and by sills and 

dikes of monzonite. Along the eastern edge of the 

district, the foothills of the Oquirrh Range are 

capped with volcanic flows, breccias, agglomerates, 

and ash deposits of Tertiary age (W. H. Smith, in 

Cook, 1961,p. 101-116). 

The structure of the Bingham district is complex and apparently exerted a strong influence on 

the emplacement of the stocks. A series of large 

northwest-trending folds known as the Bingham 

syncline, the Middle Canyon syncline, and the Copperton anticline are cut by several large west- to 

northwest-trending thrust faults and high-angle 

normal and reverse faults, and by a system of 

northeast-trending high-angle reverse faults. The 

stocks and mineral deposits appear to be controlled 

by the intersections of northeast faults with the 

trends of the fold axes and northwest-trending 

faults (A. H. James and others, in Cook, 1961, p. 

49-66). 

The major ore deposit of the district is that of 

the Utah Copper mine, an open pit 1% square miles 

in area excavated in the Bingham stock, a body of 

altered monzonite porphyry. Surrounding the stock 

is a roughly circular zone that contains most of the 

lead-zinc veins and replacement deposits (A. H. 

James and others1 in Cook, 1961, p. 81-97). 

The disseminated copper ore body is in a vertical 

cylinder of shattered and altered monzonite. Grains 

of copper sulfides coat the walls of fissures and are 

disseminated throughout the monzonite. In addition, the ore body is interlaced with veins and veinlets of quartz and orthoclase containing chalcopyrite, pyrite, molybdenite, galena, and sphalerite. 

Oxidized ore contains copper in the form of azurite and malachite. The zone of supergene enrich-
248 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

ment, which constitutes the largest part of the ore 

body, contains the copper minerals chalcopyrite, 

chalcocite, covellite, and bornite. The copper mineral in the primary sulfide ore is chalcopyrite (Boutwell, 1935, p. 355-356). 

The replacement deposits, which occur in limestone beds near fissures, are an important source of 

lead, silver, copper, and zinc. The copper ores contain pyrite, chalcopyrite, and minor amounts of 

arsenopyrite, bornite, and tetrahedrite and local 

specularite. Gangue minerals are quartz, carbonate, 

and garnet. 

Fissure veins have been the least productive of 

the various deposits in the district. They occur in 

quartzite and limestone beds and also in some of the 

intrusive rocks. Most of the fissure veins have been 

mined for lead and silver; a few have yielded gold, 

copper, and zinc. The common vein minerals are 

pyrite, galena, sphalerite, and tetrahedrite, and 

gangue minerals are calcite, quartz, rhodochrosite, 

and barite (Boutwell, 1905, p. 126-154). 

COTIONWOOD DISTRICT 

The Cottonwood district, which includes Big and 

Little Cottonwood camps, is on the western slope 

of the Wasatch Range in the southeastern corner 

of Salt Lake County about 20 miles southeast of 

~alt Lake City; it is immediately north of the 

American Fork district in Utah County and immediately southwest of the Park City district in Summit and Wasatch Counties. 

The Cottonwood, American Fork, and Park City 

districts are clustered in an irregular area whose 

center lies at the intersection of the north-south 

folds and thrusts of the Wasatch Range with the 

westward projection of the anticlinal axis of the 

Uinta Mountains (Calkins and Butler, 1943, p. 3-4). 

At the intersection of these structures, some fairly 

large intrusive bodies or stocks occur and, other than 

dikes or sills, are the only intrusive rocks known in 

the Wasatch Mountains. According to Calkins (Calkins and Butler, 1943, p. 3-4), "This segment also contains the only ore deposits in the Wasatch Range 

from which any considerable production has been 

won, the presence of these deposits having doubtless resulted from the combination of intricate 

structure with large intrusive bodies that are not 

too deeply eroded." 

The total gold production of the Cottonwood district through 1959 was about 30,275 ounces, of 

which approximately 16,650 ounces was produced 

before 1900 (V. C. Heikes, in Calkins and Butler, 

1943, p. 81). The chief metals recovered from the 

ores are, in order of value, silver, lead, copper, gold, 

and zinc. 

The earliest recorded mining claims in the district were located in August 1865 in the Little Cottonwood camp, and in 1866 several veins of argentiferous galena were found (V. C. Heikes, in Calkins 

and Butler, 1943, p. 72-73). The discovery in 1868 

of the Emma ore body, one of the most productive 

in the district, greatly stimulated prospecting in 

the region. The earliest locations in the Big Cottonwood camp probably were made in 1868 and 

1869, but little development work was done until 

1871. By the end of 1880 more than 1,000 locations 

were made but most of them were relinquished; 

most of the remaining were productive only on a 

small scale (V. C. Heikes, in Calkins and Butler, 

1943, p. 77). Very few properties have produced 

any ore in recent years. 

The growth of the Emma mine into a major producer stimulated mining throughout Utah. Several 

rich ore bodies were discovered in rapid succession 

in the Little Cottonwood area in the early 1870's, 

and the following decade proved to be the most 

productive in its history (V. C. Heikes, in Calkins 

and Butler, 1943, p. 77-82). The Cottonwood district was active from 1867 through 1954, but production was relatively small after 1927. 

The rocks of the Cottonwood district are dominantly sedimentary, ranging in age from Precambrian to Jurassic and having an aggregate thickness of about 12,000 feet. They are cut by intrusive 

stocks and dikes of probable Late Cretaceous or 

Tertiary age. The Precambrian rocks consist of 

several thousand feet of quartzite and shale overlain by tillite, formerly regarded as Cambrian in 

age but now thought to be Precambrian (M. D. 

Crittenden and others, in Marsell, 1952, p. 4-6). 

These are overlain by rocks of Cambrian age, consisting of the Tintic Quartzite, Ophir Shale, and 

Maxfield Limestone. An unconformity separates the 

Maxfield Limestone from the overlying unnamed 

basal Mississippian dolomite (M. D. Crittenden and 

others, in Marsell, 1952, p. 9). Above this formation 

are Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, and Permian 

strata, which, in ascending order, are the Madison 

Limestone, Deseret Limestone, Humbug Formation, 

Morgan ( ?) Formation, Weber Quartzite, and Park 

City Formation. Triassic rocks are represented by 

the Woodside, Thaynes, and Ankareh Formations. 

The Nugget Formation, of Jurassic age, is the 

youngest sedimentary formation exposed in the district (Calkins and Butler, 1943, p. 7-33). 

In Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary time the 

rocks were folded and dislocated by thrusts and 
UTAH 249 

high-angle normal and reverse faults. The thrusts 

have very low angles; many are along bedding 

planes in the sedimentary rocks. Stocks and dikes 

of porphyritic quartz monzonite, granodiorite, and 

diorite cut the sedimentary rocks and are apparently 

younger than the thrust faults, though some highangle faults are younger than the intrusives (Calkins and Butler, 1943, p. 52, 61). 

The most important ore deposits of the district 

are replacements of limestone beds adjacent to fissures and deposits in brecciated limestone along 

thrust faults. Other deposits, less productive, are 

contact metamorphic deposits and fissure veins in 

quartzite and siliceous shale of Precambrian and 

Cambrian age. The replacement and breccia deposits are similar in mineralogy. Pyrite is most abundant and is accompanied by chalcopyrite, bornite, 

tetrahedrite, enargite, galena, and sphalerite. Tungstenite occurs in the Old Emma mine, and bismuthinite, in the Sells mine. Variable amounts of quartz, 

barite, and iron and manganese carbonates make up 

the gangue. The fissure-vein deposits contain pyrite and tetrahedrite and some galena, in a quartz 

gangue. The contact metamorphic deposits were 

mined chiefly for magnetite. They contain mainly 

lime silicate minerals, magnetite, ludwigite, chalcocite, bornite, chalCopyrite, periclase, and spinel 

(Calkins and Butler, 1943, p. 91-95). 

SUMMIT AND WASATCH COUNTIES 

Discussions of these two counties, which adjoin 

each other along the east slope of the Wasatch 

Range, are combined because the major mining district in the area, the Park City district, straddles 

the boundary. Gold production data for the counties 

were not found, but as the Park City district is the 

only mining center of any consequence in either 

county, the district's production of approximately 

790,000 ounces through 1959 is assumed to be 

equivalent to that of both counties. 

PARK CITY DISTRICT 

The Park City district, about 25 miles southeast 

of Salt Lake City, encompasses the Uinta district in 

the southwest corner of Summit County and the 

Snake Creek and Blue Ledge districts in the northwest corner of Wasatch County. 

Though silver and lead are the chief commodities, 

considerable gold, copper, and zinc are also mined. 

The 790,000 ounces of gold produced through 1959 

makes Park City the fourth largest gold district in 

Utah. 

After the discovery of ore in the middle 1860's 

in the Little Cottonwood and other districts on the 

west slope of the Wasatch Range, prospectors 

crossed to the east slope of the range and discovered 

lead-silver ore in the Park City district in about 

1869. The first shipment of ore was made in 1870 

or 1871 (Boutwell, 1912, p. 19). Important discoveries of lead-silver ore were made in rapid succession and resulted in the organization of the Uinta 

district in Summit County in 1869 and in the Snake 

Creek and Blue Ledge districts in Wasatch County 

in 1870. In 1872, about 2 years after the first locations were made, the famous Ontario vein was discovered. Its bonanza ore bodies stimulated interest 

in the new area and gave Park City early prominence in the turbulent mining industry. Prospecting 

in the western part of the district led to discovery 

of rich lead-silver replacement deposits on Treasure 

Hill and, in 1892, to the opening of. extensive replacement deposits at the Silver King site. 

Because of the high content of the ores, the 

prosperity of the district fluctuated with the price 

of silver; the decline in price in the 1890's, especially in 1893, caused temporary intermittent production or closure in some mines. However, the 

lower prices in 1893 stimulated development of more 

economical methods of mining and reduction and 

more effective recovery methods, and large concentrating mills were erected to treat larger volumes 

of low-grade ores. In 1901 new discoveries of rich 

smelting ore were made and Park City production 

inoreased abruptly. After 1905 zinc became an important product. Recent activity in the district is 

toward the consolidation of the older properties and 

deeper exploration for bedded replacement ore bodies; the rich oxidized surface ores have long been 

depleted. The two major operators in the area are 

United Park City Mining Co. and New Park Mining 

Go. (C. L. Wilson, in Williams, 1959, p. 182). 

Predominant bedrock in the district is a section 

of sedimentary formations that are folded, faulted, 

and intruded by igneous rocks and are covered locally by volcanic rocks. 

The oldest rock unit is the Mineral Fork Tillite 

of Precambrian age. It is overlain by the Tintic 

Quartzite of Cambrian age, the lowermost formation of a thick interval of Paleozoic rocks, which 

includes the Ophir Shale and Maxfield Limestone of 

Cambrian age, the basal Mississippian dolomite, 

the Gardison Limestone, Deseret Limestone, Humbug Formation, and Doughnut Formation of Mississippian age, the Round Valley Limestone and 

Weber Quartzite of Pennsylvanian age, and the 

Park City Formation of Permian age. Mesozoic sedimentary rocks are represented by the Woodside 
250 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

Shale, Thaynes Formation, and Ankareh Shale of 

Triassic age and the Nugget Sandstone of Jurassic 

age. During Tertiary time, folding and faulting preceded and accompanied igneous intrusions of granite, quartz monzonite, diorite, and diorite porphyry. 

Faulting also occurred as recently as Pliocene or 

Pleistocene time. The main structural feature is the 

north-plunging Park City anticline on which are 

superimposed smaller east-trending folds which only 

slightly modify the Park City anticline (C. L. Wilson, in Williams, 1959, p. 183). 

The ore deposits are in fissure veins in both sedimentary and igneous rocks and are in bedded replacement deposits mostly in limestones near fissures. Veins mined in the early years were found in 

the Weber Quartzite and younger rocks; in recent 

years ore bodies have been found in veins in diorite 

porphyry, Humbug Formation, and Deseret Limestone. Replacement deposits were first found in the 

Park City and Thaynes Formations; they have recently been found in the Humbug Formation and 

Deseret Limestone (C. L. Wilson, in Williams, 1959, 

p. 186-188). 

Oxidized lead-silver ores containing cerussite, anglesite, iron oxides, argentite, smithsonite, azurite, 

malachite, and chrysocolla were the bonanza ores 

of early operations. Lead-silver sulfide ores of somewhat lower grade were mined later. These ores contain galena, tetrahedrite-tennantite, pyrite, some 

sphalerite, and rarely bournonite. Some deposits 

contain argentite, fa:rhatinite, and ruby silver minerals. Lead-zinc sulfide ores contain galena and sphalerite with pyrite and some tetrahedrite. Nearly all 

types of ore in the district contain small amounts 

of gold, and in the New Park mine, some calcitequartz veins are rich in gold (C. L. Wilson, in Williams, 1959, p. 188). 

TOOELE COUNTY 

Tooele County, which is in northwestern Utah, 

contains a variety of mineral deposits. Gold is the 

chief mineral commodity; through 1959 a total of 

about 1,257,000 ounces was produced from the four 

major districts of Camp Floyd, Ophir-Rush Valley, 

Clifton, and Willow Springs. Lead, silver, arsenic, 

and tungsten are also mined. 

CAMP FLOYD DISTRICT 

The Camp Floyd (Mercur) district, in the southern part of the Oquirrh Mountains about 55 miles 

southwest of Salt Lake City, is unlike the other 

major mining districts of Utah. It is primarily a 

gold district and silver and mercury are byproducts. 

The district is the third largest gold producer in 

the State; total output through 1959 was about 

1,115,000 ounces. 

The first mineral location in the area was a gold 

placer claim, and the district was organized in 1870. 

Placer mining, however, was unsuccessful because 

of the low grade and lack of water. Early discoveries of rich silver lodes also proved to be disappointing (Gilluly, 1932, p. 123). Interest in the area 

declined to the extent that the town of Lewiston, 

which had a population of 1,500 in the 1870's, became largely deserted. The Mercur lode, at first unsuccessfully worked as a mercury deposit, had a 

high content of gold, but the gold could not be recovered by the amalgamation treatment commonly 

used at that time. In 1890 attempts to treat the 

Mercur ore by the newly developed cyanide process 

were successful. As a result, prospectors again 

swarmed into the district, the town of Mercur was 

built on the old site of Lewiston, and new mines 

were developed rapidly. This period of prosperity 

lasted from 1890 to 1917, during which time the 

Mercur, Delamar, Geyser-Marion, Sacramento, Sunshine, Overland, Daisy, and La Cigale mines were 

the chief producers (Gilluly, 1932, p. 123-124). 

Mines were closed from 1917 through 1931, but in 

1932 some were reactivated, and in 1933 a 500-ton 

cyanide plant was constructed to treat old tailings. 

Enthusiasm generated by increased prices in 1934 

caused a significant resurgence of activity that 

lasted until 1945, when the mines again were closed. 

No production was reported from 1949 through 1959. 

The Oquirrh Mountains consist of Paleozoic sedimentary formations, totaling more than 22,000 feet 

in thickness; the formations are deformed into 

northwest-trending open folds, are intruded by 

various igneous rocks, and are cut by numerous 

normal faults. In the Camp Floyd district, which 

is along the west flank of the mountains, Mississippian formations, consisting of the Deseret Limestone, Humbug Formation, Great Blue Limestone, 

and Manning Canyon Shale, are folded into the 

Ophir anticline (Gilluly, 1932, pl. 12). Two small 

stocks and several sills of Eagle Hill rhyolite, of 

Tertiary age, cut the sedimentary rocks just south 

of the town of Mercur (Gilluly, 1932, p. 58). 

The major ore deposits of the district are bedded 

replacement deposits of gold and gold-mercury in 

the Great Blue Limestone. Silver and silver-lead 

replacement deposits and gold and gold-mercury 

fissure veins are of subordinate importance. The 

principal minerals of the gold-bearing replacement 

deposits are pyrite, realgar, orpiment, and cinnabar. The gangue is mostly jasperoid but contains 
UTAH 251 

small amounts of barite and calcite. The gold is too 

fine grained to be seen and its mode of occurrence 

is not known, although analyses have shown a relationship between it and carbon (Butler and others, 

1920, p. 394). 

CLIFTON DISTRICT 

The Clifton (Gold Hill) district is in the Clifton 

Hills near the Utah-Nevada boundary. Its ore deposits are varied and contain a wide range of valuable metal constituents. Besides gold, the deposits 

have yielded significant amounts of copper, lead, 

silver, and smaller amounts of tungsten, bismuth, 

molybdenum, and arsenic (Nolan, 1935a, p. 119). 

The first mineral discoveries were made in 1858, 

but hostile Indians discouraged any mining in the 

area until 1869. In 1871 a smelter was built, and 

small amounts of silver, lead, and gold were produced for a few years. Interest was renewed in the 

area in 1892 when a mill was constructed to treat 

ores from the Cane Springs, Alvarado, and Gold 

Hill mines; total gold production from these mines 

from 1892 through 1895 was worth $207,896 (V. C. 

Heikes, in Butler and others, 1920, p. 4 75). Intermittent activity continued to 1917, when the completion of rail facilities enabled the deposits to be 

exploited on a larger scale. Much activity was maintained through 1934, after which production again 

dropped. The district was virtually idle from 1945 

through 1959. Total recorded gold production from 

1892 through 1959 was about 26,000 ounces. 

The rocks of the Clifton district consist of a thick 

section of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, chiefly dolomite and limestone, that range in age from Early 

Cambrian through Permian. These rocks are intruded by a stock of quartz monzonite and dikes of 

porphyry and aplite of Tertiary age. Five cycles of 

folding and faulting, beginning in Late Cretaceous 

or Eocene time and continuing to the time of the 

quartz monzonite intrusion, created a complex structural terrain that was further modified by normal 

faults of more recent age (Nolan, 1935a, p. 4-64). 

The ore deposits of the district are of several 

diverse mineralogical and genetic types. Nolan 

(1935a, p. 97-103) classified them as: 

1. Pipelike deposits locally containing tungsten and 

molybdenum. 

2. Veins: 

(a) Veins characterized by silicate minerals in 

the gangue. 

(b) Veins containing chiefly quartz and metallic 

sulfides. 

(c) Veins containing chiefly carbonate minerals 

with or without quartz. 

3. Replacement bodies: 

(a) Arsenic minerals dominant. 

(b) Copper-lead-silver minerals dominant. 

The replacement bodies yielded most of the mineral 

wealth of the district; however, most of the gold 

came from veins in limestone beds near their contact with the quartz monzonite stock. These veins 

are characterized by abundant wollastonite and 

small amounts of zoisite, vesuvianite, garnet, and 

diopside. Chalcopyrite is the most abundant sulfide 

and is accompanied by pyrite, bornite, arsenopyrite, 

and galena. Quartz and calcite are locally abundant, 

and native gold is present in small quantities. 

OPHIR-RUSH VALLEY DISTRICT 

The Ophir-Rush Valley (Stockton) district, in the 

central part of the west flank of the Oquirrh Mountains between the Camp Floyd district to the south 

and the Bingham district to the north, is known 

chiefly for lead, silver, copper, and zinc. Gold was 

recovered chiefly as a byproduct of the base-metal 

ores; total production through 1959 was about 

104,000 ounces. 

Silver deposits were found in 1864 in Rush Valley 

by soldiers of the California Volunteers stationed 

at a nearby military post known as "Camp Relief." 

Efforts at smelting the ore at first met with small 

success and the mines were abandoned by the end of 

1865. After the Civil War the original claim owners, 

who were soldiers, were discharged and returned to 

their homes; however, mining laws were amended 

to make their claims permanently valid. This action 

retarded development of the district for several 

years (Gilluly, 1932, p. 117-118). Lead deposits 

were found in the Ophir area in 1865, but very 

little work was done on claims until 1870. Additional discoveries of silver-lead ores in the early 

1870's in the Ophir and Rush Valley areas caused a 

brief period of prosperity that lasted until about 

1880 at Ophir and until 1890 at Rush Valley (V. C. 

Heikes, in Butler and others, 1920, p. 363-366). 

Beginning in 1904, production increased sharply. 

Zinc was first recovered from ores in the Ophir area 

in 1911 and from the Rush Valley mines in 1913. 

Activity has continued, with periodic fluctuations, 

through 1959. 

Most of the exposed rock in the district consists 

of sedimentary formations that range in age from 

Cambrian to Pennsylvanian. The Cambrian rocks, 

about 2,500 feet thick, consist of the Tintic Quartzite at the base, the Ophir Formation, Hartmann 

Limestone, Bowman Limestone, and Lynch Dolomite. The Devonian System is represented by about 

185 feet of Jefferson ( ?) Dolomite. Rocks of Missis-
252 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

sippian age are the Deseret Limestone, Humbug 

Formation, and Great Blue Limestone. The Manning 

Canyon Shale is of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian 

age and is overlain by the Oquirrh Formation of 

Pennsylvanian age (Gilluly, 1932, p. 6-38). The 

rocks are folded into a northwest-trending anticline, 

the Ophir anticline, and are broken by fissures and 

faults, especially in the vicinity of Ophir Canyon, 

where a northeast-trending zone of faults has offset 

the axis of the Ophir anticline and the sedimentary 

beds about 2,000 feet. Northwest-trending normal 

faults are parallel to the west front of the Oquirrh 

Mountains (Gilluly, 1932, p. 69-74). Small intrusive 

stocks, dikes, plugs, and sills of monzonite, rhyolite, 

andesite, lamprophyre, and nepheline basalt cut the 

sedimentary formations. 

The most important ore deposits are in the 

Honorine mine, just east of the town of Stockton. 

The ore bodies are in bedded replacement deposits 

in limestone beds of the Oquirrh Formation where 

these beds intersect faults or fissures. Primary ore 

consists of pyrite, galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, 

and arsenopyrite in a gangue of quartz and lime 

silicate minerals. Oxidized ore contains cerussite, 

plumbojarosite, jarosite, malachite, smithsonite, 

aurichalcite, pyromorphite, and limonite (Gilluly, 

1932, p. 160-162). In the Ophir area, the chief 

deposits are in replacement bodies in Mississippian 

limestones, especially the Great Blue Limestone. A 

few deposits occur in the Ophir Formation and the 

Jefferson ( ?) Dolomite. With local exceptions, these 

deposits contain the same minerals as the replacement deposits in the vicinity of Stockton. Fissure 

veins occur throughout the district, but they are of 

little economic importance ( Gilluly, 1932, p. 136-

137). 

WILLOW SPRINGS DISTRICT 

The Willow Springs district is in the southern 

part of the Deep Creek Range in the southwestern 

corner of Tooele County. Through 1959 it produced 

about 11,650 ounces of gold, lead, silver, and some 

copper. 

The district was organized in 1891, but for many 

years it made only a few small shipments of silver 

ore (Nolan, 1935a, p. 167). Its period of greatest 

activity was that of recorded production, 1934-50. 

The ore shipped during this period consisted of 

high-grade lead-silver and gold ores. The district 

was virtually idle from 1951 through 1959. 

Metamorphic rocks of Precambrian age are the 

oldest exposed rocks. They are nonconformably 

overlain by the Goshute Canyon Formation of Precambrian or Cambrian age. Completing the Cambrian sequence are the Prospect Mountain Quartzite, 

Pioche Shale, Abercrombie Formation, Young Peak 

Dolomite, Trippe Limestone, Lamb Dolomite, Hicks 

Formation, and lower part of the Chokecherry Dolomite. The upper part of the Chokecherry Dolomite 

and the Fish Haven Dolomite represent the Ordovician System, and the Laketown Dolomite, the 

Silurian. Devonian formations exposed in the district are the Sevy Dolomite, Simonson Dolomite, and 

Guilmette Formation. In the northern part of the 

district, younger rocks, including the Woodman 

Formation, Ochre Mountain Limestone, Manning 

Canyon Formation of Mississippian age, and the 

Oquirrh Formation of Pennsylvanian age, are 

faulted against the lower Paleozoic units (Nolan, 

1935a, pl. 1; BiCk, 1959, p. 1065-1068). All the 

sedimentary formations are cut by faults that 

trend west or northwest and are deformed into a 

westward-tilted block by north-trending normal 

faults. 

The ore deposits are in replacement veins and in 

bedded replacement deposits. The ores were probably completely oxidized at the surface and were 

rich in silver. Some of the vein ore examined by 

Nolan (1935a, p. 167-168) contained quartz, tetrahedrite, and galena. 

UTAH COUNTY 

Utah County, in north-central Utah, is bounded 

on the east by the crest of the Wasatch Range, on 

the north by the Traverse Mountains, on the northwest by the Oquirrh Mountains, and on the southwest by the East Tintic Mountains. 

Several mining districts were organized in the 

county, but only the American Fork and East Tintic 

districts yielded substantial amounts of gold. The 

East Tintic district, which is geologically contiguous 

with the Tintic district in Juab County, was described in the discussion of Juab County. The total 

gold production of Utah County cannot be determined, because much of the output of East Tintic 

was combined with that of the Tin tic. 

AMERICAN FORK DISTRICT 

The American Fork district, in the northeastern 

part of Utah County in the Wasatch Range, is about 

5 miles southeast of the Cottonwood district. 

After the major discoveries at Bingham Canyon, 

miners prospected in the Wasatch Range and found 

silver-lead lodes in Cottonwood Canyon and in the 

American Fork area. The district was organized in 

1870, and the Miller mine soon became its chief 

producer. By 1880, however, most of the mines were 
UTAH 253 

idle. Production remained small until 1904, when a 

large new ore body in the Miller mine was found; 

this ore body was mined until 1908 (V. C. Heikes, 

in Calkins and Butler, 1943, p. 80-85). From 1923 

until 1935 the district experienced considerable activity, but from 1936 through 1959 its was largely 

dormant. Total gold production of the district 

through 1959 was about 45,000 ounces. 

The geology of the American Fork district is 

similar to that of the Cottonwood district discussed 

under "Salt Lake County." In general, the rocks 

consist of a thick section of sedimentary units ranging in age from Precambrian to Mississippian. 

These rocks were folded along north-trending axes, 

cut by thrusts and high-angle faults, and intruded 

by the Little Cottonwood stock, a mass of quartz 

monzonite of Late Cretaceous or Tertiary age (Calkins and Butler, 1943, p. 38-71). 

The major ore deposits of the district are replacement bodies in limestones adjacent to faults and 

fissures. A few deposits occur in fissure veins in 

quartzite beds of Precambrian and Cambrian age. 

The most common ore minerals of the replacement 

deposits are galena, pyrite, tetrahedrite, bornite, 

enargite, and sphalerite; chalcopyrite is locally 

present, and jamesonite occurs rarely. Gangue minerals are quartz, barite, and dolomite (Calkins and 

Butler, 1943, p. 94-95). The replacement deposit at 

the Miller mine, the largest producer in the district, 

is in shattered beds of the Maxfield Limestone. The 

ore was oxidized and contained silver-rich galena, 

cerussite, gold, and hydrous iron oxides. Some ore 

contained as much as 2.45 ounces of gold per ton, 

but more commonly the gold content ranged from 

0.1 to 0.5 ounce per ton (Butler and others, 1920, 

p. 279-280) . 

VIRGINIA 

The gold-bearing areas of Virginia are east of the 

Blue Ridge Mountains in a belt 15 to 25 miles wide 

and 200 miles long (Watson, 1907, p. 549-550). 

Fauquier, Fluvanna, Goochland, Orange, and Spotsylvania Counties contain the most important 

deposits. 

The earliest reference to gold in the southern 

Piedmont was made by Thomas Jefferson, who 

described a piece of ore containing 17 pennyweights 

of gold found in 1782 along the Rappahannock River 

in Virginia (Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 27). The 

first gold-mining company incorporated in the State 

was the Virginia Mining Co. of New York, which 

operated the Grasty tract in Orange County from 

1831 to 1834 (Watson, 1907, p. 549). Mint records 

show that $2,500 in gold was produced in Virginia 

in 1829 (Taber, 1913, p. 6), probably from placers 

in Goochland County. Other deposits along the gold 

belt were discovered in the early 1830's, and the 

years before the Civil War were the most productive 

in the State's history. The Civil War halted development of gold mining in Virginia, and after the war, 

despite attempts at revival, the gold mines did not 

regain their former level of productivity. When the 

price of gold was increased in 1934, there was a 

short-lived flurry. Several mines reopened and 

operations in the Virgilina district yielded some 

gold. Production declined after 1938 and after 1945 

it stopped. Total gold production of the State 

through 1959 was 167,558 ounces (fig. 3). 

The ore deposits are in northeast-trending schists 

and gneisses of sedimentary and igneous origin. 

These are cut by auriferous quartz-pyrite veins that 

in general are concordant with the strike and dip of 

the host rocks. 

FAUQUIER COUNTY 

The Franklin mine is in southern Fauquier 

County about 3 miles south of Morrisville. Although 

it is the largest in Fauquier County, its history is 

incomplete. Watson (1907, p. 553) reported activity 

at the mine in 1901 and 1902, at which time tailings 

were being cyanided. Pardee and Park (1948, p. 54) 

reported some development work on the property in 

1934 and 1935 but no production during these years. 

Production data on this mine could not be found, 

but ·there is a strong likelihood, especially in view of 

the fact that a 20-stamp mill was built on the property, that it produced about 10,000 ounces of gold 

(Watson, 1907, p. 553). 

Country rock in the vicinity of the mine is altered 

and sheared diorite or quartz diorite. There are two 

major veins-the Franklin and House-and the 

rock adjacent to them is sericitized and silicified 

(Pardee and Park, 1948, p. 54-55). Massive white 

quartz is the principal constituent; considerable 

sericite and small quantities of ankerite and calcite 

complete the gangue assemblage. The dominant 

metallic mineral is pyrite, which occurs in large 

crystals, lenses, nodules, and layers in both the 

veins and wallrock. Gold is in the pyrite. Other 

sulfides present in small amounts are chalcopyrite 

and chalcocite. 

FLUVANNA AND GOOCHLAND COUNTIES 

The Tellurium, Moss, and Busby mines are along 

the Fluvanna-Goochland County line within a mile 

of each other. 

In 1829 or 1830 gold placers were worked along 
254 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

Busby Branch, and soon afterward the Busby lode 

was discovered. The Busby deposits showed great 

promise in the early years of the mine's operation 

(Taber, 1913, p. 154) but were worked for only a 

few years. The property was in ruins by 1865. The 

Tellurium lode, which was one of the first vein 

deposits to be mined in Virginia, was discovered 

about 1832 and was worked before placers were 

found in its immediate vicinity (Taber, 1913, p. 

153). Of the three mines, in the early years of production the most sustained production came from 

the Tellurium; gold valued at a minium of $200,000 

(10,000 ounces) was mined before the Civil War. 

There was sporadic activity at the Tellurium property in the 1880's, in 1909-10, and most recently 

in 1935, but there was no significant production. 

The Moss lode mine became active in 1835, but it 

closed in 1838. It was reopened in 1891 and was in 

operation in the early 1900's (Taber, 1913, p. 145). 

In 1931, cleanup operations were conducted and a 

small amount of underground exploration was done 

(Pardee and Park, 1948, p. '56). 

Total production from. these three mines could 

not be determined. Watson (1907, p. 559) estimated 

an output valued at $1 million for the .Tellurium 

mine, but Taber (1913, p. 154) regarded about 

$200,000 as being more nearly correct for the early 

production. No data could be found on the production of the Moss and Busby mines. 

Country rock in the vicinity of these mines is a 

series of quartz-mica schists interbedded with 

quartzite. A body of granite is exposed northeast 

of the mines (Taber, 1913, p. 155-156). The major 

deposit at the Tellurium mine is in a quartzite bed 

that is interlaced with stringers of quartz and 

feldspar containing small amounts of pyrite, native 

gold, sphalerite, tetradymite, and tellurium ( ?) . Another type of deposit at the Tellurium mine consists of a vein composed of a series of interconnected quartz lenses in the schistose country rock. 

These lenses are conformable with the foliation and 

contain free gold (Taber, 1913, p. 157-168). The 

geology of the Moss and Busby mines is very 

similar to that of the Tellurium; all three mines 

probably are on the same vein system. 

ORANGE COUNTY 

The Vaucluse mine, in northeastern Orange 

County, is 18 miles west of Fredericksburg and 2 

miles north of the Wilderness Post Office. 

Placers on this property were first worked in 

1832; the lode deposits were discovered several years 

afterward. From 1844 to the outbreak of the Civil 

War the property was worked extensively by an 

English mining company, and Bass (1940, p. 80) 

estimated that the Vaucluse mine could have yielded 

most of the prewar gold production of Virginia, 

which amounted to 50,000 to 70,000 ounces. The 

mine was idle from 1860 until 1934. From 1935 

through 1938, it produced most of the 5,901 ounces 

of gold that was produced in the State. It was again 

idle from 1938 through 1959. Total minimum production probably was about 50,000 ounces. 

The bedrock at the mine consists of quartzsericite-chlorite schist (Bass, 1940, p. 82, 84). The 

ore deposits are in a northeast-trending shear zone 

which 1s concordant with the foliation of the schist. 

The ore shoots are found in this shear zone and are 

pod-shaped lenses of quartz that carry concentrations of pyrite with which the gold is associated. 

Small amounts of galena and chalcopyrite usually 

accompany the pyrite. Gangue minerals in addition to quartz are sericite, ankerite, chlorite, and 

calcite (Bass, 1940, p. 82-87). 

SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY 

The Whitehall mine is in west-central Spotsylvania County. Little detailed description of this 

property was found in the literature. Silliman 

(1837, p. 101) mentioned some rich placers in 

existence in 1836 near the Whitehall mine. Watson 

(1907, p. 555) noted that gold was found at the 

site of the Whitehall mine in 1806 and that the mine 

was worked from 1848 until just before the Civil 

War. He noted that the mine was reopened after 

the war and was active in the 1880's, and he estimated $1,800,000 as the total value of gold production for the mine to 1881. No record could be found 

of further activity nor of information pertaining to 

the geology of the area. 

WASHINGTON 

Washington has not been a major gold-producing 

State; nevertheless, its annual output of gold has 

been steady, and contrary to the present nationwide 

trend of the industry, its production in recent years 

has increased (fig. 27). This paradox is exemplified 

by the Knob Hill mine in the Republic district, 

which ranks third among the leading lode-goldproducing mines in the United States, and the Gold 

King mine in the Wenatchee district, which ranks 

tenth (U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1960, v. 1, p. 509). 

Gold was first discovered in the State in 1853 in 

the Yakima River valley by a party under the command of Capt. George McClelland exploring for a 

possible railroad route (Huntting, 1955, p. 28). By 
WASHINGTON 255 

150,--------.--------.---------,---------.---------.---------.---------,---------,---, 

125 -

100 

(/) 

Li.J 

() 

z 

:::> 

0 

u. 

075 

(/) 

0 

z 

<( 

(/) 

:::> 

0 

I 

1-

50 

1900 1910 

Chelan Lake, 

---Republic, and Wenatcheedistricts 

~ \ 

1950 1960 1965 

FIGURE 27.-Annual gold production of Washington, 1881-1965. Sources of data: 1881-1923 from U.S. Geological Survey 

(1883-1924); 1924-65 from U.S. Bureau of Mines (1925-34, 1933-66). Production for 1957-65 includes some from 

Pennsylvania. Production reported in dollar value was converted to ounces at prevailing price per ounce. 

1855, prospectors were active in the Colville district 

although the first discoveries were not made until 

1883. In 1855, small placers were found along the 

Columbia and Pend Oreille Rivers. From the 1850's 

through the 1880's, placers were worked along 

streams in Okanogan, Whatcom, Chelan, and Kittitas Counties and along the major streams of the 

State--the Columbia and Snake Rivers. By 1900, 

however, most of the placer deposits were exhausted. 

Important lode discoveries were made in the early 

1870's, and as the placers were mined out, the lode 

mines became the chief producers. The Republic district in Ferry County is the major lode gold district 

in the State (fig. 28). Other important lode districts 

are the Wenatchee, Blewett, Mount Baker, Monte 

Cristo, Slate Creek, and Oroville-Nighthawk. A significant contributor to the gold output in recent 

years was the Holden mine in the Chelan Lake 

district, Chelan County, where gold was produced 

as a byproduct from copper ores. This mine, however, was closed, probably permanently, in 1957 

(A. E. Weissenborn, written commun., 1962). 

Total gold production for the State from 1860 

through 1956 was 2,844,331 ounces (U.S. Bureau of 

Mines, 1956, p. 1204). Production figures for the 

period 1957-65 include some production from Pennsylvania and therefore are too high by an uncertain 

amount, probably a few thousand ounces. In the 

data presented in the succeeding pages, a total gold 

production of only about 2,300,000 'Unces is indicated. The reason for the discrep. y is in the 

different estimates by various autl.· ; for unrecorded production before 1900, especd.lly for the 

period 1860-66, during which the State produced 

$9 million in gold (Huntting, 1955, p. 33). Most of 

the gold produced before 1900 was from placers, but 

only 2 percent of the total from 1900 to 1952 was 

from them (Huntting, 1955, p. 32). 
256 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

, .. 

FIGURE 28.-Gold-mining districts of Washington. 

Chelan County: 

1, Blewett; 2, Entiat; 3, Chelan 

Lake; 4, Wenatchee. 

Kittitas County: 

6, Swauk. 

Okanogan County: 

Snohomish County: 

11, Monte Cristo; 12, Silverton. 

Ferry County: 

5, Republic. 

7, Cascade; 8, Methow; 9, Myers 

Creek; 10, Oroville-Nighthawk. 

Stevens County: 

13, Orient. 

Whatcom County: 

CHELAN COUNTY 

In 1860 placers were discovered in the Blewett 

(Peshastin) district, in what is now Chelan County; 

at that time this area was part of Kittitas County. 

The first lode discoveries were made in the same 

district in 187 4. 

The largest gold-producing district of the State 

is the Chelan Lake whose output from 1938 through 

1956 boosted Chelan County to the lead in production for the State. This district, however, was inactive from 1957 to 1959. Other important gold 

districts are the Wenatchee and Entiat. 

Production of the county from 1903 through 1959 

was 666,198 ounces of lode and byproduct gold and 

581 ounces of placer gold. Production data for the 

years 1952-55 were combined with those of Ferry 

and King Counties (U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1952-

14, Mount Baker; 15, Slate Creek. 

55) ; consequently, separate figures for Chelan 

County are not available. Production data before 

1903 also are not available, but Weaver (1911, p. 

71) estimated the value of placer and lode gold 

from the Blewett district between 1870 and 1901 at 

$1% million (about 72,000 ounces). 

BLEWETI' DISTRICT 

The Blewett (Peshastin) district is in southcentral Chelan County, at lat 47°25' N. and long 

120°40' w. 

Rich gold placers were discovered on Peshastin 

Creek in 1860 and were worked intermittently for 

several years. In 1874 vein deposits were found in 

Culver Gulch. For many years only the oxidized 

parts of the veins were mined, but in the late 1890's 

extensive development revealed new and rich ore 
WASHINGTON 257 

bodies and for a while the district prospered. After 

1910, however, there was only small-scale activity. 

Total production from 1870 to 1959 was approximately 850,900 ounces. 

The oldest rocks in the area are of Carboniferous 

age and consist of the "contact" schist, the Peshastin 

Formation, composed of black slates and quartzites, 

and the Hawkins Formation, composed of a series 

of breccias, tuffs, and flows (Weaver, 1911, p. 26-

56). Intruding these formations are large masses of 

peridotite, extensively altered to serpentine. Small 

irregular masses and stringers of Mesozoic granodiorite intrude the peridotite. Unconformably overlying the older rocks are sandstone, conglomerate, 

and shale that compose the Swauk Formation of 

Eocene age. Cutting all these rocks are diabase 

dikes and small masses of gabbro. 

The ore bodies occupy fissure veins in the serpentine. Vein material consists of quartz, calcite, and 

talc. Native gold and iron oxide occur in the oxidized zone and arsenopyrite and pyrite occur at 

depth. Gold placers along Peshastin and Negro 

Creeks are of two types: older channel and bench 

gravels and younger gravels along the present 

stream courses (Weaver, 1911, p. 82, 83) . 

CHELAN LAKE DISTRICT 

The Chelan Lake (Holden, Railroad Creek) district is in northwest Chelan County on the east slope 

of the Cascade Range between lat 48°07' and 48°19' 

N. and long 120°30' and 120°45' W. Chelan Lake 

forms the northeast boundary of the district. 

Activity in this area began at least as early as 

1892, when first claims were staked by J. H. Holden. 

Other prospects were located in the 1890's; among 

these was the Crown Point mine which began producing molybdenum ore in 1897. Little else of the 

early history of the district was recorded. In 1938, 

after years of options and changes of owners, the 

Holden mine was taken over by a subsidiary of the 

Howe Sound Co. It then became the largest gold, 

silver, and copper producer in the State, and remained so until 1956, when increased costs and 

complex mining problems made operation marginal. 

The mine was closed in 1957. 

Production of the district (in large part, that of 

the Holden mine) from 1938 through 1951 was 

514,525 ounces of gold. Its production data from 

1952 through 1956 were combined with data of 

other districts and could not be determined 

separately. 

The country rock in the vicinity of the Holden 

mine consists of hornblende and biotite-bearing 

schist and gneiss, quartzite, and marble of probable 

, pre-Devonian age (F. W. Cater, oral commun., 

1962). These rocks were isoclinally folded and 

sheared, then were intruded by peridotite and 

quartz-ornblende diorite bodies, and later, by dikes, 

sills, and small offshoots of the Cretaceous Chelan 

batholith, which is well exposed east of the district. 

Plugs and dikes of the Cloudy Pass granogabbro, of 

Tertiary age, intrude the older rocks. The ore deposits are replacements of a breccia zone in the 

metamorphic rocks. The ores are Tertiary in age 

and are related to the Cloudy Pass intrusive. Promi-

. nent ore minerals are magnetite, quartz, pyrite, 

• pyrrhotite, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite, and galena 

and gold occur in minor amounts. 

ENTIAT DISTRICT 

The Entiat district, in east-central Chelan County, 

is the largest district in the State and occupies 790 

square miles between lat 47°40' and 48°00' N. and 

long 120°10' and 120°45' W. 

Huntting's report (1943, p. 24-26) constitutes 

most of the published information on the history 

and ore deposits of this district. The largest mine 

in the area is the Rex (or Rogers) mine, which 

produced $170,000 (about 8,250 ounces) in gold by 

1930 (Huntting, 1955, p. 48). The Rex was in 

existence as early as 1906, so the Entiat district 

dates back to that time and perhaps earlier. Small 

platinum and gold placers along the Entiat River 

were worked also, but production from them was 

small. 

The 8,250 ounces of gold produced from the Rex 

mine between 1906 and 1930 is the only recorded 

production from the Entiat district. Huntting (1943, 

p. 25), however, listed two other lode mines that 

produced unknown amounts. Estimated mm1mum 

total production for the Entiat district is 10,000 

ounces. 

Huntting (1943, p. 24-25) summarized the geology of the district, part of which was studied in 

detail by Waters (1932). The oldest rock is the 

Swakane Gneiss, believed to be pre-Ordovician in 

age, which is intruded by the Chelan Granodiorite. 

Locally along Lake Chelan are small patches of 

other Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks and scattered through the area are remnants of Tertiary 

lake deposits and basalt. 

Free gold, the chief ore mineral, occurs with 

quartz in veins cutting the Swakane Gneiss. Native 

silver, cinnabar, ilmenite, and nickel-rich pyrrhotite 

occur in the ores in varying amounts. The relation 

of ore deposits to any of the nearby intrusives has 

not been determined. 
258 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

WENATCHEE DISTRICT 

The Wenatchee district is in the southeastern 

corner of Chelan County at about lat 47°22' N. and 

long 120°20' W. 

The Gold King mine, the chief mine of the district, was located in 1885, but very little mining 

was done until 1894, when about $1,600 in bullion 

was produced. Sporadic activity continued until 

1911 and again from 1934 to 1949. When the Lovitt 

Mining Co. acquired the property in 1949, production began on a large scale. Lovitt and McDowall 

(1954, p. 38) reported a total of 102,376 ounces of 

gold produced from 1949 through 1953 ; this high 

output continued, and in 1960 the Gold King was 

the tenth largest producer of lode gold in the United 

States. Total gold production of the Wenatchee district through 1959 was about 190,000 ounces (A. E. 

Weissenborn, written commun., 1962). 

Bedrock in the vicinity of the Gold King mine 

consists of steeply dipping beds of the Swauk Sandstone of Eocene age. The ore deposits are in a 

silicified dikelike body that is cut by innumerable 

small quartz veins. The ore minerals are gold, silver, 

and minor amounts of pyrite; however, there seems 

to be no relationship between the valuable minerals 

and the pyrite. The gold is very finely divided in 

the quartz (Lovitt and McDowall, 1954, p. 38-39). 

FERRY COUNTY 

From 1904, when systematic compilation of production data was begun, to 1938, Ferry County was 

the leading gold producer in Washington. After 

1938, the productive Holden mine boosted Chelan 

County to the lead, but in the late 1950's accelerated activity in the Republic district of Ferry 

County probably restored this county to its former 

status. 

From 1896 to 1958 a minimum of 839,000 ounces 

of gold was mined in Ferry County. More than 99 

percent of it was from the Republic district, and 

the remainder-a recorded aggregate of 6,000 

ounces-was from the Danville district and the 

Columbia River. placers. 

REPUBLIC DISTRICT 

The Republic (Eureka) district is in western 

Ferry County near the town of Republic, about 25 

miles south of the international boundary. 

The Republic district has had the most consistent 

record of large gold production of any district in 

the State. Prospecting began in this area when the 

northern part of the Colville Indian Reservation 

was opened in 1896. Deposits assaying high gold 

content were soon found, and many shipments were 

made until 1901 when the district closed. By 1903 

railroads linked the district with large smelters on 

the Pacific coast, and small-scale activity was resumed. In 1909 the discovery of substantial amounts 

of high-grade ore at the Republic mine and of new 

ore bodies on other properties resulted in a revival 

of the district; later large-scale production from 

the Lone Pine and Knob Hill mines sustained activity through 1928. Mining fluctuated from 1928 

until after World War II, when the Knob Hill mine 

emerged as the largest and most consistent producer. In 1960 it was the third most productive 

lode-gold mine in the United States. 

The estimated minimum total production of gold 

from the Republic district from 1896 through 1959 

was 836,393 ounces; all production was from lode 

mines except for a few hundred ounces from 

placers. 

The dominant geologic feature of the area is the 

Republic graben, which is 4 to 10 miles wide and 

at least 52 miles long. It is bounded on the northwest by the Scatter Creek and Bacon Creek fault 

zones and on the southeast by the Sherman and 

other faults (Calkins and others, 1959; Muessig 

and Quinlan, 1959; Staatz, 1960, p. B304). Within 

the graben, mostly near the margins, are narrow 

belts of greenstone and other rocks of Permian and 

Triassic ages. Most of the graben is filled with 

Tertiary lavas and bedded rocks consisting of, from 

oldest to youngest, the O'Brien Creek Formation, 

Sanpoil Volcanics, and the Klondike Mountain Formation (Muessig and Quinlan, 1959). Granodiorite 

of Cretaceous age underlies the area northwest of 

the Scatter Creek and Bacon Creek fault zones, and 

quartz monzonite of Tertiary and Cretaceous age 

is exposed on the southeast side of the Sherman 

fault. Other intrusive rocks, of Tertiary age, exposed in the Republic graben consist mostly of 

plugs, dikes, and sills of diorite, rhyodacite, quartz 

latite porphyry, trachyandesite, andesite porphyry, 

rhyolite, and basalt and stocks of quartz monzonite 

and granodiorite (R. L. Parker, written commun., 

1960). 

The Republic graben was formed in early Tertiary time, and later faulting, possibly as late as 

early Miocene, disrupted rocks in it. The ore deposits are along the Republic fault, a high-angle 

fault that trends north within the graben. Throughout most of the Republic district, ore occurs as fissure fillings along one to four veins; most veins 

are in altered flows of the Sanpoil Volcanics. At the 

Republic mine, the lower part of the Klondike 

Mountain Formation forms the hanging wall of the 
WASHINGTON 259 

vein. The vein minerals consist of fine-grained to 

chalcedonic quartz with stringers of very fine 

grained pyrite, chalcopyrite, stephanite, naumannite, native silver, and electrum. Adularia is com-

. mon and laumontite marcasite, and fluorite are ' ' . . present in small amounts (S. J. Muess1g, wr1tten 

commun., 1960). 

KITTITAS COUNTY 

The only gold deposits in Kittitas County that 

have yielded 10,000 ounces or more are those of the 

Swauk district. In the early days the Peshastin district, now part of Chelan County (p. 256), was 

included in Kittitas County and accounted for 

much of its early production. Recorded ·county production from 1903 through 1959, all of which was 

attributed to the Swauk district, was 7,141 ounces, 

of which 4,972 ounces was placer gold. Production 

before 1903 is unrecorded, but there is an 11-year 

record from 1884 to 1895 (Smith, 1903, p. 76) 

which credited the county with $764,163 worth of 

gold (37,095 ounces). Landes, Thyng, Lyon, and 

Roberts (1902, p. 88-89), referring to the early 

production of the Swauk placers, stated, "It is not 

possible to form even an estimate of the total output of these placers. The early workers did not keep 

any accurate record of their output, and the present 

operators are keeping their information to themselves;" 

SW A UK DISTRICT 

The Swauk district is between lat 47°14' and 

47°16' N. and long 120°28' and 120°42' W. 

Placers were discovered in this area in 1868 and 

auriferous veins, in 1881 (Smith, 1903, p. 76). Most 

of the placers contain fine gold, but some deposits 

are characterized by coarse nuggets and wire and 

leaf gold. The limited area of the drainage basin 

and the lack of rounding of the gold particles make 

it seem likely that the gold was derived from the 

quartz veins in the vicinity. 

The vein deposits are narrow fissure veins in 

sandstone and shale of the Swauk Formation of 

Eocene age. A peculiar type of breccia known as 

birds-eye quartz constitutes much of the vein material in several mines (Smith, 1903, p. 79-80). This 

consists of fragments of black shale enclosed in 

quartz and calcite. Gold occurs in fine grains in the 

quartz and as incrustations on the surface of quartz. 

OKANOGAN COUNTY 

Okanogan County, one of the largest counties in 

the State, has several gold-producing districtsCascade, Oroville-Nighthawk, Myers Creek, and 

Methow. 

Mining in the county began in 1859 in the gravels along the Similkameen River. In 1871, lode deposits were discovered near Conconully (Patty, 

1921, p. 20). Production data on gold before 1903 

are not available, but from that date through 1959 

the county produced 34,000 ounces of lode gold and 

1, 775 ounces of placer gold. Total gold production 

for the county from 1859 through 1959 was probably between 85,000 and 90,000 ounces. 

Metamorphic rocks and local patches of sedimentary rocks compose the bedrock of the county. These 

have been extensively intruded by granite and 

other igneous rocks. 

CASCADE DISTRICT 

The Cascade (Wauconda) district, near the east 

boundary of Okanogan County, is about 20 miles 

south of the Canadian boundary and 12 miles northwest of Republic, at the headwaters of Granite 

Creek. 

Production data for the district are available 

only for 1935 to 1957, when 7,886 ounces of lode 

gold was produced, primarily from the Bodie mine. 

Although the discovery date of gold for the district 

is not known, activity was reported as early as 

1901 (Landes and others, 1902, p. 25). It can be 

assumed that in the ensuing 34 years at least a few 

thousand ounces of gold was produced and that an 

estimated total production of 10,000 to 15,000 

ounces is reasonable. The principal properties are 

the Wauconda (Landes and others, 1902, p. 25-26) 

and the Bodie (Huntting, 1955, p. 69). 

The bedrock of the district consists of gneiss, 

schist, and metasedimentary rocks that have been 

intruded by masses of granite (Landes and others, 

1902, p. 24). These rocks are cut by porphyritic 

andesite intrusives and are covered by basaltic 

lavas. The ore bodies are in fissure veins in the 

metamorphic rocks. The vein material is largely 

quartz and calcite, and finely divided native gold is 

the ore mineral. 

METHOW DISTRICT 

The Methow (Squaw Creek) district is along 

Squaw Creek-a tributary of the Methow Riverand is 9 miles above the mouth of the Methow 

River, 53 miles north of Mansfield, and 73 miles 

north-northeast of Wenatchee. 

Lode deposits were discovered in 1887 ; the Red 

Shirt mine was the first producer (Hodges, 1897, 

p. 85). The major properties are the Hidden Treasure, Friday, Bolinger, and Highland Light. Produc-
260 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

tion data before 1932 are incomplete, but from 1932 

through 1959 output of 16,473 ounces of lode gold 

and 9 ounces of placer gold is recorded. 

The deposits are in east-trending fissure veins in 

gneiss and granite. Quartz and calcite compose the 

bulk of the veinfilling, and gold and silver are the 

valuable components (Landes and others, 1902, 

p. 37). 

MYERS CREEK DISTRICT 

The Myers Creek (Chewsaw, Mary Ann Creek) 

district is in the northeast corner of Okanogan 

County near the town of Chewsaw. 

Placer gold was discovered in this district in 1888 

along Mary Ann Creek (Landes and others, 1902, 

p. 27), but the area was not developed to any extent 

until the early 1900's. Most of the production was 

from lode deposits. Including estimates by Umpleby 

(1911a, p. 28), the total gold production of the district through 1959 was a minimum of about 9,500 

ounces. 

The area is underlain by a thick series of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, lava, and porphyry that 

were intruded by granitic masses of Mesozoic age 

(Umpleby, 1911a, p. 29-32). The Paleozoic igneous 

rocks are andesite and basalt; the Mesozoic batholithic masses are syenites and granites. Quartzite is 

the most abundant rock in the sedimentary section; 

however, slate, schist, and limestone are also 

present. 

Copper, gold, and silver ore deposits are of two 

types-contact metamorphic replacement deposits 

in limestone near the contact of the intrusives and 

invaded rock, and fissure veins (Umpleby, 1911a, 

p. 32-39). In the replacement deposits chalcopyrite 

is the chief ore mineral; gold is a subordinate constituent in the chalcopyrite and pyrite. In the fissure veins, which occur in all rock types in the district, free gold, chalcopyrite, pyrite, galena, sphalerite, and arsenopyrite are found in a gangue of 

quartz and calcite. Gold is more abundant in the 

vein deposits. 

OROVILLE-NIGHTHAWK DISTRICT 

The Oroville-Nighthawk (Palmer Mountain) district, in northern Okanogan County, is just south 

of the international boundary between lat 48°50' 

and 49°00' N. and long 119°28' and 119°42' W. 

As early as 1859 placers were worked on the 

Similkameen River (Umpleby, 1911b, p. 75-76), 

but this activity ended when the area was set aside 

as an Indian reservation. The district was reopened 

in the late 1890's, at which time lode deposits were 

developed. Most of the production was before 1900 .. 

Umpleby (1911b, p. 76) estimated a maximum output before 1900 of $1 million in gold-half placer 

and half lode. Data from 1903 through 1959 show 

a total output of 450 ounces of placer gold and 

7 40 ounces of lode gold. Total production from the 

district through 1959 may be estimated as 49,000 

to 50,000 ounces-half placer gold and half lode 

gold. 

The oldest rocks in the area are clay slate, siliceous schist, limestone, and interbedded andesite 

and basalt believed to be of Paleozoic, possibly Carboniferous, age. The Similkameen batholith, a granitic mass of Late Cretaceous or early Tertiary age, 

intruded the metasedimentary rocks. Tertiary lake 

beds, locally deformed, cover considerable areas 

near the Similkameen River; these lake beds are 

unconformably overlain by scattered patches of 

andesite flows (Umpleby, 1911b, p. 64-84; Patty, 

1921,p.222-228). 

Ore deposits are of two types: disseminated deposits rich in copper, and vein deposits carrying 

considerable gold, silver, lead, and copper. The disseminated deposits are related to the Similkameen 

batholith (Patty, 1921, p. 224), and the veins are 

distributed along the granite-sedimentary rock contact. Veins show varied mineralogy; they range 

from simple quartz veins to others showing successive movement and overlapping deposition of 

sulfides. Gold, which is the chief commodity in some 

veins, occurs as native gold and also in pyrite, chalcopyrite, and galena. Silver occurs in various silver 

minerals, argentiferous galena, and cerargyrite. 

The disseminated copper deposits have not been 

developed to any great extent. 

SNOHOMISH COUNTY 

In south-central Snohomish County gold was 

produced from several districts in the western part 

of the Cascade Range. These districts-Monte 

Cristo, Index, Silverton, Silver Creek and Sultanare more or less contiguous and occupy an area 

about 10 miles wide and 20 miles long extending 

from about the center of the county south to the 

King County boundary. 

The Monte Cristo and Silverton districts produced most of the gold in the county. Patty (1921, 

p. 282) estimated that the combined early production of all metals, but mostly gold, from these districts was worth $7 million. From 1903 through 

1956, production was 9,595 ounces of lode gold and 

535 ounces of placer gold. 

MONTE CRISTO DISTRICT 

The Monte Cristo district, on the west slope of 

the Cascade Range, is about 40 miles east of Everett, along the Everett and Monte Cristo Railroad. 
WASHINGTON 261 

Overlying an older granitic terrane is a thick 

sequence of arkose beds that Spurr (1901, p. 791) 

correlated with the Swauk Sandstone of Eocene age. 

Andesite of Miocene age overlies the arkose, and 

several masses of tonalite, of later Miocene age, cut 

the andesite and produced considerable contact metamorphism. Basaltic dikes cut both the arkose and 

andesite. Pleistocene volcanic activity was fairly 

intense in this area. Flat-lying andesite, tuff, and 

breccia of Pleistocene age unconformably overlie all 

older rocks. 

Spurr (1901, p. 804-805) believed that ore deposition: began in late Pliocene or early Pleistocene 

time and continued to the Recent. The most important deposits are mineralized joints within or 

near the tonalite masses. Ore minerals are galena, 

sphalerite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, and arsenopyrite. 

An upper zone, which is nearest the surface, contains galena, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite and is 

richer in gold and silver than o;re at depth (Spurr, 

1901, p. 864). 

There is no record of activity in the Monte 

Cristo district from 1918 through 1959, and the 

only production data for the district are estimates 

of early combined production from the Monte Cristo 

and Silverton districts of $7 million in gold (Patty, 

i921, p. 282). The Monte Cristo district probably 

produced roughly half of this amount. 

SILVERTON DISTRICT 

The Silverton district is about 12 miles northwest of Monte Cristo along the Stilaguamish River. 

Copper-gold-silver ore was discovered in this district in 1891 (Thyng, in Landes and others, 1902, 

p. 66). The district became dormant about 1910 

and remained inactive through 1959. 

The dominant bedrock in the district is granite 

overlain by sedimentary rocks (Thyng, in Landes 

and others, 1902, p. 64). The ore bodies occur in 

fissure veins at the contacts of granite and diorite 

bodies. Chalcopyrite, the chief metal-bearing mineral, contains the gold. Argentiferous galena is 

abundant, as are pyrite, arsenopyrite; pyrrhotite, 

and sphalerite. Pyrargyrite occurs in small quantities (Thyng, in Landes and others, 1902, p. 65). 

STEVENS COUNTY 

The first mineral discoveries in Stevens County 

were made in 1883 in the Colville district (Weaver, 

1920, p. 134). Shortly afterward additional discoveries were made in the Deer Trail and Chewelah 

districts. A major factor in attracting prospectors 

to this part of the State was the opening of the 

Colville Indian Reservation to mineral exploration 

in 1896. Rich gold ores were soon discovered on the 

reservation and across the Columbia River in adjacent parts of Stevens County. Those in Stevens 

County were quickly mined out, and gold mining 

in the county virtually ceased in the following years. 

Subsequent gold production was obtained almost 

entirely as a byproduct from the mining of basemetal ores. 

Total gold production from 1902 through 1959 

was 52,145 ounces, mostly from lode mines. 

The major gold-producing district in the county 

is the Orient. The Chewelah district is second in 

importance, but its total recorded production, byproduct gold from copper-silver ores, is slightly less 

than 5,000 ounces. Much of Stevens County is underlain by metamorphosed sedimentary rocks of 

unknown age (Weaver, 1920, p. 44). Locally, these 

have been intruded by masses of granite and diorite 

and they are overlain by tuffs, flows, and volcanic 

breccias with interbedded sediments. Long irregular tongues of basalt flows of probable Tertiary age 

overlie the metamorphic and igneous rocks in the 

southern part of the county where they fill depressions on an earlier Tertiary erosion surface. A few 

small patches of tuffs, breccias, and lavas of late 

Tertiary age occur in the west-central and northcentral parts of the county. 

ORIENT DISTRICT 

The Orient (Pierre Lake) district is in northwest 

Stevens County between lat 48°50' and 48°57' N. 

and long 118°05' and 118°10' W. 

This district was formed in 1902 as a result of 

significant discoveries at the First Thought and 

Napoleon mines (Fulkerson and Kingston, 1958, p. 

4). The First Thought was the major gold producer in the county during 1900-20 (Fulkerson and 

Kingston, 1958, p. 1). 

Recorded gold production for the district through 

1942 was 45,057 ounces; all was presumably from 

lode mines. From 1942, when the First Thought 

mine was closed, through 1959 no production was 

reported from the district. 

The predominant rocks exposed in the district 

are andesite and latite flows of the Rossland Formation of Mesozoic or Tertiary age (Weaver, 1920, 

p. 257-258). These flows overlie various older rocks 

-shale, limestone, quartzite, and schist, which are 

typical of the metasedimentary Stevens Series of 

Weaver (1920, p. 50-51). 

Ore deposits occur in the latite in fractured and 

brecciated zones that are cemented by silica and 
262 PRINCIPAL GOLD-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED STATES 

carbonate. Gold is the chief ore mineral and occurs 

with finely disseminated pyrite. Bancroft (1914, p. 

69) believed that the ore deposits were related to 

bodies of rhyolite and monzonite porphyry that 

were emplaced during Mesozoic or Tertiary time. 

WHATCOM COUNTY 

Mineralized areas in Whatcom County are in the 

Cascade Range, and the ore deposits are related to 

the intrusions of granodiorite along the axis of the 

range. 

Most of the gold mined in Whatcom County came 

from the Mount Baker and Slate Creek districts, 

which produced about equal amounts. From 1903 

through 1953, the county produced 89,156 ounces of 

lode gold and 2,425 ounces of placer gold, about half 

of which was mined in the late 1930's. No production was recorded from 1953 to 1959. 

MOUNT BAKER DISTRICT 

The Mount Baker district is in north-central 

Whatcom County between lat 48°50' and 49°00' N. 

and long 122°25' and 122°35' W. 

Early discoveries of placer gold along Ruby Creek 

focused attention on this district, but no important 

deposits were found there until 1897 (Patty, 1921, 

p. 21). The most important lode gold mines were 

the Boundary Red Mountain and the Lone Jack. 

District production of lode gold through 1948 was 

estimated at a minimum of 55,000 ounces; no production was reported from 1948 through 1959. 

Huntting (1955, p. 132, 133) reported some placers 

in the district, but production from them was 

probably negligible. 

The country rock in the district is slate (Lyon, in 

Landes and others, 1902, p. 42). The ore deposits 

are in quartz veins or in sulfide-rich veins of calcareous material. Gold is present as native gold, as a 

telluride, and in association with sulfides. 

SLATE CREEK DISTRICT 

The Slate Creek district is in the extreme eastern 

part of Whatcom County, in the heart of the Cascade Range, within lat 48°45' and 48°50' N. and 

long 120°45' and 121 °00' w. 

Gold discoveries were made as early as 1893 at 

the Gold Ridge, Eureka, and Mammoth properties 

(Lyon, in Landes and others, 1902, p. 48), but production data were not found for the years before 

1933. Total production from 1933 through 1953 was 

29,172 ounces; no production was reported from 

1953 through 1959. 

The country rock consists of shale, limestone, and 

sandstone of the Similkameen Formation of Cretaceous age (Lyon, in Landes and others, 1902, p. 

46, 47). These sediments are compressed into steep 

north-trending folds. Numerous vertical dikes of 

porphyry cut the sedimentary rocks and strike 

parallel to the fold axes. The ore deposits are goldquartz veins in east-trending fissures. Gold occurs 

in sulfides, in tellurides, and as native gold. 

WYOMING 

Gold was first found in Wyoming in placers along 

the Sweetwater River in 1842, in what was to become the Atlantic- City-South Pass district. The 

original discoverer, however, died or was killed 

before he reached his home; as a result, the news 

was not widely spread. Despite privations and Indian raids, small groups of prospectors attempted 

gold mining along the Sweetwater River at intervals 

through the 1850's and early 1860's. The first great 

rush occurred after the discovery of the Cariso 

lode in 1867 (Raymond, 1870, p. 327-328). Placers 

were found far to the southeast in the Douglas 

Creek district in 1868. 

Small amounts of gold were mined in Wyoming 

almost every year from 1867 through 1938, but only 

the South Pass-Atlantic City and Douglas Creek districts yielded more than 10,000 ounces each. From 

1938 through 1959, the gold mining industry of the 

State steadily declined. The total gold output 

through 1959 was about 82,000 ounces. 

ALBANY COUNTY 

The Douglas Creek district, in southwestern Albany County, is the only district in the county that 

produced more than 10,000 ounces of gold through 

1959. 

Placers were found in Moore's Gulch in 1868, and 

during that year they yielded about $8,000 in gold 

( Osterwald and Osterwald, 1952, p. 64-66) . Though 

small placer operations continued, they were overshadowed by the more productive gold-bearing 

quartz and silver-copper-gold veins found later. 

Henderson (1916, p. 251) reported $40,000 worth 

of placer gold and $189,000 worth of lode gold from 

Albany County between 1869 and 1893. Except for 

a small flurry of mining from 1934 to 1940, the 

district was virtually idle from 1900 through 1959. 

Total gold production through 1959 was probably 

10,000 to 11,000 ounces. 

The gold placers were along Douglas Creek and 

its tributaries in an area about 15 ·miles long and 

10 miles wide. Lode deposits occur in veins in Precambrian schist. A gold-quartz vein 2 to 6 feet wide 
WYOMING 263 

in the Keystone mine probably yielded most of the 

gold of the district. Veins containing pyrrkotite, 

chalcopyrite, and gold were worked for copper, 

silver, and gold (Osterwald and Osterwald, 1952, 

p. 64-66). 

FREMONT COUNTY 

The Atlantic City-South Pass district is in southern Fremont County at the southeast end of the 

Wi.nd River Range, about 23 miles south of Lander. 

Most of the gold produced in Wyoming came from 

this district. The estimates of the gold output of 

the district vary considerably. Spencer (1916, p. 27-

28) estimated the output to 1915 at about $1 million 

(72,500 ounces). Armstrong (1948, p. 37), using 

Spencer's figures, estimated the total gold production of the district to May 1947 at about $2 million 

(about 86,000 ounces), but Martin (1954, p. 1618) 

credited all Wyoming through 1951 with only 80,040 

ounces. Considering the output from other areas in 

Wyoming, the gold production of the Atlantic CitySouth Pass district through 1959 probably was not 

more than 70,000 ounces. 

Though placer gold was discovered as early as 

1842, important mining operations did not begin 

until after the Cariso lode was found in 1867 (W. C. 

Knight, quoted by Trumbull, 1914, p. 76-82). 

Through 1874 the district produced about $735,000 

in gold (Henderson, 1916, p. 248), but production 

declined sharply thereafter, because of the exhaustion of the rich oxidized ores near the surface. 

Intermittent exploration in more recent years resulted in only minor production (Armstrong, 1948, 

p. 35-37). 

The bedrock of the Atlantic City-South Pass district consists chiefly of isoclinally folded and faulted 

schists, gneisses, granulite, amphibolite, diorite, and 

granodiorite, all of Precambrian age (Armstrong, 

1948, p. 11-34). Gold-bearing veins have been found 

in fault zones in all varieties of the country rock 

(Armstrong, 1948, p. 37-42). They occur in an en 

echelon pattern in zones as much as 1,000 feet long. 

The ore-bearing veins are mostly 2 to 6 feet wide, 

but they may be as much as 12 feet wide and 50 feet 

long. The unoxidized ore minerals consist of pyrite, 

arsenopyrite, and local chalcopyrite and galena 

(Spencer,1916,p.28-34). 

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A Page 

Acton district, California --------------57, 67 

A. D. and M. mine, Idaho ----------------135 Adelaide district, Nevada ________________ 181 

Adelaide mine, Nevada ------------------181 

Agua Fria district, Arizona ________ 33, 35, 46 

Ajo district, Arizona --------------33, 35, 4:! Ajo mine, Arizona ________________________ 42 

Alaska Juneau mine, Alaska ______ 9, 19, 20, 21 

Albemarle mine, New Mexico ------------208 

Alder Creek district, Idaho -----------123, 1:!7 

Alder Gulch placers 

Montana ________ !43, 146, 160, 163 

Algonquin mine, Montana ----------------151 

Alice district, Colorado ____________ 85, 99; 94 

Alice mine, Colorado ----------------------93 

Alleghany district, California ____ 5, 54, 57, 79 

Alma district, Colorado _______________ 85, 109 

Alma placers, Colorado ------------------109 

Almeda mine, Oregon --------------------227 

Alta mine, Colorado ---------------------115 

Alta mine, Montana ----------------------154 

Alvarado mine, Utah --------------------251 Amalie district, California ____________ 57, 64 

Amalie mine, California ------------------64 

American Fork district, Utah ____ 241, 248, 252 

American Lode mine, New Mexico ________ 207 

American Nettie mine, Colorado __________ 108 

American River placers, 

California ----53, 55, 61, 72, 73, 75 

Ames mining area, Colorado ____________ 115 

Amethyst mine, Colorado ________________ 106 

Angels Camp, California -----------------60 Animas district, Colorado ____________ 85, 113 

Annie Laurie mine, Utah ----------------245 

Antelope Valley district, California ____ 57, 67 

Apollo Consolidated mine, Alaska __________ 23 

App-Heslep mine, California --------------83 

Arbacoocbee district, Alabama ____________ 6, 7 

Argenta district, Montana ------------142, H4 

Argentine district, Colorado ________ 85, 93, 94 

Argentum mine, Nevada -----------------189 Argonaut mine, California ________________ 58 

Arizona mine, Arizona --------------------44 

Arkansas River valley placers, 

Colorado -----------------85, 104 

Arondo mine, California ------------------63 

Ashdown mine, Nevada ------------------182 Ashland district, Oregon ____________ 217, 224 

Ashland mine, Oregon ------------------224 Ash Peak district, Arizona _____________ 35, 89 

Aspen district, Colorado ______________ 86, 110 

Atlanta district, Idaho __________ !23, 124, 129 

Atlantic CitY-South Pass district, 

Wyoming _______________ 262, 263 

Auburn mine, Nevada -------------------196 

August mine, Montana ------------------167 Auld Lang SYne mine, Nevada ___________ 196 

Aurora district, Nevada _________ 171, 173, 188 

Avon district, Montana ------------------168 

Awakening district, Nevada _____ 173, 180, 181 

Aztec mine, New Mexico ----·------------204 

INDEX OF LOCALITIES 

[Italic page numbers indicate major references] 

B Page 

Baby mine, Oregon ----------------------227 Backer district, Montana ________________ 11,6 

Badger mine, Oregon --------------------224 

Bagdad-Chase mine, California ------------76 

Bagdad district, Arizona ------------------47 

Bagdad mine, Arizona --------------------47 Baisley-Elkhorn mine, Oregon ___________ .220 

Baker district, Oregon ---------------216,217 Baker mine, Colorado ____________________ 94 

Balaklala mine, California ----------------78 

Bald Mountain district, 

South Dakota _______ 233, 295, 238 

Ballarat district, California ________ 57, 62, 68 

Bannack district, Montana ______ 142, 144, 145 

Banner district, Arizona ____________ 33, 35, 37 

Barnes-King mine, Montana _____________ 149 

Barnhardt mine, North Carolina __________ 215 

Basin and Boulder district, Montana __ l42. 152 

Bass mine, Nevada ----------------------175 

Bassick mine, Colorado -------------------97 

Battle Mountain district, Colorado --------99 

Battle Mountain district, Nevada ____ !73,183 

Bayhorse district, Idaho ------------------127 

Beaver Creek district, Colorado __________ 110 

Beaver Creek district, Montana __________ 147 

Beaver district, Idaho --------------------139 

Beaver Lake district, Utah --------------242 Bell district, Nevada ________________ 173, 188 

Bellevue mine, California _________________ 73 

Bellota district, California _____________ 57, 77 

Belmont mine, Colorado -------------------94 

Belshazzar mine, Idaho ------------------125 

Bendigo district, California ---------------7 4 

Benton mine, Oregon --------------------227 

Betty O'Neal mine, Nevada --------------184 

Bibliography ----------------------------263 

Big and Little Smoky-Rosetta district, Idaho ___________________ 123, 126 

Big Blue mine, California ----------------65 

Big Buffalo mine, Idaho -----------------131 

Big Bug district, Arizona ______ 33, 35, 45, 46 

Big Bug Mine, Arizona ------------------46 

Big Canyon mine, California --------------61 

Big Cottonwood camp, Utah _________ 246, 248 

Big Eye mine. Arizona --------------------61 

Big Gun mine, California -----------------72 

Big Hurrah mine, Alaska --------------16, 19 

Bimetallic mine, Montana ----------------151 

Bingham district, 

Utah .. 3, 5, 6, 240, 241, 242, 246. 251 

Bisbee district, Arizona _____________ 5, 33, 35 

Black Bear mine, California _______________ 81 

Black Bear mine, Oregon -----------------227 

Blackbird district, Idaho ------------123, 134 

Black Canyon district, Arizona ________ 35, 46 

Black Hornet district, Idaho __________ 120. 123 

Black Jack mine, Idaho ------------------138 

Black Rock district, Arizona ___________ 35, 47 

Blanchard district, California __________ 67, 69 

Blewett district, Washington _________ 255, 256 

Blue Ledge district, Utah ----------------249 

Page 

Blue River district, Colorado ____________ 116 

Blue River district, Oregon ______ 217, 229, :!30 

Blue Tent placers, California __________ 70, 72 

Blue Wing district, Montana _____________ 144 

Bluff camp, Alaska -----------------------19 Bodie district, California ____________ 57, 69, 70 

Bodie mine, Washington ------------------259 

Bohemia district, Oregon ________ 217, 229,280 

Boise Basin district, Idaho ________ 5, 123, 124 

Bolinger mine, Washington --------------259 

Bonanza district, Colorado ------------85, 112 

Bonanza King mine, Nevada -------------197 

Bonanza mine, Arizona --------------------62 

Bonanza mine, California ------------------84 

Bonanza mine, Oregon -------------------219 

Bonnifield district, Alaska -------------10, 24 

Boss Tweed mine, Montana --------------161 

Boulder Creek district, Montana ______ 142, 150 

Boundary.Red Mountain mine, 

Washington -----------------262 

Bouquet placer district, California _________ 67 

Braden mine, Oregon ---------------------225 

Brazos mine, Oregon ---------------------221 

Breckenridge district, Colorado ____ 85, 86, 116 

Brewer mine, South Carolina ____________ 231 

Bright Star mine, California ______________ 65 

Brindletown placers, North Carolina ______ 211 

Broadway mine, Montana ----------------162 

Brooklyn mine, California -----------------76 

Brown Monster mine, California -----------63 

Browns Valley-Smartville district, 

California -----------------57, 84 

Brownsville-Challenge-Dobbins district, California _________________ 57, 84 

Bruner district, Nevada ______________ 173, 191 

Bryant district, Montana ________ 142, 144, 145 

Buckhorn district, Nevada ____________ !73, 179 

Buckhorn mine, Nevada __________________ 179 

Buena Vista district, Nevada _____________ 195 

Buffalo Hump district, 

Idaho -----------123, 130, 191, 188 

Bullfrog district, Nevada ____________ 173, 191 

Bullion district, Nevada __________ 173, 183, 184 

Bull Run mine, Nevada -------------------176 

Bunker Hill and Sullivan mine, Idaho _____ 139 

Burke district, Idaho --------------------139 Busby mine, Virginia ____________________ 253 

Buster mine, Idaho ----------------------132 

Butte district, Montana ___ 5, 142, 143, 144, 169 

c 

Cable mine, Montana ____________________ 148 

Cable placer, Montana -------------------148 

Cactus mine, Utah -~--------------------243 

Calaveras River placers, 

California __________ 55, 59, 60, 77 

Calera cobalt-copper mine, Idaho _________ 135 

Calistoga district, California -----------57, 70 

Callahan mine, Montana -----------------153 

Camanche district, California __________ 57, 59 

277 
278 

Page 

Camas district, Idaho ----------------121, 123 

Camas 2 mine, Idaho -----"--------------121 

Cambridge district, Nevada ---------------187 

Camp Bird mine, Colorado _______________ 107 

Camp Douglas district, Nevada ___________ 190 

Camp Floyd district, Utah ___ 240, 241, 250, 251 

Campo Seco district, California ________ 57, 59 

Canada Hill district, California ___________ 72 

Canada Hill mine, California -------------71 

Candelaria district, Nevada ----------173,189 

Cane Springs mine, Utah ----------------251 

Canyon Creek district, 

Oregon _________ 216, 217,218,222 

Cardinal mine, California ------------------64 

Cardwell district, Montana ---------------154 

Cargo Muchacho district, California ____ 57, 62 

Carlin mine, Nevada ------------171, 174, 180 

Carlisle mine, New Mexico --------------206 

Carmen Creek camp, Idaho ---------------135 

Carmen Creek-Eldorado-Pratt 

Creek-Sandy Creek district, Idaho ___________________ 123, 135 

Carrville district, California ____________ 57, 81 

Cascade Creek camp, Colorado _____________ 96 

Cascade district, Washington ________ 256, 259 

Castle Dome district, Arizona __________ 35, 51 

Cataract channel placer deposits, 

California -----------------59, 60 

Cave Creek district, Arizona ____________ 35, 40 

Cedar and Mount Gleason district, 

California --------------------67 

Cedar Creek-Trout Creek district, 

Montana ---------c------142, 164 

Cedar Mountain district, Nevada _________ 188 

Cedar Plains district, Montana -----------146 

Centennial Eureka mine, Utah ------------244 

Center Reef mine, Montana --------------153 

Centerville district, Idaho ________________ 1114 

Central City district, 

Colorado _____ 5, 85, 94, 96, 97,100 

Central district, Colorado ______________ 88, 89 

Central district, New Mexico ____ 201, 203, 205 

Central Eureka mine, California __________ 58 

Cerbat camp, Arizona --------------------41 

Cerrillos district, New Mexico ____________ £10 

Chafey district, Nevada _________________ 196 

Chalk Creek district, Colorado ____ 85, 86, 91, 92 

Champion mine, California ________________ 71 

Chandalar district, Alaska _____________ 10, 25 

Chelan Lake district, Washington __ 255, 256, 257 

Cherry Creek district, Nevada ________ 173, 199 

Cherry Creek mine, Nevada _______________ 199 

Chewelah district, Washington __________ .261 

Chewsaw district, Washington ___________ £60 

Chicago Creek camp, Colorado ____________ 96 

Chichagof district, Alaska ----------10, 19, 110 

Chichagof mine, Alaska -------------------20 

Chief mine, Utah ------------------------244 

Chief 1 mine, Utah ----------------------244 

Chisana district, Alaska ---------------10, 25 

Chistochina district, Alaska ________ 10, 13, 14 

Chitina district, Alaska -------------------13 

Chloride Cliff district, California ____ 57, 62, 68 

Chloride camp, Arizona ___________________ 41 

Christmas district, Arizona _______________ 37 

Christmas mine, Arizona ______________ 37, 38 

Chocolate Mountains district, California ____ 62 

Church mine, California __________________ 61 

Cid district, North Carolina --------------212 

Cid mine, North Carolina ----------------213 

Cienega district, Arizona ______________ 35, 51 

Circle district, Alaska ___________ 10, 23, 1!5, 26 

Clancy district, Montana ________ 142, 152, 158 

Clay Peters mine, Nevada ----------------189 

Clear Creek placers, Colorado ------85, 87, 103 

Clementine mine, Nevada ----------------175 Clements district, California ___________ 57, 77 

Cliff mine, Alaska ------------------------81 Clifton district. Utah ____________ 241, 250, 1!51 

Clifton-Morenci district, Arizona ____ 33, 35, 99 

INDEX 

Page 

Climax district, Colorado -----------------103 

Clipper mine, Montana -------------------161 

Cloverleaf mine, South Dakota ------------236 

Cochiti district, New Mexico ---------203, 208 

Coeur d'Alene region, Idaho ----------123, 189 

Cold Spring mine, Colorado ________________ 88 

Colorado district, Montana _______________ 154 

Colorado mineral belt, 

Colorado ____ 84, 86, 90, 95, 98, 105 

Columbia Basin-Jamestown-Sonora 

district, California ______ 5, 57, 82 

Columbia mine, Colorado __________________ 90 

Columbia River placers, Washington ______ 258 

Columbia district, Colorado --------------112 

Colville district, Washington --------------255 

Comet mine, Jefferson County, Mont ______ 154 

Comet mine, Missoula County, Mont _______ l64 

Como district, Nevada ----------------173, 187 

Comstock Lode district, 

Nevada · ___ 5, 171, 173, 174, 187, 197 

Comstock Lode, 

Nevada __ 5, 171, 186, 187, 197, 198 

Confederate Gulch district, 

Montana ------------142, 146, 147 

Congress mine, Arizona -------------------49 

Connor Creek district, Oregon --------217,1118 

Connor Creek mine, Oregon --------------218 

Conrad Hill mine, North Carolina ____ 211, 213 

Consolidated Virginia mine, Nevada ______ 198 

Cooke City district, Montana ____ !42, 165, 166 

Cooney district, New Mexico ______________ SJOII 

Copper Contact mine, Nevada ____________ 189 

Copper Queen mine, Arizona ______________ 35 

Copper Rock camp, Colorado ________ " _____ 90 

Cornwall iron mine, Pennsylvania ________ 231 

Cornucopia district, Oregon __ 216, 217,218, !!19 

Corte~ district, Nevada --------------173, 179 

Cosumnes River placers, 

California ___________ 57, 58, 61,75 

Cottonwood district, 

Utah _______ 241, 246, 248, 252, 253 

Cottonwood-Fort Jones-Yreka district, 

California _________________ 57, 80 

Council district, Alaska __________ 8, 10, 16, 17 

Courtland district, Arizona ____________ 35, 97 

Cove district, California ------------51, 64,65 

Cowles mine, New Mexico ----------------209 

Cracker Creek district, Oregon ___ 216, 217, 1!19 

Crater mine, California -------------------73 

Creede district, Colorado __________ 85, 86, 106 

Creighton mine, Georgia ------------118, 119 

Crescent Mills district, California ______ 57, 78 

Cresson mine, Colorado ------------------118 

Cripple Creek district, 

Colorado __________ 3, 5, 84, 85, 86, 

87, 106, 117 

Crow Creek district, Montana ____________ J46 

Crown King district, Arizona ______________ 50 

Crown King mine, Arizona ----------------50 

Crown Point mine, Washington __________ 257 

Crown Queen mine, Nevada ______________ 174 

Crowning Glory mine, Nevada ____________ 178 

Curry mine, Nevada ---------------------197 

D 

Dahlonega district, Georgia --------------119 

Daisy mine, Oregon ---------------------227 

Daisy mine, Utah ------------------------250 

Dale district, California ------------67, 75, 76 

Dan Tucker mine, Nevada ________________ 173 

Danville district, Washington _____________ 258 

Deadwood Creek camp, South Dakota ______ 235 

Deadwood-French Gulch district, 

California --------------67, 77, 78 

Deadwood Gulch placers, 

South Dakota -----------234, 235 

Deadwood-Two Bit district, 

South Dakota -----------233, 295 

Deep Gravel placer mine, Oregon ---------229 

Page 

Deer Trail district, Washington ___________ 261 

Deertrail mine, Utah ---------------------246 

Delamar district, Nevada ________ 171, 173, 185 

De Lamar mine, Idaho ------..-------------138 

Delamar mine, Nevada -------------------185 

Delamar mine, Utah ---------------------250 

Denn mine, Arizona ----------------------35 

De Soto mine, Arizona --------------------50 

Dewey mine, Idaho ----------------------140 Dexter mine, Nevada ____________________ 177 

Diamond district, Nevada ----------------179 

Diamond mine, Nevada ------------------179 

Diamond Mountain district. California __ 57, 66 

Dirt mine, Colorado ----------------------100 

Divide district, Nevada ---------------173, 177 

Divide Extension mine, Nevada ___________ 177 

Dixie Creek district, Oregon --------------1120 

Dixie district, Idaho -------------123, 130, 131 

Dolcoath mine, Montana -----------------153 

Dolores district, New Mexico _____________ 210 

Dome district, Arizona ______________ 32, 35, 52 

Dorn mine, South Carolina ___________ 231, 232 

Dorothea mine, Oregon -------------------228 

Dos Cabezas district, Arizona _______ 33, 35, 36 

Douglas Creek district, Wyoming _________ 262 

Downieville district, California ___ 5, 54, 57, 79 

Drinkwater mine, Nevada ----------------178 

Drumlummon mine. Montana ____________ 156 

Dry Gulch district, Montana ______________ 155 

Ducktown district, Tennessee -------------240 

Dun Glen district, Nevada ----------------196 

Duplex mine, Nevada --------------------175 Dutch-App mine, California _______________ 83 

Dutch mine, California ___________________ 88 

Dutch Flat-Gold Run district, 

California ----------------.57, 7!! 

Dutch Flat placer district, Nevada ____ 173, 181 

E 

Eagle Creek district, Oregon _____ 216, 217, 21.9 

Eagle district, Alaska ------------------10, 26 

Eagle district, Idaho ---------------------139 

Eagle-Shawmut mine, California __________ 83 

East Belt districts, 

California __ 5, 57, 59, 60, 61, 68, 88 

East Belt gold deposits, 

California _______ 54, 57, 59, 60, 61, 

68, 82, 83 

East Tintic district, Utah -------------244, 252 

Ebner mine, Alaska -----------------------20 

Echo district, Nevada --------------------196 

Edgemont district, Nevada ________ 173, 175, 176 

Egan Canyon district, Nevada ____________ 199 

Eldorado camp, Idaho --------------------135 Eldorado district, Nevada ____________ 173, 174 

Eldorado (Humboldt) district, Nevada ____ 195 

Eldorado mine, Arizona ___________________ 40 

Eldorado Rand mine, Nevada _____________ 174 

Elizabethtown-Baldy district, 

New Mexico -------------203, 1!04 

Elk City district, Idaho __ 123, 130, 131, 192, 133 

Elk Creek camp, South Dakota -----------235 

Elk Creek-Coloma district, Montana __ 142, 164 

Elkhorn district, Montana _______ 142, 152, 153 

Elkhorn mine, Montana ------------------158 

Elkhorn Queen mine, Montana -----------153 

Elko Prince mine, Nevada ----------------176 

Ellamar copper ores ----------------------82 Ellamar district, Alaska __________________ 31 

Ellendale district, Nevada ------------173, 19~ 

Ellendale mine, Nevada __________________ 192 

Ellsworth district, Arizona ------------35, 51! 

Elmore mine, Idaho ---------------------130 Ely district, Nevada _____________ 171, 173, 199 

Emery district, Montana _________________ 169 

Emery mine, Montana ------------------169 

Emigrant Creek district, Montana ____ 142, 165 

Emma mine, Utah -----------------------248 

Emmons mine, North Carolina ------------213 
Page 

Empire district, Colorado ------------85, 93, 94 

Empire district, Nevada ------------------19.1, 

Empire mine, California ---------------70, 71 

Empire mine, Idaho ----------------------127 

Entiat district, Washington ----------256, 1!57 

Ermont mine, Montana __________________ 144 

Ester Dome mine, Alaska --------------26, 27 

Etta spodumene mine, South Dakota ______ 238 

Eureka Consolidated mine, Nevada ________ 179 

Eureka district, Arizona ---------------35, 47 

Eureka district, Colorado __________ 85, 113, 114 

Eureka district, Nevada __________ l7C 173, 179 

Eureka district, Washington ______________ 258 

Eureka Hill mine, Utah ------------------244 

Eureka Lilly mine, Utah -----------------244 Eureka mine, Washington _______________ 262 

Evolution district, Idaho _________________ 139 

Exchequer mine, Nevada -----------------199 

F 

Fairbanks district, 

Alaska ____ 5, 8, 9, 10, 23, 24, 1!6, 31 

Fairfield Valley placers, 

North Carolina __________ 212, 215 

Fairhaven district, Alaska ________ 8, 10, 16,17 

Fairplay district, Colorado ________ 85, 109, 110 

Fairplay placers, Colorado _______________ 110 

Fairview district, Nevada ____________ 172, 173 

Feather River gravels, California ______ 55, 59 

Featherville district, Idaho ___________ 123, 129 

Fern mine. Idaho ------------------------141 Fiddletown district, California _________ 57, 58 

Finn district, Montana --------------142, 167 

First Chance district, 

Montana ________ 142, 150, 151, 164 

First Thought mine, Washington __________ 261 

Flagstaff mine, Nevada ------------------17 4 Flagstaff mine, Oregon __________________ 221 

Flint camp, Idaho -----------------------138 

Flint Creek district, Montana ____ 142, 150, 151 

Florida Mountain-War Eagle Mountain camp, Idaho _________________ 138 

Flowery district, Nevada __________________ 197 

Folsom district, California ___________ 5, 57, 75 

Foresthill district, California ___________ 57, 72 

Fortuna district, Arizona ______________ 35, 52 

Fortuna mine, Arizona -------------------52 

Fortymile district, Alaska _______ 10, 23, 26, 27 

Forty-nine Diggings placer mine, 

Oregon ----------------------224 

Franklin mine, Georgia ------------------119 

Franklin mine, Idaho ---------------------129 Franklin mine, Montana _________________ 158 

Franklin mine, Virginia __________________ 253 

Freeland-Lamartine district, Colorado _______________ 85, 93, 95 

Freeland mine, Colorado ---- ______________ 95 

French Creek district, Montana ______ 142, 148 

French Creek-Florence district, 

Idaho -------------------123, 131! 

French Diggings placer mine, Oregon _____ 223 

Friant district, California ______________ 57, 62 

Friday mine, Washington ________________ 259 

Frisco camp, Colorado --------------------117 

G 

Galena district, Nevada __________________ 199 

Galice district, Oregon ______ 217, 218, 226, 1!$7 

Gambrinus district, Idaho ----------------11!4 

Garden district, South Dakota __________ 233, 235, 1!96, 238 

Gardner Hill mine, North Carolina ___ 212, 213 

Garfield district, Nevada ______________ 173, 189 

Garfield mine, Nevada ____________________ 189 

Garnet district, Montana _________________ 151 

Garrison mine, -Nevada -------------------179 

Gemini mine, Utah ----------------------244 

INDEX 

Page 

General Custer mine, Idaho ---------------128 

Georgetown district, Alaska _________ 10, 14, 15 

Georgetown district, Montana ________ 142, 1!,8 

Georgetown placers, Montana ------------149 

Georgetown-Silver Plume district, 

Colorado ____________ 85, 93, 94, 95 

Georgia Gulch placers, Colorado ----------116 

Georgia Slide district, California ________ 57, 61 

Getchell mine, Nevada ____________ 171, 180, 182 

Geyser-Marion mine, Utah ----------------250 

Gibbonsville district, Idaho -----------123,185 

Gila City district, Arizona ----------32, 33, 52 

Gilman district, Colorado ------------85, 98, 99 

Girdwood district, Alaska -----------------11 

Gleason mine. Oregon -------------------220 

Gleeson district, Arizona --------------35, 37 

Globe-Miami district, 

Arizona ---------33, 35, 37, 98,44 

Globe mine, Arizona ----------------------38 

Gnome mine, Idaho ----------------------132 

Gold Acres camp, Nevada ----------------184 

Gold Bar mine, Arizona -------------------47 Gold Basin district, Arizona ____________ 35, 40 

Gold Brick-Quartz Creek district, 

Colorado ------------------85, 101 

Gold Bug camp, Arizona ------------------41 

Gold Bug mine, Oregon ------------------227 

Gold CanYon district, Nevada -------------199 

Gold Circle district, Nevada __________ 173,176 

Gold Cliff mine, California ----------------60 

Gold Creek placers, Montana ____ 143, 167, 168 

Gold Hill camp, Colorado --------------88, 90 

Gold Hill district, Idaho --------------124, 11!5 

Gold Hill district, Nevada ____________ 173, 192 

Gold Hill district, North Carolina _____ 212, 214 

Gold Hill district, Oregon ________ 217, 224,225 

Gold Hill district, Utah __________________ !!51 

Gold Hill mine, Idaho --------------------125 

Gold Hill mine, North Carolina -----------211 

Gold Hill mine, Utah --------------------251 

Gold Hill-Sugarloaf district, 

Colorado ____________ 85, 88, 89, 90 

Gold King mine, Colorado ----------------114 

Gold King mine, Washington ________ 254, 258 

Gold Mountain district, Nevada __________ 177 

Gold Mountain district, Utah ____ 241, 245, 246 

Gold Park district, Nevada ---------------192 

Gold Range district, Nevada __________ 173,190 

Gold Ridge mine, Oregon ----------------220 Gold Ridge mine, Washington ____________ 262 

Gold Run district, Nevada ------------173, 181 

Gold Springs district, Utah ---------------249 

Golden Age mine, Idaho -----------------125 Golden Curry mine, Montana ____________ 153 

Golden Cycle mine, Colorado _____________ ll8 

Golden Eagle mine, Arizona _______________ 52 

Golden Eagle mine, California _____________ go 

Golden Gate mine, Nevada ---------------190 

Golden Messenger mine, Montana _________ 157 

Golden Mile mine, Nevada ---------------189 Golden Rule mine, California ______________ 83 

Golden Sunlight mine, Montana __________ 154 

Goldfield district, Nevada __ fi, 171, 173, 174, 177 

Goldstone mine, Idaho --------------------135 

Goldville mine, Alabama --------------------6 Good Hope mine, California ________________ 74 

Goodnews Bay district, Alaska ______ 10, 14, 15 

Goodsprings district, Nevada __________ 178, 17 J, 

Gould district, Montana ------------------158 

Gould mine, Nevada ---------------------197 

Governor mine, California -----------------67 

Grand Island-Caribou district, 

Colorado --------------85, 88, 89 

Grand Prize mine, Nevada ---------------176 

Granite-Bimetallic mine, Montana ________ 151 

Granite district, Idaho ---------------124, 11!5 

Granite district, Nevada __________________ 199 

Granite district, Oregon --------------217, !!12 

Granite Hill mine, Oregon ----------------227 

Granite mine, Colorado -------------------118 

279 

Page 

Granite mine, Idaho ---------------------139 

Granite Mountain mine, Montana ____ 1GO, 15_1 

Grants Pass district, 

Oregon ---------217, 226,1!1!7, 228 

Grass Valley camp, California -------------71 

Grass Valley-Nevada City district, 

California ---------3, 5, 54, 57, 70 

GreaterviUe district, Arizona ________ 35, 42, 1,8 

Greenback district, Oregon -------217,226, 228 

Greenback mine, Oregon -----------------228 

Green Campbell mine, Montana __________ 162 

Green Emigrant mine, California __________ 73 

Greenhorn district, Oregon ---217, 1!19, 222, 228 

Green Mountain district, California __ 57, 64, 65 

Green Mountain mine, California -----------73 

Gregory diggings, Colorado ------------99, 100 

Gregory mine, Montana ------------------154 

Griffith district, Colorado -----------------95 

Grimes Pass district, Idaho -----------124, 11!5 

Groveland-Moccasin-Jacksonville area, 

California -----------------67, 88 

Grunter mine, Idaho ---------------------136 

H 

Hahns Peak district, Colorado ----------85, 111! 

Haile mine, South Carolina ________ 7, 231, 232 

Hailey district, Idaho ____________________ lf!1 

Hamilton mine, New Mexico --------------209 

Hammersley mine, Oregon ---------------227 

Hammonton district, California ______ 5, 57, 84 

Hardscrabble district, Idaho --------------11!9 

Harquahala district, Arizona -----------33, 52 

Harrison Gulch district, 

California ______________ 57, 77, 78 

Harvard mine, California ------------------83 

Hassayampa-Groom Creek district, 

Arizona -------------32, 35, 45, 48 

Hassel district, Montana ------------------146 

Hattie mine, Idaho -----------------------121 

Hawthorne district, Nevada __________ 173, 190 

Hayden Hill district, California ________ 57, 66 

Hearst mine, California -------------------69 

Hecla district, Montana --------------144, 145 

Helena-Last Chance district, 

Montana _______ 142, 143, 154, 155 

Henderson placers, Montana __________ 142, 152 

Hermes mine, Idaho ----------------------141 

Hidden Treasure mine, California ----------72 

Hidden Treasure mine, Oregon ------------221 

Hidden Treasure mine, South Dakota -----236 

Hidden Treasure mine, Washington ------259 

High Grade district, California _________ 57, 69 

Highland Boy mine, Utah -----------------247 

Highland district, Montana ______ 142, 169, 170 

Highland Light mine, Washington --------259 

Hillabee mine, Alabama --------------------8 

Hill City district, South Dakota ______ 233, 289 

Hillsboro district, New Mexico ________ 203, fllO 

Hillside mine, Arizona --------------------47 

Hilltop district, Nevada --------------173, 184 

Hilltop mine, Nevada --------------------184 

Hirshey mine, Alaska ---------------------11 

Hirst-Chichagof mine, Alaska -----~-------20 

Hite mine, California ---------------------69 

Hoge mine, California --------------------71 

Hog Mountain district, Alabama ________ 6, 7, 8 

Hog Mountain mine, Alabama --------------8 

Holcomb district, California _________ 57, 75, 76 

Holcomb Valley placers, California ---------76 

Holden district, Washington --------------1157 

Holden mine, Washington ________ 255, 257,258 

Homestake mine, New Mexico ------------208 

Homestake mine, South Dakota __ 5, 166, 235, 237 

Honeycutt mine, North Carolina ----------215 

Hoodoo district, Idaho ---------------123, 194 

Hoover Hill mine, North Carolina ____ 212, 214 

Hope mine, Montana -----------------150, 151 

Hornitos district, California ______ 57, 67, 68,69 

Horn Silver mine, Utah ------------------242 
280 

Page 

Hornsilver district, Nevada __________ 173, 178 

Horseshoe mine, Idaho -------------------127 

Horseshoe placers, Colorado --------------109 

Hot Creek district, Nevada ---------------194 Hot Springs district, Alaska ______ 10, 23, 27, 30 

Howie mine, North Carolina ----------212, 215 

Hughes Creek district, Montana ______ 142, 169 

Hughes Creek placers, Montana -----------169 

Hully and Logan mine, Nevada ------------187 

Humboldt district, Nevada ____________ 173, 195 

Humbug district, California ____________ 57, 80 

Humdinger mine, Oregon ----------------229 

Hunter district, Idaho -------------------139 

I 

Idaho City district, Idaho ----------------124 

Idaho-Maryland mine, CalifOTnia ___________ 71 

Idaho Springs district, Colorado _____ 85, 93, 96 

Iditarod district, Alaska ____________ 10, 24, 28 

!go district, California ______________ 57, 77, 78 

Illinois mine, Nevada --------------------193 

Illinois River district, Oregon ________ 217, 228 

Imlay district, Nevada __________________ 195 

Imlay mine, Nevada --------------------195 Independence mine, Colorado _____________ 118 

Independence mine, Placer County, 

Calif -------------------------72 

Independence mine, Siskiyou County, 

Calif -------------------------81 

Independence Pass district, Colorado ___ 85, 110 

Index district, Washington ---------------260 

Indian Creek district, Montana ------------146 

Indian Queen mine, Nevada ---------------190 Indian Springs district, Nevada ___________ 187 

lnnoko district, Alaska ______________ 10, 24, 128 

lnyo Range district, California ____________ 63 

lola mine, North Carolina ------------212, 214 

Iowa Hill district, California ____________ 57, 7ft 

Iron Blossom mine, Utah -----------------244 

Iron King mine, Arizona ------------------46 

Iron Mountain mine, California ------------78 Iron Rod mine, Montana _________________ 162 

Iron Springs district, Utah ---------------243 

Iron Springs mining area, Colorado _______ 115 

Isabella mine, Colorado ------------------118 

J 

Jacks Hill mine, North Carolina ------212, 213 

Jackson district, Nevada _____________ 173, 19ft 

Jacksonville district, Oregon _____ 217, 224, 225 

Jamestown district, Colorado --------85, 88, 89 

Jarbridge district, Nevada ____ 171. I73, 175, 176 

Jardine district. Montana ____________ 142, 165 

Jarilla district, New Mexico __________ 203, 208 

Jay Gould mine, Montana ________________ 158 

Jefferson Canyon district, Nevada ____ 173, 192 

Jefferson mine, Nevada ------------------192 

Jenny Lind district, California ______ 57, 60. 77 

Jenny Lind mine, California ---------------72 

Jerome district, Arizona ------------35, 45, 48 

Joe Walker mine, California -----------57, 66 

Johnnie district, Nevada· -------------173, 192 

Johnnie mine, Nevada ___________________ 192 

Johnsville district, California ________ 57, 73, 74 

Jordon Creek placers, Idaho ______________ 138 

Josephine mine, California _________________ 69 

Julian district, California ______________ 57, 77 

Jumbo district, Nevada ------------------199 

Jumbo mine, Humboldt County, Nev __ 180, 181 

Jumbo mine, Lincoln County, Nev ________ 185 

Jumpoff Joe Creek camp, Oregon _________ 227 

Juneau district, Alaska _________ 5, 9, 10, 19, 20 

K 

Kantishna district, Alaska __________ 10, 24, 28 

Katherine camp, Arizona ------------------40 Keane Wonder mine, California ____________ 63 

INDEX 

Page 

Kearsarge mine, Montana ________________ 163 

Kenai Peninsula district, Alaska ______ 8, 10, 11 

Kendall district, Montana -----------------149 

Kennedy mine, California _________________ 58 

Kentuck mine, Idaho ---------------------136 Kerber Creek district, Colorado ___________ 112 

Ketchikan-Hyder district, Alaska __ 10, 19, 20, 21 

Keyes district, California -----------57, 64, 65 

Keyes mine, California --------------------64 

Keystone district, Nevada -----------------194 

Keystone district, South Dakota __ 233, 238, 239 

Keystone-Holy Terror mine, South Dakota __ 239 

Keystone mine, California -----------------68 

Keystone mine, Nevada ------------------175 

Keystone mine, Wyoming ----------------263 

Kimberly district, Utah ------------------1145 

King of Arizona mine, Arizona ____________ 52 

Kings Mountain mine, 

North Carolina ------211, 212, 213 

Kirtley Creek district, Idaho __________ 123, 185 

Kittie Burton mine, Idaho ---------------136 

Klamath River district, California ______ 57, 81 

Klamath River placers, 

California __________ 57, 62, 80, 81 

Knob Hill mine, Washington ---------254, 258 

Kofa district, Arizona --------------33, 35, 5£ 

Kokomo district, Colorado -------------86, 117 

Kougarok district, Alaska -----------10, 16, 17 

Kougarok placers, Alaska -----------------18 

Koyuk district, Alaska __________ 10, 16, 17, 11i 

Koyukuk district, Alaska ---------------10, ft9 

L 

La Belleview mine, Oregori ---------------222 

La Cigale mine, Utah --------------------250 

La Grange mine, California ---------------82 

La Grange-Waterford district, California-57, 81 

Laguna district, Arizona _______________ 35, 52 

Lake City district, Colorado ________ 85, 86, 103 

Lake Superior mine, Arizona ______________ 44 

Lamartine mine, Colorado -----------------95 

Landon-Arizona mine, Arizona ------------38 

LaPanta mine, Nevada -------------------190 

La Paz district, Arizona ------------32, 35, 53 

La Plata district, Colorado ____________ 85, 105 

La Porte district, California ______ 5, 57, 73, 7 J, 

Las Animas district, New M€xico _________ 210 

Last Chance mine, Colorado --------------106 

Last Chance Gulch placers, 

Montana ________ 143, 146, 154, 155 

La Touche Island copper ores, Alaska ______ 32 

Layton placer mine, Oregon --------------226 

Lead district, South 

Dakota ___ 3, 5, 6, 233, 234, 235, 237 

Leadville district, 

Colorado ____ 5, 85, 86, 98, 103, 104, 

109, 117 

Leadville district, Nevada ----------------199 

Leesburg district, Idaho ------------------136 

Lelande district, Idaho -------------------139 

Lewis district, Nevada ___________ 178, 183, 184 

Libby district, Montana --------------142, 159 

Liberty Bell mine, Colorado ---------------115 

Lincoln district, Montana ------------142, 155 

Lincoln district, Utah --------------------242 

Lindsay mine, North Carolina ________ 212, 213 

Little Annie mine, Colorado --------------111 

Little Bonanza mine, Oregon _____________ 220 

Little Cottonwood camp, Utah ____ 246, 248, 249 

Little Hill mine, Oregon -----------------220 

Little Rocky Mountains district, Montana ________________ 142, 167 

Livingston mine, Oregon -----------------228 

Llano de Oro placer mine, Oregon _________ 229 

Lodi district, Nevada ----------------173, 193 

London mine, Colorado -------------------109 

Lone Jack mine, Washington -------------262 

Lone Mountain district, Nevada _______ 173, 178 

Lone Pine mine, Washington _____________ 258 

Page 

Longfellow mine, California ---------------83 

Loon Creek district, Idaho --------123, 127, 128 

Lordsburg district, New Mexico __ 201, 203, IW7 

Lost Horse mine, California ---------------7 6 

Lost Packer mine, Idaho ------------------128 

Low Divide district, California ------------60 

Lower Applegate district, Oregon -----217, 228 

Lower Burnt River valley district, 

Oregon ------------------217, 1220 

Lucky Boy mine, Idaho ------------------128 

Lucky Boy mine, Nevada ----------------190 

Lucky Boy mine, Oregon ----------------230 

Lucky Girl mine, Nevada ----------------176 

Luxemburg placers, New Mexico _________ 210 

Lynn district, Nevada ------------171, 173, 180 

Lynx Creek-Walker district, 

Arizona _____________ 32, 35, 45, !,9 

M 

Mabel mine, Nevada ---------------------189 

McCabe-Gladstone mine, Arizona __________ 46 

McClellan district, Montana ----------142, 156 

McKeen mine, California -----------------81 

Mackinaw district, Idaho ------~------123, 188 

McKinley district, Alaska ___________ 10, 14, 15 

Mad Mule mine, California ________________ 79 

Madonna mine, Colorado ------------------92 

Magalia district, California _________ 57, 58, 59 

Magdalena district, New Mexico __________ 210 

Magma mine, Arizona --------------------44 

Magnolia district, Colorado __________ 85, 88, 9·0 

Magnolia mine, Nevada ------------------185 Maiden-Gilt Edge district, Montana _______ 150 

Maitland district, South Dakota __________ 236 

Maitland mine, South Dakota -------------237 

Malachite mine, Colorado -----------------103 

Malheur district, Oregon ---------217, 220, 230 

Mammoth district, Arizona ---------- __ 35, 43 Mammoth mine, Arizona __________________ 43 

Mammoth mine, Idaho ------------------139 

Mammoth mine, Kern County, Calif ________ 64 

Mammoth mine, Montana ---------------164 

Mammoth mine, Shasta County, Calif _______ 78 

Mammoth mine, Utah --------------------244 Mammoth mine, Washington ______________ 262 

Manhattan district, Nevada __ 171, 173, 191,193 

Marble district, Nevada __________________ 198 

MaricoPa mine, Arizona -------------------40 

Marietta mine, Montana ------------------146 

Mariposa mine, California ______________ 68, 69 

Marshall district, Alaska _______________ 10, 29 

Martinez district, Arizona --------------35, .49 

Mary Ann Creek district, Washington ____ 260 

Mary Murphy mine, Colorado --------------92 

Marysville-Silver Creek district, 

Montana ____ 142, 143, 154, 155, 156 

Mascot mine, South Dakota ---------------236 

Masonic district, California _________ 57, 69, 70 

Mayflower mine, Montana ________________ 161 

Mayflower mine, Nevada -----------------196 

Mazuma Hills mine, Nevada --------------196 Meadow Creek mine, Idaho ______________ 141 

Meadow Lake district, California _______ 57, 71 

Merced River Placers, 

California __________ 55, 67, 68, 69 

Mercur district, Utah --------------------!150 

Mercur mine, Utah ----------------------250 

Merlin camp, Oregon --------------------227 

Methow district, Washington _________ 256, 259 

Mexican mine, Alaska ---------------------20 

Mexican mine, Nevada -------------------198 

Michigan Bluff district, California ______ 57, 72 

Michigan Bluff placers, California ---------72 

Midas mine, California -------------------78 Middle Boise district, Idaho ______________ 129 

Miller mine, Utah -----------------------252 

Mills mine, North Carolina ------------211, 212 

Minah mine, Montana -------------------154 

Mineral Creek district, Arizona ------------43 
Page 

Mineral Hill and Indian Creek district, 

Idaho --------------------123, 136 

Mineral Hill district, Idaho ---------------1!11 

Mineral Park camp, Arizona _______________ 41 

Mineral Ridge district, Nevada _________ 7 _178 

Minnesota mine, Colorado _________________ 94 

Missouri River-York district, 

Montana ----------------142, 156 

Mocking Bird mine, Nevada ______________ 17 4 

Mockingbird camp, Arizona _______________ 41 

Mogollon district,. 

New Mexico ____ 201, 110!1, 203, 210 

Mokelumne River placers, 

California __________ 55, 58, 59, 77 

Moriarch district, Colorado ______ 85, 86, 91, 92 

Montana district, Montana ___________ 142, 148 

Monte Cristo district, Washington-255, 256, 260 

Montezuma district, Colorado ______________ 94 

Montgomery placers, Colorado ___________ 109 

Montgomery-Shoshone mine, Nevada ______ 191 

Monumental mine, Oregon· ----------------222 

Moore Creek district, Idaho ---------------124 

Moose Pass-Hope district, Alaska __________ ll 

Mormon Bar district, California ________ 57, 68 

Mormon Basin district, 

Oregon _____ 216, 217,218, !1!10, !190 

Morning mine, Idaho --------------------139 

Morning Star mine, California ____________ 72 

Morning Star mine, Nevada _____________ 184 

Mosquito-Buckskin placers, Colorado _____ 109 

Moss mine. Virginia ---------------------253 

Mother Lode counties, 

California ___________ 55, 58, 67, 82 

Mother Lode districts, 

California ____ 5, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 

68,83 

Mother Lode gold deposits, 

California __ 5, 54, 55, 57, 58, 59, 60, 

61, 67, 68, 82, 83, 183 

Mount Baker district, Washington_255, 256, !162 

Mount Baldy district, ·utah ______ 241, 245, 246 

Mount Diable mine, Nevada -------------189 

Mount Gleason and Cedar district, 

California --------------------67 

Mount Montgomery district, Nevada __ 173, 190 

Mount Ophir mine, California _____________ 69 

Mount Pisgah district, Idaho ---------123, 126 

Mount Pleasant mine, California __________ 61 

Mount Reuben district, Oregon -----------227 

Mount Wilson district, Colorado _______ 85, 114 

Mountain Chief mine, Idaho ______________ 125 

Mullan district, Idaho --------------------139 

Munroe mine, Nevada --------------------196 

Murray district, Idaho --------------------139 

Murray placers, Idaho -------------------139 

Myers Creek district, 

Washington ---------256, 259, !160 

N 

Nabesna district --------------------10, 24, 90 

Nabesna mine, Alaska --------------"------30 

Nacoochee district, Georgia -----------119, 120 Napoleon mine, Washington ______________ 261 

National district, Nevada ____ 171, 173, 180, 181 

National mine, Nevada -------------·------181 

Neal district, Idaho ------------------123, 129 

Neenach district, California ---------------67 

Neihart district, Montana ----------------148 

Nelchina placers, Alaska ------------------13 

Nevada City camp, California -------------71 

Nevada City mine, California -------------71 

Nevada Hills mine, Nevada --------------172 Nevada Wonder mine, Nevada ___________ 173 

New Cornelia mine, Arizona ______________ 42 

New Eldorado mine, California ____________ 75 

New Jersey mine, California ---------------72 

New Park mine, Utah --------------------250 

New Pass district, Nevada ------------173, 185 

New Placer district, New Mexico _____ 203, !109 

INDEX 

Page 

New World district, Montana ____________ 166 

New York mine, Colorado ----------------106 

Nightingale mine, California --------------76 

Ninemile Creek district, 

Montana ------------142, 164, 165 

Nixon Fork mine, Alaska ------------------15 

Niwot mine, Colorado ---------------------90 

Nizina district, Alaska ______________ 10, 13, 14 

Nogal district, New Mexico ___________ 203, 1!07 

Nome district, Alaska ____ 5, 8, 9, 10, 16, 17, 18 

Nome placers, Alaska ----------------8, 9. 18 

Norris district, Montana _____________ 142, 160 

North Columbia placers, California _____ 70, 72 

North Fork district, Oregon ______ 217, 222, 1!23 

North Fork placer mine, Oregon __________ 223 

North Lilly mine, Utah ------------------244 

North Moccasin district, Montana ____ 142, 11,9 

North Moccasin mine, Montana ___________ 149 

North Star-Mann mine, Colorado ----------93 

North Star mine, Arizona -----------------52 

North Star mine, California ---------------71 

North States mine, North Carolina ____ 212, 213 

North Union district, Nevada ____________ 192 

Northern Belle mine, Nevada ------------189 

Northern Gilpin district, Colorado ______ 85, 100 

Northumberland district, Nevada -----173, 193 

0 

Oakdale-Knights Ferry district, 

California _________________ 57, 81 

Oatman camp, Arizona ----------------33, 40 

O'Brien mine, Arizona --------------------47 

Octave mine, Arizona --------------------60 

Ohio district, Utah ______________________ 2J,6 

Old Abe mine, New Mexico ---------------208 

Old Amber mine, Montana ---------------157 Old Channel placer mine, Oregon __________ 227 

Old Diggings district, California -----------77 

Old Emma mine, Utah -------------------249 

Old Eureka mine, California --------------58 Old Field mine, North Carolina ___________ 215 

. Old Hat district, Arizona ------------------43 

Old Placer district, New Mexico __ 203, 209, 210 

Old Sturgis placer mine, Oregon __________ 226 

Olinghouse district, Nevada __________ 173, 199 

Olympic mine, Nevada -------------------189 

Omco mine, Nevada ----------------------189 Oneota district, Nevada ______________ 113, 190 

Ophir district, California ___________ 57, 72, 79 

Ophir district, Colorado ___________ 85, 114, 115 

Ophir district, Montana __________ 142, 167, 168 

Ophir mine, Nevada -----------------197, 198 

Ophir-Rush Valley district. Utah __ 241, 250, !!51 

Opp mine, Oregon -----------------------225 

Oregon Bonanza mine, Oregon ------------229 

Ore Knob mine, North Carolina -----------211 

Organ district, New Mexico __________ 203, 1!04 

Orient district, Washington __________ 256, 1!61 

Original and ·Ferguson mine, California ____ 69 

Oriole mine, Oregon ----------------------227 

Oro Blanco district, Arizona -----------35, 45 

Oro Cache mine, Montana ---------------163 

Oro Fina mine, California -----------------73 

Oro Fino mine, South Dr.kota -------------236 

Orogrande district, Idaho ________ 123, 130, 132 

Orogrande district, New Mexico ----------208 

Orogrande-Frisco mine, Idaho ------------132 

Oroville district, California _________ 57, 58, 59 

Oroville-Nighthawk district, 

Washington _____ 255, 256, 259, 1!60 

Ortiz district, New Mexico ----------------210 

Osceola district, Nevada __________ 173, 199, liDO 

Ottawa district, Montana ----------------156 

Overland mine, Utah --------------------250 

Ozier mine, California --------------------76 

p 

Palmer Mountain district, Washington ____ 1!60 

Palmyra district, Nevada -----------------187 

281 

Page 

Pamlico mine, Nevada -------------------190 

Pansy Lee mine, Nevada -----------------183 

Paradise Valley district, Nevada ______ 173, 182 

Park City district, 

Utah _______ 240, 241, 242, 248, !11,9 

Park district, Montana ---------------142, 146 

Parker mine, North Carolina __________ 212, 215 

Paymaster district, California ------------ _62 

Paymaster mine, Nevada -----------------191 

Pearce placer mine, Oregon --------------226 

Pearl-Horseshoe Bend district, Idaho ______ 190 

Peavine district, Nevada ------------------199 

Peck district, Arizona __________________ 35, 49 

Peck mine, Arizona -----------------------49 

Pecos district, New Mexico ---------------209 

Pecos mine, New Mexico -----------------209 Pedro Dome mine, Alaska ______________ 26, 27 

Penelas mine, Nevada --------------------191 

Perigo mine, Colorado -------------------100 Pern mine, California _____________________ 59 

Perschbaker mine, California ______________ 59 

Peshastin district, Washington _______ !156, 259 

Philipsburg district, Montana _____________ 151 

Phoenix mine, Arizona --------------------40 

Phoenix mine, North Carolina ________ 211, !112 

Phomolite district, Nevada ---------------191 

Picacho district, California -:---------------62 

Pierce district, Idaho ----------------123, 1!16 

Pierre Lake district, Washington _________ !161 

Pilgrim camp, Arizona --------------------41 

Pinacate district, California ____________ 57, 74 

Pine Creek mine, California ---------------64 

Pine Grove camp, Arizona -----------------60 Pine Grove district, Idaho ____________ 123, 1!19 

Pine Grove district, Nevada ______________ 187 

Pine Grove-Tiger district, Arizona ______ 35, 50 

Pine Tree mine, Kern County, Calif _____ 57, 66 

Pine Tree mine, Mariposa County, Calif ____ 69 

Pinon-Dale district, California _________ 57, 7 4 Pinos Altos district, 

New Mexico ________ 203, 205, 206 

Pioche district, Nevada ------171, 173, 185, 186 

Pioneer district, Arizona -------------------U· 

Pioneer district, California ________________ 66 

Pioneer district, Colorado ------------------98 

Pioneer district, Montana ________ 142, 167, 168 

Pioneer mine, California ------------------72 

Pioneerville district, Idaho -------123, 124, 125 

Pittsburg-Idaho mine, Idaho ______________ 137 

Pittsburg-Liberty mine, California _________ 70 

Pittsburg mine, Idaho --------------------130 

Pittsburg mine, Nevada ------------------184 Pittsburg Red Top mine, Nevada __________ 184 

Placer Center district, Idaho ______________ 139 

Placers in Tertiary gravels in 

Calaveras County, Calif__54, 57, 60 

Placers in Tertiary gravels in El Dorado 

County, Calif ___________ 54, 57, 61 

Placers in Tertiary gravels in 

Mariposa County, Calif_ __ 54, 57, 69 

Placerville district, Idaho ____________ 124, 125 

Platerica placer mine, Oregon ------------229 

Plomosa district, AriZona --------------35, 59 

Plumas Eureka mine, California -----------7 4 

Pocket Belt district, California _________ 57, 8J, 

Pocket Belt gold deposits, California -------82 

Pony district, Montana --------------142, 160 

Poorman mine, Idaho --------------------139 

Poorman mine, Nevada ------------------190 

Porcupine district, Alaska __________ 10, 19, 1!2 

Porcupine mine, Oregon ------·------------229 

Port Clarence district, Alaska ___ 10, 16, 17, 19 

Port Valdez district, Alaska ------------31, 32 

Port Wells district, Alaska --------------31, 32 

Portis placers, North Carolina -------212, 213 

Portland mine, Colorado ------------------118 

Potosi district, Nevada ______ 171, 173, 180,181! 

Potosi mine, Nevada -----------------174,175 

Pratt Creek camp, Idaho -----------------135 

Pride of the Mountain mine, Nevada ______ 183 
282 

Page 

Princeton mine, California ----------------69 

Providence mine, California ---------------71 

Prussian mine, Nevada ------------------192 

Pyramid camp, Arizona -------------------41 

Pyra!"id camp, New Mexico --------------207 

Pyramid district, Nevada ----------------199 

Pyramid mine, California -----------------61 

Q 

Quaker Hill placers, California _________ 70, 72 

Quartette mine, Nevada ------------------175 

Quartz Mountains district, Nevada __ . ______ 198 

Quartzburg district, Idaho --------123, 124, 125 

Quartzburg district, Oregon ------217, 222, 223 

Queen of Bronze copper mine, Oregon ____ 229 

R 

Radersburg district, Montana ________ 142, 1/,6 

Railroad Creek district, Washington ______ 1!57 

Rainbow mine, Oregon -------------------220 

Rambler mine, Nevada -------------------174 

Rampart district, Alaska ____ 10, 23, 26, 27, 90 

Rand district, California ________ 57, 64, 65, 75 

Randolph mine, North Carolina __________ 215 

Ratcliffe mine, California _________________ 63 

Rawhide district, Nevada --------171, 173, 191 

Rawhide mine, Placer County, Calif ________ 72 

Rawhide mine, Tuolumne County, Calif _____ 83 

Ray district, Arizona ________________ 33, 35, ~3 

Ready Bullion mine, Alaska ---------------20 

Red Cliff district, Colorado ----------------99 

Red Cloud mine, Colorado _________________ 88 

Red Dog-You Bet placers, California ____ 70, 72 

Red Lion camp, Montana ________________ 151 

Red Mountain camp, Colorado ------------107 Red Shirt mine, Washington _____________ 259 

Reed mine, North Carolina ___________ 211, 212 

Reese River district, Nevada __ 171, 173, 183,185 

Regent district, Nevada __________________ 191 

Reid mine, North Carolina _______________ S12 

RenoVa district, Montana ________ 142, 160, 161 

Republic district, 

Washington ____ 254, 255, 256, 258 

Republic mine, Montana -----------------166 

Republic mine, Washington --------------258 Resort district, Idaho ____________________ 133 

Resting Springs district, 

California ______________ 57, 62, 69 

Reward mine, California ------------------63 

Rex mine, Washington -------------------257 

Richardson district, Alaska ------------10, 91 

Richmond mine, Nevada -----------------179 

Rico district, Colorado -----------------85, 98 

Riley mine, Nevada ----------------------182 

Rimini-Tenmile district, Montana ____________ 142, 155, 157 

Rising Sun mine, California ____________ 57. 73 

Robertson mine, Oregon ------------------227 

Robinson camp, Colorado -----------------117 Robinson district, Nevada ________________ 199 

Rochester district, Nevada ____________ 178,196 

Rock Creek district, Oregon __________ 217, 220 

Rockland district, Nevada ________________ 187 

Rockland mine, Nevada ------------------188 Rocky Bar district, Idaho ________ 123, 129, 130 

Rogers mine, Washington ________________ 257 

Rogue River camp, Oregon ----------------227 Rollins mine, Utah __________________ 240, 242 

Ropes mine, Michigan -------------------141 

Rosamond-Mojave district, 

California ______________ 57. 64, 66 

Rosedale district, New Mexico ____ 203, 210, 1!11 

Rosedale mine, New Mexico ---------------211 

Rosita Hills district, Colorado ------85, 86, 97 

Round Mountain district, 

Nevada _____ 171, 173, 184, 191, 198 

Rover mine, Nevada ----------------------174 

Rowena camp, Colorado -------------------88 

INDEX 

Page 

Royal mine, California --------------------60 

Royal mine, Montana --------------------150 Ruby district, Alaska ______________ 10, 24, 80 

Ruby Gulch mine, Montana ---------------167 

Rudisil mine, North Carolina ____ 211, 212, 213 

Russ district, California ------------------62 

Russell mine, North Carolina ________ 212, 1114 

Ruth mine, California --------------------63 Rye Patch district, Nevada ___________ 173, 196 

Rye Patch mine, Nevada ------------------196 

Rye Valley district, Oregon ---------------ll20 

s 

Sacramento mine, Utah ------------------250 Sailor Flat placers, California __________ 70, 72 

St. Catherine mine, North Carolina ___ 212, 213 

St. John mine, California --------------57, 66 

Salina camp, Colorado --------------------~8 

Salmon River district, California _______ 57, 81 

Salmon River placers, California ________ so, 81 

Salt Chuck mine, Alaska ------------------22 

Salt Springs district, Arizona --------------40 

San Francisco district, Arizona ______ 33, 35, 40 

San Francisco district, Utah __________ 241, 1!42 

San Gabriel district, California _________ 57, 67 

San Juan Ridge placers, California _____ 70, 72 

San Manuel mine, Arizona ______________ 33, 43 

San Pedro district, New Mexico __________ Jl09 

San Rafael mine, Nevada ----------------193 

Sand Springs district, Nevada -------------178 

Sandy Creek camp, Idaho -----------------135 

Sanger mine, Oregon --------------------219 

Scott River district, California _________ 57, 81 

Scott River placers, California ----------80, 81 

Scotts Flat placers, California ----------70,72 

Scratchgravel mine, Montana _____________ 158 

Searchlight district, Nevada ______ 173, 174, 175 

Sells mine, Utah -------------------------249 

700 Foot mine, Alaska ---------------------20 

Seven Troughs district, Nevada _______ 173, 196 

Sevenmile-Scratchgravel district, 

Montana ------------142, 155, 158 

Sevier mine, Utah ------------------------245 

Shakespear camp, New Mexico ------------207 

Sheepeater district, Montana _____________ 165 

Sheepranch mine, California ---------------60 

Sheridan district, Montana __ 142, 144, 160, 161 

Sherman district, California _________ 57, 62,63 

Shoshone mines, California ________________ 63 

Shungnak district, Alaska -------------10, 16 

Sierra Buttes district, California ____ 57, 79, 80 

Sierra Buttes mine, California ____________ 80 

Sierra district, Nevada ---------------173, 196 

Silver City district, Idaho --------123, 124, 188 

Silver City district, Nevada ------173, 186, 187 

Silver Creek district, Washington ________ 260 

Silver Hill mine, North Carolina ----------213 

Silver Lake mine, Colorado ---------------113 

Silver Peak district, Nevada ______ 171. 173,178 

Silver Pick mine, Colorado ---------------114 

Silver Queen mine, Arizona ---------------~44 Silver Star district, Nevada _______________ 190 

Silver Star-Rochester district, 

Montana ________ 142, 144, 160, 162 

Silverton district, Colorado ---------------119 

Silverto;,_ district, Washington ____ 256, 260,1161 

Simon mine, Nevada ----------------------189 

Simpson-Camp Howard-Riggins placer 

district, Idaho _______ 123, 130, 192 

Sixteen to One mine, California ------------79 

Skidoo mine, California -------------------64 Skyline mine, Montana __________________ 153 

Slate Creek district, Washington __ 255, 256, 1!62 

Sliger mine, California --------------------61 

Sloughhouse district, California ________ 57, 75 

Smith River placers, California ---------57, 60 

Smuggler-Union mine, Colorado ______ 108, 116 

Smuggler vein. Colorado --------------114, 115 

Snake Creek district, Utah ----------------249 

Page 

Snake River placers, 

Idaho _______ 121, 123, 126, 138, 139 

Sneffels camp, Colorado ------------------107 

Sneft'cls-Red Mountain district, " 

Colorado -----85, 107, 113, 114, 115 

Snowshoe district, Montana ---------------159 

Snowstorm placers, Colorado -------------110 

Solomon-Bluff district, Alaska ---10, 16, 17, 19 

Soulsby mine, California ------------------83 

South Boulder camp, Montana ____________ 161 

South Park district, California ____________ 63 

South Telluride mining area, Colorado ____ 115 

Southern Cross mille, Montana ____________ 149 

Spar City district, Colorado --------------106 

Sparta district, Oregon ---------------217, 1!21 

Spaulding placer mine, Oregon -----------226 

Spring Valley district, Nevada ________ 173, 197 

Squaw Creek district, 

South Dakota -------233, 235, 238 

Squaw Creek district, Washington --------1159 

Star district, Nevada --------------------195 

Star district, Utah ----------------------242 Star mine, Nevada ______________________ 199 

Star of the West mine, Nevada ___________ 187 

Star Peak mine, Nevada -----------------195 

Stateline district, Utah --------------241, 1149 

Steamboat mine, Oregon -----------------226 

Stedman district, California ________ 57, 75, 76 

Steel mine, North Carolina ___________ 212, 1!11, 

Steeple Rock district, 

New Mexico ---------203, 205, 206 

Stemple-Virginia Creek district, 

Montana ------------142, 155, 158 

Sterling, placer mine, Oregon ------------226 Stockton camp, Arizona __________________ _41 

Stockton district, Utah -------------------251 Stoddard mine, Arizona __________________ _46 

Strawberry Creek camp, South Dakota ____ 235 

Strong mine, Colorado -------------------118 

Sugarloaf camp, Colorado ------------------88 Sultan district, Washington ______________ 260 

Sumdum mine, Alaska --------------------20 

Summit camp, Montana ------------------163 

Summit distri~t. Idaho -------------------139 

Summit Flat district, Idaho ___________ 124, llt5 

Summit Valley district, Montana __________ 169 

Summitville district, Colorado __________ 85, 111 

Sumpter district. Oregon ____ 216, 217, 218,221 

Sunnyside mine, Colorado ____________ 113, 114 

Sunnyside mine, Idaho --------------------140 

Sunset camp, Colorado --------------------90 

Sunshine camp, Colorado ------------------88 

Sunshine mine, Utah ---------------------250 

Superior district, Arizona ________ 33, 35, 43, 44 

Supply mine, California -------------------76 Susanville district, Oregon _______ 217, 222,224 

Swauk district, Washington __________ 256, 1159 

Sweeney mine, California -----------------83 

Swissmont mine, Montana ________________ 153 

Sylvanite district, Montana ______ 142, 159, 160 

Sylvanite mine, Oregon ------------------225 

T 

Table Mountain channel placer 

deposits, California ________ 59, 60 

Tallulah mine, Nevada -------------------196 

Tarryall district, Colorado ________ 85, 109, 110 

Tarryall placers, Colorado ----------------110 

Taylor district, Nevada ------------------199 

Taylor mine, California ------------------61 

Teacup mine, Nevada --------------------1!)9 

Techatticup mine, Nevada ----------------17 4 

Telluride district, 

Colorado _______ 5, 85, 86, 107. 108, 

114, 115 

Tellurium mine, Virginia ----------------253 

Tenabo camp, Nevada -------------------184 Tenderfoot district, Alaska _______________ 81 

Tenmile district, Colorado ---------85, 116, 117 
Page 

Tenmile district, Idaho -----------123, 130, 18J 

Tertiary placer districts in Nevada 

County, California ______ 5, 57, 72 

Teviston placers, Arizona __________________ 36 

Texas CanYon placer district, California ____ 67 

Texas district, Idaho -----------------123, 137 

Three Stars mine, California ______________ 73 

Thunder Mountain district, 

Idaho ---------------123, 140, 141 

Tidal Wave district, Montana ____ 142, 160, 162 

Tiger camp, Arizona ----------------------50 

Tiger mine, Idaho ------------------------139 

Tijeras Canyon district. New Mexico __ £02, 203 

Tincup district, Colorado _________ 85, 101, 102 

Tintlc district, 

Utah __ 5, 240, 241, 242, 243, llH. 252 

Tintic Standard mine, Utah ______________ 244 

Tiptop district, Arizona ________________ 35, 50 

Tiptop mine, Arizona ---------------------50 

Tip Top mine, Nevada -------------------190 

Tizer district, Montana --------------142, 159 

Tolavana district, Alaska -----------10,24, 91 

Tomboy mine, Colorado __________________ 115 

Tombstone district, Arizona --------33, 35, 96 

Tonopah district, 

Nevada __ 5, 171, 173, 174, 191, 194 

Tonopah Divide mine, Nevada ____________ 177 

Tonopah Hasbrouck mine, Nevada ________ 177 

Town mine, Oregon ----------------------225 Trail district, Colorado ___________________ 95 

Treadwell mil)e, Alaska -------------------20 

Trinity River basin, California ______ 57, 81, 81 

Trinity River placers, California _____ 62, 81, 82 

Triumph mine, Idaho --------------------123 

Tropico mines, California -----------------66 

Troutman mine, North Carolina __________ 215 

Tuluksak-Aniak district, Alaska ____ 10, 14, 16 

Tumco district, California ________________ 62 

Tuolumne River placers, California _____ 55, 81 

Turnagain Arm district, Alaska ___________ 11 

Turquoise district, Arizona __________ 33, 35, 97 

Tuscarora district, Nevada ________ 173, 175, 176 

Twin Bridges district, Montana ___________ 16$! 

Twin Lakes district, Colorado ------------111 

Two Bit Creek camp, South Dakota _______ 235 

Tybo district, Nevada ____________ 173, 191,194 

Tybo mine, Nevada ----------------------195 

u 

Uinta district, Utah ---------------------249 

Ulysses mine, Idaho ---------------------136 

Uncompahgre district, Colorado __ 85, 107, 108 

Unga district, Alaska __________________ 10, ll9 

Union Copper mine, North Carolina ______ 215 

Union distfict, California ______________ 57, 89 

Union district, Nevada --------------173, 195 

Union mine, California -------------------61 

United Verde Extension mine, Arizona ____ 48 

United Verde mine, Arizona ______________ 48 

Upper Applegate district, Oregon __ 217, 224, l!ll6 

INDEX 

Page 

Upper Burnt River district, Oregon ___ 217,llll1 

Upper San Miguel district, Colorado ------115 

Utah Copper mine, Utah -----------------24i 

Ute Creek camp, Colorado -----------------96 

Utica mine, California --------------------60 

Uwarra mine, North Carolina ________ 212, 214 

v 

Valdez Creek district, Alaska _______ 10, 11, Ill 

Vaucluse mine, Virginia -----------------254 

Vaughn district, Montana ----------------157 

Verde district, Arizona _______________ _45, 48 

Victor mine, Colorado -------------------118 

Vindicator mine, Colorado ---------~------118 

Virgilina district, Virginia ---------------253 

Virginia camp, Arizona -------------------41 

Virginia camp, New Mexico -------------207 

Virginia City-Alder Gulch district, 

Montana ______ 5, 142, 143, 160, 169 

Virtue district, Oregon -------------.. 21'/, 1!21 

Virtue mine, Oregon --------------------221 

V:ulture district, Arizona ___________ 33, 35, 40 

Vulture mine, Arizona --------------------40 

Volcano district, California ------------57, 58 

w 

Wagon Wheel Gap fluorspar district, 

Colorado ---------------------106 

Waldo district, Oregon _______ 217, 218, 226,llll9 

Walker camp, Arizona --------------------40 

Wallace district, Idaho -------------------139 

Wallapai district, Arizona ________ 33, 35, 40, 41 

Wall Street mine, Nevada ----------------174 

Ward district, Colorado _________ 85, 88, 89, 90 

Ward .district, Nevada ------------------199 

Warm Springs district, Idaho ____ c ___ 1ll1, 123 

Warm Springs district, Montana __ 142, 149, 150 

Warm Springs district, Nevada _______ 173, 182 

Warren district, Arizona ------------------35 

Warren-Marshall district, 

Idaho _______ 123, 124, 130, 131, 199 

Washington mine, California ______________ 7g 

Washington mine, Colorado ---------------118 Watseca mine, Montana _________________ 162 

Wauconda district, Washington __________ $!59 

Wauconda mine, Washington ____________ 259 

Weaver district. Arizona ________ 33, 35, 40, 41 

Weaver (La Paz) district, Arizona _________ 59 

Weaver-Rich Hill district, 

Arizona ____________ 32, 35, 45, 50 

Wedekind district, Nevada ---------------199 

Wellington mine, Colorado ---------------116 

Wenatchee district, 

Washington _____ 254, 255, 256, !!58 

West Belt districts, 

California -----5. 57, 59, 60, 61,69 

West Belt gold deposits, 

California __ 54, 57, 59, 60, 61, 67, 68 

283 

Page 

West Jordan mine, Utah -----------------247 

West Mountain district, Utah ---------240, 1!46 

West Shasta copper-zinc district, 

California --------------57,77, 78 

Westview district, Idaho --------------123, 1.10 

Wheeler mine, Nevada -------------------188 

Whiskeytown district, California ____ 55, 77, 79 

White Creek district, Montana ________ 142, 147 

White Horse district, Nevada -------------199 

White House mine, Idaho ----------------136 

White Oaks district, 

New Mexico _________ 203, 207, 1!08 

White River district, California _________ 57, 82 

White Swan mine, Oregon ________________ 221 

Whitehall district, Montana ______ 142, 152, 154 

Whitehall mine, Virginia ________________ 254 

Whitlatch-Union mine, Montana ______ 143, 155 

Whitney mine, North Carolina ___________ 215 

Whitney mine, Oregon ------------------225 

Wickes district, Montana ------------142, 154 

Wild Rose district, California ______ 57, 62, 64 

Wild Rose mine, Idaho ----------------~--127 

Willow Creek district, Alaska --------10, 11,1ll 

Willow Creek district, 

New Mexico ________ 201, 203, ll09 

Willow Springs district, Utah ____ 241, 250, ll5ll 

Willshire-Bishop Creek district, 

California ______________ 57, 63, 64 

Wilson Creek district, Montana ___________ 159 

Wilson district, Nevada ----------111, 173, 187 

Wilson mine, Nevada ____________________ 188 

Windfall mine, Nevada __________________ 180 

Winnemucca district. Nevada _________ 173, 188 

Winona camp, Oregon --------------------227 

Winston district, Montana ____________ 142, 147 

Wonder district, Nevada _________________ 173 

y 

Yaak district, Montana __________________ 160 

Yakataga district, Alaska __________ 10, 19, 22 

Yankee Fork district, Idaho ______ 123, 127, 128 

Yankee Hill district, California _____ 57, 58, 59 

Yankee Jim district, California ____________ 72 

Yellow Aster mine, California _____________ 65 

Yellow Jacket district, Idaho _________ 123,187 

Yellow Jacket mine, Idaho _______________ 137 

Yellow Jacket mine, Nevada -------------198 

Yellow Pine district, Idaho __ 123, 124, 140, 141 

Yellow Pine district, Nevada _________ 171, 174 

Yellow Pine mine, Idaho -----------------141 

Yentna-Cache Creek district, Alaska __ 10, 11, 19 

Yreka district, Idaho --------------------139 

Yuba district, Idaho ---------------------129 

Yuba River placers, California ______ 55, 74, 84 

z 

Zantgraf mine, California ________________ 61 

Zortman-Landusky district, Montana ______ 167 

Zosell district, Montana __________ 142, 167, 169 

fl U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE I 1968 0-292-284