Tonopah bonanza. [volume] (Butler City [i.e. Butler], Nev.) 1901-1909, 1907-08-03
The GEOLOGY OF
MASONIC VALLEY
MINING ENGINEER DICK MAKES
A VERY INTERESTING RE-
PORT OF FORMATIONS

In a recent report made on YER
ington properties, Mining Engineer
j. G. Dick, with reference to the Ma
son Valley district, says:
The Mason Valley Mining district
is a new discovery in the sense that
of its extent little was known until
the present year, though high grade
copper ore was shipped from the dis
trict thirty-five years ago by wagon,
over mountainous roads, a distance
of sixty miles.
This district, as a whole, extends
along the Mason Valley range OF
mountains north to south about thir-
ty miles, and is about five miles wide.
The Mason valley on the east, and
the Smith valley on the west are both
fertile valleys under high cultiva.
ton, and furnish produce and grain
for that section of Nevada.
The elevation Of the valley is APP.
proximately 1900 feet above the sef
level, and the maximum elevation O
, the range is about 5000 feet. The
portion of the district that hai
gained the most prominence by rea
son of its recent development EN-
braces the four largest mines, viz.
: the Blue Stone, Ludwig, Mason Val
3 ley and Douglass, all within a radiu
of two miles. and might be terme.
the heart of the mining district. |
Is located in Lyon county, Nevada
about furteen miles %southerly fror
Wabuska, a railroad station on tn
Nevada & California, a branch run
ming to Goldfeld, Nevada, off til
main line of the Southern Pacific
The town of Yerington lies northeasi
erly about three and a half mile
from the Blue Stone mine.
1--WE have in the Mason mimi
district an anticlinal fold, its AK.
running nearly north and south, an
forming approximately the ridge {
the Mason range. Simultaneous
with the crust movement were intrl
= sions of ingenious rock that change
the character of the sedimentari,
that overlap the granite. and
: places these ~intrusives have f1owe
over the sedimentaries, GOVERN
= them from view. Later intrusion
= have also cut across the country al
- had their effect, thus presenting {
y either side of the antieline large DO
les of salicious garnetized limeston
: metamorphosed shales and QUARTET
traversed by assures, cut by dyke
- and at places cut by the flow of "
canic rock. Just what causes t
deposition of ore opinions of ems
reers at the present differ, but
u the mines are developed a more col
p~rehensive study "a be made.
~ think the intrusive played an il
portant part in the naturalization
= the district, though in some instanC
the naturalization has been, p'
haps. solely through assuring.
r. What is of a commercial impo
ance is the economic geology of I
a prominent mines. The developme
IL Of the Blue Stone, the Nevada Dor
~ lass, the Mason Valley and the Ii
Is wig show that the ore bodies occ
u metamorphosed garnetized limesto
at or near its contact with intrusI
rock, or in assures in the limeston,
The value of the ore lies chic
in its copper contents. Ore bod
ranging from 81 per cent to rs
NJ cent copper samples show g
values from a trace to $50 a t.
" average value per ton, about 81.
The ore is associated with
he minerals garnet. calcite and specu
III, iron. At, or near the surface,
)n- ore is of carbonate s~iliea-e of cop
We variety. Ranging from 100 to
feet below the surface. the ore
Did mostly suiphide-chalcoprite-cha
lis cite and bornite. Nevada st
10 Innrnal