Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1907-06-15
COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF
GREAT YER|NCTON DISTRICT
Professor Carl Hesse Makes Nice Report Regarding This
Great Copper District.

The following report on the great Yer
ington copper district is by Prof. Carl
Hesse, an eminent metallurgist and min
ing man, who is graduate of Frieberg,
and who has held such positions as
Supt. of the Royal Saxon Smelling Co.,
of Frieberg, Manager and builder of the
smelters at Therikos, Greece, Supt. of
the Nickel Cobalt smelter at Cartama,
Spain, and numerous other positions of
importance in America and Mexico.
The report is made for the Reno-Yer-
ington Copper Co. but is applicable in a
measure to the entire district
The property is situated on the east
slope of the Yerington copper range,
near Mickey Pass, three and half miles
due west and in full view of the town of
Yerington.
CLAIMS AND TITLE.
The property consists of FIVE mining
claims, named the Copper Center, Cop
per Center Nos. l., and 3, and Copper
Queen. The claims are not patented.
GEOLOGY OF THE RANGE
The Yerington copper range extends
some Ia miles from north to south, but
most of the mines are confined within
an area of five miles in length and four
miles in width. The crest of the range
lies at an elevation of 5000 feet above
sea level, the mines at about 5000 feet,
and the town of Yerington at 4, 500 feet.
The range is bare of timber. and is wa
terless The water for the mines on the
west side of the range comes from
springs, on the east side of the range
from the Walker River, near Yerington.
The core of the range consists of granite
and granite porphyry. South of Mickey
limestone and sllale and the mines there,
are mostly contact deposits, as the Doug
las, Ludwig, Mcconnell. Spragg, Dyer
and Bluestone. North of Mickey Pass
no sedimentary rocks are found, and the
naturalization has taken place in and
along dikes forming fssure veins. as in
the mines of the Reno Yerington Copper
Co., the Nevada Wisconsin Co., Gala
CHER and others.
The dikes, an old quartz -porphyry, an
earlier andesite and very dark por-
phyrite, they cross the range in various
directions and sometimes are of consid-
cradle width.
The whole range was capped by ter
tiary rhyolite. which, south of Mickey
Pass. is mostly eroded away, while north
of Mickey Pass it still covers consider
able territory. AS the ore deposits were
formed shortly after the intrusion of the
granite, it follows that in the rhyolite
no veins are formed. Some peaks con-
sist of still later basalt, and later an
desite is also found at the most northerly
part of the range. Neither carries any
veins.
On the surface and down to a depth of
$50 feet the ore consists of malachite,
azurite and black oxide of copper, carry
ing the usual amounts of silver and gold.
that is, from to 5 ozs. in silver, and
dOOut fDAsOO III SOiN ~ Noh.
GEOLOGY OF THE COPPER CENTER
CLAIMS.
A quartz -porphyry dixie from 400 to
500 feet wide crosses the range from east
to west, forming a prominent ridge,
which rises from the ravine in the east
ern part of the claims to hight of $50
feet in the western part, where it is COW
cred by rhyolite. Eastward this quartz
porphyry extends still further down
towards the valley for mile or so be-
fore it is covered by rhyolite, and in
this extension lie the mines of the
Young Co. and the Nevada Wisconsin
Co. Partly lying within the ground of
the Reno Yerington Copper Co. the
ground is covered by rhyolite; to the
south and also partly within the claims
of the company the granite core is ex-
posed, which extends southwark for
distance of about a mile and quarter,
up to the Bluestone.
The quartz porphyry has yellowish
brown color, forms several prominent
reefs, evidently forming fault lines, and
is otherwise considerably fissured. The
rhyolite has dull reddish color and
weathers with the same color. The
granite is grayish white and is horn
blende granite porphyry Besides these
rocks, there is found in the ground of
the Copper Center claim a dark green,
almost black rock, consisting chiefly of
hornblende. This rock shades into
granite, is in places interbedded with it,
at other places it forms independent
dikes The chief naturalization in the
Copper Center claims has taken place in
assures along the planes of joints and
faults in the quartz -porphyry.
The principal groupings follow the