Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-07-11
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covers a square mile or less, and each
contains a small stock of quartz diorite.
The collaborating lodes are Of two
.types-small quartz veins and large
low-grade mineralized shear zones in
diorite. The small quartz veins are
found both in the diorite dikes and
stocks and in the adjoining shale.
Those associated with the Golden Mes
senger dixie were very rich in their
upper portions but became lean at
depths Of so to 100 feet. This condi-
ton may be explained as the result
of downward enrichment that occurred
while the upper portions of these lodes
were very gradually worn ava The
enrichment apparently took place dur
ing the slow development of the old
valley, a remnant of whose floor lies
across the outcrops of these lodes. AS
a rule the small veins elsewhere con-
tain ore OF a workable grade, but most
OF them are too narrow to be worked
with profit to any great depth.
In places the unoxidized parts Of
the lodes of both types contain small
grains or sptcks of galena. Although
the amount of this mineral is incon-
siderable, its presence is of more than
Va - llt0lCo lduo Vic a III
tanning it generally carries more gold
than the ore in which it is lacking.
The galena is Of deep-seated origin,
but whether the gold that accompanies
it was precipitated from a descending
solution by that mineral or came up
with it from below IS not evident. In
this ore no native gold has been OBJ
served.
The future of gold mining in the
area depends chiefly upon the develop
ment of the sheer zones, which contain
large bodies of material that under ia
vorable conditions may prove to be ore.
The best-known example of this group
is the Golden Messenger lode. 1t is
not unlikely that similar bodies exist
elsewhere in the York group Of quartz
diorite dikes, which have been less ex-
tensively explored east of Trout creek
than in the neighborhood of the Golden
Messenger mine.
The York group of bikes is crossed
by the principal mountain valleys from
Trout creek to Avalanche creek. All
these valleys except possibly n con-
tanned workable placer deposits so dis
tributed as to show that the source
of the gold was in or near the dikes.
The richest placers were formed in
York and neighboring gulches that cut
into the western part of the group and
in Avalanche gulch, which crosses it
at the east. Apparently the dixie has
been most richly mlneralized in those
areas. The placer deposits were de-
rived chiefly from the enriched upper
parts of small veins, and in the gulches
mentioned these enriched parts appear
to have been mostly cut away. Along
the Golden Messenger dixie, however.
the rich upper parts of the veins were
largely preserved, because they did not
lie in the path Of a vigorous stream.
In the Confederate Gulch areas I'M
developed bodies of altered and miner
allied diorite that may prove to be
low-grade ore appear to be of a large
size. The diorite dixie or stock eX-
posed on Norris Hill crosses Confeder-
ate gulch below Boulder creek. Along
the road grade it is speckled with fine
pyrite and otherwise shows evidence
of alteration by vein-forming agencies,
and it is reported to carry for a width