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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Great Western

Past Producer in Lake county in California, United States with commodities Mercury, Chromium
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Public Land Survey System information
  6. Commodities
  7. Materials information
  8. Alteration
  9. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Geologic structures
  12. Ore body information
  13. Controls for ore emplacement
  14. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  15. Mining district
  16. Ownership information
  17. Production statistics
  18. Workings at the site
  19. Links to other databases
  20. Bibliographic references
  21. General comments
  22. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10040805
MRDS ID M055680
MAS/MILS ID 60330056
Record type Site
Current site name Great Western
Alternate or previous names Great Western Quicksilver Mine, Laguna Western

Geographic coordinates

Point of reference Approximate
Geographic coordinates: -122.63083, 38.69194 (WGS84)
Elevation 663
Location accuracy 1000(meters)
Relative position 4 MI SW OF MIDDLETOWN. Near Lake Couny/Sonoma County line.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Lake(county)

California(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Mount Saint Helena(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Healdsburg(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Santa Rosa(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Lower Sacramento(hydrologic accounting unit)

Sacramento(hydrologic subregion)

California(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States California Lake

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 010N 007W 16,21,22 California

Comments on the location information

  • LOCATED AT CORNER OF SECTIONS 16, 21, 22.
  • Deleted duplicate record MAS 0060330056 (newMRDS 10139180) placed coordinates at the Maypole mine. Coordinates given are for the old MRDS location in Secs. 16, 21, 22. There appears to be ground disturbance in this area on Google Earth imagery.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Mercury Primary
Chromium Critical Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cinnabar Ore
Calcite Gangue
Dolomite Gangue
Opal Gangue
Pyrite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Silica Carbonate Alteration Of Serpentine, Kaolinized Sediments

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Gabbro
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cretaceous
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Jurassic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Serpentinite
    Rock unit name Franciscan Complex
    Rock description Franciscan Complex
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Chemical Sediment > Chert

Nearby scientific data

Approximate (1) -122.63083, 38.69194
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description Lithologic Contacts
Type of structure Regional
Structure description Mayacmas Anticline Trending Nw

Ore body information

  • General form PIPES
    Strike N 45 W
    Dip SW

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Contacts, Brecciated Zones

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface-Underground
Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Medium
Significant Yes
Year of first production 1873
Production years 1873 - 1899, 1902 - 1912, 1915 - 1916, 1931 - 1946

Mining district

District name East Mayacmas

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Westfall Mining Co.
    First year 1970
  • Type Owner
    Owner Bradley Mining Co.
    First year 1965

Production statistics

  • Year 1962
    Period To 1962
    Material HG. [Production info from USBM data.]
    Accuracy Estimate
    Description Cp_Grade: ^5-15 Lb/Ton
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Major Mercury Mercury 4518g/mt

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface/Underground
    Length 12874.4M
    Overall depth 228.6M

Comments on the workings information

  • WORKINGS HAVE CAVED

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    HOLMES, G. W., JR., 1965, MERCURY IN CALIFORNIA: IN USBM IC 8252

  • Deposit

    BAILEY, E. H., USGS, PERSONAL FILES

  • Deposit

    YATES, R. G. AND HILPERT, L. S., 1946, QUICKSILVER DEPOSITS OF THE EASTERN MAYACMAS DISTRICT, LAKE AND NAPA COUNTIES, CALIFORNIA: CALIF. JOUR. OF MINES AND GEOLOGY, V. 12, P. 231 - 286

  • Deposit

    RANSOME, A. L. AND KELLOGG, J. L., 1939, QUICKSILVER RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA: CALIF. JOUR. OF MINES AND GEOLOGY, V. 35, P. 353 - 486

  • Deposit

    BRADLEY, W. W., 1918, QUICKSILVER RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA: CALIF. STATE MINING BUREAU BULL. 78, 389 P.

  • Deposit

    AVERILL, C.V., 1947, MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF LAKE COUNTY, CALIF.: CJMG, V. 43, no. 1, P. 15-38

  • Deposit

    1960 DIREXPL UNIVERSAL SILVER

  • Deposit

    U.S. BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, 1979, ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT BIA-49, 85 p.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
General From the caption of a photograph for sale on Ebay as of 08-nov-2010: GREAT WESTERN QUICKSILVER MINING CAMP LAKE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Circa 1880. No photographer's imprint. photo measures 4.75 x 3.5 inches, mounted on 9.25 x 7.25 inch card board, in very good condition. As gold prospecting moved from nuggets in streams to underground mining, mercury had to be produced in large quantities. One of the main sources of mercury was the Great Western Quicksilver Mine in Lake County. It became one of the most important and longest producing mercury mines in California between 1875 and 1900.
General From http://www.calarchives4u.com/history/history-lake.htm California Genealogy and History Archives Lake County History A Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California Chicago, Lewis Publ. Co., 1891 The Great Western mine, which has been worked since 1856, is located four miles south of Middletown. The claim covers six thousand linear feet on the vein, which strikes east and west, and dips to the south at an angle of sixty-five degrees. The hanging-wall is clay-slate, quite soft near the vein; the foot-wall is serpentine. In the first instance the mine was opened by and worked through a tunnel two thousand two hundred feet long, intersecting the vein at a depth of two hundred and nineteen feet. Work is now carried on through a shaft three hundred and fifty feet deep. Both shaft and tunnel are thoroughly timbered. For ore hoisting a ten by eighteen-inch double spur-geared reversible hoist is used. For handling the water a No. 6 Dean steam pump, with two one and one half-inch columns, is employed. The ore is cinnabar, the fine being worked in a twelve-ton Knox & Osborn furnace; the coarse in a thirty-ton Green furnace. For creating draft in the condensers, blowers driven by a six by eight-inch horizontal engine are employed. Water is brought on the premises through two miles of flume and three-fourths of a mile of piping. Six cords of wood are consumed daily —three for steam purposes and three in the furnaces. About two hundred pounds of Safety Nitro powder are used every ninety days. The company employs thirty men in the mine, and fifteen in the reduction works, the white men receiving $3 per day and the Chinese $1.15.
General From http://pontdechevalier.com/knights-valley/ [as of 08-nov-2010] Between 1875 and 1900 the Great Western Quicksilver Mine Company, located on the border of Sonoma and Lake Counties, became the most important mercury producing mine in California. At its peak, the mine shipped between 27,000 and 31,500 tons of mercury per year to be used in gold mining operations. Located some 45 miles outside Calistoga, the mine transported the quicksilver by horse-drawn wagon over rough mountain roads, which sometimes took an entire week of rough travel to reach Calistoga. There, it was shipped by rail to San Francisco.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 1976-07-01 Peterson, Jocelyn A. U.S. Geological Survey
Reporter 1983-11-04 Western Field Operations Center U.S. Geological Survey MAS 0060330056 = new MRDS 10139180
Editor 2010-11-08 Wilson, Anna B. U.S. Geological Survey MAS 0060330056 = new MRDS 10139180, merged and deleted.

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative California resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.