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Crystal Butte Mine

Past Producer in Okanogan county in Washington, United States with commodities Gold, Silver, Lead, Zinc, Copper
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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. Host and associated rocks
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Geologic structures
  11. Ore body information
  12. Controls for ore emplacement
  13. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  14. Mining district
  15. Land status
  16. Ownership information
  17. Production statistics
  18. Links to other databases
  19. Bibliographic references
  20. General comments
  21. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10041640
MRDS ID M056786
Record type Site
Current site name Crystal Butte Mine
Alternate or previous names Crystal Butte Camp, Mother Lode
Related records 10135338

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -119.00754, 48.91734 (WGS84)
Elevation 1463
Relative position 1.9 MILES SSW OF BUCKHORN MTN SUMMIT.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Okanogan(county)

Washington(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Chesaw(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Oroville(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Okanogan(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Kettle(hydrologic unit)

Upper Columbia(hydrologic accounting unit)

Upper Columbia(hydrologic subregion)

Pacific Northwest(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Washington Okanogan

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Willamette 040N 030E 35 SE OF NW OF NW OF SW Washington

Comments on the location information

  • SOUTHERN SLOPE OF BUCKHORN MTN.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Primary
Lead Secondary
Zinc Critical Tertiary
Copper Tertiary

Comments on the commodity information

  • FROM 1937 TO 1941, SEVERAL CARLOADS OF ORE PER YEAR WERE SHIPPED TO THE TRAIL SMELTER IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, AND TO THE BUNKER HILL SMELTER IN IDAHO.

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Chalcopyrite Ore
Galena Ore
Pyrite Ore
Quartz Gangue

Analytical data

Result $40/TON AU, AG 1937

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Argillite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cretaceous
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Permian
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Cretaceous
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Late Permian
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone
    Rock unit name Spectacle
    Rock description Spectacle

Nearby scientific data

(1) -119.00754, 48.91734
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description Faulting Normal To The Vein, At The Main Adit, Has Produced Minor Offsets.

Ore body information

  • General form PINCH AND SWELL
    Strike N15-80E; N50W
    Dip 10-35NW; 50NE
    Width 2M
  • General form PINCH AND SWELL
    Strike N15-80E; N50W
    Dip 10-35NW; 50NE

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Along Limestone/Argillite Contact

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Significant No
Discovery year 1899
Year of first production 1937
Year of last production 1941

Mining district

District name Myers Creek District; Buckhorn Mtn Area

Land status

Ownership category BLM Administrative Area

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner R. I. Hirst
    Home office Colville, Wa.
    First year 1937
    Last year 1941

Production statistics

  • Year 1941
    Period 1937 To 1941
    Material ORE AU AG
    Accuracy Estimate
    Description Cp_Grade: ^About $40 Au And Ag/Ton, And 28 % Pb/Ton.
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Trace Lead Lead 28wt-pct

Comments on the production information

  • THE NUMBER OF CARLOADS OF ORE SHIPPED IS UNKNOWN; THE REFERENCE SUGGESTS SEVERAL. A FEW SHIPMENTS RAN AS HIGH AS 1 OZ AU/TON, 33 OZS AG PER TON, AND 28 % PB PER TON.

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • BEST ESTIMATE USING DATA FROM REFS., AND TRIG.

Comments on the workings information

  • THE MAIN ADIT, 700 FT NW OF THE CAMPSITE, WAS DRIVEN N45W FOR 65 FT, WHERE IT INTERSECTED THE VEIN. AT THIS POINT THE VEIN HAS BEEN DRIFTED UPON FOR ABOUT 230 FT IN A GENERALLY NE DIRECTION. THE VEIN IN THE FIRST 150 FT OF THE DRIFT HAS BEN STOPED ABOVE THE DRIFT LEVEL; FROM 150 TO 230 FT IN THE DRIFT THE VEIN HAS BEEN STOPED ABOVE AND BELOW THE DRIFT LEVEL. AT 222 FT FROM THE PORTAL, AN INCLINE WINZE WAS SUNK AT 16 DEGREES ON THE DIP OF THE VEIN FOR 80 FT, AT WHICH POINT AN INTERMEDIATE LEVEL WAS ESTABLISHED. FROM THIS LEVEL THE SHAFT EXTENDS 90 FT TO THE LOWEST LEVEL. THE INTERMEDIATE LEVEL CONTAINS 210 FT OF DRIFTS ON THE VEIN; IN THE LOWEST LEVEL THE VEIN HAS BEEN DRIFTED UPON FOR ONLY 20 FT; THESE DRIFTS MEANDER, WHICH SUGGESTS VARYING STRIKE. EAST OF THE MAIN ADIT PORTAL THE OUTCROP OF THE VEIN APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN MINED FROM SEVERAL SHALLOW SURFACE PITS. SEVERAL OTHER ADITS WERE DRIVEN INTO THE HILLSIDE AT LOWER ELEVATIONS THAN THE MAIN ADIT IN ATTEMPTS TO INTERSECT THE VEIN
  • AT DEPTH; DUE TO THE NW DIP OF THE VEIN THESE ATTEMPTS WERE PROBABLY NOT SUCCESSFUL. SEVERAL HUNDRED FT EAST OF THE CAMP AN ADIT HEADS N40E FOR 470 FT; ABOUT 500 FT WEST OF THE CAMP ANOTHER ADIT HEADS N45W FOR 900 FT. METALLIZED VEIN MATERIAL IS NOT PRESENT ON THE DUMP OF EITHER ADIT.

Comments on development

  • ORIGINAL DEVELOPMENT WORK, CONSISTING OF TWO LONG CROSSCUT ADITS AND SEVERAL SHALLOW PROSPECT SHAFTS, WAS DONE BY INTERSTATE MINING CO. BETWEEN 1902 AND 1906. IN 1908, CRYSTAL BUTTE MINING CO. ACQUIRED THE PROPERTY AND BUILT A SMALL CONCENTRATING MILL ON THE EAST BANK OF MYERS CREEK, ABOUT 0.75 MILES SOUTH OF ETHEL CREEK. NO RECORDS SHOW THAT THE MILL PRODUCED CONCENTRATES. IN 1937, R.I. HIRST OF COLVILLE ACQUIRED THE MINE AND CARRIED OUT SMALL-SCALE MINING OPERATIONS UNTIL 1941. SINCE 1941, THE MINE HAS BEEN IDLE, BUT ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS IT HAS BEEN EXAMINED BY INTERESTED PARTIES.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit ORE MINERALS OCCUR SPARSELY DISSEMINATED IN QUARTZ VEINS AND AS THIN DISCONTINUOUS BANDS THAT ROUGHLY PARALLEL THE WALLS OF THE VEINS, AT THE MAIN WORKINGS.ABOUT 800 FT NORTH OF THE MAIN ADIT ANOTHER MINERALIZED QUARTZ VEIN IS EXPOSED. THIS VEIN IS SEVERAL INCHES WIDE AND CONTAINS MINOR ORE MINERALS.
Deposit 5 PATENTED CLAIMS: RECKLESS, BATTLESHIP, EUROPIA, KEYSTONE FRACTION, AND KEYSTONE FRACTION NO. 2 (OF MINERAL SURVEYS 557 AND 775A, WHICH WERE SURVEYED IN 1899 AND 1904).

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-FEB-1975 Unknown U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-SEP-1982 Lawson, William A. U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

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