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Magalia District

Past Producer in Butte county in California, United States with commodity Gold
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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. Mineral occurrence model information
  9. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Ore body information
  12. Controls for ore emplacement
  13. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  14. Mining district
  15. Bibliographic references
  16. General comments
  17. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10310641
Record type District
Current site name Magalia District

Comments on the site identification

  • The district includes the following mines of note: Magalia (Perschbaker), Emma, Indian Springs, and Royal.

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -121.58966, 39.84325 (WGS84)
Location accuracy 100(meters)
Relative position The Magalia District is about 15 miles northeast of the city of Chico.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Butte(county)

California(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Paradise East(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Chico(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Chico(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 Butte

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 023N 003E 13, 24 California

Comments on the location information

  • Location selected for latitude and longitude is approximately the Magalia Mine shaft symbol on the USGS 15-minute Paradise quadrangle.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary

Comments on the commodity information

  • Commodity Info: the gold was extremely coarse, and a number of large nuggets were found here, including the famous 54-pound troy Willard (Magalia) Nugget.
  • Ore Materials: Native gold
  • Gangue Materials: Quartz, metamorphic rock, igneous rock (as clasts)

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore
Quartz Gangue

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 119
USGS model code 39a
Deposit model name Placer Au-PGE
Mark3 model number 54

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Sand and Gravel
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Tertiary

Nearby scientific data

(1) -121.58966, 39.84325
ListMap

Economic information

Ore body information

  • General form Irregular

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Mechanical accumulation on irregular bedrock riffles and within river- and stream-channel lag gravels, bars, and point-bar deposits.

Comments on the geologic information

  • REGIONAL GEOLOGY

    The Magalia District is situated at the western edge of the Sierra Nevada geologic province. This province is characterized by extremely complex lithologies and structures that were assembled through various plate-tectonic processes.

    Paleozoic-Mesozoic metamorphic complexes intruded by various Mesozoic plutons compose the basement of the province. This basement is overlain locally by erosional remnants of Cenozoic volcanic and sedimentary rocks, including gravels. Most of these various lithologies contain gold in places.

    Structurally, the metamorphic rocks and some of the plutonic rocks have been deformed by folding and faulting. The major fault zones typically trend northerly or northwesterly, although in places intrusion of the younger plutons has deformed some of the zones so as to assume other trends as well. In contrast, the overlying Cenozoic rocks are relatively undeformed.

    LOCAL GEOLOGY

    The district is on a northerly trending ridge between Butte Creek on the west and the West Branch of the Feather River on the east. This relatively flat-topped, sloping ridge is capped by volcanic rocks of the Tertiary Tuscan Formation, which cover a series of older gravel-filled Tertiary channels that drained in a southerly to southwesterly direction when active. It is these channel deposits that were mined for placer gold. The longest is the Magalia, or Mammoth, Channel, which is along the east side of the district. Also important is the Emma Channel, which is along the west side. Underneath these channel deposits, and exposed at places in the bottoms of the canyons of Butte Creek and the West Branch of the Feather River, are various metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks as well as ultramafic rocks. At a few locations, Cretaceous sedimentary rocks overlie these basement rocks.

    Faulting of the Tertiary gravels has been observed in several drift mines in the district.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface-Underground
Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Medium
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1849

Mining district

District name Magalia District

Comments on the workings information

  • Most production was from drift mining, with lesser amounts from hydraulic mining. Excess water has always been a problem in the drift mines.

Comments on other economic factors

  • Koschmann and Bergendahl (1968) reported a minimum of 66,000 ounces of gold produced from this district, but this amount is considered to be much less than the actual production. Clark (1970) estimated that total production for this district was in excess of $25 million.

Comments on development

  • Very little has been published on the geology and production of the mining districts in Butte County.

    This region was extensively mined during and after the gold rush. Large-scale mining continued until the 1890?s; there was some activity from the early 1900?s through the 1930?s. O?Brien (1949) reported some work at the Magalia Mine in the mid-1940?s.

    The 54-pound troy Willard (Magalia) Nugget, which was found in this district in 1859, is the largest true gold nugget known to have been discovered in California.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Clark, W.B., 1970, Gold districts of California: California Division of Mines and Geology Bulletin 193, p. 88.

  • Deposit

    Koschmann, A.H., and Bergendahl, M.H., 1968, Principal gold-producing districts of the United States: U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 610, 283 p.

  • Deposit

    Lindgren, W., 1911, Tertiary gravels of the Sierra Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 73, p. 90-93.

  • Deposit

    Logan, C.A., 1930, Butte County: California State Mining Bureau, 26th Report of the State Mineralogist, p. 360-412.

  • Deposit

    O?Brien, J.C., 1949, Mines and mineral resources of Butte County, California: California Journal of Mines and Geology, v. 45, no. 3, p. 417-454.

  • Deposit

    Saucedo, G.J. and Wagner, D.L., 1992, Geologic map of the Chico Quadrangle, California: California Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology Regional Geologic Map Series, Map No. 7A, scale 1:250,000.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit The district is developed in gold-bearing alluvial gravels of Tertiary age that were deposited in a number of south-southwest-trending steep, narrow, and rich channels. The longest channel is the Magalia, or Mammoth, Channel.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 02-AUG-2006 Higgins, Chris T. California Geological Survey CGS (Formerly CDMG)
Editor 01-SEP-2007 Schruben, Paul G. U.S. Geological Survey Converted from S&A FileMaker format to Oracle. Edit checks on rocks, units, and ages with Geolex search, and other fields.

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.