Purgatory Gulch mines

Past Producer in Carbon county in Wyoming, United States with commodity Gold
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. Nearby scientific data
  8. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  9. Mining district
  10. Mineral rights holdings
  11. Ownership information
  12. Bibliographic references
  13. General comments
  14. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10400527
Record type Deposit
Mineralized Area Purgatory Gulch area of Encampment District
Current site name Purgatory Gulch mines

Geographic coordinates

Point of reference Geographic coordinates: Elevation UTM Precision Relative position Point location
Approximate -106.781, 41.128 (WGS84) 500 Several small gold mines and prospects are found in the gulch and on the adjacent hillsides. Coordinates are for NE4 Sec. 1.
(click for info)
Main Entrance -106.78, 41.136 (WGS84) 10 Adit on top of hill in NE4 of SE4 of Sec. 36. Where Hausel (1989) collected sample with visible gold.
Approximate -106.777, 41.12 (WGS84) 2000 Near described location of "Copper Gem prospect on Dunkard Creek in Purgatory Gulch" (Hausel, 1989, p. 153). Location shown on AML Dudley Creek map.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Carbon(county)

Wyoming(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Encampment(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Saratoga(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Rawlins(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper North Platte(hydrologic unit)

North Platte(hydrologic accounting unit)

North Platte(hydrologic subregion)

Missouri(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Wyoming Carbon

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
6th Principal 013N 084W 1 NE4 Wyoming
6th Principal 014N 084W 36 NE4 of SE4 Wyoming

Comments on the location information

  • El Ray Lode and Oom Paul Lode of the El Ray Gold and Copper Mining Co. are in Sec. 1, probably the location shown for this group record. These claims plot in the SE corner of the Encampment Quad. Claim block is outh and east of Purgatory Gulch.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary

Nearby scientific data

Approximate (1) -106.781, 41.128
Main Entrance (2) -106.78, 41.136
Approximate (3) -106.777, 41.12

Economic information

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Underground
Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Significant No

Mining district

District name Encampment District
District name Purgatory Gulch area

Mineral rights holdings

Type of mineral rights Patented
Type of mineral rights Unknown

Ownership information

  • Type Unknown
    Owner El Ray Gold and Copper Mining Company

Comments on the ownership information

  • Land ownership is variable. El Ray and Oom Paul are on a patented claim block. Golden Eagle/Nature's Mint is patented. Other mines appear to be on expired claims.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Hausel, W.D., 1993, Guide to the geology, mining districts, and ghost towns of the Medicine Bow Mountains and Snowy Range Scenic Byway: Geological Survey of Wyoming Public Information Circular No. 32, 53 p.

  • Location

    Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming, AML Inventory, [undated]: U.S. Bureau of Mines unpublished and undated inventory available at the USDA Forest Service office in Saratoga, WY.

  • Location

    Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming, AML Inventory, [undated]: U.S. Bureau of Mines unpublished and undated inventory available at the USDA Forest Service office in Saratoga, WY.

  • Deposit

    Hausel, W.D., 1989, The geology of Wyoming's precious metal lode and placer deposits: Geological Survey of Wyoming Bulletin 68, 248 p.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit From Hausel, 1989, p. 157-158 ("the author" referring to Dan Hausel): "A group of short adits were driven into limonite-stained shears in gneiss [...]. On the west side of the gulch, two abandoned mines were examined in 1984. The southernmost adit was driven into granodiorite gneiss along a narrow shear. Four narrow copper- and limonite-stained veins were intersected in the mine workings. As short distance north, an adit extended less than 100 ft into the ocuntry rock. Across the gulch are more extensive workings, but when visited by the author in 1984, the adit was caved. In 1988, the author collected quartz vein samples from an adit on the hill in the NE4SE4 sec. 36, T14N, R84W, which contained visible gold. One sample of boxwork-filled quartz without visible gold assayed 19.0 ppm Au, 4.2 ppm Ag, and 0.013% Cu. Some remarkably rich gold specimens were found here[...]. In 1911 and 1912, some placer gold was also recovered from Purgatory Gulch [...]."

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 2011-01-20 Wilson, Anna B. U.S. Geological Survey revised 21-jun-2011, 15-oct-2012

Beyond USGS

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