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American Canyon Placers

Past Producer in Pershing county in Nevada, United States with commodities Gold, Mercury
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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. Land status
  16. Workings at the site
  17. Links to other databases
  18. Bibliographic references
  19. General comments
  20. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10042560
MRDS ID M060387
Record type Site
Current site name American Canyon Placers
Alternate or previous names Chinese Placers, Chinatown Quicksilver Placer
Related records 10296355

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -118.09903, 40.29851 (WGS84)

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Pershing(county)

Nevada(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Fitting(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Lovelock(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Lovelock(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Dixie Valley(hydrologic unit)

Central Nevada Desert Basins(hydrologic accounting unit)

Central Nevada Desert Basins(hydrologic subregion)

Great Basin(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Bureau of Land Management(Bureau of Land Management NV)

Bureau of Land Management NV BLM(Type of land area)

BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Nevada Pershing

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 028N 035E 18 Nevada

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Mercury Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Cinnabar Ore

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 Associated
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Clay, Mud
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Holocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Gravel

Nearby scientific data

(1) -118.09903, 40.29851
ListMap

Economic information

Ore body information

  • Depth to top 18.29M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Stratigraphic Gravel Beds Above Clay

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Medium
Significant No

Mining district

District name Spring Valley District

Land status

Ownership category BLM Administrative Area

Comments on the production information

  • ESTIMATED $10,000,000. (?) LARGELY FROM AMERICAN & SPRING VALLEY CANYONS. ALSO PRODUCTION OF PROBABLY LESS THAN 100 FLASKS OF MERCURY.

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface/Underground
    Overall depth 30.48M

Comments on the workings information

  • CHINESE MINERS DUG SHAFTS 40-100 FT INTO THE GRAVELS. NUMEROUS DREDGE AND PLACER TAILINGS COVER OVER 100 ACRES.

Comments on development

  • MOST OF THE PLACER MINING WAS DONE IN THE 1880'S AND 1890'S BY CHINESE MINERS WHO DUG SHAFTS 40-100 FT INTO THE GRAVELS.. NO DOUBT VERY EARLY IN THE MINING, THE CINNABAR OCCURRING WITH THE GOLD IN THE STREAKS OF HEAVY MINERAL CONCENTR-ATIONS WAS NOTED. ACCORDING TO RANSOME, THE OCCURRENCE OF "BOW-LDERS" OF CINNABAR IN THE PLACER GRAVELS LED TO A SEARCH FOR T-HEIR SOURCE AND RESULTED IN THE EARLY DISCOVERY OF THE DIXIE (-KAOLIN) AND NEVADA ALMADEN LODE DEPOSITS FARTHER UP AMERICAN C-ANYON. IN 1941, AFTER A LONG PERIOD OF LITTLE INTEREST IN THE -GOLD PLACERS, THE CHINATOWN QUICKSILVER PLACER DEPOSIT WAS STA-KED IN AMERICAN CANYON NEAR THE CENTER OF SEC 18 BY J. L. ALGE-R, MERRIL FISK AND W. F. FISK. IN 1942, RECORDS INDICATE INDEP-ENDENT PRODUCTION BY TWO OF THE PARTNERS YIELDING 32 FLASKS HG-. NO OTHER MERCURY PRODUCTION FROM THE PLACER DEPOSITS IS RECO-RDED, BUT IT SEEMS VIRTUALLY CERTAIN ADDITIONAL MERCURY WAS RE-COVERED HERE BOTH IN THE EARLY PERIOD OF EXTENSIVE MINING BY T-HE
  • FRUGAL CHINESE AND IN OPERATIONS IN THE EARLY 1940'S. IN 19-80 THERE WAS RENEWED INTEREST IN THE GOLD PLACER DEPOSITS WHIC-H MAY LEAD TO RECOVERY OF A LITTLE MERCURY AS A BYPRODUCT.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    JOHNSON, M.G., 1973, PLACER GOLD DEPOSITS OF NEVADA; USGS BULL. 1356

  • Deposit

    RANSOME, F.L., 1909, MINING DISTRICTS IN HUMBOLDT CONTY, NEVADA; USGS BULL. 414

  • Deposit

    SCHRADER, F.C., 1914, THE ROCHESTER MINING DISTRICT, NEVADA; USGS BULL. 580-M

  • Deposit

    VIKRE, PG., 1978, GEOLOGY & SILVER MINERALIZATION OF THE ROCHESTER DISTRICT, PERSHING, COUNTY, NEVADA; STANFORD UNIV. PH.D. THESIS

  • Deposit

    JOHNSON, M.G., 1977, GEOLOGY AND MINERAL DEPOSITS OF PERSHING COUNTY, NEVADA; NBMG BULL. 89.

  • Deposit

    VANDERBURG, 1936, PLACER MINING IN NEVADA; NBMG 30

  • Deposit

    BAILEY, E. H., RYTUBA, J.J. AND JONES, R. B., 1984, UNPUBLISHED DATA ON MERCURY DEPOSITS OF NEVAD.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit GOLD WAS CONCENTRATED IN A PAY STREAK UNDERLAIN BY CLAY AT AN AVERAGE DEPTH OF 60 FEET BUT AT SHALLOWER DEPTH AT THE UPPER END OF THE PLACER THAN AT THE EDGE OF THE RANGE. PARTICLES OF CINNABAR RECOVERED FROM THE GRAVELS LED TO THE DISCOVERY OF SEVERAL MERCURY DEPOSITS IN THE AMERICAN CANYON DRAINAGE.
Deposit MOST OF THE PLACER MINING WAS DONE IN THE 1880'S AND 1890'S BY CHINESE MINERS WHO DUG SHAFTS 40-100 FEET INTO THE GRAVELS. NUMEROUS DREDGE AND PLACER TAILINGS COVER OVER 100 ACRES. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT; 2 UNPUB REPT

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-AUG-1973 Johnson, Maureen G. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-MAY-1986 La Pointe, D.D. (Tingley, J.V.) Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology

Beyond USGS

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

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Nevada resources

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