Brown Bear Mine

Past Producer in Trinity county in California, United States with commodities Gold, Iron, Zinc, Lead, Arsenic, Manganese
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. Ownership information
  17. Workings at the site
  18. Links to other databases
  19. Bibliographic references
  20. General comments
  21. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10086642
MRDS ID X025890
Record type Site
Current site name Brown Bear Mine
Related records 10117161

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -122.73138, 40.71957 (WGS84)
Elevation 869
Relative position AT DEADWOOD SITE

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Trinity(county)

California(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

French Gulch(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Redding(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Redding(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Trinity(hydrologic unit)

Klamath(hydrologic accounting unit)

Klamath-Northern California Coastal(hydrologic subregion)

California(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States California Trinity

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 033N 008W 11,12,13,14,16,24 California

Comments on the location information

  • UTM ACC. HOLDINGS COMPRISE NUMEROUS LOCATIONS.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Iron Secondary
Zinc Critical Secondary
Lead Secondary
Arsenic Critical Secondary
Manganese Critical Secondary

Comments on the commodity information

  • GOLD OCCURED IN FREE STATE, AND WAS USUALLY MEDIUM-HIGH GRADE

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Galena Ore
Gold Ore
Sphalerite Ore
Calcite Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Analytical data

Result MINERALIZED FISSURES CUT SLATE AND PORPHYRY CARRYING FEW INCHES OF QUARTZ OF HIGH ASSAY VALUE
Result BUT THEY ARE IN MANY PLACES, NOT LARGE ENOUGH TO BE MINED A PROFITABLE VALUE EXCEPT AT INTERSECTIONS. CON. CARRY $100/TON IN GOLD, BUT FORM SMALL PERCENTAGE OF ORE.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 273
USGS model code 36a
Deposit model name Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein
Mark3 model number 27

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Diorite
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Diorite
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Slate
    Rock unit name Bragdon Slate
    Rock description Bragdon Slate
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Granite

Nearby scientific data

(1) -122.73138, 40.71957

Economic information

Ore body information

  • General form PINCH-SWELL
    Thickness 6.1M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Faults

Comments on the geologic information

  • SLATE FOUND IN 2 VARITIES; ONE IS HARD, SILICEOUS AND BLOCKY. OTHER IS SOFT, BLACK AND GRAPHITIC. SLATE INTRUDED BY DIORITE AND GRANITE-PORPHYRY DIKES DESCRIBED IN DETAIL BY FERGUSON (1913). ALL OF THESE ROCKS ARE EXTENSIVELY FISSURED

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Large
Significant Yes

Mining district

District name Deadwood

Land status

Ownership category National Forest

Ownership information

  • Type Owner
    Owner Erich, E. E.

Comments on the production information

  • LARGEST PRODUCTION RECORD IN TRINITY COUNTY. ERICH ESTIMATED PAST GROSS PRODUCTION AT $8 TO $10 MILLION, AND STATED THAT HE HAD DEFINATE DETAILED RECORDS OF MORE THAN $3 MILLION OF THIS. 3 OF THE INDIVIDUAL ORE BODIES STATED TO HAVE PRODUCED IN EXCESS OF $1 MILLION EACH. ORE VARIES FROM $10-$1000/TON IN GOLD CONTENT. SULFIDES 1-4% OF ORE. PRINCIPAL PRODUCTION CAME FROM MONTE CRISTO AND LAST CHANCE VEINS, WHERE ORE AVG. $20-$100/TON. SEVERAL SMALLER VEINS EXPLORED NEAR SURFACE PRODUCED IMPORTANT AMOUNTS OF HIGH-GRADE ORE. NO OTHER PRODUCTION DATA FOUND.

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Underground
    Length 48279M

Comments on the workings information

  • MONTE CRISTO AND LAST CHANCE VEINS EXPLORED FOR 2600 FT. ALONG STRIKE AND EXTENSIVELY MINED TO 400 FT. DEPTH. SMALLER PORTIONS MINED TO DEPTH OF 760 FT. WATT ADIT, 350 FT. BELOW LOWEST OF OLD PRODUCTIVE WORKINGS, DRIVEN 6000 FT. IN LENGTH. MORE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS OF WORKINGS ALONG WITH CROSS SECTION IN AVERILL (1933) P. 13.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    AVERILL, C.V., 1941, MINERAL RESOURCES OF TRINITY COUNTY: CALIFORNIA JOURNAL OF MINES AND GEOLOGY, V. 37, NO. 1, P. 27-28

  • Deposit

    AVERILL, C.V., 1933, GOLD DEPOSITS OF THE REDDING AND WEAVERVILLE QUADRANGLES: CALIFORNIA JOURNAL OF MINES AND GEOLOGY, V. 29, P. 13-15

  • Deposit

    FERGUSON, H.G., 1913, GOLD LODES OF THE WEAVERVILLE QUADRANGLE, CALIF.: U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULL. 540-A, P. 70-71

  • Production

    AVERILL (1941)

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit NUMEROUS PARALLEL TO ROUGHLY PARALLEL VEINS, FISSURES. SOME TRACED 1000 FT. TO 3000 FT. IN LENGTH. THEY PARALLEL AND CUT HOST ROCK AT ACUTE ANGLES BOTH IN STRIKE AND DIP. EXPANSIONS OF VEINS USUALLY SHOW QUARTZ, CONTRACTIONS (ENDS) SHOW FILLING OF QUARTZ, SLATE AND PORPHYRY. FINALLY, VEINS PINCH DOWN TO GOUGE-FILLED FISSURE. SOME VEINS SHOW REVERSAL OF DIP AT LOWER LEVELS. SMALL STRINGERS OF PYRITE CUT SLATES NEAR VEINS, AND JOINT PLANES OF SLATE & PORPHYRY ORE, IN PLACES, HEAVILY PYRITIZED. GALENA AND SPHALERITE IN VEIN USUALLY INDICATE PRESENCE OF RICH ORE. ALL OF GOLD WAS SEEN IN QUARTZ CLOSE TO EITHER AN INCLUDED FRAGMENT OF SLATE OR PATCH OF GALENA.
Deposit 35 SEPARATE PARCELS OF PATENTED LAND. MOST WERE 20 ACRE LODE CLAIMS, BUT A FEW LARGER TRACTS, PLACER CLAIMS AND TIMBER LAND INCLUDED. 589 ACRES ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-AUG-1980 Nelson, Scott C. (Albers, John, P.) U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

External references

Authoritative California resources

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