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Rock Springs Placer Co. Mine

Past Producer in Moffat county in Colorado, United States with commodities Gold, Silver
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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. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  13. Mining district
  14. Land status
  15. Ownership information
  16. Links to other databases
  17. Bibliographic references
  18. General comments
  19. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10087790
MRDS ID D009740
Record type Site
Current site name Rock Springs Placer Co. Mine

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -107.63928, 40.9769 (WGS84)
Elevation 1929
Location accuracy 1000(meters)
Relative position 33 MILES N 23 E FROM LAY

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Moffat(county)

Colorado(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Pole Gulch(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Craig(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Craig(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Little Snake(hydrologic unit)

White-Yampa(hydrologic accounting unit)

White-Yampa(hydrologic subregion)

Upper Colorado(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Bureau of Land Management(Bureau of Land Management CO)

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

BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Colorado Moffat

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
6th Principal 012N 091W 20 SW Colorado

Comments on the location information

  • ALONG TIMBERLAKE CREEK JUST ABOVE CONFLUENCE WITH FOURMILE CREEK. ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :(1974)

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Sand and Gravel
    Rock unit name Unconsolidated Deposits--Alluvium
    Rock description Unconsolidated Deposits--Alluvium
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Holocene
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Holocene

Nearby scientific data

(1) -107.63928, 40.9769
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Washakie Basin
Type of structure Local
Structure description Washakie Basin

Ore body information

  • Thickness 6.1M

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1891
Discoverer Hugh Morrison
Year of first production 1892

Mining district

District name Fourmile (Timberlake Creek) District

Land status

Ownership category Federal

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Rock Springs Placer Co.

Comments on development

  • ACCORDING TO SNOW (1895), AU WAS FIRST DISCOVERED ON FOURMILE CREEK IN 1891 BY HUGH MORRISON, AN ASPEN PROSPECTOR ON HIS WAY TO UINTA MTNS. MORRISON ALSO PROSPECTED HEADS OF FOURMILE, WILLOW, AND SLATER CREEKS. SATISFIED WITH AU POTENTIAL, HE AND GEORGE ALBERT RETURNED EARLY NEXT YEAR TO LOCATE CLAIMS ON FOURMILE CREEK, DRY, SCANDINAVIA, AND BIGHOLE GULCHES, AND BEGAN SLUICING OPERATIONS ON FOURMILE CREEK. SHORTLY THEREAFTER, J.G. EDWARDS AND F.A. HINMAN FORMED ROCK SPRINGS PLACER CO. AND STARTED OPERATIONS ON 700 ACRES OF MESA LAND ABOVE FOURMILE CREEK. PROBABLE SITE OF FIRST HYDRAULIC WORKINGS IN DISTRICT.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    PARKER, B.H., JR., 1974, THE PLACERS OF MOFFAT COUNTY, IN GOLD PLACERS OF COLORADO: COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES QUART., V. 69, NO. 4, P. 150-168.

  • Deposit

    TWETO, OGDEN, 1976, GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE CRAIG 1X2 QUADRANGLE, NORTHWESTERN COLORADO: USGS MAP I-972

  • Deposit

    SNOW, E.P., 1895, THE FOURMILE PLACER FIELDS OF (MOFFAT COUNTY), COLORADO AND WYOMING: ENG. MINING JOUR., V. 60, P. 102-105

  • Deposit

    HOOVER, HERBERT C., 1897, GEOLOGY OF THE FOUR-MILE PLACER MINING DISTRICT (MOFFAT COUNTY), COLORADO: ENG. MINING JOUR., V. 63, P. 510.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit FARNSWORTH'S ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION STATED THAT THE HIGHER PAYING ZONES IN AREA LIE IN SLIGHTLY CONSOLIDATED GRAVELS BENEATH IRON OXIDE-CEMENTED CONGLOMERATE AND ABOVE LAYER OF "BLUE CLAY," (NOW INTERPRETED AS EOCENE BEDROCK). AU CONCENTRATIONS IN TERRACE AND MANTLE DEPOSITS APPEAR LIMITED TO LEVEL BELOW THE PROMINENT CONGLOMERATE OR "CAP ROCK," WHICH WAS INTERPRETED BY PARKER (1974) AND THEOBALD AS A DELTAIC FAN IN EITHER THE TIPTON TONGUE OF GREEN RIVER FM (EOCENE) OR CATHEDRAL BLUFFS MEMBER OF WASATCH FM (EOCENE). MODERN PLACERS THUS WERE DERIVED FROM EOCENE FOSSIL BEACH AND ALLUVIAL PLACERS AND PROBABLY BEGAN FORMING IN LATE PLIOCENE OR PLEISTOCENE TIME. AGE OF MINERALIZATION CITED FOR DEPOSIT DEPENDS ON UNIT WORKED--EOCENE FOR BEDROCK OPERATIONS OR QUATERNARY FOR TERRACE, STREAM BED, AND MANTLE OPERATIONS. THIS DEPOSIT CONSISTS OF TERRACE GRAVELS 2 TO 20 FT THICK, AVERAGING 9 FT. THOSE NEAR MOUTH OF TIMBERLAKE CREEK PROBABLY HAVE BEEN INFLUENCED BY DEPOSITION ALONG FOURMILE CREEK.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-DEC-82 Schwochow, Stephen D. Colorado Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Colorado resources

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