Bear Creek Placers

Past Producer in Granite county in Montana, United States with commodities Gold, Silver
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. Controls for ore emplacement
  12. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  13. Mining district
  14. Ownership information
  15. Workings at the site
  16. Links to other databases
  17. Bibliographic references
  18. General comments
  19. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10099713
MRDS ID W014689
Record type Site
Current site name Bear Creek Placers
Related records 10173235

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -113.32925, 46.71656 (WGS84)
Elevation 1219
Relative position ABOUT 30 KM NORTHWEST OF DRUMMOND

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Granite(county)

Montana(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Bearmouth(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Missoula East(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Butte(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper Clark Fork(hydrologic unit)

Pend Oreille(hydrologic accounting unit)

Kootenai-Pend Oreille-Spokane(hydrologic subregion)

Pacific Northwest(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Montana Granite

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Montana Principal 011N;012N;012N;012N 014W;014W;013W;015W 03,10,11,14;03,04,09,10,11,13,14,15,19,28,30,33,34;08,17,18;24 Montana

Comments on the location information

  • LAT LONG ARE ON TAILING AT THE MOUTH OF BEAR CREEK.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary
Silver Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore

Analytical data

Result PARDEE ESTIMATED THE GROUND MINED UP TO 1917 AV. $30/CY IN AU, WITH PATCHES GOING AS HIGH AS $100/CY AU.

Host and associated rocks

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

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Bearmouth Overthrust
Type of structure Local
Structure description Deep Creek Anticline, Garnet Stock

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Joints And Cracks In Bedrock; Thin Layer Of Gravel Above Bedrock Mineralized

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1865
Year of first production 1865

Mining district

District name Garnet (First Chance) District

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Valley Mining Co.

Comments on the production information

  • PRODUCED ABOUT $7,000,000 IN AU BY 1916 AND ABOUT ANOTHER $3,000,000 FROM 1916 TO 1950. ASSUMING $7 MILLION AT $20/TOZ AND $3 MILLION AT $35/TOZ GIVES A TOTAL PRODUCTION OF ABOUT 430,000 TOZ AU

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • EARLL REPORTS ADDITIONAL GOLD MAY BE EXPECTED TO BE FOUND IN PAY GRAVEL OF IRREGULAR OCCURRENCE

Workings at the site

  • Type of workings Surface
    Overall length 20000M
    Overall width 200M

Comments on the workings information

  • CONNECTED-BUCKET DREDGE, WORK DONE LOWER BEAR CREEK

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    MBMG MEM NO 39, P. 26.

  • Deposit

    USGS BULL 660, P.231-35.

  • Deposit

    MBMG MEM NO 26, P. 35, 37, 38

  • Deposit

    USGS PP 610, P. 151

  • Deposit

    MBMG MEM NO 5, P. 23.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit FELAN, TENMILE, CHICKEN RUN, AND KEARNS CREEKS, FIRST CHANCE, DEEP CREEK AND CAYUSE GULCHES HAVE BEEN MINED BY DREDGING, HYDRAULIC GIANTS, GROUND SLUICING, DRIFT MINING

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JUN-1976 Krohn, Douglas H. U.S. Geological Survey
Updater 01-JAN-1981 Wise, Kristine K. (Elliott, James E.) U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

Current status (per MSHA)

StatusAbandoned since 11/13/2024
MSHA mine ID2402573
Mine name (MSHA)Bear Creek Placer
Current operatorBear Creek Placer LLC
Current controller (parent)Les (Eugene) L Towner; Rob Towner
Mine typeSurface (Metal / non-metal)

Inferred by coordinate + name similarity (431 m, 0.97 match). Confirm against MSHA if precision matters — non-USGS-curated cross-references may occasionally point at a neighbouring mine.

Open MSHA's Mine Data Retrieval System for inspections, accidents, and violations for this mine.