- Camping
- Gold
- Parking
- Creek
- Garnets
- Silver
The Bureau of Mines has estimated that demonstrated U.S. reserves of gold are 85 million ounces. Approximately one-half of the total resources are estimated to be by-product gold, while 40% of the remaining one-half (56 million ounces) could be mined for gold alone … Most U.S. gold resources are in the nation’s western states. About 80% of the U.S. gold resources are estimated to be in Alaska, California, Idaho, Montana and Washington. (Earthsearch, Inc. 1983)
Overview of the Mines
The Dead Beat Mine is in an area with rich gold mining history. But as with all old mines and mining districts in the Western U.S., the old timers NEVER got it all! Why? There are many reasons for this and here is a short list of some of them.
1) In the mining camps 'News' of other 'Strikes' was always coming in and miners seemed to be eager to pick up and leave what they had for the new places. It didn't seem to matter that the new place may not be as good or that by the time they heard of it there wasn't any open ground left for them to stake a claim. The grass is always greener was their belief.
2) Some new strikes were better because they had more gold or more water or easier access - remember back then there were no roads to these places.
3) Some new places were safer. Between Outlaws and hostile Indians there was always something to fear.
4) When the USA entered the second world war congress closed all non-essential mines in the country. Unless a mine could switch to mining other metals for the war or if it was already mining metals and minerals needed for the war effort the mines were forced to close. Very few mines were allowed to stay open and operational. Those mines that closed stayed closed after the war for a few reasons - a lot of the mine owners died in the war and never came back, economic conditions after the war were not good enough to reopen the mines and the owners held the claims hoping the economy would change for the better but most of these owners died before the economy made it economically viable to reopen the mines, many mines were forgotten and 'lost'
5) Comodity prices fluctuate and mines that were profitable at one point in time may not be later and as the prices fluctuate those mines can become profitable again to mine.
While it is sometimes said old mines have been ‘worked out’ as the saying means there is no gold left, the truth is “it is better to say they are worked over; it is also true that the primitive methods used and the wasteful haste to get rich indulged in, left much of the gold in the ground, so that improved methods … will give even better results than those first obtained.” (MBMG Open Report 466)
Details about the Mine:
| Access to the Mine | You can drive a full size truck to the mine |
| Tailing Present | Some. Loose gravels in the creek bed of small pebbles to larger boulders. Boulders are great places for the gold to hide. Benches on both sides of the creek are virgin ground. |
| Depth / Length | Over 600 feet of creek bed gravels. 1320 feet side to side with gold bearing benches. |
| Minerals in the Mine | Historically mined for gold. Minerals of Sapphire, quartz, pyrite, galena, gold, black sands with rare earth minerals would be expected. |
| Foot traffic at the mine | Some |
| Last Worked | Unknown but probably at least 65 years ago or longer. |
| Number of Mines | 1 Placer |
| Nearest city with amenities | Basin, approximately 12 miles |
| Access to the Claim | A good dirt road breaks off from the state highway and runs all the way onto the claim. The road does get steep where this claim is and a 4 wheel drive vehicle is recommended. |
| Parking and Staging on the Claim | Claim is situated on a steep mountain side. There is some room for parking of vehicles. |
| Resources | Year round water, grasses, sage and trees |
| Structures on claim | None |
| Elevation | Aprox. 6850 feet |
Montana is ranked 7th by the USGS for total gold production in the US and has 31 mining districts. Gold production for the 1800’s to 1968 is 17.8 million ounces and large amounts of gold have been mined from 1968 to present. Geologists have predicted that based on the past and the geology of Montana that several large gold and silver deposits will be found and developed in the future (Bergendahl and Koshmann, 1968).
Climate / Weather
USGS Information
Economic information about the deposit and operations |
|
| Operation Type | Placer |
|---|---|
| Development Status | Past Producer |
| Commodity type | Metallic |
| Commodities | Gold- Primary |
| Nearby Scientific Data | Boulder batholith and broadly related stocks |
| References | USGS Database - 10196594, 10019677 |
Mining District Information
Basin District Information |
|
| The Basin mining district, also known as the Jefferson district, is on the eastern slope of the Continental Divide, north of Interstate 15 and the Boulder River between the small communities of Bernice and Basin. Often the Cataract and High Ore districts are considered sub-districts of a larger Basin district. Basin, Cataract, High Ore and Red Rock creeks flow from the high mountains north of Basin into the Boulder River, all within three miles on either side of the town. The mouth of Cataract Creek is less than a half mile below the mouth of Basin Creek. | |
| The Basin, Cataract, and High ore districts are primarily underlain by quartz monzonite of the Boulder batholith. The quartz monzonite of the northern portion of the district is overlain by tertiary dacite, and the quartz monzonite on the western edge of the district is overlain by late Cretaceous andesite. The andesite deposits are pre-batholithic, and the dacite deposits are post-batholithic. The andesite and monzonite formations are cut by dikes of dacite and rhyolite. | |
| The district contains both placer and lode ore deposits. A unique formation in the district is a disseminated gold deposit in granite, which occurs west of Basin along Red Rock creek (Sahinen1935:47). | |
| Gold deposits at the mouth of Cataract Creek were reported to have been located as early as the summer of 1862 by prospectors who staked claims. However, these claims were quickly abandoned for the reportedly richer diggings on Grasshopper Creek. These abandoned claims were then acquired by James and Granville Stuart, and Reece Anderson who built cabins at the mouth of the Cataract Creek. Two years later placer deposits were found two and a half miles further up the creek but, although rich, the ore was too difficult to work and the claims were abandoned. Soon after, however, placer mining activities quickly spread over the length of both Basin and Cataract creeks. Some of the deposits turned out to be moderately profitable, although nothing like the bonanza placers at Last Chance Gulch or Alder Gulch were encountered (Lyden 1948; Wolle 1963; Becraft et al. 1963). | |
| A small mining camp grew up on the flat at the confluence of the Boulder River and Cataract Creek, but when the town of Basin was established at the mouth of Uncle Sam Creek a half mile to the west, the buildings at Cataract were gradually moved to Basin, eventually leaving no trace of the Cataract camp (Wolle 1963). | |
| In 1880 the cluster of cabins at the mouth of Uncle Sam Creek officially became Basin City. Over the next two decades the town was an active camp, supplying the mines and miners in the district (Knopf 1913; Wolle 1963). It prospered in spite of several disastrous fires, the last occurring in 1893, and by 1905 the population had reached 1500 persons (Pardee and Schrader 1933; Becraft et al. 1963; Wolle 1963). | |
| In 1883 the railroad line from Helena to Wickes was completed and the smelter at Wickes was remodeled and enlarged... Few production records were kept during this period but it has been estimated the Basin district produced about $8,000,000 in gold (Pardee and Schrader 1933; Becraft et al. 1963). Most mining throughout the region south of Helena, from this point on, consisted of smaller-scale operations, carried out with limited capital and equipment. For the most part, old tailings dumps were reworked or old mine workings were reopened on a reduced scale. The Basin district, however, was somewhat of an exception to this trend with a number of major mining operations being developed after the turn of the century. | |
