62 BULLETIN" 131, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The Elk City district has contained very important placers which 

 were discovered in 1861. Many of the early workings were on so- 

 called "skim" placers where the gold was within less than a meter 

 of the surface. After the first few years the diggings were turned 

 over to the Chinese, but later the interest of white men in them 

 revived. The production about 1900 was varying from $30,000 to 

 $70,000 a year. On American Hill some deep strata of rich ground 

 were found under the old "skim" diggings. The placer gravel is 

 quartzose and large quartz bowlders on the bedrock often contain 

 coarse native gold. Only a moderate number of quartz veins have 

 been found and these have not been continuously productive. 

 Espey's South Fork mine, 8 miles west of Elk City, milled some free 

 gold ore in 1905, while some telluride ore was shipped to Tacoma. 

 The placer output in 1907 was 239 ounces of gold, while in 1908, 

 five lode mines produced gold to the value of $136,000. An interest- 

 ing specimen of ore from the Black Pine mine consists of white quartz 

 containing native gold with disseminated grains of galena, pyrite, 

 sphalerite, and tetrahedrite. The visible gold occurs as small, 

 irregular grains surrounding the galena. Specimens of ore from the 

 Hercules and Blue Ribbon mines (SI 15-23) are very similar and 

 consist of auriferous galena and pyrite sparsely disseminated in pure 

 white quartz. 



The Florence district was discovered in the Autumn of 1861 and 

 has an estimated production, previous to 1896, of $30,000,000. 

 After 1872 the camp was worked mainly by Chinese. Placer deposits 

 occurred on all creeks of the area. All of these were rich, but Baboon 

 Gulch was extraordinarily so. Dredging has been carried on to 

 some extent. The gold is coarse and more or less angular and has a 

 fineness of 0.660-0.705. Much zircon occurs with the gold in the 

 placers. Quartz veins are abundant but have been little exploited. 

 The gold occurs native in coarse comb quartz, and sulphides are 

 almost entirely absent. The vein gold is 0.650 fine. The principal 

 veins are the Hi Yu, Banner, Gold Bug, Blossom, Ozark, Waverly, 

 and Poorman. A specimen (Cat. No. 55809, U.S.N.M.) of placer 

 gold which is probably from this district, and is labeled as having 

 been mined from Wilson's claim, Idaho County, in 1880, is irregular, 

 slightly worn, and contains quartz. 



Newsome district, 6 miles west of Elk City, contains placer gold 

 in deep gravel banks. The Moose Creek placer, which is the largest 

 operator, has 26 miles of ditches. The gold, which is both coarse 

 and fine, varies in value from $16 to $19.20. Several gold-quartz 

 veins are worked. Seven placers and 2 deep mines produced $10,826 

 in 1908. 



