GOLD MINE Historic Sheridan MT Sourdough Gold Placer Gold Mining Claim

Description

Historic Sourdough Gold
20 Acre Placer Claim - Sheridan District - Madison County, Montana
Presenting the Historic Sourdough Gold Placer Mining Claim for sale, a 20 Acre Unpatented Placer Mining Claim. The claim is located just outside of Sheridan, Montana and has been properly marked. All claims have been carefully surveyed, mapped and researched.
This is a remote Montana gold mine. Mill Creek which runs through the middle of the claim provides plenty of year round water for all your mining needs. During surveying gold was easily found in the material by panning. The claim boasts excellent access and does get visitors driving through on the road. The claim was originally surveyed and sampled for rich, free gold deposits in the gravels.
We estimate the creek bed to be over 600 feet on this claim and there is water year round. It is likely there is some native silver, and possibly some relics to be found on the claim but the primary commodity will be gold.
It is likely there has been some work done after 1900 based on the remnants and items seen in the area. It is estimated by the surveyors that the claim has been worked intermittently in the early 1900's. No effort to mine for many decades is evident. The gold that you will find on this claim has been washing down from the mines, hills and gulches above and depositing and replenishing the gold on this claim.
There is direct road access to this claim and room for staging, parking and other operations. This is an unpatented mining claim for sale. Mineral rights only for recreational mining. The land is public land. This is not a homestead or land for sale.
The best gold is on bedrock. Mill Creek is one of the creeks in the district that was mined by hand in the late 1800's. There is still good gold in the creek, benches and on bedrock on this claim. We have sold claims on this creek and the buyers have been very pleased with the gold they have found. If your interested in a gold placer mine feel free to give me a call or text at 406 219 1497. Ken
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 Sourdough Gold 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'.
So why hasn't anyone claimed these mines now? Mainly the population wrongly believes there is 'no gold left'! If they only knew the truth the west would be flooded with people. Seriously, there is gold almost everywhere in the west and in places where there has been no history of production and places the old timers never found! The ground the old timers mined still holds gold for many reasons. First, the methods they used were not the best. Second, they were in a hurry to get rich and they looked mostly for the easy gold and threw out the material that held a lot of small gold. Third, they didn't have the ability to process some ores to get the gold. There are books written by people who had first hand accounts of the gold rushes, especially from the Klondike Gold Rush, and they talk about the miners only being interested in the big nuggets of gold and not 'wasting' their time on the small stuff. The women came behind them and picked small gold nuggets out of the 'waste' piles!! Even then, that still left a lot of fine gold. Technology and knowledge is on your side now days. We know more and have equipment that will trap the big stuff but also the tiniest pieces even down to minus 400 mesh and smaller. Yes, -400 mesh is so small a single piece of gold that size won't look like gold. But a hundred of them together will!
Also think about the current state of the country and all that is going on, this could be your last chance to own a gold mine - your own bank. We sell a lot of mining claims and everyone tells us how happy they are with them. People first want the gold for the value but once they get out to their own claim they love the freedom they have to work and enjoy the great outdoors. Don't wait, get your own gold mine before it's too late. The Sourdough Gold Mine is located in the northeast quarter of section 23. It is the closest claim available to Sheridan on Mill Creek. Sourdough Gold Mine claim is about 6400 feet in altitude. Virginia City is the site of the second major gold rush in the Montana Territory and is just a few miles from this claim!
Gold in the Sheridan district was discovered shortly after the gold discovery on Alder Gulch which was the second major gold rush in Montana territory.
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)
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.
Details about the Mine:
Access to the Mine
You can drive a full size truck, RV to the mine. There is plenty of places to camp on Mill Creek.
Tailing Present
None. 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, silver, black sands with rare earth minerals would be expected.
Foot traffic at the mine
Some
Last Worked
Unknown but probably at least 50 years ago or longer.
Number of Mines
1 Placer
Nearest city with amenities
Sheridan, approximately 6 miles
Access to the Claim
A very good dirt road breaks off from the Interstate and runs all the way onto the claim.
Parking and Staging on the Claim
Claim is situated so it allows for parking of vehicles if desired.
Resources
Year round water, grasses, sage and trees
Structures on claim
None
Elevation
Aprox. 6400 feet
Photos
All the gold flows into the creek from mines above and enters this claim. There are many great gold traps in the creek on this claim.
This is the perfect place to mine undisturbed by yourself.
Or bring the whole family and have a lot of fun in the great outdoors!
Over 600 feet of creek bed to mine and 20 acres of gold bearing material
You won't find a claim closer to Sheridan on Mill Creek. They just don't exist.
Both the bench and creek bed hold gold and are well worth your efforts.
There is plenty of gravel in the creek bed as well as the benches which are virgin ground.
We have sold several other claims on this creek and the buyers have reported they have found good gold!
The Sheridan Mining District is organized and they do maintain mining rights.
Climate / Weather
USGS Information
Economic information about the deposit and operations
Operation Type
Placer
Development Status
Past Producer
Commodity type
Metallic
Commodities
Gold- Primary
Silver - Primary
Nearby Scientific Data
Pre-Belt gneiss, schist, and related rocks
References
USGS Database - 60000324
Mining District Information
Sheridan District Information
The Sheridan district, in the heart of the Ruby Valley, includes the smaller sub-districts of Wisconsin Creek, Mill Creek, Brandon (near mouth of Mill Creek), Mill Creek (near the upper portion of Mill Creek), Quartz Hill (between Mill and Mill Creeks), and Ramshorn and Bivins gulches (Winchell 1914; Sahinen 1935).
Placer gold was discovered in Ramshorn and Bivins gulches soon after the discovery of gold at Virginia City. Below the forks of Wisconsin Creek, the stream gravels have been worked with hydraulic giants. In the Ramshorn district placering began in the 1860s and continued on the upper stream until the second decade of the Twentieth century (Winchell 1914).
Within a year of the district's placer discoveries, many gold-bearing quartz veins were located. The Company mine in Williams Gulch, was opened in 1864, the ore being treated locally in stamp mills and arrastras. The Branham mill, for which Mill Creek and the Mill district were named, was crushing ore in 1865. The Whittacker mill was located in the Quartz Hill district in 1869. The 1880's saw arrastras become the favored mode of ore reduction. Later, during the 1890's, the ore from some of the mines was treated in stamp and cyanide mills. The most important producers were the Noble, Red Pine, Fairview, Smuggler, and Betsy Baker lodes (Swallow 1891; Winchell 1914; Sahinen 1935).
The district is composed of ore deposits related to underlying or nearby granitic masses, although some are apparently related to dikes. Ore deposits occur as veins (fissure fillings) and as replacements in limestone. The primary minerals are pyrite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and galena in a gangue of quartz and rarely siderite. Gold and silver occur in the ore (Winchell 1914; Sahinen 1935).
The town of Sheridan, on the Alder branch of the Northern Pacific Railway, is a supply point for several mining districts in the neighboring gulches of the Tobacco Root Mountains. As here used, the Sheridan district includes the Wisconsin district, on Wisconsin Creek; the Indian district, on Indian Creek; the Brandon district, near the mouth of Mill Creek Gulch; the Mill Creek district, covering the upper portion of Mill Creek Gulch; the Quartz Hill district, a knob terminating a ridge between Mill Creek and Indian Creek; the Ramshorn district, along Ramshorn Gulch; and the Bivin district, along Bivin Gulch. As thus defined the Sheridan district extends 10 miles north of Sheridan at the upper end of Wisconsin Creek and 10 miles east of Sheridan at the upper end of Ramshorn Gulch. Except for Bivin Gulch and the lower end of Ramshprn Gulch a triangle made by connecting these two points with Sheridan outlines the area. Elevations in the district vary from about 5,500 feet to more than 10,000 feet above sea level.
The Sheridan district is very close to Alder Gulch, which was one of the first centers of mining activity in Montana. Within a year after the discovery of gold in Alder Gulch in 1863 quartz veins were located in the Sheridan district. The Company mine, on Wisconsin Creek, was opened in 1864; the Branham mill was erected on Mill Creek (which thus obtained its name) in 1865. This mill had 12 stamps of 500 pounds each, and a capacity of 12 tons a day; it was driven by water power at a cost of operation of about a ton. The gold was caught on tables and 'blankets. In 1869 the Whittacker mill was running in the Quartz Hill district. It had three light stamps and crushed ore yielding to per, ton in gold. During the seventies the favorite mode of treating gold ores was by means of arrastres. About 1883 the Company mine was sold to the Noble Mining & Milling Co., which operated it on a rather large scale for nearly 10 years. The Leiter mine, on Wisconsin Creek, about 8 miles from Sheridan, was equipped with an aerial tramway, stamp mill, and cyanide plant, and was in active operation during the later part of the nineties. During the last decade the most extensive operations in the district have been carried on at the Toledo and Lake Shore properties.
The Sheridan district contains placers that have been productive and are still worked in a few localities.
On Mill Creek mining has been in progress at three localities about the headwaters of the creek, in the region of Quartz Hill between Mill and Indian creeks near Bridges Canyon, and in the foothills just north of the mouth of Mill Creek canyon. About, the headwaters of Mill Creek veins traverse the walls of a glacial amphitheater, the center of which is filled with glacial debris which contains two small lakes. (See PI. V.) The old creek channel is filled with drift to such an extent that the creek now forms a waterfall over solid rock in escaping .from the cirque. Mill Creek flows through mica schists and gneiss, interbedded with a few limestone layers, probably referable to" the Cherry Creek group, all the way from its sources to the bench lands of the Passamari Valley. About 10 miles from Sheridan these rocks are cut by local intrusions of granite, diorite, and aplite, and at the forks of Mill Creek wide veins.of barren quartz occur. The Belle mine is in the northern wall of the glacial cirque at an elevation of about 9,500 feet above sea level. The chief vein, which strikes about N. 20° E. and dips about 45° W., is in gneiss and is closely associated with aplite and with a dike of pegmatitic feldspar that strikes about N. 20° W. and dips about 70° E. The feldspar dike is said to be cut off by the vein, which contains its richest ore where the vein and dike come together! The ore on this property is nearly all auriferous .pyrite, showing little evidence of enrichment. A limestone ledge, dipping 35° NW. and probably belonging to the Cherry Creek group, extends from the ridge west of the head of Mill Creek nearly to Bridges Canyon, which opens into Mill Creek from the north about 5 miles from Sheridan. The ledge is modified to garnet rock by intrusive underlying granite and aplite and is overlain by schists. Veins occur here and there in the aplite and along the aplite and limestone contact. Near the head of Bridges Canyon the sedimentary series is cut by two intrusives, one of which is a trachyte with phenocrysts of orthoclase showing considerable alteration, and the other the so-called "granite" of the region, which is probably, as in the Boulder batholith, a quartz monzonite. It contains unusually abundant titanite, much zonal plagioclase, orthoclase, hornblende, pyroxene, quartz, and other minerals.
The Sheridan district has yielded a regular production of metal annually since about 1865, and it may be expected to continue productive for many years to come. Unfortunately no statistics of production are now available for the years 1864 (when the Company mine, on Wisconsin Creek, was opened.) to 1904. During a large part of this period the average annual production was probably several times as great as it has been in recent years. Production from 1905-1912: Ore - 10,490 Tons, Gold - 6,907 ozt., Silver - 32,424 ozt., Copper - 17,874 Lbs., Lead - 117,942 Lbs.
In these placer mines were found nuggets of gold which contained more or less of quartz and masses of quartz which contained particles and nuggets of gold.
These placers have been worked for a quarter of a century and they are still giving up their golden treasures to those who continue to work them.
The Stinking Water and its tributaries, the Ruby, Bevins, Wisconsin, Ramshorn, Sheridan,
(Mill creek)
, Goodrich, Georgia and Indian, have extensive placers still awaiting that enterprise and skill which brings improved methods of extracting the gold. On all the streams and gulches above named as containing placers, quartz veins have been discovered from which the ancient glaciers ground the gold deposited by the waters in the placers of bench, bar and river channel. The prospector's pick and shovel have revealed quartz veins on nearly every hill-side and mountain slope.
The Mill Creek (now Sheridan) mines have long been known as producers. More than twenty years ago the Branham mill wis pounding out the free gold from the surface ores ...
The output of the Madison County mines for the year 1890 has been estimated at ,500,000 which is probably too low. It has been difficult to get facts on which to base a full estimate.
Telluride of gold has been found in the mines on Sheridan or Mill Creek.
MAPS
Sales Information
Gold and Mineral Mines of Montana LLC Guarantee
The most important part of your mining claim is the mining claim documentation and location. Others may have the best intentions, but they often get it wrong. This results in you not getting what you paid for. We have been documenting, writing and transferring mining claims for over a decade. We know what we are doing.
Gold and Mineral Mines of Montana LLC guarantees that this mining claim has been written correctly and accurately. Please view all images and read complete claim description. We spend a lot of time and effort to accurately document all aspects of each mining claim.
This Guarantee is not any type of guarantee of mineral content, reserves or future earnings. Assay reports, reserves, and mineral values are provided as they have been recorded by external parties, and state and local mining reports. Historical records and production are provided for information only. We strongly advise all potential claim owners to educate themselves about mining claims. Please be fully aware of what is conveyed with this mineral claim.
FAQ
Mining claims are a tangible asset and show your rights to all interests in minerals in the claim boundary. They can be bought, sold or used as collateral, just like any other piece of real estate. A mining claim can be sold, traded, leased, gifted, willed, used as collateral or transferred in part or in its entirety just like any other real property using a quit claim deed which is a recordable conveyance.
This auction is for 100% - all interest in this placer mining claim. This claim covers the entire site and includes full rights to all minerals and gems you may find on the property. The winner of this auction will receive a notarized quit claim deed to the full claim and all associated documentation showing full ownership of the claim.
Maintenance on all BLM mining claims is 5.00, per 20 acre or smaller parcel, annually. This must be paid on or before September 1st, every year unless you do more than 0 per year in improvements to the property, in which case you can file for and receive a waiver of the maintenance fee.
NOTE
: If you own fewer than 10 claims nationwide, and you perform at least 0 in assessment work in the year, you can plan on paying just per year for your maintenance fee instead of 5 if you file for a small miner waiver and have done the maintenance work required on the claims.
Transfers of Ownership in Mining Claims:
Interest in a legally valid and properly recorded mining claim or site may be transferred in part or its entirety. So you can will, gift, sell or lease your interest in this claim at any time in the future. A quit claim deed or recordable conveyance document is required and if you do sell the claim, the transfer documents should be filed within 60 days after the transfer.
With regard to transferring this claim initially into your name, we take care of all the paperwork. You do not have to worry about anything – we handle the County and BLM transfer documentation and the recording.
Can you camp / build on your mining claim?
Without an approved plan of operations, you have the same rights and restrictions as the public. If the area is open to camping to the public, then it is permissible for you to camp. However, you need to check with the BLM Field Office or the local District Ranger for areas open to camping. Under Federal law in order to occupy the public lands under the 1872 mining laws amended, for more than 14 calendar days in any 90 day period, a claimant must be involved in certain activities that (a) are reasonably incident; (b) constitute substantially regular work; (c) are reasonably calculated to lead to the extraction and beneficiation of minerals; (d) involve observable on-the-ground activity that can be verified; and (e) use appropriate equipment that is presently operable, subject to the need for reasonable assembly, maintenance, repair or fabrication of replacement parts. All five of these requirements must be met for occupancy to be permissible.
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Finding Your Claim
Once payment is made, we will email you a map along with GPS coordinates of the claim corners. If you do not know how to read a map or how to find a location by GPS coordinates please research online how to do these things. DON'T WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE OUT TRYING TO GET TO THE CLAIM! We are unable to go out and lead you to your claim. We will provide the map, GPS coordinates and or PLSS coordinates. If you don't familiarize yourself with reading maps and GPS and/or PLSS before attempting to find your claim you may get lost. DO NOT RELY ON GOOGLE MAPS! Google Maps can't get you out of a wet paper bag! Google maps doesn't have roads that are in the mountains so it won't know how to get you to your claim. There are some very good free and paid apps for your phone that will work WITHOUT a cell signal. Download one of these BEFORE you go out and put the GPS coordinates into one of these apps. Google Earth does NOT work without cell service so do NOT rely on it.
If you don't do the above, get lost and then try to contact us we may not be available to help. The summer is our busiest time of year. We are rarely in the office. We are normally out in the field working on claims and our own mines. Generally these places where we will be have no cell service. So if you try to contact us for directions to your claim you could be waiting days before we get to a place with cell service again.
It is YOUR responsibility to know how to read maps and use GPS.
What you are buying is the claim - Mineral Rights. You are not buying a personalized service. We do not offer a service to teach how to use GPS or read maps or to show people to thier claim. There is a mountain of free information to teach yourself these things online. Please feel free to make use of the internet for your benefit.
Legal Info
A mining claim gives the holder the right to mine on mineral-rich land that belongs to the federal government.
Gold And Mineral Mines of Montana LLC is selling legitimate and valuable historic claims.
Our legal counsel will complete all of the paperwork and documentation for recording and transferring FULL ownership of this mine into your name if you win the auction, AND we will ship you everything in one to two business days of receiving your payment in full. So you can plan to visit (and start working) your claim right away.
BID WITH CONFIDENCE- We are a very reputable eBay seller.
-PLUS-
We'll take care of all the paperwork and arrangements so you can enjoy your claim immediately after payment and keep you informed through the entire process with confirmations when payment is received and when your paperwork has been shipped.
Shipping
We are unable to ship the land to you.
We will ship all paperwork/maps upon payment clearing.
Payment
Your payment of this eBay item gives you 100% ownership of this entire claim,
in addition to the final auction price there is a 0 fee for filing and administrative costs
. This is NOT an auction for the down payment, this is NOT a partnership arrangement where someone else will own part of the claim with you.
At the end of the auction we will send a request for payment to your email address on your profile with eBay. Payment is required within 24 hours of the end of the auction. Payments must be made before the claim will transfer and documents are shipped.
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