Location
This district is in north-central Plumas County. It contains a northwest-trending belt of lode and placer deposits that extends from the vicinity of the town of Crescent Mills northwest through Greenville to Almanor, a distance of about 10 miles. At one time it was also known as the Cherokee district. Crescent Mills has been the most productive of the districts in the northern end of the Sierra Nevada.
Geology
This area is underlain by a series of northwest-trending beds of Paleozoic and Mesozoic metamorphic rocks. They are: pre-Devonian metarhyolite; Silurian metasedimentary rocks; Taylorsville Formation (Devonian) slate and sandstone; Taylor Meta-andesite (Carboniferous); Calaveras Formation (Carboniferous to Permian) metasedimentary rocks (four formations); greenstones (Carboniferous); Triassic metasedimentary rocks; Jurassic granodiorite and serpentinized basic and ultra-basic intrusives. Overlying the bedrock are patches of Tertiary and Quarternary gravels.
Ore Deposits
A number of northwest-striking quartz veins occur principally in the greenstones, slates, and granodiorite. Some of the veins are as much as 20 feet thick The ore contains free gold, auriferous pyrite, and smaller amounts of other sulfides. The surface ores were especially rich, and numerous highgrade pockets were encountered during the early days. Milling-grade ore usually contained slightly less than 1/4 ounce per ton, but the ore shoots had stoping lengths of up to 300 feet. Iron and copper also Occur in the district.
Mines
Altona, Arcadia, Cherokee $250,000, Crescent $500,000+, Dagian, Droege $300,000+, Gold Stripes, Green Mountain $1 million to $2 million, Hobson, Indian Falls, Indian Valley $1.8 million+, Leete, Long Valley, Monitor, Mountain Lily, New York $400,000+, Pearless, South Eureka, Wardlow, Whitney.
Bibliography
Averill, C. V., 1928, Plumas County: California Min. Bur. Rept. 24, pp. 261-316.
Averill C. V., 1937, Mineral resources of Plumas County: California Jour. Mines and Geology, vol. 33, pp. 79-143.
Diller, J. S., 1905, Mineral resources of the Indian Valley region, California: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 260, pp. 45-49.
Diller, J. S., 1908, Geology of the Taylorsville region: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 353, 128 pp.
Irelan, William, 1888, Green Mountain mine, etc.: California Min. Bur. Rept. 8, pp. 479-481.
Lindgren, Waldemar, 191" Tertiary gravels of the Sierra Nevada, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 73, pp. 114-116.
MacBoyle, Errol, 1919, Plumas County, Crescent Mills district: California Min. Bur. Rept. 16, pp. 4-8.
