Location
The Homer district is on the east slope of the Sierra Nevada in west-central Mono County in the vicinity of Lundy Lake, about six miles west of Mono Lake. The district has also been known as the May Lundy or Lundy district, because the May Lundy mine was the principal source of gold here.
History
Although this area was prospected during the Comstock silver rush of the 1860s, the lode deposits were not discovered until 1877. The district was organized in 1879. The May Lundy mine was named for the daughter of W.J. Lundy, who operated a sawmill here in the 1870s. This mine was worked on a major scale until 1911. Accumulated tailings were treated during the late 1930s, but there has been only minor prospecting since. The mine has a total production of $ 3 million.
Geology
The principal geologic feature is a two-to-four-mile-wide belt or roof pendant of metamorphic rocks that extends northwest along the Sierran crest for many miles. These rocks consist of schist, slate, and hornfels of Triassic and Jurassic age. Granodiorite lies on both sides of this belt. The Sierra Nevada Mountains here have been prominently shaped by Pleistocene glaciation.
Ore Deposits
A series of northwest-striking and southwest-dipping quartz veins are found at or near the metamorphic-granitic contacts. The veins usually average two to three feet in thickness. The ore contains free gold, pyrite, and smaller amounts of other sulfides. Milling-grade gold ore yielded as much as one ounce per ton with a high content of silver. Several ore shoots at the May Lundy mine had stoping lengths of up to 300 feet.
Bibliography
Bowen, O.E., Jr., 1962, Mines near Yosemite: California Div. Mines and Geology, Mineral Information Service, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 1-4.
DeGroot, Henry, 1890, Homer district: California Min. Bur. Rept. 10, p.342.
Eakle, A.S., and Mclaughlin, R. P., 1919, Mono County, May Lundy mine: California Min. Bur. Rept. 15, pp. 166-167.
Sampson, R. J., and Tucker, W. B., 1940, Mono County, May Lundy and Parrot mines: California Div. Mines Rept. 36, pp. 128-129 and 130-131.
Whiting, H. A., 1888, Homer mining district: California Min. Bur. Rept. 8, pp. 367-371.
