Location and History
This is an extensive district in the Sierra Nevada east gold belt in north-central Mariposa County. It is five miles east of Coulterville and about 25 miles north of Mariposa. The district includes several places that at various times have been classified as separate districts but are grouped together in this publication because they adjoin each other and are geologically similar. These are the Greeley Hill, Bull Creek, Gentry Gulch, Smith Ridge, and Dogtown areas. The Cat Town district lies just to the south and the Coulterville district to the west. The area was placer-mined during the gold rush. Much lode mining was conducted from the 1860s through 1900 and again in the 1930s. Several mines including the Hasloe and Horseshoe have been worked intermittently in recent years.
Geology
The district is underlain by slate, mica schist, quartzite, hornfels, phyllites and limestone lenses of the Calaveras Formation (Carboniferous to Permian). Present are several small granitic stocks and a number of diorite, quartz-diorite and aplite dikes. In places these dikes are associated with the gold-quartz veins and are important in the localization of the ore bodies.
Ore Deposits
Numerous north- and west-striking quartz veins range from one to five feet in thickness. The are shoots generally are small, but commonly rich. The are contains free gold and often abundant sulfides including galena and tetrahedrite, which are associated with rich ore. Molybdenite is present in a few places.
Mines
Argo $18,000, Bandarita $1.52 million, Bob McKee, Bondurant $390,000, Bunce, Carrie Todd, Contention, Cranberry, Garibaldi, Gold King, Hasloe $3 million, Horseshoe, Last Chance, Lovely Rogers, Louisiana, Marble Springs $200,000, Moonlight, Quail $400,000, Red Cloud, Red Mountain, Texas Hill $74,000+
Bibliography
Bowen, O E., 1957, Moriposa County, Bandorita, Bondurant, Hasloe, and Quail mines: California Journal of Mines and Geology, vol. 53, pp. 77-81, 106-108, and 159-161.
Castello, W.O., 1921, Mariposa County, Kinsley district: California Min. Bur. Rept. 17, pp. 95-96.
Turner, H. W., and Ransome, F. L., 1897, Sonora folio: U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas of the U.S., folio 41, 7 pp.
