Location
This district is at the crest of the Sierra Nevada in the vicinity of the Tioga Pass in eastern Tuolumne and western Mono Counties.
History
Gold-bearing outcrops were discovered here as early as 1860, and the area was intermittently prospected during the next 20 years. A boom was on from 1880 to 1884 when the Great Sierra Consolidated Silver Company was driving the Great Sierra tunnel. During that time the towns of Dana City and Bennetville existed, and the Tioga Road (now State Highway 120) was built, extending nearly 100 miles west to Groveland. The company failed in 1884. The tunnel was extended in 1933-34 to the projected extension of the ore body, but no values were encountered. Historically this is an interesting area, but it is doubtful if the district has yielded more than a few thousand dollars. The only property that has had any development is the Great Sierra mine, where more than $300,000 was expended. Nearly 350 claims were located in the district.
Geology
A number of narrow to thick northwest-striking quartz veins and mineralized metamorphic rocks contain pyrite, which is abundant in places. Traces of gold and silver are present. If there was any production, it probably came from oxidized surface material.
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, Tioga district: California Min. Bur. Rept. 10, pp. 342-343.
Hubbard, Douglass, 1958, Ghost mines of Yosemite, Awani Press, Fresno, Colifornia. 40 pp.
Sampson, R. J., and Tueleer, W. B., 1940, Mono County, Tioga mine: California Div. Mines Rept. 36, p. 139.
Whiting, H. A., 1888, Tioga district: Calif. Min. Bur. Rept. 8, pp. 371-373.
