This district is in the Salmon Mountains on both sides of the Trinity-Siskiyou County line and on the divide between the Salmon and Trinity Rivers. It is near the headwaters of Coffee Creek about 12 miles southwest of Coffee Creek Ranch. The name derives from the Dorleska mine, discovered in 1897. The Dorleska, with a total output of $200,000, and the Yellow Rose mine, which has yielded more than $100,000, have been the chief sources of gold. Other properties include the Upper Nash, LeRoy, and Keating mines.
The ore deposits occur in a north-northwest-trending zone of mineralization that is at least five miles long. The deposits consist of narrow gold-quartz veins and mineralized shear zones in and along the contacts of lamprophyre dikes, especially where these dikes cut serpe ntine. Serpentine lies to the west and schist to the east. The ore contains free gold, pyrite, and smaller amounts of tellurides and galena. A number of high-grade pockets have been found here.
Bibliography
Averill, C. V., 1931, Trinity County, Yellow Rose mine: California Div. Mines Rept. 27, p. 55.
Averill, C. V., 1941, Trinity County, Dorleska mine: California Div. Mines Rept. 37, p. 33.
MacDonald, D. F., 1913, Gold lodes of the Carrville district-Dorleska and Yellow Rose mines: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 530, part 1 pp. 38-39.
