Location and History
The Liberty or Black Bear district is in the Salmon Mountains in southwestern Siskiyou County. The Sawyer's Bar district lies immediately to the north and the Cecilville district is to the south. The area was placer-mined in the 1850s. Lode gold was discovered in 1860, both at White's Gulch, a few miles to the northeast, and at the Black Bear mine. From 1865 until about 1910, the lode mines were highly productive, especially the Black Bear, Klamath, and California Consolidated mines. There was some activity in the district again in the 1930s, and there has been some prospecting since.
Geology and Ore Deposits
The district is underlain by slate, phyllite, greenstone, and chert of Paleozoic and Mesozoic age, with a few lenses of serpentine and small granitic bodies. Diorite dikes are often associated with the veins. The ore deposits consist of lenticular gold-quartz veins, usually five feet or less in thickness. Milling-grade ore usually averages only a few dollars per ton, but a considerable number of high-grade pockets have been found in the district.
Mines
Advance $250,000+, Ball, Black Bear $3.1 million, California Cons. $473,000+, Cleaver, Hanson, Hickey, Jumbo, Klamath $600,000, Lanky Bob, Mountain Laurel $600,000, White Bear.
Bibliography
Brown, G.C., 1916, Siskiyou County, gold mines-quartz: California Min. Bur. Rept. 14, pp. 825-842.
Irwin, W. P., 1960, Geologic reconnaissance of the northern Coast Ranges and the Klamath Mountains: California Div. Mines, Bull. 179, 80 pp.
Logan, C.A, 1925, Siskiyou County, Salmon River district: California Min. Bur. Rept. 21, pp. 419-420.
