Belmont, Benway, Beowawe, Bernice Districts

Publication Info:
Nevada Mining Districts (Compiled Reports)
The Districts Described in This Section are from the following publications:

Mining Districts of Nevada - Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Report 47 (updated 1998); Placer Gold Deposits of Nevada - USGS Bulletin 1356 (1973)

Table of Contents

Belmont District

Overview

Other Names: Philadelphia, Silver Bend, Superior, Monarch

County: Nye

Discovered: 1865

Organized: 1865

Commodities: silver, gold, lead, copper, mercury, tungsten, turquoise, titanium

Comments

The Belmont district is located north and south of the town of Belmont. The district extends along a north-trending range of low hills that lies between the Toquima and Monitor Ranges and forms the division between Ralston and Monitor Valleys. The Hillen Canyon area (northwest of Belmont), the Silver Creek area (west of Belmont), and the Monarch area (south of Belmont) are included in this district.

The district was organized as the Philadelphia district in 1865 and originally included the adjacent Barcelona (Spanish Belt) district. The portion now called Belmont was reorganized as the Silver Bend district in 1866. The Superior district of Hill (1912), described as being 35 miles north-northeast of Tonopah, is thought to be the Monarch area of the present Belmont district.

References

Stretch, 1867, p. 62; White, 1869, p. 70; Wheeler, 1872, p. 41; Hill, 1912, p. 220, 224; Lincoln, 1923, p. 160; Stoddard, 1932, p. 64; Kral, 1951, p. 19; Beal, 1963, p. 11, 20; Kleinhampl and Ziony, 1984, p. 56; Stager and Tingley, 1988, p. 138

Belmont Placer District Description

Krai (1951) reports the presence of placer gold in Meadow and Antone Canyons (Tps. 9 and 10 N., R. 45 E.) in the northern part of the Belmont district on the east slope of the Toquima Range. Several groups of placer claims were located in these canyons, and nine holes reaching bedrock reportedly showed about 30 cents in gold per cubic yard. No production has been recorded from this district.

The placer gold may have been derived from a base-metal deposit containing gold and silver in metamorphosed shales and limestones as at the War Eagle Group of claims in Antone Canyon.

Literature: Krai, 1951 : Locates placer claims; average value of gold per cubic yard.

Benway District

Overview

County: Lyon and Mineral

Active: 1916, 1950s through early 1970s

Commodities: gold, silver, copper, antimony

Comments

Located 10 miles north Schurz in T14N, R28-29E on the south end of Painted Mesa, a 2 mile-wide, southwest-trending lobe of the Desert Mountains.

References

Stoddard, 1932, p. 55; Schrader, 1947, p. 292; Lawrence, 1963, p. 124

Beowawe District

Overview

Other Names: Whirlwind

County: Eureka

Commodities: mercury, gold, barite

Comments

Extends southwest from Beowawe, at the north end of Crescent Valley, into Whirlwind Valley. The 1880 map shows Whirlwind district to possibly extend as far south as the Fire Creek area.

References

1880 map; Stoddard, 1932, p. 42; Vanderburg, 1938b, p. 19; Roberts and others, 1967, p. 65; Struhsacker, 1986, p. 108-116; Papke, 1984, table 3

Bernice District

Overview

Other Names: Salina, Salinas, Alamo

County: Churchill

Discovered: 1865

Commodities: antimony, silver, gold, tungsten

Comments

This district is centered about Bernice Canyon in the west slope of the Clan Alpine Mountains and extends from Shoshone Canyon on the north to Dyer Canyon on the south. The Territorial Enterprise (1863) described a Salina district bordered on the south by Tower Canyon, on the north by Shoshone Springs, on the east by the summit of the Clan Alpine Mountains, on the west by the great salt field Humboldt or Dixie salt marsh which covered the area of the present Bernice and Dixie Marsh districts.

Carlson (1974) described the Salina district as located at a Churchill County salt flat, and Gamett and Paher (1983) placed Salina some 20 miles northeast of Stillwater, on the west side of the Stillwater Range. Todd and Welton (1866) locate a Salinas district at the present site of Bernice. The Territorial Enterprise (1866) described an Alamo district 25 miles east of Silver Hill, which would have been in this area.

References

Virginia Evening Bulletin, August 11, 1863 2:4; Territorial Enterprise, June 1, 1866; Todd and Welton, 1866; Stretch, 1867, p. 28; Bancroft, 1890, p. 261-262; Hill, 1912, p. 199; Lincoln, 1923,p.1;Stoddard,1932, p.19;Gianella,1945,p.11;Vanderburg,1940,p.16;Schrader,1947, p.319;Willden and Speed,1974,p.60;Carlson,1974, p.208;Gamett and Paher,1983,p.114; Stager and Tingley, 1988, p. 31

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