Mount Grant District
Overview
Other Names: Walker River, Desert, Deseret, Cat Creek, Walker Lake, East Walker, Mount Cory, Buckley, Mountain Grant, Walkers, Baldwin
County: Mineral
Discovered: 1865
Organized: 1866
Commodities: gold, silver, molybdenum
Comments
Comments: Located in the Wassuk Range, on the west shore of Walker Lake. The district extends from the north slope of Corey Peak north to Reese River Canyon and includes the historic East Walker district on the western slopes of Wassuk Range, and the Walker Lake- Cat Creek districts on the eastern slopes of the range. The Buckley area east of Walker Lake was sometimes included in the Walker Lake district.
The Baldwin district, described by the Territorial Enterprise (1868) as being located on the west shore of Walker Lake, may have been in this area. The historic Desert or Deseret district, located in the Wassuk Mountains on the west shore of Walker Lake, south of Walker River district, included this area.
References
DeGroot, 1863; Perry, 1865; Stretch, 1867, p. 39; Browne and Taylor, 1867, p. 126; Territorial Enterprise, July 15, 1868; U.S. Geological Survey, 1911, p. 687; Lincoln, 1923, p. 143, 156; Stoddard, 1932, p. 59, 63; Lotz, 1934, p. 21; Vanderburg,1937a, p. 44; Ross, 1961, p. 83; Carlson, 1974, p. 240; Papke, 1975, p. 59; Bonham, 1976
Mount Grant (East Walker) Placer District Description
Location
On the west flank of the Wassuk Range, southwest of Mount Grant on land included in the Naval Ammunition Depot Reservation T. 8 N., R. 28 E.
Topographic Maps
Mount Grant 15-minute quadrangle.
Geologic Maps
Ross, 1961, Geologic map of Mineral County, Nevada (pi. 2), scale 1:250,000.
Access
About 59 miles south of Fallon on U.S. Highway 95, a light-duty road paralleling Cottonwood Creek leads west and south through the Wassuk Range to the placer area. As access to the Naval Reservation is restricted, permission for entering may be required.
Extent
Placer gold is found in gravels of Lapon Meadow (variously spelled Laphan, Lapham Meadow) at the head of Lapon Creek (sees. 24 and 25, T. 8 N., R. 28 E.). The placer deposit worked by the Grant Mountain gold mine consisted of alluvium described as black loam overlying decomposed granite. (Previous studies have called this deposit volcanic ash.) The gold recovered from a channel 40 feet wide and 9 feet deep was coarse and had a fineness of 898.
Production History
The placers were first worked in 1906, when the area was withdrawn from the Schurz Indian Reservation; but early production is unknown and may have been included with production from the Pamlico area in the Hawthorne district. The placers were actively worked between 1935 and 1940 under the name Grant Mountain gold mine with a dragline mounted on caterpillars and a portable sluice. Gold recovery was reported to be 55 cents per cubic yard.
Source
Unknown. Small fissure veins in Cretaceous granites exposed in Cottonwood and Corey Canyons, north and east of Lapon Meadow, contain small amounts of gold. Similar veins may exist in the Lapon Meadow area but are either unexposed or not described.
Literature
Vanderburg, 1936a: Brief description of placer deposits and mining operations during the period 1932-36; states that gold is found in bed of volcanic ash; size of large nugget recovered ($30). Reports discovery of placer gold in Baldwin Canyon south of the Lapon Meadow placer area. Placers described under the name "Hawthorne district."
1937b: Placer-mining history at Lapon Meadow; placer-mining operations at Grant Mountain gold mine; estimate of early production; depth and width of placer channel; bedrock type; distribution, size, and fineness of gold; average value of gravels; placers described under the name "Mount Grant district."
