Hilltop District
Overview
Other Names: Kimberly, Mayesville, Maysville, Pittsburg, Northern Shoshone Range
County: Lander
Discovered: 1906
Commodities: gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, antimony
Comments
Located on the northeast slope of Shoshone Peak in the north-central part of the Shoshone Range. Hilltop was included in Northern Shoshone Range area of Lawrence (1963).
References
Hill, 1912, p. 216; Lincoln, 1923, p. 111; Stoddard, 1932, p. 49; Vanderburg, 1939, p. 47; Lawrence, 1963, p. 94; Stewart and others, 1977, p. 80; Wong, 1982, table 1
Hilltop Placer District Description
Location
On the northeast slope of Mount Lewis in the northern Shoshone Range, T. 30 N., R. 46 E.
Topographic Maps
Mount Lewis 15-minute quadrangle.
Geologic Maps
Gilluly and Gates, 1965, Geologic map of the northern Shoshone Range, Nevada, (pi. 1), scale 1:31,680.
Access
From Winnemucca, 55 miles southeast to Battle Mountain on U.S. Highway 40; 2 miles past Battle Mountain, a light-duty road leads south about 10 miles to Rock Creek and Crum Canyon on the east side of the Reese River Valley. From the edge of the mountains, it is about 6 miles farther south to the headwaters of Rock Creek in Crum Canyon.
Extent
Gold-bearing gravels are found in the upper part of Crum Canyon (variously spelled Krum Canyon) near the junction of Maysville Canyon and Hilltop Canyon. The most actively worked placer is called the First Riffle claim and includes about 160 acres in Crum Canyon and Hilltop Canyon. The shaft shown on the topographic map as the Nelson mine (SW cor. sec. 28, T. 30 N., R. 46 E.) is probably one of the shafts in this placer group.
In 1939 the property was explored by four shafts ranging in depth from 27 to 72 feet and one bedrock drift 500 feet long; the alluvium consisted of sand and mud near the surface and contained medium-sized boulders near bedrock where the gold was concentrated. A small placer was worked in 1937 near the Pittsburg mine (sec. 32, T. 30 N., R. 46 E.) on the slopes above Maysville Canyon.
Production History
Recorded production is small. John Nelson discovered placer gold in upper Crum Canyon in 1914, and lessees who worked the gravels between 1914 and 1916 are said to have recovered about $2,000 in placer gold by drift mining. This production was apparently not reported to the U.S. Bureau of Mines but has been added to the production table. Before Nelson's placer discovery, 75 ounces of placer gold was recovered from an underscribed deposit in the Hilltop district in 1911.
Source
The placer gold in the Hilltop district was probably derived from the free-gold-bearing fissure veins in altered cherts and quartzites in the Ordovician Valmy Formation. These veins are well developed in the mountain slopes between Maysville Canyon and Hilltop Canyon at the Red Top and Hilltop mines. The placer gold was probably transported down these canyons to their junction in Rock Creek in Crum Canyon.
Literature
Vanderburg, 1939: Placer discovery; production; location of placer claims.
Holy Cross District
Overview
Other Names: Terrell, Fallon, Allen Hot Springs, Wild Horse
Discovered: 1910
Commodities: silver, gold, lead, copper, zinc, mercury, manganese
Comments
The district is centered around Rawhide Flat. The original district was located on the northeast margin of the Terrill Mountains, near Camp Terrell, but was later expanded to include properties in the Blow Sand Mountains and Barnett Hills, across Rawhide Flats to the north. The present district also includes Allen and Lee Hot Springs to the northwest of the Blow Sand Mountains. Schilling (1976) listed Wild Horse as an alternate name.
References
Lincoln, 1923, p. 5; Stoddard, 1932, p. 21; Vanderburg, 1940, p. 30; Bailey and Phoenix, 1944, p. 50; Schrader, 1947, p. 282; Carlson, 1974, p. 230; Willden and Speed, 1974, p. 74; Bonham, 1976; Schilling, 1976; Tingley, 1990, p. 10-11, 85
Holy Cross Placer District Description
Location
Terrill Mountains and Barnett Hills T 14 N ., R.29 E.; T. 15 N,R. 30 E.
Topographic Maps
Allen Springs 15-minute quadrangle.
Geologic Maps
Willden and Speed, 1968, Geologic map of Churchill County, Nevada(pi.1), scale1: 200,000.
Access
From Fallon, 24 miles south on U.S. Highway 95 to dirt road leading east through Rawhide Flat. Mining areas are north and south of the main dirt road and accessible by minor dirt roads.
Extent
I have not found any information that locates the placer deposits in the Holy Cross district. The main part of the district is in the Terrill Mountains, west of the site of Camp Terrill on the south side of Rawhide Flat (sees. 10 and 11, T. 14 N., R. 29 E.), but the dis- trict also includes mines and prospects on the west side of the Barnett Hills (sec. 25, T. 15 N., R. 30 E.) about 6 miles northeast of the Terrill Mountains and on the north side of Rawhide Flat.
Production History
Placer gold was produced from the Holy Cross district in 1923 and 1947.
Source
The source of the placer gold was undoubtedly local material eroded from the veins in the Terrill Mountains and (or) Barnett Hills. The ore deposits in the Terrill Mountains (predominantly silver ore with smaller amounts of gold) are found in altered rhyolitic tuffs near dacite intrusives and are of Tertiary age. The ore deposits in the Barnett Hills are found in quartz veins in Cretaceous granodiorite; the Bimetal ores contain more free gold and silver than those in the Terrill Mountains.
Literature
Vanderburg, 1940: Describes lode mines and prospects in Holy Cross district.
Willden and Speed, 1968: Describes bedrock geology and lode mines in Holy Cross district.
