Harrison Gulch is in the extreme southwest corner of Shasta County about six miles west of Platina and 40 miles southwest of Redding. It was named for Judge W. H. Harrison, who settled here in 1852. The Midas mine, the principal source of gold in the district and one of the major lode mines in the Klamath Mountains, has a total output of nearly $4 million. It was discovered in 1894 and was worked on a major scale from 1896 to 1914. Placer gold was recovered here and in the Platina and Beegum areas to the east.
The lode deposits consist of lenticular ore bodies in quartz veins that range from one to three feet in thickness. They contain free gold and some sulfides. Much of the ore produced at the Midas mine yielded more than one ounce of gold per ton. The vein was mined to a depth of 1500 feet. Country rock consists of greenstone and schist. Granite lies to the west, and sandstone and shale are to the east.
Bibliography
Brown, G.C., 1916, Shasta County, Midas mine; California Min. Bur. Rept. 14, pp. 792-793.
Logan, C.A., 1926, Shasta County, Harrison Gulch mines: California Min. Bur. Rept. 22, pp. 173-174.
