Silver King Consolidated Mine

Mine Description

The Silver King Consolidated property is situated at the head of an unnamed gulch which descends to Thaynes Canyon from the east and lies next west of Nigger Hollow. The ground adjoins the Silver King Coalition ground on the northwest. The nucleus of the property is the old Cumberland claim, which, with two others, formed the Bogan property. Considerable work was clone on the Cumberland, and in 1893, 1894, and 1895 ore strikes were reported. In July, 1903, the old company passed into the hands of the new organization under the name Silver King Consolidated. The Bogan shaft, which had then reached a depth of 610 feet, was sunk to 790 feet, in spite of the difficulty of handling a heavy flow of water. New machinery of greater capacity, both for hoisting and pumping, was then installed. It is reported by the company that the shaft was sunk to a depth of 800 feet.

The development work comprises this main shaft, 800 feet in depth, with some drifting on the 600-foot level; the Cumberland incline, extending 175 feet on its dip, with short laterals; a lower tunnel about 100 feet in length; and a number of shallow prospects.

The surface is occupied entirely by limestone of the Thaynes formation. It is clear, however, from exposures in the gap at the head of the gully, in the shaft, and in other workings, that it is only the lowest portion of the limestone, and that through much of this ground the underlying red shale approaches close to the surface. The prevailing dip of the sediments is 20°-40° N. At the top of the ridge it is 19°-28°, averaging 22° N. 10° E.; at the head of the Cumberland incline it is 20°-30° N. 50° W.; at the lower tunnel it is 25° N. 50° W.; and on the east side of the divide in the rear of the Silver King office and bunk house it is 20°-33° averaging 30° N. 35°-40° W. The dip is considerably disturbed, as shown in the Cumberland incline by fracturing and faulting. The ground lies in the general course of the great Massachusetts fault, and though the line of that fault could not be traced, it is not improbable that the same forces which produced it operated to disturb this ground. The gap at the head of the gully lies on a northwest fault, which may be correlated with the fissuring discovered by the Cumberland incline. The offset on this fault, as marked by the contact between the Thaynes and Woodside formations, is in the same phase as that on the Massachusetts fault but amounts to only about 200 feet, and furthermore it lies considerably southwest from the direct course of the main fault. Yet it is not impossible that the great thickness of shale took up much of the displacement and deflected the forces so that this gap fault may represent the Massachusetts fault. Some such dislocation and large untraced faults may account for the apparently excessive thickness of red shale cut by the shaft.

The shaft started in the basal 30 feet of limestone of the Thaynes formation, next descended through the red Woodside shale for 800 feet, and then reached the Park City formation. The 600-foot level drift is in red. shale. No ore was encountered in this development work, but all excessively heavy flow of water, which it seems the shale holds to an exceptional extent, proved a serious handicap. The Cumberland incline follows a slip plane down at an angle of 36°, or including the lower steeper portions 40°, for about 175 feet in the Thaynes formation, dipping normally northwest. The slip is inclined somewhat more steeply than the bed cling, which dips near the head of the incline 20°-30° N. 50° W., along the northeast drift 35° S. 45° E., and at the foot, under a north-south fissure dipping west, 35° W. It is probable that whatever ore has been struck was found in this incline or the several short drifts from it. The lower tunnel cuts red shale, red sandstone, and transition beds to brown clay shale but opens nothing of commercial possibility.

Source: Geology and Ore Deposits of the Park City District, Utah, 1912 - USGS

Site Name

Primary: Silver King Consolidated Mine
Secondary: Silver King Coalition Group

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Commodity

Primary: Silver
Primary: Lead
Secondary: Copper
Secondary: Tungsten

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Location

State: Utah
County: Summit
District: Park City District

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Land Status

Land ownership: Private
Note: the land ownership field only identifies whether the area the mine is in is generally on public lands like Forest Service or BLM land, or if it is in an area that is generally private property. It does not definitively identify property status, nor does it indicate claim status or whether an area is open to prospecting. Always respect private property.

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Type: Underground

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Ownership

Owner Name: United Park City Mines Co.

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Discovery Year: 1893
Discovery Method: Ore-Mineral In Place
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Deposit Size: S

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Physiography

General Physiographic Area: Rocky Mountain System
Physiographic Province: Middle Rocky Mountains
Physiographic Detail: Wasatch Mountains

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Mineral Deposit Model

Not available

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Orebody

Form: LENS

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Structure

Type: R
Description: Thrust Belt

Type: L
Description: N-S Fissures, Dipping 35w, Massachusetts Fault

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Alterations

Not available

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Rocks

Name: Shale
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Late Triassic

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Tetrahedrite
Ore: Wulfenite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Malachite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Sericite

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Comments

Comment (Location): SECTION SUBDIVISIONS NW 1/4 SE 1/4 NW 1/4

Comment (Production): NO PRODUCTION FIGURES AVAILABLE

Comment (Workings): SHAFT TO 800 FT., INCLINE SHAFT 175 FT. DEEP A 100 FT TUNNEL AND SEVERAL SMALL PROSPECTS SOME OF WHICH MAY NOW BE CAVED

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References

Reference (Deposit): 1966 GEOLMAP CRITTENDEN, CALKINS AND SHARP GQ-53

Reference (Production): BOUTWELL, J.M., 1912, THE PARK CITY DISTRICT: U.S.G.S. PROF. PA. 77.

Reference (Deposit): BULLOCK, K.C., 1966, MINERALS OF UTAH: UTAH GEOL. AND MINERALOG. SURVEY, BULL. 76, P. 36.

Reference (Deposit): BOUTWELL, J.M., 1912, GEOLOGY AND ORE DEPOSITS OF PARK CITY DISTRICT: USGS PROF. PAPER 77, 230 P.

Reference (Deposit): CRITTENDEN, M.D., ET.AL., 1966, GEOL. MAP OF THE PARK CITY WEST QUAD.: U.S.G.S. MAP GQ-535.

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