The Brown Bear Mine is a gold mine located in Trinity county, California at an elevation of 2,851 feet.
About the MRDS Data:
All mine locations were obtained from the USGS Mineral Resources Data System. The locations and other information in this database have not been verified for accuracy. It should be assumed that all mines are on private property.
Mine Info
Elevation: 2,851 Feet (869 Meters)
Commodity: Gold
Lat, Long: 40.71972, -122.73028
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Mine Description
Brown Bear Mine. Location: secs. 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 24, T. 33 N., R 8 W., M.D., about 4 miles northeast of Lewiston. Ownership: E. E. and L. R. Erich, French Gulch, California.
The Brown Bear mine was discovered in 1875 and was actively mined until 1912. It is one of the first quartz loactions in Trinity County and has produced between 7 and 10 million dollars in gold, according to its owners. Since 1912, the mine has had short periods of activity by a number of lessees. In 1939 the Brown Bear Mining and Development Company, C. C. White, Managing Director, 1814 Franklin Street, Oakland, California, had a 10-year lease on the property. A small production was made in 1942 before the mine was shut down. In 1946 the Western Gold Mines, Inc., ran a crosscut northwest from the bottom of the Joker winze, which had a depth of 90 feet below the Watt adit level, but no ore was developed. In 1947 some ore was mined from pockets in the Last Chance vein which was drifted on 450 feet northwest from a station 280 feet above the Watt ad it at a point 3,000 feet northeast of the portal. The vein was 2 to 3 feet wide and dipped 60° SW. between a black slate hanging wall and a gray diorite porphyry footwall.
In 1948 some ore was mined from a vein developed in the Coon Dog claim. The vein was about 6 feet wide and had been drifted on in a S. 80° E. direction for about 500 feet. The vein material included fragments of white quartz, diorite porphyry and black slate. Gold was associated with pyrite and galena. The ore was mined from timbered stopes between raises 20 feet apart. Four men produced about 18 tons of ore per day. The ore was hauled in trucks to the mill at the Watt adit portal, where it was crushed to one-half-inch in a jaw crusher and ground to minus 75- mesh in a 42- by 48-inch ball mill. The fine material was fed to a Bendelari jig and the hutch product was further concentrated on a small Wilfley table. The jig overflow ran to a Dorr rake classifier and the sands were returned to the ball mill. The slimes flowed to a conditioner and thence to six flotation cells. The concentrate from the Wilfley table and flotation cells was shipped by truck to the Empire Star mill at Grass Valley, California.
The mine was closed down in 1948 and lay idle until March 1950, when the Brown Bear Mines Company resumed operation. From March to August 1950, 80 tons of ore were milled which yielded 2 tons of concentrate. There has been no production reported since 1950.
Source: Mines and Mineral Resources of Trinity County, California. County Report 4, 1965. California Division of Mines and Geology
Brown Bear Mine MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: Brown Bear Mine
Commodity
Primary: Gold
Secondary: Lead
Secondary: Iron
Secondary: Zinc
Secondary: Arsenic
Secondary: Manganese
Location
State: California
County: Trinity
District: Deadwood
Land Status
Land ownership: National Forest
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.
Holdings
Not available
Workings
Type: Underground
Ownership
Owner Name: Erich, E. E.
Production
Not available
Deposit
Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: L
Physiography
General Physiographic Area: Pacific Mountain System
Physiographic Province: Pacific Border Province
Physiographic Section: Klamath Mountains
Mineral Deposit Model
Model Name: Low-sulfide Au-quartz vein
Orebody
Form: PINCH-SWELL
Structure
Not available
Alterations
Not available
Rocks
Not available
Analytical Data
Analytical Data: BUT THEY ARE IN MANY PLACES, NOT LARGE ENOUGH TO BE MINED A PROFITABLE VALUE EXCEPT AT INTERSECTIONS. CON. CARRY $100/TON IN GOLD, BUT FORM SMALL PERCENTAGE OF ORE.
Analytical Data: MINERALIZED FISSURES CUT SLATE AND PORPHYRY CARRYING FEW INCHES OF QUARTZ OF HIGH ASSAY VALUE
Materials
Ore: Gold
Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Galena
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Calcite
Comments
Comment (Commodity): GOLD OCCURED IN FREE STATE, AND WAS USUALLY MEDIUM-HIGH GRADE
Comment (Location): UTM ACC. HOLDINGS COMPRISE NUMEROUS LOCATIONS.
Comment (Production): LARGEST PRODUCTION RECORD IN TRINITY COUNTY. ERICH ESTIMATED PAST GROSS PRODUCTION AT $8 TO $10 MILLION, AND STATED THAT HE HAD DEFINATE DETAILED RECORDS OF MORE THAN $3 MILLION OF THIS. 3 OF THE INDIVIDUAL ORE BODIES STATED TO HAVE PRODUCED IN EXCESS OF $1 MILLION EACH. ORE VARIES FROM $10-$1000/TON IN GOLD CONTENT. SULFIDES 1-4% OF ORE. PRINCIPAL PRODUCTION CAME FROM MONTE CRISTO AND LAST CHANCE VEINS, WHERE ORE AVG. $20-$100/TON. SEVERAL SMALLER VEINS EXPLORED NEAR SURFACE PRODUCED IMPORTANT AMOUNTS OF HIGH-GRADE ORE. NO OTHER PRODUCTION DATA FOUND.
Comment (Deposit): NUMEROUS PARALLEL TO ROUGHLY PARALLEL VEINS, FISSURES. SOME TRACED 1000 FT. TO 3000 FT. IN LENGTH. THEY PARALLEL AND CUT HOST ROCK AT ACUTE ANGLES BOTH IN STRIKE AND DIP. EXPANSIONS OF VEINS USUALLY SHOW QUARTZ, CONTRACTIONS (ENDS) SHOW FILLING OF QUARTZ, SLATE AND PORPHYRY. FINALLY, VEINS PINCH DOWN TO GOUGE-FILLED FISSURE. SOME VEINS SHOW REVERSAL OF DIP AT LOWER LEVELS. SMALL STRINGERS OF PYRITE CUT SLATES NEAR VEINS, AND JOINT PLANES OF SLATE & PORPHYRY ORE, IN PLACES, HEAVILY PYRITIZED. GALENA AND SPHALERITE IN VEIN USUALLY INDICATE PRESENCE OF RICH ORE. ALL OF GOLD WAS SEEN IN QUARTZ CLOSE TO EITHER AN INCLUDED FRAGMENT OF SLATE OR PATCH OF GALENA.
Comment (Deposit): 35 SEPARATE PARCELS OF PATENTED LAND. MOST WERE 20 ACRE LODE CLAIMS, BUT A FEW LARGER TRACTS, PLACER CLAIMS AND TIMBER LAND INCLUDED. 589 ACRES ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT
Comment (Workings): MONTE CRISTO AND LAST CHANCE VEINS EXPLORED FOR 2600 FT. ALONG STRIKE AND EXTENSIVELY MINED TO 400 FT. DEPTH. SMALLER PORTIONS MINED TO DEPTH OF 760 FT. WATT ADIT, 350 FT. BELOW LOWEST OF OLD PRODUCTIVE WORKINGS, DRIVEN 6000 FT. IN LENGTH. MORE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS OF WORKINGS ALONG WITH CROSS SECTION IN AVERILL (1933) P. 13.
Comment (Geology): SLATE FOUND IN 2 VARITIES; ONE IS HARD, SILICEOUS AND BLOCKY. OTHER IS SOFT, BLACK AND GRAPHITIC. SLATE INTRUDED BY DIORITE AND GRANITE-PORPHYRY DIKES DESCRIBED IN DETAIL BY FERGUSON (1913). ALL OF THESE ROCKS ARE EXTENSIVELY FISSURED
References
Reference (Deposit): AVERILL, C.V., 1941, MINERAL RESOURCES OF TRINITY COUNTY: CALIFORNIA JOURNAL OF MINES AND GEOLOGY, V. 37, NO. 1, P. 27-28
Reference (Deposit): AVERILL, C.V., 1933, GOLD DEPOSITS OF THE REDDING AND WEAVERVILLE QUADRANGLES: CALIFORNIA JOURNAL OF MINES AND GEOLOGY, V. 29, P. 13-15
Reference (Deposit): FERGUSON, H.G., 1913, GOLD LODES OF THE WEAVERVILLE QUADRANGLE, CALIF.: U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULL. 540-A, P. 70-71
Reference (Production): AVERILL (1941)
California Gold
"Where to Find Gold in California" looks at the density of modern placer mining claims along with historical gold mining locations and mining district descriptions to determine areas of high gold discovery potential in California. Read more: Where to Find Gold in California.
