The Independence District is a gold, silver, and copper mine located in Pitkin county, Colorado at an elevation of 10,801 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: 10,801 Feet (3,292 Meters)
Commodity: Gold, Silver, Copper
Lat, Long: 39.10528, -106.60417
Map: View on Google Maps
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Independence District MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: Independence District
Secondary: Claims: Legal Tender, MS 1307
Secondary: Last Dollar, MS 1318
Secondary: Minnie, MS 1344
Secondary: Independence, MS 1421
Secondary: Gatton, MS 1422
Secondary: Dolly Varden, MS 1423
Secondary: Mammoth, MS 1424
Secondary: Friday, MS 1486
Secondary: Clark Placer, MS 1609
Secondary: Johnson Placer, MS 1730
Secondary: Emma B. Carlisle, MS 1752
Secondary: Climax, MS 1754
Secondary: Choler, MS 1819
Secondary: Sheba Lode, MS 1823a
Secondary: Ward Mill Site, MS 1823b
Secondary: Mount Hope, MS 1881a
Secondary: Mount Hope Mill Site, MS 1881b
Secondary: Golden Champion, MS 1882a
Secondary: Golden Champion Mill Site, MS 1882b
Secondary: Little Tillie, MS 2038
Secondary: Iroquois, MS 2076
Secondary: Pride of the West Placer, MS 2591
Secondary: Thatcher, MS 2591
Secondary: Little Giant, MS 3790
Secondary: Little Birdie, MS 3791
Secondary: Case, MS 3811
Secondary: Ocean Wave, MS 3813
Secondary: Germania, MS 3814
Secondary: Pride of the West, MS 3892
Secondary: Minniehaha, MS 4150
Secondary: Golden Rock, MS 4151
Secondary: Grand View, MS 4399
Secondary: Spotted Tail, MS 6548
Secondary: Panama, MS 7766
Secondary: Principal, MS 12441
Secondary: Geld Placer, MS 1235
Secondary: B. H., MS 4107
Secondary: Gold Reef, MS 4363
Secondary: Norah C., MS 4364.
Commodity
Primary: Gold
Primary: Silver
Primary: Copper
Secondary: Lead
Location
State: Colorado
County: Pitkin
District: Independence District
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.
Holdings
Not available
Workings
Not available
Ownership
Owner Name: Williams Family (Independence Mine)
Years: 1940 -
Owner Name: Hagen And Knight (Independence Mine
Home Office: Aspen, Co.
Years: 1940 -
Production
Not available
Deposit
Record Type: District
Operation Category: Producer
Deposit Type: Vein
Operation Type: Unknown
Year First Production: 1879
Year Last Production: 1951
Discovery Year: 1879
Discovery Method: Ore-Mineral Not In Place
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Deposit Size: S
Physiography
General Physiographic Area: Rocky Mountain System
Physiographic Province: Southern Rocky Mountains
Mineral Deposit Model
Not available
Orebody
Not available
Structure
Type: R
Description: Sawatch Uplift, Central Colorado Trough, Arkansas Valley Graben, Twin Lakes Batholith
Type: L
Description: Grizzly Peak Cauldron, Mt Elbert Volcanotectonic Depression, Lincoln Gulch Stock
Alterations
Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: Fe And Cu Alteration Noted By Rohlfing In Vein And Vein Walls At Independence And Mt Hope Mines. Cruson Noted Significant Zoned Quartz-Sericite-Pyrite, Quartz-Sericite, Argillic, And Propylitic Alteration Only Farther Inside Cauldron Around Stockworks And More Intensely Mineralized Areas.
Rocks
Name: Diorite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age Young: Neoproterozoic
Name: Diorite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Neoproterozoic
Name: Diorite
Role: Associated
Age Type: Associated Rock
Age Young: Oligocene
Analytical Data
Analytical Data: INDEPENDENCE MINE ORE VALUES FOR 1931-32 CONTAINED 1.75 TO 3.16 OZ/TON AU, 1.8 TO 3.6 OZ/TON AG, 1.4 TO 2.8 % CU. LUDINGTON AND ELLIS' (1981) ANALYSES OF 20 SAMPLES SPACED ALONG 152 FT OF INDEPENDENCE VEIN CONTAINED 0 TO 8.5 OZ/TON AU AND 0 TO 12.04 OZ/TON AG, WITH WEIGHTED AVERAGE OF 0.175 OZ/TON AU AND 0.29 OZ/TON AG. 23 SAMPLES ALONG 285 FT OF MT HOPE VEIN TREND CONTAINED 0 TO 1.57 OZ/TON AU AND 0 TO 3.12 OZ/TON AG, WITH WEIGHTED AVERAGE OF 0.214 OZ/TON AU AND 0.592 OZ/TON AG.
Materials
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Silver
Ore: Gold
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Ore: Galena
Gangue: Quartz
Comments
Comment (Development): DISCOVERY AND MINING PROBABLY BEGAN IN 1860S IN TWIN LAKES DISTRICT. DISCOVERY AROUND INDEPENDENCE, PROBABLY FIRST SETTLEMENT IN PITKIN COUNTY, MADE BY PROSPECTORS ON ROUTE FROM LEADVILLE TO ASPEN. DISTRICT NOT ACTIVELY WORKED UNTIL ROAD COMPLETED FROM ASPEN IN 1879. SPORADIC ACTIVITY CONTINUED INTO EARLY 1900S, BUT PLAGUED BY COMPLETION OF RAILROAD OVER ALTERNATE ROUTE AND DISREPAIR OF INDEPENDENCE PASS ROAD. AS MOST OF AREA COVERED BY SLOPE WASH, INITIAL DISCOVERIES MADE FROM LIMITED EXPOSURES AT INDEPENDENCE AND FROM ORE CHUNKS FOUND IN ROOTS OF OVERTURNED TREE AT MT HOPE.
Comment (Deposit): EPITHERMAL QUARTZ-AU-SULFIDE VEINS FILL CONCENTRIC AND RADIAL FAULTS AND FRACTURES RELATED TO SECOND COLLAPSE EVENT (POST-RESURGENT DOME) IN PRECAMBRIAN METAMORPHIC ROCKS BEYOND NORTH MARGIN OF MAIN GRIZZLY PEAK COLLAPSE STRUCTURE AND PONDED ASH FLOWS THEREIN. QUARTZ-MO STOCKWORKS NOT FOUND DIRECTLY IN DISTRICT BUT RATHER TO SOUTH AND SE IN RUBY AND TWIN LAKES DISTRICTS. CRUSON INTERPRETS CROSS-CUTTING TYPES OF DEPOSITS (VEIN, PIPE, STOCKWORK) AS ONE END MEMBER (ALONG WITH STRATIFORM) OF SAME MINERALIZING MECHANISM IN VOLCANIC/SUBVOLCANIC ENVIRONMENT. METAL-RICH VAPORS OR SOLUTIONS MOVED THROUGH WELL-DEFINED STRUCTURES; METALS PRECIPITATION CONTROLLED BY CHANGES IN PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURE, WITH CRUDE ZONATION OF METALS AROUND CENTERS OF MO MINERALIZATION. MASSIVE QUARTZ VEINS AND PIPES CONTAINING ANOMALOUS MO ON CAULDRON FRINGE INTERPRETED AS HALO DEPOSITS PERIPHERAL TO MAJOR MINERALIZED CENTERS INSIDE CAULDRON.
Comment (Workings): MULTILEVEL MINES DEVELOPED BY TUNNELS, RAISES AND WINZES
Comment (Geology): GENERAL EVOLUTION OF GRIZZLY PEAK CAULDRON DETERMINED BY CRUSON: 1) INTRUSION OF TWIN LAKES GRANODIORITE/QUARTZ MONZONITE BATHOLITH; 2) EROSION OF SAWATCH RANGE TO LOW-RELIEF SURFACE; 3) MID-OLIGOCENE COLLAPSE WITH VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS; 4) PARASITIC, ASYMMETRICAL COLLAPSE ON SE EDGE OF MAIN COLLAPSE; 5) HYDROTHERMAL ALTERATION AND MINERALIZATION OF BRECCIA FORMED BY DESTRUCTION OF DOWN-DROPPED BLOCKS, FORMATION OF QUARTZ-MO STOCKWORKS; 6) VOLUMINOUS ASH-FLOW ERUPTIONS, PONDING IN COLLAPSED AREAS; 7) DOMING OF ASH FLOWS BY SUBVOLCANIC RESURGENCE OF LINCOLN GULCH GRANODIORITE STOCK IN MAIN COLLAPSE AREA ACCOMPANIED BY RING-ZONE INTRUSIONS; 8) POST-RESURGENCE INTRUSION OF ANDESITE DIKES IN SOUTH RING ZONE OF MAIN COLLAPSE; 9) SECOND COLLAPSE EVENT ALONG MAJOR RING FAULTS; 10) HYDROTHERMAL MINERALIZATION ALONG CONCENTRIC FAULT ZONES, EAST AND WEST RED CU-MO MINERALIZATION; 11) LATE TERTIARY BLOCK FAULTING AND TILTING, 12) EMPLACEMENT OF SAWMILL QUARTZ LATITE PLUG AND RADIATING DIKES ON
Comment (Geology): BLOCK FAT (SEE RUBY DISTRICT); 13) LATE HYDROTHERMAL MINERALIZATION OF SAWMILL PLUG; 14) QUATERNARY GLACIATION AND EROSION.
Comment (Deposit): INDEPENDENCE DISTRICT CONFINED TO NORTH EDGE OF CAULDRON COMPLEX ALONG ROARING FORK RIVER. GRIZZLY PEAK CAULDRON ALSO HOSTS LINCOLN DISTRICT ON SOUTHERN MARGIN (PITKIN CO.) AND TWIN LAKES DISTRICT TO EAST AND SE (CHAFFEE AND LAKE COS.). DETAILED RECORDS FOR INDEPENDENCE DISTRICT INCLUDE INDEPENDENCE MINE AND MT HOPE MINE. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT; 2 UNPUB REPT
Comment (Location): ALONG UPPER ROARING FORK RIVER AND INDEPENDENCE MTN AREA. DISTRICT ALSO EXTENDS ONTO MT CHAMPION AND NEW YORK PEAK QUADS. ELEV AND LAT-LONG GIVEN ARE FOR INDEPENDENCE TOWNSITE ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :(1977)
Comment (Commodity): CRUSON'S ANALYSES OF DUMP SAMPLES SHOWED ANOMALOUS W, BI, B, CO, AND NB
Comment (Reserve-Resource): LUDINGTON AND ELLIS (1981)
Comment (Production): PARTIAL PRODUCTION RECORD. FIGURES UP TO 1900 UNAVAILABLE.
References
Reference (Deposit): LUDINGTON, STEVE, AND ELLIS, C.E., 1981, MINERAL RESOURCE POTENTIAL OF THE HUNTER-FRYINGPAN WILDERNESS AND THE PORPHYRY MOUNTAIN WILDERNESS STUDY AREA , PITKIN COUNTY, COLORADO, USGS MAP MF-1236-D. & &
Reference (Deposit): LUDINGTON, STEVE, AND YEOMAN, R.A., 1980, GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE HUNTER-FRYINGPAN WILDERNESS AND THE PORPHYRY MOUNTAIN WILDERNESS STUDY AREA, PITKIN COUNTY, COLORADO, USGS MAP MF-1236-A.
Reference (Production): LUDINGTON AND ELLIS, 1981; USBM MINERALS YEARBOOKS 1932-51
Reference (Deposit): CRUSON, M.G., 1973, GEOLOGY AND ORE DEPOSITS OF THE GRIZZLY PEAK CAULDRON COMPLEX, SAWATCH RANGE, COLORADO: COLORADO SCHOOL MINES PH.D. THESIS T-1538.
Reference (Deposit): ROHLFING, D.P., 193?, REPORT ON THE INDEPENDENCE GOLD PROPERTY, PITKIN COUNTY, COLORADO: COLORADO STATE PLANNING COMM. UNPUB. REPT., 7 P.
Reference (Deposit): HOWELL, J.V., 1919, GEOLOGY AND ORE DEPOSITS OF THE TWIN LAKES DISTRICT OF COLORADO: CGS BULL. 17, 106 P.
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