Manhattan Gulch Placers

The Manhattan Gulch Placers is a gold mine located in Nye county, Nevada at an elevation of 6,201 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

Satelite View

MRDS mine locations are often very general, and in some cases are incorrect. Some mine remains have been covered or removed by modern industrial activity or by development of things like housing. The satellite view offers a quick glimpse as to whether the MRDS location corresponds to visible mine remains.

Site Name

Primary: Manhattan Gulch Placers
Secondary: Manhattan Gold Dredging Co. Operations
Secondary: Manhattan Placer Deposits
Secondary: Dexter No. 14 Pat
Secondary: Nellie Gray Pat
Secondary: Copenhagen Sur
Secondary: Rainbow
Secondary: Searchlight
Secondary: Auction
Secondary: Boston
Secondary: Tuesday
Secondary: Wednesday Fraction
Secondary: September Fraction
Secondary: Bed Rock Sur
Secondary: Erwin
Secondary: Robust
Secondary: Morning Star
Secondary: January Sur
Secondary: Black Cat
Secondary: Last Chance
Secondary: Follem
Secondary: Georggy Nos. 1 and 2
Secondary: Nemo
Secondary: Fairview
Secondary: Arlington No. 3
Secondary: Amboy
Secondary: Arlington
Secondary: Independence Nos. 2 and 4
Secondary: Bright August
Secondary: Gold Bench
Secondary: Arlington No. 4
Secondary: Midnight
Secondary: Take-A-Chance
Secondary: Happy Day
Secondary: Jumbo Nos. 1 and 2
Secondary: Bull Dog
Secondary: China
Secondary: Japan
Secondary: Gold Pan
Secondary: Cooper
Secondary: Edna
Secondary: Bookkeeper
Secondary: Archibald
Secondary: Cyclone
Secondary: West End Nos. 2 and 3
Secondary: India
Secondary: African-Sunrise-Cornucopia Fraction
Secondary: September
Secondary: Central
Secondary: Pedro

Commodity

Primary: Gold
Secondary: Silver

Location

State: Nevada
County: Nye
District: Manhattan District

Land Status

Land ownership: BLM Administrative Area
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.
Administrative Organization: Tonopah BLM-and USFS-Administrative Districts

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Not available

Ownership

Owner Name: Manhattan Gold Dredging Co., a subsidiary of Natomas Co.
Info Year: 1975
Years: 1946 -

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Producer
Deposit Type: placer
Operation Type: Surface
Year First Production: 1906
Year Last Production: 1975
Discovery Year: 1906
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: L

Physiography

Not available

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Placer Au-PGE

Orebody

Form: blanket, stratiform

Structure

Not available

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

Name: Gravel
Role: Host
Description: alluvial-channel and bench
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Pleistocene

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Gold
Gangue: Gravel

Comments

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: native gold

Comment (Economic Factors): 1907-1967 production yielded a recorded $6,342,796 in placer gold and was actually probably at least $7 million. The total amount produced from 1907 to 1967 from both small-scale operators and dredging operations was estimated at least 206,898 ounces of gold.

Comment (Geology): Pay gravel is richest just over bedrock.

Comment (Identification): This record is an updated version of MRDS record # M233583 including all information from the former record plus additional information.

Comment (Location): The Manhattan Gulch Placers were located in Manhattan Gulch extending from the Manhattan townsite for about 5 miles downstream. The UTM location given is to one large area of the dredging, which extended upstream for several miles.

Comment (Workings): The placer deposits in Manhattan Gulch were developed by numerous shallow shafts and drifts for many years as well as by later large-scale dredging.

Comment (Commodity): Gangue Materials: gravel

Comment (Deposit): The gold-bearing gravels include stream channel, benches and some older bench gravels on the hillsides.

Comment (Development): Since their discovery in 1906, the Manhattan Gulch placers have been worked continuously by one method or another until the 1970s if not later. Most of the early production was developed by hand in drifts and shallow shafts and hand-processed using sluices and drywashers yielding a significant production over several decades. The most productive period for the placer operations was when Manhattan Gold Dredging Co., a subsidiary of Natomas Co., operated a floating bucket line dredge with 108 buckets in Manhattan Gulch from 1938 to 1946. The dredge started at the northwest corner of seciton 21 and worked about 5 miles upstream to about the mouth of Black Mammoth Gulch. Dredging traversed many previous older placer claims that are described by other MRDS records. Water to run this operation was piped in from Peavine Canyon 12 miles away. The dredge ceased operationin 1946 and was shipped over to Copper Canyn in the Battle Mountain District to begin another period of production there. In 1974, a Canadian consortium consisting of August Petroleum Ltd., Spirit Exploration, Ltd., and Thaiaaron Dev. Ltd. sampled the placer area and planned a 50,000 yard- 3-day operation. In 1975, Manhattan Gold Corp. was formed to mine the gold placer property, with August Petroleum as the main stockholder. Some of the placer claims were being explored in 1977.

References

Reference (Deposit): NEVADA BUREAU OF MINES BULLETIN 50, 1951, P. 128-131 (KRAL).

Reference (Deposit): Ferguson, H.G., 1924, Geology and Ore Deposits of the Manhattan District, Nevada: U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 723, 1924, P. 117-133 and plate 18.

Reference (Deposit): U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY GEOLOGY MAP, GQ-40, 1954, 1/125,000.

Reference (Deposit): AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT INTEREST IN THAT PART OF THE TOQUIMA RANGE, NEVADA, ADMINISTERED AS TOIYABE NATIONAL FOREST.

Reference (Deposit): Long, K.R., DeYoung, J.H., Jr., and Ludington, S.D., 1998, Database of significant deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc in the United States; Part A, Database description and analysis; part B, Digital database: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 98-206, 33 p., one 3.5 inch diskette.

Reference (Deposit): USGS Bull. 1356, p. 62-64

Nevada Gold

Nevada has a total of 368 distinct gold districts. Of the of those, just 36 are major producers with production and/or reserves of over 1,000,000 ounces, 49 have production and/or reserves of over 100,000 ounces, with the rest having less than 100,000 ounces. Read more: Gold Districts of Nevada.