The Bidwell Bar District is a gold mine located in Butte county, California.
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
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Bidwell Bar District MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: Bidwell Bar District
Commodity
Primary: Gold
Location
State: California
County: Butte
District: Bidwell Bar District
Land Status
Not available
Holdings
Not available
Workings
Not available
Ownership
Not available
Production
Not available
Deposit
Record Type: District
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: Stream placer
Operation Type: Surface
Discovery Year: 1848
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: S
Physiography
Not available
Mineral Deposit Model
Model Name: Placer Au-PGE
Orebody
Form: Irregular
Structure
Not available
Alterations
Not available
Rocks
Name: Sand and Gravel
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Quaternary
Analytical Data
Not available
Materials
Ore: Gold
Gangue: Quartz
Comments
Comment (Identification): This district is now covered by Lake Oroville. It consisted of several individual bars along the Feather River upstream from Oroville. Information on this district is sparse.
Comment (Location): Location selected for latitude and longitude is the former townsite of Bidwell Bar as shown on the 1947 edition of the USGS 7.5-minute Bidwell Bar quadrangle. This area is now flooded by Lake Oroville.
Comment (Workings): Little specific information is available regarding the individual mining operations in the Bidwell Bar District. Because mining was conducted here largely during the gold rush period, methods of mining were probably confined to small-scale surface methods such as panning and sluicing.
Comment (Geology): REGIONAL GEOLOGY The Bidwell Bar District is situated within the westernmost part of the Sierra Nevada geologic province. This province is characterized by extremely complex lithologies and structures that were assembled through various plate-tectonic processes. Paleozoic-Mesozoic metamorphic complexes intruded by various Mesozoic plutons compose the basement of the province. This basement is overlain at higher elevations by erosional remnants of Cenozoic volcanic and sedimentary rocks, including gravels. Most of these various lithologies contain gold in places. Structurally, the metamorphic rocks and some of the plutonic rocks have been deformed by folding and faulting. The major fault zones typically trend northerly or northwesterly, although in places intrusion of the younger plutons has deformed some of the zones so as to assume other trends as well. In contrast, the overlying Cenozoic rocks are relatively undeformed. LOCAL GEOLOGY The Bidwell Bar District is characterized by high-relief landscape with narrow river canyons that have been incised into metavolcanic terrane of the Smartville Complex. To the east, this terrane is intruded by younger intermediate- to-mafic plutonic rocks. The canyon bottoms in this area contain small deposits of Quaternary alluvium in the form of active bars and terraces. The materials in these deposits have been derived by erosion of the various basement and older Cenozoic rocks at higher elevations. In places, the basement rocks contain gold within quartz veins and altered rock, while the Cenozoic deposits contain placer gold derived by erosion of these basement rocks. Erosion of both the gold-bearing basement rocks and the older Cenozoic rocks provided the gold that was eventually deposited in the modern placer deposits along the canyon bottoms. The narrowness of the canyons resulted in limited extents of placer deposits along the canyon bottoms.
Comment (Development): Mining during the gold rush exploited the gold-bearing gravels in and adjacent to the Feather River. The gravels reportedly were quickly exhausted, probably because of their limited extent.
Comment (Economic Factors): Total production from this district is uncertain.
Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: Native gold
Comment (Commodity): Gangue Materials: Metamorphic rock, igneous rock, quartz (all clastic)
Comment (Deposit): Most of the gold was obtained from Recent and Pleistocene gravels in and adjacent to the Feather River in this area. The placer gold was derived by erosion of gold-bearing igneous and metamorphic rocks of Paleozoic-Mesozoic age and reworked Cenozoic auriferous gravels deposited at higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada.
References
Reference (Deposit): Clark, W.B., 1970, Gold districts of California: California Division of Mines and Geology Bulletin 193, p. 29-30.
Reference (Deposit): Saucedo, G.J. and Wagner, D.L., 1992, Geologic map of the Chico Quadrangle, California: California Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology Regional Geologic Map Series, Map No. 7A, scale 1:250,000.
Reference (Deposit): Turner, H.W., 1898, Bidwell Bar folio: U.S. Geological Survey Geological Atlas of the U.S., Folio 43, 6 p.
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.
