Tiger-Poorman Mine

The Tiger-Poorman Mine is a lead and silver mine located in Shoshone county, Idaho at an elevation of 3,898 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

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Site Name

Primary: Tiger-Poorman Mine
Secondary: Poorman Mine
Secondary: Tiger Mine

Commodity

Primary: Lead
Primary: Silver
Secondary: Copper
Secondary: Zinc
Secondary: Gold

Location

State: Idaho
County: Shoshone
District: Lelande

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

Type: Underground

Ownership

Owner Name: Hecla Mining Company
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Info Year: 2004
Years: 1920 -

Owner Name: Federal Mining and Smelting Company
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: New York
Info Year: 2004
Years: 1903 - 1920

Owner Name: Empire State-Idaho Mining and Development Company
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: New York
Info Year: 2004
Years: 1901 - 1903

Owner Name: Buffalo Hump Mining Company
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: New York
Info Year: 2004
Years: 1899 - 1901

Owner Name: The Consolidated Tiger and Poorman Mining Company
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Spokane, Washington
Info Year: 2004
Years: 1895 - 1899

Owner Name: Coeur d'Alene Silver-Lead Mining Company
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Butte, Montana
Info Year: 2004
Years: 1887 - 1895

Owner Name: Tiger Mining Company
Percent: 100.0
Home Office: Burke, Idaho
Info Year: 2004
Years: 1884 - 1895

Production

Year: 1983
Time Period: 1901-1961
Mined: 1024024.000 mt
Material type: ORE
Description: Cp_Grade: ^1.2 Oz/Ton Ag, 5.3% Pb

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Past Producer
Deposit Type: HYDROTHERMAL VEIN AND REPLACEMENT
Plant Type: Beneficiation (Mill)
Plant Subtype: Gravity
Operation Type: Underground
Mining Method: Filled Stopes - Timber With Subsequent Fill
Milling Method: Gravity
Year First Production: 1888
Year Last Production: 1952
Discovery Year: 1884
Discovery Method: Ore-Mineral In Place
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: L

Physiography

General Physiographic Area: Rocky Mountain System
Physiographic Province: Northern Rocky Mountains
Physiographic Detail: Coeur D'Alene Mountains

Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Polymetallic veins

Orebody

Name: Tiger-Poorman
Form: PINCH AND SWELL

Structure

Type: L
Description: Tiger-Poorman Lode

Type: L
Description: O'Neill Gulch Fault, A reverse fault which moved Prichard Fm up against Burke Fm

Type: R
Description: Granite Peak Syncline

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

Not available

Analytical Data

Analytical Data: ORE AVERAGES ABOUT 6% PB, 3 OZ/TON AG

Materials

Ore: Galena
Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Tetrahedrite
Ore: Chalcopyrite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Siderite
Gangue: Hematite
Gangue: Magnetite
Gangue: Pyrrhotite
Gangue: Pyrite
Gangue: Ankerite
Trace: Cerussite
Trace: Silver

Comments

Comment (Reserve-Resource): Reserves exhausted when mine closed in 1908. Production since 1908 came from clean-up of underground workings and surface dumps by lessees. Hecla explored the western end of the 300 and 600 levels from the Tiger shaft in 1928 for a reported body of zinc-rich ore. Such ore would not have been mined before 1908 due to inability to handle the zinc. No such orebody was found. Possibilities for additional ore are restricted to the area west of the western boundary of the Tiger-Poorman orebody, although a modest amount of drifting found no ore in that direction.

Comment (Ownership): Consolidation of the Tiger Mining Co. and Coeur d'Alene Silver-Lead Mining Co.

Comment (Ownership): Present (2004) owner

Comment (Development): The Tiger lode was discovered by prospectors searching for placer gold on Canyon Creek. They found float of lead-silver ore and traced it to the vein. The Poorman was located the next day, the two claims covering almost all of the orebody. The Tiger and Poorman were operated independently, as the Tiger Mining Co. and the Coeur d'Alene Silver-Lead Mining Co., respectively, until consolidated as the Consolidated Tiger and Poorman Mining Co. in 10/1895. The mine(s) operated continuously from 1887, with several changes in ownership, until 10/1908, when the Federal M&S Co. permanantly closed the mine due to exhaustion of ore. Leasers operated the mine until 11/1920 when purchased by Hecla Mining Co. Hecla explored the west end of the 300 and 600 levels in 1928 for zinc-rich ore but found none. Some ore shipped from surface dumps in 1940s and 1950s. Shafts now filled with waste rock and surface plant removed. Workings are flooded and inaccessible.

Comment (Deposit): DEPTHS TO TOP, BOTTOM, ABOVE EXPRESSED IN ELEVATION. IN THE TAMARACK-MARSH MINERAL SUBBELT.

Comment (Names): A consolidation of the Tiger and the Poorman mines, effected late in 1895. History of the two mines prior to consolidation included in this record.

Comment (Ownership): Owned and operated Tiger mine, purchased from original locator

Comment (Orebody): The Tiger-Poorman orebody, bounded on the east by the O'Neill Gulch reverse fault, (N-S 75E) and possibly by another N-S fault with a steep easterly dip to the west, consisted of 5 individual ore shoots, oriented in echelon, and offset by small faults. Between the 2000 and 2200 levels, when the vein passed into the Prichard Formation, the ore broke up into short, narrow shoots of low grade, too poor to mine profitably.

Comment (Location): Tiger and Poorman shafts now filled with waste rock. Poorman mill and Tiger mill burned down in 1896, and were replaced by the Tiger-Poorman mill (no longer extant) on the site of the old Tiger mill.

Comment (Deposit): ARGILLITE BEDDING NEARLY FLAT

Comment (Ownership): Owned and operated Poorman mine

Comment (Workings): The Tiger Mine waa originally developed by four short adits, the Poorman by three short adits, each 100 feet long.

Comment (Production): Zinc, copper, and gold only recovered from small quantities of dump material worked in the 1940s and 1950s

References

Reference (Geology): Hobbs, W., Griggs, A.B., Wallace, R.E., and Campbell, A.B., 1965, Geology of the Coeur d'Alene district, Shoshone County, Idaho: USGS PP 478, 139 p.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): Yeatman, Pope, 1907, Preliminary statement of investigation of the Federal Mining & Smelting Company's property in the Coeur d'Alenes, Idaho: New York, Federal M&S internal report, 8 p.

Reference (Geology): GRIGGS, A. B., 1952 , GEOLOGY AND NOTES ON ORE DEPOSITS OF CANYON - NINE MILE CREEKS AREA, SHOSHONE COUNTY, IDAHO: USGS OPEN-FILE REPT., 108 P.

Reference (Production): Mitchell, V.E. and Bennett, E.H., 1983, Production statistics for the Coeur d'Alene mining district, Shoshone County, Idaho - 1884-1980: Idaho Geological Survey Technical Report 83-3, 33 p.

Reference (Deposit): UMPLEBY, J. B., AND JONES, E. L., JR., 1923, GEOLOGY AND ORE DEPOSITS OF SHOSHONE COUNTY, IDAHO: USGS BULL. 732 , 156 P.

Reference (Deposit): FRYKLUND, V. C., JR., 1964 , ORE DEPOSITS OF THE COEUR D'ALENE DISTRICT, SHOSHONE COUNTY, IDAHO: USGS PROF. PAPER 445 , 103 P.

Idaho Gold

"Where to Find Gold in Idaho" 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 Idaho. Read more: Where to Find Gold in Idaho.