Bulletin 42, Gold in Washington - WA - DNR

State of Washington

ARTHUR B. LANGLIE, Governor

Department of Conservation and Development

W. A. GALBRAITH, Director

DIVISION OF MINES AND GEOLOGY

SHELDON L. GLOVER, Supervisor

Bulletin No. 42

GOLD IN WASHINGTON

By

MARSHALL T. HUNTTING

State of Washington

ARTHUR B. LANGLIE, Governor

Department of Conservation and Development

W. A. GALBRAITH, Director

DIVISION OF MINES AND GEOLOGY

SHELDON L. GLOVER, Supervisor

Bulletin No. 42

GOLD IN WASHINGTON

By

MARSHALL T. HUNTTING

OLYMPIA STATE'. PRiNTiNG PLANT

1955

For sale by Department of Conservation and Development, Olympia, Washington. Price, one dollar.

FOREWORD

Gold, throughout the ages, has been synonymous with wealth. For thousands of years, it has been the foremost medium of exchange in most countries. Everyone is familiar with gold and with the romance associated with its recovery from occurrences in nature. In fact, it is probable that gold is the first, and to many the only, metal thought of when mining is mentioned. Certainly, it is the metal first thought of under ordinary conditions when a person decides to become a prospector and seek bis fortune on the streams and in the mountains. This is easily understood, for, of all metals, gold is the most simply and easily recovered from its containing formation, whether it occurs as a lode or as a placer deposit. A minimum of experience and equipment is required, and. when won, gold is tangible wealth, requiring little or no treatment to be exchangeable for goods.

The interest in gold shown by the larger mining concerns has declined in late years because its fixed price does not compensate for the continually increasing costs of mining-in labor. equipment, and supplies. This situation will change when and if the price of gold is increased. In the meantime, small-scale gold-mining operations, with limited investment, still find gold mining attractive. That such operations are still more attractive and profitable in periods of depression is obvious, and the fear of "hard times" is the motivation for much of the interest constantly shown in gold prospecting.

The present report is designed to answer the questions most commonly asked as to how and where gold occurs in Washington, and to provide useful information to those who wish to examine old properties or search for new occurrences. It is believed that the report will prove useful and repay the time and effort that has been necessary in its preparation.

February 17, 1955

SHELDON L. GLOVER, Supervisor. Division of Mines and Geology

CONTENTS

Page

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I Selected bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Properties of gold. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Gold ores and ore minerals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Lode deposits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Placer deposits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Prospecting for gold. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Size of gold particles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Identification tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Locating mining claims. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Mineral rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Staking lode claims. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Staking placer claims. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Patenting mining claims.............................................. 24

Mining methods and treatment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Market and prices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

History of gold in Washington........................................ 28 Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Occurrences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 General statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Lode gold occurrences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Benton County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Chelan County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Clallam County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Clark County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Cowlitz County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Ferry County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Jefferson County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 King County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Kittitas County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Okanogan County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Pend Oreille County........................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Pierce County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Skagit County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Skamania County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Snohomish County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Stevens County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Whatcom County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Yakima County ............................................. 110 Placer gold occurrences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Asotin County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Benton County .............................................. 113 Chelan County .............................................. 114 Clallam County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Clark County ............................................... 117 Douglas County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Ferry County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Grant County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Grays Harbor County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Jefferson County ............................................ 121 King County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Kittitas County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Lincoln County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

6

Contents

Page

Occurrences-Continued

Placer gold occurrences-Continued

Okanogan County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Pacific County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Pend Oreille County. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Pierce County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Skagit County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Skamania County ........................................... 128 Snohomish County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Stevens County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Whatcom County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Whitman County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Yakima County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Bibliography for occurrences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Index .............................................................. 139

ILLUSTRATIONS

Facing page

FIGURE 1. Lode gold occurrences in Washington ........................ 111 2. Placer gold occurrences in Washington ...................... 112

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In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

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