Sheridan (Ramshorn) District – Madison County, Montana
4WD to adit entrance
High clearance 4WD needed to access road
Contact us for exact coordinates

The Goldschmidt Claim covers an amazing mine camp that contains a few cabins, a single battery Stamp, along with 3 adits and a single shaft. Significant gold production was noted from the late 1800's to 1942 when the mine was shut down due to the War Act. The mine never came back in full force, but it was worked, very successfully by 2 families until the 1970's. In 1982 the mine was purchased and rehabilitated to be work-ready, the price of gold fell and the plan collapsed. By 1993 the mine was reportedly abandoned but there were still claims on it. Ores have been reported as high grade, native gold in place requiring minimal crushing to extract. 1960's work recorded production as low as 8 ounces to the ton, that's close to $8000 for every ton of ore processed. Not a bad return. The mine was originally named the Gold Smith. It was later renamed Goldschmidt and then the Steiner mine, after the Schmidt and Steiner families, who worked the mines. Reclamation occurred in 1994 in light of 8 "dangerous" adits that were reported. These federal employees weren't too interested in the history of the mine, and they did a poor job at reclamation. The mine was already beginning to open up when it was initially surveyed by Vendor in 2014 it was purchased soon afterward. The new owner spent quite a bit of effort opening up the mine. It has been covered and secured to protect the workings and minerals.The new owner will be provided with full access to the workings. Today the claim sits as an untapped treasure. There are two cabins slowly rotting away, an old outhouse and an amazing old crusher and the remains of a grizzly. There is rich ore found around the mines and they are really just waiting to be re-opened. This mine supported at least 4 different families and all reports show that there is still substantial gold in the mine. The only caveat is that it needs to be hand worked. Ores were reported to be as high as 60 ounces of gold to the ton, located in oxidized quartz stringers and manganese pockets. The claim has easy drive up access and could be driven to with a good all wheel drive. There is extensive room for parking and staging equipment. Two adits, the lower workings, have been opened by the current owner. It took a significant amount of work to get these mines open and as you will see in the photos, it was well worth every ounce of effort. Down at the bottom of the hill, from the Goldschmidt claim, where you turn off to go up Ramshorn Creek to the Mine, is the infamous Robbers Roost where the Highwaymen would hide out and rob the miners of their gold from Alders Gulch, the 2nd major gold find in Montana, right down the road a couple of miles, the infamous Montana Vigilantes were formed and promptly captured and hung many of the "Road Agents", this was a wild and lawless area because of the amount of gold found. Virginia City, Montana sprung up almost overnight as the gold rush hit this entire area! Currently Garnet USA is operating between Alder and Virginia City as they reopened and operate this amazing Garnet Mine. Tailings piles run for miles and can be seen on google earth of this area from the dredging that was done! This entire area is amazing with Alder Gulch Creek and Virginia City south of you and the Barrick Golden Sunlight Mine In Whitehall Montana north of you, the Goldschmidt is located right between them all. Garnet is located in the lower workings of the Goldschmidt in abundance and found in the tailings. This is a perfect claim for a small miner or group of miners. Easy access, easy gold and water to wash it all in. The current owner brought in a well-respected geologist that has been working in this area of Montana since the 1970s. Geologist gave a very favorable review of the property. There is a lot going on inside this mine. Three different sections, where gold has formed: bedding planes with oxidized quartz, the manganese pockets and the large vein of quartz, rhodochrosite, malachite, calcite, and iron ore. Pockets of gold and silver ore are found in all three sections. Some of these pockets have been reported up to 30-60 ounces of gold per ton. The new owner should keep an eye for these pockets. When you enter the lowest portal you first pass through bedding planes of oxidized quartz on both sides for the first 70 feet, until you reach the first manganese quartz stope. Located inside you will find black manganese with high-value silver, some gold, galena and garnet. This garnet can be found everywhere, even at the entrance of the mine. This manganese is a very soft material, easily mined, and has a dirt-like consistency. In the margins from where the manganese starts and stops you will also find oxidized quartz embedded in the manganese. This is the best place to find high values in this dark material. Throughout the mine you will also notice large pockets of hard-rock manganese in the walls and ceiling, where gold has been found in high-values. Simply dig in and around these pockets and follow the ore. Most of these pockets are connected by small quartz stringers. The pockets range in size from a foot to ten square feet. The mine is very dry. Almost all of the ore can come out with a rock hammer, or battery operated hand drill. The mine is stable and the ore is easy to extract, because most of it is in shear zones and bedding planes. It's reported that the Goldschmidt was located as early as 1897. A German prospector from Butte, along with his family and brothers located the outcrops by following bits of gold up the stream. The mine was worked consistently from its inception to 1927. Some sort of accident occurred at the mine and the father, the original locator, died sometime in 1926. The family sold the claim to an undisclosed party. This may have been the Steiner family who were noted as helping out with various timberwork at the mine.

The district is composed of ore deposits related to underlying or nearby granitic masses, although some are apparently related to dikes. Ore deposits occur as veins (fissure fillings) and as replacements in limestone. The primary minerals are pyrite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and galena in a gangue of quartz and rarely siderite. Gold and silver occur in the ore.

1910 Report - from the Engineering and Mining Journal

The recent strike of silver and gold ore In the property is proving richer than expected. The last car shipped netted the leasers $17,000. The ore runs as high as 600 oz. in silver and $200 in gold to the ton (Mining and Engineering Journal, p. 1227). That was when gold was $20.68 an ounce, so you are looking at around 9.5 ounces per ton.

There is no record of the mine or the family again until 1933 when a newspaper announcement noted that Jake Steiner had purchased the mine and was restoring it for operation. The US Bureau of Mines visited the mine in 1937 and reported the information below:
1937 Report - Gold Lode Mining in the Tobacco Root Mountains - Goldschmidt or Steiner

"The Goldschmidt mine, known variously as the Goldsmith or Steiner, is a group of four claims located 11.6 miles by road from Sheridan. The mine is on Currant Creek, a northerly branch of Ramshorn Creek. The altitude is probably under 7,000 feet. The mine was owned by Jake Steiner and sons of Sheridan.

The vein appears to be in the same limestone formations as the Agitator, with which it corresponds in dip and strike. The ore consists of oxidized quartz lenses and stringers along a bedding-plane fault in limestone. "Manganese pockets" are frequent near the ore.

Active development consists of an adit crosscut and about 300 feet of drifting on the vein. A small underhand stope was down 20 feet in ore. This work is evidently on the downward continuation of a vein indicated by old workings and dumps several hundred feet up the hillside (Lorain pp. 62-63).
Mining

High-grade gold ore was being mined by hand methods and shipped from the lower workings. Ore of less than shipping grade, together with dump ore from the old dumps, was being treated in a small mill.
Milling

Mine or dump ore was dumped on a 2-inch grizzly, the oversize from which ent to a 5- by 7-inch jaw crusher, thence to a small ore bin.

From the bin, ore went to a 10-stamp Straub prospectors mill, thence over a 35- by 90-inch amalgam plate )in two sections), followed by two 33- by 54-inch blanket tables used alternately.

Mill extraction was about 83 percent on $10 to $12 heads. Mill capacity was 12 to 15 tons of oxidized ore in 24 hours. Power was furnished by a McCormick Deering tractor belted to the line shaft (Lorain pp. 63).

If you look at the bottom of the stamp-mill you will find crushed ores from the glory days still in there. All of the original stamps are still there.

In 1993, the claim was assessed and the surveyors noted no less than 8 "dangerous" adits. Likely these were mine openings that were perfectly safe. Regardless, there was a reclamation performed and the mine exists as you see it today. It is possible to enter the mine through the lower entrance as noted above. The current owner has opened the mine and then covered it again for the winter. It would take about 15 minutes to re-open it.

There is a lot going on above ground. Two old cabins sit in various states of decay just off the main road that runs through the camp. The outhouse is in surprisingly good condition. As you work up the hill into the workings there is evidence of a large shaft and a massive amount of tailings and dump piles that show good ore and still need to be crushed. The old mine road passes by at least 2 other closed adits on the way to the old crusher battery. The Crusher is quickly losing its battle with the hillside, but it is still in complete and functional condition. A bit of power and stabilizing and it would be ready to go.

Farther down from the crusher is the lower adit. This is the one that is currently open and the richest of the mines. This is the one you will want to focus on. There are no less than 20,000 tons of tailings on the claim. There are some sections of good, high-grade gold ore. It's all staged up by the crusher. Nothing remains of the shaker tables or plates.

There is a good flow of water that runs though the claim. Below the stamp-mill, the creek flattens out to a perfect place for gold to settle. Everything from the side of the mountain flows down into this creek during the springtime and settles, just waiting for someone to work it. The stream shows some mica and pyrite, indicating that it is heavily mineralized. We've staked a placer claim over the stream. There are no signs of the stream ever being worked. Also, lower on the creek the owner noted several people working placer claims in the summer of 2015.

Beautiful aspens and pines provide all the timber you would ever need to support your mining operation. There is also a lot of downed and fallen timber that can be used for campfires and fuel. The owner stated he worked with the Forest Service in Sheridan, MT and the BLM in Dillon, MT and said they were extremely helpful and could not have been nicer. Sheridan, Montana is a small town of roughly 650 people and a great place to spend your summer.

Survey Notes

This is the main, lower working that has been reopened and then covered back up for the winter. It should take 15 minutes to reopen the mine and get inside. You would be hard-pressed to find a more mineralized mine. Pink Rotochrizite and green malachite.

Description of the rhodochrosite and malachite veins:

Rhodochrosite and malachite are both used for jewelry and highly sought after by specimen collectors. The Goldschmidt mine is simply full of these minerals! Colorado named Rhodochrosite as the state Mineral in 2002 and its Argentina's National Gemstone! The original miners threw all of these minerals away, now they have value. Large thick deep veins of pink and dark red, rich, rhodochrosite are found within the quartz lenses and are actually rich manganese carbonate and calcite. over 150 feet of 2-3 ft thick veins visible. Malachite (Green Quartz and Manganese) results from weathering of copper ores and is often found together with azurite, goethite and calcite. Except for its vibrant green color, the properties of malachite are similar to those of azurite and aggregates of the two minerals occur frequently. Malachite is more common and is typically associated with copper deposits around limestones, the source of the carbonate. The silver and gold deposits are found in close proximity to these veins where the vein turns into the soft black manganese and gray manganese gold clays, it's a step by step representation of how these veins were formed by hydrothermal vein minerals, along with other manganese minerals in low temperature ore deposits carrying the gold and silver and depositing them in pockets in the mines as they cooled. Simply put.... you look for the margins of the these veins for major color changes, as shown in the pictures. That is where you find the gold and silver in this mine, along with following the quartz stringers to the rich pockets. Towards the back of the mine everything changes and you find massive amounts of rich black manganese and quartz, untouched and ready to be pulled out and processed. As the Geologist stated "its a step by step representation of how the gold and silver deposits were formed". Now you know where to find gold in this mine.

Federally Registered Mining Claims ID: MMC230926, MMC231270