Description
If you are looking for a rich gold mine with extensive reserves, set in the heart of gold country. This may be the site for you. The Buckeye is a massive complex of drifts on both sides of a steep and narrow canyon. In 1868 the mine was documented as having over 2000' of workings. The mine has been worked intermittently up into 1958 which were the last documented operations. Gold was still the main export.
The claim covers a lot of land thanks to the steep canyon walls. A series of adits and shafts probe the mountain and expose a large ore body that can be traced throughout the workings. There is also a good amount of water that has been tapped somewhere in the lower levels. A slow flowing waterfall runs down the sides of the lowermost shaft, and has for years as evidenced by the thick moss that has grown down all sides of the shaft. Its depth and dereliction are unknown and it was not explored.
At the base of the canyon there is a large old tipple and loading station that was reportedly used to ship the ore from the Buckeye out to Austin for processing as late as 1955. This is a large, expansive operation with a substantial lode that is still waiting to be worked.
There are remains of three, large, rock structures, which were likely houses, on the eastern edge of the claim. The old mine road breaks off from these houses. Up at the mines there is an assay house of sorts with foundations, remnants of a forge, bits of cupels and crucibles. At the assay house, a braided steel cable holds a 1930s era tram car. The car moves freely on the cable and if it was motivated by a small motor, could easily transport ores or people across the deep canyon.
On the opposite or south side of the canyon there are 2 adit entrances; one smaller, well cut, timbered entrance complete with signage and nails on the check out board. There is also a larger, double-wide adit entrance a few hundred feet below the small adit. The cabling and tram station are positioned here. There is no easy way up to these adits. A steep hike, bushwacking up the side of the mountain is your only option. It makes a good case for putting a small motor on the northside to motivate the tram car across.
A large adit on the north side is cut following the gold lode and shows very nice samples and ores inside. The lode runs along the spine and the base of the mine, the cut being made directly onto a fault line where the richest ores were found. A small raise near the back shoots up from a good sized stope that still shows good gold ores. The raise height is undetermined and it would take a pretty tall ladder to get into it. This drift ends at a little over 200' at a face that has the blast pattern already cut and ready to load. Obviously they were not out of ores to work. The gold lode is easily identified and shows no sign of pinching out, but the mine has not been worked since 1958.
There is adequate room to park a limited number of vehicles at the claim, near the old assay house. The road up the canyon is in relatively good repair and can be navigated without issue with a good 4WD with clearance. It is wildly overgrown with Tamarisk so you will get some rocky mountain pin stripes in a full sized truck. It's a secluded canyon that does not see a lot of traffic as evidenced by the old miners trash that is still all over the site: bottles, old signs and such.
The weather here is temperate for the most part. Winters are going to get a bit snow-packed in January and February but will be clear by March at the latest. There is clean, running water in the base of the canyon that is year round. Heavy vegetation - pines and large cedars - will provide plenty of wood for support of your mining operation.
The tailings have been separated into various piles around the claim. There is visible, native gold in the quartz in high grade piles. Also, some native silver and cubes of pyrite can be found with a bit of digging in the deeper piles.
Reports on the Mineral Resources of the United States - 1868:
The Buckeye Mining Company is a New York company, and, under the superintendence of Mr. Stephen Kidd, is developing the Buckeye mine, situated in Summit canyon. The vein was discovered and located in 1865. The claim consists of 1,400 feet of the lode running north from the canyon. The vein is encased in limestone, and, although it sometimes narrows down to a mere clay seam in the rock, it appears to be a true fissure vein. Its general width is five feet, occasionally reaching to seven. It has been developed by an incline following the dip of the ledge, which is westerly 65°, to the depth of 100 feet, and by different levels several hundred feet north and south. From these excavations a quantity of ore has been taken which has yielded, at the Austin mills, $106 per ton (Browne p. 415).
The price of gold in 1868 was $18.93. That equates to 5.6 ounces of gold per ton. Likely some of that value was in silver but likely less than a few dollars.. So, the gold per ton was closer to 5.0 ounces per ton.
This from a 1986 Report by Tingley of the NBMG:
The Buckeye Mine, at the mouth of Summit Canyon on the north side of the creek is similar to the Murphy property, but has less extensive workings. Gold has been the sole export from the mine. There are many stone houses which lend credence to the history of this being a large, productive gold mine. The mines were not examined, old workings at the Buckeye explore a North 40 degrees East quartz vein which follows a shear zone in phyllite. Vein material on the dump contained clots of sphalorite with minor galena and pyrite.
References:
Browne, J. R., & United States. (1867). Mineral Resources of the States and Territories West of the Rocky Mountains. Washington: G.P.O.
Tingley, J. V., Quade, J. G., & United States. (1986). A mineral inventory of the Tonopah Resource Area, Battle Mountain District, Nevada. Reno, NV: Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, University of Nevada-Reno.
