Corn Springs District – Riverside County, California
You can drive to the main shaft and adits on the claim. Some of the mine entrances will require a hike to access of less that 300 feet.
Most of the roads are easy 2WD paved or dirt roads. The last 1 mile to the claim will require a high clearance 4WD vehicle to access. There is one small section of very large rocks that will need crossed.
Contact us for exact coordinates.

The Bryan Mine and Mill is a notable historic Gold Mining Property with blocked reserves and a substantial milling operation which has left thousands of tons of waste rock and tailings. For accuracy please note, the mineral property of note should not be confused with the Patented Bryan Mine (MS5058) which is located to the south of this unpatented mineral property. The unpatented Bryan Mine property has been associated with the Patented Bryan Mine property since its inception in or around 1890. The Bryan Mine does not appear to have been addressed or surveyed since roughly 1917. The accounting and descriptions are far out of date in USGS publications and do not reflect the current state of the operation. These tailings and waste rock were processed prior to 1900 from historical accounts and could likely be re-processed at a great profit. This claim was once a large production as evidenced by the amount of work done at the site. There are multiple large adits and shafts on the Bryan Mine. In addition, there is existing evidence of further infrastructure including multiple foundations and rock walls. Surveyors identified two distinct milling locations on the claim. These exist on either side of a desert gulch. These mills utilized the natural slope of the mountainside as gravity for the mill. The mines have been gated and will require a Notice of Operation to be filed to access and sample the underground workings. There are currently no maps or reporting of the extent of the underground workings at the unpatented Bryan Mine. Surveyors estimate that significant work and production was carried out from 1910-1940. The primary element of note is gold which was reported in 1900 at .7 ounces to the ton on average. A 1991 survey by the US Bureau of Mines reported that the lowest grade samples from the waste dumps at the unpatented Bryan Mine assayed at 1.2 ounces per ton with some samples spiking over 10 ounces to the ton. The Bryan Mine Site is extremely remote. A good 4WD road winds up to the claim from the Corn Springs Road which is an improved dirt road. This spur is for 4WD only. The spur ends near the southern camp of the Bryan Mine. The Bryan Mine is suggested for small to mid-sized mining operations. The smaller end of development could be utilized by addressing the existing waste dump and tailings with very minimal costs. Larger operations would no doubt be more profitable as core samples and more extensive development with ore values of over 1 OPT AU is a huge value. There will be a Notice of Operation required for underground access and road repairs.

Gold, silver, tungsten, molybdenum, copper, and lead minerals observed in the Chuckwalla Mountains occur in quartz veins and shear zones. At some localities, these veins and zones have envelopes of bleached and limonitestained rock. In and near the study area, these minerals include scheelite, molybdenite, galena, pyrite, fluorite, hematite, limonite, copper carbonate minerals, and dendritic manganese oxide. Moreover, gold and silver were detected in assays of samples from the quartz veins and shear zones. The mineralized quartz veins and shear zones are spatially associated with propylitically altered mafic dikes. Mafic dikes occur in the immediate vicinity of most mines and prospects both in Precambrian and Mesozoic crystalline rocks of the range. Mineralized quartz veins crosscut the mafic dikes and, locally, the mafic dikes are mineralized. Thus, mineralization at least in part postdates emplacement of the mafic dikes although the length of time between emplacement of the dikes and mineralization has not been established. Similar relations are observed nearby to the north in the Eagle Mountains.[2]

From a 1917 report,

About 2 miles south of Corn Springs is the Bryan Mine, which was operated from 1898 to 1900 by Adams & Pickering, the ore being treated in a two-stamp mill at Corn Springs. It now belongs to J.M. Huston.[1]

A 1977 report was dry but reported the history well:

The Bryan mine was operated from 1898 to 1900 by Adams and Pickering. The ore was processed in a two-stamp mill at Corn Springs (Merrill and Waring, 1919, p.539). In 1945 (Tucker and Sampson, 1943, p. 129) reported that two claims were being worked, the Bryan and Dottie Wellborne. Their report show the Dottie Wellborn as part of the Bryan. But the Dottie Wellborne claim (see James and Evans, 1961) is not near the Bryan. It is in the next township to the west, and tied to U.S. Location Monument no. 80 instead of U.S. Mineral Monument no. 146 as is the Bryan, and was part of the Red Cloud Mining Company holdings (Saul and Evans, 1962, p. 3, 7).
Ore was processed at a 2-stamp mill in Corn Springs (Merrill and Waring, 1919, p. 539). Note, there is a Dotty Wellborne Mountain in the next township to the west (Saul and others, 1977, p. 313).
Ore is reported to have milled $7 per ton in gold. Development consists of crosscut tunnel 400 feet in length and shaft 60 feet in depth. Idle. (Hamilton, 1917, p. 537; Tucker and Sampson, 1929, p. 477).
The property was developed at three levels, spaced at roughly equal intervals up the ridge. The lower level is a 30-foot adit driven S. 30° W. on a vein as much as 2 feet wide. The middle level consists of an adit driven 80 feet S. 30° W. through sheared and jointed granite. About 130 feet from the portal, a short drift was driven 35 feet to the right, and from the end of the adit a 45-foot drift extends left. This level appears to have been exploratory; no veins are exposed. The workings at the upper level appear to consist of an inclined shaft about 40 feet deep from which a drift extends southwestward, along the vein. The vein is stoped to the surface-for 50 feet southwest of the shaft. Ore was moved from the upper workings to the canyon below by means of a cable tramway (Saul and others, 1977, p, 314). No production data were found for this mine by Tucker and Sampson (1945). The ore was reported to have milled $7 worth of gold per on of ore (Tucker and Sampson, 1945, p. 129). Most of the production probably happened between 1898 and 1900 (Saul and others, 1977, p, 315).[2]

Fantastic and rich property with potential for extensive development. The wash between the two mine camps is well known for producing gold, some nuggets as large as 2lbs according to local mining groups.

The camp on the Northern side of the gulch is the smaller of the two with at least two large shafts which are timbered and stable. Estimated total workings on this side of the gulch are over 2000' of drifting. Shafts are assumed to be less than 200' based on gulch level and assumed water tables. A large mill site on the north side serviced primarily this mine and possibly others on the south side of the gulch.

The camp on the southern side of the wash also contains a mill site which appears to have processed more ore based on the size of tailings. It is assumed based off of existing structures and work that this mill serviced both the unpatented Bryan mine and the patented Bryan Mine farther north via a cable tram system. Waste rock to tailings ration is 30/70 on the south side. Two large shafts and a solid adit are also present in the southern camp. Shafts are assumed to be no deeper than 200' with substantial drifting. The adit is assumed to be no less than 1000' and has been cut on a gold, and copper vein. It has not been used as a haulage tunnel and it is unknown if the adit and shaft workings are interconnected. All have been gated and will require a NOO for access.

Federal Registered Mineral Claim ID:CAMC0313098