Hughes Creek District – Ravalli County, Montana
You can get a narrow 4WD vehicle to the open pit, as well as the creek, on the claim
The claim is located just over 8 miles from the highway to Alta, Montana. The road is a well maintained with access for 2WD for the first 7 miles from the highway. The remaining 1 mile to the claim is an easy 4WD dirt road.
Contact us for exact coordinates

The Larrigon Mining Claim is a combination of two historical claims. There's the Taylor Creek Mine, which is a pit mine at the top of the hill, historically worked for Gold, and the Larrigon Mine, which was a series of massive drifts and tunnels, working primarily for gold. The Placer claim is in place because the area has historically produced significant amounts of nugget gold from the creeks. This gold is thought to originate farther up the canyon, but the presence of gold mines above the creek will no doubt bring much richer gravels. The claim covers two mills. The first is an old site, likely built in the mid to late 1800s. The old mill is still standing and has remnants of old crushers and conveyors inside. This is on the nether regions of the claim down in the deep canyon. The newer mill was likely built around 1950 and processed substantial tonnage of gold (see historic image below). The mill burned down sometime between 1982 and 1988, no one seems to know the date for sure. The concrete footings still exist as do the metal hopper and water barrels. The underground workings of the Larrigon have been closed for a fair amount of time post 1970s. There are few pictures and even fewer locals that can recall what the Larrigon last looked like after exploration digging in the early 1960s. The last maps of the underground workings are from 1959 and it's unclear if the new owners of the mine ever went underground. That in mind, the site of the two adits is easily located. It would take a small track hoe or a bobcat to reopen the workings. This would require a notice of Intent be filed with the Forest Service and a likely bond attached. If you would like more information on a notice of intent, or have any issues with the notice, please contact Vendor, Inc. main offices at 385-218-2138 The mines on the claim are a combination of the workings of both the Taylor Creek Pit operation at the top of the mountain and the Larrigon workings, under the mountain. The Taylor Creek Mine is described by the Montana Bureau of Minerals and Geology as: "This mine is a large open pit on a hillside in iron-stained, Precambrian Belt, banded argillites and quartzites. It was visited 09/12/01. The area was considered active and had a valid mine permit with the Forest Service. The surrounding area was examined only quickly for any pre-existing problems. The Taylor Creek Mine is upslope from the Larrigon Mine described above" In reality, the Taylor Creek Mine is just the top of the gold deposit that has been painstakingly marked out and defined by miners and geologists as far back as 1889. The gravels are good and gold bearing and according to historical documentation assay at or around .77 OST AU. Alternatively, the Montana Bureau of Minerals and Geology made a rough assessment of the Larrigon as follows: "The Larrigon Mine was visited by MBMG on 9/12/01. It is located in the Taylor Creek drainage, in close proximity to the Taylor Creek Mine. The remains of the workings include three cabins, a wooden ore chute, and part of a foundation, possibly from an old mill. A waste-rock pile near the base of the slope may have been from underground workings, although no adits or other openings were observed. A small pile of sandy material near the mill may be tailings. The pile was about 12 to 15 feet from Taylor Creek and is isolated from the drainage by the road. Unpublished material in the MBMG mineral property files indicates the Larrigon was discovered in 1918 (Anon, [n.d.], MBMG files). The Larrigon was discovered by Raymond Larrigon and was sold by him in 1950. He drove underground workings and processed ore in a mill onsite. In 1959, it was bought by the Larrigon Mining Company. A (new) mill was built in 1960 by this company and their mining included mainly bulldozer excavations. A photo in MBMG mineral property files shows the mill in 1977; it was described as a 50-ton gravity and amalgamation 47 plant. A map in the MBMG files shows the adits and prospects on the Washington claim; two adits are shown about 50 ft to the northwest of the mill. Other claims in the area included: the Lost Cabin, Eurrecochea, Viscaya, and Larraui." Again, quite different from what historical documents show as a massive series of drifts and tunnels intercepting gold ore bodies in a mine that produced gold from 1889 to at least 2001.

The Ravalli formation underlie the district, as well as intrusion of Quartz monzonite from the Idaho batholith. Volcanic Tertiary rocks covers the northern area of the district. The ores deposits from the mine veins are found in metamorphic slates and schists.

Deep within the Rockies in Ravalli county, Montana, resides the Taylor Creek. This placer, that's part of the Hughes Creek district, was named after the prospector that discovered it in 1889. The lode mine was discovered by Raymond Larrigon in 1918 while he was tending sheep in the area. He worked the mine by himself until he retired in 1950. None of the crude ore he mined was shipped during that time. The mine was then acquired in 1959 by the Larrigon Mining Company. Grant W Berggren and his wife Myrtle invested in the company and became part owners. During that time, the company did metallurgical testing on the ore that came from the mine through the Colorado School of Mines Research Foundation and the Denver Equipment Company.

In 1962, the Department of Interior sent a field worker by the name of S J Giulio to survey the mines. He reported that out of the 16 samples he found from different shear zones within the mine, the average ounces per ton were .77 for gold and .27 for silver.

In 1963, the Office of Mineral Exploration, OME, conducted an extensive exploration of the mine to search for gold veins. During the exploration, they expanded the current tunnels and drifts with 400 additional feet of drifts and crosscuts. There is extensive discussion about the existence of gold ore bodies, which according to the DMEA, do not exist. However, the gold that Mr. Larrigon stockpiled for 30 years came from somewhere. Add to that, the assays of waste rock at .77 OPT AU which was recovered from inside the mine. Both indicate there is still substantial amounts of gold to be worked out of the mine. As a final nail in the coffin of the inefficiency of government, The Taylor Creek Mine, just above the Larrigon, was open pitted and produced gold at a rate greater than 2 oz. to the ton according to a local resident in Alta.

Access to the Mine: You can get a narrow 4WD vehicle to the open pit, as well as the creek, on the claim
Tailings Present: 10,000-49,999 tons
Entrance: There's an open pit portion you can walk around in.
Mine Cut: There's a trench open pit and a creek placer.
Depth / Length: 7 acre pit at current, 1300' of stream for placer
Minerals in the Mine: There was mostly waste rock, but historically this site was mined for Gold and Copper.
Foot Traffic in the Mine: None
Last Worked: Unknown