The Silver Mountain Mine

Location and Access

Ouray, Colorado, USA.

Description

The Silver Mountain Mine is historically known as the Kentucky Giant, or the Concave Tunnel. It is a historic treasure trove, and it’s a large, rich productive mine as well. Located just off the Million Dollar Highway above Ouray, and accessed by a well maintained county road. The claim is a full 20 acres and covers all of the mineral operations and also includes 4 old structures; a blacksmith/assay shop, a miners bunkhouse, possible mine foreman’s quarters and an additional workshop. Out in front of the mine, thick old rail runs across the tailings. The type usually reserved for 2-4 ton ore cars. There is a boiler, compressor, water pump and many other old unidentified bits of machinery all over the claim. This all pales in comparison to the gold that can be found with just a little digging in the tailings. The surveyors reported native gold and silver with quartz and iron. This matches perfectly with the bits of history we can define regarding the operation. The mine itself has been closed but lends itself to easy re-opening with hand tools. There is a good flow of water coming out of the mine that is clear and clean but the trenches are stained with iron. This is not acid drainage, but spring run off from inside the mine. A benefit of this water is that the loose gold and heavy metals will have been washed out of the rock in the workings and settle on the floor of the mine. This makes for an ideal opportunity to clean up just by clearing the silt inside the mine. The claim is set in a great forest location that offers beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. You will see some pass through traffic on the northern edge of the claim during the fall season when the leaves change and SOA tours run this road up to the Lost Day Mine at the top of the ridge. The hillsides around the claim offer extensive room for staging equipment in support of your mining operation. Vehicles, ATVs and 5th wheels can be staged around the claim in the flat spots near cabins and operations. There is good shade and lumber available from local trees and water. Add that along with cabins and you have an entire, turn key operation, gold bullion included. The Silver Mountain claim is a 20 acre lode claim that covers all of the historical workings, structures and remnants of the Silver Mountain Mine. Last worked in 1949-1950 the mine is reported to have been discovered in 1859. The mine was sold for $100 to a partnership of 3 prospectors who immediately began driving a drift into the hill on a body of ore that would likely be called Telluride today. It was a mix of native gold in veinlets, pyrite, iron, and galena occurring on quartz. The USGS reports ores of the district as follows “Ore deposits range from low-grade, contact-metamorphic through pyritic base-metal bodies containing silver and gold tellurides and native gold to silver-bearing lead-zinc deposits.” The Mine was known as the Kentucky Giant into the 1920s and was worked through the Silver Crash of the 1890s with the gold values found in the tellurides. There was some confusion in the 1950s regarding the Concave Tunnel location and the Kentucky Giant. In lieu of searching out the correct information, the mine became known as the “Silver Mountain Mine”. In 1970, the USGS accurately documented this claim as the Kentucky Giant Mine, running on the Topeka-Kentucky ore body. It is roughly 1/2 mile NE of the Lost Day mine. Sitting at an elevation of 10415 as documented by GRE Surveyors in 2014. USGS reports also speak of a tunnel of over 1100? cut under the Kentucky Giant Mine, this tunnel is reported to have been cut at an elevation of 10,375. These workings are exploring and working telluride gold and silver ores from the Topeka-Kentucky lode, on the west, dips steeply west. The Indiana vein, on the east, dips east. Needless to say, this is a mine that has produced in the past and could be profitably worked if even just from the tailings at this time. However, accessing the tunnels and underground workings of the mine would be where the real money is. There are numerous buildings on the claim which date from roughly 1800s construction but have been modified consistently, likely up into the late 1970s. An assay/blacksmith shop is one of the gems and doesn’t look too far from being in working condition. There is also a miner’s barracks, a mine boss house and what is reported to be another workshop. This claim is a high mountain claim, located at 10415?. In an area dominated by old, private claims, this site is a rare opportunity to own a historical mine and camp. The mine is ready for re-opening and was documented as being driven into hard rock with little to no need for timbering. Likely this mine also intercepts some upper workings and stopes from workings above. Winter weather will be your nemesis, while some may opt to file a notice of Operation and stay at the claim year round, the section of the Million Dollar Highway that runs below this claim is closed from November to May of every year. Snowmobiles and snow cats are used by some of the local mining operations. The temperature underground is always the same so once you are in, the weather really doesn’t matter as long as you have supplies. The Camp Bird mine is just a mile or so to the west of this operation and is actively producing gold and silver in tellurides, likely intercepting a part of the aforementioned Indiana lode.