Talc City District, Inyo County, California, USA.

The Silver Dollar is a historic producer and is discussed numerous times in the Cerro Gordo history, although its well out of the suggested confines of the district. An 1892 California Mining Report shows the Silver Dollar in the Cerro Gordo District. It reports an incline shaft of 175ft. being currently driven at 7 ft. per week. The mine being discussed here is likely the short, collapse entrance known as the Silver Dollar II. This would lead us to believe that the other mine entrance is a more recent working, at least after 1892. This would make sense as there is no real “talc or soapstone” being worked in the newer mine. Its cut right into dark gold and silver ore in dolomite. Very targeted and very high graded. This mine was likely only worked for the highest grade ores as the ore would be very, very expensive to transport off site. Once we had located the Silver Dollar we assessed the entire site and the two mines that were part of it. We cut out the claim to cover both of the mines and all of the historical elements around the mines. This gives a lot of room for staging out gear and vehicles. It also adds an element of value to the site with the discarded miners workings spread around in and outside the mines. The mines are set in the southwest end of Inyo Mountains, where some of the largest producing mines of the state, such as the Cerro Gordo and the Union were discovered and contributed to the influx of people during the great gold rushes of the west. This is a 20 acre claim on the sage covered hills in southern Inyo County. The trip out to the site is relatively smooth and can be traversed by most any high clearance 2wd vehicle. The claim sits about 4 miles north of Hwy 190, and a dirt trail leads right up to into the old Silver Dollar Mine Camp. We found extensive room for parking and to setup a few camp trailers. A crusher, and a dry washer would have plenty of room and you could start extracting gold same day. We had a weak cell signal via ATT at the site, but that was about the only resource we found out here. No fresh water and a few miles from the nearest power lines. Plenty of sunshine so put out the solar panels and work from those. Topo maps do show a tributary of the Santa Rosa Wash that runs along highway 90, but it is most likely just a dry bed that only sees water during the desert monsoons. The hills are sparsely populated with Joshua trees, and the views are expansive and breathtaking. This is Death Valley Desert country, and its ruggedly beautiful, but also harsh and unforgiving. Be sure to bring all the necessities. The claim site is covered with old relics and pieces of history that made a one way trip to this barren site. Don’t mistake, this is a gorgeous site, the weather is fantastic year round and good, solid California claims are hard to find. A perfect spot to hold for mining, recreational mining or for bringing the family and friends out to see some of California’s amazing Mining history. There are two large mines on the claim, The Silver Dollar I and II. The Silver Dollar I is thought to be the newer of the two, it being cut post-1892. The Silver Dollar I runs in roughly 140 feet total, with stopes, small drifts and prospects. The mine is mainly cut following a thick silver vein that runs the length of the mine. The stopes are noted on dark pockets of the silver ore. This is easy to note as there is still extensive silver that is visible in the stopes. The mine is well cut and has very good ventilation. As you work back into the tunnels there are several pockets of quartz that are intercepted, the quartz is very milky with dull oranges and browns, and likely carries a bit of gold. There are also some impressive calcite formations that have been worked through, not much in the way of metallics in the calcite, but it is still very interesting. Some track, some rail ties and some old tired timbers are still in the mine, evidence of the amount of work that was done on the site. Ore cars were vital for any larger scale mining that required the movement of large heavy ores, and silver and gold ores would definitely qualify as heavy. The second mine on the Claim, the Silver Dollar II, is likely the mine that is referenced in the 1892 California Mining Report. It describes it as being 175 feet deep with multiple drifts, being worked at a rate of 7 feet per week. “The gold and silver ores removed are of a high quality and will likely bring its shareholders a steady stream of income for many years to come.” When we located the Silver Dollar II, we realized that the shaft would need to be cleared to further explore its depths, an easy operation, but one that we do not undertake on site. A winch, an ATV and a few hours of work would remove the timbers that are in place and make the mine fully accessible again. A 1921 USGS report also noted that the shaft of the Silver Dollar mine was covered and locked and could not be accessed, a very interesting statement that makes one very curious about what could be found in the depths of the mine.

Noted: Gold, Silver, Copper, Zinc, Lead, Tungsten, Borax Minerals observed in mine: Gold, Silver, Talc, Slate, Soapstone, Quartzite Minerals observed in tailings: Gold, Silver, Talc, Quartzite
Mindat: Talc City District http://www.mindat.org/loc-208579.html

Although there had been earlier mining by Spanish and Mexican explorers, the first recorded mining activity in the Inyo Mountains began in 1860 when miners organized the Russ mining district, which covered most of the west slope of the range and nearly all of the study area. Since then, about $19 million in precious- and base-metal ore has been produced from mines in and near the study area, mostly between 1860 and 1890. The south half of the Russ mining district became the Lone Pine mining district in 1883. The Union (Silver Spur), Eclipse (Brown Monster, Reward), and Ida (Frostbitten or International Recovery) mines were soon located and mills were built along the Owens River (Goodyear, 1888). About $200,000 in gold was removed from the Eclipse mine by the end of 1883 (Burchard, 1884). This mine, known first as the Brown Monster and later as the Reward mine, produced about $600,000 in gold, silver, lead, and copper ore between 1889 and 1951. Over $90,000 in silver was recovered from the Union mine prior to 1902 (Goodwin, 1957). After the discovery of high-grade silver deposits at Cerro Gordo around 1865, the Cerro Gordo mining district (fig. 1) was organized in 1866 (Vredenburgh and others, 1981).

About $17 million in silver, lead, zinc, and gold was taken from the Cerro Gordo mine between 1865 and 1945 (Vredenburgh and others, 1981), making it one of the largest silver producers in the history of California. Much of the ore from Cerro Gordo mine was smelted at Swansea. The Swansea mining district was organized at about the same time as the Cerro Gordo mining district. About $120,000 in gold, silver, lead, zinc, and copper was produced from the Swansea mining district between 1879 and 1969 (USBM production files; Diamond, 1890, 1891, 1892). Thousands of miners and prospectors were attracted to the Inyo Mountains by news of these discoveries and swarmed over the range in search of new deposits. Thousands of claims were located and relocated. Most of the mines and prospects in the study area were probably discovered and mined before 1880. Gold-bearing quartz veins were discovered on the east side of the Inyo Mountains in the late 1870?s and the Beveridge mining district was organized soon thereafter. About $300,000 in gold was produced from the Beveridge mining district by 1883, principally from the Keynote and Bighorn mines (not part of this study) (Burchard, 1884). Mining in the area peaked in the 1880?s and then went into a gradual decline. There was only sporadic B5 mining during the twentieth century, mostly during the two world wars and the great depression, and virtually none since the early 1950?s.

You are buying one (1), lode mining claim, owned and located by GRE, Inc. This mining claim gives the owner full control of the mineral and ownership of minerals on the claim for as long as the owner retains ownership. Ownership is retained by annual maintenance assessments of $140 per year.
This claim has been described to the best of our ability above. Ownership of a lode claim gives the registered owner full control and ownership of all lodes and minerals, gems that may be located on the claim and or underground as accessed by the tunnels. Lodes and veins that travel underground are covered by this claim for as deep as they travel unless intercepted by another tunnel.