Invest • Montana Gold Claims • For Sale, Lease or Joint Venture
Montana Gold Claims: Buy or Lease the premier Barber Gulch Placer Mining Claim, a 160-acre proven property located in Mineral County's historic Cedar Creek Mining District District. Contact Marlene Affled, montanagoldclaims.com - Call: 509-389-2606 - Email: marneaffled@mac.com
Project: Oregon Gulch Project
Type: Placer
Acreage: 160 Acres
MLRS / Legacy Serial No.: 101881902 / MTMMC 221585
LLD (Legal Description): N ½ of SE ¼ Sec 25, T16N, R28 W, and N ½ of SW ¼ of PB67, T16N, R27W
County & State: Mineral County, Montana
USGS Quadrangle: Illinois Peak, MT
Approx. Elevation: 4,297 ft MSL
Primary Waterbody: Barber Gulch (Main Drainage) Access Road(s): Cedar Creek Rd (USFS 320)
Directions from Superior, MT: Take Mineral County Rd #320 (Cedar Creek Rd) onto USFS routes toward the claim area.
Placer Mining Potential: High Bulk Volume: Secures major drainage segment with extensive alluvial gravels.
Price: $228,800.00
The Barber Gulch Placer (160 acres) occupies a steep, gold-favorable tributary draining into Oregon Creek within the Cedar Creek District of Mineral County, MT. With several hundred feet of elevation drop over 3-4–1 mile of channel, Barber hosts textbook placer traps—cascades, bedrock steps, inside bends, and clay contacts—and contributes snowmelt-driven heavies to the Big Flat accumulation zone. The claim is well-suited to phased sampling and a small pilot plant, targeting bedrock and bench pay streaks with strong indicators of residual placer concentration.
Price: $228,800.00
USGS Quadrangle: Illinois Peak, MT
Project: Oregon Gulch Project
Type: Placer
Acreage: 160 Acres
MLRS / Legacy Serial No.: 101881902 / MTMMC 221585
LLD (Legal Description): N ½ of SE ¼ Sec 25, T16N, R28 W, and N ½ of SW ¼ of PB67, T16N, R27W
County & State: Mineral County, Montana
Approx. GPS (NAD83): 47.11465 N, 115.06930 W
Approx. Elevation: 4,297 ft MSL
Primary Waterbody: Oregon Creek/Barber Gulch (Main Drainage)
Access Road: Cedar Creek Rd (USFS 320)
Directions from Superior, MT: Take Mineral County Rd #320 (Cedar Creek Rd) onto USFS routes toward the claim area.
Placer Mining Potential: High Bulk Volume: Secures major drainage segment with extensive alluvial gravels.
Placer Mining Potential: High Bulk Volume: Secures major drainage segment with extensive alluvial gravels.
Technical Notes:
Location & Access
Setting: Barber Gulch is a steep, gold-bearing tributary on the west side of the Oregon Creek system, within the Lolo National Forest (Superior Ranger District).
Access: Primary approach via Cedar Creek Rd (USFS 320) from Superior; spur/2-track into Barber Gulch along the lower drainage. Conditions vary seasonally (spring breakup, post-storm washboarding).
Nearby services: Fuel/food in Superior; parts/equipment in Missoula.
Hydrology & Stream Reach
Channel under control: $\sim0.7–1.0 mile of intermittent/perennial channel within claim bounds (field-verify with your map).
Morphology: Alternating riffle–pool reaches with cascading drops, slot cuts, and stretches of exposed bedrock. Expect false bedrock (clay/hardpan) lenses on inner bends and below gradient breaks.
Runoff pattern: Snowmelt-dominated; peak flows May–June with flashy rises after summer thunderstorms. Late season baseflow supports small gravity/sluice work (permit-dependent).
Relief & Elevation
Elevation range (typical for this belt): 4,600$ ft upper gulch benches to 3,900–4,100 ft at the confluence.
Drop across claim: Several hundred feet of cumulative fall create multiple natural gold traps (waterfall aprons, bedrock steps, boulder shadows, inside bends).
Big Flat context: Steep tributaries (Rainbows End, Barber, Bonanza, Missoula) all shed snowmelt and sediment into Oregon Creek, focusing heavies in the lower Big Flat accumulation zone.
Deposit Model & Targets
Type: Placer gold sourced from nearby quartz-sulfide lodes in the Bitterroot Range; reworked into alluvium/colluvium.
Primary targets on Barber Gulch: On/near bedrock below short cascades and at slope breaks. Inside bends/point bars for pay streaks on the convex side. Behind boulders/log jams (reduced velocity eddies). At clay/hardpan contacts (“false bedrock”) beneath coarse gravels.
Indicators: Abundant black sands (magnetite/hematite), quartz cobbles, and compacted pay layers.
Historic Context (district-level)
Cedar Creek district active since 1869; long record of placer output from Cedar Creek, Oregon Creek, and tributaries like Barber Gulch.
Early methods (hand/sluice), later small hydraulics and 1930s mechanized re-work elsewhere in the system.
The 1910 fire disrupted peak-era operations area-wide; subsequent activity has been intermittent. Barber retains significant untested benches due to steep terrain and limited historic reach.
Water, Snow & Seasonality
Snowpack: Ridges above Barber accumulate substantial snow; peak SWE late Mar–early Apr typical for the region.
Work window: May–October, depending on melt-out and road conditions.
Water management: Plan for settling/recirc during high water; stage fuels above flood line.
Sampling & Work Plan
Phase 1 – Recon (hand/sluice): Pan/sluice every 100–150 ft at inside bends, bedrock steps, and cascade aprons; GPS/flag positives.
Phase 2 – Systematic (mechanized tests): Checkerboard pits/trenches on active floodplain & lower benches (20–30 ft spacing). Log depth to bedrock, pay thickness, concentrate weight; auger where trenching is limited to hit clay contact.
Phase 3 – Pilot run: Mobile plant to chase pay axis longitudinally; track yd³ processed vs. Au recovered to set cut-off and scale.
QA/QC: Duplicate pans, periodic blank runs, photo log (ID/depth/station), chain-of-custody for any assays.
8) Compliance & Operations
Surface: USFS – Lolo National Forest (Superior RD)
Minerals/admin: BLM – Missoula Field Office (unpatented claim)
Typical permits: BLM Notice (≤5 acre disturbance) or Plan of Operations (>5 ac/mechanized in sensitive areas); MT DEQ 318 Authorization (short-term turbidity); SP-310 Stream Protection (Mineral County Conservation District) for in-stream work.
Safety: Steep banks, legacy pits/tailings; wildlife (bear/elk).
Maintain defensible space in fire season.
Hydrologic Basin: Barber Gulch → Oregon Creek → Cedar Creek → Clark Fork River
Project: Oregon Gulch Project
1) Location & Access
Setting: Barber Gulch is a steep, gold-bearing tributary on the west side of the Oregon Creek system, within the Lolo National Forest (Superior Ranger District).
Access: Primary approach via Cedar Creek Rd (USFS 320) from Superior; spur/2-track into Barber Gulch along the lower drainage. Conditions vary seasonally (spring breakup, post-storm washboarding).
Nearby services: Fuel/food in Superior; parts/equipment in Missoula.
2) Hydrology & Stream Reach
Channel under control: ~0.7–1.0 mile of intermittent/perennial channel within claim bounds..
Morphology: Alternating riffle–pool reaches with cascading drops, slot cuts, and stretches of exposed bedrock. Expect false bedrock (clay/hardpan) lenses on inner bends and below gradient breaks.
Runoff pattern: Snowmelt-dominated; peak flows May–June with flashy rises after summer thunderstorms. Late season baseflow supports small gravity/sluice work (permit-dependent).
3) Relief & Elevation
Elevation range (typical for this belt): ~4,600 ft upper gulch benches to ~3,900–4,100 ft at the confluence.
Drop across claim: Several hundred feet of cumulative fall create multiple natural gold traps (waterfall aprons, bedrock steps, boulder shadows, inside bends).
Big Flat context: Steep tributaries (Rainbows End, Barber, Bonanza, Missoula) all shed snowmelt and sediment into Oregon Creek, focusing heavies in the lower Big Flat accumulation zone.
4) Deposit Model & Targets
Type: Placer gold sourced from nearby quartz-sulfide lodes in the Bitterroot Range; reworked into alluvium/colluvium.
Primary targets on Barber Gulch:
On/near bedrock below short cascades and at slope breaks.
Inside bends/point bars for pay streaks on the convex side.
Behind boulders/log jams (reduced velocity eddies).
At clay/hardpan contacts (“false bedrock”) beneath coarse gravels.
Indicators: Abundant black sands (magnetite/hematite), quartz cobbles, and compacted pay layers.
5) Historic Context (district-level)
Cedar Creek Mininng
District active since 1869; long record of placer output from Cedar Creek, Oregon Creek, and tributaries like Barber Gulch.
Early methods (hand/sluice), later small hydraulics and 1930s mechanized re-work elsewhere in the system.
The 1910 fire disrupted peak-era operations area-wide; subsequent activity has been intermittent. Barber retains significant untested benches due to steep terrain and limited historic reach.
6) Water, Snow & Seasonality
Snowpack: Ridges above Barber accumulate substantial snow; peak SWE late Mar–early Apr typical for the region.
Work window: May–October, depending on melt-out and road conditions.
Water management: Plan for settling/recirc during high water; stage fuels above flood line.
7) Sampling & Work Plan
Phase 1 – Recon (hand/sluice):
Pan/sluice every 100–150 ft at inside bends, bedrock steps, and cascade aprons; GPS/flag positives.
Phase 2 – Systematic (mechanized tests):
Checkerboard pits/trenches on active floodplain & lower benches (20–30 ft spacing).
Log depth to bedrock, pay thickness, concentrate weight; auger where trenching is limited to hit clay contact.
Phase 3 – Pilot run:
Mobile plant to chase pay axis longitudinally; track yd³ processed vs. Au recovered to set cut-off and scale.
QA/QC: Duplicate pans, periodic blank runs, photo log (ID/depth/station), chain-of-custody for any assays.
8) Compliance & Operations
Surface: USFS – Lolo National Forest (Superior RD)
Minerals/admin: BLM – Missoula Field Office (unpatented claim)
Typical permits:
BLM Notice (≤5 ac disturbance) or Plan of Operations
MT DEQ 318 Authorization (short-term turbidity)
SP-310 Stream Protection (Mineral County Conservation District) for in-stream work
Safety: Steep banks, legacy pits/tailings; wildlife (bear/elk).
Maintain defensible space in fire season.