Historical Info

Historical Information -Montana Gold Claims: Buy or Lease or Joint Venture. Explore a proven property located in Mineral County's historic Cedar Creek Mining District. Contact Marlene Affled, montanagoldclaims.com - Call: 509-389-2606 - Email: marneaffled@mac.com

Oregon Gulch Historical Notes:

Around the turn of the century, the Big Flat Mining Company began hydraulic mining of the Big Flat area of Oregon Gulch. Because no roads led into Big Flat, the company built a mining camp consisting of a bunkhouse, cookhouse, and office building to house its personnel. 

The Big Flat Company remained active through August 1910, when the inferno from the great 1910 forest fires forced a temporary shutdown. 

When mining again was suspended at Big Flat, the company reportedly employed Al Wade (for whom Wade Peak is named) as a watchman at the camp until 1930.

That year Montana Dredge & Engineering Company acquired the Big Flat claims. The firm's president and general manager, Guy L. Covington of Seattle, renovated the old camp and erected several new buildings closer to the creek. He also activated a small sawmill just upstream that may have been part of the earlier Big Flat operation.The lumber produced was used in construction of a flume and dam in 1931-1932.

Unlocking Value in Montana’s Historic Mining Camps

“The best place to find a new mine is in the shadow of an old mine” is more than just a quaint saying. The old adage “the best place to find a new mine is in the shadow of an old mine” is more than just a quaint saying. The phrase, well known to many in the world of resource exploration, is actually based on scientific principles that have led to recent significant discoveries.

Today, hitting pay dirt by using only surface exploration techniques is becoming a much harder and costlier prospect for junior explorers, even those in possession of development-stage projects with advanced exploration potential. Instead, forward-thinking geological teams are setting their sights on historic mining camps in the hopes that where there was once fire, the potential for another spark remains.

Blue Sky Country: Modern exploration techniques unlock potential value“Exploration for new mineral deposits using surface techniques has resulted in fewer discoveries because most of the easy-to-find, near-surface deposits have been found,” explains Stanley Korzeb, economic geologist for the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology (MBMG), and a research professor at Montana Tech. “Future mineral exploration is now focusing on deep deposits that have no surface expression, but are related to ore deposits exploited by past mining efforts. 

Most historic mines were developed on epithermal vein systems, and geologic studies have shown a relationship between epithermal vein systems and porphyry systems.”

Korzeb says that based on these studies, historic mining districts are being reexamined for deep mineral resources using advanced deep-drilling techniques and new geophysical techniques, such as short-wave infrared spectroscopy, lithogeochemical analysis and isotope geochemistry. In the state of Montana, where Korzeb’s research is focused, some mining districts have not been studied since the 1930s, while others were last explored more recently in the 1980sThrough his research work at the MBMG, Korzeb is currently focused on the reexamination of historic mining districts for potential exploration targets. To understand the future exploration potential and genesis of mineral resources in historic mining districts, he is using the latest methods for fluid inclusion, lithogeochemistry, isotope geochemistry, age dating and mineralogical techniques, in conjunction with geologic data generated by past mining and exploration efforts.

In essence, Korzeb’s work is proving the scientific basis behind the maxim that “the best place to find a new mine is in the shadow of an old mine.” If you can locate the metal and fluid source that developed the mineral resources exploited by past mining efforts, you may discover a deep porphyry system or another type of deposit with future mining potential.