| Show THE MOUNT BALDY GOLD BELT 1 written for the review by J F gibbs that investors and mining men generally are becoming more interested in the law of cause and effect as applied to the origin of veins the source from which the values were ile derived rived and the process of transportation of values and other material to the fissures seams etc is proved by the more or less scientific communications to be found in the mining review and similar publications jn in fact as conservatism becomes more and more a factor in all branches of cf mining there are fewer of those notices of improbable merits of the aurora borealis meteorite and shooting star mining claims less than a score of years ago geological knowledge was regarded by ordinary mortals as beyond their reach and the old time prospector and many not so old still speaks of it with self satisfied contempt how mary many weary miles of tramping how many hopeless prospect holes and bitter disappointment would have been saved had they but understood even the rudiments of dynamical geology and learned to identify a score or so of fossils today however all the knowledge of geology necessary to equip the prospector and investor for their respective parts in the great industry of mining is simplified classi class fled fied and assorted in plain english and is within the reach of all within the past few months the writer has received many letters from eastern and western men relative to the formation of the mt baldy gold region and t the he opportunities unities for investment the task of individual re j plies is too great and they will be referred to the mining review for answer the mt baldy gold belt occupies the northwest corner of piute diute and the northeast corner of beaver counties in beaver county within three miles of the piute diute line the massive and stately form of mt alt baldy rises grim and treeless into the zone of perpetual snow to the east some three miles the less massive but more lofty mt belknap marks the boundary line between the above named counties from the northeast side of belknap a bare ridge rises above timber line and reaches out a couple of miles towards gold mountain and abruptly terminates within a short distance of the annie laurie mine from the southeast side of belknap the apex of the range continues on to the colorado river excepting the area of twenty five or thirty square miles occupied by baldy belknap and some lesser elevations the surrounding country rock is rhyolite and kindred formations while lower down on the eastern descent towards marysvale Marys vale quartzite and lime are in evidence the latter rocks yield lead zinc copper silver and gold but as it is a zone district from the higher gold belt it will not be I 1 I 1 time from the summit of mt baldy down to blue lake creek at the south base the descent is nearly fifty degrees 11 the mountain side is almost entirely devoid of slide rock and presents a mass of 1 grey 0 1 rey yellow porphyry with numerous chimneys of red porphyry rising many feet above baldys otherwise smooth side and represent the last and weakest throes of volcanic activity the capping of baldy belknap and adja cent peaks and spurs is composed of volcanic shale highly and when large blocks or slabs are disturbed yield a metallic sound not unlike that of phonolite and for that reason may be called the crest of the spur reaching out from belknap towards gold mountain and known locally as shawl shale ridge affords numerous examples of phenomena caused by expiring volcanic heat there are many circular areas from a few feet to thirty or forty feet in diameter where the thin edges of the shale stand vertically and are arranged from the outer rim to the center with all the precision and in similar form to the petals of a rose in full bloom to the south of belknap a mile or two is found a real volcanic field and is remarkable because of its strange location and the freshness of the and nearly intact condition of the numerous small craters the chief product of the ejections elections eject ions is a dark colored quartz in the immediate vicinity are ridges of f volcanic breccia dykes and chimneys of obsidian volcanic glass and other products of volcanic forces on every hand intense discoloration and alteration of the rock masses are in evidence the effects of heat and water in fact there is not in utah so large larbre c an area so highly 0 mineralized erali zed as is the central aral portion of theat the mt baldy region rec rion there are many evidences that the section just described owes its present altitude to the mountain building era of the tertiary and was co temporary with cripple creek which it largely 0 resembles in the numerous evidences evidence of eruptive forces and many other well known mining districts of the west the enormous uplift of the mt alt baldy trea area was illy accompanied by profound fissuring and faulting of the earths crust from north creek some eight miles northeast of beaver city on the west side of the baldy range north to indian creek the abrupt face of the mountain and step like bench at its base bear witness of a dislocation and change of level A mile or so to the west of the south end of what may maybe be termed the beaver fault are situated the sheep rock ute and other mining claims at the mouth of indian creek is the rob roy which was resurrected and is again abrain be becoming comini prominent through the which durin during the a agency e 0 ency of the earthquake 0 night 0 of november last proves that tha tAlt mt baldy entirely recovered fr from omits its an j chent tremors from indian creek the gold belt is traced north into wildcat canyon the name while suggestive 1 does not apply lo jo the claims in that locality between indian creek and gold mountain to the east by northeast is a hiatus of some ten miles along which no valuable claims have been discovered although 11 closer prospecting may arlay close the gap the north sides of baldy and belknap are quite steep down to the gulches and ridges among which are situated the famous an annie nie laurie golden star group sevier june bug bug trappers pride and many other claims among which there will be developed some great producers evidences of past changes of level caused by faulting are nearly neaily ly everywhere present and the locality asa is a very network of fissures which generally carry good values in gold and silver it never dever was any discredit to gold mountain because for a score of years it was turned down by salt lake Al talent altalene and tin horn experts who as a rule have ever tried to hoodoo ll every camp in utah not within two hours ride by rail of the sacred environments of zion bending southward from gold cold mountain the great gold belt traverses the east descent of the range and well up towards the summit passes through the heads deer creek beaver bullion cottonwood and a d ten mile canyons and represents an almost continuous mineral belt fully fifty miles in length with several lateral branches along which are found many promising claims there are ample evidences that in the uplift of the range north and south from and including mt belknap the crust yielded to the mighty strain and formed a fissure which extended downward to the earths melted interior lateral fissuring also occurred and from profound depths there oozed upward enormous masses of molten material now represented by the various rocks forming the area under discus discussion there are no evidences that the rhyolite to the east west north and south of the central region surround surrounding nr n baldy and belknap was derived from alio those se mountains as a writer in the review claimed a year or so eo ago but there are irrefutable evidences that the rhyolite of those lower altitudes was derived from the local fissuring of the underlying quartzite and lime and belongs to a much earlier period than the porphyries ries of the baldy and belknap district the capping was of course the last im important product of the great fissure and its laterals literals late rals as it was the final important eruptive product of the cripple creek fissures also like cripple creek the baldy region region 11 was subsequently subjected to local v volcanic eruptions more or less violent and explosive in the mt alt baldy region are found ideal conditions for a rich and extensive gold district there are the gold bearing eruptive rocks the fissures the evidences of past heat and chemicals necessary to form proper solutions for gathering the precious atoms and transporting them to the fissures and forming veins that now await the adae advent nt of tho the prospector and investor it is a significant fact that the best mines thus far discovered are situated well up against the shale and it is believed by those who have studied the question and by those who late last fall made some remarkable diEco discoveries veries well up in the south fork of bullion canyon that the mt alt baldy gold belt will be found in close proximity to and parallel with the summit of the main range the greater portion of the belt is is virgin ground and preE presents enAs an inviting field for keen eyed prospecting in which the dykes of sili clous porphyry ought not to be overlooked there are however difficulties and obstacles to be met and overcome obstacles which are incident to districts adjacent to ot ol within a highly volcanic region gash veins carrying M splendid values on thi the surface and formed by the shrin shrinking kinZ of cooling eruptive rock masses and hardly distinguishable without considerable work from true fissures will be encountered also in the cooling and settling down of the rock and consequent local faulting it and shifting tina I 1 of the crust many partially formed veins were dislocated and the ore bearing solutions deflected into other channels which do not always apex on the surface the mt baldy gold belt can be reached by the 0 S L L via of beaver city on the west side of the range and on the east side by the R G W zo to marysvale Marys vale A good wacon wagon road between marysvale Marys vale and gold M mountain will be completed by july the larger portion is already graded this road will have three distinct advantages over the sevier station road to gold mountain viz 1 the road is at least four miles shorter 2 it starts from a point some feet higher t and instead of having nearly all of the climbing on athe last three or four miles cifes the grade is nearly uniform over the entire twelve miles and 3 will be less obstructed by snow because of its south exposure along the greater portion of the distance with the completion of the road travelers to and fro can have all the comforts of home in the hotels of marysvale Marys vale and which will also be the distributing point for freight to all parts of the gold district on the east and north sides of the mt baldy range marysvale Marys vale utah april labh 1902 |
