The Phoenix Mine
(Lode and Placer )
(40 acres)
Broadwater County, Montana
$18,000
SALE PENDING
(Lode and Placer )
(40 acres)
Broadwater County, Montana
$18,000
SALE PENDING
•Commodities: Silver, Gold, Lead, Copper
• Claim designation: un-patented lode and placer
• Size: 40.66 acres
• Location: Broadwater county, Montana
•Financing available
•Direct purchase discounts available
The Phoenix Mine is a documented Silver producer, with secondary commodities of Gold , Copper and other base minerals.
Located in the historic Park/Indian Creek mining district, known for extensive Gold deposits in both Lode and Placer formations.
Featuring two adit-style mines and an upper hillside shaft with sizable mine spills containing low-mid grade ores, bench as well as creek base gravel deposits and excellent access during the warmer months.
Primary workings consist of two adit-style mines driven 90 degrees into the hillside deposits.
Both mine portals have eroded closed due to erosion and no maintenance, and estimated 5-10 yards of soil and overburden requires removal for further exploration and development.
Mine spill on both adits are estimated at a combined 12,000-15,000 tons. Comprised of county host rock, argentiferous Galena, chalcopyrite, auriferous pyrites and malachite intrusions.
At one time, both adits featured log cabin style shaft houses and snow tunnels to provide shelter and storage.
Remnants of the building materials and air vents are located on the upper spills.
Older hillside shaft was most likely developed much earlier than the primary workings.
Located on the steep portion of the upper hillside, the inclined shaft is completely caved with signs of vegetation on the workings.
Placer Gold can be located in the upper bench deposits as well as the base creek gravels and bedrock deposits.
Over 1400 feet of waterway provides a steady moderate water flow for stream sluices, high-bankers or suction dredges.
Gold is of a course variety as most lode deposits are relatively near the placer base.
Access is by a very well maintained dirt road, suitable for most vehicles and all 4x4's.
The older mine road runs south to the mines and creek-bed from Indian creek road.
A winter closure gate is in place about 350' south of the old mine road and boundary.
Park/Hassle/Indian Creek district history
The Indian Creek mining district is located ten miles west of Townsend on the Northern Pacific Railway. The district first began to be worked in 1866 when good placer grounds were discovered in Indian Creek. By 1871 it is estimated that $50,000 had been taken from the gravels. Some bars yielded as much as $50 per man per day; the 100 men working the creek averaged $7 per man per day. The work was seasonal for as long as the water lasted. A dam was constructed in the 1870s to control the flow of water and to extend the placer season (Stone 1911; McCormick 1990).
The original placers were found in benches above Indian Creek. Materials ranged from small boulders to clay and sand, all of which were derived from andesite and sediments to the west. The lower Indian Creek placers worked in the 1940s were found in a false bedrock that was one to six feet in thickness and overlain by eight to ten feet of barren gravel (Lyden 1948).
By tracing the values upstream, veins were discovered in the immediate vicinity and masses of mineralized porphyry in Diamond Hill. In the Park mines veins of andesite and diorite produced primarily pyrite, with some arsenopyrite and galena. In the area of Hassel at least two intrusions of mineralized granite have been located in andesite porphyry. These ores yielded gold, silver, copper and lead values.
Open pit mining and long tunnels in these large bodies and veins produced approximately $500,000 in gold. One tunnel, 2,800 ft. long is said to be all in ore assaying from 80 cents to $2.50 per ton. Three small stamp mills were built around Hassel and yielded $500 per day when water was available. At Park, a mill and cyanide plant were built, but the process was not suited to the ore.
In 1908 the combined Park and Hassel mines produced $5,313 in gold, 2,939 ounces of silver, 8,901 pounds of copper and 27,374 pounds of lead. Estimates of total production for the district by 1911 were between $2 and 8 million, however, a more modest estimate made in 1933 of not less than $1 million is probably more likely (Stone 1911; Hill 1912; Pardee and Schrader 1933; Lyden 1948).
The town of Saint Louis, which was later renamed Hassel, was established in 1875 and, for a time, 35 to 40 miners resided there. The Hassel mining district consists of a cluster of claims at or near the site of the historic mining camp of Hassel. Sometimes referred to in the mining literature as "the mines near Hassel" and other times as "the Hassel mining district," the area experienced several periods of mining activity. Groupings of mines within the area reflect these periods of activity. The oldest group consists of placer claims which follow the bed of Indian Creek and were located in the 1860s. The Little Giant and W. A. Clark claims, located on Giant Hill in the northeast quarter of Section 2, were discovered in the late 1860s and later worked in the 1870s and 1880s.
Two other groups of claims -- the Diamond Hill group in Section 36 and the Blacksmith group in Section 1 just west of the the townsite of Hassel -- were located as early as the 1860s and 1870s, but the Diamond Hill is primarily associated with the 1890s developments centering on the construction of a 120 stamp mill. In 1890 the Indian Creek district listed the Cyclone group -- Patsywa-tomie, Mineral Hill and Silverware -- as active.
The Park district listed the Clipper, the Gold Dust, Switzerland, Uncle Ed, Silver Bell, Jaw Bone and Hard Cash as active. At that time the Dumphy 20-stamp mill, the Smith 20-stamp mill and the Emanuel 5-stamp mill were actively reducing the ore (McCormick 1990; Ferguson 1906; Swallow 1891).
After the turn of the century, the activity in the district was severely curtailed. The 1905 construction of a new concentrator in the Mason Camp above Hassel by a syndicate appears to have spurred at least limited activity in the district. There were only three active mines in 1906, but by 1908 there were ten. Primary producers included the Blacker, Keating and Cedar Plain. Despite the slight increase in activity, the district produced only $15,000 in ore between 1908 and 1910 and was described as having been idle for some time by Stone (1911). He attributed the decline of the district to the difficulties in treating the pyrite ore (McCormick 1990; Fairchild 1987; Ferguson 1908; Pardee and Schrader 1933; Swallow 1891).
The Blacksmith group was most intensively worked in the 1930s. In the midst of the Great Depression high gold prices spurred the development of a number of small "family" mines (McCormick 1990; Fairchild 1987; Ferguson 1906; Swallow 1891).
The stream gravels on lower Indian Creek were reworked around 1940 when two operations began working. The combined output of the two companies, which both employed dry land dragline dredges, was about a million cubic feet of gravel a year and in three years the two recovered a total of $595,000 in gold. These dredges were closed by Federal order during World War II, but resumed operations in 1946 (Lyden 1948).
With the exception of a log cabin, shed, Masonic hall and the Judge Lowry House, the town of Hassel is gone. Historic photos indicate that Hassel was once a community with recognizable streetscapes and many more buildings. Intensive dredging during the twentieth century in Indian Creek has destroyed most of the townsite and greatly altered the lands. The four remaining buildings stand surrounded by enormous dredge piles 30-40 ft high.
All evidence of nineteenth century placer mining activity appears to have been destroyed by the twentieth century dredging as well. Mines on the slopes near Hassel are identifiable as collapsed adits, pits, and small associated dumps, but there is little in the way of equipment or structures to illuminate the methods of mining used at these mines. All that remains of the 120 stamp mill are the stone foundation walls and a very small amount of tailings (Kingsbury 1986; McCormick 1990)
The Indian Creek mining district is located ten miles west of Townsend on the Northern Pacific Railway. The district first began to be worked in 1866 when good placer grounds were discovered in Indian Creek. By 1871 it is estimated that $50,000 had been taken from the gravels. Some bars yielded as much as $50 per man per day; the 100 men working the creek averaged $7 per man per day. The work was seasonal for as long as the water lasted. A dam was constructed in the 1870s to control the flow of water and to extend the placer season (Stone 1911; McCormick 1990).
The original placers were found in benches above Indian Creek. Materials ranged from small boulders to clay and sand, all of which were derived from andesite and sediments to the west. The lower Indian Creek placers worked in the 1940s were found in a false bedrock that was one to six feet in thickness and overlain by eight to ten feet of barren gravel (Lyden 1948).
By tracing the values upstream, veins were discovered in the immediate vicinity and masses of mineralized porphyry in Diamond Hill. In the Park mines veins of andesite and diorite produced primarily pyrite, with some arsenopyrite and galena. In the area of Hassel at least two intrusions of mineralized granite have been located in andesite porphyry. These ores yielded gold, silver, copper and lead values.
Open pit mining and long tunnels in these large bodies and veins produced approximately $500,000 in gold. One tunnel, 2,800 ft. long is said to be all in ore assaying from 80 cents to $2.50 per ton. Three small stamp mills were built around Hassel and yielded $500 per day when water was available. At Park, a mill and cyanide plant were built, but the process was not suited to the ore.
In 1908 the combined Park and Hassel mines produced $5,313 in gold, 2,939 ounces of silver, 8,901 pounds of copper and 27,374 pounds of lead. Estimates of total production for the district by 1911 were between $2 and 8 million, however, a more modest estimate made in 1933 of not less than $1 million is probably more likely (Stone 1911; Hill 1912; Pardee and Schrader 1933; Lyden 1948).
The town of Saint Louis, which was later renamed Hassel, was established in 1875 and, for a time, 35 to 40 miners resided there. The Hassel mining district consists of a cluster of claims at or near the site of the historic mining camp of Hassel. Sometimes referred to in the mining literature as "the mines near Hassel" and other times as "the Hassel mining district," the area experienced several periods of mining activity. Groupings of mines within the area reflect these periods of activity. The oldest group consists of placer claims which follow the bed of Indian Creek and were located in the 1860s. The Little Giant and W. A. Clark claims, located on Giant Hill in the northeast quarter of Section 2, were discovered in the late 1860s and later worked in the 1870s and 1880s.
Two other groups of claims -- the Diamond Hill group in Section 36 and the Blacksmith group in Section 1 just west of the the townsite of Hassel -- were located as early as the 1860s and 1870s, but the Diamond Hill is primarily associated with the 1890s developments centering on the construction of a 120 stamp mill. In 1890 the Indian Creek district listed the Cyclone group -- Patsywa-tomie, Mineral Hill and Silverware -- as active.
The Park district listed the Clipper, the Gold Dust, Switzerland, Uncle Ed, Silver Bell, Jaw Bone and Hard Cash as active. At that time the Dumphy 20-stamp mill, the Smith 20-stamp mill and the Emanuel 5-stamp mill were actively reducing the ore (McCormick 1990; Ferguson 1906; Swallow 1891).
After the turn of the century, the activity in the district was severely curtailed. The 1905 construction of a new concentrator in the Mason Camp above Hassel by a syndicate appears to have spurred at least limited activity in the district. There were only three active mines in 1906, but by 1908 there were ten. Primary producers included the Blacker, Keating and Cedar Plain. Despite the slight increase in activity, the district produced only $15,000 in ore between 1908 and 1910 and was described as having been idle for some time by Stone (1911). He attributed the decline of the district to the difficulties in treating the pyrite ore (McCormick 1990; Fairchild 1987; Ferguson 1908; Pardee and Schrader 1933; Swallow 1891).
The Blacksmith group was most intensively worked in the 1930s. In the midst of the Great Depression high gold prices spurred the development of a number of small "family" mines (McCormick 1990; Fairchild 1987; Ferguson 1906; Swallow 1891).
The stream gravels on lower Indian Creek were reworked around 1940 when two operations began working. The combined output of the two companies, which both employed dry land dragline dredges, was about a million cubic feet of gravel a year and in three years the two recovered a total of $595,000 in gold. These dredges were closed by Federal order during World War II, but resumed operations in 1946 (Lyden 1948).
With the exception of a log cabin, shed, Masonic hall and the Judge Lowry House, the town of Hassel is gone. Historic photos indicate that Hassel was once a community with recognizable streetscapes and many more buildings. Intensive dredging during the twentieth century in Indian Creek has destroyed most of the townsite and greatly altered the lands. The four remaining buildings stand surrounded by enormous dredge piles 30-40 ft high.
All evidence of nineteenth century placer mining activity appears to have been destroyed by the twentieth century dredging as well. Mines on the slopes near Hassel are identifiable as collapsed adits, pits, and small associated dumps, but there is little in the way of equipment or structures to illuminate the methods of mining used at these mines. All that remains of the 120 stamp mill are the stone foundation walls and a very small amount of tailings (Kingsbury 1986; McCormick 1990)
- Access: Excellent condition dirt road for most vehicles.
- Underground access: Two horizontal adit drifts (caved)
- Minerals present in the area: Free milling Gold, Silver ore, Copper ore, Gold ore
- Estimated underground workings: Unknown
- Nearby City: Townsend, Montana
- Estimated mine spill: over 10,000 tons