Lemhi County Idaho Gold Production |
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TEXAS DISTRICT
The Texas district is in parts of Tps. 13 and 14 N., Rs. 26 and 27 E., near Gilmore.
In the early 1880's prospectors swarmed over the east slope of the Lemhi Range in search of lead-silver deposits similar to those discovered at Nich-olia to the southeast. Some promising deposits were found in the area known as the Texas district, but after about 10 years of occasional activity, the district became dormant for 10 to 12 years. After the discovery of large ore bodies at the Pittsburg-Idaho mine in 1902, the future looked bright for the Texas district; however, transportation difficulties hampered any major activity. In 1910, a railroad was constructed that linked the mines to a smelter (Umpleby, 1913b, p. 90-91); large-scale mining then began and continued through 1929. After a decline for a few years, the district again became active, and infrequent small-scale operations continued through 1956.
Production which was mainly in silver and lead from the Pittsburg-Idaho mine, was small during 1903-10; data before 1903 were not found. Total gold production from 1903 to 1959 was 21,745 ounces.
Most of the district is underlain by eastward-dipping sedimentary rocks of Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian (?), Devonian (?), and Mississippian age (Umpleby, 1913b, p. 92). With the exception of the Cambrian rocks, which are quartzite, all the Paleozoic strata are limestone or dolomitic limestone. Unconformably overlying the Paleozoic rocks in the eastern part of the district are Miocene lake beds.
The ore deposits occur in the belt of calcareous rocks, an area bounded by the Cambrian quartzite on the west and the lake beds on the east. They are in flat and steeply dipping veins, parallel with the strike of the country rocks; some of the larger and more productive deposits occur at the intersection of the steep and flat veins (T. H. Kiilsgaard, written commun., 1962). Most of the ore is valued for its lead and silver, but one deposit, the Martha vein, was mined for gold alone. Almost all the workings were in oxidized ore containing cerussite, anglesite, smithsonite, calamine, cerargyrite and iron, and manganese oxides.