Kern County California Gold Production
The Rosamond-Mojave district is 4 miles southwest of Mojave, in Tps. 10 and 11 N., Rs. 11, 12, and 13 W. Production from this district, all from lode mines, to about 1933 was about $3i/2 million in gold and silver, and gold was apparently the major commodity. This includes production from the Tropico mines, which are a short distance outside the district (Tucker and Sampson, 1933, p. 280-284). Total gold production through 1959 was about 278,250 ounces.
Granite, the oldest rock in the district, is overlain by rhyolite porphyry, which is well exposed throughout the area. The rhyolite porphyry is overlain by sheets and remnants of rhyolite (Tucker and Sampson, 1933, p. 283). Gold deposits are in steeply dipping quartz veins in the rhyolite porphyry that seem to flatten at depth and then follow the porphyry-granite contact. The veinfilling consists of quartz, granite fragments, calcite, ferruginous clay, and manganese (Tucker and Sampson, 1933, p. 284). Native gold occurs in association with pyrite, chalcopyrite, and minor amounts of galena, marcasite, and sphalerite. The silver minerals are cerargyrite and argentite (Tucker and Sampson, 1933, p, 284).
OTHER LOCALITIES
Several additional gold-producing localities in Kern County were listed by Tucker and Sampson (1933, p. 280). These are the Joe Walker mine, 7 miles northwest of Piute in T. 29 S., R. 33 E., with a production valued at $600,000; the St. John mine, 16 miles south of Weldon in T. 28 S., R. 35 E., with a production worth $700,000; and the Pine Tree mine in T. 11 N., R. 15 W., which produced $250,000 worth of gold. The Pioneer district, mentioned by Tucker and Sampson (1933, p. 280) as having produced $500,000 in gold, could not be located, and no additional data on this district were found in the literature.