Red Cloud MineAll mine locations were obtained from the USGS place names database. The locations and other information in this database have not been verified for accuracy. It should be assumed that all mines are on private property. |
Get regular updates on the WMH Facebook page
|
|
Watch for Site Bulletins Here Soon!
|
State: Idaho
County: Blaine
Elevation: 7,369 feet
Latitude: 43.5162939
Longitude: -114.4486626
Type: Gold, Silver, Lead
The Red Cloud mine is one and one-half miles northwest of the Red Elephant mine, but is most accessible by way of the Deer Creek and Wolftone Gulch road further to the north. The mine has been more or less idle since the early nineteen hundreds and most workings are now inaccessible. In 1949 only the No.5 and No. 13 levels and some of the ridge-vein levels were open. Owing to the inaccessibility of the mine workings most of the following description is taken from Turner (16), Lindgren (17), and Cramer (18).
The Red Cloud mine was active between 1880 and 1902 and during that time produced lead, silver, and gold ore with a gross value of $815,802 (16). Some tailings from the old mill were jigged and shipped during the early twenties, and in 1941-42 some jig tailings from the upper levels were shipped to the smelter. (Fig. 26.) During the early forties some RFC funds were expended in opening the caved mine portals, otherwise mining activity has been negligible since the period of early operation.
The property has been developed on 11 levels. The lowest, or 13th level, at an altitude of 7038 feet, is 1,065 feet below the out-crop. Most of the ore came from above the No. 9 level, or 706 feet below the surface as measured from the No. 1 level.
The country rock is dark limy argillite of the Wood River formation. There are three prominent veins on the property-the Ridge vein, the Red Cloud vein, and the Hanging Wall vein. (Fig. 26.) Of these, the Red Cloud and the Hanging Wall veins have produced practically all of the ore. The Red Cloud vein strikes N. 23 ° W. and dips at a high angle to the west. The Hanging Wall vein branches off the Red Cloud vein to the northwest, striking N. 50° W. and dipping southwest at about 60 degrees. The Ridge vein, which is explored by several short tunnels, strikes N. 45 ° W. and dips 70° - 90° SW. It appears to be cut off at depth by the Ridge fault. (Fig. 27, cross section CB.)
In the Red Cloud workings the Red Cloud vein and the Hanging Wall vein have been affected by faulting at several points, but only two fault movements are described by Turner as being of any consequence. The fault with the greatest displacement occurs between levels 5 and 6 where an ore body has been displaced N. 20 ° W. for 240 feet along a fault that dips 8 ° NW. A lower fault cuts the Hanging Wall vein at a point 15 feet above the No.9 level. A crosscut driven southwest from the No.9 level encountered the vein at a point that showed it had been displaced 90 feet to the southwest along a fault dipping about 15° NW. Another fault, encountered a few feet below the No. 9 level, displaced the Hanging Wall vein, and ore bodies were not found below it in the No. 10 and 13 levels.
Three strong faults with some evidence of mineralization were found in the No. 13 level these are the Yellow Dog, Kelly, and Vendicator. A few tons of ore were taken from the Kelly fault, but no significant ore bodies were found in any of these faults.
Turner thinks the Yellow Dog may be a major fault, upon which the upper productive area has been moved to the southwest. He also considers that the Kelly vein might be a continuation of the Hanging Wall vein. Furthermore, he reasons that the large mineralized outcrop east of the upper Red Cloud workings might be the upward projection of one of the faults found on the No. 13 level.
Source: Source: Detailed Geology of Certain Areas in the Mineral Hill and Warm Springs Districts, Blain County Idaho. Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology, 1950
