The Clifton / Gold Hill Mining District
In this paper I will be discussing the Clifton mining district, also known as the gold
hill mining district. I will examine its extensive history from its discovery to current
day. I will explore its geology, its relationship to mainstream American history,
and my experience visiting this location.
The Clifton mining district lies in Tooele County near the Utah-Nevada border at
the north end of the deep creek mountains. Its valuable ore deposits were
discovered in 1857 by travelers heading to California through overland canyon.
Hostile Indians discouraged mining efforts until 1869. In 1871 a smelter was
constructed and small amounts of ore began to be processed. Production was
intermittent and remained small until 1892 when the first mills began operating.
Soon news spread about the areas riches creating a small gold rush. Two small
towns and over 50 mines were developed but fewer than half ever shipped any
substantial ore. In 1917 the Deep Creek railroad was constructed. This made it
much easier to transport and process large amounts of ore. Because of this,
production in 1917 was greater than any year before. In 1920 the district saw
revitalization with the need for arsenic as an insecticide. Because of foreign
competition the arsenic market collapsed in 1925 making the towns of Gold Hill
and Clifton virtual ghost towns. Only small scale production was recorded from
this point until world war two when tungsten and arsenic again were in high
demand thus creating a short lived mining boom. Today there is still one mine in
production.
The Clifton mining district has yielded significant amounts of gold, silver, copper,
arsenic and lead, with smaller quantities of tungsten bismuth and molybdenum
having also been mined. The deposits are of 3 types:
1. Skarn deposits containing gold, silver, copper, iron, and tungsten.
2. Vein deposits of 3 subtypes:
A. veins characterized by silicate minerals in the gangue.
B. veins containing primarily quartz and metallic sulfides.
C. veins containing primarily carbonate minerals with or without quartz.
3. Replacement deposits containing arsenic, copper, lead, and silver minerals.
The replacement bodies have produced the majority of the mineral wealth from
the district and are also where many of the large mines are located. The rocks of
the Clifton district consist of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks including limestone,
dolomite, and shale that range in age from Cambrian through Pennsylvanian (540
million years old to 300 million years old). Approximately 152 million years ago
magma pushed its way up through the sedimentary rocks creating dikes and
stocks of quartz monzonite, porphyry, and aplite. It was this event and several
younger igneous events that are responsible for the ore deposits in the district.
From 1892 to 1961 the district produced approximately 25,900 ounces of gold,
832,000 ounces of silver, 10.9 million pounds of lead, 3.47 million pounds of
copper, 20,000 pounds of zinc, $100,000 to $120,000 of tungsten, and 2.5 million
dollars worth of arsenic. No production was recorded between 1926 through
1940. Production after 1961 has been too small to warrant a mineral evaluation.
The Clifton mining districts discovery is the result of westward expansion. We can
trace back the roots of this expansion all the way to Christopher Columbus when
he first set foot on a small island in the Bahamas which he named San Salvador.
Soon after immigrants began coming to North America in increasingly larger
numbers. Immigrants over the centuries kept heading further and further west.
They were fueled by dreams of fertile farmland, bountiful game, striking it rich,
escaping religious prosecution, manifest destiny, and many other reasons. The
Clifton mining district was discovered as a result of this migration. A group of
people heading towards California in 1857 discovered the mineral deposits in the
Clifton district perhaps these people were in search of striking rich in the
California gold fields. Who knows? What we do know is that mineral wealth has
been a major motivating factor with regard to human migration since the
beginning of man’s time here on earth. This cycle of migration is characterized by
someone discovering a rich deposit of gold, silver, copper, or other minerals. Soon
word spreads of this discovery through the news or by word of mouth. People
flock to the area in large numbers with dreams of striking it rich. Claims are
staked, mines are dug, and towns are constructed. Out of all the people involved
in these mass migrations only a select few discover deposits of significant value
but those who do can go from being a poor man to very wealthy man overnight.
It’s this possibility that attracted so many people in the 1800s to come out west
and continues to be a causative factor of migration today. After all of the deposits
have played out two things usually happen: The first is everyone packs up their
bags and heads on over the hill to the next big mineral discovery causing the
current settlement to become a ghost town or if there is another way in the area
to make a living such as agriculture or pastoralism they stick around and the town
will grow. The two towns in the district Clifton and gold hill went separate ways.
Clifton became a ghost town as soon as the mines played out while Gold Hill stuck
around. There are actually a handful of year round residents in Gold Hill to this
day but most of the town remains in the state that the miners left it in when the
mines played out. Mining has long been a main cause of migration across the
world and in the United States. We have a lot of miners to thank for setting up
cities all across the west. America wouldn’t be the place that it is today without its
extensive mining history and the cities the miners created that a large portion of
the western population lives in today.
Nowadays the Clifton mining district has become a hotspot for a new type of
miner, the recreational mineral collector. This area is known worldwide for its
rare and unusual minerals. Mineral collectors flock to this area in search of
adamite, aragonite, austinite, beudanite, carminite, chalcophanite, conichalcite,
juanitaite, cronwallite, mixite, olivenite, scordoite, pharmacosiderite,
philipsburgite, tyrolite, and quartz crystals. Three minerals were first discovered
and identified in the Clifton district: austinite and juanitaite at the Gold Hill mine
and tooeleite at the U.S. mine. Along this topic is where my experience with the
Clifton district begins. My dad has long been an avid mineral and fossil collector.
This was only amplified after me and my brother were born. Our family would go
on trips all over Utah and the surrounding states in search of various earthly
treasures. On one of these outing we headed out to the Gold Hill mine. This trip
would give me my first taste of collecting in the Clifton district. On this outing we
found many different types of minerals including; adamite, austinite, quartz,
scordoite, mixite, calcophanite, and conichalcite. We visited the ghost town of
Gold Hill and saw the area where the Deep Creek railroad used to go. While
visiting the railroad, I found and intact medicine bottle probly from the early
1900s. Now several years later I have visited the Clifton district a total of 3 times. I
have added a few more minerals to my list of discoveries and I hope to get back
out there in the near future to do more collecting.
Cuprian adamite.
Cuprian austinite.
Conichalcite and olienite
Cornwallite on conichalcite
mixite
Bibliography
Selected mining districts of Utah by Carl L. Ege
Principal gold producing districts of the United States by
A. H. Koschmann and M. H. Bergendahl
All photos credited to Mindat.org