Placer and Lode Gold Mining Claims In Idaho
Silver City is a well-known ghost town in Idaho. But ages ago it was a thriving mecca for gold and silver miners. The buildings still survive, but what’s more interesting and enticing are the veins of precious metals that still run through the area. With drainages such as Oro Fino Creek and Sinker Creek, fed by the many lode mines of the area, there is still wealth to be found in the Owyhee Mountains. The gold on these placer claims is granular, rough, and the pans are coated with a sheen of silver! Click here to learn more about the historic gold and silver rush around Silver City.
These War Eagle mining claims are positioned over the extremely rich placer deposits right at the foot of some of the riches gold producers of the Silver City region. Many of the gullies on the west side of War Eagle, were washed to expose the lode veins and work the rich deposits below the mines. However on this east side of War Eagle Mountain, while there are tailing remanence and old workings from the mine shafts, the drainages themselves are not washed to the hardrock, which have extremely nice yields left behind. For many years this area had been secured for the lode deposits (hard-rock mining) operations for the deep earth mining that were being sought after, not messing with the placer surface deposits. After Silver Falcon’s operation failed, it opened up this area to placer deposit recovery. As mentioned, these placer claims reside downstream & abutting some of the high yielding gold producing lode sites, which are patented (private), and would encourage you to review the geological survey report illustrating the recorded values for those mines. From metal detecting gram size gold and even nice specimens within vein rock have been pulled from just a couple hours playing. With these creeks being at the headwaters (close to the top of War Eagle), they are easier to work in the early summer with a high-banker, or an excellent area for dry washing, metal detecting or other means in late summer, when the water is down.