Glass Buttes Report
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
') I 702 Woodlark Building Portland, Oregon GLASS BUTTES PROSPECT, NORTHEASTERN LAKE COUNTY, OREGON The Glass Buttes prospect is on the isolated hills of that name in the northeast part of Lake County, Oregon. It is about 3.5 miles by road eouth of the highway between Bend and Burns, in Tps. 23 and 24 s., R. 23 E. (pl. 6), The propert; ie owned by Charles I. lliller, of Bend, Oregon., and comprieee 48 claims, as shown on plate 8. QuicksilTer bas been known tor aeTeral ,:.ears- to occur here.j/ Test pits and short tunnels a.re scattered oTer the property, but so tar there haa been no production. The pa.rt of the Miller property from lo. 1 tunnel to about 21 000 feet to the north was Tisited by the writer August 23, 1940, Accerding to Waters,.W the buttes are COllpoted of three aroupa of lan .flow ■, The highest and lowest of these il"OUpl are baaaltic. The interaediate group, which ia ■ore than 400 feet thick and form■ the greater part of the Glaaa Buttes, includes daeite and seTera.l. other kinda of andeaite, as well a1 perlite, obsidian, and Titropey-re. Only these gla11y lans are upo•ed at the quicksilTer prospects. According to Wa.ters1 the Toleanic rocks of' the Glass Butte, form a broad anticline broken by aany iarul f'aul ts of diTerse trend1 and magnitude. The property-, which has an area of' about 1.5 square miles, i8 tmderlain 'b7 laTa that originally consisted almost exclusively of flow-banded glass. This laTa has been extensi'vely opalised along broad zone• of northwesterly trend that extend be7ond the limits of the area shown on plate 8. Hallo7aite, a cla1 mineral, ia mixed with the opal, locally in some abliadance. Cracks and holes in the opaline I / material are lined with fine-grained quartz, Other and presumably later cracks are lined with cinna.bar grains. The opaline material locally has horizontal bands tha:t may represent the flow bands of the lav:! which it has replaced. Moat of the pits and other excavations seen by the writer show cinnabar but generally in very email amounts. The cinnabar darkens on exposure, and it can therefore be detected only by chipping the surface of the opaJ.ine material. In several places the opaline material is broken by fractures and breccia zones that a.re comparatively rich in cinnabar. These trendclf. 55o - 65° 1'. and moat of them dip rather steeply northeastward, though a few 4ip toward the south west. The largest ones thus far exposed - in lo. 1 tunnel and in the bottom of a 4.3-foot shaft 850 feet northeast of the portal of that tunnel - are 2 to 5 feet wide and have been followed only short distances a.long the strike. The quicksilver content of a few representatiTe aamples is ehown on plate 8. The samples designated by G. o. and a number were taken by the writerJ the others were furnished by Jlr. Miller, who also reports two samples not recorded on plate 8. One ot these, from a •broken zone• l foot wide, contained 0,675 percent of quicksilver; the other, trom a •brecciated seam,• contained 0.550 percent of' ~cksilTer. Sample G.0,2, from the botto■ of the 44-foot shaft, contained j/ Schuette, C. I., QuicksilTer in Oregonz Bull. 4, State or Oregon, Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, p, 168, 19.38. !/ Watere, Aaron, A Structural and petrographic etudy of the Glass Buttes, Lake Oount;y, Oregon; Jour. Geology., vol, 35, No. 5. PP• 441-452, 1927. 702 Woodlark Building Portland, Oregon 0.10 percent of mercuri c chloride. As the total amount of quicksilTer in thl• sample was only 0.22 percent, a large proportion of the metal was present as chloride, and this m,q be true of other parts of the deposit. Thia poasibility should be taken into account in planning the reduction plot, and other euple1 ahould be tested for chl.1t111de. On the other hand, auple G.O. 7, which i1 from a comparatiTely rich band 2 feet wide in lo. 1 tunnel, yielded only O.OS percent of aercuric chloride. This sample contained o.68 percent ot quicksilver. The aasaya, together with observations on the ground, indicate that the quickailTer content of the opalized material ranges fro• a trace to about 15 pounde to the ton. Most of the 88llples recorded on plate Sare from the richer parts of the deposit, so that the aaaays probably do not fairly represent the average tenor. It eeems iaprob&ble that aore than a •mall part of the deposit col1l.d 'be mined profitably at the prices that prevail under noraaal circumstances, but as the deposit is very large and certainly contains some fairly rich ore, further work 11&1 ahow that it could serve as a 1ource of ¢cksllver under eaergency conditiona. · \ 'Refs U.S.G.S. Bulletin lo. 931-B "Some Quicksilver Deposits in Adjacent Parts of levada, C s.l.ifornia, and Oregon. ~Cl..U-rl.lJ vzcu-c:-, CRIB MINERAL ~ESJURCES FlLE 12 RECORD IOENTlFICAllON RECORD NO••••• ••••••• M054~94 REC~RG TYPE•••••••••• Xl~ COUijTRY/ORGkNIZATJON. USGS INFJRHATlDN SOURCE ••• 12 MAP CODE ND. JF ~EC •• R[PLi<T ER NAH~••••••••••••••••••••• •• •••• PEIERSCh. JOCELYN A. OAT~••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 7S 08 UPDlTED •••••••••••••••••••••••• 81 D3 8 "f ••••••• ......... •• ••••••• • • • • • FE Rt; s • ts.ARK L. ( BR OOK.S • HOW~ R'D C.) N,ME ANJ L3Clll3N DLFCSIT Nl~E••••••••••••••••• GLASS BUTTES SYN01YH ~~~E••••••••••••••••• lNCLUDlS PJLARIS. RY~N. AND GLA~S RIDGE GiDUPS MINING OlSIRI:l/~REA/SUBDIST. GLASS BUTTES C3VNTRY CODE.•••••••••••••••• JS COLhlRY NAME: U~lT~D STATES STkTE CODE••••••••••••••• OR STLfE NA~E: JRE;DN COU~TY •• ••••••••••••••••• ORtl~A&E AiE'•••••••••••• u7)303 PACIFIC hORTHW[ST ~HYSLOGR~PHI: PRJV ••••••• H[GH LAVA ?~AINS LAhD CL~SSJFl:ATlON •••••• ~u ... u SCAL[ QUI\D NO OR ~A.ME 1: 25000(} BUl•dllS lATlTJDE L □ "fGITUOE 1%3-31-59~ ll 9-56-30W J TM ~J Rl Hl ~.a; UT!1 EASTING UHi 20NE NO 't C2.rt 000. 262 . 0C. +11 l..iP •••••• 0235 ~A.NGE. •••• 02lE SECTlQN •• 3ft. 1-1El,lDlAN. WILLM1E1TE YO· ACC~RACY JF LlCAllON ACCJRATE ~u~:~::;;;; p::;J~:· ;;~:~~;~~-rJ ~AJJR PRODUC TS •• HG JRE MATERIA LS ( Ml~ERlLS , RDCKS , EIC .) : CIN~t..ai\R MAI~ DRE MIN~RALSt CI NNAlH.R E(Pl~RllID~ ,No lEI EL Cf~ENT STATUS JF ~~ 0 LJR . 0~ DEV . b PR DP~RTJ IS INACllVE YE~~ JF DISCJVERr~ • •••••• 1933 BY ~H □ M •••••••••••••••••• P. L. FORBES VEAR JF Fl~Sf PRJOUC TION . 195& YEiR □ f LAS T PRDOUCTIJN . 1968 PRt.SDH/ LASf )wllER . .... •• VER!-:E E . R'tAN, W. H. JUSfRO~I. JOHt,.' ~( MAhMANs 1963 PRE~EkT/ LASf JPE~A TOR •••• JACKiO~ MOU~ T,IN Ml~ING CO •• 1968 EXPLOR . AND JE~E~or . CBH~EN TS: OMEA C □ NJRACT ~ECO~~ENDED DE~ l ED IN 1955 OESCRlPTID~ 9F DEPJS!T DEPOSIT TYPES: MlNERALllED FA JLT l □ NES, DPALITE FOR~ / SHAPE OF DEPQS]T: SIZE / GlRECTIJNil DATA SIZE ~F DE'~Slf •••••• S~ALL OESCRIPT131~ J F 1tOR <lNGS SJRFACE l1J U~OER~ROUNO lEPTH l~ ~JRKINGS 3ELO~ SURFlCE . 10a FT lENGT~ DF ~OR ( IN&S •••••••••••••• 1000 FT COK~E~tS ( DES:~IP . CF WORKlNGS ): f,Y~N \ 'ID :;L\SS fUD:iE ORE BJDI::S Hli.V[ BE::N MI " ED DY OPEN P I T; PO LARIS DEPOSl T I S DE VELO P ED 3 Y ABOU T l.000 Fl' OF LNJE ~GROJ~) h~tKINGS P"aouc r Im. VES S»~LL PRJJUC TION CU~ULATl i E PRJOUC f ICN ( 3 RE ,CO~M )).,CaNc •• ~VERBUR .) P~JDUCflO~ YEARS ••••••• 195b - li50, 1961 SJJ~CE OF INFO~~~TlON (P~DDUCTIO~) •• ~SB~ AiO C01PANY RECORDS VJA BRCDKS, 1968 PIJOUCTIO~ CJ~iE~T~ •••• PRODUCTllN INCLUDES 119 FllSlS FROM GLASS RIDGE KINE, 3L6 FL FROM ThE RYAh GROUP AND 109 FRG~ THE PGLA~lS PRQPERTY C □ Hr-tE.NIS lRESERV::SJ ... EST HtArEO RESERVES /.RE SHALL GEOLOGY lND ~11~RALOG AGE OF HCST RJCKS•••••••••••• 110 HOST R~L~ TYP~S•••••••••••••• JfALITE DE~lVED FR LM GLASSY SlLICIC LAVAS lND llfF AGL OF ASS3C. IGNEOUS ROCKS •• ~IC lG~EOU~ RJ:K TYPES••••~•••••• ~LASSY SJLICIC LAVAS ANO TUFF PEkliNCNT MI~ERA~OGY ••••••••• JPALITE, CLAY MINERALS IKFC~TANT JRE C3~TROL/LQCUS •• 5RECCIATED ZONES I N DPALITE GEQLJGY (~UPPLEhE~JA,t Il•F □ RMATIUN} iEGIOihL GE □ LJGY lECTONIC SEfll~G ••••••••••• JISSECTED LAVA PLATEAU LOCAL GEDLJGY ~IGNIFICANr LOCAL STRUCTURES: JP~LIZED ZONES A~E ALONG NW TR~ND ING F~ULTS $IGNIFICA~T ALTERATION: JPlLIZ&TIJK lF HJST ROCKS CECL □ GlCtl PRD:ESSES OF CG~CE~TRAIID~ OR L~RICHHENT: HYDRGT~ER~Al SOL~TlONS C □ H~EijJS (GEJLJGY AND HINERA LO&Y): hE PRl~ClPL~ GlE BJDIES occu~ IN AN INT~~SELY CRUSHED OPAllTE B~[CCll ~HlCH HAS BEEN RECEMENTEC SY SlLICA lND CiNN~B~K. GENERAL REFERENC[S 1) eRJJKS, H. C., 19&;, ~UlCKSl~VE{ IN lREGCN: OREG]N DlPT. GF GE : LOGY A~D MINERAL INDUSTRIES. BULL. 55• 223 P. 2) MERCJ~Y I~ OR~GJ~, 19b5t USB~ IC 6252 3) 8RDDKSt H. L., 19&5, GLASS BJTTES tERCJRY: ODGtlI UNPUBLISHED R[PORT I) ~EEJ, G.C., 1946, EKPLOR~TlD~ OF GLASS BUTTES ~ERtURY DEPCSll, LAKL CJUNTY, ORE.: USBH RI 39 5) R □ SSs :.P., 1941, SOME ~JIC(SILVER FROS~EClS IN ADJACE~l 'JRTS GF hEYAD!, CALlfDRNIA, AND G~EGON: USGS BUL S3:-u. P. 23-3~ ' .--¼'1...- ~~ R. I. 3926 AUGUST 1946 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR J. A. KRUG, SECRETARY BUREAU OF MINES R. R. SAYERS, DIRECTOR REPORT OF INVESTIGATIONS EXPLORATION OF GLASS BUTTES MERCURY DEPOSIT LAKE COUNTY, OREGON Pl<OPBRTY OP ,fATE DBP'T O OBOLO "4JNE AL IN USTRI BY GLENN C .