Murry Mine, Lawson Mining District, Clear Creek County, Colorado, USAi

Regional Level Types
Murry Mine	Mine
Lawson Mining District	Mining District
Clear Creek County	County
Colorado	State
USA	Country

Murry vein:

The Murry vein and its probable extension, the East Murray vein, are on the south side of Clear Creek, opposite Lawson. The Murry is developed by two shafts, the Murry (B-III, 55) and the Yankee, by the Princess of India tunnel (B-III, 54), and probably by the Hamilton shaft (B-III, 57) and a short (East Murray) crosscut (B-III, 58), 1,300 and 1,800 feet east-northeast of the Murry shaft, respectively. At present (1960), the vein is accessible only in the Princess of India tunnel (fig. 24) and in the East Murray crosscut; it is believed to have been worked mainly through the Murry and Yankee shafts. Callbreath (1899, p. 18*0 stated that the mine had two shafts, one (the Murry(?)) 360 feet deep, and the other (the Yankee(?)) 150 feet deep, as well as 1,000 feet of drifts.

Bastin and Hill (1917, p. 338) reported the main shaft to be 275 feet deep, with levels at 80, 170, and 265 feet that were 580, 550, and 257 feet long, respectively.

The value of ore produced from the mine to 1899 was estimated by Callbreath (1899, p. 184) to be $140,000 (period values). Bureau of Mines production records (table 8) show that a total of 186 tons of ore produced since 1900 contained 102.09 oz Au, 11,190 oz Ag, 1,727 pounds of Cu, 14,661 pounds of Pb, and 2,067 pounds of Zn. The value of all production is estimated to be about $160,000.

The Murry vein strikes about N85E, and dips from 80N to vertical. Where exposed in the Princess of India tunnel, the vein consists of 6 inches to 2 feet of crushed rock and gouge containing quartz, fine-grained pyrite, chalcopyrite, chalcocite(?), limonite, and secondary copper minerals. In the East Murray crosscut, 2,000 feet to the east, the vein contains 3-5 inches of copper-stained crushed rock and gouge that includes fine-grained pyrite and galena. Bastin and Hill (1917, p. 338) stated that in the Murry shaft "ore from the upper workings was richest, and that from the 265-foot level is reported to be low grade." They further indicated that the oxidized surface ore contained limonite, copper carbonates, cerussite, and, exceptionally, polybasite, and that the value of the ore was due largely to silver content, although lead ran as much as 45 percent and copper as much as
7 percent.

The Murry vein cuts bodies of biotite gneiss and biotite-muscovite granite; the East Murray is largely in sillimanitic biotite-quartz gneiss. A quartz monzonite porphyry dike forms the south wall of the vein throughout much of its length.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References