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Poverty Hill Mining District, Sierra County, California, USAi
Regional Level Types
Poverty Hill Mining DistrictMining District
Sierra CountyCounty
CaliforniaState
USACountry

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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
39° 37' 21'' North , 121° 0' 24'' West
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Mindat Locality ID:
269554
Long-form identifier:
mindat:1:2:269554:2
GUID (UUID V4):
0


Location and History: This district is in western Sierra County, 10 miles NW of Downieville and 5 miles S of La Porte. The Port Wine district is to the NE, and the Brandy City district is to the SSW. Poverty Hill district includes the Scales and Mount Pleasant areas. The area was mined by hydraulicking and drifting during and after the gold rush. Mining here again during the 1930's and early 1940's included an attempt to work the Poverty Hill pit with a bucket-line dredge.

Geology: The main channel of the Tertiary North Fork of the Yuba River, or La Porte channel, enters this district from the N and continues S and SW to the Brandy City and Indian Hill districts. The Port Wine channel, a branch of the La Porte channel, enters the area from the NE at Scales. This smaller branch channel parallels the main channel for some miles. At the Poverty Hill pit, the channel is up to 1,500 feet wide and 150 feet deep. The lower "blue" gravels are quartz-rich and cemented in places. There are a number of large boulders. At Scales the channel is similar. Bedrock consists of slate, quartzite, amphibolite and serpentine. Lindgren estimated in 1911 that, at Poverty Hill, 2.25 million cubic yards had been removed and 5 million cubic yards were ultimately available, while at Scales and Mt. Pleasant, 4.05 million cubic yards had been excavated and 60 million cubic yards were ultimately available.

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Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical Elements

Commodity List

This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded from this region.


Mineral List

Mineral list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities

4 valid minerals.

Gallery:

List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification

Group 1 - Elements
Native Gold1.AA.05Au
Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides
Quartz4.DA.05SiO2
Group 9 - Silicates
Axinite-(Fe)9.BD.20Ca2Fe2+Al2BSi4O15OH
Albite9.FA.35Na(AlSi3O8)

List of minerals for each chemical element

HHydrogen
H Axinite-(Fe)Ca2Fe2+Al2BSi4O15OH
BBoron
B Axinite-(Fe)Ca2Fe2+Al2BSi4O15OH
OOxygen
O AlbiteNa(AlSi3O8)
O Axinite-(Fe)Ca2Fe2+Al2BSi4O15OH
O QuartzSiO2
NaSodium
Na AlbiteNa(AlSi3O8)
AlAluminium
Al AlbiteNa(AlSi3O8)
Al Axinite-(Fe)Ca2Fe2+Al2BSi4O15OH
SiSilicon
Si AlbiteNa(AlSi3O8)
Si Axinite-(Fe)Ca2Fe2+Al2BSi4O15OH
Si QuartzSiO2
CaCalcium
Ca Axinite-(Fe)Ca2Fe2+Al2BSi4O15OH
FeIron
Fe Axinite-(Fe)Ca2Fe2+Al2BSi4O15OH
AuGold
Au Native GoldAu

Localities in this Region

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This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.

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