Ulida Mine (Morning Star Mine; Sardine Mine; Maryland Mine; Virginia Mine; Walker Mine; Ulida Mine; Hunter Mine; H. M. Stanley; Sorbia Mine; Vlida Mine; Kabba Riga Mine), Big Dodd Spring, Ubehebe Mining District, Cottonwood Mountains, Panamint Mts (Panamint Range), Inyo County, California, USAi
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
36° 38' 24'' North , 117° 32' 14'' West
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Köppen climate type:
Nearest Settlements:
| Place | Population | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Olancha | 192 (2015) | 57.9km |
Nearest Clubs:
Local clubs are the best way to get access to collecting localities
Local clubs are the best way to get access to collecting localities
| Club | Location | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Lone Pine Gem & Mineral Society | Lone Pine, California | 47km |
A former Cu mine located in sec. 17, T15S, R41E, MDM, 6.8 km (4.2 miles) NNE of Big Dodd Spring, just W of Ulida Flat, on National Park Service wilderness land (Death Valley National Park/Death Valley Wilderness). MRDS database stated accuracy for this location is 1,000 meters.
NOTE: See also the narrative under "Ulida Flat."
Ulida Group--eight prospects in Dutton Range. Owned by Spear Bros. and William L. Hunter of Lone Pine. Adjoined by Keeler, Olancha, and Spear claims on northeast.
The mine adits are located at the top of the gully directly above the Ulida Flat Site at an elevation of about 5,600 feet and are reached by a steep and rugged 1/2-mile burro trail. Tumbling down the ravine in the immediate vicinity of the mine are rusty tin cans of assorted sizes. The workings consist of a main adit entrance with nearby waste dump, and another caved-in adit with dump on the hillside immediately above. The main adit entrance is particularly striking because the rock face around the wooden entrance door is a vivid greenish-blue color, while the piles of ore stacked up near the entrance are of this same brilliant hue. In front of the door and north of the tram tracks is a shallow vertical shaft only about twenty feet deep. Assessment notices are bolted to the adit entrance door. Immediately downhill from the mine are three stone items: furthest east are the ruins of what appears to be a large, elliptical-shaped oven or smelter, about nine feet in diameter and with remaining rock walls about 4-1/2 feet high. Forty feet west of this toward the mine and at the base of the main waste dump is another smaller structure of the same type, only about five feet in diameter. This also appears to be a smelter operation. Between these two structures is a stone forge 3 feet high and 3-1/2 feet long. A small burro shoe was found on one of its edges.
Whether or not the Ulida Mine, situated in the Dutton Range about three miles north of Hunter Mountain, is the site of W.L. Hunter's original discovery that opened up the Ubehebe area to mining has not been conclusively determined by this writer. McAllister maintains that it is, and places the mine's discovery date at 1875 or before. According to observations made by Lt. Rogers Birnie, Jr., during his 1875 survey of the Death Valley region, eight locations had been filed in the Ubehebe area by Hunter in that year, and whether by coincidence or not the Ulida Group did initially encompass eight prospects: the Ulida, Sorbia, Sardine, H.M. Stanley, Kabba Riga, Virginia, Maryland, and Hunter. A 1906 notice states that the Hunter & Spear Mines "were the first found [in the Ubehebe area] and are comparatively the best developed. A later 1907 article, however, stated the property had been located only twenty-five years earlier.
In partnership with the Spear brothers by 1902, Hunter had opened up the large outcroppings on the property, which also yielded gold and silver, by means of two 150-foot-long tunnels, one above the other, and had accomplished some minor stoping. Around 400 tons of ore were recovered, hand sorted, and packed on mules the seven or so miles to the Keeler wagon road over which they were hauled to town and then shipped to the smelter. The Spearses are reported to have shipped out sixty tons of ore returning gold and copper values of $600 a ton. Upon Hunter's death in 1902, Reuben Cook Spear acquired the property.
The mine evidently remained idle for the next four years or so, its remoteness making it unprofitable to work. Then a Salt Lake City group, composed of Samuel A. King, Alfred Mikesell, Raymond Ray, and a Mr. Dalton of New York, rediscovered it and procured an option on twenty-one claims. Ore with a high gold and silver showing as well as substantial copper values was developed. Ray and Mikesell subsequently turned their option over to the firm of King (Judge William H.), Burton, and King (Samuel A.?), who in 1907 sold the mine for a cash consideration in the neighborhood of $45,000 to $55,000 plus a sizable amount of stock shares in the Ulida Copper Company, incorporated for $5,000,000 by New York and Salt Lake City capitalists. The mine assets now consisted of a seven-foot vein of ore averaging 14% copper and from $3 to $10 in gold. Much iron was present in the ore, making it ideal for smelting.
In April 1907 the Ulida was described as the "queen bee of the camp [Ubehebe}," the property's development now being guided by the Ulida Copper Company, which immediately applied for 100 inches of water from Hunter Ranch Creek to be diverted to their property in the Ubehebe Mining District by gravity force. In June development work at the mine was proceeding so satisfactorily that a sign was said to be hanging out on the property advertising "Forty Men Wanted." The adjoining Los Angeles Copper Group had also been incorporated into the company's holdings and was opened up at this time.
For the next few months a large force of men kept busy performing assessment work and it was intended to keep at least five men working in the tunnel all winter. At a distance of about 250 feet in, a great strike in a blind lead was encountered, producing ore samples running 35% copper and $100 in gold. By March 1908 the strike on the Ulida ledge was reported as carrying values up to 60% copper, $14 in gold, and over 200 ozs. in silver to the ton. Work was continuing to crosscut the vein and drift with it to the main contact.
In the summer of 1908 one of the groups visiting the Ubehebe area over the new Bonnie Claire road was a party consisting of Robert Wood, a London mining expert for the Ulida Copper Company; J.N. Dalton of Boston, president of the company; Samuel A. King of Salt Lake City, a company director; and R. C. Spear of Lone Pine. The company had incurred some indebtedness that it was now paying off, and under the supervision of a new local manager the development work was expected to become more extensive in a short while. Over six thousand dollars had already been expended in the mine by the company, which was sure this would evolve into one of the West's great copper properties.
In 1912 Reuben Spear and his son Bev worked some outcroppings a few miles above the Ulida tunnel, hauling the ore by muleback the few miles to the wagon road to Keêler. In 1916 notice was printed of the discovery of tungsten by the Spear brothers on their Ubehebe copper property. Whether this refers to the Ulida Mine is not known. From here on, information on the property is scanty. P.E. Day and Cliff Palmer relocated the Ulida as the Morning Star Mine in 1935, and four years later W.G. Walker filed on it as the Walker Mine. From 1947 to 1949 Edna Horstmeier kept up assessment work on the claim. Greene, 1981
Local rocks include Mesozoic granitic rocks, unit 3 (Sierra Nevada, Death Valley area, Northern Mojave Desert and Transverse Ranges).
Workings include unspecified underground openings (The topo map reflects 2 adit symbols).
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsDetailed Mineral List:
| ⓘ Cuprite Formula: Cu2O |
| ⓘ Malachite Formula: Cu2(CO3)(OH)2 |
| ⓘ 'Tetrahedrite Subgroup' Formula: Cu6(Cu4C2+2)Sb4S12S |
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
| Group 2 - Sulphides and Sulfosalts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ⓘ | 'Tetrahedrite Subgroup' | 2.GB.05 | Cu6(Cu4C2+2)Sb4S12S |
| Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides | |||
| ⓘ | Cuprite | 4.AA.10 | Cu2O |
| Group 5 - Nitrates and Carbonates | |||
| ⓘ | Malachite | 5.BA.10 | Cu2(CO3)(OH)2 |
List of minerals for each chemical element
| H | Hydrogen | |
|---|---|---|
| H | ⓘ Malachite | Cu2(CO3)(OH)2 |
| C | Carbon | |
| C | ⓘ Malachite | Cu2(CO3)(OH)2 |
| O | Oxygen | |
| O | ⓘ Cuprite | Cu2O |
| O | ⓘ Malachite | Cu2(CO3)(OH)2 |
| S | Sulfur | |
| S | ⓘ Tetrahedrite Subgroup | Cu6(Cu4C22+)Sb4S12S |
| Cu | Copper | |
| Cu | ⓘ Cuprite | Cu2O |
| Cu | ⓘ Malachite | Cu2(CO3)(OH)2 |
| Cu | ⓘ Tetrahedrite Subgroup | Cu6(Cu4C22+)Sb4S12S |
| Sb | Antimony | |
| Sb | ⓘ Tetrahedrite Subgroup | Cu6(Cu4C22+)Sb4S12S |
Other Databases
| Link to USGS MRDS: | 10163772 |
|---|
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
North AmericaContinent
North America PlateTectonic Plate
- Antler Foreland BasinBasin
- Basin and Range BasinsBasin
- Mojave DomainDomain
- Southern Basin and RangeWide Rift
USA
- Death Valley National ParkNational Park
- Sierra NevadaMountain Range
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References
(n.d.) Minerals Availability System (MAS), U.S. Bureau of Mines.file ID #0060270114
(1908, September) The Copper Resources of California. Bulletin 50. California State Mining Bureaupages 304, 306
