Mineral resources of the Inyo and White mountains, California

Abstract

The first chain of mountains east of the southern part of the Sierra Nevada is known as the White Mountain Eange; the southern portion of it is termed the Inyo Mountains and the northern portion the White Mountains. Since 1860 mining has been in progress in this region, but the period from 1869 to 1877 comprises the years of greatest activity, for it was then that the mines of Cerro Gordo, in the Inyo Mountains, were yielding the great output of base bullion that made this locality the only notable producer of silverlead ore in the State of California. Gold ores have also been important, and recently zinc carbonate ore has been developed on a commercial scale. The previous knowledge of the geology and ore deposits of the range has been brought together by Spurr from various scattered sources of information,1 and W. T. Lee, on the basis of his own work, has briefly described the geology of Owens Valley and the origin of the valley with reference to the confining mountain ranges. 2 The present report is based on field work in progress from July 6 to October 18, 1912, during which time that portion of the White and Inyo mountains lying within the Bishop, Mount Whitney, and Ballarat quadrangles was geologically surveyed, special attention^ being given to the phenomena of mineralization and to the mining districts contained in the area. During this work the writer was efficiently assisted by Mr. Edwin Kirk, who devoted special attention to the stratigraphy and paleontology of the range. The following pages present a short summary of the general geology of the range, followed by a description of the metalliferous mineral resources which is as detailed as the present mining developments warrant. The region with which this report is concerned covers essentially the southern 75 miles of the range.