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: Project Location
Project Location
The District falls within the boundaries of the
Gallatin and the Custer National Forests, and abuts Yellowstone
National Park’s northeast corner (Figure
1). The Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Area bounds the District
to the north and east. To the south of the District is the Montana-Wyoming
state line and public lands administered by the Shoshone National
Forest. The District lies entirely within Park County, Montana.
The communities of Cooke City and Silver Gate,
Montana, are the only population centers within the District.
The neighboring communities of Mammoth, Wyoming and Gardiner,
Montana are located about 50 miles to the west. Red Lodge, Montana
is about 65 miles to the northeast, via the Beartooth Highway,
and Cody, Wyoming is located 60 miles to the southeast.
As the District is located at an elevation that
ranges from about 7,380 feet to over 10,400 feet above sea level,
the site is snow-covered for much of the year. Only two routes
of travel are open on a year-round basis to the District: the
Sunlight Basin road, which allows access to within a few miles
of the District in the winter time; and the highway between Mammoth
and Cooke City. The Beartooth Highway is closed during the winter
as is Highway 212 from Cooke City to the Montana/Wyoming state
line.
The District covers an area of about 40 square
miles. Historic mining disturbances affect about 50 acres according
to recent measurements made by the USDA-FS Interagency Spatial
Analysis Center. The McLaren Tailings, located outside of the
District Properties, cover an additional 33 acres. The topography
of the District is mountainous, with the dominant topographic
features created by glaciation. The stream valleys are U-shaped
and broad while the ridges are steep, rock covered, and narrow.
Much of the District is located at or near tree line, especially
in the Fisher Mountain area where the major mining disturbances
are located.
The District is situated at the headwaters of
three river systems which all eventually flow into the Yellowstone
River. The three tributary rivers are the Clark’s Fork of
the Yellowstone, the Stillwater, and the Lamar. The Lamar River
flows through Yellowstone Park. The major tributary streams in
the District include Daisy, Miller, Fisher, Goose, Sheep, Lady
of the Lake, Republic, Woody, and Soda Butte creeks (Figure
1).
Mining exploration in the District began in 1864
when prospectors from the mining camp of Virginia City explored
the area. The earliest placer and lode deposits were established
in 1869, although prospecting was the only form of any mining
development at that time. By 1876, a smelter was built in Cooke
City for the reduction of silver-lead ore by the Eastern Montana
Mining and Smelting Company. During these early years of development,
the District was a part of the Crow Reservation. When the U.S.
government withdrew this land from the reservation and put it
into public ownership in 1882, interest in mining in the District
heightened with the filing of 1,450 claims in that year (Wolle,
1963).
Mining activity fluctuated greatly between 1882
and the late 1920s, hampered primarily by the lack of a railroad
to ship ore and supplies, and the long and severe winters. Numerous
smelters were built and operated during this period, most only
for a few years at a time. Gold was mined on Henderson Mountain
beginning in 1888. During 1893 and 1894, gold was mined from underground
workings and an open pit on Henderson Mountain (U.S. Bureau of
Mines, 1950). A road over Sheep Mountain was built during 1905-1906
to reach a copper lode in the area of Goose Lake (UOS, 1996).
The Glengarry Mining Company operated a floatation mill on the
south side of Scotch Bonnet Mountain in the 1920s to process copper-gold
ores from the Como ore body on Fisher Mountain (U.S. Bureau of
Mines, 1950). By 1925, the estimated production of the District
was $215,000 in gold, silver, copper and lead (Wolle, 1963).
In 1933, an open pit gold operation, the McLaren
Mine, was developed on the west side of Fisher Mountain. Milling
of the ore produced from the mine was done in Cooke City at the
former Cooke City flotation mill. After the mill was destroyed
by fire in 1953, no further mining was done in the McLaren pit,
and mining in the district ceased. Exploration of the area
continued until 1996, however, with CBMI as the last major company
to hold an interest in mine development. CBMI executed their exploratory
drilling program in the District from 1987 through 1993.
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