[Illustration: Creede and its mines are located in an area of Tertiary
rhyolite and dacite, light-colored volcanic rocks.]
Happy Thought Mine
Amethyst Mine
West Willow Creek
AMETHYST FAULT
Last Chance Mine
Del Monte Mine
Commodore Mine
Jackpot Mine
Coppervein Mine
Bachelor Mine
BULLDOG MOUNTAIN FAULT
Kansas City Star Mine
Commodore Tunnel
Mustang Tunnel
Nelson Tunnel
Exchequer Mine
SOLOMON FAULT
CAMPBELL MOUNTAIN
Holy Moses #2
Holy Moses Mine
Ridge Mine
Solomon Mine
Monte Carlo Mine
Mollie S. Mine
East Willow Creek
Ramey Tunnel
Dora Belle Mine
Mammoth Tunnel
Homestake Mine
Mammoth Mine
MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN
Nancy Hanks Mine
Pipe Dream Mine
THE NARROWS
Windy Gulch
CREEDE
Willow Creek
The Creede district ranks as one of the most productive silver areas in
the United States. It came into being largely as a result of a discovery
by N.H. Creede in 1889. When exploring in this area, he was reported to
have exclaimed “Holy Moses!” on examining a rich piece of ore, thus
giving the name to the mine which initiated the rapid development of the
district. By the end of 1892 the Holy Moses and nearby mines had
produced ore valued at more than $4,000,000. The area was so rich that
it managed to survive 1893’s great decline in the price of silver; by
1920 almost $42,000,000 in gold, silver, lead, and zinc had been mined
there.
The ores, silver-bearing galena, sphalerite, native gold, pyrite, and
chalcopyrite, are in quartz or amethyst veins in faulted and shattered
Tertiary volcanic rocks. Nearly all the ore deposits lie along a complex
system of vertical faults, the Amethyst fault zone, which runs more or
less northwest-southeast through this region. Both the faulting and the
enrichment of the fault fissures are believed to have taken place in
mid-Tertiary time, shortly after deposition of the volcanic host rocks.