Forty-five miles from Fenner, on the line of the A. & P. R. R., in the
eastern part of the county, near the Nevada State line, is the
Vanderbilt District. It lies between Palm District and Ivanpah, at an
elevation of 6,000 feet above the sea. Numerous claims have been located
on the veins of the district and considerable development done. Messrs.
Patton, Taggert & Hall own eight promising claims, which it is their
purpose to develop extensively. A shaft 4½ by 6½ feet has been sunk on
the vein to a depth of 60 feet, besides which a number of shafts of
lesser depth and numerous open cuts have been made, all exposing ore of
good grade. The vein is of the branching kind. The veins vary from 5 to
30 feet in width, striking east and west, with a dip to the north of
60°. The gangue is quartz, honey-combed at the surface from the
oxidation of the sulphurets it originally contained, small disseminated
crystals of which (iron, lead, and copper) begin to show in the rock
from the deepest parts of the workings. Some of the rock contains a high
percentage of lead in the form of galena and carbonate, but it occurs
mostly in bunches and is not evenly distributed through the rock. A
shipment of 6,963 pounds to the sampling works at Kingman, Arizona,
returned an average assay value of $173 50 per ton, most of which was
gold. Another lot averaged $44.
Near the above described property Messrs. Simmons & Roberts have sunk
three shafts to a depth of 40 feet each, and Campbell & Beatty put down
a shaft 100 feet, all in ore of a character and value similar to that
found in the other mines. Both wood and water are obtainable in the
district, pine timber growing on the hills, and a good stream of water
is flowing down into the desert only 1¼ miles distant from these mines.
With the character and grade of the ores found in these veins, and the
advantages of wood and water, it would seem that these mines might be
successfully operated, particularly as some of the owners are possessed
of sufficient means. It is the expressed intention, however, to sink
deeper and determine more fully the extent and character of the ore in
depth before placing expensive machinery on the ground.