From the Pick and Shovel October/November 2014 issue
By Walt Eason
GPAA Claims Researcher
Oklahoma not known for its gold production did have some occurrences of gold in history. How much gold does Oklahoma really have?
Today, many of the areas spoken about in history are out of reach or untouchable to the modern gold prospector. Does Oklahoma have more to offer than meets the eye?
The Mineral Kingdom, June 8, 1905 edition contains a news story about three smelters being erected, two on eastern end of the Wichita Mountains and one near Wildman on the western end of the mountains. Another articles delves into social issues of the day and how at least some people had strived to prove there was no semblance of values in the Wichita Mountains. The article documents the great disbelief and mistrust of citizens in the professionals making this claim: The following is an excerpt from the story, "Experts Proven to be Frauds":
"While H. Foster DeBar and others have been working overtime striving to prove to the public there was no semblance of values in these mountains, the miners and prospectors have worked unceasingly to demonstrate that these people were frauds — yes, worse than that — they were using their best efforts to deprive a worthy class of citizens of their discoveries, which held and developed, means all to them. They have now become able to prove to the satisfaction of any individual with an investigating turn of mind the fact that the present conditions indicate this will be one of the most important mineral districts in the whole United States, in for the world."
Oklahoma's mining history
This could be an article in today's news, but it was from June 8, 1905, the ways of the powerful.You judge for yourself by what follows if you want to look deeper in the rivers of Oklahoma. Gold always flows down the river from the mountains.
"Gold areas in the southeastern part on the state in the Ouachita Mountains that are geologically part of the Appalachians that emerge from the surrounding sediments as an extension of those mountains. The gold is found in a continuation of the Southern Gold Belt. These mountains are also related to the Boston Mountains, which have generated their own gold rushes.
In the western part of Oklahoma, more gold is found in the Wichita Mountains in sandstone that was deposited in the late Precambrian and early Cambrian ages. These mountains became intruded with gabbro and later with granite and lastly with other volcanic rocks. All these intrusions left behind a legacy of gold.
Placer gold can be found in southwest Oklahoma in Greer, Kiowa, Tillman and Jackson counties. Most highly mineralized areas in Oklahoma are removed from mineral entry or in many cases are privately owned. You need to get permission from the owner of the property to prospect, and remember to respect people's property rights as an owner.
Gold and silver is said to have been discovered by Spaniards as early as the 1657 by Father Gilbert. A shaft was sunk to a depth of 100 feet about nine miles north of Mount Scott.
Another Spanish expedition was to Devil's Canyon (known by Indians as Haunted Canyon) in Kiowa County where a mine was developed in 1738. This would be in the area of the North Fork of the Red River in the far northwest range of mountains and is known for fine placer gold. The workers of this expedition were attacked by Kiowas and all were killed, but had buried the gold while they were digging in for the fight.
There was a hidden Spanish working mine, this area was under French control at the time. One of the Spanish miners got drunk and spoke out of turn letting the French know about the mine. The other Spaniards hid what gold they had smelted and left.
In 1882, a Mexican arrived in the area and approached a local rancher for help locating a specific hill. The Mexican found some stones with maps but would not divulge any information unless the rancher would give him an amount of money they had agreed upon, it was more than the rancher could come up with. It was said to be around a hill referred to as Buzzard Hill. Two rivers in this area are Elk (Cowskin River) and Grand River were in the area.
Spanish carvings and drill holes have been found in the area of Brushy Mountain, Buzzard Hill and Brushy Mountain. There is supposed to be ingots of gold buried within a buried shaft. The rancher and his son later found old tools and the smelter the Spaniards used but never found the sealed mine. This is in Le Flore County some think just north of Spiro and others put it near Pocola, Okla. Could gold be in these rivers leading off these mountains, you decide.
Some of the rivers and creeks known to have gold occurrences are the Kiamichi River, north fork of the Red River and Otter Creek at the headwaters, which at one time had a smelter and Middle Otter Creek.
Many mines were dug in late 1880s, some 12 miles south of Granite and on Navajo Mountain west of Snyder. These mines usually were instrumental in creating towns where the miners lived had families, socialized and traded for merchandise and food. A few of the gold mining camps and towns were Wildman, Oreanna, Meers, Doris and Golden Pass.
Three mines, called Old Maid, Mennonite and the Half Moon were hard rock mines owned by George Ison. They produced shinny quartz that was sprinkled with small quantities of gold, silver, copper, tin and molybdenum. In early years, George panned the creek and rivers in the foothills of the Wichita Mountains for gold.
The Snake Mine in 1904 had 40 tons of ore smelted at the local Remer smelter southwest of Mount Sheridan on Blue Beaver Creek. The assay showed 80 ounces of silver some copper and platinum and the gold present was worth an average of $400 per ton. This is a lot of gold per ton.
One of many legends
Northern regions of McCurtain County some Indian friends came to me and said: 'We have found two mines of gold and you may share them with us.'
"On going to the nearest mine with one of these Indian friends, I found a vein of pure gold filling a fissure or crevice in a ledge of out-cropping rock at the head of a small mountain gorge or canyon. Next we went about fifty miles away from that location and found a vein was buried so deep beneath the surface that we decided to sink a shaft to reach it. This we began doing in our crude way without the aid of an engineer.
"In some way that I never knew the story of our operations reached the ear of the Interior Department at Washington. The department declared this a violation and an order came to us through Governor Allen Wright to stop."
Places to Go
K-River Campground
There is one campground that offers gold dredging and power sluicing otherwise known as high banking. K-River Campground has pull-through RV pads, bathrooms and hot showers, washer and dryer, country store and Wi-Fi.
- Located: eight miles north of Antlers, Oklahoma on Hwy 2.
- Phone: (580) 298-2442
- Email: manager@kriver.com.
Black Mesa State Park, located close to Kenton at tip of Oklahoma panhandle. Dinosaur tracks, Located near Black Mesa, dinosaur tracks have been preserved in a sandstone creek bed. Be sure to walk down into the creek bed to see two sets of tracks. The dinosaur tracks are located on private property, but viewing is allowed during daylight hours.
- Located at: County Road 325, Kenton, OK 73946
- Park Office: (580) 426-2222
Inside the main building, you will see a rare collection of rocks, gems, and minerals displayed from around the world. There is an interesting assortment of sea shells and coral, along with jewelry and an extensive collection of bottles and decanters.
- Located at: 19934 East Pine Street, Catoosa, OK 74015
- Phone: (918) 266-3612
Rockhounds, are you eager to see some amazing rocks, gems, minerals, and other rare treasures? Well, then prepare to discover a spectacular collection at the Oral Roberts University's Elsing Museum. Part of the collection contains minerals and rocks that were found in the Tri-State Mines. These mines are now closed, which makes visiting this museum an "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity.
Oral Roberts University's
Elsing Museum
777 South Lewis Ave.
Tulsa, OK 74171
(918) 495-6161
Alabaster Caverns State Park
The highlight of this 200-acre park is the 3/4-mile cavern formed of alabaster, a rare form of gypsum, making it the largest natural gypsum cave in the world open to the public. A horseshoe pit, volleyball court, camping areas, picnic tables and shelters, group shelters with electricity, water and grills are available at the park. Wild caving is a unique adventure at the park as well.
Hwy 50 and Hwy 50-A,
Freedom, Oklahoma 73842
(580) 621-3381
Alabastercaverns@OklahomaParks.com
Gemstones, minerals and fossils
Oklahoma designated the Barite Rose (commonly known as the "rose rock") as its official state rock in 1968. The distinctive red soil colors them in hues ranging from reddish brown to cinnamon. Barite roses are relatively abundant in central Oklahoma. Many found in Cleveland County.
- Oklahoma designated the hourglass selenite crystal as its official state crystal in 2005. Hourglass selenite is common to the ancient salt plains in north central Oklahoma.
- Oklahoma designated Saurophaganax Maximus as the official state fossil in 2000 as a symbol of Oklahoma's rich paleontological heritage.
Five major fossil discoveries were made in Oklahoma between the 1930s and 2010. Most counties of Oklahoma, especially the eastern and southern parts of the state, have fossils of some type that range in age from 85 million to about 500 million years old.
- Saurophaganax Maximus, a carnivorous dinosaur from the Jurassic Period was five meters high with a length of 12 meters.
- Aciculopoda Mapesi is the oldest known shrimp at 370 million years old as well as the oldest decapod found in the United States.
- Trilobites: Many areas of Oklahoma list trilobite discoveries because the land was under shallow sea in the Paleozoic Era. The fossils range in age from 250 million to 540 million years old. The Cretaceous Period between 65 million and 144 million years ago saw many sea creatures such as cephalopods inhabit the area that would be Oklahoma. Clam and snail fossils are constantly discovered across the state.
- Acrocanthosaurus Atokensis, named to highlight the sizeable spines that go across certain areas of the dinosaur's body. The fossils indicate the 18-foot tall meat-eater was between 146 and 100 million years old.
- Sauroposeidon from the Jurassic period at 56 feet, the dinosaur is the tallest known specimen from southwestern Oklahoma. Recently fossils, which belong to long-extinct species of camel and horse, were found in July in the Packsaddle Wildlife Management Area. This deposit of camel and horse fossils are said to date back roughly five million to 12 million years, possibly much older, scientists who've examined the remains say.
- Galena and dolomite is found in the Picher district, Ottawa County. Well-crystallized brochantite some being of specimen-quality found in northern Garvin County near the community of Paoli.
- Aragonite sixling "Indian Money," found in Harper County.
- Gypsum "fishtail" twin, Olustee-Eldorado and Gypsum with malachite inclusions, Eagle-Picher Mine area, near Creta area, Jackson County.
- Quartz with multicolor chlorite inclusions found in McCurtain County.
- Gypsum "starburst" clusters and large gypsum crystals or large intergrown gypsum crystals up to 10 inches across found in Alfalfa County.
- Barite blades in a claystone geode and Radiating crystal structures in the interior of a barite nodules found near Indiahoma, Comanche County. Goethite on calcite in claystone geode, crystals several mm in length found near Byars, along the Garvin-McClain county line.
- Smoky quartz crystal found near Quartz Mountain State Park, Greer County.
- Terminated quartz crystal some smoky quartz with intrusions of chlorite sometines multicolor, or chlorite phantoms or Maganese oxide also quartz clusters some with above inclusions found in McCurtain County.
- Hemitite on and in calcite found in Murray County. Arsenopyrite or pyrite on sphalerite found in Ottawa County.
This is just a sampling of what can be found in Oklahoma.
Walter H. Eason is the Claims Researcher for the Gold Prospectors Association of America. He can be reached at weason@goldprospectors.org.
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