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Posted by: HitchMar Explorer May 20 2016, 04:30 AM

I'm hoping I'm in the right spot in a couple of ways. One, this is the correct forum. Two, you guys can help me out with some info....
I'm a miner out here in Arizona so my info is some what limited, and I'm not finding much on the internet, which really kind of surprises me. A friend of mine was telling me about a old mine complex she use to play at as a kid. The mine is in Black Hawk, Co. She remembers the name of the mine was The Senator Mine, its located on Miners Mesa Rd, behind the Isle of Capri Casino in Black Hawk, just before you start up the hill. I can't find any info on this old mine at all doing a Google search. And its not showing up on any maps of mines in the area.
What I'm curious about is when was the mine's run, when it opened and closed. What was mined, ounce per ton, what kind of adits and shafts can you find there. Pretty much any history I can pass onto her....
What I'm also curious about is why there appears to be no new or current mining being done in or around Black Hawk. The dirt up there I wouldn't think has been cleaned out of all the shinny stuff. I would think the War Act of World War 2 effected the area the same as it did out here. One day everyone up and left, and almost none of them came when it was over. You can do good out here working several different ways...
Thanks in advance for everyone's time put in on this forum. I hope someone out there knows something....

Posted by: Crusty May 20 2016, 06:03 AM

Found this Googling. Page 344 has info on this mine

http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/0094/report.pdf

Posted by: GeoMatt May 20 2016, 01:45 PM

That USGS paper references the only Senator Mine that I am familiar with, but it is near Dumont, not Black Hawk. There are a couple of unnamed mines in the area the OP refers when looking at the mapping tool here..... http://www.westernmininghistory.com/mines
The coordinates they have are sometimes off, but overall I've had good luck in some pretty remote regions with the data available on the site.

Posted by: HitchMar Explorer May 21 2016, 02:57 AM

Thanks for the Report. I found it quite interesting. I was very surprised to see it was a silver mine vs a gold mine. Good read just the same!!!

Posted by: HitchMar Explorer May 21 2016, 02:59 AM

Thanks for the map site!!! Its been bookmarked!!!!

Posted by: Gene Kooper May 21 2016, 11:49 PM

Here is a link to the plat for the http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/survey/default.aspx?dm_id=193021&sid=0c3ltoba.dxi&surveyDetailsTabIndex=1 Sur. No. 243 that is hosted on the BLM "GLO Records" web site.

And a bit of information on the mine. It doesn't appear it was a large producer.

Source: https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Mining_American.html?id=IrI_AQAAMAAJ page 299.

The above information on the Senator Lode is included in a serialized article (beginning on page 238) entitled, "The Mineral Resources of Gilpin County" by Jas. F. Callbreath Jr.

I did not find any production information in my collection of USGS publications for the Senator Mine, BUT if you have lots of spare time, download several of The Mining Reporter volumes from Google Books. The Mining Reporter was a weekly trade journal published in Denver that includes lots of "weekly" information on Colorado mines in the section, "Mining News" (under Colorado and Gilpin County).

Posted by: HitchMar Explorer May 22 2016, 01:16 AM

Thank you for that info. The more I find out about this place, the stranger in nature to me it becomes. A link in the earlier thread took me to a report written 1917. It sounds by the report the mine had already closed down. There was no owner info in it but it did give some production stats. Just under a third of an oz per ton in gold, But a very respectable 50 oz per ton of silver. I'd dig and make little rocks out of big rocks for a third oz of gold. But at even $16 an oz for silver, that'd be a pass even for me...

I had heard also thru my friend, that the mine had been tied up in litigation back in the mid 1900's, 1950's maybe later, over ground water contamination. No trial, they came to settlement, and the shaft was capped.

I have seen some reports where the City of Black Hawk tried to outlaw panning in the streams and rivers, I would guess with in city limits. Is that why there appears to be no active mining in the area???

Thanks again for the info, everyone has been very generous about looking into this for me!!!!

Chris...