Hoosier Gulch

Hoosier Gulch
Mining district
Hoosier Gulch is located in Colorado
Hoosier Gulch
Hoosier Gulch
Location within Colorado
Coordinates: 39°22′12″N 106°01′48″W / 39.37000°N 106.03000°W / 39.37000; -106.03000
Area
 • Total
97 ha (240 acres)
Highest elevation
3,430 m (11,250 ft)
Lowest elevation
3,200 m (10,500 ft)

The Hoosier Gulch was a mining district, also known as the Hoosier Pass district, and Overlaps Pollock, located along the Park-Summit County line, at the headwaters of the Blue River, ten miles south of Breckenridge, at over 10,000 feet in elevation.

Mining operations

The mining district contained the Bemrose-Bostwick placer camp, founded by William Bemrose and Henry M. Bostwick, which primarily produced from 1871 to 1877 and between 1914 and 1941. The Bemrose-Bostwick placers were worked intermittently as there was not sufficient water, but had produced $25,000 worth of gold by 1879. In 1926 the camp was reportedly giving "good results" with a total of 8,572.58 ounces of gold mined (worth $177,210.96) as of 1921 but it still could only be mined for part of the year due to the water scarcity and the elevation. The district also contained other gold placer camps that were being worked by around 1860, and there were some operations as late as 1959.

Discovery

The gulch was discovered by men from Indiana, "The Hoosier State," in 1860, providing its name, and it in turn provided the name of Hoosier Pass, located nearby.

References

  1. 1 2 Corbett, Thomas B. (1879). The Colorado directory of mines, containing a description of the mines and mills, and the mining and milling corporations of Colorado, arranged alphabetically by counties, and a history of Colorado from its earliest settlement to the present time (1st ed.). Denver: Rocky Mountain News Print Company. p. 412. ISBN 978-0-598-27718-3. Hoosier Gulch Placer. Owned by Henry M. Bostwick and William Bemrose; claim comprises 240 acres of placer ground; situated in Hoosier gulch, ten miles from Breckinridge. It is worked by Hydraulic pressure, and has a flume 1,000 feet in length; yield to date, $25,000. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Parker, Ben H. (1960). The Geology of the Gold Placers of Colorado. Golden, Colorado: Arthur Lakes Library, Colorado School of Mines. pp. 200–201.
  3. 1 2 3 Dunn, Lisa G. (2003). Colorado Mining Districts, A Reference (2015 Revised ed.). Golden, Colorado, USA: Colorado School of Mines Library. pp. 310–311. ISBN 0-918062-19-5.
  4. 1 2 Henderson, Charles W (1926-03-22). Mining in Colorado A History of Discovery, Development, and Production (PDF) (Report). U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 2026-01-17.
  5. ↑ Raymond, Rossiter W. (1874). Mining Industry of the States and Territories of the Rocky Mountains, including Descriptions of Quartz, Placer, and Hydraulic Mining; Amalgamation; Concentration; Smelting, etc. New York: J. B. Ford and Company. p. 283. Commencing in the extreme southern part of the mining-districts of the county, and on the head of the Blue River, the first mining-camp is that of Bemrose & Co., in Hoosier gulch, a tributary of the Blue River. This company is working in an old side-channel in good pay-grael, overlaid with cement. Four men are employed during an average season of only two and one-half months, caused by the early failure of water at the location worked, which is over 10,000 feet above sea-level. The ground pays about $12 per day to the hand employed.
  6. ↑ Colorado Mining Directory. Kansas City: Colorado Mining Directory Company. 1883. p. 523. Bemrose and Bostwick Placer.—Wm. Bemrose, Alma, and Henry M. Bostwick, Denver, owners; claim covers 266 88-100 acres; situated in Hoosier Gulch, Montgomery district, seven miles from Alma; located in 1860, and patented in 1880; developed by two ditches one and one-fourth and two miles in length, and two flumes 100 and 250 feet in length, and some other workings.
  7. ↑ Burnell, James R. (2015). ON-007-08D Historic Metal Mining Districts of Colorado (Data) – v20201112. Golden, CO: Colorado Geological Survey. p. 537. According to Henderson (1926), the Hoosier Gulch District overlaps the Pollock District. Lying along the Park-Summit County line, the district consists of historic placer operations at the headwaters of the Blue River (Dunn, 2003). It bounds the Upper Blue River District to the north. It is interpreted to include the mines discussed in the paper by Singewald (1951). Parker (1974) describes the Bemrose and Bostwick Placers as producing from 1871 to 1877 and again sporadically from 1914 to 1922. Singewald (1951) describes the Bemrose Mine, in addition to the productive placer, as consisting of a shaft into mineralized rock consisting of replacement deposits in Pennsylvanian rocks. The mines of Monte Cristo Gulch are also included in the Hoosier Gulch District. The Monte Cristo Mine also produced a small amount of gold and silver from a lode deposit possibly in Dyer Dolomite.
  8. ↑ "MINES AND MINING NEWS - Late items from the Mines of the District for the Week ". The Summit County Journal & Breckenridge Bulletin. 1914-06-05. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-08-10. I. F. Lincoln, one of the lessees of the Bemrose-Bostwick placer in Hoosier gulch, states that the actual washing of the gravel of the high bars of that rich gulch was commenced this week. He expects that a good clean-up for the season will be made, as there is a better supply of water for hydraulic mining this year than for several years.
  9. ↑ Memorial at the Hoosier Pass on the Continental Divide, United States Forest Service, 1929, retrieved 2024-08-11, Named for Hoosier Gulch, discovered and worked as a placer camp by Indiana men 1860