REDISCOVERING THE COMPTON MINE OF THE SHASTA MINING DISTRICT

Above: modern graffiti appears inside the main haulage tunnel of the Compton mine, this photo was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on September 22, 2020.

The Compton mine was a producer of gold which was located in the boundaries of the Shasta mining district about 1 1/2 mile south of the town of Keswick, and south of Keswick Dam on the west side of the Sacramento River, at the mouth of Rock Creek on forty acres of land. In 1915, this mining property was owned and operated by G.F. Bassett, of Redding. Bassett developed the property from a vein of quartz associated in granite-porphyry.

Mining records indicate it contained a small pay-shoot. Bassett brought in two small five-pound stamp mills on the property near the adit of this lode mine which crushed the rock so he could obtain the ore it produced. The stanchions of these stamp mills remain on site along the present-day Sacramento River Trail at that location. 

Active Sacramento River Trail users have seen the trail which leads to the Compton mine many times, but the adit is blocked by a rock in front of it and you can't see the opening until you climb to the top of the trail. It's a very tight squeeze to get into. It contained an adit with a short drift, and two small winzes above the adit which have been plugged. Production notes were not kept for the Compton mine. 

Above: this YouTube video was filmed on location of the Compton mine by Jeremy Tuggle on September 22, 2020.

RESOURCES: 

Mines and Mineral Resources of Shasta County, Siskiyou County, and Trinity County, by G. Chester Brown, ©1915 published by California State Printing Office.

Mines and Mineral Resources of Shasta County, California – County Report 6 – by Philip A. Lydon and J.C. O’ Brien ©1974 by California Division of Mines and Geology

The Compton Mine