Salt Creek Group of Mines

The Salt Creek Group of Mines was worked by E.P. Connor as early as 1897, and this lucrative mining property was abandoned in 1916. The largest producer of gold of this mining property is the Corrine mine. Filmed on location June 6, 2023. Find out more about the Salt Creek Group of Mines in this video from Exploring Shasta County History...

  

The Sky Blue mine

Above: an advertisement for the Sky Blue mine by the Original Sky Blue Ledge Mining Company, from the Shasta Courier newspaper edition of July 23, 1864

In 1863 Colonel William Magee, a noted surveyor, miner, prospector, and resident of Shasta, California, located the quartz vein of the Original Sky Blue mine of the Middle Creek mining district.

After an examination of this vein, gold was extracted from it which yielded some lucrative high-grade gold that assayed well. After that Magee called it the Sky Blue and he began transitioning it into a quartz mine with a main haulage tunnel, winzes, raises, and drifts. This mine was situated on the east bank of the Sacramento River, just below Waugh’s Ferry. One of the best featured uncovered was an imposing ledge of gold & copper ore.

On April 8, 1863, Magee established the Sky Blue Ledge Company, of which he was the sole owner. Two years later, articles of incorporation were filed at Shasta for the Original Sky Blue Ledge Company by Colonel William Magee.

This company held its business meetings at Shasta. J. Van Schaik, another Shasta resident, was hired by Magee as superintendent at this mining property, and soon additional miners were employed to assist with the work. The first orders given by Magee were the existing haulage tunnel he had previously created. Later, additional extractions of gold and copper were made within the mine once they ran a drift back sixty feet and struck the main quartz vein.

The nearest stamp mill to the Sky Blue mine was the Pioneer Mill which was located on Spring Creek. The original Sky Blue Ledge Company negotiated a contract with the Pioneer Mill for the purpose of crushing their rock. Over 200 tons of rock at the Sky Blue mine was ready to be crushed by the powerful stamps. This rock contained excellent deposits of gold. The original Sky Blue Ledge Company and the Pioneer Mill finalized the contract that month for future shipments which were hauled to their mill by teams.

Other equipment that the Pioneer Mill owned was a small, crude quartz crusher and a ball mill from which it obtained particles from crushed quartz.

During the 1870’s ownership of the Sky Blue mine passed into the hands of Joseph Waugh, a resident of Middle Creek, who was the owner of Waugh’s Ferry.

In May of 1875 there is a record of this claim in the Index To Mining Claims Book I, It appears there were two additional Sky Blue mines in Shasta County at that time as well which were recorded as being near the town of Buckeye, in the Old Diggings mining district.

During October of 1878, assessments claimed that the rock from Waugh’s mine would pay him $300 per ton. Waugh became rich off this lucrative mining property. Years later, E.P. Connor, a local miner and prospector, acquired the Sky Blue mine, and on June 21, 1890, the Free Press newspaper of Redding reported the following:

“The Sky Blue mine above Middle Creek, owned by E.P. Connor promises to be one of the choice mining properties of the county. He has a shaft down 25 feet on a rich pay chute of rotten quartz, and rusty gold very rich. He proposes to run the old Sky Blue tunnel some 400 feet and tap this chute at a depth of 260 feet. The nature of the country is such that the mine can be opened up at a comparatively small expense.“

In 1902, the Sky Blue mine was purchased by the Redding Gold & Copper Mining Company for $20,000. The owner and president of this mining company was Thomas Gilbert. Other mines in Shasta County were included in this transaction and they were La Plant and Bedford Group near Keswick; Stabler group near Centerville, White Group near Igo.

Gilbert and his mining company began making plans to build a reduction-works on the Sky Blue mining property. The group still had ownership of the mine in 1906 and they held onto it until 1910 when the Redding Gold & Copper Mining Company sold it to W. Oberlin and R.F. Lind – natives of Ohio. The total amount of the purchase price was not released. After this time the Sky Blue mine became idle.

RESOURCES:

Sky Blue Ledge Company - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 11, 1863

Organized - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 11, 1863

Leg Broken - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 21, 1864

Delinquent Notice - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 18, 1864 

Spring Creek Mill - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 18, 1864

Spring Creek Mill - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 25, 1864

Original Sky Blue Quartz Mining Company (advertisement) - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, July 23, 1864

Original Sky Blue Quartz Mining Company (advertisement) - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, February 18, 1865

Incorporated - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, February 25, 1865

Index to Mining Claims Book 1 - page 238, Sky Blue mine, dated May 7, 1875

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 26, 1878

Joe Waugh - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 9, 1878

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 23, 1878.

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 7, 1878 

Joseph Waugh’s Quartz ledge - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 21, 1878

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 18, 1879 

Mining Notes - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, June 21, 1890

Crossed Over the River (Joseph Waugh obituary) - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 12, 1892

Mining and Scientific Press Volume 85, 1902, page 226 

Mines Register: Successor to the Mines Handbook and the Copper, 1906, Volumes 6-7 by Horace J. Stevens, page 851

The Engineering and Minining Journal Vol. LXXXIX, January to June 1910. Published by Hill Publishing, New York

Short Talks With Busy And Women - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, May 23, 1912

The Corrine: A Lucrative Mining Property

Adit one of the Corrine mine. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on August 1, 2016

The Corrine mine was part of the Salt Creek Group of Mines which included the Bonanza, Gold Coin, Jumbo and Phoenix claims. The Corrine was the largest lucrative producer of gold amongst them. It is located one mile west of Redding on Salt Creek, and was originally in the Lower Springs mining district. The mine is on the opposite side of the Salt Creek Trail along Highway 299 West. A miner and prospector by the name of E.P. Connor owned the mine in 1897. That year, Connor had an arrastra erected on his Salt Creek mining property.

The arrastra measured at 10 inches in diameter and it was used to help crush the ore. A ditch was dug by his miners from Salt Creek to the mining claims on the property. When water was available it assisted the miners in the extraction of the ore they sought after. In later years, the arrastra was torn down and it was replaced by a stamp mill. The stamp mill crushed the rock in a vertical position rather than a circular position like an arrastra did.

In 1901, C. Watson & W.D. Watson acquired a lease from Connor to work the mining property. The Watson brothers were exploring in a crosscut tunnel of 100 feet on the property and they cut out new drifts which were 3 ft., on the ledge of the tunnel. Drifts were a slightly horizontal passage ways which followed a vein of ore. They were also working on a series of upraises.

Above: a portion of the Corrine mining property, along Salt Creek. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on August 1, 2016.

In 1915, the Corrine mining property included 160 acres of land and it was owned by E.P. Connor and J.C. Connor of Redding. They hired two miners to operate their mine that year. The property contained four tunnels ranging between 60 to 430 feet long, and a 110 foot shaft, in which their miners toiled away in as they extracted the ore. The gold is mixed in with sulphides. It also contained a 200 foot pay shoot which was 15 inches wide. 

Above: adit two with its iron gate intact. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on August 1, 2016.

The Connor siblings placed a five stamp mill on the property which weighed 750 pounds in stamps. It crushed the rock for them that they obtained on the property. They also placed one Wilfrey table on the property. Wilfrey table’s were concentrating tables used by miners for preliminary scaling. A year later, the production of the Corrine mine stopped and the mine laid idled and abandoned. The production notes for this mine were not kept. 

On July 23, 2018, the Carr Fire which began near the junction of Carr Power House Road and Highway 299 West at Whiskeytown district ravaged places in its course of destruction from there to this historic mining site. The fire burnt through Salt Creek’s channel and burned through the abandoned mine. Today, its part of the Kett mining district due to the boundaries of the Lower Springs mining district changing. The adits on the property survived the disastrous flames but the adit of number two had its iron gate blown out.

Above: the destruction from the Carr Fire. A burnt out Salt Creek channel at the Corrine mine. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on August 12, 2018.

Above: the destruction from the Carr Fire, a portion of the Corrine mine tailing's. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on August 12, 2018.

Above the destruction from the Carr Fire at adit one. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on August 12, 2018.

Above: a close-up of adit one at the Corrine mine.  This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on August 12, 2018.

Above: looking in between the iron gate at the entrance of the tunnel of adit one.  This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on August 12, 2018.

Above: destruction from the Carr Fire, note the burnt ground. A portion of the Corrine mining property, along Salt Creek. Above: a portion of the Corrine mining property, along Salt Creek. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on August 12, 2018.

Above: destruction from the Carr Fire, note the burnt ground. A portion of the Corrine mining property, along Salt Creek. Above: a portion of the Corrine mining property, along Salt Creek. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on August 12, 2018.

Above: adit two with its iron gate blown out. Note: the burnt rock walls. Destruction from the Carr Fire, the fire went inside this portion of the tunnel. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on August 12, 2018.

Above: the view inside adit two. Note: the burnt rock walls. Destruction from the Carr Fire, the fire went inside this portion of the tunnel. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on August 12, 2018.

Above: a slightly different view of adit two. Note: the burnt rock walls. Destruction from the Carr Fire, the fire went inside this portion of the tunnel. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on August 12, 2018.

RESOURCES: 

Appendix to the Journals of the Senate and Assembly of the Thirty-Second Session, of the Legislature of the State of California, Volume V.  Report of State Mineralogist ©1897 Sacramento, California, by A.J. Johnston, page 364.

The Corrine mine

Mining Notes - The Shasta Courier newspaper, February 25, 1899

The Engineering And Mining Journal Volume LXXII  ©1901, Page 146.

Mines and Mineral Resources of Shasta County, Siskiyou County, and Trinity County, by G. Chester Brown, ©1915 published by California State Printing Office. Page 39.

Mines and Mineral Resources of Shasta County, ©1974, Philip A. Lyden & J.C. O'Brien