Portal logo
GEMS AND PRECIOUS STONES.                              677
NEVADA.
Considerable prospecting and development work was done in 1913 in the opal field in the valley of Virgin Creek, Humboldt County, Nev., about 25 miles southwest of Denio, Oreg. A number of new claims were located, which extended the known opal-bearing area. Precious opal was discovered in this region in 1908, in which year several claims were located. Other claims have been located suc­cessively each year since, and some of them have been worked on a small scale. The yield of precious opal from some of the prospects has been very encouraging in regard to both quality and quantity. Other claims are still of doubtful value.
This opal field was visited in August, 1913, but only three days were available for examination of the deposits. Under favorable conditions the region can best be reached from Jungo, Nev., a station on the Western Pacific Railway, by automobile stage to Denio, Oreg. From Denio the trip can be completed by automobile or other con­veyance. •
Virgin Creek drains northward, joining Beet Creek at the head of anarrow canyon below which place it is called Thousand Creek. The valleys above the canyon form an irregular-shaped basin with outlet into Thousand Creek. The opal deposits are in certain formations exposed in the sides of the valley of Virgin Creek.
The opal claims examined He at elevations ranging from 5,100 feet to 5,400 above sea level. Some of them are in rather gently sloping ground in the foothills along the sides of the valley and others are in the steep valley walls. The plateau country in which Virgin Valley has been carved has an elevation of over 6,000 feet above sea level. The region is desert, but water supplied by several large springs, some of which are hot springs, flows into Virgin Creek and Beet week. The creek waters are used for irrigation and supply several large meadows for the different ranches.
Four groups of claims were visited, the location of which will be given with respect to McGee's ranch, about a mile south of the junc­tion of the creeks. The principal group is that in which the claims of Ivan Dow, George D. Mathewson, Alfred Thompson, and others are located, about 3 miles southwest of McGee's ranch in the west side of the valley. Among these claims are the Cracker Jack, Bonanza, Opal Queen, and Opal Queen Fraction. Most of the opal from this group of claims has been handled by the International Gem Co., of New York. Another group of claims belonging to D. Roop, E. McGee, and George T. Hill is situated about 5 miles south of McGee's ranch. W. B. Seitz and C. A. Howard hold claims to a third group about 5 miles southwest of McGee's ranch. In the fourth group is the Stone Tree claim, owned by several parties, about a mile and a half north of west of McGee's ranch.
Bateman & Boyd have the Big Horn claim nearly half a mile east of the Stone Tree claim. George W. Brown has located a claim about 2-1/4 miles west of W. K. Ebeling's ranch, or Z\ miles north of west of McGee's ranch. A large number of other claims have been located in the opal field, some of which may prove of value.
Developments have not been large, and most of the work is limited to pits, small open cuts, and trenches. Some of the deposits are so situated that practically all of the mining can be done by open cuts,