Island Mountain Copper Mine

This rock was assayed at 20% copper.

Photo Copyright, by Rob Lavinsky. I don't know the guy, or how he came by the photo's of these crystals, but these photos were taken from mindat.org. They are from the Island Mountain Copper Mine, just over the hill from Garberville. I was interested because we have so few gem quality rocks in our area. The description stated that they were up to 2mm. Whatever that means.

The Island Mountain Copper Mine is between Spy Rock and Alderpoint, on the Eel River. The mine is located in the South-West corner of Trinity County California. The mine produced ore from 1915 until 1930. They mined 4100 tons of copper, 140,000 ounces of silver, and 8,600 ounces of gold. I'll bet that you didn't know that the Eel river had gold did you? The copper deposit is part of a sulfide deposit made up of pyrite, chalcopyrite, and pyrrhotite. There is some gem quality rocks and crystals out there.

All of these minerals are found in what is described in wicapedia as a "shear zone in the Franciscan Assemblage" then they included a very colorful and interesting description of the Franciscan Assemblage, which if you could understand the words you already know about it, if you don't you will just be confused.

In researching "Eel River Jade I found this gem in "Old And Sold dot com":

"not too many years ago a huge jade boulder weighing over one thousand pounds was found in California near the area of the Trinity River. The boulder was one solid mass of every shade of green imaginable-and some of it was thought to be imperial green. And in Mendocino County, California, a large deposit of jade was found.
Jade, in both varieties, jadeite and nephrite, ranges in colors from white to dark green, but the imperial green jade is the most highly desired. A necklace of matched imperial beads has been valued at $100,000.
The finding of just one piece of jade can turn family picnics into wild scrambles in search for more. Watch for both nephrite and jadeite-although jadeite is rarer and therefore has more value. But watch for both of them along the beaches and in stream beds, and also watch for deposits of jade.
Watch for the rare jadeite at the North Fork of the Eel River,"

All of the above is pretty much true, and verifiable, but as you all know, I can remember a lot of stuff that I really never paid much attention to at the time, so the rest of this will be pure “Bullshistory” from my somewhat feeble recollections.

I don’t know exactly where the Island mountain Copper Mine is, but I think that it was on what was known, back in the sixties, as “The Simpson Ranch”. The Simpson Ranch was subdivided into parcels and sold off. The part with the mine on it was sold to a mining company. The mining company built a large dormitory type building for their workers and for stockholder visits. They were selling shares in the mining company and they were trying to encourage investors to buy in.

At some point during the reopening of the mine the mining company spilled a large amount of Copper sulfate ladened water into the Main Eel river. I’m not sure what the impact to the river was, all that I remember is the spill. The California Fish and Game closed the operation down, and restained them from any further operation at the mine site until they could prove that they could do it without damaging the river. The investors fled like fleas from a drowned dog.

The mining property was bought by a group of people that started “Heartwood College”, where they taught alternative medicine, holistic being, acupuncture, and massage. They remodeled Dr. Simpson’s house to become the cookhouse, a lunch room, and they held some classes there also. The dormitory was used for housing. They added greatly to the buildings, and have become quite popular, so they have grown. Heartwood was just recently sold to an heiress of the Campbell soup family, who also bought Hartsook Inn. The Hartsook is going to be a branch campus.

The original Simpson house/cook house was built by Southern Humboldt Building supply back in 1970? For Dr. Simpson from Eureka. Some of you Old-Timers will remember him. He was a very, very successful dentist. His add on TV. Was “Call Dr. Simpson, your friendly credit Dentist”. He would fix your teeth on credit, and finance your payments at a small interest rate. He was the largest dentistry provider in Humboldt County. Say what you like about how he got rich, he provided tooth care to people that otherwise couldn’t afford it. People were grateful, and almost always paid.

Let’s see… we were talking about a mine. There is a new potential mine at Island Mountain, a hard rock mine that would provide suitable hard rock for construction in the bay area. It would require the reopening of the railroad to ship the rock. On the surface, it sounds like it would cause a relatively small impact on the environment. And, it would bring those big machines that I dearly love. But I understand the nay-sayers already have gotten wind of it and will probably have something to say.

But if it all goes well, maybe I’ll get to fix the air conditioner on one of these big dozers. They always screw up the air-conditioner when they take them apart to move them. I usually trade my repair time for the opportunity to push a few rocks around. I doooo love machines!