Mine Projects

Location (State, UTM, Lat/Long, T/R/Sec.): Oregon T29S R2W Sec 34 NENW, UTM E 505500, UTM N 4762600.

Land Ownership: Until recently, the two mines were believed located on the private (patented) portion of land. An abandoned mine land (AML) inventory was conducted by the Roseburg District in late 1996. This inventory, using Global Positioning System equipment, determined that the processing portion of the Umpqua Mine is on Bureau of Land Management (BLM)-managed land.

Project Selection/Priority Criteria: The site is located approximately six miles from the confluence of Deadman Creek and the South Umpqua River. The State of Oregon has designated all tributaries to the South Umpqua river for use as:

• Public and Private Domestic Water Supply (with adequate pretreatment and natural quality to meet drinking water standards)
• Industrial Water Supply
• Irrigation
• Livestock Watering
• Anadromous Fish Passage
• Salmonid Fish Rearing
• Salmonid Fish Spawning
• Resident Fish and Aquatic Life
• Wildlife and Hunting
• Fishing
• Boating
• Water Contact Recreation
• Aesthetic Quality
• Hydro Power

Narrative: The Umpqua Mine, located in T 29S, R2W Sec 34, is situated on lands administered by the BLM near the headwaters of a tributary to Deadman Creek, a Tier 1 Key Watershed considered habitat for Threatened and Endangered (T&E) and Candidate T&E fish species. The site consists of an old mercury mine and processing facility constructed in the early 1900s. Some of the material mined on the adjacent Maud S. mine was processed at the Umpqua mine after the plant was built.

The Umpqua mine has been commonly referred to as the Maud S. mine because of its close proximity to the older patented property. The two mines are located approximately 1600 feet apart with the Maud S. approximately 400 feet higher in elevation. Both operations consisted of mining, milling, and processing of cinnabar (Hgs), and, by distillation and amalgamation, into mercury. Development of the mines began in the early 1920s with most of the production occurring in the late 1920s and early 1930s although the Umpqua mine produced until 1943. There has been no known mining associated activity at these mines since 1943. Adits, ore car rails, hoppers, both rotary and brick furnaces, and amalgamation plants remain abandoned at the sites.