J-Silver

Historical Record

J-Silver was a 20.66-acre unpatented lode claim in the Goodsprings Mining District, Clark County, Nevada, encompassing two historic sister mines: the silver-bearing Pilgrim and the gold-bearing Red Cloud.

Type of Claim: Unpatented Lode (NV105275755)

Size of Claim: 20.66 Acres

Mining Commodities: Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead, Zinc

State/County: Nevada, Clark County — Goodsprings Mining District

Accessibility: Mostly paved road, sedan accessible

Closest City: Las Vegas, Nevada (about 25 miles)

Prior Workings: 400+ feet underground plus surface workings

Cell Phone Reception: Strong

Type of Deposit: Lode

In the mountains a little ways outside of Las Vegas, just before the little town of Goodsprings, lie two sister mines: the silver-loaded Pilgrim and the gold-laden Red Cloud. Out of these mines flowed tons of lead and zinc, but in between these commodities came hundreds of ounces of gold and silver.

Production reports from the early 1900s and modern equipment testing both revealed that the entire host rock is filled with small amounts of gold and silver, becoming richer in seemingly irregular pockets within the mines. In the past, miners tunneled to the richest rock; the entire host rock could still be extracted and leached for both gold and silver.

From the Red Cloud, past production drew close to 2,000 tons of ore from its single 300-foot shaft, leaving behind nearly hundreds of feet of underground workings spread across four adits. From the Red Cloud alone came more than $250,000 in today's money of gold from its yellowed stopes — historic production value, not a resale figure — with plenty more unexplored since 1914.

The Pilgrim mine, just up the road from the Red Cloud, held its own shiny secret: gray crystals of carbonate lead passed onto the mills contained 20–25% lead and 15–25 ounces of silver. Descending to 120 feet at its lowest point, this sister mine to the Red Cloud was smaller, but with a rich silver average the ground was bursting with silver.

The Red Cloud and Pilgrim mines were so intertwined they almost run the risk of bumping into each other underground, with shafts and adits exploring three distinct host rocks: Red Cloud's break-away alluvium, the Pilgrim's galena-heavy dolomite, and gold-rich quartz porphyry in between. The Goldspring Mining District has long captured miners' attention — oxidized minerals as deep as 200 feet created caves full of colorful carbonate and sulfide crystals.

Economic Profile: Lode operation, significant past-producer development status, gold/silver/copper/lead/zinc commodity type, significant deposit size. Deposit MAS/MILS IDs: Red Cloud Mine MRDS #10294400, Pilgrim Mine MRDS #10246496.

Geologic Structure: Pilgrim — Monte Cristo Formation (dolomite, limestone, siltstone, with minor mudstone/shale and sandstone). Red Cloud — alluvium, undifferentiated coarse and fine detrital material. Target ore mineralogy: Red Cloud showed visible native gold, pyrite, limonite, cinnabar, malachite, azurite, chrysocolla and chalcopyrite; the Pilgrim showed carbonate of lead, hydrozincite, smithsonite, hemimorphite and wulfenite.

Claim Features (Historical)

• 20.66 acres of unpatented lode ground covering two historic sister mines — the Pilgrim and the Red Cloud
• Located in Clark County, Nevada, Goodsprings Mining District
• Primary commodities: Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead, Zinc
• Mostly paved road access, sedan accessible — about 25 miles from Las Vegas
• 400+ feet of documented underground workings across four adits plus surface exposure
• Historic gold and silver production well-documented since the early 1900s
• Sold through Mountain Man Mining™