OPHY-5

Historical Record

OPHY-5 was a 20-acre unpatented lode claim in Boise County, Idaho. Located in the historic Boise Basin district, this claim featured gold-silver mineralization in Idaho's proven gold country.

Ophir Creek runs quiet, like a lot of old mines these days. But of all the little drainages threading throughout the Boise Basin, this is one of the few that was lucky enough to be recorded by name - and for good reason! Sitting at the place just before Ophir Creek joins the Woof Creek,five unpatented placer mining claims,Ophy I through V,sit atop of some of the richest gold ground the United States has to offer! An area twice surveyed by government geologists Clyde P. Ross in 1934 and again by A.L. Anderson in 1946, the two cataloged their experience exploring the neighboring Gold Hill, Ophir Creek, and the mine upstream that altogetherclaimed almost $200 million in gold today!

Exploring upstream from the Ophy claims, Anderson was curious what made the ground around here in the Boise Basin so rich. The Boise Basin as a whole is known to be a tremendous gold producer - over three million ounces of gold were found around Idaho City between 1863 and 1959. In Quartzburg, just to the Northwest of the Ophy claims, Gold Hill had produced up to $8,000,000 ($183,000,000 today!) in gold starting as early as 1864 and ending around 1929. You can read either Ross's entry about the mineHERE, on page 253, or Anderson's entry about the mineHERE, on page 282.

Placerville, two miles down the road, was one of the first camps to boom around all this gold and one of the fastest. The townsite was laid out on December 1, 1862. Six months later it had 300 buildings and five thousand souls. Today, only forty-eight people live there at 4,308 feet. Despite the wealth the mines generated back in the 1930s and plenty of gold to get, two devastating forest fires in 1929 and 1931 closed many of the mines and chased a lot of people away. Now, the lands around Ophir Creek run a little quieter than it used to...

The whole of the Boise Basin rests on an enormous body of granite called theIdaho Batholith— a mass that underlies most of Boise National Forest. But granite alone doesn't make gold mines.

Claim Features (Historical)

• 20 acres of unpatented lode ground
• Located in Idaho, Boise County, Boise Basin District
• Primary commodity: Gold
• Historic mining area with proven mineral potential
• Sold through Mountain Man Mining™