Badger Pass (Pioneer Mountains)

Badger Pass
Elevation	6,755 ft (2,059 m)
Traversed by	Montana State Highway 278
Location	Beaverhead County, Montana, United States
Range	Rocky Mountains
Coordinates	45°14′02″N 112°57′01″W

Badger Pass (el. 6755 ft.) is a high mountain pass in Beaverhead County, Montana.[1] It is located between Bannack, Montana and Dillon, and traversed by Montana Secondary Highway 278.[2][3][4]

The Badger Pass Mine is located at 45.21659 and W -112.95087.[5] A "miniature gold rush" took place in the 1930s, with the discovery of an unusual sandstone formation on both sides of Badger Pass Road which turned out to contain gold, and was valued "as high as $42 a ton."[6]

The Badger claim is in the SE1/4 of section 26, T6S, R11W, north of the Ermont No. 19 shaft. It was claimed during the 1932 gold rush by Hurly Leach and D. V. Erwin. The mine was developed by an inclined shaft at least 110 feet deep into a silicified replacement body in Jefferson Dolomite. The mine was worked from 1933 to 1936 and again in 1941. Total production was 859 tons containing 330 ounces of gold, 123 ounces of silver and 102 pounds of copper.[7]

References

1. "Badger Pass, Montana - Map and Latitude Longitude GPS Coordinates". Retrieved 2012-09-13.
2. "Getting Here and Around – Bannack". Fodor's Travel Guides. Retrieved 2012-09-13.
3. "Big Hole River Access and Lakes - Montana Fly Fishing". Archived from the original on 2012-09-19. Retrieved 2012-09-13.
4. "Bannack State Park in Dillon Montana". Archived from the original on 2011-11-24. Retrieved 2012-09-13.
5. "Badger Pass Mine USGS Bannack Quad, Montana, Topographic Map". Retrieved 2012-09-13.
6. "Find $48 values in sandstone formation. Dillon". Spokesman-Review. March 1936. Retrieved 2012-09-13.
7. "HISTORIC CONTEXT. Sub-district of the Argenta District. The Ermont sub-district". Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) - 2atech. Montana Abandoned Mine Lands. Archived from the original on 2012-12-28. Retrieved 2012-09-13.

• USGS Geographic Names Information Service