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GeneralHarris Creek District and Goose Creek District, IL-KY Fluorspar District

14th Sep 2016 14:38 UTCJamison K. Brizendine 🌟 Expert

I have been trying to clean up and organize several of the Mindat pages for the Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District as they have not been updated for several years. I noticed on a few Mindat locality sites, there seems to be confusion on the Goose Creek District* and the Harris Creek District* and which mines belong to which district.

*Before I begin too much in depth here there has been some discussion in the past on what to call specific geographical area of mines (“Group”, “District” or “Sub-District”). Mindat and Denny et al. (2013) use “Sub-District”, while Goldstein (1997) refers to geographical areas as a “group”.

However, the oldest references that I could find that refers to a geographical group of mines is “district” found in two of Louis Wade Currier’s papers (1937a) and (1937b). Older references, such as Weller et al. (1920) [A paper that Currier co-authored and his first published work] and Bastin (1931) chose to focus on a few mines based upon the type of deposit (vein or blanket), while Bain (1905) only focused on two major producing fluorspar “areas” (Rosiclare and Cave-in-Rock [You have to remember that the only way to transport any fluorspar ore was on the Ohio River in 1905, the Illinois Central Golconda Branch wouldn’t be extended to Rosiclare until 1919 (Weller et al. 1952]).

Hatmaker and Davis (1938) in personal communication with Louis Currier (1935) also chose to use the word “district” as Louis Currier favored this term while he was compiling his research.

With that being said, I will start referring to these two geographical areas as “Districts” following the examples in both of Currier’s papers (1937).*

Using a map provided by Denny and Seid (2014), it becomes obvious that these two districts are not the same, despite a footnote in the Mindat.org, Harris Creek page saying, “…also known as Goose Creek District”. Mines in the Goose Creek District operated (and subsequently closed) many years earlier than the two prominent mines in the Harris Creek District: The Denton Mine and the Annabel Lee Mine.

The first mention of a fluorspar prospect in the Goose Creek District was described in Weller et al. (1952), was the J. Oxford Prospect:

“Thin veinlets of fluorspar exposed in fault zone in creek. Prospecting and churn drilling done nearby. Near Cadiz” (Weller et al. 1952) . One thing to note was that the table that was provided in this report was compiled in December 1942, even though the study was published ten years later. Coordinates by the Township and Range survey system were provided by Weller et al. (1952). The operator’s names were noted as “Rigsby, Martin and Frailey”. (I’ve already updated this page).

The next mention of the Goose Creek District was provided by Finger et al. (1960), on a figure in their study, which they called it the “Goose Creek Vein”. In their report they did not expand on any specific deposits, nor give further mention of the Goose Creek District.

When Baxter et al. (1963) wrote their report; they listed three major operating mines in the Goose Creek District at the time: These were the Greene Mine (also known as the Spivey Mine), the Hoeb Mine and the Goose Creek Mine. The J. Oxford Prospect in Weller et al. (1952)’s study was not listed in Baxter et al. (1963)’s report, but does show a “mine dump” in the general vicinity of where the prospect was in relation to the coordinates. Either the prospect was abandoned (likely) or the authors chose not to mention it because it was too small.

Baxter et al. (1963) also mentioned that the three mines that operated along the Goose Creek Fault system, showed a 500 foot displacement at the Goose Creek Shaft and a 250 foot displacement at the Greene (Spivey) Shaft (Baxter et al. 1963). The Goose Creek Fault system is not described in Weller et al. (1952) nor in Finger et al. (1960).

Baxter et al. (1963) describes the vein deposits of the Goose Creek District here:

Commercial vein deposits that are chiefly fluorspar, a relatively recent discovery in the mapped area, occur along a fault near Goose Creek. Major production has come from the Goose Creek and Hobe (sp.) mines in SE1/4 sec. 17, T. 11 S., R. 9 E. (For those not from the United States, this is referring to the aliquots by the Bureau of Land Management System or “township and range”), and minor production in sandstone has come from the Greene mine to the northeast in sec. 16. These ore bodies are reached by vertical shafts about 300 feet deep, but at the Greene mine the main body of ore lies at a depth of about 500 feet, approximately 200 feet below the lowest level of the shaft. (Baxter et al. 1963). It should be noted that Denny et al. (2013) and Denny & Seid (2014) made a typographical error dropping the “e” at the end of the Greene.

In Ross Lillie’s (1988) article, Minerals of the Harris Creek District, the Hoeb Mine or the Goose Creek Mine were not mentioned, but Ross briefly stated that the Spivey Mine had characteristics of both stratiform and vein deposits. The map provided in the 1988 article, shows the Harris Creek District and the Cave-in-Rock District separated by the Rock Creek Graben. The Harris Creek District is on the northwestern side of the graben and the Cave-in-Rock District is on the southeastern side of the graben. It should also be noted that this is the first published reference (at least that I have found) of the “Harris Creek District” (with it solely being the Denton Mine and the Annabel Lee Mine).

In Alan Goldstein’s (1997) map in the Mineralogical Record article on the Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District, he incorporates the Denton and the Annabel Lee mines of Lillie’s Harris Creek District into Finger et al. (1960)’s original area of the Goose Creek Vein. He relabels the now combined area as the Goose Creek Group (District).

In the most recent publication on the I-K-F-D, Brett Denny et al. (2013) separated Goldstein’s (1997) overall area into two distinct districts, the Harris Creek District and the Goose Creek District. Denny et al. (2013) stressed that Goldstein’s “Group” should, in fact, be two separate districts as the Denton Mine and Annabel Lee Mine in the Harris Creek District are bedding replacement type deposits, while the older mines in the Goose Creek District are vein types.

Therefore I propose the following changes (I will keep the Sub-District category since this is what is already established):

J. Oxford Prospect, Goose Creek Sub-District, Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District, etc. (http://www.mindat.org/loc-168089.html)

Goose Creek Mine, Goose Creek Sub-District, Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District, etc. (http://www.mindat.org/loc-168005.html)

Hoeb Mine, Goose Creek Sub-District, Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District, etc. (http://www.mindat.org/loc-168054.html)

Spivey Mine (Greene Mine), Goose Creek Sub-District, Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District, etc.

(http://www.mindat.org/loc-168669.html)

http://www.mindat.org/loc-168016.html is a duplicate locality of http://www.mindat.org/loc-168669.html and needs to be deleted.

Denton Mine, Harris Creek Sub-District, Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District, etc. (http://www.mindat.org/loc-3756.html)

The page for the Annabel Lee Mine (http://www.mindat.org/loc-3752.html) is correct and does not need to be changed.

References for the Goose Creek District:

Weller, J.M., Grogan, R.M., and Tippie, F.E. (1952) Geology of the fluorspar deposits of Illinois. Illinois State Geological Survey, Bulletin 76: 1-147.

Finger, G.C., Risser, H.E., and Bradbury, J.C. (1960) Illinois fluorspar. Illinois Geological Survey, Circular 296: 1-36.

Baxter, J.W., Potter, P.E., and Doyle, F.L. (1963) Areal geology of the Illinois fluorspar district, Part 1, Saline Mines, Cave in Rock, Dekoven, and Repton Quadrangles. Illinois State Geological Survey, Circular 342: 1-43.

Goldstein, A. (1997) The Illinois-Kentucky fluorspar district. The Mineralogical Record: 28 (1): 3-49.

Denny, F.B, Devera, J.A., and Kittler, A. (2013) Bedrock Geology of Saline Mines Quadrangle, Gallatin and Hardin Counties, Illinois. Illinois State Geological Survey, Illinois Geologic Quadrangle Map, IGQ Saline Mines-BG: 1-10.

Denny, F.B, and Seid, M.J. (2014) Bedrock geology of Hardin County, Illinois. Illinois State Geological Survey, scale 1:48000: 2 sheets

References for the Harris Creek District:

Lillie, R.C. (1988) Minerals of the Harris Creek Fluorspar District, Hardin County, Illinois. Rocks and Minerals: 63 (3): 210-226.

Goldstein, A. (1997) The Illinois-Kentucky fluorspar district. The Mineralogical Record: 28 (1): 3-49.

Denny, F.B, Devera, J.A., and Kittler, A. (2013) Bedrock Geology of Saline Mines Quadrangle, Gallatin and Hardin Counties, Illinois. Illinois State Geological Survey, Illinois Geologic Quadrangle Map, IGQ Saline Mines-BG: 1-10.

Denny, F.B, and Seid, M.J. (2014) Bedrock geology of Hardin County, Illinois. Illinois State Geological Survey, scale 1:48000: 2 sheets

Other References:

Bain, H.F. (1905) The fluorspar deposits of Southern Illinois. United States Geological Survey, Bulletin 255: 1- 75.

Weller, S., Butts, C., Currier, L.W., and Salisbury, R.D. (1920) The geology of Hardin County and the adjoining part of Pope County. Illinois State Geological Survey, Bulletin 41: 1-416.

Bastin, E.S. (1931) The fluorspar deposits of Hardin and Pope Counties, Illinois: State of Illinois, Illinois State Geological Survey, Bulletin 58: 1-116.

Currier, L.W. (1937) Geologic factors in the interpretation of fluorspar reserves in the Illinois-Kentucky field. United States Geological Survey, Bulletin 866-B: 1-10

Hatmaker, P., and Davis, H.W. (1938) The fluorspar industry of the United States with special reference to the Illinois-Kentucky District. Illinois State Geological Survey, Bulletin 59: 1-128.

Currier, L.W. and Wagner, O.E. (1944) Geology of the Cave in Rock District. United States Geological Survey, Bulletin 942: 1-71

14th Sep 2016 19:25 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager

Wow!!! Thanks Jamison.

20th Feb 2017 14:30 UTCJamison K. Brizendine 🌟 Expert

The following changes were never made to these localities. I am bumping the thread so it is visible again.

Summarizing my paragraphs above, Denny et al. (2013) states that the Goose Creek Sub-District were mines exploiting vein deposits, while the Denton and Annabel Lee mines exploited bedding replacement deposits.

To reiterate the changes needed:

(http://www.mindat.org/loc-168089.html), should be: J. Oxford Prospect, Goose Creek Sub-District, Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District, etc.

(http://www.mindat.org/loc-168005.html), should be: Goose Creek Mine, Goose Creek Sub-District, Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District, etc.

(http://www.mindat.org/loc-168054.html), should be: Hoeb Mine, Goose Creek Sub-District, Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District, etc

(http://www.mindat.org/loc-168669.html), should be: Greene Mine (Spivey Mine), Goose Creek Sub-District, Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District, etc.

(http://www.mindat.org/loc-3756.html), should be Denton Mine, Harris Creek Sub-District, Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District, etc.

http://www.mindat.org/loc-168016.html and http://www.mindat.org/loc-168669.html are duplicate localities.

20th Feb 2017 16:21 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager

Done. Thanks!!! Please check them over. What happens to https://www.mindat.org/loc-275860.html ?

20th Feb 2017 17:53 UTCJamison K. Brizendine 🌟 Expert

https://www.mindat.org/loc-275860.html is the same as the Goose Creek Sub-District and should be deleted.

I have put the appropriate references where needed for the pages. Thanks Rob

20th Feb 2017 18:19 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager

Done. Thanks so much!!!

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