The Idamont placer property is a well-developed placer site located near the boundary of Idaho and Montana borders near the Canada/US border. The property is easily accessible in the way of roads but is very remote and near the end of the old state route where it dumps into Boulder Creek. The roads are in good repair but steep and narrow. The Idamont placer is one part of a larger mining operation that was known as the Idaho Gold and Ruby, Leonia Gold, and overall, as the Leonia Gold Mining Property. The placer covers the region known to have originally contained gold, which was traced back up the mountain to the vein that would be known as the Leonia Gold.
The property covers a good amount of waterfront on Boulder Creek. The creek has a consistent flow and averages 2’ deep and 16’ in width. The composition of the material is river rock and granordite boulders. There are many boulders in the creek that are likely more than 10 tons. The potential for deposition of gold under these massive monoliths is very high. There are some black sands visible in small eddies along the creek bank.
There is no record of where the bedrock lies, it could be a foot, it could be 20. The gravels are well known and documented to be “gold-bearing” and until 1905, the primary value in the region was thought to be in the gold-bearing gravels. There is no formally documented recovery from the placer.
While it is reported that substantial gold deposits (over 300,000,000 yards) exist in the gravels, the importance of this deposit was downplayed when Idaho-Ruby submitted an application to build a dam on Boulder Creek for purposes of power generation. This power would have gone to the lode mines at Leonia Mines and the mining camp at Boulder City.
Financial difficulties precluded the development of the mines and by 1987 the mines were largely abandoned. While many remembered the miners camp at boulder city and the large Leonia workings, the placer deposits were largely forgotten.
Today the region is well known with locals for producing good flakes and the occasional nugget. This is without any formal mining operation or equipment.
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Mining Claim Quick Facts
Price: $32,000
Property Type:Idaho, Placer Mineral Claim
Property Status:For Sale
Acres:20
BLM Claim ID:IMC229994
Access :Easy 2WD Dirt Road
Total Workings:700+' of surface workings along creek