Nogal — LINCOLN COUNTY, NEW MEXICO County

Source: Tom Ashworth's Prospectors Cache (tomashworth.com / Mike Higbee / 49erMike). Author: Tom Ashworth. Original page: lincoln_nm.shtml. State index: https://web.archive.org/web/20040830075749/http://www.tomashworth.com/goldloc.shtml Area: Nogal. Map coordinates are an approximate county centroid — not a precise claim site. Occasional small scale work goes on in the placers and lode deposits in the Sierra Blanco Range 6 miles south of Nogal, which is about 8 miles east of Carrizozo. Most of the placers were worked dry and were in Dry Gulch. This area has been worked intermittantly since 1865, but the production is still small, probably less than 1,000 ounces. Nogal Creek Reported By: Tim Haller Nogal Creek is located in the Lincoln National Forest in Lincoln County, New Mexico. Nearly all of the placer ground is currently claimed. However, one 20-acre unpatented claim is operated by Lincoln County Gold Mining Company in Ruidoso New Mexico. They sell daily and yearly passes to a claim which is located approximately three miles south of Nogal, New Mexico Nogal Creek flows mostly year round, except during severe drought. Creek flow is very shallow and narrow. Depth to bedrock on the Lincoln County Gold Mining Company claim is over 10 feet. A deep backhoe excavation on the claim provides access to the deeper gravels. However, bedrock is not encountered even in the bottom of the excavation. Panning, sluicing, highbanking and dredging (up to 2.5 inch) are allowed. The placer gold in the Nogal Creek deposits consists of coarse flakes. Occasional small, flattened nuggets of one to two pennyweight are sometimes found. Very little fine gold is present. On rare occasion, small flattened wire gold is found. But the rule here is mostly coarse, flat, bright flakes. The load source is auriferous pyrite in quartz veins. The quartz veins occur in Tertiary andesite and monzonite country rocks. The free gold was typically seen as wires and small thin "sheets" within and parallel to the strike of the veins. It is assumed that the oblong flat flakes found in the placers originated as small wires. The placers were discovered in the mid-1870s. Lodes were discovered and worked from the late 1870s to the early 1900s. The two best known mines in the district are the Helen Rae and the American. Both mines are located in Dry Gulch, approximately 1/2 mile west of Nogal Creek. Recorded placer production in the Nogal District is only 200 ounces, although more was undoubtedly recovered. Public access to the earlier described claim is obtained from Mr. Tom Deal at the Lincoln County Gold Mining Company in Ruidoso, New Mexico. Map coverage includes the Lincoln National Forest Map, the White Mountain Wilderness Map, and the Nogal, New Mexico quadrangle.