Mining activity in Nevada, 1851-1995

Metadata also available as

Metadata:


Identification_Information:

Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: Lorre A. Moyer

Publication_Date: 2004

Title: Mining activity in Nevada, 1851-1995

Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: digital movie

Series_Information:

Series_Name: Open-File Report

Issue_Identification: OFR 2004-1244

Publication_Information:

Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey

Online_Linkage: <http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2004/1244/>

Description:

Abstract:

This digital movie displays significant patterns of Nevada mineral activity from 1851 to 1995.

Purpose:

The digital movie was created to visually describe Nevada mineral activity patterns and the historical factors that have influenced these patterns. The factors include transportation routes, major historical events, population trends, significant mineral deposits, mining districts, mineral production, and gold booms.

Supplemental_Information:

The movie is comprised of three Microsoft PowerPoint files (.ppt). The main PowerPoint movie, movie.ppt, includes links to two self-looping subsets: mines+routes.ppt and districts+routes.ppt

Time_Period_of_Content:

Time_Period_Information:

Range_of_Dates/Times:

Beginning_Date: 1851

Ending_Time: 1995

Currentness_Reference: dates for which historical data were available

Status:

Progress: Complete

Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency: None planned

Spatial_Domain:

Bounding_Coordinates:

West_Bounding_Coordinate: -119.617000

East_Bounding_Coordinate: -114.274000

North_Bounding_Coordinate: 41.840000

South_Bounding_Coordinate: 35.466000

Keywords:

Theme:

Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

Theme_Keyword: mineral activity

Theme_Keyword: precious metal

Theme_Keyword: base metal

Theme_Keyword: industrial mineral

Theme_Keyword: mineral production

Theme_Keyword: population

Theme_Keyword: transportation route

Theme_Keyword: gold price

Theme_Keyword: mining district

Theme_Keyword: deposit

Theme_Keyword: mine

Theme_Keyword: precious metal deposits

Theme_Keyword: base metal deposits

Theme_Keyword: industrial mineral deposits

Theme_Keyword: mineral deposit

Theme_Keyword: mining activity

Place:

Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

Place_Keyword: Nevada

Place_Keyword: Carson City

Place_Keyword: Churchill

Place_Keyword: Clark

Place_Keyword: Douglas

Place_Keyword: Elko

Place_Keyword: Esmeralda

Place_Keyword: Eureka

Place_Keyword: Humboldt

Place_Keyword: Lander

Place_Keyword: Lincoln

Place_Keyword: Lyon

Place_Keyword: Mineral

Place_Keyword: Nye

Place_Keyword: Pershing

Place_Keyword: Storey

Place_Keyword: Washoe

Place_Keyword: White Pine

Access_Constraints: None

Use_Constraints:

Any hardcopies utilizing this data set shall clearly indicate its source. If the users have modified the data in any way, they are obliged to describe the types of modifications they have performed. The user specifically agrees not to misrepresent this data set, nor to imply that changes they made were approved by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Point_of_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: Lorre A. Moyer

Contact_Organization: U.S. Geological Survey

Contact_Position: Geologist

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: mailing address

Address: USGS C/O Mackay School of Mines MS-176

Address: University of Nevada, Reno

City: Reno

State_or_Province: NV

Postal_Code: 89557

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 775-784-5552

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 775-784-5079

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: lorre@usgs.gov

Data_Set_Credit:

Joe Tingley, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, provided unpublished annual totals (by district and county) for Nevada precious metal, base metal, and industrial mineral production, and Gary Raines, USGS, provided input on the movie design.

Security_Information:

Security_Classification_System: None

Security_Classification: Unclassified

Security_Handling_Description: None

Native_Data_Set_Environment:

Microsoft Windows 2000 Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 1; ESRI ArcCatalog 8.3.0.800, ArcView 3.3, PowerPoint, Microsoft Office 2000


Data_Quality_Information:

Attribute_Accuracy:

Attribute_Accuracy_Report:

Field checking of all location information is recommended. Mine location and production data were derived from the U.S. Geological Survey's Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) and the U.S. Bureau of Mines' Minerals Availability System/ Minerals Industry Location System (MAS/MILS) which vary widely in source quality as well as accuracy. Mining district boundaries are from the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Report 47 (Tingley, 1992); however, they are rough representations and are not meant to be accurate, ground-truthed characterization of the data.

Logical_Consistency_Report: No tests were performed.

Lineage:

Source_Information:

Source_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: K.R. Long

Originator: J.H. DeYoung, Jr.

Originator: S.D. Ludington

Publication_Date: 1998

Title:

Database of significant deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc in the United States

Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: spreadsheet

Series_Information:

Series_Name: Open-File Report

Issue_Identification: 98-206B

Publication_Information:

Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey

Type_of_Source_Media: Excel spreadsheet

Source_Time_Period_of_Content:

Source_Currentness_Reference: publication date

Source_Citation_Abbreviation: Long and others, 1998

Source_Contribution:

Data for Nevada precious and base metal deposits were extracted from Excel spreadsheet SD4.xls and put into Excel table sigdep.xls. Data fields include location, production, and date of discovery for significant precious metal and base metal deposits. For this data significant deposits contain at a minimum of one of the following metals: 2 metric tons of gold, 85 metric tons of silver, 50,000 metric tons of copper, 30,000 metric tons of lead, or 50,000 metric tons of zinc.

Source_Information:

Source_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: Joseph V. Tingley

Publication_Date: 1992

Title: Mining districts of Nevada

Edition: Second

Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: map

Series_Information:

Series_Name: Report

Issue_Identification: 47

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: Reno, Nevada

Publisher: Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology

Source_Scale_Denominator: 1000000

Type_of_Source_Media: CD-ROM

Source_Time_Period_of_Content:

Source_Currentness_Reference: publication date

Source_Citation_Abbreviation: Tingley, 1992

Source_Contribution:

Tingley (1992) provided ArcView shapefiles ( version 3.x) imported (from ARC/INFO 7.1.2 E00 files) for Nevada mining districts, (file: mdist_p), and major transportation routes in Nevada, (file: roads_a).

Source_Information:

Source_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: E.J. McFaul

Originator: G.T. Mason, Jr.

Originator: W.B. Ferguson

Originator: B.R. Lipin

Publication_Date: 2000

Title: U.S. Geological Survey mineral databases - MRDS and MAS/MILS

Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data

Series_Information:

Series_Name: Digital Data Series

Issue_Identification: DDS-52

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: Reston, VA

Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey

Type_of_Source_Media: CD-ROM

Source_Time_Period_of_Content:

Source_Currentness_Reference: publication date

Source_Citation_Abbreviation: McFaul and others, 2000

Source_Contribution:

Location, discovery dates, and production information for large industial mineral occurences in Nevada were extracted from the Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) database and the Minerals Availability System/ Minerals Industry Location System (MAS/MILS) database provided in a FoxPro Version 2.6 format.

Source_Information:

Source_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: Mona Reno

Publication_Date: 2002

Title: Nevada County populations 1860 -2000

Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: spreadsheet

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: online

Publisher: Nevada State Library and Archives

Other_Citation_Details:

This data was compiled by the Nevada State Data Center Librarian from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census decennial census reports at the Nevada State Library and Archives.

Online_Linkage:

<http://dmla.clan.lib.nv.us/docs/nsla/sdc/CountyPops/all_data.htm>

Type_of_Source_Media: online

Source_Time_Period_of_Content:

Source_Currentness_Reference: publication date

Source_Citation_Abbreviation: Reno, 2002

Source_Contribution:

This online source provided Nevada population statistics by county from 1860 to 2000 in the html file all_data.htm.

Source_Information:

Source_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: J.V. Tingley

Publication_Date: 2003, unpublished data

Title: Nevada Mineral Production 1859 - 1992

Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: spreadsheet

Type_of_Source_Media: disc

Source_Citation_Abbreviation: Tingley, unpub. data, 2003

Source_Contribution:

This source provided precious, base metal, and industrial mineral annual total production data 1859-1992 for Nevada (by district and by county) in file Au-Ag production 1849-1992.xls.

Source_Information:

Source_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: National Mining Association

Publication_Date: 2003

Title: Historical Gold Prices - 1833 to present

Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: document

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: online

Publisher: National Mining Association

Other_Citation_Details:

The gold prices given in the PDF file (NMA, 2003) were derived from the World Gold Council (for the period 1883-1994), and from Kitco.com (for the period 1995-2000).

Online_Linkage: <http://www.nma.org/pdf/gold/his_gold_prices.pdf>

Type_of_Source_Media: online

Source_Citation_Abbreviation: NMA, 2003

Source_Contribution: NMA provided data on historic annual gold prices.

Source_Information:

Source_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: Joseph V. Tingley

Originator: Robert C. Horton

Originator: Francis C. Lincoln

Publication_Date: 1993

Title: Outline of Nevada mining history

Series_Information:

Series_Name: Special Publication

Issue_Identification: 15

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: University of Nevada, Reno

Publisher: Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology

Type_of_Source_Media: paper

Source_Citation_Abbreviation: Tingley and others, 1993

Source_Contribution: This source provided background on Nevada mining history.

Source_Information:

Source_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: Environmental Systems Research Institue, Inc. (ESRI)

Publication_Date: 2002

Title: ESRI DATA & Maps 2002

Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data

Series_Information:

Series_Name: ESRI Data & Maps

Issue_Identification: 2002

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: Redlands, California, USA

Publisher: ESRI

Other_Citation_Details:

Data derived from the U.S. National Transportation Atlas Railroads at 1:100,000 scale

Type_of_Source_Media: CD-ROM

Source_Citation_Abbreviation: ESRI Data, 2002

Source_Contribution:

This source provided ArcView shapefiles (version 3.x) for Nevada state (states.shp) and county (counties.shp) boundaries, and railroad system (rail100k.shp)

Source_Information:

Source_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: L. A. Moyer

Publication_Date: 2003, unpublished image

Title: Nevada mine visit photo

Other_Citation_Details:

This JPEG image was scanned and clipped from a photo taken by Lorre Moyer at a Nevada mine site visit.

Type_of_Source_Media: scanned image

Source_Citation_Abbreviation: Moyer, unpub. image, 2003

Source_Contribution:

This image of a Nevada mine visit was used as visual enhancement in the animation.

Process_Step:

Process_Description:

Location data for significant precious and base metal deposits of Nevada were extracted from SD4.xls (Long and others, 1998), and used to create an event theme that was converted to sig_dep.shp. The spatial data was then sub-divided into several shapefiles representing decade intervals for the period 1851-1995, using the fields: DISC_YR (year of discovery); PROD_DATE (date of production start); PROD_END (date of production end); ACTIVE_MIN (active or inactive date).

 

Location data for large industrial mineral deposits of Nevada were extracted from the MRDS data (McFaul and others, 2000) by searching the fields COMMOD (commodity type) and selecting industrial mineral types of occurrences, as well as DEP_SIZE (deposit size) = L (large). The location information was used to create an event theme that was converted to mrds_industrial.shp. The spatial data was then sub-divided into several shapefiles representing decade time intervals for 1851-1995 using the fields: YR_DISC (year of discovery); YR_1st_PRO (year of first production); YR_LAST (year of last production). Location information for Nevada industrial minerals was extracted from MAS/MILS data (McFaul and others, 2000) using the field COMMOD (commodity type) to select industrial mineral mines that had activity information. An event theme was created from the location data and converted to the mils_industrial.shp. The spatial data was then sub-divided into several shapefiles representing decade time intervals for 1851-1995 using the fields YOD (year of discovery); YIP (year of initial production): and YLP (year of last production).

 

The mineral deposit locations were symbolized in ArcView 3.2 with a color-coded square for producing deposits (magenta = precious metal, brown = base metal, and gold = industrial mineral), a small black square in the middle of the color-coded square indicates a pre-production status, and a large black square indicates an inactive mine. Corresponding mining districts for the mineral deposits were extracted from the mining district shapefile mdist_p (Tingley, 1992). The districts were subdivided into shapefiles representing decade time intervals, and the polygons were symbolized a pale yellow with a purple border indicating the boundary of the mining district and were used as a general summary of activity for each decade. Note that not every mineral deposit lies within or is represented by a mining district.

 

Unpublished annual Nevada production data in (Tingley, unpub. data, 2003) were used to create an Excel line chart showing total Nevada mineral production in 1987 dollars. Microsoft Paint 5.1 software was used to slice the chart into JPEG images for animating the mineral production progression over time, as well as summarizing and emphasizing the three major boom periods: the Comstock, the Tonopah-Goldfield, and the Carlin. Production data for precious metal, base metal and industrial minerals (Tingley, unpub. data, 2003) were used to create bar charts by decade and show the production activity of the mineral types. The bars were color-coded to match the mineral occurrence color-coding and exported as JPEG images for the PowerPoint presentation. Historical gold price data was obtained online from the National Mining Association and was imported into an Excel spreadsheet to create a gold price line chart exported to a JPEG image and used in the presentation to show the extraordinary increase in gold prices during the 1980's. 

 

Online historical census data (Reno, 2002) for Nevada Counties was used to show patterns in population changes by decade. Ten classifications representing population range from >1000 to >1,000,000 were created. Shapefiles of county population were created for each decade with the counties color-coded and exported from an ArcView layout to JPEG images and inserted into the PowerPoint slides.

 

Shapefiles for major highways (Tingley, 1992) and railroad routes (ESRI data, 2002) were available, however shapefiles for historic trails were not found. After some online research it was evident that major trails closely resembled the major highway routes. The Old Spanish Trail became Interstate 15, the Immigrant Trail became Highway 80, and the Old Pony Express and stagecoach trail became Highway 50. Two small diversions of the Old Spanish Trail and the immigrant trail and one on the Pony Express trail became minor roads that were copied from the roads shapefile into the created trails shapefile. One small loop on the Eastern portion of the Pony Express trail was digitized on screen and added. The trails therefore are not highly accurate but are reasonably close representations and adequate for the digital movie purposes. The time periods assigned to the railroad routes are not accurate but are generalized to display the route development from the 1860's Transcontinental Railroad (Central Pacific routes) and progressing to the 1900's Southern Pacific and Northern Nevada routes. The man in a hard hat image used to enhance the text was scanned from a photograph from a Nevada mine visit (Moyer, unpub. image, 2003).

 

The data was projected to UTM Zone 11 NAD 27 in ArcView 3.2 and layouts were created at a scale of 1: 5,474,178. The scale selection was based on the preferred size of the layout for the presentation. The presentation was created as a movie (movie.ppt) with text for educational purposes and as two short animations without text displaying the mining districts (districts+routes.ppt) and mine sites (mines+routes.ppt) in a manner more appropriate for exhibit booth display purposes.

Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: ESRI Data, 2000

Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: McFaul and others, 2000

Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: Moyer, unpub. image, 2003

Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: NMA, 2003

Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: Long and others, 1998

Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: Reno, 2002

Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: Tingley and others, 1993

Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: Tingley, 1992

Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: Tingley, unpub. data, 2003

Process_Date: 2003

Process_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: Lorre A. Moyer

Contact_Organization: U.S. Geological Survey

Contact_Position: Geologist

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: mailing and physical address

Address: USGS C/O Mackay School of Mines MS-176

Address: University of Nevada, Reno

City: Reno

State_or_Province: NV

Postal_Code: 89557

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 775-784-5552

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 775-784-5079

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: lorre@usgs.gov


Spatial_Data_Organization_Information:

Direct_Spatial_Reference_Method: Vector

Point_and_Vector_Object_Information:

SDTS_Terms_Description:

SDTS_Point_and_Vector_Object_Type: Entity point

Point_and_Vector_Object_Count: 195


Spatial_Reference_Information:

Horizontal_Coordinate_System_Definition:

Geographic:

Geographic_Coordinate_Units: Decimal degrees

Geodetic_Model:

Horizontal_Datum_Name: North American Datum of 1927

Ellipsoid_Name: Clarke 1866

Semi-major_Axis: 6378206.400000

Denominator_of_Flattening_Ratio: 294.978698


Entity_and_Attribute_Information:

Overview_Description:

Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:

The data was subdivided into decades by using the discovery and production date fields. No changes were made to the source data for mineral production and gold prices, however the data were converted to chart format using Excel. Population data by decade obtained online were added to the ESRI county shapefile which was clipped for Nevada. Transportation route data were subdivided by decade according to the approximate time that route existed based on online research.

Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation:

Spatial data fields for mineral occurrence and mining district locations were used as they existed in the original sources. Refer to original source metadata.


Distribution_Information:

Distributor:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Organization_Primary:

Contact_Organization: USGS, Information Services

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: mailing address

Address: Box 25286

City: Denver

State_or_Province: CO

Postal_Code: 80225

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 303-202-4200

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 303-202-4695

Resource_Description: Downloadable Data: <http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2004/1244/>

Distribution_Liability:

Although all data and software have been used by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the USGS as to the accuracy of the data and related materials and (or) the functioning of the software. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in the use of these data, software, or related materials. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Standard_Order_Process:

Digital_Form:  online: < http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2004/1244 />

Digital_Transfer_Information:

Format_Name: ppt

Format_Version_Number: Microsoft PowerPoint 2000

Transfer_Size: 0.035

Fees: Subject to change


Metadata_Reference_Information:

Metadata_Date: 20030926

Metadata_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Organization_Primary:

Contact_Organization: U.S. Geological Survey

Contact_Person: Lorre Moyer

Contact_Position: Geologist

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: mailing address

Address: USGS C/O Mackay School of Mines MS-176

Address: University of Nevada, Reno

City: Reno

State_or_Province: NV

Postal_Code: 89557

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 775-784-5552

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 775-784-5079

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: lorre@usgs.gov

Metadata_Standard_Name: FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata

Metadata_Standard_Version: FGDC-STD-001-1998

Metadata_Time_Convention: local time

Metadata_Extensions:

Online_Linkage: <http://www.esri.com/metadata/esriprof80.html>

Profile_Name: ESRI Metadata Profile


Generated by mp version 2.7.34 on October 3, 2005