Basin (Cataract, Comet) District

Basin (Cataract, Comet) District is a past producer of gold, silver, quartz, tin in Jefferson County, Montana, in USGS's large output class. USGS gives a discovery year of 1870. It is one of 437 historic gold producers USGS lists in Jefferson County, and number 1 when they are sorted by output class.

Facts

USGS status
Past producer
Output class
large (USGS class)
Commodities
Gold, Silver, Quartz, Tin, Copper, Lead, Kyanite, Stone, Uranium, Arsenic, Antimony, Zinc
Discovered
1870
County
Jefferson County
State
Montana
Land status (BLM data)
Federal land in a US Forest Service national forest or grassland
USGS record
60001629

Source: USGS Mineral Resources Data System (retrieved 2026-10-13). The database was last updated around 2011, positions can be approximate, and "producer" does not mean a mine is operating today. "Output class" is a code whose meaning changed over the years, so compare sites inside this data and do not read it as tonnage.

This location is mapped as federal land. Public land is not an invitation to enter old workings. Ask the managing agency about access, claims and closures.

Gold sites nearby

320 other USGS gold sites within 12 miles. The Jefferson County page lists the biggest.