In the mid-1970’s I spent a good deal of time working on projects in Central and Southwestern Colorado. Among several areas of interest in the Gunnison area was an exploration project that incorporated much of the Italian Mountain intrusive complex, an area some 15 miles NE of Gunnison. This is one of the premier mineral collecting spots in the western US, one that has been recognized for the unusually fine specimens found there since it was first described by geologists in the 1870’s.

Later discovery of perhaps the only commercially significant North American deposit of gem-grade lazulite adds considerable interest. It is a place of sublime beauty that is seldom visited by mineral collectors because of it’s remoteness, elevation and lack of access for motorized vehicles.

Italian Mountain complex looking west from Italian Creek drainage

This writing will just introduce the reader to the area and the interesting geology and mineralogy there. There is a variety of literature available concerning the general area and the Italian Mountain complex itself. From the collectors point of view, the best reference is a fine article in The Mineralogical Record by Henry Truebe, (March-April, 1984).

Henry spent some time over a period of several years doing thesis work, mining specimens and evaluating the commercial potential for specimens in the area. He identifies and locates all of the significant species found there.

Italian Mountain is located between the Taylor River and Cement Creek drainages and is best approached from the east from a jeep trail that, starting just north of Taylor Reservoir, follows North Italian Creek to the area of the Star Mine in Star Basin. Several mines in this area produced small amounts of lead, zinc and silver from replacement ore bodies in limestone. The ponds in Star Basin are large enough to produce some fine trout for those interested in fishing. From Star Basin the trail turns south, rounding the east end of the long east-west trending ridge that separates Star Basin on the north from Stewart Basin to the south.

Stewart Basin with South Italian Mountain on left and Central Italian Mountain to right.
Vehicle is near the base of the trail that follows the east ridge to summit area.

American Flag Mountain forms a high North-South trending escarpment east of Stewart Basin. A foot trail from the south side of this ridge provides access from the ridge on the east flank of the main peak to the primary collecting area in a saddle at a contact zone just north of and below the 4,078 meter (13,380 foot) summit.

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Author on east ridge. Note colorful brown alteration of sedimentary rocks near summit and the lighter intrusive quartz monzonite porphry to the right.

Access from the head of Cement Creek follows a trail on the ridge northwest of the North Italian Mountain where the lazulite is found and skirts the peak of North Italian Mountain and approaches the summit of (Central) Italian mountain from the north across a talus slope. This is by far the most difficult access and the trail from the east is recommended. Note that the lazulite deposit is located on patented claims and is off limits to collecting without permission from the owners. Truebe located lazulite in several small occurrences around the main peak of Italian Mountain, but none proved to be of commercial interest.
The three peaks of the Italian Mountain intrusive complex are related to three intrusive ingneous stocks, the youngest of which is about 34 million years old and is usually described as a quartz-monzonite-porphyry (QMP). These rocks intrude Paleozoic sedimentary rocks that intrude limestones, dolomites, shales and quartzite. In these reactive rocks adjacent to the contacts with the QMP main stock and related intrusive dikes are developed skarn zones that contain the primary minerals of interest.

Steeply dipping beds of Leadville Limestone northeast of North Italian Mountain at the head of Cement Creek. The lazulite deposit is below and on a ridge to the left.

Italian Mountain summit from saddle to north. Note sedimentary beds and light-colored intrusive dikes and contact.

Looking north from peak to saddle collecting area. Note digging. Light-colored QMP talus and upper Cement Creek in background.

While there are some 80 mineral species described from the area, the most important and accessible to collectors are found in a relatively small area near the summit of Italian Mountain. These include vesuvianite (idocrase), garnet var. grossular, prenite, clinozoisite, epidote, diopside, chabazite and heulandite. Several pits have been opened on contact zones where these minerals have formed in skarns associated with intrusives and shaley sedimentary rocks of the Beldon formation. My favorite spot is in the saddle north of the main peak. Here the the west slope drops sharply some 500 meters to the Cement Creek valley and to the east is a near vertical drop of some 100 meters to a talus slope above Star Basin.

Ponds in Star Basin from saddle area north of main peak of Italian Mountain

In the 1970’s there were some remnant cables attached to the vertical cliffs below this area. Presumably they were used by some of Truebe’s crew to evaluate the contact zones on the cliff face. There are fine vesuvianite crystals here, up to 5-6 cm, although the best are those up to about 2.5 cm both on matrix and as floaters in collapsed pockets.

Vesuvianite, about 1cm, on grossularite-skarn matrix

Larger crystals, particularly those found near the east edge of the saddle area, tend to be corroded and may show unusual silky, fibrous vesuvianite surfaces. In addition, this is an area where there are gemmy grossularite crystals up to (rarely) 2cm.

Heulandite crystals to 3mm from saddle area.

The Leadville Mine northeast of Gerlach in Washoe County, Nevada, has produced a variety of metals from ores associated with porphyritic dikes in andesite. There is a mention in the literature that there were large fluorite crystals associated with the deposits, although there are no real details describing the occurance. It was worth a trip to see this area and some new country and to check out some geode areas on the north side of the Blackrock.

We left Reno early and had breakfast at Bruno’s in Gerlach, the iconic restaurant on the Black Rock-Smoke Creek junction. We traveled by paved and then gravel roads about 35 miles NE to the turn into the Leadville District. A good jeep trail leads to the mine site. It was a very windy and cold day with showers at the 6,000 plus foot elevation, but the flowers were out and a lone antelope and several groups of mustangs didn’t seem to mind the weather. We spent several hours climbing over mine dumps and looking at prospect pits on the main structure and to the southeast on several parallel dikes. The dumps produced several specimens of massive galena, one of sphalerite and numerous samples of sulfide-rich waste rock. There was no recognizable fluorite on the dumps or on the mineralized structure on a single exposure on the drainage south of the main workings.

We left Leadville and drove north to check an area where Sam Knipmeyer, my digging partner, had prospected with his dad in the 80’s. There is a nice display of petrified logs next to the road, protected from passing rock hammers by a sturdy fence. We returned to the north edge of the Black Rock Desert and turned NE again on Soldier Meadow road. We decided not to drive on the playa as it had showered much of the day and might have turned the track to mud. We passed an opal mine (formerly, Little Joe) and proceeded to the Mud Meadows Reservoir and turned south along the west flank of the Black Rock Range. This track follows the approximate route of the 49er’s as they treked to the Highrock Canyon and the Northwest. We passed the site of Hardin City, history unknown. Ruins consist of two eroded piles of cut ash fall tuff blocks that were buildings near a boggy spring.

Top, Hardin City Ruins – Bottom, Double Hot Springs

Some 5 miles to the south is Double Hot Springs, a series of pools with temperatures in the dangerous range. It was to late for a bath, so we turned back north a mile or so to a flat dry camping spot. It was windy and rainy all night but the area was surprisingly dry in the morning.

After breakfast and packing up camp, we re-traced our route to the north and found a track into the hills to the east. The area is reported to have a variety of chalcedony geodes weathering from basalt. We did find a number of specimens, nothing spectacular, and a lot of chips from sites along the flanks of the valley. Some were of a very pretty red jasper and had clearly been shaped as scrapers. The highlight, actually, was at the end of a small box canyon in one of the basalt layers where we found a nesting pair of prairie falcons. They were very upset with our visit but calmed down quickly as we left.

Seeing rain to the south and fearing a muddy track on the playa, we again headed south to Double Hot Springs. We took pictures and reflected on the marker with a quote from a log dated August, 1849, in which the writer remarked on the springs and the fact that they had rested and “boiled beans” (in the springs) as they passed, on the way up the trail. We then headed SW to the track across the Black Rock where for 35-40 miles one can drive in nearly a straight line at 50-60 miles per hour. The dust plume was spectacular!