This property is no longer a mine. It was reclaimed under Montana Department of Environmental Quality regulations in 2003 and 2004 and sold in January, 2005.

To see the former sapphire mine site, click here

From National Forest 85, approaching Dry Cottonwood Creek

view east	view west	view west	beaver dam

From National Forest 8634

south to Nevada Lode	Forlorn Hope

From Silver Queen

view north	view north	view east	view south-east
view south

From just below and west of Nevada Lode

view south	view west-south-west	view west	view north
view east

From the Nevada Lode

view north	view east	view east	view south
abandoned mine	abandoned cabin

From the south end of the meadow

view north	view west	view south

Along the trail south from the meadow

spring at the headwaters of Dry Cottonwood Creek

From the south edge of Section 17

view north	view west	view south	view north

From a dump near the center of Section 17

view north	view west	view south

The former sapphire mine, at the northern end of the meadow in Section 17

In the fall of 2003, the mine site was reclaimed under the environmental laws of the state of Montana. The "after" pictures below are courtesy of Pete Knudsen of MTech, and Blue Range Engineering, the reclamation firm which did the work.

Here are some views of the meadow from July 2004

jig plant area	down meadow	former pond	soil stockpile

Here are some before and after pairs

view south along "drain" Apr 2003	drain being filled in Oct 2003		view east across the meadow Apr 2003	Oct 2003

The jigplant was dug up and removed

Apr 2003	Oct 2003	Nov 2003	Nov 2003

A series of holding ponds had to be drained, breached and filled in

the pumping	the filling in	Nov 2003	Nov 2003

This is what the mine site looked like in April 2003, before the reclamation

steel container	pipetrailer	sluicebox	fuel tank
wash plant	wash plant	wash plant
jigplant	view east	hopper	conveyor
plastic pipe	plastic pipe	plastic pipe

Here are some pictures taken in April 2003 from the east side of the meadow in Section 17, looking west across the mine site, for which there are no exactly comparable views after the reclamation

view north-west	view north-west	view west	view north-west
view south	view east	view south	view west