Although no definite statesmen is to be found regarding the first discovery of silver in Arkansas, yet the year 1880 is noteworthy in that a number of prospectors were located and some mining was done. The reported values were encouraging in these mines that there was quite excitement worked up. The district was known as the Silver City mining district and was located about 51 km due west of Hot Springs, the silver belt extending north and south about 96 km and probably 160 km east and west. The mines worked at the time were the Mountain King, Ozark, Great Discovery, Little Boss, Canadian and others. A shipment of 280 sacks of ore to St. Louis reported $500 at that moment.
The Arkansas Geological Survey issued a report on the finding of a deposit of limonite, bearing gold and silver, about 1887. This occurred in Saline County, and the presence of the metals was attributed to the action of chalybeate springs. The samples collected indicated traces of gold and silver, but they were not considered representative of the deposit. Other explorations did not develop profitable deposits in this district. In the vicinity of Hot Springs the quartz and pyrite deposits have led to much exploration for gold with variable results. The Gray Eagle and Golden Wonder belts extending into garland County were scenes of active exploration notwithstanding the adverse reports of reputable assayers. The most noted mine of the county, the Sand Carbonate was worthless.
The Patscy’s Pride mine on the Glenpatrick vein near Hot Springs gave a slight amount of gold per ton and no silver. The gold was discovered in pyritiferous shales with graphite as an accessory. The Bear City district lies due west of Hot Springs, which is also characterized by the presence of graphitic shales. The Golden Wonder and Lost Louisiana mines are probably the most prominent. Prior to 1888 the work of exploiting gold and silver mines of the state was largely in the hands of people without much knowledge on mining and mineral processing. Samples collected from several localities around Blocher, Slaine County reported traces of gold, but not more than 30-35 g/t of silver were obtained from several assays.