Raft River Mountains

The Raft River Mountains are an east-west range in Box Elder County, in Utah's remote northwest corner, with a Precambrian metamorphic core — quartzite and schist along the southern slopes, Cambrian quartzite outcrops to the west.[1] The range falls within Sawtooth National Forest, public U.S. Forest Service land with established trails and campgrounds.[1] Historic mining is real here too: the Yost Mining District on the range's north flank produced small amounts of lead-silver and possibly tungsten ore from rusty quartz veins and disseminated silver-gold deposits, though production was never large enough to be officially recorded.[2] The Bull Flat trail passes old mine workings on its way to Bull Lake.[1]

The range sits in far northwestern Box Elder County, Utah, near the Idaho border. The Bull Flat trail (within Sawtooth National Forest) leads to Bull Flat, Bull Lake, and Bull Mountain, passing former mine workings and a campground along the way.[1]

UNVERIFIED, general inference: dump-picking at the old workings along trails like Bull Flat would be the typical method here, consistent with historic-mine rockhounding elsewhere in the range's district. No trip report confirming current productivity was found.

The Raft River Mountains are managed by the U.S. Forest Service as part of Sawtooth National Forest, open to public recreation.[1] Casual, non-commercial rockhounding is generally permitted on National Forest land in Utah — confirm current specifics with the Sawtooth National Forest's Utah district office before collecting at any specific old mine working.