The Humbolt occurrence is located at 1524 metre elevation on an east fork of Crawford Creek, approximately 1.6 kilometres west of Rose Pass and 45 kilometres west of Kimberley.
The area is primarily underlain by phyllite, quartzite and grit of the Upper Proterozoic Horsethief Creek Group (Windermere Supergroup). Quartzite and quartz arenite sedimentary rocks of the Middle Proterozoic Mount Nelson Formation (Purcell Supergroup) outcrop to the east.
Locally, quartz veins in a black argillaceous rock contain galena, sphalerite chalcopyrite, stannite and pyrite.
In 1944, a sample is reported to have assayed 1.5 per cent tin (Assessment Report 22097).
In five separate years, during 1923 through 1964, a total of 51 tonnes of ore was mined, from which 70,230 grams of silver, 24,100 kilograms of lead and 3,561 kilograms of zinc were produced.
The Humbolt (Lot 2015) and Sailor Boy (Lot 2016) were Crown-granted in 1900 to J.B. MacLaren. Workings dating from that period include open cuts and 42 metres or more of drifts and crosscuts in two adits. The property was acquired under lease by G. Foulkes, of Kaslo, in 1922 and sorted ore was shipped in 1923. The Humbolt claim was owned in 1940 by Oscar Burden, of Kaslo. In 1946, Canadian Exploration Company Limited re-opened the workings to examine the showings. Small ore shipments were made by lessees R. and G. Golak in 1948, by Talmor Mines Ltd. in 1952, and by D. Fulton and R. Sutton, of Cranbrook, in 1963.
The Humbolt and Sailor Boy claims were owned in 1964 by E.T. Coleman, of Nelson. An option was acquired by D. Wade and associates, of Calgary, and 5.4 tonnes of ore was shipped from a bulldozed section of flat- lying vein. In 1966, Messrs. Wade, Sutton, Fulton and associates incorporated Rose Pass Mines Ltd. to acquire the Humbolt and Spring Creek properties. The company subsequently staked 84 adjacent claims. During 1966 through 1968, work on the Humbolt property included induced potential surveys and 849 metres of diamond drilling in 23 holes on the geophysical anomalies. Further diamond drilling was reported on the Humbolt property in 1971 and 1973. The company name (Rose Pass) was changed in 1974 to Range Industries Ltd. During 1989 through 1991, South Kootenay Goldfields completed programs of rock and soil sampling and geological mapping on the area as the Lapointe Creek property. In 2008, a minor program of rock sampling and prospecting was completed.
