Posts
Star Point Trading Post & RV Park
Owner Dusti was very friendly and helpful. She printed us out maps and hi-lighted routes adding lots of mine site suggestions.
Taco Tuesday
99 cents each. Just keep track of how many you eat and tell Don the bartender
Willow Creek
We found another snow bank across the road
Willow Creek Mines
Love birds 😄
We believe this is a White-tailed Kite who just caught a lizard
Thunder Mountain Monument
A series of art sculptures and architectural forms that were assembled by Frank Van Zant starting in 1969 upon his arrival in Imlay, Nevada. A World War II veteran from Oklahoma, Frank was a self-identified Creek Indian, he took the Native American name Rolling Mountain Thunder after experiencing an epiphany. The site covers five acres. There were originally seven buildings, including a three-story hostel where many hippies stayed in the 1970's. Three stone and concrete buildings remain, and concrete sculptures depicting Native Americans and their protective spirits, massacres, and injustices against them. The site was partially destroyed by arson in 1983, the same year Van Zant was named Nevada's Artist of the Year. In 1989 he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. The monument was neglected and subject to vandalism until it was declared a Nevada State Historic Site in 1992. It is now under the care of his grown children under the protection of a State of Nevada Historic Site Restoration Project, and is open to the public for self-guided tours.
What's left of the Hostel
Buffalo Springs
We found some Indian arrowheads here at Buffalo Springs.
Spring Valley
The locality twice experienced large-scale placer mining. Chinese were the first to work the Spring Valley deposits after 1881. This area was later renamed Fitting and in 1905 a post office opened and operated until 1915.
Lunch time
A stamp mill operated in the Spring Valley gulch and was unsuccessful from the start.
In 1911 a 2,000-cubic-yard dredge thoroughly worked the gravel near the large pond.
Bonanza King Mine
The lode was discovered in 1868. A mill was erected in 1873, and the mine was operated irregularly until 1910. Between 1910 and 1934 the mine lay idle although the deposit had not been worked out.
We found no remains here at the Dry Gulch Mine location
Cinnabar City Mine is a mercury mine.
The Cinnabar City mine was a relatively small producer but is noted for very coarse cinnabar. Ore came from a single stope and seems to have been very high grade containing very coarse masses of cinnabar in calcite. Production totaled less than 350 flasks.
Unionville
The big mining boom at Unionville occurred between 1863 and 1870. During that time, the population was reported to be as high as 1,500 persons. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain arrived in Unionville with the intention of prospecting for silver in 1862. As is common in most mining communities, after the boom, the town experienced a decline soon afterwards.
Check out those toes
Star City
While not much goes on in Star City today, for a short time it was one of the largest communities in North-Central Nevada. Significant silver deposits were discovered in about 1861. Within a relatively short period of time a small community was established around the mines and by 1862 a post office had opened. In 1863, the town had grown to an estimated 1,200 residents. Within two years of the town’s founding it had gained a couple of hotels, several saloons and stores, a school, a telegraph office and a Wells Fargo branch.
Star City’s most successful years were between 1864 and 1865, when seven mining companies operated in the canyon and one mine, the Queen of Sheba, produced an estimated $5 million between 1862 and 1868. For a time, the Sheba Mining Company also operated a ten-stamp mill, open 24-hours a day, to crush and process the ore. Unfortunately, the Sheba Mine ran out of ore by 1868 and the population moved on. The 1870 census reported only 78 residents in the town. The town’s post office closed in September 1868.
Just to the west of the townsite is where you’ll see the rocky cliffs of Star Canyon and the wooden head-frame of the Queen of Sheba Mine.
We have been watching out for you for days
Star Creek
Queen of Sheba Mine
Star Creek
This isn't a good sign. Due to Coeur Rochester Corporation currently doing out pit mining the main roads are off limits to us. We'll have to get creative.
Lunch time
We made it, but Upper Rochester has been buried under mine tailings of the recent open pit mining. So much for "Take only pictures, leave only footprints". Aargh!
Look at that fat lizard
Oh wait there's two of them
Etna is an extinct town in Pershing County.
Etna was established in 1865 when the mill on site began processing silver ore from nearby mines. The following year, there was a general store, an additional mill, a livery stable, surveyor's office, post office and ferry service across the Humboldt River. By 1866, one mill had been dismantled and moved to another town and the remaining mill was closed. For the remainder of the decade, milling continued off and on in a limited way. By 1872. Etna was abandoned.
Airmail Arrow
The navigational arrows were built in 1924 so United States Postal Service pilots could deliver mail efficiently before radio and modern navigation was established
Shortcut to the other side of the freeway
Cosgrave
While the community is gone, this is the present day location for Cosgrave
In 1862, Dun Glen was established after silver was discovered in the area. The site was named for one of its early settlers, Angus Dun. By 1863, the mining camp became a commercial center with a population of 250. It was the second largest commercial district in northern Nevada. The post office opened in 1865 and it operated until 1894. By the 1870's it had three stamping mills, but by 1880 mining declined and the population had declined to only 50. By 1894, Dun Glen was nearly deserted.
Auld Lang Syne Mine
Chukar
Mormon Crickets on ice
Lunch time
Auburn Mine
Headed to Stonehouse. The road is totally covered with tumbleweeds.
After miles of blazing our own trail through the tumbleweeds we arrive at our coordinates for Stonehouse. Something must be off because there is nothing here that resembles a stone house. We do find some rusty cans and a bed frame which indicates someone must have lived here at one time.
What's left of the Hostel
Buffalo Springs
We found some Indian arrowheads here at Buffalo Springs.
Spring Valley
The locality twice experienced large-scale placer mining. Chinese were the first to work the Spring Valley deposits after 1881. This area was later renamed Fitting and in 1905 a post office opened and operated until 1915.
Lunch time
A stamp mill operated in the Spring Valley gulch and was unsuccessful from the start.
In 1911 a 2,000-cubic-yard dredge thoroughly worked the gravel near the large pond.
Bonanza King Mine
The lode was discovered in 1868. A mill was erected in 1873, and the mine was operated irregularly until 1910. Between 1910 and 1934 the mine lay idle although the deposit had not been worked out.
We found no remains here at the Dry Gulch Mine location
Cinnabar City Mine is a mercury mine.
The Cinnabar City mine was a relatively small producer but is noted for very coarse cinnabar. Ore came from a single stope and seems to have been very high grade containing very coarse masses of cinnabar in calcite. Production totaled less than 350 flasks.
Unionville
The big mining boom at Unionville occurred between 1863 and 1870. During that time, the population was reported to be as high as 1,500 persons. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain arrived in Unionville with the intention of prospecting for silver in 1862. As is common in most mining communities, after the boom, the town experienced a decline soon afterwards.
Check out those toes
Star City
While not much goes on in Star City today, for a short time it was one of the largest communities in North-Central Nevada. Significant silver deposits were discovered in about 1861. Within a relatively short period of time a small community was established around the mines and by 1862 a post office had opened. In 1863, the town had grown to an estimated 1,200 residents. Within two years of the town’s founding it had gained a couple of hotels, several saloons and stores, a school, a telegraph office and a Wells Fargo branch.
Star City’s most successful years were between 1864 and 1865, when seven mining companies operated in the canyon and one mine, the Queen of Sheba, produced an estimated $5 million between 1862 and 1868. For a time, the Sheba Mining Company also operated a ten-stamp mill, open 24-hours a day, to crush and process the ore. Unfortunately, the Sheba Mine ran out of ore by 1868 and the population moved on. The 1870 census reported only 78 residents in the town. The town’s post office closed in September 1868.
Just to the west of the townsite is where you’ll see the rocky cliffs of Star Canyon and the wooden head-frame of the Queen of Sheba Mine.
We have been watching out for you for days
Star Creek
Queen of Sheba Mine
Star Creek
This isn't a good sign. Due to Coeur Rochester Corporation currently doing out pit mining the main roads are off limits to us. We'll have to get creative.
Lunch time
We made it, but Upper Rochester has been buried under mine tailings of the recent open pit mining. So much for "Take only pictures, leave only footprints". Aargh!
Rochester
Exploration and mining was on a fairly small scale from the 1860's, with the ore processed on a small scale, or shipped by wagon to larger towns for milling. Gold was discovered in this area by emigrants from Rochester, New York in the early 1860's, but it was not until a discovery of rich silver ore in 1912 that Rochester became a true boom town. By November 1912, as word of the find spread, people streamed into the area. The town expanded and Upper Rochester came into being, as well as the beginnings of what became known as Lower Rochester. Rochester Canyon is a fairly narrow canyon, with steep slopes on either side of the narrow canyon floor, so the camps tended to spread down the canyon, rather than outwards. As more and more people came to the area, the two camps soon boasted saloons, hotels and other businesses. Upper and Lower Rochester became thriving mining sites, with a population exceeding 1,500. Most of the commercial district was in Upper Rochester, with Lower Rochester having the mill and other mining support facilities.
Exploration and mining was on a fairly small scale from the 1860's, with the ore processed on a small scale, or shipped by wagon to larger towns for milling. Gold was discovered in this area by emigrants from Rochester, New York in the early 1860's, but it was not until a discovery of rich silver ore in 1912 that Rochester became a true boom town. By November 1912, as word of the find spread, people streamed into the area. The town expanded and Upper Rochester came into being, as well as the beginnings of what became known as Lower Rochester. Rochester Canyon is a fairly narrow canyon, with steep slopes on either side of the narrow canyon floor, so the camps tended to spread down the canyon, rather than outwards. As more and more people came to the area, the two camps soon boasted saloons, hotels and other businesses. Upper and Lower Rochester became thriving mining sites, with a population exceeding 1,500. Most of the commercial district was in Upper Rochester, with Lower Rochester having the mill and other mining support facilities.
Look at that fat lizard
Oh wait there's two of them
Etna is an extinct town in Pershing County.
Etna was established in 1865 when the mill on site began processing silver ore from nearby mines. The following year, there was a general store, an additional mill, a livery stable, surveyor's office, post office and ferry service across the Humboldt River. By 1866, one mill had been dismantled and moved to another town and the remaining mill was closed. For the remainder of the decade, milling continued off and on in a limited way. By 1872. Etna was abandoned.
Airmail Arrow
The navigational arrows were built in 1924 so United States Postal Service pilots could deliver mail efficiently before radio and modern navigation was established
Shortcut to the other side of the freeway
Cosgrave
While the community is gone, this is the present day location for Cosgrave
In 1862, Dun Glen was established after silver was discovered in the area. The site was named for one of its early settlers, Angus Dun. By 1863, the mining camp became a commercial center with a population of 250. It was the second largest commercial district in northern Nevada. The post office opened in 1865 and it operated until 1894. By the 1870's it had three stamping mills, but by 1880 mining declined and the population had declined to only 50. By 1894, Dun Glen was nearly deserted.
Auld Lang Syne Mine
Chukar
Mormon Crickets on ice
Lunch time
Auburn Mine
Headed to Stonehouse. The road is totally covered with tumbleweeds.
After miles of blazing our own trail through the tumbleweeds we arrive at our coordinates for Stonehouse. Something must be off because there is nothing here that resembles a stone house. We do find some rusty cans and a bed frame which indicates someone must have lived here at one time.
Star Point Trading Post & RV Park 775-538-7677 $22.00 w/t Terrible Wifi - Dusti was very nice and helpful. Fills up during peak months. Reservations might be helpful.
ReplyDelete