Ghost Towns

  • Ghost Towns,  Mineral County,  Mining Camps,  Nevada

    Candelaria – Mineral County Nevada

    This is one of the easiest Ghost Towns to visit in Nevada. It is located of Highway 95 south of Mina and has a well marked sign directing you to the west on a paved road. Modern 1980’s mining still has buildings and offices for staff supervising ongoing restoration. Nearby is the old graveyard and a bit further the road becomes graded dirt which was the Main Street of Candelaria with ruins on both sides. The Jeep group I was with explored the area extensively and continued on the dirt road for 10 miles where it connects to highway 360. Candelaria was founded in 1864 when Mexican prospectors working the…

  • Ghost Towns,  Mining Camps,  Nevada,  Nye County

    Tonopah Nevada-Victor Shaft Headframe and Swimming Pool

    Tonopah Extention Mining Company. This is one of the deepest of the many silver mines in Tonopah. The headframe is the tallest remaining in Tonopah. The hot water from the 2375’ deep shaft fed the community pool provided by the company according to Nevada Expeditions Austen Metz until the mine closed in the 1950’s. The pool has a 10’ deep end as there were large diving boards. *After 1905 , two mining companies consolidated between them most of the productive mines in Tonopah: the Tonopah Extension Mining Company, controlling about 700 acres of property west of the Tonopah Mining Company’s property. The Tonopah Extension company had three mines – the…

  • Ghost Towns,  Mineral County,  Mining Camps,  Nevada

    Belleville Mill-Mineral County Nevada

    Highway 360 Belleville was founded in 1873 or 1874 and its primary industry was the mill processing ore from the Northern Belle Mine at Candelaria. Its first bullion bar shipment of $9,200 was made in April 1875. The town was famed for a “Wild West” atmosphere; murders, drunken brawls, and “sporting” practical jokes were commonplace. When the Carson and Colorado Railroad reached the town in 1882 its population was 500, and the town was served by a doctor, assay office, express office, telegraph station, livery stable, school, two hotels, restaurants, and blacksmith shops as well as by seven saloons. The post office was in operation from December 1874 until 1894.…

  • Ghost Towns,  Mining Camps,  Nevada,  Nye County,  Rails

    Rhyolite Railroad Depot – Las Vegas and Tonopah RR

    Rhyolite RR Depot Las Vegas and Tonopah RR 1906 Rhyolite, Nevada was founded in 1904 after Shorty Harris and Ed Cross discovered Gold in the Rhyolite Quartz at the Bullfrog mine. By 1906 the town had two railroad lines and a population of 10,000. The mines, however, did not produce as expected and by the early 1910s Rhyolite was abandoned. By 1914 only 25 residents lived there. Charles M. Schwab the Financier and father of present day investment company President and present day namesake. By 1906, Schwab had very seriously invested in what was happening in Rhyolite by purchasing the Montgomery Shoshone Mine. By 1906, Schwab had very seriously invested…

  • Ghost Towns,  Mining Camps,  Nevada,  Nye County

    The Cannon Ball Safe 1896

    The Nevada Company, Berlin Nevada founded by James G Stokes. Only old time ingenuity would come up with such an ingenious idea to stop strong boxes from being stolen. Make something so heavy and impossible to lift and carry, no matter how many men and horses you have. The cannonball safe weights 2,400 pounds and has walls a foot thick on each side. The interior compartment is 10” in diameter. The safe made a weakly trip between Austin and Berlin. Plus it had a removable double dial. One of which was in Berlin and the other in Austin. Makes it pretty hard to open without a dial. Also, how would…

  • Ghost Towns,  Mining Camps,  Nevada,  Storey County

    Virginia City Spite House

    As the story goes, there were two miners in Virginia City, Nevada who were sworn enemies. After one miner bought a plot of land and built a small white house with lots of windows so he could enjoy the sun and warm breezes, the other miner decided to exact his revenge by buying the property next door, and moving his already-built red cottage just inches from the other miner’s home. Across the street from Anabelle’s House. Photo copyrighted Steve Knight photo

  • California,  Ghost Towns,  Mining Camps,  Mono County

    Benton Hot Springs, California

    Information and description courtesy of Wikipedia- Benton Hot Springs got its start around 1863 with the discovery of silver in the nearby Blind Springs Hills and along the White Mountains.The Benton post office opened at the place in 1886. The name honors Senator Thomas Hart Benton, United States senator from Missouri and Father in Law to Explorer John C. Frémont. The town saw its heyday from 1862 to 1889 as a supply center for nearby mines.In 1883, a railroad line was completed to Benton Station and soon train service was initiated to Laws Station, located several miles east of Bishop Creek. One of the oldest surviving towns in Mono County,…

  • Arizona,  Ghost Towns

    San Bernardino Ranch, AZ

    John Slaughter Ranch The Sheriff of Tombstone, Cochise County after Wyatt Earp 17 miles East of Douglas Arizona along dirt road paralleling boarder with Mexico In 1884, John Horton Slaughter, a cowboy and lawman originally from Texas, purchased 65,000 acres (26,000 ha) from Perez’s heirs for approximately $80,000. Two-thirds of his property lay in Mexico, with the remaining third in the Arizona Territory. There are ruins on the property now owned by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service where a Mormon employee of Slaughter’s built a home (called the Mormon House) straddling the U.S.–Mexico border so he could keep a wife in the United States and a wife in…