The Journey is the destination
A ghost town, once a thriving settlement bustling with activity, now stands eerily silent and abandoned. Its streets, once filled with the sounds of daily life, are now overgrown with weeds and lined with crumbling buildings. Windows are shattered, doors hang askew on rusty hinges, and the once-vibrant facades are faded and weather-beaten. The air is thick with a haunting stillness, broken only by the occasional whisper of wind through the desolate alleys. Remnants of its former inhabitants’ lives are scattered throughout—rusted vehicles, tattered curtains, and forgotten toys, all hinting at a sudden, unplanned departure. Nature slowly reclaims the area, with ivy crawling up walls and trees sprouting from cracked pavements, adding an eerie, yet strangely beautiful, touch to the decaying landscape.
Located in Gold Canyon between Silver City and Dayton, Johntown Nevada is the first ghost town in Lyon county. None of the buildings are currently standing to mark the site of the original workings. The camp was started as a placer mining operation just off of the road in Gold Canyon in the early 1850s. The initial camp started when James Fenemore setup his tent in the side of the hill and started washing gravel for gold.
Previously known as Tumco, Hedges California is a ghost town and former mining town located in Imperial County, California along the Tumco Wash in the Cargo Muchacho Mountains. The Hedges Cemetery is located just out of town to the north east.
![[Circa 1905] Tumco Historic Mining Town, California - Hedges California](https://i0.wp.com/www.destination4x4.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Hedges.jpg?ssl=1)
The Spanish first started mining in the western Cargo Muchacho Mountains as early as the 1780s. The Yuma Revolt in 1781 halted early operations until 1823. Mexican prospectors operated in the area at some point prior to 1848.
A mining camp known as Gold Rock was formed in 1884 around the Gold Rock Mine which was discovered by Peter Walters of nearby Ogilby, California. Mr Walters sold his interest in the operations and the mine was renamed Gold Cross in 1892. A stamp mill is constructed by the Golden Cross Mining and Milling Company and soon the town of Hedges was founded. The town is named for C. L Hedges who served as vice president of the Golden Cross Mining and Milling Company.
The town was later named Tumco in 1910. Tumco is an abbreviation of The United Mines Company. The town site and its mines operated on and off up until 1942.
| Name | Hedges, California | |
| Alias | Gold Rock, Tumco | |
| Location | Imperial County, California | |
| Alias | Tumco – Hedges – Ogilby | |
| Latitude, Longitude | 32.8793891573, -114.837144612 | |
| GNIS | 243332 | |
| Elevation | 575 Feet | |
| Population | 3200 |
NO. 182 TUMCO MINES – Pete Walters of Ogilby discovered the first gold vein at Gold Rock on January 6, 1884. From his Little Mary Claim began a gold camp which reached its peak development between 1893 and 1899 as Hedges, with 3,200 residents. Nearly closed, 1900-10, it was reopened as Tumco, 1910-13, and worked intermittently until 1941. Tumco has long been a California ghost town.
California Historical Landmarks
Potholes California is a former gold mining camp and ghost town located in Imperial County, California. The town is located on the western side of the Colorado River near the present day Laguna Dam. The location was first mined by Spanish Miners in 1871. These early workings and miners were lost during the Yuma War, 1850 – 1853.
From 1852 through 1909, Colorado Steamships ferried people and supplies up and down the Colorado River to mining camps and outposts. Following the discovery of gold in California, westward expansion of the United States was on the mind of most people seeking their fortune of livelihood. Wagon trains, horses and trains all brought people deep into the new county seeking their fortune. Lesser known is the role of the steamships, which brought supplies and people up the Colorado River from Baja California to the Green River in Wyoming.
There has been some little excitement in this part of the, country, caused by the discovery of new gold fields on the Rio Colorado, some fifteen miles above Fort Yuma, on the California side. I have just returned from the diggings, and find, after a careful examination of three days, that gold exists there in paying quantities, for many miles on both sides of the river. While at the newly discovered diggings, a considerable quantity of the oro has been taken out, considering the short time- they have been worked. From the claim of Messrs. Crandell & Co., $200 per day have been dug daily for the past six days. The manner of working is the same at at Jila city, heretofore described. The earth must be carried on the back a distance of one mile, and washed in a cradle. It is said that the total amount of the gold taken from Crandell & Co ‘s claim is about $4,000. – They have now constructed a cart-road from the mine to the river, and hereafter will be able to work at better advantage. Several other claims in the vicinity are paying from $10 to $16 per day; but most of the claims — for a good manner have been located — will not pay more than $2 per day to the hand, by the present process of working. If water could be obtained and sluice* used, from $40 to $100 per day might be washed. [We had news of these diggings in oar San Diego correspondence, published this morning, and the corroborating testimony of .our Fort Yuma correspondent is of much value, as confirmatory of the reports from San Diego. — Eds. Alta.]
I think, however, that the Gila mines are much more valuable, or will yield much more gold than these new diggings on the Colorado. Th« former have the advantage of being easily supplied with water, works for that purpose being now in progress.
Mining operations resumed again in 1859 with the rediscovery of gold. Placier mining operations proved successful in the 19th century. A steamship landing was established to ferry people and supplies to the location 15 miles up river from Yuma, Arizona.
The town of Potholes California was established during the building of the All American Canal and Laguna Dam.
Daily Alta California, Volume XI, Number 42, 12 February 1859
| Name | Potholes, California |
| Location | Imperial County, California |
| Latitude, Longitude | 32.8289329, -114.5046713 |
| Elevation | 160 feet |
| GNIS | 247730 |
| Post Office | 1905 – 1909, 1920 – 1922 |
In 1907, Gold was discovered at the town site which would be known as Nivloc Nevada by a Native American prospector. The town derived its name from for the former owners “Colvin” who operated the site in 1923. The name spelled backwards was Nivloc and such is the haste in the Nevadan desert.
The original mining operations were short lived. The town experienced a bit of a resurgence in the 1930s. The town never amounted to much boasting only one saloon. At its height of operation from 1940 to 1943 the town could claim a post office. Between 1937 and 1943 the small town produced between $2 and $3 million dollars of Gold and Silver. The 400,000 tons of ore was pulled from mines reaching depths 440 feet and 600 feet of below the surface. During this time, the mines of Nivloc ranked as Nevada’s number one silver producer.
We have not made a trip to Nivloc, however the townsite is very high on my ghost town “to do” list. There are several standing structures and buildings intact. The mine headframe is still standing at and a rail trestle bridge which is one hundred and twenty feet in length and forty feet tall.
| Town | Nivloc, Nevada |
| Location | Esmeralda County, Nevada |
| Latitude, Longitude | 37.71583, -117.75722 |
| Elevation | 6,170 feet |
| GNIS | 851592 |
| Post Office | October 1940 to November 1943 |
The site of the last major gold rush in 1927, Weepah Nevada is a ghost town and gold mine site located in Esmeralda County. Named for the Shoshone word for “rain water”, the townsite was formed in 1902 when gold was discovered in shallow pockets by Indians. A modest rush of 200 people found their way to the small outpost, however the district would soon go dormant and stay that way for the next twenty five years.
Gold was rediscovered in March 1927 by Leonard Trayner and Frank Horton, Jr. from Tonopah. Initial assay results valued the ore at $70,000 per ton. News of this strike could not be kept quiet and spread out like wildfire across the nearby mining communities of the desert and beyond.
Twenty years prior would have seen an influx of wagons and horses bringing in the miners. Weepahs gold rush was powered by the newly available automobile. The auto powered the rush and the speed of the boom and within one week of the new of “gold” in Weepah, the town was bursting with over 1,000 people searching for their fortune in the hills. Many of these miners came via auto and were fully equipped and supplied well, often even driving new cars to the site an known as “mail order prospectors”. Soon, wooden frame houses rose above the older city which was comprised from a sea of tents. The town could be found from three roads, which were often jammed with autos as the towns population was between 1500 and 2000 people.
Regardless of production, reporters filed daily briefings and international newsreels informed the population of the ongoing modern gold rush. In April, the build boom continued with about 60 wooden framed buildings and over a dozen mining companies. Despite the promotion and news reels, interest in Weepah waned in July 1927. The last great gold rush in Nevada was over when the “mail order prospectors” broke camp and ran from the realities of the Nevadan desert.
| Name | Weepah, Nevada |
| Location | Esmeralda County, Nevada |
| Latitude, Longitude | 37.931876389209,-117.5600734418 |
| GNIS | 856169 |
| Elevation | 6.165 Feet |
| Population | 1,500 – 2,000 |
| Post Office |