Tag: Newspaper

Newspapers serve as a vital cornerstone of information dissemination, offering a snapshot of current events, opinions, and cultural developments. They are printed or digital publications that provide daily or periodic updates on local, national, and international news, covering a wide array of topics such as politics, economics, sports, arts, and more. Newspapers often feature investigative journalism, editorials, and columns that offer diverse perspectives and analysis on issues shaping society. They play a crucial role in keeping the public informed, fostering civic engagement, and serving as a historical record of significant events and societal changes.

Delamar Nevada – Lincoln County Ghost Town

Posted on by
Delamar Nevada in the 1890's. Many of the buildings were transported from nearby Pioche on wagons. After the devastating fire in 1909, most of the remaining wooden buildings were transported back to Pioche.
Delamar Nevada in the 1890’s. Many of the buildings were transported from nearby Pioche on wagons. After the devastating fire in 1909, most of the remaining wooden buildings were transported back to Pioche.

Nicknamed “The Widowmaker”, Delamar, Nevada is a ghost town and gold mining town in Monkeywrench Wash, Lincoln County, Nevada. Prospectors and Farmers from Pahranagat, John Fergusen and Joseph Sharp officially discovered gold in 1889 around Monkeywrench Wash. This event lead to the founding of the Fergusen Mining District and a camp of that name was established. Initial assays ranged from $75 to $1000 per ton of gold ore. This was more than enough to attract the attention of investors.

Meanwhile, the camp grew and Furgusen, or “Golden City” was a small tent town located near the Monkeywrench mine. The tent city of Helene was founded near the Magnolia Mine, and published a news paper, the The Fergusen Lode. A Post Office was opened in 1892.

Dutch-American businessman Joseph Raphael De Lamar
Dutch-American businessman Joseph Raphael De Lamar

De Lamar arrives

Dutch-American businessman Joseph Raphael De Lamar, an investor our of Montana, purchase the principal claims in 1983 for $150,000. He renamed the Fergusen district to Delamar, an obvious rework of this name. De Lamar founded three towns, one each in Idaho, Nevada and California, all of which bare his name. De Lamars investment centralized the people of the area and soon the smaller tent cities closed. The Furgusen Load was remaned to “The Delamar Load” in June 1894 and a post office was founded at the new town site later the same year.

The new town grew fast and by 1895 hosted more than 1500 residents. The citizens enjoyed an opera house, hospital, several churches, schools and a variety of saloons. Many of the towns structures are built from nearby rock. A new mill was processing up to 260 tons of gold ore each day by the end of 1896.

The Delamar Lode newspaper office, 1890s. Delamar, Nevada. The young assistant, to the left, is known as a printer's devil.
The Delamar Lode newspaper office, 1890s. Delamar, Nevada. The young assistant, to the left, is known as a printer’s devil.

The town and mines of Delamar were the premiere mines of Nevada from 1895 to 1900. The town developed a second cyanide plant to aide in gold production in 1987. This plant was capable of processing 400 tons per day of gold rich ore.

A 900 feet deep well failed to produce failed a source of water for the down. As a result, two pipes were run 12 miles to Meadow Valley Wash and brought the water up 1500 in elevation to supply the town with water. Supplies were packed into Delamar from Milford, Utah, a distance of over 150 miles.

The WidowMaker

The town was nicknamed the Widow Maker. Poor Ventalation within the dry process mills produce a silica dust. This airborne dust drifted in the air within the mines and mills. The mine works would breathe this dust in and develop a fatal illness, silicosis. “Delamar Dust” and the town became known as “The Maker of Widows”. Despite this public warning, there was no shortage of miners, whom made just $3 / day.

There were an estimated 400 widows in Delamar, which for a population of 3000, in 1897, was quite high.

In the spring of 1900, fire destroyed about half of the town. Two years later, De Lamar divested his holding in his mines after they produced $8.5 million. The town still ranked high in the state gold production race. Despite this fact, the last major mine was closed in 1909 and the town collapsed.

Delamar Town Summary

NameDelamar
Also Known As“The Widow Maker”
LocationLincoln County, Nevada
Population3000
Newspaper
Ferguson Lode (The) Sept 19, 1892 – Dec 24, 1894
DeLamar Lode (The) Jan 7, 1895 – June 1906
Local Messenger June 7, 1898 – Jan 5, 1901
De La Mar Roaster Mar 18, 1900

Delamar Map

Resources

Carrara Nevada – Nye County Ghost Town

Posted on by
Carrara in Nye County Nevada

Carrara Ghost town is a small ghost town and marble mine located about ten miles south of Beatty in Nye County, Nevada on the east side of US 95.

In 1904 first attempts to quarry the high quality marble at the Carrara site. These initial efforts failed with the inability to produce larger slabs from the highly fractured and unstable marble.  More suitable deposits of marble are found in 1911. The American Carrara Marble Company laid out the Carrara town. The town was named for Carrara, Italy, which produced world class marble. 

A Metropolis in waiting

The marble is hauled by a standard cable railway down three miles from the quarry to town. This designed utilized town cars on a single track. At the midway point, siding in the tracked allowed the two trains to pass each other in opposing directions. The car at the top of the track loaded with marble would supply all the pull the empty car at the bottom of the track up the mountain on a free return.

Rail lines were already available in the Vegas and Tonopah Railroad. Water is pumped from Gold Center, NV using a nine mile long pipe line. The supply was generous enough to allow the town to boast a town fountain, which would shoot water six feet into the air. The fountain was built by the Marble Company to promote the appearance of longevity for the fledgling town.

The rail road line to town is completed in 1914. Soon thereafter, large marble blocks, which could weight up to 15 tons, are shipped to Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, the large marble blocks are cut to size, finished and polished.

Eventually, the company with founded the town lost profits. The towns people saw hardship and soon moved away. With the exception of a few hangers on, the town is gone in 1924.

The town boasted a newspaper appropriately named the Carrara Obelisk ( 5/8/1913 – 09/1916 ), a post office, hotel, store, saloon and restaurant to serve the 150 people who called the place home. The site contained  about 40 buildings. The post office was open from May 5, 1913 to September 15, 2914.

Carrara Town Summary

NameCarrara Nevada
LocationNye County, Nevada
Population 150
Post OfficeMay 5, 1913 – September 15, 2914
NewspapersCarrara Obelisk Feb 7, 1914 – Sept 9, 1916
Carrara Miner July 21, 1929

Carrara Trail Map

Resources

Skidoo California – Inyo County Ghost Town

Posted on by

Skidoo California was famous in the first decade of the 20th century when gold had been found in Inyo County and the town established in 1905. The towns existence was support by the output and economy driven by the gold mines. Within a decade the town was left deserted abandoned. At this time few structures remain and access to the mines are closed to prevent accidents.

Skidoo, CA 1907
Skidoo California, 1907

Right here on the border line between California and Nevada, just a few miles from arid within speaking distance of Nevada’s big, bonanza gold camps of Goldfield, Rhyolite, Tonopah, California promises to give birth to the most wonderful gold mines America has yet produced . . . . Here the golden goddess is again singing her siren song of enchantment and California is again beckoning to the world with a finger of gold: and the world is listening, and looking, and coming–TO SKIDOO!

Rhyolite Herald, 4 January 1907

Skidoo, originally known as Hoveck, is typical of mining towns, which flourished so long as the mines continued to produce. The small town of Hoveck was named for Matt Hoveck, who managed the Skidoo mine. The town was named Skidoo in 1907. The name Skidoo was derived from the slang phrase “23 Skidoo” which was quite popular at this time.

Cook's horse-drawn wagon at Death Valley's gold mining camp, Skiddo.
Cook’s horse-drawn wagon at Death Valley’s gold mining camp, Skiddo.

The Skidoo Mine operated from 1906 and 1917. During operation the mine produced about 75,000 ounces of gold, which would have been worth about 1.6 million dollars. The mill in Skidoo was the only desert mill which operated complete using water. The water to power the mill was piped in from Telescope Peak was a feat of engineering and work of this still scars the landscape.

The Skidoo Mine is located 65 miles north of Trona, California, at
6500 ft. elevation. The property was established in 1906; the mill
erected in 190?. The mill burned and was reconstructed in 1913.
Owner: Skidoo Mines Co., Skidoo, CA. C. W. Cross, president, and
Crynski , superintendent .

Two systems of quartz veins occur in a pegmatite granite. The main
vein system strikes M-SE and the other E~W. The veins average from
18″ to 2 ‘ in width, with a maximum of 4’.

The ore is free milling and values average about $15.00 per ton. Ore
is hauled to the mill through tunnels. The mill equipment consists
of: ten 850-lb. stamps, five 1150-lb. stamps and amalgamation tables.
Table tailings run to the cyanide plant and precipitated in zinc boxes.
The mill is operated by water conveyed in an 8″ pipeline 21 miles
from Telescope Peak. The pipe was installed at a cost of over $200,000
35 men were employed at the mine mill. Total production to date over
$1,500,000,

California State Mining Bureau’s “Report of State Mineralogist,” 1915-16, Report XV:
Rare Air Photograph of Skidoo California Taken from the air in 1923
Rare Air Photograph of Skidoo California Taken from the air in 1923

The remains of the town of Skidoo are located within Death Valley National Monument and Inyo County.

The fifteen-stamp mill built by the Skidoo Mines Company is a rare surviving example of an early 20th-century gravity-feed system for separating gold from its ore.

Town Summary

NameSkidoo
LocationInyo County, California
Latitude, Longitude36.4355016, -117.1475604
GNIS1656631
Elevation5689 ft / 1734 m
NewspaperSkidoo News
National Register of Places74000349

Skidoo Trail Map

Resouces

Vanderbilt California – San Bernardino County Ghost Town

Posted on by
A metal headframe marks a vertical shaft in the mining district outside of Vanderbilt California.
A metal headframe marks a vertical shaft in the mining district outside of Vanderbilt California.

Located in the New York Mountains, Vanderbilt California was an short lived gold mining town which lasted just a few short years, from 1891 to 1895. The mining district is found in the northeastern section of San Bernardino County, right at the California and Nevada Border and almost within sight of Primm, Nevada.

Old Plumbing remains in the town of Vanderbilt, CA
Old Plumbing remains in the town of Vanderbilt, CA

Gold was discovered in the New York Mountains, in January 1891 by a Piute Indian named Robert Black. Soon after, the news of the strike traveled quickly and there were several mines in operation, including the Gold Bronze, the Sagmore and the Boomerang. The district was named for the the Vanderbilt Family, in the hopes the gold strike would prove as rich as the Vanderbilt Fortune. A small camp was built to support the operation and with additional gold veins found in the fall of 1892, word got out and the rush started.

Vanderbilt Business District
Vanderbilt Business District

Two years later, in 1893, the small mining camp has attracted 150 people and boasted two stores, one saloon, three restaurants, stable, lodging house, a blacksmith shop and about 50 tents. The post office was added in February of 1893 and a Justice of the Peace, W. A. Nash was appointed. A weekly newspaper, the Shaft was soon published. A railway line and water works were planned, but never completed.

A horizontal mine shaft in Vanderbilt
A horizontal mine shaft in Vanderbilt

A population of about 500 was found in the small town in 1894. In addition of adding more buildings and saw more saloons and businesses followed to service the town. Two ten-stamp mills were constructed at the two large mine sites, however the service was short lived. Almost as soon as the mills were built, the mines struck water and the ore changed and made it such that the mines could not recover gold. The town died with the gold production in 1895. 1895 also saw work on the railroad to Vanderbilt ceased. The school closed in 1898 and the Post office closed in 1910.

Exploring the ghost town of Vanderbilt, CA
Exploring the ghost town of Vanderbilt, CA

Perhaps the towns biggest modern claim to fame was one of its famous citizens. Virgil Earp, older brother of Wyatt Earp and survivor of the infamous gunfight at the O. K. Coral, owned and operated a two story building which was served as saloon and hotel in the small town of Vanderbilt. It should be known that there were a lot of Earp Brothers, and there was a lot of migration during this period as populations moved quickly from town to town looking for fortune and opportunity.

Virgil Earp 1843 -1905
Virgil Earp 1843 -1905

Town Summary

Town NameVanderbilt
LocationSan Bernardino County, California
Latitude, Longitude35.327222, -115.249722
Population500
Elevation4350 Feet
NewspaperThe Shaft
Post OfficeFebruary 1893 – 1910

Vanderbilt Trail Map

Further Reading

Tybo Nevada – Nye County Ghost Town

Posted on by
Tybo Nevada - 1875
Tybo Nevada – 1875

Tybo Nevada is a ghost town in Nye County located some 8 miles north west of U.S Route 6 and some 10 miles north east of Warm Sprints Nevada. The towns name is dervied from the Shoshone phrase tybbabo or tai-vu and is translated as “white man’s district”.

The townsite of Tybo was first introduced by the Native Americans to the white man in 1870 when they told of small seems of silver ore. Initially, the miners only worked small seems of silver ore, until later in 1870 they discovered the 2G main load. Despite this find, the boom of the town site of Tybo did not occur until 1874.

Tybo, Nevada - 1881
Tybo, Nevada – 1881

Early on, unlike other mining camps and boom towns, the town enjoyed a peaceful reputation. It was reported in the nearby Belmont news paper, that the lack of shootings and fights were not a good sign for the start up town. This reputation was not to last, in 1875 found the import of Chinese laborors to cut pinon lumber to produce charcoal for the smelters. The white laborers revolted and ran the Chinese out of town is whips and bullets, for undercutting the lumber workers wages.

The Trowridge General Store in Tybo Nevada - 1881
The Trowridge General Store in Tybo Nevada – 1881

Between 1875 and 1877 the small town of Tybo grew to support a population of about 1000 people, and the location was the sensation of the county. The Trowbridge Store, Rosenthal Store, Streitberger Store, Barney McCann’s Restaurant, W.F.Mills, and Company Bank were just some of the businesses which owed their existence to the 2G mine. In 1877, 187.5 tons of freight were brought in to town by 16 mule teams from nearby Eureka. 262 tons of lead and silver bullion were taken from the town by the same teams.

The Tybo Consolidated Mining Company failed in 1879 due to ore reduction difficulties. Like many other mining towns, this singular failure caused the newly found caused the company town to in 1880. The town of Tybo continued to linger with multiple attempts at resurgence ub 1901, 1906 and 1917. The mills steadily produced 500,000 tons of lead and zinc ore until 1944

Tybo Nevada today exists in a deep canyon in the mountains and .boasts a cemetery, brick and wooden ruins including a head frame.

Tybo Town Summary

NameTybo Nevada
LocationNye County, Nevada
NewspaperTybo Weekly Sun Sept 1877 – Sept 1879

Tybo Nevada Map

References