A former mining camp in north-western Nevada, near Seven Troughs Canyon. My first visit here was in 1989, with my son Steven. When I last visited in the mid-90’s there was still one occupied home and a few ruins. The photos here were scanned from Kodachrome slides taken during those trips.

When the mines in Seven Troughs Canyon became flooded, someone came up with the idea of tunneling into the mines from the base of the hill facing the valley. They could drain the mines, then use the tunnel to transport ore out of the mines. Work on the tunnel began in 1919 and continued for several years. When completed in 1929, the tunnel would be about 7400 feet long. While the tunnel was being dug, a large ball mill and cyanide plant was built in anticipation of processing the ore that would be mined once the mines were drained.

Unfortunately, they made a big mistake -- when the tunnel finally reached the mines, it was several hundred feet too high to properly drain the mine. This limited the amount of ore that could be recovered from the mine, and the mill shut down in 1934.

Later, two other, much smaller, mills were built at the site. One of these featured a small five-stamp mill which still stands there to this day. The other was a somewhat more modern mill built in the 1930s and dismantled in 1970.

Last updated June 2016.

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