The Story of Neada Hills
|
Nevada Hills Mine:
When ore was found in the Fairview area, many claims were staked. The original Boulder claims were purchased by a group of men from Fairview, Goldfield, Tonopah and Salt Lake City. On April 21, 1906 the Nevada Hills Mining Company was incorporated. Their first year was spectacular. So much so, that they never assessed stock holders or used stock to pay for equipment or a new mill. On top of that they paid out at least six dividends of 10%. There were not many Nevada stocks that were as kind to their stock holders as this company AND that included the Comstock! Production went down in 1907. The value of the ore had diminished and shipping the ore to Salt Lake City was prohibitively expensive. In August the mine superintendent told the newspapers that a railroad from Fairview to Fallon (a railhead for the Southern Pacific) was in the works. But by December the owners were already talking about building a mill and talk of a railroad disappeared. In 1910 the Nevada Hills Mine gained control of the Fairview Eagle Mining Company. It was adjacent to their claims and under control of mining and banking magnate George Wingfield. He put his top mining man, E. A. Julian, in charge of the mining operations and the new mill which had just been completed. By 1917 there was so little ore coming from the Nevada Hills Mine that the mill was shut down. In 1921 the property was sold. Nevada Hills Mill: This 20 stamp mill had a capacity of 150 tons a day. It was 308 feet long, ranged in width from 56’ to 112’, and had a vertical fall of 120’. It ran almost continuously until June of 1917. Power was supplied by the Pacific Power Company. It ran140 miles. from Lundy (near Bodie), California to the mill. Bullion was shipped to Selby in San Francisco where it was separated into gold and silver at 1 ounce to 100 ounces. Water was also a problem. The first two years wells supplied enough water for the mill. But when those ran dry an eight mile pipeline designed by E. A. Julian was run from an underground water source at West Gate to the mill. There was only enough water for the mill and the people and other businesses were left to find water from other sources. The pipeline furnished about 30 gallons per minute. After the mill closed in 1917 it was dismantled and moved away. The pipeline was also dismantled and moved away. Dromedary Mill (Golden Boulder Mill): Despite Mr. Shamberger’s attempts to learn about this mill, he could find little information. This mill was a 150 ton mill and cyanide plant. But it was wholly inadequate to crush the rock because of the hardness of the copper and quartz. A floatation plant was then installed and the mill was capable of crushing 500 tons of ore a day. By 1916 the mill seemed to be operating well. However, there is little reason to believe it ever milled anything like 500 tons of ore a day. Water would also be a problem for this mill, just like the Nevada Hills Mill. In 1917 the Golden Boulder Mill applied for the rights to dig a well 1,130 feet northwest of Stone Cabin (commonly called West Gate) on private property. They ran a two inch pipe to the mill with a pump to get the water over the summit. It only operated for a short time. Much of what he found came from an unpublished report in 1949 by F. C. Schrader on the Carson Sink Area for the U. S. Geological Service. The rest comes from Mrs. Ken Ogden who had some correspondence relative to the mill. 1. "The Story of Fairview" by Shamberger |
Another view of the Nevada Hills Mill c1912. The assay office is near the bottom of the mill to the right. The boarding house is the large building on the top right. The machine shop is the building furthest up the hill on the left. Below that is the Webber Shaft of the Nevada Hills Mine.
The back of this photo has this note, “This one half million dollar mill is a half mile above the town and was built two years ago, it produces about $60,000 per month. One of the employees, a California Man named Still got killed in there last Saturday.” I was able to confirm this story. The Reno Evening Gazette reported on December 7, 1912 a man named C. E. Stillman was killed in a shocking accident at the Nevada Hills Mill. He was a millman. His clothing got caught by the mill shafting and was thrown about until every bone in his body ws broken. Dr. Ferrell of Fallon rushed to the scene by auto in the remarkable time of 1 hour and 50 minutes. He did what he could to make Still [I assume his nickname] comfortable. The wonderful vitality of the man kept him alive 15 hours with injuries that would ordinarily have been fatal to most instantaneously. Photograph above is on page 34 of the Shamberger book. This is a photograph of the Nevada Hills Mining Company mill with the
Dromedary Mill in the background. Taken about 1916. Two additional views of the Nevada Hills Mill.
|