Alpine Mine, Nevada

I spent a day outside Nixon exploring the Nightingale Mountains with an off-road group. Dave, our lead for the day, took us across a narrow shelf road to a mine perched on the side of the mountain. Shelf roads are not my favorite, especially when there is no room to pass. Fortunately, this road was fairly wide, and you could see oncoming traffic.

Nightengale Mountains and Mining Distrcit

Alpine Mine is located in the Nightingale Mountains and Mining District. The mine is in Pershing county, on the northeast boundary of Washoe County. The mountains and mining district was named for Alanson W. Nightingill, a Captain during the Pyramid Lake war in the 1860s. He became the first Controller of Nevada in 1864.

Tungsten was first mined on the east side of the Nightingale Range by Joe Bean and associates in 1917. More deposits on the west slope were discovered the following year. Ore was shipped to Toulon, thirty miles southeast of the mine.

Alpine Mine

Alpine Mine sits at of 6,562-foot elevation and overlooks dry Lake Winnemucca. The lake dried due to the construction of a dam and road. The area is known for petroglyphs dating from 10-14,800 years ago.

Rare Metals Corp acquired the mine in 1943. The government partially funded an access road to the mine that year. The company worked the mine between 1943-46. Tungsten is a strategically important metal with many uses and was in short supply during World War II.

Alpine Mine sits precariously on a steep slope. One structure remains an office or cabin, which seems to defy gravity by hanging on the mountain. Dynamite storage, with a heavy metal door, is built into the hillside.

We made a loop from Nixon to Nightingale mine and ghost town, Alpine Mine, Lake Winnemucca, ending at MGL mine.

Visited: 1-16-2021

---

References

• Diggins: Alpine Tungsten Mine
• Minedat: Alpine Mine
• Lincoln, Francis Church. Mining Districts and Mineral Resources of Nevada. Stanley Paher, 1982. Pages 211-212
• Mining History Association: Strategic Metals and National Defense Tungsten in World War II (and Beyond)
• Nevada Appeal: The Story of Nowhere Nevada I-80 Exits
• Paher, Stanley: Nevada Ghost Towns and Mining Camps. Stan Paher, 1970. Page 113
• Sciencing: What are the used of Tungsten
• Western Mining History: Alpine Mine
• Western Mining History: Alpine Mine
• Wikipedia: Lake Winnemucca
• Wikipedia: Nightengale Mountains
• USGS: Dating North America’s oldest petroglyphs, Winnemucca Lake subbasin, Nevada

Follow me on social media:

• 
• 
• 
•