For the long July 4th holiday, I headed to eastern Nevada with Nevada Expeditions. Day one was mostly a long drive, but we spent some time around Hamilton and visited Belmont Mill, one of the most spectacular mining sites.
Cabin by Pinto
I have stopped at the cabin before, once to make a cup of tea for my journey. My local friends did not know the history of the cabin which is on a private ranch. It is across the street from the ghost towns of Pinto, which is now marked private property.
Six-Mile House
Six-Mile House was a ranch and stage stop as early as 1873. In later years, it served as a station stop on the Lincoln Highway and provided lodging, food and a telephone.
Seligman
Seligman started in the 1880s and was initially known as Leadville. The settlement had stores, a Wells Fargo office, boarding houses and stores. A post office operated from 1887 to 1905. Very little remains of the ghost town other than a few rock foundations.
Nowhere, Nevada
We were so excited to find another Nowhere or Now Here, Nevada tank. This one was marked on both sides.
California Mill
I’ll have to dig into the history of the mill. It was fairly large to support so many stamps.
Belmont area shack
We came across this cabin on the way to Belmont.
Belmont Mine and Mill
I visited Belmont Mill and Mine with Stan Paher a few years ago, but it was smoky, so the pictures weren’t the best. The last time I was at the mine, the road was sketchy, narrow, washed over, off-camber over a large drop-off with rocks rolling down. It was one of the scariest times for me off-road.
Nevada Expeditions visited the mill but hadn’t been to the mine and wanted to go to the top. I was anxious, but he drove Baby Badger, as it is a 2-door and can make turns that I can’t in the 4-door. I walked the bad section, which has leveled out some since my last trip, and Austin drove it like a champ. I’m so glad he did; the mine and tram is as amazing as I remember.
We visited a few other sites I missed on our last trip, Seligman, and Six-mile house and found an unexpected cabin. We tried for Monte Cristo, but the road was gated.
Clyde Johnson says
It WAS a road then…mostly! I had nearly 8″ on each side of the tires; had to fold in the mirrors.
Nearly 25 years ago, I drove the wife up to the mine in our then nearly new 99 Expedition, after having taken her to Hamilton. Crawled all through the buildings.
Well worth the trip, despite the one hairy, tight left turn that had a 4-6″ high chunk of rock outcrop on the inside track, and almost straight down on the outside. Wife walked back past that point, until I could get back down far enough for her to be able to get her door open..
Had to go off road, through the sage brush on an ATV trail from the mill, to reach the mine road up & back.
Got some odd looks from a pair of ATV riders in the sagebrush portion, going up.
Tami says
I know that turn! I heard a few years ago people were taking big vehicles up there. The road was actually better than my first time.