I got out a little last weekend. I was a Passenger Princess with Nevada Expeditions and Baby Badger’s first time out since he got a new engine. Most of the weekend was spent putting a new radio in Honey Badger, but we played a little. Grantsville is one of the biggies I hadn’t visited yet. We couldn’t have asked for a better weekend, sunny and 60!
Knickerbocker
The Knickerbocker mill was built between 1865 and 1686. A mining camp formed below. The mill was twenty-samps with six furnaces. For almost a decade, it processed ore from Ione and Grantsville.
The mill closed but reopened in 1877 to process ore from the Ural in Grantsville. This time, it only operated for a year. A revival occurred in 1887 to work ore from Berlin. This time, the mill operated for two years. W.S. Gage reopened the mill in 1896, but it operated for only a year. The mill was disassembled and taken to Berlin in 1898.
Grantsville
Prospectors discovered claims at Grantsville in 1863. The mines quickly played out, and they abandoned the site for a decade. The Alexander Company built a twenty-stamp mill in 1877. The claims were so productive that within a few years, the capacity was doubled. A town grew to include a population of 1,000. A post office opened in 1879.|Stages connected to Wadsworth, Austin, and Eureka.
Activity faded by 1880, but some mining continued. Several revivals occurred in the 1920s. The last activity was during World War II, where tailings were re-worked for lead. ll.
Gratnsville has a large variety of ruins. I want to go back when I’m feeling better and explore more.
Fairplay Mining District: Golddyke & Atwood
One of the stops near Gabbs was to locate the different sites in the Fairplay mining district.
Gold was discovered in 1901 by Okey Davis, George Duncan, E.A. McNaughton, and William Regan. The Fairplay Mining District was established in 1903 and the largest town in the district was Atwood, established in 1905. The first business to open was a hotel and restaurant on New Years Day 1906. This was followed by a variety of stores and a dance hall. The town would swell to 200 miners, most of whom had relocated from Goldfield.
Learn more about the Fairplay Mining District.
Edgewood
Edgewood was a competing townsite to Atwood. The town was laid out in 1905. Little became of the town, and it soon deteriorated into obscurity.
Little remains at the site of Edgewood. A few dugouts and debris fields.
Austin knocked this one out of the park. Tucked in the hills is an amazing mining camp!
Milton Carr says
Like to see nv. ghost towns .
Tami says
Great! More coming!