Nevada Ghost Towns & Beyond

Behold! A Steamboat in the desert!Mark Twain, 1861 Geothermal activity created hot springs, steam vents and fumaroles on the eastern slope of the Sierra Mountains. Native Americans considered the location a sacred place. As miners and settlers headed west during the gold rush in 1849 they found the springs a welcome place to rest and get water. In 1859 a structure was constructed with ... VIEW POST

Norwegian miners struck a rich silver ore vein along Silver Creek in 1861. The site was five miles northeast of Ebbetts Pass at an elevation of 6,411 feet. Soon, the town of Kongsberg or Konigsberg developed. By 1862, the population had exploded to over 1,000. The Konigsberg post office opened in 1863 and closed briefly in 1864. In 1865, the post office changed its name to Silver Mountain ... VIEW POST

Masonic, California, is one of my favorite ghost towns to take friends and family. It is relatively easy to reach in summer and fall and combines well with the best ghost town anywhere, Bodie. Unlike Bodie State Park, Masonic is in "the wild," you will likely have the ghost town to yourself.Masonic, which started as three towns, has many ruins, including stone cabins, an aerial tram and a ... VIEW POST

In 1900 Stephen Kavanaugh was hired to excavate a gold vein that ran along a ridge 2.5 miles southwest of Masonic. The site overlooks Bridgeport Valley from an 8600' mountain perch. Stephen established the Chemung Mine in 1909, naming it after his hometown of Chemung, Illinois. As Stephen was an employee, he did not receive a share of the mine's profits. Chemung was a productive mine but ... VIEW POST