The King Solomon mine, a monolithic structure from a bygone era, stands alone atop the Rand Mountain range, a silent witness to the joys, sorrows and deaths of those who sought the riches from beneath the earth. Cindy Nunn’s new book Abandoned California: King Solomon Mine is a history of the mine from its beginnings until shut-down. Continue Reading
Located adjacent to the Idaho ghost town of Bonanza, on a tributary of the Salmon River, is the idle Yankee Fork Gold Dredge. The dredge is described as the largest in Idaho, and one of the best-preserved dredges in the West. Continue Reading
Journigan’s Mill was built in the 1930s at a site in Emigrant Canyon that was near several springs. Water is Death Valley’s most precious resource, and mills were usually located where there was access to springs nearby. During the course of the mills roughly twenty years of operation, water would be piped to the site Continue Reading
The Wildrose Charcoal Kilns, built in 1877, are one of the best preserved and largest examples of historic charcoal kilns in the West. The kilns are located in the western part of Death Valley National Park, in Wildrose Canyon. This part of the park is an excellent destination for camping and hiking so if you Continue Reading
The Mackay Mansion in Virginia City, Nevada is one the Comstock Lode’s oldest and best preserved buildings. Built 1860, the mansion was originally the offices of the Gould and Curry Mining Company, as well as housing for the mine superintendent. Continue Reading
Sumpter, Oregon was settled by prospectors in 1862, making it one of the earliest mining settlements in the Northwest. Sumpter was a remote and isolated town which grew very slowly, and it wasn’t until the 1890s, with improvements in transportation routes and the arrival of a railroad, that Sumpter turned into a mining boom town. Continue Reading
