Logan Springs History
Logan Springs was settled in the fall of 1865 following nearby silver discoveries in the Pahranagat mining district. Hiko served as the district's principal settlement, and more than 1,000 mining claims were located during the district's first year.
Despite its appearance in some modern sources, the name Logan City does not appear to have been used for the Nevada settlement during its brief existence. Newspaper accounts from the 1860s refer only to Logan Springs, Logan's Springs, or Logan's. The post office, established in 1868, was named Logan Springs. Frequent references to Logan City during the same period were to the Utah community, likely contributing to the later misapplication of the name.
Although Logan Springs never became a major mining camp, it is remembered as the place where frontier photographer Timothy O'Sullivan photographed its impressive native stone buildings in 1871 during the Wheeler Expedition.
The following photograph captures part of the mining infrastructure just north of town. By then, both Logan Springs and the surrounding mining district were in decline, a condition reflected in the deteriorated state of the buildings. On the left side of the image stands the base of a smokestack constructed from the same native stone as the nearby structures, evidence of a mill or smelter. A second smokestack is visible in the background.
When the Wheeler Expedition visited Logan Springs in 1871, the town was already nearing abandonment. Its post office was discontinued later that year.
Nevada Mining Photos
A Collection of Nevada Mining Photos contains numerous examples of Nevada's best historic mining scenes.
Nevada Gold
Nevada has a total of 368 distinct gold districts. Of the of those, just 36 are major producers with production and/or reserves of over 1,000,000 ounces, 49 have production and/or reserves of over 100,000 ounces, with the rest having less than 100,000 ounces. Read more: Gold Districts of Nevada.