Please remember to exercise caution when exploring Nevada's Ghost Towns & Mining Camps. Open shafts, drifts going into mountainsides, and old buildings, are all DANGEROUS. Be aware of your surroundings, and let someone know where you are, especially if your plans change.

Alder

Location: From Gold Creek, head north for 7 miles. Exit east and follow the road for 1 1/2 miles to Alder.

"Discoverers first came across placer in the Alder District on Young American Creek in 1869. They names Alder after a mining district they had worked in Montana in the mid-1860s. They organized the Alder Mining District, and limited placer mining took place there during the next few years. However, after no substantial deposits were found by the mid-1870s, the town was abandoned.

During the summer of 1885 interest in Alder revived when Henry Freudenthal, later sheriff of Lincoln County, discovered the Gold Bug Mine, which he sold to James Penrod. Around the same time, Louis Burkhardt discovered the Golden Gate mine. In November 1891 Emmanuel Penrod, who was instrumental in Gold Creek's rise to prominence, discovered the Oro Grande-the most productive of Alder's mines. It produced small amounts of placer, but it was not until 1895 that Joseph Land, M.J. Penrod, and James Penrod's discoveries renewed curiosity about Alder's potential. The Alder Mining District was reorganized on August 29, 1895, with Emmanuel Penrod as chairman and Louis Burkhardt as secretary and recorder. By 1896 Tennessee Gulch consisted of four active mines, including the Oro Grande (also known as the Browning Brothers) and the Last Chance (also known as the Jack Abel).

In January 1897 seventeen new claims became active, and close to thirty people set up residence in crude homes at Alder. Prospectors began work on another twenty-five claims in February, and a townsite named Delores was platted. Residents submitted to the government a thirty-one-signature petition for the establishment of a post office.

The Oro Grande mine owners turned down an offer of $20,000 for their mine in 1879, but Jack Abel and Louis Burkhardt bought the Sunset claim group for $50,000. The Gulch Auf, or McDonald, began production in 1898, and with all its active mines, Alder gave the appearance of a bustling and permanent mining camp. Emmanuel Penrod built a three-stamp mill at a cost of $5,000. It began production on May 1, 1898, working Gold Bug and Oro Grande ore. However, excitement soon faded when prospective investors learned that initial assay reports were misleading, and ore values dropped quickly. The mill remained in operation for only a few months before being shut down. By the turn of the century, no one was left to object when the government finally rejected the Delores Post office application.

Limited mining did take place at Alder from 1916 to 1939, when the Clipper Alder, the Pittsburgh, and the Mohawk mines were active and the refurbished Penrod mill saw occasional use. But alder's twenty-three years of mining activity produced only 53 ounces of gold and 1,219 ounces of silver. In 1949 the newly discovered Garnet mine produced modest amounts of tungsten. Union Carbide drilled there extensively and defined a large ore body. It shipped ore to a mill in Mountain City. From 1970 to 1977 the mine produced 6,000 units of tungsten.

Little activity has occurred at Alder since 1977, and only sunken cellars and ruins of Penrod's mill remain to mark the Delores townsite. The scenery, however, is spectacular, and the campground is located nearby.

 

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