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.

GOLD CREEK

Location: From Wildhorse, head north on Nevada 225 for 2 miles. Exit right and follow the road for 6 miles to Gold Creek.

"First discoveries at Island Mountain were made in 1869, and the Wyoming Mining District was organized on November 3. At the time, the Small town of Bruno City was growing just a few miles to the northeast. Early mines in the district included the Mountain King, The Chrysopolis, and the Miners Delight. Additional rich placer discoveries, which Emmanuel Penrod, C. T. Russell, and W. D. Newton made in August 1873, led to the organization of the Island Mountain Mining District on October 11, 1873. Penrod was president and Walter Stofiel was secretary. The placer discoveries led to a flurry of water ditch building throughout the Island Mountain district, and a small camp developed. It was initially named Penrod, in honor of its founder, one of the original discoverers of the Comstock Lode in Virginia City. Most of the people at Penrod were Chinese. The Chinese tended to be more enthusiastic about placer mining and were stoic about hauling heavy bags of placer sand to a remote site where water was available.

In June 1874 the Owyhee Water and Gravel Company began hydraulic operations after the completion of a large reservoir and five miles of ditch. The company also constructed a similar setup along Martin Creek at Bruno City. Soon, James Duncan, A. D. Meacham, and Samuel Stanhope were working other placer mines. In June 1875 the camp reached a peak population of 103. Another small camp called Goldfield, formed near the placer operations on Slate Creek, but these placers were worked out quickly and the camp disappeared.

By January 1897 the boom was on. The town's population was 500, and 300 people were on mine payrolls. The Gold Creek Company employed 240 of these, paying three dollars a day for a ten-hour shift. A telephone line to Elko was completed in June, and the Tuscarora Ladies' Orchestra preformed many times at the Gold Creek Hotel. New mines continued to come into production. One was the Star Placers, which a prospector discovered when he noticed a gopher had dug up yellow dirt. Its first 100 tons returned $3,500. In February a shipment from the Little Maid mine returned $277 a ton. The Coleman Placer Mining Company owned the mine, which was the only one in the district with a shafthouse."

There is much more fascinating history about Gold Creek.

"Since 1900 only sporadic mining has occurred at Gold Creek, and its success has been limited. Currently, a small company is working in the old Island Mountain townsite, but although the old vault still stands empty, overlooking the old town, the site is off limits. Higher up the canyon are remnants of the Chinatown, which contains about 10 dugouts. Nearby, a number of old buildings, stone mill foundations, and other ruins remain. The ill-fated ditch is visible to the point where it stops, a scant half a mile from completion. The only reminders of the modern Gold Creek site are a historical marker and a concrete sidewalk. The cemetery, where only Dunlap's headstone is left, is located just tot he west. It is believed that George Washington Mardis was buried in the cemetery, after we was murdered near Gold Creek in 1880. His could be one of the 3 unmarked graves dating back to before the 1890's revival. But the grave's actual location is a mystery.

 

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