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.

Keystone

DIRECTIONS: From Bar, continue north for 4 miles to Keystone.

"Keystone was an obscure mining camp that was the scene of some short-lived and low-key activity. The Keystone Mine was originally discovered in the late 1860s by one of the many wandering prospectors who were drawn by the Eureka boom. But it wasn't until 1898 that any measurable activity took place. At that time R. D. Clark dug shafts of 150 feet and 105 feet, uncovering some ore that assayed as high as 600 ounces of silver and $120 in gold per ton. Even though the sample had been a carefully selected shipment of ore, caution was thrown to the winds. A small concentrator was built at the mine. Other plans included the immediate construction of a smelter. A camp of 50 sprang up, and on April 14, 1898, a post office opened. Unfortunately, the first load of ore contained everything of value in the mine. Efforts to locate new deposits were fruitless, and by the end of the summer most of the population had already left. The post office closed on September 27. Soon the only signs of the camp were the concentrator and the partially completed smelter-fitting memorials to the follies of man. Only rubble marks the site today."

 

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