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.

Mud Springs

DIRECTIONS: From Tenabo, backtrack 1.5 miles to paved road. Exit left and follow for 4 miles. Exit left again and follow for 4 miles to Mud Springs.

"Initial discoveries in the Mud Springs District were made by Stephen Bedell in February 1885. His Rattler Mine produced $500-per-ton ore for a couple of months, but Bedelll left the district in late 1885. Placer gold deposits were discovered in 1907 by Gus Fowler of Beowawe, leading to a small boom at Mud Springs. Other mines discovered between 1907 and 1908 included the Triumph (1908, 18 tons of ore yielded $60 per ton), Big Bug (two 100-foot tunnels),Bridal Wreath (30-foot shaft), Uncle Sam (50-foot shaft), and the Grey Eagle (located one mile west of the camp). By the summer of 1908, a camp of 30 had developed at Mud Springs. Most of the supplies for the camp came from nearby Lander. As a result, only one business, a saloon, opened.

The Grey Eagle Mine was the best producer of the district, with $25,000 between 1907 and 1908. A 250-foot shaft was dug, with lateral workings at the 60-, 115-, and 215-foot levels. By late 1908 the ore deposits in the Mud Springs mines began to run out. By spring 1909 all mining had ceased in the district, and by summer Mud Springs was abandoned. The only mining activity since occurred in October 1935. The A. O. Smith Corporation of Milwaukee sank a couple of shafts but found no substantial deposits and gave up after only a couple of months. Mud Springs has been a ghost ever since. The three buildings still standing at the site appear to have been cabins for the miners."

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