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.

 

McGill (Smelter) (Axhandle Springs)

DIRECTIONS: From Ely, head north on U.S. 50 for 13.1 miles to McGill.

"Long before McGill became the smelting center of White Pine County, the site was a productive ranch. John Cowger established his ranch in 1872 and soon had extensive grain fields. By 1880 he had become the sole owner of the area's water rights. An unsubstantiated rumor has it that Jesse James and his gang ate here while escaping from a sheriff's posse. William Neil McGill and his partner, William Lyons, bought Cowger's ranch in 1886, and soon the ranch was one of the most prosperous in the county. Lyons had been the co-discoverer of Taylor in 1885, and because of his interests there, he sold out to McGill in late 1886.

A post office opened at McGill Ranch on April 28, 1891,with Kate McGill as postmistress. Five years later, William Neil McGill formed a partnership with Jewett Adams, a former Nevada governor. This powerful union created one of the largest sheep and cattle empires in Nevada. McGill was born in Mount Healthy, Ohio, on January 7, 1853. He worked on the Sutro Tunnel and had surveyed the Ely and Copper Flat townsites. During 1873 he worked for the Martin White Company as a civil engineer. McGill was a man of amazing character. He refused to sell his cattle at a high price to outside interests until the people in Ely, on credit, were supplied. Jewett Adams came to Nevada in 1864 from Vermont. Adams was elected lieutenant governor in 1874 and reelected in 1878. He successfully ran for governor in 1882, although he was defeated in his reelection bid by C. C. Stevenson in 1886. The Adams-McGill Corporation continued for many years, but tragedy struck on June 18, 1920, when Adams died in San Francisco. McGill continued to run the corporation until his death in April 1923. The empire deteriorated rapidly without McGill'' guidance, and in 1930 the corporation was liquidated.

However, while the McGill-Adams partnership was important to the town's development, the real force was the McGill Smelter. Construction on the $10 million smelter began in 1906. McGill was selected as the site because the Cumberland and Ely Mining Company owned eight square miles of land, later used for the extensive tailing ponds. The smelter, completed and started on May 15, 1908, was a joint venture of Cumberland and Ely and the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company. A water line was built from Duck Creek to the McGill Smelter, and the McGill depot on the Nevada Northern was completed in 1909.

By 1909, McGill employed 2,200 men. The Steptoe Valley Smelting and Mining Company, operator of the smelter, built large and modern facilities for its employees and to serve as the official headquarters. The company also opened several businesses, and McGill became a company town. The company organized a local newspaper, the Copper Ore, as well. The 1920 census showed that McGill had 2,850 people, making it the largest town in White Pine County. The smelter was treating as much as 15,000 tons of ore daily. On July 9, 1922, the nine-acre concentrator burned, and damage to the facility was over $2 million. The mill was quickly rebuilt, and McGill continued to grow.

McGill's population peaked at around 3,000 during the late 1920s and early 1930s. The population declined after the Depression, and by the time the smelter closed in the late 1970s, only about 1,000 residents were left. The smelter was shut down not because of an ore shortage but because it could not comply with strict new EPA air standards without installing extremely expensive air scrubbers. Today the plant has been dismantled. The tall smokestack was taken down in September, 1993. The loss of the smelter had a very detrimental effect, and the town now retains only about 250 residents. Interesting buildings exist there, and a visit is well worth the traveler's time."

 

Return to: Ghost Town & Mining Camp Map