April 21, 2024 Part One - Tonopah Historic Mining Park

One of the main things we wanted to do today was to visit the Tonopah Historic Mining Park.  It is located on the site of the original mining claims that started the rush to Tonopah, making it the Queen of the Silver Camps.  It was Jim and Belle Butler's original discovery at Tonopah that started the second largest silver strike in Nevada's history.

There are five mines in the park.  There is a great site about it as well as a downloadable brochure with a lot of detail.  

https://www.tonopahnevada.com/mining-park/

We started with a movie that told about the history of Tonopah, the discovery of silver, how it was mined and processed and shipped.  Because of the amount of silver found, a post office, hotels, homes, saloons, restaurants, power and water were available within the first 10 years of discovery.

Movie Theater:

After the movie, we walked thru the museum.  One of their members collected all kinds of gems and minerals from mines throughout Nevada and donated his collection to the museum.  Oh My!  Such beautiful pieces.

There are a number of Turquoise Mines in Nevada and a large one near Tonopah.  You can even go and dig thru those tailings.  (Next time, now that I know.)  Turquoise comes in a number of colors but the famous Tiffany Blue Turquoise comes from the Tonopah mines.  Interesting.

I also found out that there are a few other active mines throughout the state where one can dig thru the tailings.  Hmmm!!  Might be future plans..

There were quite a few interesting collections there from items the miners used to items found in the area.

Of special interest to Andy and I was the lab set-up (we both worked in industrial labs).  Very interesting.

Then we were outside.  The docent explained to us where all the mines were located and the pathways there.  We had been hoping to get a Polaris Tour but they did not have the people to do that.  So we concentrated on one of the mines - The Mizpah Mine:

It was dark and deep.

Yes, even silver still in some of the rock:

From there we walked to the burro tunnel.  Looking up at the Mizpah Hoist House and Headframe:

Lots of old equipment and "stuff" on the property.

The Burro:

The entrance to the tunnel:

Looking down the horizontal shaft to the cage:

We are in the cage here, looking down the vertical shaft:

Can you see the stake in the wall?  Originally they would hammer them in the side, remove, and load with explosives.  Over time, they started to use drills to speed the process.

Our next area was the Mizpah Building and Hoist Area:

Here is the hoist. Directly underneath is a grate that covers the 1500' shaft.  Yep, I stood over it.  They have it lit for about 100' so I could see down.  We were told not to let anything fall down because it will be there forever.

Machinery inside the Hoist House:

From left to right: Rope Shed, Storehouse, and Carpenter Shop:

Part of the original RR Trestle and other mining equipment:

The Carpenter Shop, The Mizpah Hoist and Hoist House:

The view from the Park:

The park is located on the side of Mt. Oddie and the trails are between 6046' and 6380'.  We are not use to walking in that elevation so we did take it slow.

More equipment:

Tailings:

The storehouse - check out the truck:

The Carpenter Shop was open and there was an original miner's tent set up like it would have been when the camp was here:

The Visitor Center and Museum:

We made our way back to the visitor center and talked with Jeff who is the main tour guide.  He apologized that they could not help us out with a tour (short personnel).  When I told him that we usually pass this way about once a year, he gave us his card and told us to call about a week before we get there and he will arrange one for us.  How wonderful!

Future Tonopah and the area:  There are a few companies that are interested in mining out the silver and gold since the veins are still rich.  There is a link here that goes over what is happening so far.  (Hmmm, maybe we need to get our tour in before it is booming again.)

There is a lot more information here in these links.  

https://www.tonopahnevada.com/history/

https://www.mining.com/site-visit-tonopah-primed-for-mining-renaissance-as-precious-metals-attract-prospectors/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonopah,_Nevada

Our day continues in Part Two.