Tonopah Historic Mining Park July 30, 2019
(This post is part of a (mostly) non-ship series about a trip to the West I took during July and August of 2019)
Silver was discovered in Tonopah, Nevada in 1900 and started a rush which soon caused Tonopah to become the “Queen of the Silver Camps”. This town, located on US 95 approximately midway between Las Vegas (210 miles) and Reno (230 miles), feels like it is in the middle of nowhere.
I had known when I departed this park that I hadn’t seen everything there was to see here but I didn’t realize how little until I saw this self-guided tour map. I followed the advice of the friendly and helpful gentleman at the visitor’s center and had walked from the Visitor’s Center, across the Stope Bridge, through the Burro Tunnel, up to the Mitzpah Mine & Hoist House and the nearby buildings then about partway up to the T & G Trestle to admire some old mining equipment before making my way back to the Visitor’s Center. Between the extensive hilliness of the place and the growing heat I’d had enough.
The view from the park is impressive, in the above view I believe the distant mountains are the White Mountains which are about 60 miles away.
Although I saw only a part of what this park has to offer I did see a lot. I started my experience at this park with the movie offered in the Visitor’s Center which I strongly recommend as it will help you understand what you’re looking at as you roam about the park.
A feature of this place that is unusual compared to other historical mines I have visited are the stopes, or large crevasses where silver mining started on the surface and went town leaving a post-earthquake appearing effect which are braced horizontally with timber.
Wandering around the site I see a great abundance of what causes me to make a beeline for places such as this: Interesting Rusty Stuff. I love rusty stuff to the point that finding and taking photos of it puts every other aspect of visiting such a place in the background and the photos I took generally reflect that.
I entered one of the buildings in the Mitzpah Mine area and among the other antique items within was a fully equipped miner’s tent which showed how a miner might have lived.
A Burro Tunnel, restored in 2004, takes you to a viewing cage over a 500′ deep stope.
I definitely recommend adding a day to explore this place if you find yourself travelling along US 95 through this area. Only a few of the photos I took here are shown in this blog, click this link to see more!