Round Mountain

[96]       

Round Mountain

Nye County
  38.7265, -117.11485


"I've come to know the love-hate relationship with mining in Nevada. This is a touchy subject here in the Silver State, but this my journal, and I don't really care what people are probably going to say once this is all said and done. I've become awe-struck by Nevada's wildness. Nevadans have been blessed with natural treasures and beautiful open landscapes found nowhere else in the world, but throughout my travels across Nevada, it seems Nevadans are also a little reckless. Some might say a bit selfish and superficial, in more ways than one. Mining, albeit a cornerstone and foundation of Nevada herself, simultaneously presents problems on a silver platter. The short-lived hope of scraping microscopic gold from the earth supports a temporary fix for the economy, simultaneously leaving the delicate deserts scarred for centuries. How many cultural towns, relics, ghosts of the past! ... must we destroy in search of piddly, microscopic wealth? How many places must we scar, fence, and leave barren for a quick economic fix? Nevada, and her people, must find better ways to support herself. But, that requires an different affinity: change. And Nevadans don't like change. Instead, that same game of chance, a turning of the cards so to speak, the ambiguous digging for a nugget, still cradles the Nevada mentality in gambling, mining, and tourism. From a fellow Nevadan to another, let me get it through your head ... The idea of "get rich quick" is merely that. An idea. Nothing personal." -- Journal Entry, April 2008


SR 376 and the road to Round Mountain, 3 miles south of Carvers

Original Date Visited: 4/15/08

Signed: Two severely faded signs on both lanes of SR 376

  • The beautiful Toiyabe Range dominating the skyline at Marker 96
  • Big Smoky Valley and the scenic Toiyabe Range, © Matt Long
  • Marker 96 in the Big Smoky Valley
  • The beautiful Toiyabe Range dominating the skyline at Marker 96
  • Big Smoky Valley and the scenic Toiyabe Range, © Matt Long
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Exact Description:
One of many early 1900 gold camps, Round Mountain is unique because:

It has been a producer for more than 60 years.
All the gold occurred in free, visible, metallic form.
Many small, high-grade veins were easily mined with hand tools.
Larger, lower-grade veins provided ore for milling plants.
Placer gold occurred in economically recoverable amounts in the peripheral gravels at the base of the mountain which were first dry washed.
Water was piped across the valley floor from two mountain creeks to recover the gold from the gravels by hydraulic mining for ten years.
Still later, heavy equipment was used to mine the deeper gravels. Early promoter and operator, Louis D. Gordon, consolidated the many claims into Nevada Porphyry Gold Mines, Inc., in 1929.

Next Marker:

MANHATTAN

Related Links & Markers

 [254] -- Nevada's Mining Heritage   Nevada Towns: Carvers 


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