Nevada Mining History
The term mining district was coined in the gold camps of California’s Mother Lode in the early 1850s. California, along with Nevada, Utah, and large parts of the southwest, had been acquired by Mexican cession in 1848. A military government set up in California quickly abolished Mexican laws but no attempt was made by the U.S. Congress to extend federal laws over California until September 1850 when the state was admitted to the Union. Therefore, when gold was discovered in California in 1848 and a rush to the area developed, thousands of miners found themselves outside the boundaries of effective government with no legal means of taking and holding mineral claims. In an attempt to bring order to this situation, California miners, by 1850, had begun to organize local government for the mines. At mass meetings held in the scattered camps of the gold diggings, local rules and regulations were voluntarily adopted covering mainly mining matters but sometimes extending to civil rights and criminal punishment as well. Mining was the primary interest however, and the main object of the regulations was to fix the boundaries of the district, the size of claims, the manner in which claims should be marked and recorded, and the amount of work that should be done to hold claims. Within a few years, the mining district meeting had become a necessary part of each new mining rush, and the codes therein developed, known as “the rules and regulations of mining districts,” were accepted as legal by the California courts.
By the time the Comstock was discovered north of the Carson River in the western part of what was to become Nevada, the district-type of organization had been used enough in California to prove its worth in protecting and legalizing mining claims and transfers. Nevada, then part of Utah territory and, like California, recently ceded to the United States by Mexico, had neither national nor territorial laws governing mineral claims. Following examples set on the Mother Lode, Comstock miners proceeded with the organization of a California-style district and, in January 1858, established the Columbia quartz district, taking in all of the Comstock lode, as the first mining district in Carson County, Utah Territory. The Columbia district quickly passed from the scene, however, as mining became focused around the small towns of Gold Hill, Virginia City, and Silver City and the local miners broke away and formed their own districts. The Comstock is credited with the first official “mining district” formed in Nevada, but the first organization for mining, probably similar to a mining district in all but name, was formed in southern Nevada in 1856. On July 29 of that year, a group of fifteen Mormon missionaries formed an association to work the Potosi lead mine in the Potosi (Goodsprings) district. Although the venture failed and the southern Nevada discovery was eclipsed by Comstock excitement, Potosi may well have been the first mining district in Nevada. Mining may have taken place as early as 1849 at the Desert Queen mine, west of the Forty Mile Desert section of the emigrant trail. There is, however, no record of a mining district being formed at that early date.
By 1867, when the first Nevada State Mineralogist Report was issued, mining was active in 114 separate districts within the state. In the first listing of western mining districts compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey, Nevada was credited with 182 districts, and Lincoln, in his comprehensive study of Nevada mining districts in 1923, described about 309 districts. Schilling listed 344 districts on his map, Metal Mining Districts of Nevada, and the present study identifies 526 districts and areas within the state boundaries. These variations in number, however, do not entirely represent increases in districts over time but also reflect major changes in the definition and concept of the mining district. Early reporters such as Stretch and Angel tended to report only districts “organized” in the fashion of the time preceding adoption of the Mining Law of 1872. Lincoln and Schilling, however, did not restrict themselves to organized districts, a concept that had largely fallen into disuse well before the time of Lincoln’s work. The notable increase in numbers of Nevada districts between 1976 and this study reflects, first of all, the inclusion of many obscure and minor districts that were overlooked by earlier workers. Of equal importance, however, the increase also represents the inclusion of many localities where prospecting or mining is known to have occurred or where concentrations of specific types of mineral occurrences are known to exist, but which were never included within an organized mining district.
Mining district names present a problem that, in some cases, defies a clear solution. Some indication of the magnitude of this problem can be seen from the numerous alternate names listed for many of the current Nevada mining districts. Many of the early mining districts, formed following local mineral discoveries, quickly fell into disuse when the mineral showings failed to develop into worthwhile ventures. Meanwhile, miners continued to form new districts with new names, sometimes incorporating parts of several older districts in the new ones. Even names of historic, established districts change as new mines are found and become prominent. Evidence of continuing name change can be seen in several districts at the present time. In Elko County, for example, the name for the district surrounding the town of Midas, historically known as Gold Circle, appears to be evolving, through local usage, to Midas. In the Independence Mountains of northern Elko County, the old Burns Basin district, surrounding some small antimony prospects, has been engulfed by the huge Independence Mountains district that includes the extensive disseminated gold deposits developed there. A similar change may be also be underway in the active gold belt of northern Eureka County and southwestern Elko County, where the Old Bootstrap, Lynn, Maggie Creek, Carlin, and Railroad districts are being grouped into a new super district known as the Carlin trend. This huge new area is a far cry from the concept of a mining district as created by the ’49ers in California but is an example of what may be the modern concept of a mining district-an area encompassing mineral deposits that are geologically similar or are genetically related.
By the time the Comstock was discovered north of the Carson River in the western part of what was to become Nevada, the district-type of organization had been used enough in California to prove its worth in protecting and legalizing mining claims and transfers. Nevada, then part of Utah territory and, like California, recently ceded to the United States by Mexico, had neither national nor territorial laws governing mineral claims. Following examples set on the Mother Lode, Comstock miners proceeded with the organization of a California-style district and, in January 1858, established the Columbia quartz district, taking in all of the Comstock lode, as the first mining district in Carson County, Utah Territory. The Columbia district quickly passed from the scene, however, as mining became focused around the small towns of Gold Hill, Virginia City, and Silver City and the local miners broke away and formed their own districts. The Comstock is credited with the first official “mining district” formed in Nevada, but the first organization for mining, probably similar to a mining district in all but name, was formed in southern Nevada in 1856. On July 29 of that year, a group of fifteen Mormon missionaries formed an association to work the Potosi lead mine in the Potosi (Goodsprings) district. Although the venture failed and the southern Nevada discovery was eclipsed by Comstock excitement, Potosi may well have been the first mining district in Nevada. Mining may have taken place as early as 1849 at the Desert Queen mine, west of the Forty Mile Desert section of the emigrant trail. There is, however, no record of a mining district being formed at that early date.
By 1867, when the first Nevada State Mineralogist Report was issued, mining was active in 114 separate districts within the state. In the first listing of western mining districts compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey, Nevada was credited with 182 districts, and Lincoln, in his comprehensive study of Nevada mining districts in 1923, described about 309 districts. Schilling listed 344 districts on his map, Metal Mining Districts of Nevada, and the present study identifies 526 districts and areas within the state boundaries. These variations in number, however, do not entirely represent increases in districts over time but also reflect major changes in the definition and concept of the mining district. Early reporters such as Stretch and Angel tended to report only districts “organized” in the fashion of the time preceding adoption of the Mining Law of 1872. Lincoln and Schilling, however, did not restrict themselves to organized districts, a concept that had largely fallen into disuse well before the time of Lincoln’s work. The notable increase in numbers of Nevada districts between 1976 and this study reflects, first of all, the inclusion of many obscure and minor districts that were overlooked by earlier workers. Of equal importance, however, the increase also represents the inclusion of many localities where prospecting or mining is known to have occurred or where concentrations of specific types of mineral occurrences are known to exist, but which were never included within an organized mining district.
Mining district names present a problem that, in some cases, defies a clear solution. Some indication of the magnitude of this problem can be seen from the numerous alternate names listed for many of the current Nevada mining districts. Many of the early mining districts, formed following local mineral discoveries, quickly fell into disuse when the mineral showings failed to develop into worthwhile ventures. Meanwhile, miners continued to form new districts with new names, sometimes incorporating parts of several older districts in the new ones. Even names of historic, established districts change as new mines are found and become prominent. Evidence of continuing name change can be seen in several districts at the present time. In Elko County, for example, the name for the district surrounding the town of Midas, historically known as Gold Circle, appears to be evolving, through local usage, to Midas. In the Independence Mountains of northern Elko County, the old Burns Basin district, surrounding some small antimony prospects, has been engulfed by the huge Independence Mountains district that includes the extensive disseminated gold deposits developed there. A similar change may be also be underway in the active gold belt of northern Eureka County and southwestern Elko County, where the Old Bootstrap, Lynn, Maggie Creek, Carlin, and Railroad districts are being grouped into a new super district known as the Carlin trend. This huge new area is a far cry from the concept of a mining district as created by the ’49ers in California but is an example of what may be the modern concept of a mining district-an area encompassing mineral deposits that are geologically similar or are genetically related.
