Belmont Mill, Approximately 7 miles south of U.S. Route 50 on USDA Forest Service Road No. 623, Ely

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER NV-46. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Approximately 7 miles south of U.S. Route 50 on USDA Forest Service Road No. Ely vicinity, White Pine County, Nevada. U.S. Geological Survey, Seligman Canyon, Nevada, 7.5 Quadrangle Township 16 North, Range 57 East, Section 1. UTMZone 11, Easting Northing (NW corner); Easting Northing (SW corner); Easting Northing (SE corner); Easting Northing (NE corner) (NAD Present Owner/Occupant: United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER NV-46. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Tonopah Belmont Development Company was one of the most important companies created during Nevada's early twentieth-century mining boom. As ore deposits in its central Nevada mines were depleted, the company sought new claims to resurrect its fortunes. In built the Belmont Mill near Hamilton to process lead and silver ore from its recently acquired claims in the White Pine mining district of eastern Nevada. The small pilot mill employed the most recent advances in table concentration and flotation mineral processing techniques, and the company erected numerous other industrial and domestic buildings and structures, including an aerial tramway and boardinghouses, to support the mining and milling work.

Although largely abandoned by after a few years, subsequent property owners continued to use and modify the site for smaller milling operations. Today, although most of the equipment has been removed, the Belmont Mill site is one of the only intact assemblages of early twentieth-century mining buildings and structures in eastern Nevada. Importantly, both industrial and domestic buildings and structures remain to provide a glimpse of daily life there. The site is a BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 2) tangible reminder of the decline and failure of a once- powerful company and, thereby, of the boom and bust cycle so common in the mining industry.

The subsequent modification and reuse of the site for small-scale operations typifies the ceaseless hum of optimism that sustains the mining industry.

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER NV-46. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

This project was completed by a team of private contractors at the request of the USDA Forest Service, Humboldt- Toiyabe National Forest in consultation with the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office. When the property came under the purview of the several years ago, the agency recognized the historic significance of the site and sought to fulfill its obligations under Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act by documenting and stabilizing the buildings. The project contract was awarded to ajc architects of Salt Lake City under an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract between Region 4 of the USDA Forest Service and the firm.

The project historian was Anne Oliver, a historic preservation consultant with Oliver Conservation Group (Salt Lake City) and sub-contactor to ajc; she was responsible for all aspects of the historical report and would like to thank Eric Stever, Archaeologist, Ely District, and Peter Fleischmann, Civil Engineer, for their assistance. Matt Wallace, Intern Architect with ajc architects, was responsible for the architectural measured drawings and completed all fieldwork and final drawings with the assistance of Oliver Smith Callis, Draftsman. The photography was produced by Steve Tregeagle Photography (Salt Lake City), a subcontractor to ajc, under the direction of Steve Tregeagle and with the assistance of Heath Brown. BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 3) Table 1.

Numbering system for the buildings and structures at the Belmont Mill, HAER No. and associated USDA Forest Service feature numbers and names. HAER Number USDA Forest Feature name Service Feature # NV-46-AJ Flj Mill 15 : Powei House N'A ; Tiam Toweis 1 & 2 (two on site) Fl" j i >ff-loadmg Ramp and Chute "NV-46-E | F18 1 WasteRockPiie F14 ! Tool Shed and Lumber Rack F2 j Assay Office F3 j Supervisor's Office NV-46-I F4 ! Boardinghouse F5 1 Root Cellar 6 i Workshop i F7 ! Lower Outhouse F8 j Lower Charcoal and Lumber Pile ! F9 j Upper Boardinghouse F10 ! Upper Outhouse Fll ! Shed F12 i Trailer F19 j Upper Charcoal and Lumber Pile F16 j Water Tank : F21 !

Con_ap_sedBm_ldinjg None (discussed in report only) F13 j Cellar None (discussed in report only) F20 j Depression None (discussed in report only) N/A j Tram Towers 3 - 6 (four off site) None (discussed in report only) N/A | Mine (off site) None (discussed in report only) I N/A j Mine Buildings (off site) jThis includes the mill and associated unnumbered features: two mixing/concentration tanks to south, one concentration/thickening tank to east, and a loading dock/equipment mount feature to east. BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 4)

Narrative Overview

The Belmont Mill and most of its associated buildings and structures were designed and constructed by the Tonopah Belmont Development Company in In the ensuing years, modifications were made to the existing buildings and several new buildings and structures were added to accommodate the changing needs of the site users. To document both site development and the numerous resources, this report begins with a narrative overview of the site's history, followed by two outline-format reports (HAER Nos. NV-46-A and and eighteen HAER short-format reports (HAER Nos. through for the twenty extant historic buildings and structures (Table 1). A. Introduction Almost the entire state of Nevada lies within the Basin and Range geologic province of the western United States.

The topography is typified by block- faulted mountain ranges trending north-south that separate long, broad valleys, many of which are closed basins terminating in a playa at the lowest point. Most of the basins are about feet above sea level, while the ranges may be to feet in elevation. The block faulting was accompanied by mineralization that led to rich deposits of ore, probably the most salient factor in Nevada's history since the Today the province provides nearly all of the copper, gold, silver, and barite in the United States. Within the Basin and Range Province lies the Great Basin physiographic region, largely an arid desert with watersheds that do not drain to oceans. Eastern Nevada is part of this desert region, characterized by hot, dry summers and harsh, cold winters.

Valleys may average as little as three inches of rain per year while the ranges receive somewhat more precipitation, largely in the form of snow. Vegetation is correspondingly sparse and hardy, with grasses, shadscale and sagebrush at the lower elevations transitioning to pinyon and juniper and finally to fir, pine and spruce high in the mountains. Watercourses may be lined with willow and cottonwood. In this harsh climate, the location of ranches and settlements was determined by the location of fresh water, mainly around springs and along watercourses in the foothills of the ranges. The great exceptions were mining camps and towns, which sprang up wherever ore was found.

The Franciscan monks of New Spain worked the first historic mines in the state in the late Mormon settlers and others worked some gold and lead mines in the late and although most prospective miners were simply passing through the region en route to the BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 5) California gold fields.1 The discovery of western Nevada's Comstock Lode in spurred the first great wave of mining activity not only in western Nevada but in the central and eastern regions as well, as prospectors sought new hard rock deposits of silver ore.

Mining districts were established across the state until the boom tapered off in the In these early years, the mining camps and towns had a voracious demand for lumber that took a heavy toll on the limited timber stands of Nevada's mountain ranges. Cattle ranching, which first arose from the need to feed the miners, impacted grazing lands in both the basins and ranges as ranchers drove the stock to seasonal forage. By the number of sheep surpassed the number of cattle in Nevada and tensions arose between cattle ranchers and the often-transient sheep outfits as overgrazing further depleted already limited resources. Overgrazing, deforestation and regional water rights were serious concerns at the turn of the century.

Populist views espousing "the greatest good for the greatest number" gained strength after Theodore Roosevelt became President in Roosevelt directed his powers toward resource protection, which included the designation of numerous forest reserves.2 With the rise of the conservation movement, mining, homesteading, and settlement were no longer the primary goals for the vast tracts of empty land in the western United States. The federal government began retaining control of the remaining lands by withdrawing them from sale and managing them on behalf of the public for their natural resource value, and the creation of national forests and parks on public lands was the culmination of a shift in the federal government's management of lands in the west.

In east-central Nevada, Forest Service examiners first surveyed lands for designation as forest reserves in The surveys focused on the area's isolated, timbered mountain ranges, including the White Pine range, the future location of the Belmont Mill. This and adjacent ranges were withdrawn from available lands in the same year and the withdrawal was made permanent on February 20, when President Roosevelt established the Nevada National Forest. At this time, 1 Martha H. Bowers and Hans Muessig, History of Central Nevada: An Overview of the Battle Mountain District. Bureau of Land Management Cultural Resources Series No. 4 (Reno: Bureau of Land Management, 23. 2 Richa Wilson, Privies, Pastures, and Portables: Administrative Facilities of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. vol.

1 (Ogden, UT: USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Region, 20. Wilson, the Forest Service Region 4 architectural historian, provides a very thorough historic context statement for the Forest Service in Nevada, which is only briefly summarized here. BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 6) the White Pine district was described as "fully stocked with sheep and cattle and over run with wild horses," with mining activity on a small scale.3 After a series of eliminations and additions, the Nevada National Forest encompassed 1.2 million acres by and was administered from the small town of Ely. By there were four rangers administering five divisions, including the White Pine.

The main activities on the forest consisted primarily of mining and stock raising, with an estimated cattle and sheep grazing on the forest in In addition, stockmen relied on water from the forest to irrigate hay fields. The mining communities of Ruth and Kimberley, as well as others at Hamilton, Taylor, Osceola, and Tungsten, also needed water for their operations.4 Other boundary changes and forest consolidations took place over the years with little effect on the White Pine district until when the Nevada National Forest was eliminated and the district was transferred to the Humboldt National Forest, with headquarters in Elko.

In the White Pine and Ely districts were combined as the Ely District and in the Humboldt and Toiyabe forests were combined (with headquarters in Reno), resulting in the present forest and district configuration. During this entire period the group of claims comprising the Belmont Mill site, although surrounded by national forest land, remained active and in private ownership. The claims lapsed in the mid-2000s and the property reverted to the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, which is now responsible for the extant buildings and structures. B. The White Pine Mining District, - Belmont Mill is located about midway between the towns of Ely (36 miles to the east) and Eureka (40 miles to the northwest), in the White Pine mining district.

The mill site lies at the northern end of the White Pine Mountains at an elevation of about feet. The mill is situated near the mouth of McEllen [McEllin in early reports] Canyon, which lies between Pogonip Ridge and Mount Hamilton immediately to the west and Babylon Ridge to the east.5 The once-renowned town of Hamilton lies on the opposite side of Babylon Ridge about four miles to the southeast, just north of Treasure Hill. Foyer Olsen, "History of the White Pine Division, 19 March p. 9, as cited by Wilson, Privies. Pastures and Portables. 40. Wilson, Privies. Pastures, and Portables. 41. "Pogonip," an English adaptation of the Shoshone word for cloud, is a western term for the ice fogs common during cold winter spells in deep mountain valleys.

Its use as a place name speaks to the difficult winter weather conditions in the area. BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 7) The histories of both the White Pine district and the mill are a distillation of the more general history of mining in the Nevada.6 This history can be broken into nine periods, named below.7 Of course, due to the particular mineral resources of the White Pine district and the construction date of the mill, some of the periods are more relevant than others, but most have influenced the history of the site. 1. Discovery and the First Mining Boom, 2. Late Nineteenth Century Decline, 3. The Early Twentieth Century Mining Boom, 4. Fluctuations between the Worlds Wars, 5. High Demand During World War II, 6. The Rise of Tungsten and Base Metals, 7.

The Decline of Metals and the Rise of Oil, 8. From Copper to Gold, 9. The Gold Years, 1980-present The White Pine mining district, about 16 miles square, was organized in with the discovery of ore on the west slope of Mount Hamilton, but intense development began only after rich silver chloride deposits were discovered on Treasure Hill in Described as "one of the wildest rushes or stampedes... since the Comstock boom," the rush resulted in the creation of Hamilton and several nearby towns, including Treasure City, Eberhardt, and Shermantown. At its peak, Hamilton boasted a population of and, when White Pine County was created from the larger Lander County in Hamilton was named the county seat. The population of the district as a whole during the boom was estimated at people.

In there were 197 mining companies operating, with a nominal capital of besides numerous leases and private enterprises. At this time there were 23 mills with 200 stamps dropping on ore. In addition to this there were nine Broad contextual histories of the history of mining in the west, and of Nevada specifically, are readily available elsewhere. See in particular Joseph V. Tingley, Robert C. Horton, and Francis C. Lincoln, Outline of Nevada Mining History Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Special Publication 15 (Reno: University of Nevada, More specific histories of east central Nevada are provided by Bowers and Muessig, History of Central Nevada: Donald L.

Hardesty and Timothy Scarlett, "Historical Mining in the Central Nevada Ecounit of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest," unpublished report (Challenge Cost- Share Agreement prepared for Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, (rev. and Steven R. James (ed.), Prehistory, Ethnohistory, and History of Eastern Nevada: A Cultural Resources Summary of The Elko and Ely Districts, Cultural Resource Series No.

3 (Reno: Bureau of Land Management, These periods are derived from histories prepared by Tingley et al., Outline of Nevada Mining History, and Hardesty and Scarlett, "Historical Mining in the Central Nevada Ecounit." The creation of the White Pine district was only part of the general frenzy of activity in White Pine County, which saw the establishment of more than a dozen new mining districts in and six more in the See James, Prehistory. Ethnohistory. and History of Eastern Nevada. BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 8) smelters of various capacities, reducing the ores of the lead belts. The ores of Treasure Hill were and were treated by the Washoe, or pan amalgamation process.

The lead ores were so rich in lead that the bullion derived from the smelters was little better than the crude ore, and none of these smelters were economically successful.9 The boom ended abruptly in and it has been described as "one of the most, intense, and shortest, mining booms in the American West."10 Several companies, backed by British investors, prolonged the life of the district for about fifteen years as they searched fruitlessly for more ore, but Hamilton and the adjacent towns were largely depopulated during the course of the Hamilton was dealt the final blow in when a fire destroyed much of the town and all of the county buildings; the county seat was moved to Ely two years later.11 But Hamilton wasn't completely abandoned until the oral histories document that about 100 people lived in the area in and there were 56 registered voters residing in Hamilton in The White Pine mining district is broken into three distinct sections: a copper belt on the west slope of the White Pine Mountains centering around Monte Cristo, a silver-lead belt on the east side of the range centering around McEllen Canyon, and a silver belt further east centering around Hamilton and Treasure Hill (Figure 1).

All of the ore deposits and veins are located in Paleozoic strata. The silver ores of Treasure Hill and the silver-lead ores of the "Base Metal" range owe their origin to the folding and faulting of the limestones which produced the fissures and channels in which ore-bearing solutions circulated. Absence of igneous rocks in these two belts, however, is a noticeable feature. On the other hand, the copper ores on the west side of the mountain are derived from an invasion of porphyries.13 The mines of the lead belt are located almost wholly in a faulted and fissured zone of the Lone Mountain dolomite. The exceptions are the Glory and Quartz claims (both worked by which are located in the Eureka quartzite and where ore W. S.

Larsh, "Mining at Hamilton, Nevada," in Mines and Minerals (June Donald L. Hardesty, "Managing Historic Properties in the White Pine Mining District," (unpublished report prepared for Humboldt National Forest, 1. For a complete history of the district during this period, see W. Turrentine Jackson, Treasure Hill: Portrait of a Silver Mining Camp (Reno. University of Nevada Press. DonaldL. Hardesty provides a more focused history of Shermantown, derived from the archeological record, in "Treasure Hill and the Archeology of Shermantown" in CRM 7 Jen Huntley-Smith, "Documentary Report for Archaeology of Treasure Hill," p. 6, as cited by Hardesty, "Managing Historic Properties in the White Pine Mining District," 4. Larsh, "Mining at Hamilton," BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No.

(Page 9) is found in brecciated quartzite and in other mineralized rock along faults.14 In the lead zone, the primary ore material is galena, which oxidizes to anglesite, a sulfate mineral. In the presence of meteoric water carrying calcium carbonate and carbonic acid, the anglesite is slowly replaced or altered to cerrusite, a carbonate mineral.

"The enclosing rim of anglesite and cerrusite partially protects the core of galena from further oxidation; galena nodules surrounded with anglesite and cerrusite are common." The ore also contains silver, perhaps as argentite, as well as copper (in the form of malachite and less commonly chrysocolla or cuprite) and zinc (as smithsonite).15 (This mixture of both lead sulfate and lead carbonate would require a complex milling process to extract the maximum amount of lead ore, and the Belmont Mill used a combination of technologies, some quite recent, to achieve this.) The lead-silver belt deposits were discovered shortly after the silver deposits at Treasure Hill, and some of the mine claims associated with the Belmont Mill may have been established at that time.

Early attempts to smelt the ores were unprofitable due to crude methods and high transportation costs. However, it was reported that, in the ... when mining had been abandoned on Treasure Hill, attention was again directed to [the lead deposits]. More favorable market conditions made it profitable to export the best grade of these ores to Salt Lake and San Francisco for reduction, and from these mines have since come the ores that have employed, for more than 20 years, the small remaining population of the district.16 As of the Nevada Lead Company and the Cornell were listed as active mines.

(Both of these claim groups would be worked by in the Production from all the lead-producing mines in the district was given at tons, averaging 65 percent lead and 20 ounces of silver per ton, with a gross value of nearly No outside financing was involved in these operations and no on-site mills or smelters were mentioned in association with them. In fact, "Little, if any, capital other than that taken from the mines has been expended in their development, and... only the highest grade ores have been profitable... [Nevertheless], many comfortable fortunes have been awarded to leasers, individuals, and companies by their operation."17 The claims that would eventually comprise the mine were definitively located between and (Figure 2). These included: 14 Fred L.

Humphrey, Geology of the White Pine Mining District. White Fine County. Nevada. Nevada Bureau of Mines Bulletin 51 (Reno: University of Nevada, 97 and 15 Ibid., 94. 16 ' Larsh, "Mining at Hamilton," 17 Ibid. BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 10) Glory Mine, Mineral Survey No. Patent No. Quartz Mine, Mineral Survey No. Patent No. Nevada Nevada No. 2 Nevada Fraction Nevada Protector Ace of Hearts Ace of Spades Blue Bird No. 1 Blue Bird No. 2 Blue Eagle Blue Jay Blue Jay No. 1 Blue Jay No. 2 Blue Jay No.

3 Radio The Glory and Quartz claims were patented in and were known as the "Cornell Group," while the following thirteen unpatented claims were known as the "Nevada Group" or the "Nevada Lead." The remaining claim, the unpatented Radio, was first located as the "Atlas" and was originally included with the Cornell Group, but over time became associated with the Nevada Group.18 The precise ownership history of the mine claims between the dates of their location and early remains unclear, although claim locators included Herman Hoppe, James Siri, David Ross, Alexander A. Muir, James Reck, Charles Mayotte, and Clyde A. Heller. The last two men were employees. Several individuals, including Rose Hankins, J. C. Wheeler, and Carl F.

Muir, are also mentioned in title documents and agreements from the period, while Nevada- Cornell Silver Mines, Inc., appears to have had some involvement in the early ownership of at least the Quartz, Glory, and Radio claims. According to the U.S. Bureau of Mines yearly publication, Mineral Resources, the Nevada Group (referred to as the "Nevada mine" or the "Nevada property") was one of the White Pine district's principal producers of lead ore between and and the ore was shipped to Tonopah for smelting at least in Figures An undated property report from about stated that A. B. Whitcher of Ely was the owner of the Cornell Group (Glory, Quartz, and Atlas claims) and that to in silver and lead ore had been extracted from the mine. See H. A.

Johnson, "Cornell Group," unpublished property report, Document No. [University of Nevada, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology mining district files (Reno available on-line V. C. Heikes, "Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead, and Zinc in Nevada," in Mineral Resources. (Part I) (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 11) aren't available for individual mines, but the district as a whole produced of lead and between and But generally the district was very quiet: a U.S.

Geological Survey bulletin describing mining districts in eastern Nevada failed to mention the White Pine district or note it on a map, although the location of Hamilton was marked.21 Accounts of the district in Mineral Resources between and indicate that lead-silver ores remained the principal product but that typically only 300 to 500 tons of ore were produced each year, most of it of high enough quality to be classified as shipping grade. Exceptions were the years from to during World War I, when as many as tons of ore were produced. Due to increased demand for lead at this time, it was economically viable to treat lower grade ore at concentration mills, and about half the ore was milled while the other half was of shipping grade.

In the early the only other significant activity in the district involved cyanide reprocessing of old mill tailings.22 By this time, the center of mining activity in eastern Nevada had shifted to the copper deposits of the Robinson district just west of Ely, an area that would remain active and important throughout most of the twentieth century. But the White Pine district would have one last flurry of activity in the mid- spurred by the investments of and the construction of the Belmont Mill. C.

History of theTonopah Belmont Development Company, The second great wave of mining in Nevada was ushered in by the discovery of silver ore deposits near Tonopah Springs in in the central part of the state; thus began "The Early Twentieth Century Mining Boom, By the bustling town of Tonopah was established, as were the nearby boomtowns of Rhyolite and Goldfield. Two great mining companies arose during this boom, the Tonopah Mining Company and the Tonopah Belmont Development Company.

Both were fully industrialized in the modern sense, defined by a highly structured organization, the existence of owners and financial backers in distant urban areas, an elaborate division of labor (wage earners, shift workers, managers, technicians, engineers, financiers), and the construction of large reduction facilities, offices, and residential infrastructure close to the mines.23 Francis Church Lincoln, Mining Districts and Mineral Resources of Nevada (Reno: Nevada Newsletter Publishing Company, 21 J. M. Hill, Mines of Cherry Creek. Ely Range and other Eastern Nevada Districts, photographic reproduction of U.S.

Geological Survey Bulletin "Notes on Some Mining Districts in Eastern Nevada," (Las Vegas: Nevada Publications, Hardesty and Scarlett, "Historical Mining in the Central Nevada Ecounit," 39. 23 In History of Central Nevada, p. 39, Bowers and Muessig provide a summary of the pattern of development for nineteenth-century mining districts that applies to the early twentieth century as well: "discovery; exploitation and possibly abandonment; consolidation and the development of industrialized mining; decline; abandonment (or revival)." BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 12) A group of Philadelphia capitalists arranged to buy the original Tonopah claims in for creating the Tonopah Mining Company and naming Arthur Brock, a wealthy Philadelphia businessman, as president.

In May either Arthur or John Brock arrived to inspect the new holdings and at that time negotiated the purchase of adjacent claims and a tunnel for By December the tunnel property had been combined with several other holdings and was incorporated in New Jersey as the The new company named John Brock as president; Arthur Brock, vice president; Clyde A. Heller (also of Philadelphia), secretary-treasurer; John Hays Hammond, consulting engineer; and Tasker L.

Oddie, general manager.25 "These two companies accounted for 60% of the district's total production from through the estimated profits of alone were $39 million.26 initially shipped ore to the Comstock mills in Virginia City and to California but soon decided to build a 60-stamp mill adjacent to the Tonopah Mining Company's mill at Millers, a stop along the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad about thirteen miles west of Tonopah. A. H. Jones was named mill superintendent.27 The opening of a rich new vein prompted the construction, between and of a new 500-ton cyanide mill in Tonopah itself, adjacent to the shaft.28 The mill, according to A. H. Jones, was designed by the Belmont staff based upon the experience gained at Millers.

The detail drawings and construction were supervised by Otto Wartenweiler. The units used were sixty 1250-pound stamps, eight 5-foot by 16- foot tube mills with Dorr classifiers, eight 5-foot Callow cones, and sixteen Wilfley tables. Afterward, four 30-foot by 12-foot Dorr thickeners came, six 15-foot by 45-foot high Pachuca agitators, followed by a similar second set of thickeners and 24 David Fairall, in "The Tonopah Belmont Development Company: Its Beginning and Formation," in Nevada Historical Society Quarterly 40 (Fall states that Arthur Brock visited Tonopah while Loren Chan, in Sagebrush Statesman: Tasker L. Oddie of Nevada (Reno, University of Nevada Press, 28, states that John Brock visited.

Whichever the case, it is clear that the in the early days the two companies had close ties, often with overlapping officers and boards of directors. Chan, Sagebrush Statesman. 28. Oddie, a resident of Tonopah, was one of the original claim holders and quickly made a fortune in the next few years. He lost everything in the panic of and his association with the ended then, but he later served as the governor of Nevada and a U.S. senator. 26 Fairall, "The Tonopah Belmont Development Company," and Bowers and Muessig, History of Central Nevada. 35. 27 "Archie" Jones became general superintendent of milling at Tonopah in he was not technically educated but had milling experience in Colorado and was promoted rapidly through the company; he resigned in See Jay A.

Carpenter et al., The History of Fifty Years of Mining at Tonopah. [University of Nevada Bulletin XLVII Geology and Mining Series No. 51. Reno: Nevada Bureau of Mines, 87. 28 Ibid., BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 13) agitators, and then 250 Butters filter leaves. The new feature in Tonopah practice was the use of Pachuca type agitators. The pregnant solutions were precipitated by the Merrill zinc dust process with the precipitate briqueted and melted in double compartment Rockwell furnaces.29 Clyde Heller was named president of the company at this time, a position he would retain until his death in The company prospered under his direction between and producing percent of the silver in the United States and returning profits from the Tonopah mines of $2 to 3 million.

Similar to all prospering mining companies, President Heller [stated] in his annual] report "the examination of other mining properties has continued with a view to purchase, and negotiations are being conducted for one." This was the start of many years of search, the taking over of many properties, and an over-all high capital loss.31 The company examined a total of 200 potential new properties in and fifty- eight in with several taken under option. Heller had of course anticipated the eventual depletion of the company's holdings and indeed, beginning in the tonnage extracted from the Tonopah mines began a steady decline.

High silver prices enabled profits of about $1 million for the next two years but the drop in mine tonnage led to the closing of the mill at Millers in after eleven years of continuous operation. Much of the mill equipment was shipped to the company's new Surf Inlet gold mines in British Columbia, Canada.32 Profits in dropped to below and the earlyl920s were dismal years: the Tonopah mill was closed in due to insufficient ore supply and the leases at Tonopah were forfeited.33 Profits were below by 29 Ibid., 81.

This is a summary of a very detailed paper Archie Jones presented on the construction and operation of the mill at the American Institute of Mining Engineers meeting in San Francisco in See Jones, "The Tonopah Plant of the Belmont Milling Co.," in Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, vol. LII (New York: American Institute of Mining Engineers, Otto Wartenweiler opened an office in the VanNuys Building in Los Angeles in and designed at least two other large mining and milling plants; see Steam Vol. XIII No. 1 (January 26. Given his past association with he may have been involved in the design of the Belmont Mill but there is no direct evidence of this. By the the corporate office address was given as 500 Bullitt Building, Philadelphia, with a mine office in Tonopah.

It appears that Heller lived in Tonopah. See Walter Harvey Weed, The Mines Handbook, vol. XV (Tuckahoe, NY: The Mines Handbook Co., 31 Carpenter et al., The History of Fifty Years of Mining at Tonopah. 83. 32 Ibid., 33 Walter Harvey Weed, The Mines Handbook Vol. XVI (Tuckahoe, NY: The Mines Handbook Co., BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 14) deriving mainly from the Surf Inlet mines, and the company continued to search for new properties to revive its fortunes. In exercised an option to purchase the MacNeill mine in the Vulture district near Wickenburg, Arizona, and also entered into an option on a lead-zinc mine near Hamilton, in the White Pine district of Nevada.34 D.

The Construction of the Belmont Mill, In Mineral Resources reported that the "Belmont Development & Mining Co. was actively engaged in developing the Nevada and Roosevelt mines, which yielded some first-class lead ore and a little ore that was jigged."35 No title or lease records were located to confirm that the company had yet purchased the Nevada Group claims, but net profits for the year dropped to about partially due to the costs of new exploration work.36 By early title records confirm that owned all of the individual claims comprising the Nevada Group.

Initial explorations proved promising, and on March 4, the Ely Daily Times heralded, The Tonopah Belmont Development company, will build a small pilot mill at Hamilton this spring, in which to conduct tests on the ore in the property the company is developing on the lead belt, west of Treasure Hill. Clyde A. Heller, president of the company stated that material for the mill will be assembled and construction started just as soon as the snow goes off and condition of the roads will permit trucking. ... Previous reports from Charles Mayotte, [mine] superintendent, showed the property to be opening up in a gratifying manner and that there is already developed sufficient ore to justify the construction of a small mill. Development has been carried on through a winze sunk from the tunnel level.

The property has long been a producer of silver-lead ore of good grade. Later in the month, P. W. Racey, s general superintendent for Nevada operations, issued a statement describing the new workings in the mine and noted, "The Belmont mill at Tonopah is being dismantled and considerable amount of the machinery will be shipped to Hamilton and used in the new test mill." He 34 Carpenter et al., The History of Fifty Years of Mining at Tonopah. 35 V. C. Heikes, "Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead and Zinc in Nevada," in U.S. Bureau of Mines Mineral Resources. (Part I) (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 36 Wall Street Journal. April 14, BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No.

(Page 15) also mentioned an existing compressor and hoist at the Nevada mine, no doubt relicts of previous owners.37 To facilitate the initial relocation of machinery, future trucking of ore, and winter access to and from the mill site, Racey also asked the White Pine County commissioners to construct a seven mile stretch of road "across the flat" to connect the old Hamilton road near the mouth of McEllen Canyon with the Lincoln Highway (U.S. Route 50) to the north, just west of Antelope Summit. The county agreed to the proposal in early May and the road was completed about two months later; it is the same graded dirt road that provides access from the highway today.38 Title records document that, in April and August Clyde Heller located the four unpatented mill site claims (Nevada Nos.

3 through Construction was underway by mid-April, with L. O. Bastian as superintendent of construction. Original plans called for a small, 50-ton capacity mill, but one designed to allow for additions "if the company desire to treat custom ores" from nearby mines. "The new mill will comprise rotary grinders, concentrating tables, cyaniding and flotation, and is being designed especially for the treatment of the ores of that district."40 At different times in central Nevada's history, six main types of ore reduction methods were used to separate the metals from the gangue (or waste rock): 1. Washoe pan process: Used to extract silver from ore. Ore was crushed to a fine powder, mixed with water, and fed into large pans or vats and mixed with mercury, salt, iron filings, and other materials.

The water was then drained and the gold and silver, which had amalgamated with the mercury, were placed in a retort furnace and heated to separate the mercury from the precious metal, which was then cast as bullion. 2. Reese River process: A version of the Washoe process developed to treat ores near Austin. Ore was crushed and mixed with salt, then roasted in large furnaces to convert silver sulfide to silver chloride. The material could then be treated with the Washoe pan process. 37 Ely Daily Times.

March 17, was simultaneously investing in "Camp Belmont," its new Arizona lead-silver property, including mine development work, well drilling, building construction, telephone line construction, and machinery installation; some of the latter was doubtless salvaged from the Tonopah mill as well. See "Tonopah Belmont Opens Mine in Arizona," in Engineering and Mining Journal-Press vol. 22 (May 29, 38 Elv Daily Times. March 29. May 3, June 2, and August 4, 39 White Pine County Records, Book 96, p. Book p. 89. 40 Elv Daily Times. April 16, BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 16) 3. Cyanide process: Often used after the Washoe pan process to increase efficiency and recovery, and also used to treat old mine tailings to extract gold and silver.

Ore was crushed to a fine powder, mixed with water and placed in large wood or concrete tanks containing a solution of potassium or sodium cyanide, then agitated. The cyanide chemically separated the metals from the gangue. The metal-bearing cyanide solution was drawn off the tank and the remaining fines, or slimes, were discarded as tailings. The cyanide solution was then treated to precipitate the metals. 4. Smelting: Crushed ore was placed in a furnace, roasted to drive off unwanted carbon or sulfur, and then combined with reducing substances (often charcoal or coke) to induce a chemical reaction and reduce metal oxides to elemental metal and waste rock, or slag. 5.

Gravity concentration: Crushed ore was placed in jig concentrators or shaking tables (e.g., Wilfley tables) and shaken back and forth (or later centrifuged), a process during which metals would separate from the gangue due to differences in specific gravity. The process was used on its own and in combination with other processes to maximize metal extraction. 6. Flotation: The froth flotation process was developed for processing sulphide minerals in the late nineteenth century, then perfected and widely used in the early twentieth century; it was commonly used for lead-bearing ores as an alternative to smelting. "Ore was crushed to a fine powder in ball or rod mills (these replaced stamp mills in the early century).

Crushed ore was then mixed with water and other compounds and fed into flotation cells. Compressed air was bubbled through the cells, bringing the lead and zinc minerals to the surface where they were skimmed off, dried and sent to a smelter. Where significant amounts of silver were also present in the ore, slimes from the flotation cells were sent through a cyanide tank to recover the silver."41 At the Belmont Mill, it was reported that a combination of gravity concentration, cyanidation, and flotation would be used.

This is consistent with the type of processing required by the ores of the district: Because of their high lead content, ores of the Eureka district and other districts with similar mineralogy [including the adjacent White Pine] could not be practically reduced using amalgamation or the Reese River or cyanide processes, because of the immense amounts of mercury required. In the nineteenth century the only alternative was smelting, relying on different melting points and 41 Bowers and Muessie, History of Central Nevada. 50. BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 17) specific gravities to separate waste rock (slag) from the lead, silver, zinc, and gold in the furnaces of a smelter.

Introduction of flotation concentration in the century provided a more viable alternative to smelting lead silver zinc ores, and several districts enjoyed revivals based on this technology.42 The Belmont Mill has been altered over the years and most of the original milling equipment has been removed, thus it is impossible to know for certain the exact process that was originally used to treat the lead-silver ore.43 But, based on the above information, it can be surmised that the original ore processing flow sheet for the mine and mill might have involved the following (Figure 3): 1. ore extraction at the mine; 2. preliminary crushing at the mine (if necessary - there were reports that only minimal processing was required because much of the ore was found in a crushed zone); 3.

transport to the mill via aerial tramway; 4. deposition of the ore in ore bins; 5. grinding by rod mill; 6. classification into sands and slimes by Dorr classifiers; and 7. gravity concentration on Wilfley tables. At this point the concentrates, essentially high-grade ore, would be collected while the tailings might be sent to a Dorr thickening tank and then to a flotation unit for further extraction of very small metal particles. Sulfidization may have been used at some point, either in the thickening tank or the flotation unit, to extract metal from lead carbonate ore. The slimes, or tailings, from the flotation unit might then be sent to a second tank for agitation in cyanide solution to extract the silver. But even before the mill was constructed the workers had to be housed.

In April, foundations were laid for a "130-foot bunkhouse [HAER No. NV-46-I], looking to the enlargement of the present force of miners, which are now operating at the Nevada Lead property." Rails and machinery were hauled from Tonopah by truck and from there to the mine site by a six-horse team; lumber was hauled from Ely.44 The organization and resources typifying an industrialized mining company were evidenced when the reported that, by mid-May, forms for the mill's concrete foundations were in place and that "the bunk house is practically finished as is the assay office and other necessary 42 Bowers and Muessig, History of Central Nevada.

43 T BDC undoubtedly prepared architectural and engineering drawings for the mill (and probably for many of the other buildings on the site as well) and also a milling flow sheet. The documents were not located during this project but might be included inTBDC's corporate records, if these still exist and can be located with further research. 44 Elv Daily Times. April 22, BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 18) buildings." At about this time, W. I. Cowsert, "who erected the Belmont Mill at Tonopah," replaced the ailing Bastian as construction supervisor.45 Construction work progressed apace, and in early June could report that the concrete [mill] foundation has been poured and piles of lumber and machinery are decorating the flat at the mill site.

A reservoir for water storage has been built and several miles of pipe are now on the ground. Timber for the tramway is also on the ground and the survey has been completed from the mill site to the Cornell property.

The boarding house is about completed, and it is expected that the working crew which has been boarding and lodging at Hamilton, will move to the new quarters this week.46 At this time, about forty men were employed at the property and their prospective new residence, the boardinghouse, was reported to have "nine bedrooms, a kitchen, lobby, and bath room, and [was] comfortably equipped."47 The activity in McEllen Canyon created hope for a revival of the White Pine district in general, and indeed stimulated new work in both the lead and silver belts by area claim and patent holders that summer and fall.48 In early May, had expanded its holdings with the purchase of the Cornell Group (the Quartz and Glory claims just north of the Nevada Group) from J. C.

Wheeler and associates for The two mines, about 800 feet apart, were then connected via drifts and the main workings were conducted from the Cornell rather than the Nevada Lead. To move the ore, proposed a 9,200-foot aerial tramway to connect the Cornell with the mill in the canyon bottom. Rather than construct a new tram, a disused Bleichert-type double-rope tramway was purchased from the owners of the Chollar mine in Virginia City, Nevada.50 The dismantled tram was shipped to Ely by train and its arrival there in June prompted much excitement; it was then trucked to the site.51 45 Ely Daily Times. May 19, 46 Elv Daily Times. June 2, 47 Ely Daily Times. June 3, 4S Elv Daily Times. April 16.

May 15, and June 2, 49 James Reck leased the Cornell mine in and then acted as superintendent for J. C. Wheeler and associates. A cave-in in had reportedly blocked access to a rich ore deposit and, in the owners were cleaning out and re-timbering the mine preparatory to re-accessing the ore vein (Ely Daily Times. April 20, In April, the court decreed that Rose Hankins et al. were the actual property owners and that Wheeler et al. had merely optioned the property from them, thus that payments were due to Hankins rather than Wheeler. The latter filed suit in May in a dispute over payments, but the litigation had no effect on the ownership or on-going work at the site (Ely Daily Times. May 26, 50 Ely Daily Times.

May 3, The Chollar was located in and became the fifth most productive mine on the Comstock, producing as much as $17 million in silver ore. In the Nevada BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 19) An Ely Daily Times article dated June 19, provides one of the only descriptions of the type of equipment originally installed in the mill: ... [The] new plant will be equipped with a... Blake type crusher, a Marathon rod mill, Dorr classifier, flotation tanks and a Dorr thickener. It is expected that the mill will treat 15 tons per day, and that this tonnage can be easily augmented by the installation of new units... A 55 full Deisel [sic] engine will furnish the power to operate the mill.

The tramway will be equipped with 30 500-pound ore buckets, and will be operated primarily by gravity, the 15 loaded buckets furnishing the gravity to pull back the empties. Further valuable information regarding both mine workings and infrastructure is provided in an article from July: The discovery of two good veins that contain from 18 inches to three feet of ore assaying 16 oz. of silver and 33 percent lead in the Cornell mine... has elated Supt. P. W. Racey... The ore is of higher grade than the product of the company's adjoining Nevada property and of slightly different character. Construction of a power plant and concentrating mill has been completed and the 9000-foot aerial bucket tramway is about finished except for stringing the cable, which is on the ground...

[Delay] in receiving three miles of three-inch pipe for the water line probably will postpone milling operations until the middle of [August]... The mill is at the base of the mountain and is connected with the Cornell tunnel by the long bucket tramway. The Nevada property, first purchased by the company, is still higher up and the Cornell tunnel is being extended to connect with No. 5 level of the Nevada... The adit has cut three fissures, in two of which the ore is of high grade and the third may develop pay ore. There is also a large quantity of lead carbonate ore on the dumps that was too low grade Mill was built near the mine to process low grade ore and the tram, "said to be one of the largest and best constructed tramways in the state," may have been built at that time.

After years of decline, the Chollar was closed in the See (accessed December 8, 51 Ely Daily Times. June 9, BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 20) to ship but which will show a profit in the mill... The tunnel is being advanced at the rate of 10 feet per day... It was first intended to build a 25-ton pilot mill but the purchase of the Cornell mine, which has a lot of ore in sight, and a great improvement in the Nevada property on No. 5 level, induced a change of plans. The plant just finished will have a capacity of 50 to 75 tons per day and will employ both table concentration and flotation. Ore from the Nevada mine is in a crushed zone and very little of this mine product will require crushing.

The reject from the tables will be sulphidized and passed to the flotation cells. Power for the operation of the mill and other machinery will be supplied by a Ingersoll-Rand PO oil engine which has been set on its foundation. A 200-ton bin has been built at the head house of the tramway and a 100-ton bin is being constructed at the mill.

Charles Mayotte is superintendent.52 Tax records for the year also document the site's development, providing a list of taxable property that included a compressor plant at the mine, a mill, a combined boarding and bunk house, office buildings, an assay office, a hoist, mine cars, mine drills, and household furniture.53 Initial plans had called for water to be piped from Seligman Springs, five miles away, but ultimately it was taken from the "California mill springs" to the east. The pipeline was surveyed in early June and, in late July, signed a 15-year agreement for the use of water from the springs not only for milling and domestic purposes but for fire protection as well.

Four and one-half miles of pipeline were laid to transport the water to the 75,000-gallon wooden tank on the hillside north of the mill. In addition, four watering troughs with automatic valves were provided along the line to water the cattle in the area.54 After only four months of work, the Belmont Mill was given its initial run on Friday, August 20, making it the first reduction plant to operate in the district since President Heller arrived from New York, en route to Tonopah, for the inaugural run and expressed his "entire satisfaction," noting only the need for minor adjustments to the tram (which delayed operations for at least a 52 Ely Daily Times.

July 14, Another article cited the belief that the ore "will concentrate without crushing if the coarse material is first removed by screening," which helps to account for the relative dearth of crushing equipment (or the machine mounts for it) at the mill. See "Tonopah Belmont Developing Mine and Installing Small Mill," in Engineering and Mining Journal-Press vol. 20 (May 53 White Pine County Records, Tax Receipts, 54 Ely Daily Times. April 16, June 3, and July 26, 55 Ely Daily Times. August 12 and 20, BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 21) week) and stating that the company expected to double the capacity of the mill at no distant date.56 The beaming optimism was perpetuated a month later in the comments of M. B.

Cutter, a director of and resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota, who predicted that the mill would be increased to 200-ton capacity within six months, noting that "there is already enough ore in sight to keep a hundred-ton mill in continuous operation for several years."57 The mill site itself would have been quite orderly and attractive. After traveling up the newly graded road in the canyon bottom, trucks and automobiles rounded a low hill and came upon the site. The mill stepped neatly up the side of the ridge, connected to the distant mine by the towers and moving cables of the aerial tramway. The offices and boardinghouse were lined up neatly in the canyon bottom while the residences for managers and professionals perched on the side of the hill behind the mill.

The buildings were unified by a color scheme of grey walls (either of corrugated metal or painted wood) with white windows and white trim. Red accents were also used on doors and even the hinges of the attic vents on the boardinghouse. On its precarious mountainside perch further up the canyon, the mine site presented an equally orderly and attractive group of buildings. In a matter of months, had created a self-contained industrial mining complex where before there had been nothing. The site was connected locally to the town of Hamilton and the other mining enterprises in the White Pine mining district and also regionally to Ely, Tonopah, and Salt Lake City by a network of roads and railroads.

This transportation network facilitated both the importation of machinery, equipment and supplies and the exportation of concentrated lead and silver ore. Nationally the site was tied to the great cities of the east and midwest, Philadelphia and Minneapolis to name at least two, where the company's corporate headquarters were located and where its financiers, directors, and stockholders primarily resided. The site was also woven into the national mining consciousness through its inclusion and description in federal inventories published by the U.S. Bureau of Mines and privately funded publications like The Mine Handbook. E.

The Tonopah Belmont Development Company and Early Mining and Milling Activity, Milling of the lead ore proceeded throughout the fall of and with such promising results that the mill's capacity was indeed expanded, although only to 100 tons per day. In October, Superintendent Racey visited the site from 56 Ely Daily Times. August21 and 27, It was later noted that the increase from 50 to 100 tons could be effected by "providing for increased power and the possible addition of another rod mill and more tables" (The Ely Record. September 17, "The Elv Record. September 17, An Elv Daily Times article from December 27, provides Mr. Cutter's place of residence. BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No.

(Page 22) Tonopah, noting that work would be completed by early November and that "the final flow sheets will be partly table work and partly flotation...

"58 The first report on mill production dates to this time, when a carload of lead concentrates was taken to Kimberly (the railhead on the Nevada Northern Railway along Route 50, just west of Ely) and thence to a Utah smelter.59 In December both high grade ore and concentrates were shipped from the mill, and indeed it was noted, "The success of the Belmont mill, and the new treatment that is being given the ores of the camp, it is believed will lead to the erection of other reduction plants in the district" to process lower-grades ores otherwise made unprofitable due to transportation and smelting costs.60 In four months of operation in the mill processed tons of ore, resulting in a gross yield of The activities of the created a small revival of the White Pine district by stimulating new work in both the lead and silver belts by other claim and patent holders.

This revival mirrored the revival of the mining industry as a whole in Nevada, which had crashed at the end of World War I but which was making a good recovery. Interest and activity were quite evident in August, when it was reported, "Every house and cabin in the town of Hamilton is occupied... Places that have been abandoned for years are again habitated and Hamilton at night has taken on the spirit of a city with the residences and business houses lighted." In November it was reported that "the Hamilton district is quite lively with new men coming in daily.

At the present time some 125 are employed by the operating companies, who have made preparation for winter's campaign of development."62 Such was the revival of Hamilton that, in December, an Ely newspaper was moved to add a "Hamilton Notes" column, supplementing those for larger communities like Ruth and McGill. Hamilton and the immediate area had grown sufficiently to support a new sewing club, a civic club, and a Thanksgiving Day dinner at the Hamilton Hotel.63 Later in the month the sewing club agreed upon a community Christmas tree hung with stockings "full of candy, nuts and fruits" for all children in Hamilton and the vicinity.

It was also reported that and Algers have moved to Hamilton from the Tonopah-Bellmont [sic] mill in order to place their children in school," an indication that the site remained active and that 58 Ely Daily Times. October 6, The expansion work reportedly consisted of the construction of a flotation unit under the supervision of Bastian (Ely Daily Times, December 2, Newspaper accounts make it unclear if this was an additional flotation unit or the first unit at the mill, although the former seems more likely given earlier reporting on the use of both table concentration and flotation at the mill. 59 Elv Daily Times. November 8, and The Elv Record. December 10, 60 Ely Daily Times. December 22, 61 B. Couch and J.

Carpenter, Nevada's Metal and Mineral Production inclusive (Reno: Nevada State Bureau of Mines, 62 Ely Daily Times. August 18 and November 13, The Elv Record. December 10, Magotte" was reported as a member of the sewing club; this is most likely the wife of mine superintendent Charles Mayotte and indicates that the couple was in residence either at the mill site or in Hamilton lodgings. BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 23) not only miners but families were living there. Mr. Algers' position with is unknown but he was probably a manager or technician.64 By contrast, ... a year ago when the camp gathered for Christmas there were six people and seven dogs, all told. For two years there was not even a school in Hamilton.

Now there are 16 pupils and 20 children in the district.65 Unfortunately, the close of also brought an end to "Hamilton Notes" as the harsh mountain winter forced the area into relative dormancy. The Belmont Mill was closed as of January 5, according to the Ely Daily Times, due to unpredictable operations during the cold weather, although other mines reported moving men to work on a covered bobsled resembling a "prairie schooner."66 The newspaper surmised that a number of needed improvements would be made to the Belmont mill pending spring activity, although no official statement was made regarding the resumption of milling.67 The mine and mill were not completely abandoned.

Although the winter continued severe through February, it was reported that and two other mining companies were "working small forces and waiting for spring."68 However, a declining lead market and low extraction seems to have halted any immediate resumption of mining and milling, and the company's net income for was a dismal its Surf Inlet mine was sold in this year as well.69 In both and work a Belmont was confined to assessment work, development and maintenance of the main haulage tunnel; there were no reports of mill operation.

A list of registered voters in the Hamilton area indicated that mine supervisor Charles Mayotte and his wife Mary were still living in the district, and were most likely living at the mill site.71 The White Pine County tax records provide the most complete list of buildings and equipment at the time: Mill on Nevada No. 3 Millsite [NV-46-A] Boarding house and bunk house - Millsite [NV-46-I] 64 The Ely Record. December 24, 65 The Elv Record. December 31, 66 Ely Daily Times. January 14, 67 Elv Daily Times. January 5, 68 The Ely Record. March 69 Wall Street Journal. April 11, and Carpenter et al., The History of Fifty Years of Mining at Tonopah. 90. V. C. Heikes, "Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead and Zinc in Nevada," in U.S. Bureau of Mines Mineral Resources. (Part I) (Washington: U.S.

Government Printing Office, The mill closure, or at least the lack of interest in processing custom ores, is supported by the fact that a new table concentration mill for processing lead-silver ore was constructed at the nearby Roosevelt mine (Ely Record. February 10, 71 The Elv Record. October 26, BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No.

(Page 24) Office Building at Millsite Assay Office at Millsite Tram from mine to Mill 4 residence buildings at Millsite [only remains] Boarding house and bunk house at Cornell mine Water Pipe Line from California spring to Millsite Hoists Compressors Mine cars Machine drills Household furniture Three of the residence buildings were removed in the late and their original locations on the site are unclear, but at least one remains today: the west half of the upper boardinghouse built against the hillside behind the mill. Although Hamilton's boom was diminished by lessened activity at the property, excitement continued in the silver belt around Treasure Hill and also in the lead belt.

A report described property assessments, development work, an active mill at the Roosevelt mine, shipments of ore and concentrates, a new 500-foot aerial tram, reprocessing of old dumps and tailings piles, and so forth across the district.72 In "ceased mining on its own account in favor of leases given to miners."73 In microcosm, the very brief revival of the White Pine district illustrates the typical pattern of mining development in the industrial age: The rise of industrialized mining in a district did not necessarily mean that the district was profitable or that it would last a long time. There were countless districts, begun with high hopes, that grew quickly and then collapsed. Often however, industrialized mining meant that activity in a district might be prolonged.

Industrialization, with its large investment and elaborate systems of operation and organization, produced a momentum that could carry a district well beyond the logical point of abandonment... The peak of production in a district generally coincided with the industrial phase of development, due in part simply to the scale of operations. However, large scale mining operations also hastened the exhaustion of the known orebodies. The decline was first marked by shrinking bullion output, and then by closing of the mines and mills and an exodus of people from the district... The decline could also be slowed by continued or heightened 72 The Ely Record. July 13, 73 Carpenter et al., The History of Fifty Years of Mining at Tonopah. 90. BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No.

(Page 25) exploration and development work... If a revival did not take place, a district's last gasp could be the resumption, or introduction, of the leasing system to work the mines.74 Such was the pattern at the Belmont site, with lessees prolonging the life of the property. In they extracted "considerable high-grade lead-silver ore" from the mine (referred to as the Nevada Lead property), and for three months of that year, until operations were suspended once again due to the low price of silver and lead, lower grade ore from the mine was processed at the mill.75 Again in "first class smelting ore" was produced from the mine.76 But the onset of the Great Depression in the brought work almost entirely to a halt.

Between and very little activity was reported at the mine or mill, or in the district as a whole, particularly in the early part of the decade.77 Demand for base metals increased steadily beginning in the mid-1930s and there was some renewed activity at Belmont.

In proof of labor documents described repairs to the underground workings, including the Cornell tunnel.78 In this year, two of the residence buildings were removed from the mill site; the reason is unclear, although it may reflect the s retrenchment efforts.79 In following repairs to the aerial tramway and the milling equipment, a combination of employees and lessees began processing ores from the mine claims once again.80 This new activity seems counterbalanced the fact that a third residence was removed from the property.81 But in the fall of the failing finally sold both the mine and the mill site.82 Despite the sale, reported a net loss of for the year. In the company reported a net loss of and, in company president Richard G.

Park, stated in the annual report, "Owing to the lack of working capital and the present difficulties of operation, your directors and officers are seriously considering plans for the dissolution of your company. It is the opinion of the officers that there will be no liquidating dividend paid to stockholders."83 The company was dissolved shortly thereafter. Bowers and Muessig, History of Central Nevada, 43. 75 V. C. Heikes, "Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead and Zinc in Nevada," in U.S. Bureau of Mines Mineral Resources. (Part I) (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 76 V. C. Heikes, "Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead and Zinc in Nevada," in U.S. Bureau of Mines Mineral Resources. (Part I) (Washington: U.S.

Government Printing Office, 77 The only reported activity in the district in was a cyanide leaching operation on old mill tailings at Eberhardt. See Smith, A. M. and J. Carpenter, "Hamilton-Eureka-Austin," unpublished report on field trip, (Reno: University of Nevada, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology mining district files, Document No. 78 White Pine County Records, Book p. 79 White Pine County Records, Tax Receipts, 80 White Pine County Records, Book p. 81 White Pine County Records, Tax Receipts, 82 White Pine County Records, Book p. 83 Wall Street Journal. April 8, BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 26) F. World War II and Renewed Activity, The sold the Belmont mine and mill site claims to Captain Arthur A.

deMelik of Ely in September After one year he sold them to Ely resident Byron (or Bryon) F.

Snyder.85 After Snyder's permanent address was given as Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and it appears he worked the property for only two years before moving there.86 Three of the only historic photographs yet located of the mill site date from about this period (Figures 4, 5, and The first was taken from the hillside east of the boardinghouse and facing roughly due north, providing a view of the north half of the boardinghouse (NV-46-I), the north half of the supervisor's office the assay office the mill (NV-46-A), two thickening tanks (no longer extant), a smaller tank behind the mill (probably used for reclaimed water from the milling process and no longer extant), a residence the west half of what would later be named the upper boardinghouse), and a small wood residence or storage building (no longer extant).

The second photograph was taken from the hillside south of the mill and depicts the south ends of the workshop the boardinghouse, the supervisor's office, the assay office, the mill (including the two upper thickening tanks and a third east of the mill), and the water tank The third photograph was taken just south of the mill, providing a detailed view of the two upper thickening tanks, the south side of the mill, and the wooden trestle that led from the mill to the reclaimed water tank. Activity in was limited to the removal of only 25 tons of ore from the mine (a rough rule of thumb in the late nineteenth century was that one miner could break approximately one ton of ore per day, a rate that would have increased with more modern drilling techniques).

But in tons were removed that yielded 470 ounces of silver and pounds of lead, a reflection of the great demand for all metals that was prompted by World War II. At Belmont however, no further activity was reported until Proof of annual labor documents for the mill site claims were found for the assessment years ending in July of White Pine County Records, Book pp. and310; Book p. 85 White Pine County Records, Book p. 86 White Pine County Records, Tax Receipts, 87 East Ely Railroad Museum archives, no negative numbers or accession numbers. The photos appear to be prints made in February (as indicated by a date stamp on the prints) from older negatives. A prospective date of ca.

is derived from the condition of the buildings and structures, the style of an automobile and the clothing of the man and woman in the photos, the presence of one or two residences behind the mill, and the likelihood that photographs would have been taken at a time when ownership of the mill changed. 88 "White Pine District- Principal Mines," unpublished district summary [after (Reno: University of Nevada, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology mining district files, Document No. BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 27) and but no indication of mill workings was provided in either document.89 No account of the mine was given in the annual Mineral Resources reports for the although other small mines in the district were mentioned, again indicating a very low level of activity.

Interestingly, a geologic map of the mine was made in although whether this was purely for mapping and documentation purposes or as part of exploration and development work is unclear.90 The list of taxable property at the mine and mill remained about the same during this period, although the lone remaining "residence" was reduced in stature to a "cabin" and a burro supplemented various trucks and automobiles for several years.91 G. Mine and Mill Leasing, Snyder sold the mine and mill site claims to Don A. Jennings of the Belmont Mine and Mill Co. in June It appears that activity at the mine (referred to as the "Belmont mine") continued through a reflection of the strong demand for base metals after World War II and through the mid-1950s.

Because the mine was operated by only a few individuals and/or lessees rather than an industrialized organization like annual tonnages were generally quite modest, ranging from a low of ten tons in to 194 tons in Despite this, the mine was listed in the Minerals Yearbook as being one of the leading producers of lead in the district for and producing about pounds each year. "D. A. and Blanca Jennings" were listed in association with the Belmont mine in while Andrew Dowd and Fred Harris were listed in The report states that the lead ore was shipped to a Utah smelter and does not mention whether the mill was used for processing.

However, the secondary system that was installed in the mill, and which remains partially in place today, most likely dates to this period (see drawings for flow sheet). According to those who knew him, Jennings was not an experienced miner or mill operator but he did attempt to use the mill to process ore.95 The tax receipt still itemized an office building (supervisor's office, H) and a cabin (south half of upper boardinghouse, at the mill site. But in the office building was reclassified as a house, a status it retained to the White Pine County Records, Instrument Nos. and 90 Fred L. Humphrey, Geology of the White Pine Mining District. White Fine County. Nevada.

Nevada Bureau of Mines Bulletin 51 (Reno: University of Nevada, White Fine County Records, Tax Receipts, White Pine County Records, Book p. and Book p. 93 "White Pine District- Principal Mines," unpublished district summary [after (Reno: University of Nevada, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology mining district files, Document No. 94 L. E. Davis and W. C. Fischer, "The Mineral Industry of Nevada," in US Bureau of Mines Minerals Yearbook Area Reports. Vol. Ill (Washington: US Government Printing Office, and L. E. Davis et al., "The Mineral Industry of Nevada," in US Bureau of Mines Minerals Yearbook Area Reports. Vol. Ill (Washington: US Government Printing Office, 95 Interview with Hal (Rod) Jensen, 1 October BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No.

(Page 28) present.96 This most likely marks the time when extensive alterations were made to the building, including the installation of a kitchen and bathroom, window reconfiguration on the east side, and a bedroom addition on the north end. Jennings may have lived in the newly renovated building, seasonally or year- round, but it may also have been used by the aforementioned Dowd, a mining engineer, and his wife Ermyl.

According to oral accounts, the couple had lived and worked at the Belmont Mill site as early as perhaps as employees of the owners or as unofficial lessees, and also as caretakers.97 In April Jennings sold a lease and option to purchase the mill site claims to the Hamilton Land Co.; the agreement was to be valid through August This is also the year when Jennings' address on tax receipts changed from Ely to California. No activity at the mine was reported in the Minerals Yearbook for no doubt because of the major depression that had hit Nevada's mineral industry the year before.

In fact, the weak market for lead forced the closure of much larger mining operations in the state.99 Jennings signed another lease and option to purchase agreement in April to be valid through January this time with Belmont Lead, Inc.100 The new company worked on rehabilitating the mine, pipelines, and housing and conducted exploratory activities. A total of 232 tons of ore was extracted and some was even shipped before Belmont Lead ceased operation in late and the remainder of the ore was stockpiled.101 Subsequent records suggest that neither the mine nor the mill was ever really worked again. In Nevada, "continued low prices prohibited operations of many mines... and it was evident that it would be many years before lead-zinc...

returned to the scene." This slump in the market, combined with aging infrastructure and lack of substantial investment to repair and maintain it, brought an end to the working days of the Belmont mine and mill. As noted elsewhere, "Mines are not pipelines that may be turned on and off at will, but are more like pieces of machinery that require constant maintenance," and the Belmont was an aged machine.102 After Andrew Dowd's death sometime after Ermyl Dowd continued to live at the site and work as caretaker for Don Jennings. By the she made her White Pine County Records, Tax Receipts, 1952-present.

97 Interviews with Hal Jensen and Hal (Rod) Jensen, 1 October 98 A copy of the lease and option document could not be found; however, it was referenced in a notice of no-liability that Jennings filed in June (White Pine County Records, Instrument No. 99 Tingley et al.. Outline of Nevada Mining History. 33. 100 Again the actual lease and option document could not be found, but it was referenced in a notice of non-liability that Jennings filed in May (White Pine County Records, Book p. 101 L. E. Davis et al., "Nevada," in US Bureau of Mines Minerals Yearbook Area Reports. vol III (Washington: US Government Printing Office, and "White Pine District-Principal Mines," p. 3. 102 Tingley et al., Outline of Nevada Mining History. 29 and33. BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No.

(Page 29) home in the kitchen of the boardinghouse, where she also kept an upright piano; she had reportedly been a vaudeville performer in her younger days. Beginning at this time and perhaps earlier, she rented rooms and provided meals in the boardinghouse to miners working nearby claims, a practice she continued until the middle or late to supplement the limited income from her own mining claims.103 H. The Boardinghouse Years, 1961-ca.

In Jennings relocated the mill site claims with the Bureau of Land Management which acts as the federal recording agency for claims rather than the Forest Service), combining them into a single claim called the "Belmont Mill."104 No proof of labor or title documents were located for the claims between and In Jennings agreed to sell the mine and mill to Silver King Mines, Inc., although no record of the sale itself was found.105 Several past and present Ely residents recall the period in the when Dowd acted as the Belmont Mill caretaker. Hal (Rod) Jensen, worked claims in the area between and with his father, and remembers that all six boardinghouse rooms were occupied by miners working area claims during the summer months, sometimes at double occupancy.

A miner named Tick Doherty lived in the southeast room every summer for ten years, and Francis Waldy would come out from Ely and help Dowd with her claims. No one roomed in the supervisor's office (despite the fact that it had been converted to a house, perhaps evidence that Jennings had altered it for his personal use) or the assay office, but Dowd maintained flowerbeds in their front yards.106 At the time, the boardinghouse had running water, indoor toilets, and a telephone but no electricity; kerosene was used for lighting, wood and coal for cooking and heating. The boarders made use of the lower outhouse and Dowd used the root cellar for food storage and the workshop K) for coal and wood storage.107 After the boarders left, Dowd remained at the mill site through the winter.

Ron Jordan, an Ely resident who worked for the county road maintenance department in the late and early recalls clearing the road in the winter and stopping at Dowd's to use the telephone. As he remembers it, the mill was used fitfully in the late but little or not at all after He attributed this to a lack of material to put through the mill, but also recalled that in some years there was insufficient water from the California Mill springs to operate it.108 Interview with Hal (Rod) Jensen, Jr. White Pine County Records, Book p. White Pine County Records, Book p. 106 Interview with Hal (Rod) Jensen, Jr Ibid. 108 Interview with Ronald Jordan, 29 September BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No.

(Page 30) Both Jensen and Jordan stated that a great deal of equipment remained in the mill in the The tram still had six or seven ore buckets on the cable, although it was unclear if the system was operable. (These buckets are visible in a historic photograph of the mine buildings; Figure 7). Wilfley concentration tables were present on the fifth level of the mill (estimates varied between four and six), and Jordan believed they were moved to the Lackawanna Mill when the Belmont Mill was finally closed. Other equipment may have been moved to Eureka.

Both men recall a large jaw crusher that sat at the base of the off-loading ramp and chute west of the mill, and Jensen recalled a 40-horsepower Ingersoll Rand oil engine in the power house with associated smaller engines on concrete mounts around the perimeter of the room. One smaller engine had powered the electrical system and there was also a compressor that was used to start the main engine.109 The ownership history of the claims for approximately the next ten years is unclear. Beginning around a large mining project (referred to as the Mt. Hamilton Gold Mine or the Mt. Hamilton Project, among others) was occurring on the west slope of the White Pine Mountains. According to a technical report on the project, Phillips Petroleum Co. had acquired the land for the Mt.

Hamilton Gold Mine in and between and drilled over feet in the area and identified a tungsten-copper-molybdenum resource that partially overlapped the Centennial gold deposit. It appears that the Belmont Mill claims were part of this project, which involved multiple parties. This period of mining history was marked the ascension of large, often multi- national corporations in the mining industry both in the United States and around the world. Phillips Petroleum had first entered the Nevada scene in the early exploring not only for oil but for metals as well.

As a large and highly organized corporation with considerable financial resources, the company conducted aggressive exploration and development work that sometimes involved buying, leasing, or otherwise holding numerous claims without requiring an immediate return of investment, if ever.110 The Belmont claims were simply brought under the corporation's umbrella and then forgotten, and the property was subsequently shuttled between large corporations for about thirty years.

A conveyance document stated that Silver King Mines, Inc., sold a 1 percent interest in the mill site and mine claims to Phillips Petroleum; no additional records of conveyance of interest in the claims to Phillips Petroleum were found.111 The two companies then submitted proof of labor documents for the unpatented mill site and mine claims for and although Jennings was 109 Interviews with Hal (Rod) Jensen, and Ronald Jordan. Tingley et al., Outline of Nevada Mining History. 34. 111 White Pine County Records, Book p. BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No.

(Page 31) still listed as the owner of the claims in the document.112 Between and Phillips Petroleum submitted the annual proof of labor documents for the claims, and the work performed during this time consisted mainly of geologic mapping, diamond core drilling, assaying of core, and road building. There is no indication that any of the work occurred on the Belmont mill or mine claims.113 In the Dowd married Carl Tillman, the caretaker for Hal Jensen's property in Seligman Canyon and a man thirty years her junior. In the mid-1970s the couple moved from the boardinghouse to the upper boardinghouse and at that time built the large addition to the east that has since collapsed. The upper charcoal and lumber pile marks the remains of the couple's coal and wood pile.

The junked cars and old trailer that remain scattered along the road leading to the upper boardinghouse were reportedly moved there by Tillman. In the late or even as late as (perhaps when the property changed hands and Don Jennings no longer paid a caretaker's fee), Dowd and Tillman moved to Ely, where the latter worked at the Hotel Nevada.114 I. Site Abandonment and Ownership Changes, The departure of Dowd marked the abandonment of the Belmont Mill site and the beginning of its new status as a mining relic, hunting camp, and tourist attraction. At this time or earlier, some of the remaining pieces of milling equipment described by Jensen and Jordan may have been sold, including the Wilfley tables, the engine, and the jaw crusher.

Two photographs taken in about document that the mill site buildings were largely intact, although the two thickening tanks south of the mill had been removed and a shed-roofed building now collapsed) across the road from the assay office was still standing (Figures 8 and 9). In the ensuing years, visitors to the site have occasionally removed boards from the buildings for campfires, removed smaller pieces of equipment for souvenirs, broken windows, and enacted other minor vandalism, while lack of maintenance and exposure to harsh weather conditions have taken an even greater toll.

On October 3, Phillips Petroleum recorded the mill site and mine claims (the "Belmont group") with the The cover letter for the recordation submittal package stated that the company was the owner of the claims, but no title documents specifically supporting this assertion were discovered. (In fact, Don Jennings' name continued to appear on tax receipts through at least although the tax notices were usually sent in care of Phillips Petroleum and the company presumably paid the fees.) The company then continued to submit 112 White Pine County Records, Book p. and Book p. 113 White Pine County Records, Book p. Book p. Book p. 83; Book p. 77; Book p. 24; and Book p. 114 Interviews with Hal (Rod) Jensen, and Ronald Jordan.

Tillman died in the early on the dance floor of the casino and Dowd probably died several years before that. BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 32) proof of labor documents for the claims from through The records indicate that the claims of the Belmont group were part of a larger contiguous group of claims that were being explored, presumably as part of the ongoing Mt. Hamilton Gold Mine project. Exploratory activities in the group of claims were performed "at or by the expense of Phillips Petroleum Co. for the owners" of the claims and included geologic mapping, diamond core drilling, assaying of core, and road building.

A report on the White Pine district noted the work of Phillips Petroleum in the Monte Cristo area on the west slope of the White Pine Mountains, where the company was "drilling a deep tungsten-moly target." The report also noted that a few claims had been recently staked and some drilling had been done, but that there was no current mining activity in the area.

Also at this time, an inspection of the Belmont mine concluded that it was inactive and that the first 100 feet of the main adit had collapsed, although it did note the presence of the tram house, a blacksmith shop, and "assorted buildings."116 Between and proof of labor documents were filed by an assortment of entities including Phillips Petroleum, Queenstake Resources (USA), Inc., and NICOR Mineral Ventures, Inc.117 In Westmont Mining, Inc., filed proof of labor documents with the BLM (NICOR had changed its name to Westmont in Conveyance and proof of labor documents between and are slightly confusing due to several corporate name changes; however, they show that the claims were ultimately transferred to Westmont by May In Westmont sold the mill site and mine claims to Mt.

Hamilton Mining Co. which, with REA Mining Corp., paid the maintenance fees on some of the unpatented claims through In due the company's failure to meet annual requirements, the BLM deemed the Belmont Mill site, Blue Jay, Blue Jay No. 2, Ace of Hearts, Blue Bird No 2, and Blue Eagle claims to be forfeited. In all of the remaining claims associated with the mine and mill (the Nevada, Nevada No. 2, Blue Jay No. 1, Blue Jay No. 3, Nevada Fraction, Ace of Spades, Blue Bird No. 1, Radio, and Nevada Protector) were also deemed by the BLM to be forfeited. 115 White Pine County Records, Book 6, p. 49 and Book 28, p. 14; Book 41, p. and Book 52, p. 116 J. Tingley and J.

Bentz, "Mineral Resources of Egan Resource Area," Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology unpublished district summary (Reno: University of Nevada, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology mining district files, Document No. 2; and Jones, R. B. and J. Bentz, "Tonopah-Belmont," unpublished property report, (Reno: University of Nevada, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology mining district files, Document No. 1. 117 White Pine County Records, Book 66, p. Book 78, p. and Book p. 24. BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 33) The patented Quartz and Glory claims of the Cornell Group remain in private ownership. It appears that all of the buildings that remain on this property were constructed by and include: 1.

Aerial tramway upper terminal: one-story building with basement, gable-roofed, with timber and wood-framed walls and roof (with many reused elements from the Chollar tramway), walls and roof clad in corrugated metal. 2. Collapsed building: one-story, wood-framed, gable-roofed building, non-galvanized corrugated metal walls and roof, located just north of the tram terminal. 3. Compressor shed: single-story, gable roofed building with wood- framed walls and roof clad in corrugated metal siding, massive poured-concrete machine mounts in floor for compressor, located just north of the collapsed building. 4.

Boarding and bunkhouse: one and one-half story, gable-roofed building with a small basement, wood-framed walls clad in board and batten siding, an enclosed entry, deck on the north side, located just north of compressor shed (Figure 5. Hoist: the remains of a wood-framed hoist located south of the tram terminal. 6. Blacksmith shop: one-story, gable-roofed, wood-framed building with corrugated metal walls and roof, located south of the hoist near the mine entrance. While these buildings and structures are integral to the history of the Belmont Mill, they are not under the purview of the and were not examined or documented in any depth for this report. However, one older photograph provides a view of the mine buildings when they were still in good condition (see Figure 7).

The photo was apparently accessioned in and may date to much earlier, perhaps ca. when black and white photographs were taken of the mill buildings (see Figures 4, 5, and 6). In Aaron Minor relocated the Belmont Mill site with the BLM and sold the claim in the following year to Morgan W. Richardson. The mill site claim was forfeited in and a placer claim was located in this allows the claim holder to process the mill tailings and also to request use of the mill buildings after submitting a plan of operations. Despite this existing claim, the buildings and surface structures are now considered to be under the ownership of the Without any type of maintenance since at least the buildings have fallen into disrepair and several are presently at risk of structural failure.

Most unfortunately, the boardinghouse had already collapsed under the weight of snow in the winter of (Figure 11) while the upper boardinghouse collapsed at an earlier date. The recognized the historic significance of the site and thus sought to fulfill its obligations under Section 110 of the NHPA by BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 34) documenting and stabilizing the buildings in consultation with the Nevada SHPO. As part of the effort, a HAER documentation project was completed by a team of private contractors; associated work has included a structural engineering survey and recommendations for stabilization, as well as the completion of this HSR in accordance with NPS standards. BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 35) SOURCES OF INFORMATION A.

Architectural Drawings: None located. B. Early Views: East Ely Railroad Depot Museum archives (Ely ca. three black and white prints of site and buildings, including the mill, assay office, supervisor's office, upper and lower boardinghouses, and water tank as well as several structures no longer extant. These prints were apparently made from older photographs or negatives: a date stamp indicates February but the photographs are clearly earlier and taken at a different time of year. All images are included with this report as Supplemental Material, Figures 4, 5 and 6. ca. one color print of the mill, tool shed and lumber rack, and assay office. Date estimated from similar dated print at White Pine Public Museum. Image is included with this report as Supplemental Material, Figure 9.

White Pine Public Museum files (Ely one color print of the mill, power house, tool shed and lumber rack, boardinghouse, and collapsed building (still standing). Image is included with this report as Supplemental Material, Figure 8. ca. or earlier, one black and white print of the upper tram terminal, tram buckets, boardinghouse, and other buildings at the Belmont Mine. Photo was apparently accessioned in from C. E. Johnson and may date to much earlier. Image is included with this report as Supplemental Material, Figure 7. USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Region slide database (Ogden UT): one color slide of the north side of the mill. C. Interviews: Hal Jensen, Ely resident and Seligman Canyon mine claimholder during 1 October Interviewed by author on site.

Residence at Lincoln Ave., Ely NV BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 36) Hal (Rod) Jensen, seasonal Belmont Mill site resident and nearby mine claimholder during 1 October Interviewed by author on site. Residence at Offshore Ct, Lake Havasu City AZ Ronald Jordan, Ely resident and White Pine County road maintenance worker in 29 September Interviewed by author on telephone. Residence on Mill Street, Ely NV D.

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER NV-46. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

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"Hamilton-Eureka-Austin." Unpublished report on field trip, Reno: University of Nevada, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology mining district files, Document No. Tingley, J. and J. Bentz. "Mineral Resources of Egan Resource Area." Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology unpublished district summary Document No. "White Pine District." Annotated United States Geological Survey maps, Document No. [after "White Pine District - Principal Mines." Unpublished district summary, Document No. [after White Pine County Records. Title Abstracts. Land Records. Tax Receipts. Ely Daily Times (available at White Pine County Library, Ely) "To Erect Test Mill on Hamilton Mine," March 4, "Tonopah Development Co.

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(Page 38) "Making Fine Progress on Mill at Hamilton by Tonopah Belmont," June 3, "Aerial Tram Arrives for Hamilton Mine," June 9, "Hamilton Mill Nearing Completion; Aerial Tram Will Convey Ore to Mill," June 19, "Tonopah Belmont Dev. Company Reports Find in Cornell Ground," July 14, "Important New Discoveries Made in Hamilton Lead Belt," July 26, "County Finishes Road Leading to Hamilton," August 4, "Awakening of Hamilton Set for August 20; Tonopah-Belmont Co.

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(Page 39) "State Industrial News," October 1, "A Great Future for Hamilton Predicted," November 12, "Hamilton Notes," December 10, "Mining Prosperous in Eastern Nevada," December 10, "Hamilton Notes," December 24, "State Industrial News," December 24, "Old-Timers Predict Hamilton Come-Back," December 31, "Mining in White Pine Encouraging," December 31, "Snow Halts Work at Camp Hamilton," March 11, "Eureka-Holly Mine and Mill Closed," May 6, "Hamilton Mine Changes Hands," November 25, "New Mill Installed at Roosevelt Mine," February 10, "New Activities in Hamilton District," May 25, "Gives Resume of Hamilton District," July 13, List of Registered Voters, October 26, Wall Street Journal "Tonopah Belmont Development, "April 14, "Tonopah Belmont Development, "April 11, "Tonopah Belmont Development Co.," April 8, 2.

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"History of Flotation Technology." In Froth Flotation: A Century of Innovation, edited by Maurice C. Fuerstenau, Graeme Jameson and Roe-Hoan Yoon. Littleton, CO: Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Lyon, Dorsey A. and Oliver C. Ralston. Innovations in the Metallurgy of Lead. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, Mack, Effie Mona and Wall Sawyer. Our State: Nevada. Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers, McCracken, Robert D. A History of Tonopah. Nevada. Tonopah: Nye County Press, Neale, Walter Garfield. The Mines Handbook. Vol. XVII. New York: The Mines Handbook Co., Paher, Stanley W. Nevada Ghost Towns and Mining Camps. Berkeley, CA: Howell-North Books, Pfaffenberger, Bryan.

"Mining Communities, Chaines Operatoires and Sociotechnical Systems." In Social Approaches to an Industrial Past, edited by A. Bernard Knapp, Vincent C. Pigott and Eugenia W. Herbert. New York: Routledge, Rand, Lenox H. and Edward B. Sturgis. The Mines Handbook. Vol. XVIII. Suffern, NY: Mines Information Bureau, BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 44) [Rand, Lenox H. and Edward B. Sturgis]. The Mines Handbook. Supplement No. 1 to Vol. XVIII. New York: Mines Information Bureau, Rickard, T. A. A History of American Mining. New York: McGraw - Hill, Sagstetter, Beth and Bill Sagstetter. The Mining Camps Speak: A New Way to Explore the Ghost Towns of the American West. Denver: Benchmark Publishing, "Shenandoah-Dives (Mayflower) Mill." HAER No. CO-91.

Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), National Park Service, US Department of the Interior, Steam. Vol. XIII, no. 1 (January Sweeney, Edward L. "Designing the Small Mill." In Modern Mining and Milling Practice. New York: Engineering and Mining Journal, Tingley, Joseph V., Horton, Robert C. and Francis C. Lincoln. Outline of Nevada Mining History. Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Special Publication 15. Reno: University of Nevada, "Tonopah Belmont Developing Mine and Installing Small Mill." In Engineering and Mining Journal-Press vol. 20 (May 15, "Tonopah Belmont Opens Mine in Arizona." In Engineering and Mining Journal-Press vol. 22 (May 29, "Tonopah Belmont Plans Mill at Hamilton, Nev." In Engineering and Mining Journal-Press vol.

14 (April 3, "Tonopah, Nevada, Company Purchases McNeil Mine." In Engineering and Mining Journal-Press vol. 20 (May 15, Twitty, Eric. Riches to Rust: A Guide to Mining in the Old West. Montrose, CO: Western Reflections Publishing Co., Weed, Walter Harvey. The Mines Handbook. Vol. XV. Tuckahoe, NY: The Mines Handbook Co., BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 45) . The Mines Handbook. Vol. XVI. Tuckahoe, NY: The Mines Handbook Co., Wilson, Richa. Within a Day's Ride: Forest Service Administrative Sites in Region 4. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Region, . Privies. Pastures, and Portables: Administrative Facilities of the Humboldt-Toivabe National Forest. 2vols. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Region, E.

Likely Sources Not Yet Investigated: In an attempt to gather further information, oral histories, or historic photographs of the Belmont site, advertisements describing this project and soliciting information were placed in the Ely, Nevada, newspaper for several weeks. Results were limited, but it seems likely that additional information remains in the minds or attics of the residents of Ely and the surrounding towns. This type of information may come forth with further inquiry or the passage of time. Another potential resource are the corporate records of the Tonopah Belmont Development Company.

These would undoubtedly include design drawings and process flow sheets for the mill and other buildings, correspondence relating to the site's construction, operation, and staffing (including payroll accounts that might provide information on more anonymous figures like the mine and mill workers) from through and probably photographs which would have been shared with corporate management, directors, and perhaps stockholders. The company was dissolved in the early and unfortunately the location of its records is unknown. It is possible that the records were destroyed. Census records might provide some information but the period of activity at the mill was so brief that by there would have been very few people remaining in the area who were associated with the Belmont site.

As well, anyone living at the site would have been listed as a resident of Hamilton, making it difficult to make direct connections between people and the place. F. Supplemental Material: Figures 1 and 2: Historic claim map and historic White Pine mining district map. Figure 3: Possible flow sheet for mill as constructed in Figures Historic photographs, ca. and Figures 10 and 11: Sketch plans of the mine and mill boardinghouses, BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 46) v-0 0.3 0.6 1.2 1.8 2.4 ,\ ,\ ! ' ' . jw ' " \ Figure 1. A portion of the United States Geological Survey image server map showing the White Pine mining district. McEllen Canyon and the Belmont Mill are located at the top center of the map.

The town of Hamilton and Treasure Hill are located to the east, across Babylon Ridge. BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 47) Figure 2. A section of the White Pine mining district claim map showing the Belmont Mill site and associated claims. From Humphrey, Geology of the White Pine Mining District (Reno: University of Nevada, Plate 2. BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 48) Figure 3. Possible flow sheet for the Belmont Mill, Nevada, when it was constructed in based on written accounts and site evidence. (Drawing by ajc architects.) BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 49) % v. aJuJgjb' . 1Slmi ""^Jiwu. eE -Jfflflu flit " SVw J9UHlt"wvl...WiiV V-. . ' .-. *" . . VflULu Figure 4. The Belmont Mill site ca.

facing northwest, including the mill, assay office, supervisor's office, upper and lower boardinghouses, and water tank as well as several structures no longer extant. The print was apparently made from an older photograph or negative: a date stamp indicates February but the photograph is clearly earlier and taken at a different time of year. (Courtesy of East Ely Railroad Depot Museum.) BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 50) "-' ' t * IrfT1 '" fm ^ " . il * * *N& .<& te '"' ^ S ME x fc "A? it 1 \> *. Figure 5. The Belmont Mill site ca. facing north, including the water tank, mill, assay office, supervisor's office, boardinghouse, and workshop as well as several structures no longer extant.

The print was apparently made from an older photograph or negative: a date stamp indicates February but the photograph is clearly earlier and taken at a different time of year. (Courtesy of East Ely Railroad Depot Museum.) BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 51) -' **_ * *w. YSwoV'InOOOhlC ^ < \ . -? Figure 6. The Belmont Mill ca. facing north, including the mill and the two tanks on the southwest side, no longer extant. The print was apparently made from an older photograph or negative: a date stamp indicates February but the photograph is clearly earlier and taken at a different time of year. (Courtesy of East Ely Railroad Depot Museum.) BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 52) Figure 7. A photograph of the Belmont mine ca.

or earlier, facing south, documenting the upper tram terminal, tram buckets, boardinghouse, and other buildings. (Courtesy of White Pine Public Museum.) BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 53) Figure 8. A photograph of the mill, power house, tool shed and lumber rack, boardinghouse, and collapsed building (still standing), facing south. (Courtesy of White Pine Public Museum.) BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 54) J" Ar: Figure 9. A ca. photograph of the mill, tool shed and lumber rack, and assay office. (Courtesy of East Ely Railroad Depot Museum.) BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No. (Page 55) HT Figure 10. A sketch plan of the boardinghouse at the Belmont mine. (Drawing by Thomas Carter.) BELMONT MILL (Nevada Belmont Mill) HAER No.

(Page 56) Figure 11. A sketch plan of the collapsed boardinghouse at the mill site (NV-46-I), as reconstructed. (Drawing by Thomas Carter.)