Apollo Hosting Coupon
JEFFERSON
(MILLVILLE)
Nye County
The initial silver ore discovery, the Silver Point, was made in Jefferson Canyon in August 1865 by R. Chanrock and A.V. Wilson. More substantial discoveries were made in 1871 when a test load of silver ore sent to Austin returned over $28,000 in silver. In 1873, two men, John Johnson and Robert Fergerson, discovered rich silver ore and the Green Isle mining district was formed. Two principal mines, the Prussian and South Prussian (also known as the Jefferson), started operations. Another mine, the Sierra Nevada, was discovered by Charles Kanrohat and also became a fairly consistent producer. A large 10-stamp mill was built at the Jefferson mine in 1874 and another 10-stamp mill was built at the Prussian mine soon after. The Prussian mine, which had a 250' shaft, constantly had water trouble that hampered operations. By 1874, other active mines were the Sailor Boy, Prussian Troy, Keokuk, Buckeye, and Hillside.
It was not until the completion of the two stamp mills that interest in the Jefferson area increased. By the end of the summer of 1874, the town contained two separate sections. The main city district was three-quarters of a mile above the mining and milling area. It contained a post office (which opened on October 22 with George Kilbourne as postmaster), a Wells-Fargo office, the Dayton stone store, Ferguson brothers Hotel (later moved to Lower Town), seven saloons, three restaurants, two stables, two bakeries, brewery, butcher shop, barbershop, lumberyard, 100 homes (20 frame), and a population of 250. Lower Town had both of the mills, the Price and Lamb Hotel (also known as Hotel de Jefferson), a boardinghouse, mine offices, and a few homes. During 1874, a toll road was constructed over rugged Jefferson Mountain to Belmont, via Meadow Canyon. Supplies for the booming town were transported by a mule team daily from Wadsworth, near Reno.
Jefferson's peak years were 1875 and 1876 and production during that time was almost $1 .5 million. During the boom years, 120 claims were filed but most turned out to be merely granite deposits. The population of Jefferson was a little more than 800 but by the fall of 1875, the mills were only operating sporadically, mainly on ore hauled in from Barcelona. Many families began to leave and only five students were left in the school. In January 1879, the Jefferson company officially folded and by August, the Belmont-Austin stageline was rerouted and no longer went through Jefferson. Soon after in 1876, production slowed and the mill at the Jefferson mine closed. In 1878, the Prussian mine and mill followed suit. The post office closed on January 29, 1879, sounding a death knell for the town. Between 1877 and 1882, only 40 tons of ore were removed from the claims and reportedly, only four miners remained at the town to continue operations. In January 1883, the Jefferson Silver Mining Company was organized and began work on the St. Charles and Sunnyside mines. In March, the company repaired and restarted the old Jefferson mill. Other mines also became active including the Idlewild (Frank McLane), Woodbridge (Dan Deady), Keystone (McLane and James Bryson), and Union (Charles Kanrohat). Life came back to the town and about 150 moved back. The Wells-Fargo office reopened and a number of businesses opened. In 1885, Charles Harrison restarted his small mill, built in 1881, but by the spring of 1885, fortunes were going bad again. On July 4, all property of the Jefferson Silver Mining Company was sold at a sheriff's sale and the mill was quickly moved to Park Canyon. The revival was over and the town quickly emptied again. Another blow, in April 1886, was the moving of the Prussian mill to Ophir. By 1887, about the only people left in Jefferson were Charles Kanrohat and the Harrison brothers. In April 1906, the Jefferson Canyon Consolidated Mining Company and Queenie Consolidated Mining Company were organized but had very little success before leaving.
A revival was attempted once again in 1908 when the mines were all purchased by a group of New York businessmen for $350,000. The Jefferson Mining Company was organized with Charles Brenneman as president and Warren Flick as general manager. Most of the mines were purchased from the old Jefferson veteran Kanrohat. The company built a new $90,000, 100-ton mill, which was used to treat the huge mounds of ore that had been pushed aside in the hurry to get at the richer ore. At the same time, the McAllister Milling and Power Syndicate was organized by Colonel Jo hn McAllister. A mill was built and a new townsite, Millville, was platted. However, these operations did not last too long and soon, Jefferson belong to the ghosts again. Kanrohat was alone once again but continued prospecting.
The Sierra Nevada property was purchased in 1917 by Charles Stoneham, owner of the New York Giants baseball team. Kanrohat, still in Jefferson after more than 40 years, sold out all of his holdings to Stoneham for $100,000. Production was started to help satisfy the demand for metal in World War I. The mill built in 1908 was re-equipped for flotation and despite low-grade ore, it opened for operations but was unsuccessful and closed in 1917. Kanrohat sold the property again in May for $200,000 to John Miller, John Adams, Jesse Knigh t, and Lester Morgan, but they defaulted before the end of the year and the property returned to Kanrohat. In 1918, the old Kanrohat mine properties were purchased by S.H. Brady, who organized the Jefferson Gold and Silver Mining Company. The huge 100-ton mill was reopened and a cyanide settling tank was added. The Kanrohat mine was further developed to a depth of more than 1,000'. New ore was discovered but the size of the deposits was fairly small. The main source of revenue for the mining company came from reprocessing over 60,000 tons of ore in the old tailing dumps. During the short revival, 15 men were employed but the company ran out of capital and folded in February 1919. Jefferson was empty once more. There wasn't any activity until February 1926 w hen Kanrohat once again sold the property to the Comstock Merger Company for $40,000.
A last gasp effort at reviving the district took place in 1928 when the Elsa Mining Company reopened the mill and installed new equipment but the same fate was in store. The revival failed almost as soon as it had begun and when Charles Kanrohat died in August 1929 at age 80, most interest in the district ended. During 1931, the Bright Star Gold Mining Corporation spent $350,000 in development and the construction of a 75- ton mill but the great expense crippled the company, which folded before completing the mill. The Copon Silver and Gold Mining Company began operations on the old Kanrohat property in December 1933 but didn't have any success. After producing $2.3 million, the Jefferson mines closed forever.
The Jefferson ruins are extensive and extremely interesting. The lower section contains ruins of the mills and quite a number of smaller buildings in various stages of decay. There are also acres of old dumps that will delight any type of collector - broken glass, pieces of china and old tin cans litter the site and a cemetery is located about a mile below Lower Town. In the upper section, more substantial ruins remain, however most are remnants of the later revival attemp ts. Many buildings still stand in relatively good condition. The road from the lower section to the upper section was impassable until recently when the county reopened the road which had been closed by the Forest Service.