April 21, 2024 Part One - Tonopah Historic Mining Park (2024)

FAQs

What did they mine in Tonopah, Nevada? ›

The mines around the town produced almost $750,000 in gold and silver in 1901, and for the next 40 years, the Tonopah mines were consistent producers. The town now had six saloons, restaurants, assay offices, lodging houses, a number of doctors, lawyers, and a rapidly swelling population of 650.

Tonopah Today

Tonopah is still an active town of about 2,500 people and is the county seat of Nye County. Many historical buildings from the mining boom years remain intact.

Jim Butler, District Attorney of Nye County, is credited with the turn-of-century discovery, which ended a twenty-year slump in Nevada's economy. American Indians originally used the name Tonopah for a small spring in the nearby San Antonio Mountains, long before Butler camped in this area in May 1900.

In the district, according to Nolan (1935), the Tonopah Formation consists of interbedded silicic ash-flow tuffs, tuffaceous sedimentary rocks, flow-banded rhyolitic lavas, volcanic breccias, and andesite and basalt lavas (Sandgrass Andesite).

The Goldstrike in northeast Nevada is the largest gold mine in North America. The mine complex, (including the Betze-Post-Screamer open-pit, and Meikle and Rodeo underground mines) is owned and operated by the world's largest gold mining company, Barrick Gold.

Nevada is the leading U.S. producer of gold, silver, and barite; the second largest producer of diatomite and lithium and the sole producer of mined magnesite and mercury.

Answer and Explanation: Tonopah, the name of a town in Nevada, is most likely derived from either the Northern Paiute or Shoshone languages (both Numic languages). It means "greasewood water," from the Shoshone to-nuv or Northern Paiute to-nav, both meaning "greasewood," and pa, which means "water" in both languages.

According to the bankruptcy filings, Tonopah is owned by SolarReserve, the startup that developed the plant; Cobra Energy Investments LLC, a division of Spanish infrastructure company ACS; and Banco Santander SA.

Tonopah's story began May 19, 1900. Jim Butler was en route from Belmont to the camp of Klondike with two mules when he stopped to camp at a location called Tonopah - derived from the Shoshone words for "greasewood" and "water". Early in the morning, one of the mules strayed from the camp.

Is Tonopah in Death Valley? ›

The distance between Death Valley National Park and Tonopah is 135 miles. The road distance is 134.7 miles. How long does it take to get from Death Valley National Park to Tonopah? It takes approximately 2h 39m to drive 134.7 miles from Death Valley National Park to Tonopah.

Tonopah Air Force Station (ADC ID: SM-164, NORAD ID: Z-164) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 1.1 miles (1.8 km) south of Tonopah, Nevada. It was closed in 1970.

This formation, known locally as the Aztec Sandstone, is quite hard and forms the prominent cliffs of the Red Rock escarpment. Exposure to the atmosphere led to the iron minerals in some areas to oxidize, giving the rocks their red and orange colors.

All water supplying the Town of Tonopah is derived from groundwater from the Ralston Valley Hydrographic Basin (Basin 141). The Town currently has a permitted duty with the State Engineer of approximately 4,122 acre feet with a permitted diversion of 8,500 GPM.

Gold, which in the early 21st century was centred in the Elko region, has replaced copper as the most commercially valuable of the state's minerals, and the annual output is the highest in the country. Silver is another of the state's leading minerals, chiefly produced as a by-product of gold mining.

Nicknamed the Queen of the Silver Camps for its mining-rich history, it is now primarily a tourism-based resort city, notable for attractions like the Mizpah Hotel and the Clown Motel. Tonopah, Nevada, is located in the Tonopah Basin near the Esmeralda County border.

In June of 1859, one of the most significant mining discoveries in American history was made in the Virginia Range of Nevada. The discovery of silver and gold in the area drew people in from across the country, and the town of Virginia City was created almost overnight.

Prospectors including Shorty Harris and Pete Aguereberry scoured the mountains searching for metals such as gold, silver, antimony, copper, lead, zinc, and tungsten. Prosperous large-scale metal mining in Death Valley ended around 1915 and the once bustling towns which supported them became ghost towns.

The vertical shaft reached down to the 500 foot level, with workings at 100', 250', and 400' level. Gold and copper were also found in lesser quantities. It appears that most ore was processed on site, however where the refined ore was taken afterwards is unclear.