Southern Nevada Mine - Nevada — Abandoned Places, Gold Rush & Route 66 Travel Photography

The Southern Nevada Mine (also known as the Spokane Mine) was mainly a gold and silver producer, located in the Searchlight mining district of Clark county, Nevada. Copper and Lead were also found in the area.

Gold was first discovered in the region in 1897 by a prospector name George Colton and by the following year, the town of Searchlight was up and running. The district reportedly produced some $53 million in gold by 1907. That’s a huge amount. There were hundreds of claims in the area and some 50+ mines in production. Information on the Southern Nevada Mine, however, is scarce to come by.

Scant records report that the surface vein was explored by three shafts, two of which were north of the mill. I’m not sure where the third shaft was located. Development ceased when a nice deposit was found about 200 feet below surface, along with water. Making the best of things, the water was used in the mill operations that crushed the ore body that was found. Perhaps when that body was exhausted, so was the mine.

I learned of the mine’s existence by stumbling across some pictures online (during downtime at work 😊). A bit more research disclosed the location, so it was added to my list of must-see places as the pictures revealed some nice remains. Unfortunately, those pictures were probably 10-15 years old and when I got to the site, the large building didn’t look anything like what I was hoping for. But, it was still definitely worth the stop and time spent wandering about on the 100+ degree day I was there. I’m glad I visited to see what I could find.

Here’s a view of what was probably the mill house. At one time there was a 10-stamp mill on the property, I’m not sure if it was just the the side of this building or up above on the hill behind the hopper and other structure.

A view from up on the hill.

The small, somewhat enclosed room at the left was probably living quarters, maybe for some of the workers or manager. Maybe for overnight guards.

It was sad to see how much the building had deteriorated over the years, it looks like it might not be standing for much longer. I’m glad I got to visit when I did.

After poking around the mill house, I set off to wander about the property to see what else might be worth a photo or two.

This is looking down the track from the headframe standing over what was the main shaft of the mine. A winch and cable would lower men and empty ore cars down into the shaft and later haul up the cars filled with ore. A wood ladder most like followed the rails down into the shaft. Various drifts sprouted out from the main shaft as the miners explored any promising leads. It looks like a lot of debris and old mining equipment was dumped in the shaft to block entry.

Higher up towards the crest of the hill behind the mill house is this open shaft, which is probably the second of the two main shafts of the mine. This was as close as I felt comfortable getting for a picture.

Beautiful scenery all around the mine.

I’m pretty sure this was someone’s home at some point in the past.

And then, I was back where I started, eager to get to that cooler in my car and the iced drinks it contained. Up in the top left of this photo, there’s a squarish cement thing, which I believe might have been some kind of smelter. But that’s just a guess. Overall, this was a great exploration and I’m pretty sure I’ll be back again I’m sure, as there are a few other points on my list of “places to see” (it’s a long list) nearby. Thanks for joining me on this brief sojourn, if you have any information regarding the Southern Nevada Mine, please share in the comment section below. And give me a follow on Instagram 😊.

Return to Nevada Home Page