I was already in one of the most remote, if not the most remote, parts of Nevada. I then decided to take the 16 mile journey off of paved road onto gravel road. The first 10 miles on the gravel road were pretty smooth. The last 6 miles... well.... let's say I don't recommend taking a passenger car on this adventure. No doubt in my mind you should take an off road vehicle with 4 wheel drive. I am very lucky I did not get stuck or break down driving a Chevy Sonic rental to this ghost town. I was not able to explore the entire ghost town and mines due to the roads being more than rough. I was diving over large rocks, extremely rutted paths along steep mountain slope roads with barely enough clearance on the side for the car I was driving. It was rough, scary, treacherous to say the least! The photos will tell the rest of the story. I also made a video of Delamar which will be uploaded as well.
Delamar, Nevada (originally named Ferguson) was founded in In 1891 by prospectors John and Olivia Ferguson when they discovered gold around Monkeywrench Wash. A mining camp was then born.
In April 1893, Captain Joseph Raphael De Lamar bought most of the high producing gold mines in the area for a whopping $150,000 and renamed the Ferguson camp as Delamar. Also in the same year, a newspaper called the Delamar Lode began publication and a post office was opened.
It wasn't long before the town had more than 1,500 residents. There soon came a hospital, churches, opera house, school, many businesses, saloons and a theater. Entertainment was mostly brass bands, dance orchestras, and stage attractions at the opera house. From what I could tell during my exploration there are many foundations left of what looked to be mine worker housing. It looked to be rows of "apartment" complexes. Several long rows of foundations containing about 10 rooms each going up the mountain slope. Most of the buildings were built from native rock found in the area.
By 1896, the mill was moving upwards of 260 tons of ore daily. Water for the camp was pumped from a well in Meadow Valley Wash, 12 miles away.Supplies, food, and most other goods were transported over 150 miles by mule teams over mountainous terrain from the railroad at Milford, Utah. Most of the gold was hauled out by mule teams as well.
Delamar had the nickname "The Widow-Maker". This was because of the dry drilling method used to separate the gold from the quartzite it was found in. The dry milling of quartzite created a fine silica dust, also known as "death dust" which contains particles of glass like rock. When this fine dust was breathed it most often caused mine workers as well as nearby residents to develop a disease of the lungs called silicosis. This resulted in death, hence the nickname "The Widow-maker". It is said that there were over 400 widows living in Delamar at one point.
Delamar produced over $25,000,000 in gold during it's life. The town was abandoned in 1909 when gold production slowed to a halt. At the turn of the 12th century Delamar was the leading producer of gold. I have read that people did go back to Delamar in the 1930s to continue mining but it only lasted a mere 5 years, don't take my word for this though because I do not know if it is a fact.
You can find a longer description on my Facebook page Facebook.com/wurthit
