MILL CANYON MINES AND MILLS

Entering Mill Canyon from the north end.  It was the location of the 1863 discovery of silver ore, the first mining camp, and the first mill in the Cortez District.	Crescent Valley, to the north of the canyon, was the location of the Transcontinental Railroad town of Beowawe, near todays’ Interstate-80.
Starting at the head of the canyon and heading north, one encounters the lower ore bins and tramway terminal for the Emma E Mine, ca1930.	The upper ore bins are 1000 feet above to road.  This reversible tramway had only two buckets, one on each side, which ran up and down on individual cables.
This contract miner’s cabin dates to the 1940s and 1950s.	This simple stone building had a cozy fireplace.
The location of the first mining camp in the canyon in the 1860s.  The camp was revitalized in the 1930s.	This frame house was built by the Roberts Mining Company in the 1930s for the Superintendent.
The Mill Canyon School was located behind the Superintendent’s house	The nearby ruins of a stone building still contains an old safe.
The location of the first mill in the canyon in the 1860s.	The grave of John H. Walker who died in a gunfight unrelated to mining.
Two mills from different periods are located side-by-side near the north end of the canyon.	The smaller and older Menardi Mill, built in 1913, was constructed with local stone and more costly “imported” iron materials.
The Roberts Mining Company Mill, built in the 1930s, used all “imported” timber, concrete, and equipment.	Closeup of the ball mills in the Roberts Mill.  At different times, it also used flotation and cyanide processing.
Blacksmith shop is adjacent to a mine adit at the rear.	Graffiti on the door to the shop appears to be some sort of calculation perhaps for a part to be made by the smithy.

In April of 2022, Kaye Shelley, daughter of the Mill Canyon school teacher from the early 1940s, Nile Gorringe, visited the mining camp location.  CLICK HERE to see her father’s remembrances and photos from his days at the school.