My World Tuesday - From Times Long Gone..

Long post today, but I couldn't decide what to include :-)

Back in April of last year, friends and I visited an old ghost town, just out of Falloon, NV and off Route 50. One of the many that dot my little corner of the world.

This one was known as La Plata, meaning silver in Spanish.

La Plata was a mining camp, established in 1862, when silver was discovered in the area. It existed through till about 1869, when it was abandoned due to much richer discoveries.

From 1864 - 1868 it was the Churchill County Seat and it also had a Post Office. If you google La Plata Post Office,Nevada, it will tell you the weather for that area, just as though it was still official :-)

La Plata is situated in a canyon that extends from the south slopes of the Stillwater ranges to Fairview valley. I believe the canyon was formed by earthquake activity.

(Click on photos to get larger view)



These ruins are the first thing you see as you enter the town site. A plaque in front of them says that they are believed to be the walls of the old courthouse. However, other information I've found, suggests that they may be the remains of the mill, that broke up the silver bearing rock.

The rocks, that form the walls and the walls of the miner's homes, were all hewn by hand from the walls of the canyon.




The remains of the miner's homes, dot the slopes. They are mostly one roomed structures of varying sizes. Many of them are now covered in scrub.


This one had a fireplace, complete with mantel. Looking under, you could see where a steel hook had been inserted to hold a cooking pot..


One of the bigger cabins. It had a circular pit in the center, which now has a bush growing out of it, which I am guessing was a fire pit.


This was one of the mine shafts, still with the ladder going down into it. I wasn't game to go down,as they are rather dangerous, plus they are also a haunt for snakes.


I believe this is probably the remains of the corral, by the looks of the fence posts and square headed nails used in their construction.


The road that leads up to La Plata.

Churchill County keeps it in pretty good repair, grading it at least once after the snows have passed.

Can you imagine what it must have been like for the miners though ... bringing their supplies in on bullock carts or horse back. No four wheel drives or modern conveniences for them. Life was very tough back then.

Makes you thankful for modern life, in some ways :-)

Now, go to MY WORLD TUESDAY where people from all over our globe , show off their little corner of the world !

The second part of my Saturday....

Spent the day with a friend, her daughter and her parents, exploring the ghost town of La Plata. Plata means 'silver' in Spanish. La Plata was a silver mining camp, circa 1864 - 1868. It's down a long gravel road off Highway 50,(known as the loneliest road in America) about an hour out of Fallon, NV.




The photo to the left shows Highway 50. This was taken around the Sand Mountain area and shows the alkali flats in that area. The photo on the right is of the road through La Plata itself. The first few miles of the gravel road, as it leaves Highway 50, is in good condition, as it is maintained by Fallon Air Station and they grade it 4 - 5 times a year. Further on into the hills, the road gets rather rougher, as that part is maintained by the County and they only grade it once a year. It looked as though it had just been done.



These stone ruins are the first thing you see as you enter La Plata. A plaque in front says that this may be the remains of the courthouse. However, I found articles online, that suggested that this is the remains of a silver mill that was built at the entrance to the town.


One of the old mine shafts that dot the hill side. This one was about a hundred yards from the above ruins, so it might add credence to the theory that they were the remains of the silver mill. You can still see the ladder that goes down into the tunnel. All this was dug out with pick and shovel and presumably a few sticks of dynamite. None of the equipment that the modern day miner has!

Walking up along the road,you can see the remains of little stone cabins, that the miners built for themselves. La Plata was built in a narrow gully and it looks as though the rocks for these cabins were hewn out of the gully walls.Other rocks were possibly from the rubble that came from digging out the mine shafts.





The cabin in the middle photo, was very upscale! That large hole in the back wall is a fireplace, complete with a stone lintel above it. Most of the other cabins just had the remains of fire pits, that were situated in the middle of the room. The cabin in the lower right photo had been hollowed out of the hillside.

Wandering around the site, I was struck by the sense of history that this place held. My modern day mind can only begin to imagine the privations that these men and women must have undergone. All of what they would have needed, had to be bought in by bullock/horse/mule drawn wagons or carried in. The weather was harsh in those days, with hot, dry summers and cold, snowy winters. With the high snowfall that they had then, the road in would have been impassable for a good few months of the year. If they were injured, or became ill, it was days, if not weeks, to the nearest medical help. It was heavy, labour intensive, dangerous work and a harsh life. Made me feel like a real wimp!!

Found some squarehead nails, that were common in that era. Also came across some cans that would have held food. They were sealed with lead at the seams, so I can imagine that the lead levels in the miner's blood, was fairly high in those days!!




I my defense, my *wimpiness* factor is undergoing a change. To gt the photo on the left, which is a view down the valley towards the mountains, I had to make the climb portrayed by the photo on the right. I kept up a steady pace all the way up, without having to stop and rest. By the time I got to the top, I was a little out of breath, but still able to talk. That's quite a change from where I was at, 9 weeks ago, when I first started my journey towards being a fitter, healthier me. It felt very good and a real sense of achievement. :-)

All in all, a wonderful day :-)

Cheers.