|
Location: Western Elko County, Independence Valley
Directions: Along SR 226, 17.9 miles north of junction w/SR 225
Location: 5
Visibility: 2
Accessibility: 1
Marker type: St (L)
|
Date Conquered: 8/22/08
Nearest Intersection: CR 723 (Tuscarora-Midas Rd.)
Quick Description: A marker honoring the extensive mining era of Tuscarora.
Signed: Yes -- Signed on both lanes of SR 226.
 The lonely drive to Tuscarora along State Route 226!
|
Full Description:
Exact description as reads ...
|
This colorful historic camp originated with 1867's discovery of placer gold by John and Steve Beard. In 1871, W.O. Weed discovered the rich Mount Blitzen silver lodes, two miles northeast of the Beard claims. The camp was named by C.M. Bensen, who had served on the Civil War gunboat, Tuscarora, namesake of a tribe in the Iroquois confederation.
Tuscarora's first boom, 1872-1876, boosted its population to 3,000 whites and a like number of Chinese. Hordes of the latter had swarmed here on foot from Elko in the summer of 1869, abandoned by the Central Pacific Railroad after its completion. They started extensive placer operations at the Beard discovery site, later called Old Town, to differentiate it from the main camp two miles distant on Mount Blitzen.
Estimates of silver and gold production during the camp's lifetime, 1867-1915, ranged from $10 million to $40 million. Principal silver mines were the Navajo, Belle Isle, Argenta, Commonwealth and Grand Prize. The only gold mine, the Dexter, opened after the principal silver strikes and operated continuously until 1898.
Toll roads, crowded with stagecoaches and long strings of heavy freight wagons, serviced the camp from railheads at Elko, Carlin, Battle Mountain and Winnemucca.
 #48 looking toward Tuscarora and the Independence Valley.
|
 Somehow Marker 48 seems a bit isolated and cutoff from its namesake town. Even the locals at Tuscarora have expressed interest in moving the marker to their town. |
Tuscarora Herself...
 After visiting Tuscarora, why not go a little further? As the sign indicates, Midas lies just an hour away, a nice one-day diversion from civilization. Hunters can follow this road back to I-80, just 10 minutes E of Winnemucca.
|
While you're in town, stop by the post office and view the the donations center. Here, you can learn how you can help preserve Tuscarora. Read up on what Tuscarora's eighteen-proud residents are doing to improve the town. The following poem was posted at the center -- a real treat and great personification of what us (marker hunters) are trying to preserve.
|
Beloved Gold
I wonder what the dead think of the
traffic on the road to Tuscarora.
Do they feel blessed by the dust of
the living,
the pickups, vans, campers
the mail truck, drillers' rigs,
occasional sedan?
I know the dead don't think,
nor did most choose to rest
a hundred feet from a county road.
It is a pathetic fallacy.
Comforting, though, to look east
and see the cemetery at dusk,
wrought iron fences, marble pillars,
a mother's grave where roses
Bloom in June,
and then gaze beyond.
Between the windswept valley and
Heaven's vault
a pious eye beholds eternity in the
purple range.
Just don't look at noon.
In stronger light, only the dead can
avoid the bare mountain,
a monumental headstone
blasted, bulldozed, and boldly inscribed
"Here lies our beloved gold."
-- Nancy McLelland
September 1998
Tuscarora, Nevada
|
 Heather made a new friend while visiting Tuscarora!
After stopping to chat with the postmaster, her friendly Boxer came out to greet us. We named her "Lady."
(The dog, not the postmaster.)
|
|
