|
-- Unconfirmed, 'Missing in Action' --
Missing Since: Fall 2006
Directions:
According to the State Marker System, the location for this marker is:
"Located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 93 and the dirt road to Delamar."
Description:
According to the State Marker System, here is the exact description as reads:
|
Gold was discovered here in 1889. This isolated, treeless metropolis of over 1,500 residents, had a newspaper, hospital, school, churches, saloons and a stockbroker. Entertainment included brass bands, dance orchestras and stage attractions at the Opera House.
Water came from Meadow Valley Wash, 12 miles away. All other materials were hauled through the mountains by mule team 150 miles from a railroad head at Milford, Utah. For 16 years, most of the bullion was hauled out in the same manner.
The dry milling processes used prior to the introduction of wet methods created a fine silicon or "death" dust which caused the deaths of many residents and gave the town its nickname.
Delamar produced $15,000,000 in gold and was Nevada's leading producer of that decade.
|
Status: Even a county as remote as Lincoln County cannot escape from the MIA dilemma we have here in Nevada. Aside from a handful of people, the quest to find [90] Delamar has been a battle of my own; few Nevadans have yet to traverse this far in search of Nevada's state markers. Hunters who do set out to conquer this one will find a very lonely, and especially somber location - set atop a divide that separates the Great Basin and Mojave Deserts. All who plan to conquer this marker today will be greeted by a litter barrel and a prolific forest of Joshua trees. The first thing you might notice is the clearly-marked road to the Delamar townsite, and the complete lack of signage for the marker! This marker was signed at one point in the late 1990s and it is unclear what happened to the sign. This alone would help matters, but with a lack of signage, [90] Delamar looks as if it has completely fallen off the face of this great earth. One thing is certain: you should know that [90] Delamar once stood at this exact intersection up until around 2006. The promiscuous nature of this information says loads about my findings for this frustrating case!
The history of the Delamar marker is not only very elusive, but nearly non-existent due to the lack of knowledge in this remote corner of Nevada. This is a shame considering the significant history of Delamar. While I'm in the process of laying it on thick, let me add that many people do not come this way in the sole search of historic markers. This doubly makes this marker extremely important for passers-by. Perhaps the best dose of information that was prescribed to me happened in 2008 upon my conquering of Lincoln County. I had an unexpected chat with a Lincoln County Sheriff while on a lunch break in Alamo. As luck would have it, I found the right guy. According to "Bob," (he asked for his name to be disclosed) he regularly patrolled the entire area from the Clark Line north to Pioche and he had covered this stretch of US 93 inside and out. He informed me that he remembered seeing a "marker there for Delamar." He knows this because he had pulled somebody over at that very spot! As far as he knew, "it was taken down because of vandals" and hadn't been seen since. Again, this doesn't surprise me considering the turnout's remote location. To confirm Bob's allegation, I made the long and dusty 28-mile round trip to the Delamar townsite in the high hopes that it had been moved there. After wandering about the town's photogenic ruins, as expected the marker was nowhere to be found. However, the trip was a blast and one that I would highly recommend to anybody with a high-clearance vehicle!
NDOT and the SHPO have yet to give me a call back on this one and to be quite frank, I don't think they ever will. Fellow hunter Gary Bodell, NDOT employee at the Lincoln County/Las Vegas branch, continues to search for this elusive marker and promises to keep me posted. With some luck, Gary might might find the marker collecting dust in a county maintenance yard. I'd rather it be this than the marker be completely destroyed. So then, if you want to do your own hunting, here's what you can go by: Bob described the marker as "big and blue," pretty much confirming it as a "Large Standard" type marker. [90] was last seen around 2006 along US 93 at the road to Delamar. If you do find this marker, or have any information regarding it, please email me so I can give you full credit to the finding of this marker!
|
