Ghost town beauty under Pilot Mountains
This is one is one of my favorite historical Mina Nevada photographs. It really captures the hey days of Southern Pacific Railroad in times when mining was respectable industry and miners were the hero’s of the west!
We stopped at at Walker Lake in Mineral County Nevada on our way to Mina Nevada. This is a majestically beautiful lake. It is huge! And it makes your mind wander. What is this wast body of water doing here in the middle of desert?
No, the beach of the Walker Lake is not typical sandy beach like setting, but it is very interesting, natural and beautiful in its own way.
We went for a swim. Just a little bit and not too far. I’m not sure if it’s recommended to swim here but we did. if you do, please be careful and don’t go very far. Actually just stay close and relax in the water. That’s what we really did.
We stayed maybe 45 minutes at the lake admiring the beautiful vistas and than we hoped into our cars refreshed and ready to see our highlight of the trip Mina, Nevada town!
Above on the old photograph it says:
“People live in these cars and further up the track three cars are used as a kitchen and dining room where railroad boys board.”
Maybe a miner who came to seek work here in Mina Nevada long time ago when things were booming here wrote this postcard home. Railroad was running regularly through this town. Railroad boys were everywhere. Mina was great mining town.
I only recently found out that there wasn’t a turn table in Mina Nevada. There was a so called WYE to turn the locomotives and engines.
I was surprised by this. Because until now I thought that the historic photo of Round House of Mina, NV was actually the turn table. Well, people corrected me. And I’m thankful for that! I have a lot to learn still about this beautiful town. And I’m learning!!
The Round House of Mina, NV was used to store locomotives and trains. And usually round houses accompany the turn table. But with the plenty of land available in Mina, NV, the Southern Pacific railroad company installed WYE – a track arrangement shaped like “Y” to turn engines and locomotives.
Wye – Definition
A triangle of railroad track used for turning locomotives or trains
I learned something new again today about Mina Nevada history and I know that there is still so much to learn and discover about this beautiful ghost town in Mineral County Nevada.
Amazing photo guys! I love this old historic photo of Southern Pacific Co. Round house in Mina Nevada.
I often call it turn table, but obviously as written on this photograph it is also called round house!
I have personal attachment to this round house and it’s history. It’s my little secret. Some day I will share it 🙂 In the mean time, enjoy this beautiful piece of history of this beautiful town of Mina, NV.
So as I found out, me calling this round house turn table was wrong. These are 2 different things. Roundhouse is a building where locomotives and trains are stored. Turntable is a place where locomotives are turned. And Mina Nevada never had turn table as I found out just few days ago. The lady, a historian enthusiast of Nevada’s history and librarian notified me about it. And she told me that the info on my website is wrong. Mina never had turn table!
And now I know. There was never a turn table in Mina Nevada. There was a so called WYE for turning the trains there.
I love this photo! It apears to me that the person who made the photo was standing on top of the old Southern Pacific Railroad turn table.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m almost certain it’s the old Mina Nevada turn table where trains were rotated. So this photographer sometimes around 1909 climbs on the top of the roof of this turn table to take photo of this family or it might be 2 couples and one child a girl most likely daughter of one of the couples standing down.
I would only guess that one of the guys down on the ground gives his son camera who’s maybe 12 years old and he is fit climber, that’s how kids used to be.
The boy is fit and strong and tough, not like today’s kids staring all day into the computer. And he’s pleased to be asked by his father to do this for him.
His father gives him instructions to be very careful with the camera and take one carefully crafted photo of them standing down.
I can only imagine how expensive were cameras and making photographs in those days. I only hope this boy and the camera made it safely back down.
What a great photograph! Good job little Freddie!
There are still several mines on the Pilot Mountain range that mine turquoise. Turquoise is a beautiful mineral and it’s primarily used these days as a jewelry stone. You too can go and hunt for turquoise stones on wast BLM lands of Pilot Mountain range. And you should! And I should too! A we should bring along our kiddos too. What an amazing experience that would be!
It’s believed that turquoise stones promote creativity and boldness. They fight depression and instill inner calm. They are great for fighting exhaustion and panic attacks and they promote inner calm. Who doesn’t want to have those benefits always available to him. Well maybe we should all go and find our own calming and creativity promoting turquoise stone on Pilot Mountain just up the hill from Mina Nevada.
Based on Wikipedia:
Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrated phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)8·4H2O. It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone and ornamental stone for thousands of years owing to its unique hue. Like most other opaque gems, turquoise has been devalued by the introduction onto the market of treatments, imitations and synthetics.
One of the reasons I love to come to Mina Nevada is the turquoise hunt with my kids! Well at least that is the plan!!! I already own fun piece of land there, now I need to buy an old Southern Pacific Railroad caboose and turn it into a cabin. Than I will build little garage next to it, park few ATVs there and go turquoise hunting to the Pilot Mountain! Wouldn’t I be the coolest dad in the world if I did that? I certainly would!
In fact my piece of land in Mina Nevada is so big, that I considered bringing decommissioned Boeing 737 there and turn it into fun crazy cabin. Just wait kiddos , I’m on it! But let’s get back to our topic here, which is hunting for turquoise on Pilot Mountain.
I’m really twisted in a certain way. I have so many interests and plans. And spending the whole summer here in Mina Nevada with kids and going hunting for turquoise is one of the plans. Each of us would get little mining pick, take some water and lunch and take of for a whole day of turquoise hunting up the hill. Talk about creating memories! My kids would never forget the experience. And that’s what life really is about. Experience with people you love! I really have to bring this dream to reality! Life is short!
And off course we don’t need to own a cabin in Mina Nevada to do all these fun activities like hunting – mining – searching for turquoise on Pilot Mountain range. There is a great RV park in Mina Nevada and is available to everyone. So maybe we will see each other there this coming summer. In the meantime I’ll be dreaming about prospecting the Pilot Mountain for some beautiful turquoise with my kiddos! See you guys over there!