Delamar, "The Widow Maker"

Gold was discovered at Delamar in 1889, and this isolated, treeless metropolis of over 1,500 residents grew to include a newspaper, hospital, school, churches, saloons, a stockbroker, brass bands, dance orchestras, and stage attractions at the opera house. Water came from Meadows Valley Wash 12 miles away, and 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 the same way. Before wet methods were introduced, dry milling created a fine silicon, or “death” dust, that 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 at the turn of the twentieth century.

Nevada · United States