On October 28, 1865, geologist Henry H. Eames returned to St. Paul after initiating a survey of the mineral wealth in the Lake Vermilion area and found widespread rumors of a valuable gold strike on the lake's shores. Gold mining companies quickly formed, a St. Paul newspaper sent a special correspondent to the Vermilion gold field, and hundreds of men, including recently discharged Civil War veterans, went to Duluth to buy food and supplies for the journey north to the supposed gold fields. During the winter of 1865-66, many of these men worked for the mining company to open a road from Duluth to Pike Bay of Lake Vermilion, following in part an old Indian trail from the Head of the Lakes. The improved trail extended 85 miles north and became known as the Old Vermilion Trail. At first only a winter road, it was improved in 1868-69 by George R. Stuntz, who directed a resurvey and construction project financed in part by government funds. Nearby, gold prospectors built a log cabin and shack community called Winston City, which in 1866 had several stores, a hotel, four saloons, and a post office. Gold was not found in quantities sufficient to cover mining costs, and in 1867 the disappointed miners abandoned their diggings, leaving Winston City to become the first ghost town of the Vermilion Range.