La Panta
The La Panta - or Lapanta - Mine was likely located sometime around the early 1870s, as its largest period of production is the 1870s and 1880s, when an estimated $200,000 in gold was recovered. The unusual name is actually due a misspelling by the original locator; it was meant to be named "Lepanto", probably for either the town in Arkansas or the port city in Greece (now Nafpaktos). In the early years, ore was taken either to the quartz mill at Cat Creek northwest of Hawthorne, or to Farrington's mill. The former mill produced a bar worth nearly $10,000 on La Panta ore in 1885. By the 1890s, lessees were shipping ore to the mill at Kinkaid.
After the turn of the 20th century, the history of La Panta closely mirrors that of nearby Pamlico. In 1902, both were acquired by the Consolidated Esmeralda Mines Company, with ex-Governor R.K. Colcord as Superintendent. Plans were made for a new mill at Pamlico, with a tramway connecting it to La Panta. While the mill was indeed completed in 1904, the tramway never came into fruition. By 1914, the properties were for sale, and in 1919 Fred R. Dodge and his Goldbug Consolidated Mines Co. took a bond and lease on them. In 1937, La Panta was taken over by the Pamlico Mining Company after Mr. Dodge's death five years earlier. In 1939, it was acquired by the Banner Development Company, and leaser Gordon Bettles & associates installed a fifty-ton mill that year. A year later, Banner rehabilited an old cyanide leaching plant at Kinkaid to treat La Panta ore. Whether or not it was ever put into use is undetermined, but little else is written about La Panta in later years.
