Old Camp
(Oriental)
During the search for the famed lost mine of Charles Breyfogle in 1865, Leander Morton and two others from Austin located gold on the northern slope of what they called Gold Mountain, organizing the Gold Mountain Mining District that November. After their find assayed at only $50/ton in Austin, they never returned (in fact, Morton was arrested and finally hanged after robbing a train five years later). About 1871, Thomas Shaw built a six-foot arrastra on the north slope of Gold Mountain to treat ore from his Stateline mine some six miles away. As this was the closest location with water, a camp also taking the name Gold Mountain formed with stone buildings and businesses including a saloon, restaurant, and butcher shop.
While the Gold Mountain camp emerged, several other mines were located on the eponymous peak. Among them was the Oriental, staked in 1872 by George Ayers and others after finding ore on the surface and a boulder believed to be worth $64,000/ton. Specimens made their way to the Centennial Exposition of 1876 in Philadelphia and later the Smithsonian Institute, but by 1875 found that most ore assayed at only $40/ton.
Despite the excitement of being displayed on a national scale, shortage of water and remoteness led to Gold Mountain's decline during the second half of the 1870s. After the Stateline mine began experiencing new development in 1880, a new townsite was started there - also called Gold Mountain - while the older camp became simply known as 'Old Camp'. Old Camp's importance faded, but it never completely died as it was still central to other mines in the district. In 1887, it even gained a post office called Oriental despite the Oriental mine being several miles away, lasting until 1900. The final resident, Henry Tesch "The Hermit of Gold Mountain", died at Old Camp in 1908.
