Delamar
Gold found by Pahranagat Valley farmers John Ferguson and Joe Sharp in 1890 led to the formation of the Ferguson District, and miners flocked from Pioche. As additional discoveries were made in 1892, the new camps of Golden City (Ferguson), Helene, and Reeves came into being; the latter being named for a discoverer of and located near the Jim Crow-Monitor mine. In 1893, Captain John De La Mar of Leadville, Colorado purchased several claims in the district and started the DeLaMar Nevada Gold Mining Company. The next year, the camp of Reeves took the Delamar name. Extensive development of the Delamar (former Jim Crow-Monitor) mine began in 1894, and burgeoning Delamar quickly grew to overshadow both Ferguson and Helene as the pricipal town in the district. Stone buildings began to spring up, and by the middle of 1895 a fifty-ton mill was completed (prior to this ore was transported to Hiko and Bullionville). For the next five years more than half of Nevada's ore production came from Delamar. A new 10-stamp mill was even built in 1896 at the April Fool mine to keep up with demand, and an (inadequate) twelve-mile water system with three booster stations was constructed to provide water from the Meadow Valley Wash.
By 1897, Delamar was a thriving community of about 3000, with stores, saloons, telephone, and freighters connecting to the railroad at Milford, Utah. Unfortunately, death was also a frequent visitor to Delamar; poor ventilation and dry processes in both the mines and mills led to frequent losses due to the inhalation of silica dust, which induced silicosis and earned Delamar the moniker "Widow Maker". Nevertheless, gracious wages kept the mines running until preventative measures were slowly adopted in 1899.
In 1900, a typhoid epidemic swept through Delamar, followed a fire destroyed about half of the town, which was only partly rebuilt. Two years later De La Mar sold his holdings which to date had produced some $8.5 million. The new owners, under Simon Bamberger, installed a new 400-ton mill in 1903, and though Delamar lost the title of Nevada's top producer it still ranked third behind Goldfield and Tonopah through 1906. By 1909, nearly $25 million had been produced when the Delamar mine finally closed. The town quickly emptied, and many of its wooden buildings were relocated elsewhere. A revival from 1929 until 1934 brought an additional $600,000, but Delamar has remained largely silent since.
