Taylor
In 1872, two men named Taylor and Pratt were led to a ledge of silver by Indian Jim Ragsdale, whom they paid $500. They staked the Taylor Mine, which in 1875 was sold to the Martin White Company of Ward for $14,000. Meanwhile, another discovery was made at the nearby Monitor Mine. Nevertheless, it wasn't until mid-1880 that the camp of Taylor began to emerge.
In 1881, the original locators of the Monitor Mine organized the Monitor Mill & Mining Company and erected a ten-stamp mill seven miles northwest of Taylor on Steptoe Creek. Two years later, the Argus Mill was built and that year Taylor's real boom began as miners relocated from the declining camps of Cherry Creek and Ward. The population peaked at 1500, and by the end of 1883 the town had three general stores, four restaurants, three boardinghouses, a brewery, opera house, school, post office, drugstore, and doctor. During this time, two newspapers - the White Pine News and Taylor Reflex (formerly at Ward) - were in publication.
Unfortunately, Taylor's boom was not long lived. Silver ore began to diminish in 1885, and the following year one miner was killed and another blinded when a drill hit dynamite in the Argus Mine. By the end of 1886, Taylor was in a quick decline. The Monitor Mill was shut down that year, followed by the Argus Mill in 1889. By 1890, only a few remained in Taylor and many of the businesses and buildings had moved to Ely.
Taylor remained quiet until 1918, when the Wyoming Mining & Milling Company arrived. The Company completed a 100-ton cyanide plant the following year to process ore from ten claims, and 60,000 tons of ore were processed in the first year. The mill closed in 1920, but reopened again from 1921 until 1923, producing 40-50 tons of ore daily. Again Taylor was quiet, with only intermittent activity until 1961. In 1980, Taylor had its final breath of life when Silver King Mines, Inc. of Salt Lake City arrived and began work on a large $10 million open pit operation. That operation destroyed most of what remained of Taylor, and work continued until 1991. Today the mine sits idle, but with ongoing exploration may reopen in the future.
