ORIENTAL (OLD CAMP)
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ORIENTAL (OLD CAMP) |
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NAME: Oriental (Old Camp) COUNTY: Esmeralda ROADS: 4WD GRID: 1 CLIMATE: Warm summers, pleasant to raw winter days with snow BEST TIME TO VISIT: Autumn, spring |
COMMENTS:
Roads leading to the area are generally bladed. However roads approaching the site itself tend to be rough or sandy. REMAINS: Wood shack, stone walls, mining ruins |
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Oriental (old camp) in 1864, Thomas Shaw found gold ore on the north slope of a mountain which would later be called Gold Mountain, in the northern end of the Grapevine range just inside Nevada. An arrastra was built for crushing ore and some small scale mining and prospecting was undertaken for a few years. In 1871 rich veins were uncovered and a camp originally called Gold Mountain placed a few structures of stone and lumber on the landscape. The camp's name of Gold Mountain was then switched to Oriental due to its location in the headwaters of Oriental Wash, which runs into northern Death Valley, probably to eliminate confusion over nearby Stateline, which was also known as Gold Mountain by the postal authorities. Ores and supplies were shipped to and from Austin and Belmont. Oriental produced some of the richest gold specimens in Nevada and oriental gold was displayed in Philadelphia at the Centennial exposition in 1876. As nearby Stateline came into prominence in 1881, Oriental began to decline. However, continued finds of rich ore prompted the town to revive and a post office opened under the name of Oriental June 21, 1887. It continued to deliver mail until October 15, 1900. Since then the region has been quiet. Submitted by: David A. Wright
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