Nevada Historical Marker #5
Pioche. Silver ore was discovered in this range of mountains in 1864, but no important development took place until 1869 when mines were opened and the town of Pioche was founded. Pioche soon became the scene of a wild rush of prospectors and fortune seekers. It gained a reputation in the 1870s for tough gunmen and bitter lawsuits. Miners had retrieved over five million dollars in ore by 1872, but by 1900, Pioche was nearly a ghost town. Designated as the seat of Lincoln County in 1871, Pioche survived hard times as a supply and government center for a vast area. Beginning in 1937, Pioche enjoyed two decades of profitable lead-zinc mining.
NV-321, Pioche, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #204
Jackrabbit. Local legend attributes the discovery to the locator picking up a rock to throw at a jackrabbit and finding himself holding high-grade silver. The JackRabbit District, named for the mine, was located in 1876 by Isaac Newton Garrison. Early mine production of the camp, at one time named Royal City, was about ten tons per day, carrying native silver in flakes, yielding about $40 per ton - sometimes as high as $2,000 per ton. Mineral production declined during the 1880s, but when a fifteen-mile narrow gauge railroad was opened in 1891 between the Jackrabbit Mine and Pioche, mining soon increased. After 1893 the mines fell silent except for several short periods of activity in 1906-1907 and 1912-1914.
, Pioche, NV, United States