Candelaria

A silver camp without water

Candelaria is a silver mining camp in Mineral County, south of Hawthorne. Nevada State Historical Marker No. 92 says the town was likely named for a mine opened in the mid-1860s, and for Candlemas, a Catholic holy day. Its leading mine was the Northern Belle, located in 1864 and not developed until 1870.

Sources differ on how much the Northern Belle produced. The state marker says it reportedly yielded about $7 million, mostly in silver. Destination 4x4 and Travel Nevada both put the figure at about $15 million. Destination 4x4 adds that the town was platted in 1876 and that the Carson and Colorado Railroad completed a 6-mile branch from Belleville Junction in February 1882.

The marker says Candelaria was the largest town in the area in 1880, with three doctors, three lawyers, two hotels, six stores and ten saloons. Population estimates vary. Destination 4x4 gives a peak of 1,500 to 3,000 residents between 1881 and 1883. Travel Nevada says 3,000.

Water was the town’s constant problem. Destination 4x4 says it was first hauled from springs nine miles away, at up to $1 per gallon. The marker says piped water brought the price down to 5 cents per gallon. It dates the pipelines to the late 1880s and names Pinchower Creek and Trail Canyon as sources, while a second transcription of the marker text dates it to 1882 and names only Trail Canyon. Travel Nevada says the water shortage forced the stamp mill to run dry, and that the resulting toxic dust caused many deaths known as “miners’ consumption.”

Metallic City and the decline

The marker places Metallic City three-quarters of a mile south of Candelaria. One transcription of the marker calls it the town’s “Sin City,” also known as Pickhandle Gulch, and says the name came from the most common weapon used to settle disputes.

Destination 4x4 lists a fire in 1883, a strike in 1885 that halved production, and the Panic of 1893 as blows to the district. It adds that the district yielded about $1 million from 1903 to 1920. Travel Nevada blames the water shortage and an 1890s depression. The sources do not agree on when the town ended. Travel Nevada and Destination 4x4 both give 1935 and 1939 as possible dates for the post office closing.

What remains and visiting

Travel Nevada lists the Wells Fargo building, stone mercantile shops, a handful of miners’ cabins, stone-terraced hillsides and a historic cemetery. Destination 4x4 describes stone foundations and crumbling walls. Neither source describes the cemetery’s condition or the headstones.

The marker sits on US 95 at Candelaria Road, with the townsite about seven miles to the west. Travel Nevada says to drive about 55 miles south from Hawthorne on US 95, then 11 miles into town (the marker, by contrast, puts the townsite about seven miles west of US 95), and recommends a 4x4 with a spare tire, water and telling someone your plans. Destination 4x4 says an active open-pit mine operated by Kinross Gold sits nearby, that private mining land limits access to much of the townsite, and that the site “may be closed.” Stay on public roads and respect any posted restrictions.

Travel Nevada warns of shaky timber, cave-ins, poor air quality and old explosives at old mine sites, and says not to enter shafts or adits. Seasonal, weather-related closures are possible. Visit Mineral County, at (775) 945-5854 according to Travel Nevada, can advise on conditions. Leave artifacts and structures where they are.