Cherry Creek

A silver camp that never fully emptied

Cherry Creek lies in northern White Pine County. Nevada State Historical Marker No. 52 says two prospectors staked a claim in 1872, which set off a boom, and describes the camp as one of several mining districts in the area. The Nevada Expeditions page names the prospectors as Peter Corning and John Carpenter, who located the Tea Cup mine. Sources differ on the month of the discovery. A county history page says silver was found in October 1872, and the Nevada Expeditions page says September 1872.

The first boom was short. The Nevada Expeditions page says the town was organized and platted in spring 1873 with about 400 people and more than 20 saloons, and that mining nearly ended by 1875. A revival began in 1880 with new veins at the Tea Cup and Exchequer mines, then the Star mine. The marker puts the peak around 1882. Destination 4x4 quotes the marker as giving over 1,800 people. The county history page reports a census count of 639 in 1880 and says the population may have risen to 1,500 or 1,800 by the end of that year. One page on Destination 4x4 says 7,800 reportedly lived there in 1882, about 6,000 of them transient mine workers. That conflicts with the marker, so treat that figure with caution.

The 1883 financial crash closed operations. Nevada Expeditions records a fire at the Star mine in 1884 and one in August 1888 that destroyed much of the business district. Mining returned in 1905, from 1917 to 1923, and again from 1924 to 1940. Nevada Expeditions estimates total district production through 1940 at $15 million to $20 million, and the county history page says some believe it reached $20 million. The marker says the town kept producing gold and silver ore into the 1940s.

What remains

The Nevada Expeditions page describes an 1872 schoolhouse, later a post office and made a museum in 1994. It also shows a Meeting House built in 1930, a livery and an assay office. It says a row of brick business buildings burned in the 1980s and a brick building collapsed sometime after 2014. The Barrel Saloon, the last operating business, closed in July 2010, according to Destination 4x4. Destination 4x4 also describes a log cabin labeled “Jail” near the cemeteries. None of the sources call it a stone jail. The county history page mentions three cemeteries and the visible remains of an old horse racetrack.

South of town, the marker places Egan Canyon about five miles away, on an 1855 route, with Pony Express and Butterfield stage stations. Soldiers from Fort Ruby found gold there in 1863, and mining ended in the 1920s.

Visiting today

Cherry Creek is a living community, not an abandoned site. Destination 4x4 reports 72 residents in the 2010 census, and Nevada Expeditions says a few dozen people live there now. Destination 4x4 urges visitors to respect private property and avoid trespassing, so treat occupied buildings as private. The county history page says the museum has no regular hours, and Destination 4x4 lists 775-289-3720 as the museum’s number, which you should confirm before relying on it. None of the sources give road conditions, so check with the Bureau of Land Management or the county before driving in. Leave any artifacts where they are.