Rochester

A silver rush in a Humboldt Range canyon

Rochester is in the southern Humboldt Range, in Pershing County. The mining district is about 25 miles northeast of Lovelock, according to an abstract hosted by OneMine. The name comes from prospectors from Rochester, New York, who worked the canyon in the early 1860s. The abstract says they struck an underground water channel at about 80 feet and moved southeast to found the Relief district. The USGS adds that they worked the Montana lode in 1867 and shipped ore by way of San Francisco to Swansea, Wales.

The real boom came decades later. The sources differ on who started it. A roadside marker, as transcribed by the Historical Marker Database, credits Joseph Nenzel with finding large silver deposits in 1912. The USGS bulletin gives a longer account. It says Charles E. Stevens found ore at Nenzel Hill a decade or more earlier, that the ground reverted to the government, and that Nenzel and others relocated it in 1909. A small shipment left Nenzel Hill in August 1912, mostly from float and talus.

The camp grew fast. The USGS reports more than 2,000 people within a month of the rush, and about 1,000 in May 1913, about 700 of them at East Rochester. Three townsites merged along a main street about 2.5 miles long. Destination 4x4 says Lower Rochester was laid out on November 20, 1912. The USGS also describes a 100-ton cyanide plant under construction in Rochester Canyon, expected to run by January 1915. The USGS put production at about $500,000 for 1913 and more than $1.2 million by September 1914. The marker says the district produced about $9 million in silver, with some gold, copper and lead. Destination 4x4 estimates $6 to $10 million for 1912 to 1928.

What remains

Destination 4x4 describes scattered ruins and mill foundations stretching over two miles through the canyon. Other settlements sat along it: Upper Rochester higher up, East Rochester, and Packard. The site is a mining landscape, so treat any old workings and uneven ground as hazards. The sources reviewed do not say which buildings still stand, and they do not confirm an intact store.

Visiting today

The marker stands on Rochester Canyon Road, about 6 miles south of the Lovelock-Unionville Road, according to the Historical Marker Database. Destination 4x4 places the town 10 to 15 miles southeast of Interstate 80 near the Oreana exit and gives no road conditions. It also reports that a modern open-pit heap-leach silver and gold mine, now the Coeur Rochester Mine, has operated nearby since 1986 and is the largest employer in Pershing County. Land status and gate rules near an active mine can change. Check with the Bureau of Land Management Winnemucca District before going, and do not enter fenced or posted ground. Leave any artifacts where they are.