Wonder

A camp that grew out of Fairview

Wonder is a mining camp site in the desert ranges of Churchill County. Nevada State Historical Marker No. 201 says Thomas J. Stroud and others made the first claims in April 1906 and that the Wonder Mining District was organized that year. Other sources give slightly different dates. Western Mining History credits Stroud with the discovery on March 15, 1906, and Forgotten Nevada says he located the Jack Pot claim on April 7.

Prospectors came over from nearby Fairview. Forgotten Nevada says more than 1,000 claims were staked within weeks of the May 1906 stampede. The marker says stores and saloons opened by mid-1906 and a school followed in 1907. Bench Creek supplied water, and an ice plant and a swimming pool made camp life easier. A 1909 mining journal report, quoted by Western Mining History, said the town “sprang up in a few weeks” and had two banks, two newspapers and two hotels.

The Nevada Wonder Mining Company

The Nevada Wonder Mining Company was incorporated in Delaware on September 19, 1906, according to Forgotten Nevada. The marker credits it with roughly $6 million in silver, gold, copper and zinc. Forgotten Nevada reports dividends of $1,549,002 and says the company ceased operations in December 1919.

Power came by transmission line from Bishop, California, a line Forgotten Nevada says was reportedly the longest in the world at the time. Sources disagree on the mill. Forgotten Nevada describes a 200-ton cyanide mill, dated to 1913 by the Nevada Bureau of Mines and probably 1911 by a 1912 trade article, and says the date needs more research. Western Mining History reports a 100-ton mill under construction in 1911 and major changes in 1913. A 1913 report cited high milling costs because no railroad reached the camp. Rail branches were surveyed, but Western Mining History says the Wonder branch was never built.

Sources also disagree on population. Forgotten Nevada gives about 1,200 by May 1907. Destination4x4 says about 200 residents at the peak, and also lists a figure under 1,000. Western Mining History gives no figure. The post office closed in August 1920. Forgotten Nevada says the mine equipment was dismantled in 1924 and mostly sold.

The marker also names Eva Adams (1908-1991), a Wonder native who served as Senator Patrick McCarran’s administrative assistant and later as Director of the U.S. Mint.

What remains and visiting

Accounts of what survives differ. Forgottennevada.org says no buildings remain except the mill ruins, along with scattered debris, from rusted tins to mine equipment left in the 1960s and 1970s, and a few pieces of wood and part of a picket fence at the cemetery. Destination4x4 lists mill foundations and scattered wooden structures. Treat any standing timber as unstable and do not enter it.

The marker says the camp is 13 miles to the north but does not name the starting point. Forgotten Nevada describes the route from Highway 50 east of Fallon: turn north on Dixie Valley Road (State Route 121) for about 1.8 miles, then northeast for about 11.5 miles. Destination4x4 puts the site about 14 miles north of US 50 on a dirt road. Forgotten Nevada gives the elevation as about 5,500 feet and Destination4x4 as 5,853 feet. Road conditions change, so check with the Bureau of Land Management before going. Leave artifacts and equipment where they are.