Bennettville is a former settlement and ghost town

Ghost town

A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...

 in Mono County

Mono County, California

Mono County is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of California, to the east of the Sierra Nevada between Yosemite National Park and Nevada. As of the 2010 census, the population was 14,202, up from 12,853 at the 2000 census...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. It was located on Mine Creek 4 mi (6.4 km) east-southeast of Mount Conness.

History

Mining began at the place in 1860. The first mine was renamed Tioga, when the Great Sierra Consolidated Mining Company bought it. By 1878, there were many mines in the Tioga district. The mining remnants form part of the Great Sierra Mine Historic Site

Great Sierra Mine Historic Site

The Great Sierra Mine Historic Site preserves the site of the largest mining operation in what would become Yosemite National Park. The mine was located on Tioga Hill on the crest and eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, one of several claims intended to work the Sheepherder silver lode...

.

The Tioga post office operated from 1880 to 1881. The Bennettville post office operated from 1882 to 1884, that were Bennetville's growth era. The name honored Thomas Bennett, a mining company president. The mining company transported tons of equipment to the site and spent $300,000 developing the town, but no gold of consequence was produced. Bennettville was a ghost town by 1890.

Ruins

The remnants of Bennettville consist of two commemorative plaques and two buildings on a hilltop, an assay office and a bunkhouse both of which were restored in 1993.