Vernon, was a small mining town, now a 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...

, located in Pershing County

Pershing County, Nevada

Pershing County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 6,693. Its county seat is Lovelock. The county was named after army general John J. Pershing . It was formed from Humboldt County in 1919, and the last county to be established in...

, Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

 northwest of Lovelock

Lovelock, Nevada

Lovelock is a city in western Nevada that is the county seat of Pershing County, the location of a prison, and the namesake of the area's Cold War gunnery range...

.

History

The town was founded in 1905 to serve as a base for the nearby mines in the Seven Troughs mining district. The mines remained active for the better part of 3–4 years, but by 1910 the ore was pretty much played out, and the mines began to reduce operations and / or close down entirely. As this happened, the town itself began to dwindle (down to a population of only 300 in 1907), and by 1918 so few people were left in Vernon and the nearby area that the post office closed its doors. At this time, many of the wooden buildings were torn down and moved to the nearby town/camp of Tunnel, where activity was on the increase. This spelled the end of Vernon as a town, and the last residents moved on shortly thereafter.

Location

To reach the site of Vernon today you can take the two-laned paved road leading out to the Eagle-Pitcher diatomaceous earth

Diatomaceous earth

Diatomaceous earth also known as diatomite or kieselgur/kieselguhr, is a naturally occurring, soft, siliceous sedimentary rock that is easily crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder. It has a particle size ranging from less than 1 micrometre to more than 1 millimetre, but typically 10 to...

mine (look for signs indicating this) 14 miles from Lovelock towards Vernon. Bearing away from the mine road onto a dirt road will take you the last 12 miles to the site of Vernon. The site itself is easily recognizable by the remains of the old stone jail (heavily vandalized), some depressions from old building foundation locations, and wood debris scattered about in the sagebrush.

Vernon is at an elevation of 4646 feet (1416m).

External links

• Location on Google Maps