Round Mountain

Round Mountain began like a hundred other early-1900s gold camps and then refused to follow the script. The gold here came in free, visible metal — small high-grade veins worked by hand, lower-grade veins sent to the mills, and placer gold washed from the gravels at the mountain's base, first by dry-washing, then by hydraulic monitors fed water piped across the valley. Where most camps lasted a few years, Round Mountain kept producing for generations; the same ground is a large open-pit gold mine today, one of Nevada's most productive.

What the plaque says

One of many early 1900 gold camps, Round Mountain is unique because: It has been a producer for more than 60 years. All the gold occurred in free, visible, metallic form. Many small, high-grade veins were easily mined with hand tools. Larger, lower-grade veins provided ore for milling plants. Placer gold occurred in economically recoverable amounts in the peripheral gravels at the base of the mountain which were first dry washed. Water was piped across the valley floor from two mountain creeks to recover the gold from the gravels by hydraulic mining for ten years. Still later, heavy equipment was used to mine the deeper gravels. Early promoter and operator, Louis D. Gordon considered the many claims into Nevada Porphyry Gold Mines, Inc., 1929.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Big Smoky Valley — 5.1 mi
• Manhattan — 11 mi
• Ophir — 15 mi
• Belmont — 16 mi