Taylor

Taylor was a textbook silver camp — found in 1873, built around the Argus and Monitor mines, and grown within seven years to fifteen hundred people with the usual frontier inventory: seven saloons, an opera house, a Wells Fargo office. By 1886 it threw the county's biggest Fourth of July. What kept it limping along after the easy ore was chemistry: a hundred-ton cyanide plant at the Argus revived it around 1919, and the Second World War woke it once more. A little over a million dollars, then quiet.

What the plaque says

Silver and gold were discovered in 1873, in what was to become Taylor, a typical mining community supported chiefly by the Argus and Monitor Mines. In 7 years, the town boasted a population of 1500 people, 7 saloons, 3 general stores, an opera house, a Wells Fargo office, and professional services. By 1886, Taylor was the center of county activity, a social highlight being the annual 4th of July Celebration. Mining continued intermittently until 1919, then a 100-ton cyanide plant at the Argus Mine gave new impetus, but production declined when the price of silver plummeted. World War II renewed mining activity temporarily. More then $1 million in silver, gold, copper and lead had been produced.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Ward Charcoal Ovens — 5.1 mi
  Six great stone beehives in the Egan Range — the best-preserved charcoal kilns in Nevada, and the intact relic of the fuel that fed every silver smelter
• Ely — 13 mi
  The copper town and crossroads at the east end of the loneliest road — home of the Ghost Train and the gateway to Great Basin

More markers nearby

• Ward Mining District — steps away
• Ward Charcoal Ovens — 6.2 mi
• Nevada Northern Railway — 13 mi
• Ely, Forging The Link — 13 mi