Wonder, Nevada
Encyclopedia
Wonder, Nevada, was a town in Churchill County, Nevada
, approximately 39 mi (62.8 km) miles east of Fallon
at an elevation of 5853 ft (1,784 m). Today Wonder is a deserted ghost town
.
A newspaper, the Wonder Mining News, began delivering issues by August, and soon thereafter the town had its own post office. By the fall of 1906 Wonder was going full-bore; it had a stage line connecting it to both Fairview and Fallon, and the usual assortment of stores, assay offices, freight depot, restaurants, hotels, boarding houses, and- of course- saloons. Several mining concerns were formed in Wonder, but the highest yield operation was the Nevada Wonder Mining Company. Backed by capital from eastern concerns, its operations produced the largest yields in silver and gold from the mines, and in 1913 a large mill was built onto the hillside just to the east of the town, were the ore was soon being processed.
For the better part of 11 years Wonder was an active and bustling mining town, but the veins in the mines did not go on indefinitely, and by 1919 they had played out, and the town began to slowly slide into obscurity. The post office was soon closed, and many of the buildings themselves were torn down to be moved on to other mining camps. Those that did remain crumbled over the years as the harsh Nevada winters and summers took their toll. There was a brief resurgence in mining activity in the 1930s (although nowhere near the same as had occurred earlier), but it was short-lived.
and silver
veins
of Wonder consist mostly of quartz
, adularia (a hydrothermal feldspar
) and breccia
ted volcanic rock. The ore minerals, which are contained mostly as fine disseminations within the veins, include acanthite
(silver sulfide), gold and several silver halides. Wonder is classified as a low-sulfidation (adularia-sericite
) epithermal deposit. The veins were deeply oxidized
, and there was some secondary enrichment
; both of these factors made the Wonder veins more economical to mine.
Churchill County, Nevada
Churchill County is a county located in the western U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 23,982. As of July 1, 2007, the population of Churchill County was estimated at 27,190. The county, named after Mexican-American War hero brevet Brigadier General Sylvester Churchill,...
, approximately 39 mi (62.8 km) miles east of Fallon
Fallon, Nevada
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 7,536 people, 3,004 households, and 1,877 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,474.1 people per square mile . There were 3,336 housing units at an average density of 1,095.2 per square mile...
at an elevation of 5853 ft (1,784 m). Today Wonder is a deserted 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...
.
History
Wonder was established in May 1906 when prospectors from the town of Fairview discovered rich quartz veins in a dry wash north of Chalk Mountain. As was typical of the era of the 'second' silver rush in Nevada, hundreds of people soon flocked to the site, and the town of Wonder was born.A newspaper, the Wonder Mining News, began delivering issues by August, and soon thereafter the town had its own post office. By the fall of 1906 Wonder was going full-bore; it had a stage line connecting it to both Fairview and Fallon, and the usual assortment of stores, assay offices, freight depot, restaurants, hotels, boarding houses, and- of course- saloons. Several mining concerns were formed in Wonder, but the highest yield operation was the Nevada Wonder Mining Company. Backed by capital from eastern concerns, its operations produced the largest yields in silver and gold from the mines, and in 1913 a large mill was built onto the hillside just to the east of the town, were the ore was soon being processed.
For the better part of 11 years Wonder was an active and bustling mining town, but the veins in the mines did not go on indefinitely, and by 1919 they had played out, and the town began to slowly slide into obscurity. The post office was soon closed, and many of the buildings themselves were torn down to be moved on to other mining camps. Those that did remain crumbled over the years as the harsh Nevada winters and summers took their toll. There was a brief resurgence in mining activity in the 1930s (although nowhere near the same as had occurred earlier), but it was short-lived.
Location
Today the site of Wonder is reached by taking a dirt road off the Dixie Valley road, which is off US 50 East heading east from Fallon. The site of Wonder is recognizable by the remains of the large mill which can still be found on the hillside east of town, and some scattered wooden remains in the valley where the town site was, along with some depressions of foundations for buildings which once stood. One should be extremely careful while exploring the area- there were still some open pits leading down into old mine shafts, which while having had fences once marking them, many have fallen down in disuse, leading to possible serious injury!Mineral Deposits
The goldGold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
and silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
veins
Vein (geology)
In geology, a vein is a distinct sheetlike body of crystallized minerals within a rock. Veins form when mineral constituents carried by an aqueous solution within the rock mass are deposited through precipitation...
of Wonder consist mostly of quartz
Quartz
Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...
, adularia (a hydrothermal feldspar
Feldspar
Feldspars are a group of rock-forming tectosilicate minerals which make up as much as 60% of the Earth's crust....
) and breccia
Breccia
Breccia is a rock composed of broken fragments of minerals or rock cemented together by a fine-grained matrix, that can be either similar to or different from the composition of the fragments....
ted volcanic rock. The ore minerals, which are contained mostly as fine disseminations within the veins, include acanthite
Acanthite
Acanthite, Ag2S, crystallizes in the monoclinic system and is the stable form of silver sulfide below 173 °C. Argentite is the stable form above that temperature. As argentite cools below that temperature its cubic form is distorted to the monoclinic form of acanthite. Below 173 °C...
(silver sulfide), gold and several silver halides. Wonder is classified as a low-sulfidation (adularia-sericite
Sericite
Sericite is a fine grained mica, similar to muscovite, illite, or paragonite. Sericite is a common alteration mineral of orthoclase or plagioclase feldspars in areas that have been subjected to hydrothermal alteration typically associated with copper, tin, or other hydrothermal ore deposits...
) epithermal deposit. The veins were deeply oxidized
Redox
Redox reactions describe all chemical reactions in which atoms have their oxidation state changed....
, and there was some secondary enrichment
Supergene (geology)
In ore deposit geology, supergene processes or enrichment occur relatively near the surface. Supergene processes include the predominance of meteoric water circulation with concomitant oxidation and chemical weathering. The descending meteoric waters oxidize the primary sulfide ore minerals and...
; both of these factors made the Wonder veins more economical to mine.
External links
- GhostTowns.Com: Wonder, Nevada
- Wonder on Google Maps
- Eva Adams, born in Wonder, Nevada http://www.unr.edu/nwhp/bios/women/adams.htm