Hardin City, Nevada facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Hardin City, Nevada
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| Etymology: Named after James Allen Hardin | |
 Hardin City, Nevada
Location in Nevada
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| Country | United States |
| State | Nevada |
| County | Humboldt |
| Elevation | 3,980 ft (1,210 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) |
Hardin City was a ghost town in Nevada that boomed for a short time because of silver mining. It was located on the western side of the Black Rock Range in the Black Rock Desert. People lived and worked here from about 1859 to 1868, hoping to find their fortune in silver.
Contents
The Story of Hardin City
How Silver Was Discovered
In 1849, a man named James Allen Hardin was traveling on the Applegate-Lassen Trail. While exploring north of the Black Rock area, he found some rock that he thought was lead. He took about 30 to 40 pounds of it back to his camp.
Hardin found that the rock melted easily. He used some of it to make bullets. He left some at camp and kept the rest. The rock left at camp was later tested. It turned out to be a mix of lead and silver.
Hardin melted some of his rock down into a small piece, which many people thought was silver. In 1850, he sent this piece to San Francisco. Sadly, it was lost in a big fire that year.
The Search for Silver Begins
Hardin later settled in Petaluma, California. In 1858, an expedition was launched to find the lost mine where Hardin had found the silver. Like many stories of lost mines, they didn't find the exact spot. However, the news caused a "rush" of people to the area. This led to the creation of Hardin City.
Early Challenges and Dangers
On April 26, 1859, two men, Peter Lassen and Edward Clapper, were killed nearby. They were also searching for the silver that Hardin had first reported. The place where they died was later named Clapper Creek.
In May 1860, news spread about the First Battle of Pyramid Lake. This battle was part of a conflict between settlers and Native American tribes. Because of the danger, many prospectors decided to leave the Hardin City area.
The Return and Decline
Prospectors returned to the area in 1866. A post office opened in July 1866 under the name Harden City. It then changed to Harveyville in October 1866 and closed in August 1867.
During this time, people tried to get silver from the local ore. But they found it was very hard to get a lot of silver consistently. Some believed that the mills were actually getting silver from other sources, like the Comstock Lode, which was mixed in with the local rock. This would explain why the first attempts showed a lot of silver, but later attempts did not.
Hardin City never produced much silver. However, in 1884, a prospector named Ladue Vary found silver and gold to the northeast of the area.
In 1909, a piece of ore similar to what Hardin had found was discovered at Hardin City. It was in a pile of rock left by earlier miners.
