Reilly, California facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Reilly
Former settlement
Reilly Location in California
Country	United States
State	California
County	Inyo County
Elevation	2,582 ft (787 m)

Reilly was once a busy silver mining town in Inyo County, California. Today, it's a former settlement, meaning it's like a ghost town where people used to live and work. It was located high up in the mountains, on the west side of the Panamint Valley, about 2,582 feet (787 meters) above sea level.

In the late 1800s, Reilly was a place where people came to dig for silver. It even had its own post office for a short time in 1883. Because of its history, Reilly is now on the National Register of Historic Places, which is a special list of important historical places in the United States.

The Story of Reilly: A Mining Town

Reilly's story is all about the search for silver and how a small mining camp grew into a town, even if only for a little while. It shows how quickly things could change during the California mining boom.

How Reilly Started

The area where Reilly was built, known as the Sherman Mining District, became important in the 1860s. Two brothers, Theodore and Albert Wibbett, found valuable ore there in 1869. Ore is rock that contains precious metals like silver.

Later, between 1877 and 1882, Theodore Wibbett claimed several mining spots. These claims were then bought by a man named Edward Reilly on May 23, 1882. This is how the town got its name!

Building the Mining Operation

After Edward Reilly bought the claims, big plans were made.

• October 1882: A special machine called a mill was ordered. A mill is used to crush ore and separate the valuable metal from the rock. The mining claims were also officially measured.
• November 13, 1882: Edward Reilly sold his claims and the rights to use water to a company called the Argus Range Silver Mining Company. They paid a lot of money for it – $500,000! This company, from New York, operated for about two years, from 1882 to June 1884. They invested $240,000 into the mines but only made back $23,000.

Life in Reilly: A Short-Lived Town

For a brief period, Reilly was a functioning town.

• January 22, 1883: A post office was officially opened in Reilly. This shows that enough people lived there to need mail service.
• October 1883: The mill started working! It ran for four days and produced 137 ounces of silver from 30 tons of ore.
• October 15, 1883: The post office didn't stay in Reilly for long. It was moved to a nearby town called Darwin. This was a sign that Reilly might not be growing as expected.
• The mill kept working on and off until April 1884.

The End of Reilly's Mining Days

The silver in Reilly's mines didn't last forever.

• June 20, 1884: An advertisement in a local newspaper, the Inyo Independent, offered to process ore for other miners at Reilly's mill. This suggested that Reilly's own mines were running out of silver.
• 1884: Many lawsuits were filed because workers and suppliers weren't getting paid. This often happens when a mining operation isn't making enough money.
• February 29, 1885: The property was sold for a very low price ($287.74) to Isaac Harris because of unpaid taxes. The mill was also sold to him.
• May 4, 1885: Edward Reilly, the person the town was named after, bought back the claims and the mill.
• August 7, 1885: The property was sold again, this time to Harris Yerington, who owned a railroad company. This sale was to pay off old debts.
• February 20, 1891: Yerington sold the property to the State of California for $300. This was pretty much the end of Reilly as a mining town.

Today, Reilly remains a historic site, reminding us of the exciting but often difficult times of the California silver rush.