Mica Peak Vermiculite Mine

I ran across an old mining journal published by the Mackay School of Mines at UNR on the vermiculite mining in the Gold Butte area. While the History of Mining section was small it contained a lot of great information and also grabbed my interest as I have many fond memories of visiting the cabin growing up and exploring this area. It also mentions the owners of the mines at the time, Roxton Whitmore and Laura Gentry who were St. Thomas folks. These historic ties are what keeps the local sense of stewardship for our public lands alive in the local communities.

The best I could do to find a picture of Laura Gentry was this photo which states that she is the little girl looking through the fence. If my Whitmore friends are out there and can let me know whether this is correct or not I would appreciate it.

This is a picture of teh Harry Gentry Genral Store in St. Thomas.

The best I could do for Roxton Whitmore was this picture I have of his place in St. Thomas.




Gold Butte vermiculite deposits, Clark County, Nevada
Mackay School of Mines, University of Nevada 1967

The Gold butte vermiculite deposits are in the central portion of the South Virgin Mountains in northeastern Clark County. They lie within a one-mile-square area of the Gold Butte 15’ quadrangle, in sec. 15 T. 19 s., 70E.. The area is accessible by way of a maintained county road that connects with US Highway 91 at  Mesquite, Nev; the distance from Mesquite to the deposits is 52 miles.

Intermittent attempts have been made to exploit the vermiculite deposits, but no record of production is available. The first carload of unprocessed vermiculite was shipped to Los Angeles in 1942, and at least several car loads were shipped out later for experimental purposes. A mill was completed in 1945 with a reported daily capacity of 25 tons. The material was mined by open put methods. It is said that no more than 5 tons production per day was obtained, and the operation soon ceased. Failure to clean and size the material properly, lack of capital investment, and extreme difficulties of transportation are probably the chief reasons for the limed production.

In 1962 two cabins and the remains of the wind-damaged mill are the only structures on the property. A mine pit, almost 300 feet long, and waste dumps are present near the mill. Elsewhere, shallow exploration test pits and trenches dot the area. In a well near the mill, the water level has been within 20 feet of the surface in summer. The mining claims are held by Laura Gentry and Roxton Whitmore of Overton, Nev.

If you look to the far left you can see the roof of the old cabin. Next time I go out I will try and get an updated picture from the same vantage point however for now this is the same angle looking from Google Earth.

 This is my dad Jack Nelson out at the cabins at the Mica Peak mine before the BLM torn them down. This picture was taken in about 2001.

There is still a little machinery scattered out in the hills from the old mill.

This map was included in the journal.

Mica Notch Mine

Other Names: Virgin Mountain chrysoberyl Mine , Mica Notch deposits and Leavitt claims

Commodities: mica and beryllium

Location: Township 15 S, Range 71 East, Section 17,18

History: Earliest work was done for mica in about 1900; some beryllium ore was produced in 1935.

Geology: Muscovite mica occurs in pegmatite dikes associated with chrysoberyl, beryle, garnet, magnetite, and tourmaline. The dikes cut Precambrian garnet-mica schist; gneiss foliation trends northeast and dips southeast. The mica occurs in books up to several inches thick and g to 8 inches square. Specks of foreign material are present and it is not cleavable in large sheets.

I found the picture below in a mining journal in the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology. I tried to take the next picture from the same spot but I should have gone down the road a little farther. However you can see the change over the years:

This is what remains of the old mining shack of the Mica Notch Mine. You can can still see some of the old shingles from the roof:

My son and I looking over the remnants of the Mica Notch Mine in Nevada's backcountry:

Some of this information came from Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Report 45. Mineral Resources of the Overton 30' x 60' Quadrangle: http://www.nbmg.unr.edu/dox/r45.pdf

View Larger Map

Gold Butte History - Salt Mine

In a continuing effort to increase the content, and with any luck awareness of the rich history woven in the landscape of Gold Butte, I have posted a short excerpt from a study that was done on the mineral deposits in the potential reservoir site now known as Lake Mead. The specific site referenced in this excerpt is a salt mine owned and operated by Daniel Bonelli.

If a list were to be compiled of the significant characters that contributed to the historical patchwork that has evolved into Gold Butte, Daniel Bonelli would have a vivid and colorful block. Bonelli helped lay the foundation for future settlement in this area.

Look for more history of Daniel Bonelli in coming posts at http://goldbuttehistory.blogspot.com/

The Year Mark

It has been a year since I started the Save Gold Butte website. We have covered a lot of ground 48 posts later. I have had the opportunity to be a part of and seen many people get involved, making calls, writing letters and going to meetings. I have spent my time doing this with the goal of working towards public lands stewardship at a community level. I initially got actively involved because the threat of legislative intervention was “imminent”. Well I cannot say what could have been or might have been, but through the hard work and dedication of many people, there has been no legislative intervention and our public lands are still open and being cared for at a local level.

I have met a lot of people, been to many meetings, been a part of some wonderful events and enjoyed many trips out to Gold Butte with politicians, congressional staffers, local citizens and my family. And that is what it is all about, getting out and enjoying our beautiful country. It is hard for people to dismiss the grandeur and beauty of this part of the country and not want to be a part of keeping it accessible for everyone.

Oddly enough I even found out that there are still some good people left at the BLM who believe in their multiple-use mission. One of my favorite events was the Public Lands Day activity held in September. For our project we started a site to be a repository for any and every piece of history that we could scrounge up about Gold Butte. One of our goals with the site is to raise awareness of every part of history tied to Gold Butte including our pioneer, cattle ranching and mining history which played a significant part in the development of southern Nevada and the west. The site is http://www.goldbuttehistory.blogspot.com/ we haven’t been as diligent as we could in getting our histories posted but it is a goal and we hope to continue with the effort. If you have anything that you could add please contact me.

If I could have a goal for the next year with Save Gold Butte it would be to raise awareness of the issues facing public lands, grow the local stewardship movement and encourage people to get out and enjoy this beautiful country. By getting out and soaking up this beautiful landscape you can’t help but want to be a part of keeping it open and accessible in a responsible manner. Protection with access is still my primary objective.

The flowers are blooming, the early spring grass is coming up and the weather is perfect for a Spring trip out to the Gold Butte country. Get out and enjoy it. I’ll see ya out there.

Collecting Gold Butte's History

It is not hard to understand why so many people are taken with the Gold Butte region. It is filled with incredibly beautiful and stunning geologic features. While standing at Whitney Pockets, Devils Throat, Horse Springs, or Hell’s Kitchen it doesn’t take long to be overtaken by the natural beauty and marvel at the earth’s natural process of molding mountains, hills and valleys. This geologic backdrop overlaid with a rich biological community comes together to create one of Nevada’s most beautiful backcountry destinations. However this is only one piece of the landscape that makes Gold Butte so incredible. The cultural history, deep-rooted in Gold Butte’s natural evolution, is a central element to understanding the Sense of Place that all of us have been so captivated by.

The Historic Documentation project was born from a conversation that Elise McAllister and I had about how we could contribute to Public Lands Day in a meaningful way. We wanted to embrace the overall goal of National Public Lands Day, which is to celebrate service and recreation on public lands, but also build on that theme to encourage more long lasting support specific to Gold Butte. Elise and I both share the concern of losing some of the historic features within Gold Butte particularly related to mining, ranching and our pioneer heritage. These pieces of history contributed greatly to the story behind Gold Butte. It is with this mindset that we start this project.

The overall goal of this project is to create a catalog of places within Gold Butte and the stories behind them. Our goal is to ensure that the places and the stories behind them are preserved and accessible. Some have been lost and many are not freely accessible but with this project we hope to begin to recover and collect as much as we can. This project can only be carried out with the help and support of the people who love and enjoy our public lands. We hope to collect hard facts such as names and dates but also personal accounts and your experiences with places out at Gold Butte. Family stories and your personal narratives is what will bring this project to life.

Please try and attend Public Lands Day at Whitney Pockets Saturday morning at 8AM for the kick off to our Historic Documentation Project. However if you cannot make it to Saturdays event, this will be an ongoing project where you can submit stories and information to us any time to improve the project. I will add a page to this site with all the information you will need to help out. Thank you for your support and hope to see you Saturday morning.

Historical Documenting Project – Public Lands Day 2010 Gold Butte

Bring your Family, bring your four-wheeler or four-wheel drive and come enjoy Gold Butte while helping to record and preserve our history. One of the projects for Public Lands Day is to start building a catalog of all the historic destination found within the Gold Butte region. The goal of this project is to ensure that all of our history gets preserved. We must be active participants in helping record our own history. We are working to give each piece of history its due credit that built the west and Clark County into what we enjoy today. We are working to record Native American cultural sites as well as Mining and Ranching. Each has played a significant role in building the Sense of Place in our western culture.


Saturday Morning from 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM will be signups with the BLM at Whitney Pockets. We will have donuts for those who can make it. After signups we will break into the two different projects that we have scheduled for the day. One of the projects is to work on campsites around Whitney Pockets. If you are interested in this project you will probably want to bring some gloves and possibly some tools like a shovel and rock rake.


The other project will be the historical documenting project. With this project we will have a map and a list of places that we think need to be documented. However the list is neither complete nor do we know of all the places that are hidden within Gold Butte. Please come and share your knowledge with us so every place at Gold Butte will get its due credit. After we have worked on defining all of the places that we can, we will break up and each person or group is encouraged to visit their favorite place or a new spot at Gold Butte and help build our catalog. We want to record springs, mining camps, corrals, windmills, and other places within Gold Butte that helped shape its rich history. We are working to collect a photo, hopefully a little history behind the spot and possibly a GPS point or track to get out there.


Depending on the spot that you choose to go depends on how long you will be out. There is no official closing ceremony to attend. The real goal of public lands day is to connect people back with the public lands and work toward awareness so we can all better enjoy our big backyard.


Please come and join us Saturday morning at Whitney Pockets.