No one state or even all the other states combined has more mining claims than Nevada. In fact, more than half of ALL active mining claims in the United States are in it. And, among all the precious metals, minerals and resources that are extracted from the ground, there's one thing that isn't - coal. This is something that has always intrigued me especially being that coal was the go to fuel to power steam locomotives and industry as a whole during the 1800's and well into the 20th century and it's still widely used today. Because of this, coal was produced in developing states such as Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona and even California and still is but why not Nevada?
After doing some digging around, I found the following statement from the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology. "To date, no viable commercial deposits of coal have been found in Nevada... Numerous unsuccessful attempts have been made to mine Nevada coal, but the deposits have proven to be too small and impure." As in, Nevada doesn't have any but... someone at some point in time, did go looking for it and I wanted to know where they found what little they did.
Now, I have to admit that up until recently, I had no real idea how coal was even formed or made. But, after a little research, I had a pretty good idea of where we might find some prospects and the following few pics are from what we found.
On the trail and in search of coal!
In 1864, coal was discovered in this mountain range
There isn't much left but a few rock foundations and timbers from old prospector cabins can still be found in the area.
It's always fun to dig through the trash and find old tins, broken bottles and bits of porcelain as they help to connect you to the people who once lived and worked in this unforgiving enviroment.
As I would come to learn, coal is formed when plant matter in a wetland or swampy area decays into peat, is buried and converted into the mineral from heat and pressure over millions of years. And, in this particular part of Nevada, fossils and other evidence of an ancient swamp can be found.
Here's a shot of an old hopper below a coal seam that had been worked.
This is the main seam and for a short period of time, as much as a 150 tons of coal was produced and sold to a nearby borax works.
By the early 1900s, there was renewed interest in the coal found here due to nearby mines that were in operation and from the railroads servicing them.
Unfortunately, by 1918, the seam was determined to be too small and way to expensive to produce and so it was abandoned.
And last but not least, one of the reasons why it's always nice to have a built up and capable Jeep, even if all you ever do is easy exploring, is because you never know when the trail ahead of you will be washed out. Having a bit of flex is always helpful
So, that's all the pics we got from our quest for coal in Nevada. We hope you enjoyed them.
After doing some digging around, I found the following statement from the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology. "To date, no viable commercial deposits of coal have been found in Nevada... Numerous unsuccessful attempts have been made to mine Nevada coal, but the deposits have proven to be too small and impure." As in, Nevada doesn't have any but... someone at some point in time, did go looking for it and I wanted to know where they found what little they did.
Now, I have to admit that up until recently, I had no real idea how coal was even formed or made. But, after a little research, I had a pretty good idea of where we might find some prospects and the following few pics are from what we found.
On the trail and in search of coal!
In 1864, coal was discovered in this mountain range
There isn't much left but a few rock foundations and timbers from old prospector cabins can still be found in the area.
It's always fun to dig through the trash and find old tins, broken bottles and bits of porcelain as they help to connect you to the people who once lived and worked in this unforgiving enviroment.
As I would come to learn, coal is formed when plant matter in a wetland or swampy area decays into peat, is buried and converted into the mineral from heat and pressure over millions of years. And, in this particular part of Nevada, fossils and other evidence of an ancient swamp can be found.
Here's a shot of an old hopper below a coal seam that had been worked.
This is the main seam and for a short period of time, as much as a 150 tons of coal was produced and sold to a nearby borax works.
By the early 1900s, there was renewed interest in the coal found here due to nearby mines that were in operation and from the railroads servicing them.
Unfortunately, by 1918, the seam was determined to be too small and way to expensive to produce and so it was abandoned.
And last but not least, one of the reasons why it's always nice to have a built up and capable Jeep, even if all you ever do is easy exploring, is because you never know when the trail ahead of you will be washed out. Having a bit of flex is always helpful
So, that's all the pics we got from our quest for coal in Nevada. We hope you enjoyed them.
