Ruins found in the old mining company town of Blair, located two miles northwest of Silver Peak.
The late Nevada historian Phillip I. Earl has pointed out that a handful of Nevada’s mining communities owe their existence to greed rather than factors like location.
Case in point is the short-lived central Nevada mining town of Blair, which was established by a mining company to avoid the high price of land in the nearby town of Silver Peak, which was much closer to its mines.
Blair, built between 1906 and 1907, was created because the Pittsburg Silver Peak Gold Mining Co., did not want to pay the exorbitant prices that greedy land owners in Silver Peak wanted for their property.
When Pittsburg Silver Peak Gold earlier purchased several mines in the Silver Peak district, which had already experienced one boom in the 1860s, speculators quickly grabbed up most of the available land in the area.
Needing to erect a new mill for the mines, the mining company decided to quietly purchase land located two miles northwest of Silver
Peak and establish a new community there. The company laid out a townsite, which was named in honor of John I. Blair, an eastern banker who had developed the Silver Peak mining district.
In addition to a town, the mining company constructed a 100-stamp mill, the largest mill in the state at the time. It also built a 17.5-mile railroad, called the Silver Peak Railroad, which ran from Blair to a junction on the main line of the Tonopah & Goldfield Railroad (still called Blair Junction on U.S. 95).
A 14,000-foot aerial tramway was constructed to carry ore from mines on the opposite side of the mountain to the mill.
By 1907, Blair has a few dozen homes, a couple of saloons, a newspaper, a handful of businesses and a two-story hotel.
Historian David Myrick (author of the excellent "Railroads of Nevada" books) noted in his description of the Silver Peak Railroad that Blair settled upon a particularly unique way of paying for some of its public services.
As the town developed, it found that there was no money for fire hydrants. The residents decided to conduct a minstrel show with local talent, the proceeds of which would help pay for this essential service.
The performance was awful, according to Myrick, and a donated case of whiskey inspired the performers so much that one fell off the stage. One observer is said to have remarked, “the show was so terrible it was entertaining.”
Silver Peak mines were played out within a few years, however, and the mill ceased to operate by 1915. The facility was dismantled and sold to another mine and the railroad line was torn up in 1918.
Today, it's easy to overlook the handful of remnants of Blair. Sitting on a slope overlooking the road, Blair has almost blended back into the surrounding sagebrush-covered hills.
One of the most noticeable ruins is a large concrete and brick skeleton of a building that still has its chimney and walls intact. A smaller, square concrete building sits a few yards away.
Parked in the desert between the two structures is the rusted hulk of an old car, which appears to be from the 1920s or ‘30s.
Exploring behind the larger building, you'll still find a handful of other foundations, including another partial chimney and stone walls as well as other reminders of the mining town that was once here.
About a half-mile west of the townsite are the massive foundations of the once mighty Pittsburgh Silver Peak mill. Huge concrete footings line the mountainside (the mill was built on the hillside to take advantage of the gravity flow of the ore). The remains provide an idea of the mill’s great size.
On the top of a hill above the foundations, you can find another remarkably intact concrete building, which appears to have been an office at the mill site. Still visible is the flat, former Silver Peak Railroad bed, which runs parallel and below the mill site.
To reach Blair, head about two hours south of Fallon via U.S. 95. At a point 30 miles west of Tonopah, turn south on State Route 265 and continue 19 miles. Blair is located on the hillside, a half-mile to the west via a good dirt road.
About two miles farther south is Silver Peak, which has experienced a bit of a revival in recent years due to the presence of large lithium deposits in the nearby flat lands.
Rich Moreno writes about the places and people that make Nevada special.
