The ghost town of Seven Troughs are the remains of a mining district that was once made up of several towns and was home to a couple thousand prospectors. Lying near the bottom of Seven Troughs Canyon northwest of the town of Lovelock, Nevada, Seven Troughs came into existence following the discovery of gold in 1906. The prospectors, unable to keep the discovery a secret, soon found their location the impromptu home of as many as 5,000 miners and prospectors traversing mineral strikes across the Nevada desert in search of their own riches.
Within a year, a post office and school were established, and the population shrank to a stable number of around 350. A workers' strike in 1907 that brought the mines to a halt for about a month and resulted in the mine owners agreeing to pay workers $5 a day for an 8-hour workday.
In 1912, a flashflood resulted in a wall of water washing down Seven Troughs Canyon, causing significant damage to buildings and property set in the town's lower areas. The town of Mazuma farther down canyon fared worse, with the newspaper reporting 20 deaths, the body of one having been washed 3 miles away. Some of these flood victims remain buried in the Mazuma cemetery visible on the way into Seven Troughs.
From 1907 until about 1921, the mines at Seven Troughs were reported to have produced over $2 million in gold. However the town began to decline around 1916. The post office would close in 1918, and mining woud continue for another 3 years, when the mines closed and the town was abandoned.
Today, several buildings still stand, and the foundations of some of the larger former buildings dot the hillside. Reaching the town requires driving miles down a dirt road that is often rough. There is no cell service or amenities of any type out here, so be sure to plan ahead for a visit.
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