Osceola, Nevada, is a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

in the eastern part of the U.S. state of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. The town was a placer camp devoted to mining

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

. Gold was first discovered in 1872, followed by exploitation of the deposits using

hydraulic mining Hydraulic mining is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment.Paul W. Thrush, ''A Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, and Related Terms'', US Bureau of Mines, 1968, p.560. In the placer mining of ...

techniques. Two ditches, the Osceola West Ditch and the Osceola East Ditch were built to convey water from the mountains for use in mining. Water production was less than hoped and hydraulic mining ceased in 1900, when the population had declined from 1500 at its peak to 100. A fire in the 1940s destroyed much of the town, but a few buildings and a cemetery remain. The town is just to the west of

Great Basin National Park Great Basin National Park is an American national park located in White Pine County in east-central Nevada, near the Utah border, established in 1986. The park is most commonly entered by way of Nevada State Route 488, which is connected to U. ...

. Some small-scale mining activities continue.

References

External links

Osceola, Nevada
at Great Basin National Heritage Route

at Great Basin National Park Ghost towns in White Pine County, Nevada Populated places established in 1872 1872 establishments in Nevada Ghost towns in Nevada Great Basin National Heritage Area {{WhitePineCountyNV-geo-stub