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The Osceola Ditch, also known as the East Ditch, was built in 1889–1890 to convey water from Lehman Creek,
The project was built to serve the Osceola Gravel Mining Company's placer gold mine, which required enormous quantities of water to blast apart gold-bearing gravel and rubble deposits, and was capable of delivering 2500 miner's inches of water. A companion project, the West Ditch could provide 1100 miner's inches. The East ditch was built at a cost of $108,222.65, with a width of at the bottom, in width with a uniform grade of per mile (1.6 km). The ditch could carry per day. The East Ditch included 14 sections of wood flume, including in Lehman Canyon. Flumes were wide and deep, with a uniform grade of per mile (1.6 km).
Accessory structures included four ditch keepers' houses. Extensive improvements were made to the mining area, including expansion of the receiving reservoir, new sluices, and two hydraulic monitors. Despite all of these measures, there was never enough water available for the mining operation to reach its full potential. Operations had to be curtailed in 1894 and again in 1896. After eleven years, the Osceola Mine shut down for good. An abortive 1906 plan to organize a new company, the Nevada Amalgamated Mines and Power Company, with plans for reduction works, a power plant, three towns and a railroad spur, never reached fruition.
The West Ditch predated the East Ditch, extending to the west side of the
Osceola Ditch
at Great Basin National Park
at Great Basin National Heritage Route {{Nevada State Historic Places/White Pine Gold mining in Nevada Infrastructure completed in 1890 Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Nevada Water supply infrastructure on the National Register of Historic Places 1890 establishments in Nevada National Register of Historic Places in Great Basin National Park
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 ...
to a hydraulic mine
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 ...
operation at Osceola. Extending for , the ditch includes a tunnel as well as wooden flume
A flume is a human-made channel for water, in the form of an open declined gravity chute whose walls are raised above the surrounding terrain, in contrast to a trench or ditch. Flumes are not to be confused with aqueducts, which are built to tr ...
s. The project also includes a rock dam and headgate on Stella Lake. The ditch's terminus at Osceola, Nevada
Osceola, Nevada, is a ghost town in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The town was a placer camp devoted to mining gold. Gold was first discovered in 1872, followed by exploitation of the deposits using hydraulic mining techniques. T ...
became disused during the early 1900s and was destroyed entirely by a fire in the 1940s. Much of the East Ditch is included within 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. ...
.
Osceola Mine
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 ...
was first discovered by James Matteson and Frank Heck in 1872 in what would become the Osceola mining district, to the west of what would become Great Basin National Park. Placer gold
Placer mining () is the mining of stream bed (alluvial) deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit (also called open-cast mining) or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment.
Placer mining is frequently used for pr ...
was discovered by John Versan in 1877. The town of Osceola grew to 1500 residents, extracting almost $2 million in gold, including a nugget. Gold was found in nearby Dry Gulch, but its extraction would require large scale engineering. The Osceola Gravel Mining Company formed to exploit the deposit 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, constructing the West Ditch in 1884-1885. The water proved to be inadequate for the purpose, so the East Ditch was surveyed in 1885. Water rights were purchased from Absalom Lehman
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.S ...
, discoverer of Lehman Caves
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. ...
.
The ditches
The project was built to serve the Osceola Gravel Mining Company's placer gold mine, which required enormous quantities of water to blast apart gold-bearing gravel and rubble deposits, and was capable of delivering 2500 miner's inches of water. A companion project, the West Ditch could provide 1100 miner's inches. The East ditch was built at a cost of $108,222.65, with a width of at the bottom, in width with a uniform grade of per mile (1.6 km). The ditch could carry per day. The East Ditch included 14 sections of wood flume, including in Lehman Canyon. Flumes were wide and deep, with a uniform grade of per mile (1.6 km).
Accessory structures included four ditch keepers' houses. Extensive improvements were made to the mining area, including expansion of the receiving reservoir, new sluices, and two hydraulic monitors. Despite all of these measures, there was never enough water available for the mining operation to reach its full potential. Operations had to be curtailed in 1894 and again in 1896. After eleven years, the Osceola Mine shut down for good. An abortive 1906 plan to organize a new company, the Nevada Amalgamated Mines and Power Company, with plans for reduction works, a power plant, three towns and a railroad spur, never reached fruition.
The West Ditch predated the East Ditch, extending to the west side of the Snake Range
The Snake Range is a mountain range in White Pine County, Nevada, United States. The south-central portion of the range is included within Great Basin National Park, with most of the remainder included within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Fores ...
. It is not included in the historic district designation. Little remains of the West Ditch. The East Ditch was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1996. The East Ditch no longer carries water and is overgrown, but sections of flume remain. The tunnel at Strawberry Creek has partially collapsed. Little remains of Osceola itself.
References
External links
Osceola Ditch
at Great Basin National Park
at Great Basin National Heritage Route {{Nevada State Historic Places/White Pine Gold mining in Nevada Infrastructure completed in 1890 Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Nevada Water supply infrastructure on the National Register of Historic Places 1890 establishments in Nevada National Register of Historic Places in Great Basin National Park