Tempiute is a ghost town in
Lincoln County, Nevada United States.
History
Silver was first discovered in the area in 1865. In 1868, additional silver lodes were found near the settlement. A mining district was established, but mining was difficult, due to insufficient water supplies. Water had to be transported by mules from springs, away. The settlement had a population of fifty miners in 1870. When the stamp-mill in nearby Crescent was shut down in 1871, mining in Tempiute was abandoned.
The post office was named Tem Piute from February 1879 until January 1881 and then again from June 1882 until January 1883.
Tungsten
Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...
ore was discovered nearby in 1916, but large-scale mining did not begin for another twenty years. The Lincoln Mines Company initiated mining operations in Tempiute in 1940, after building a mill. The mines were productive until the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, but declined in the next five years. After the price of
tungsten
Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...
rose in 1950, the mining camp was reestablished when the Wah Chang Trading Company, a New York-based tungsten importer and trading company, incorporated the entire mining district as the Black Rock Mining Company.
From 1950—1956, Tempiute had a population of 700, and a school. The post Office was opened as Tempiute in February 1953 and closed in October 1957.
[ During its most productive years, the Lincoln mine was one of the nation's primary producers of tungsten. When the price of tungsten declined in 1957, the mill was closed and the town was soon abandoned.]
See also
* Tempiute Mountain
References
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Ghost towns in Lincoln County, Nevada
Former populated places in Nevada
Tungsten mines in the United States
Silver mines in the United States