Potosi or Potosi Camp, was called Crystal City in the 1870s, a mining

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

Clark County, Nevada Clark County is the most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Nevada with 2,265,461 residents as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The county is the location of the state's three largest cities, Las Vegas (t ...

. It lies at an elevation of 5705 feet.

History

The Potosi Mine is thought to be the site of the oldest lode mine in Nevada. Its

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

deposits were discovered in 1847 but it was not until 1856 that Mormon miners from their colony of Las Vegas Springs began a lead mine there. Operations ceased in 1857 after 9,000 lbs of lead were extracted due to difficulties in smelting the ore. Nothing further was done with the mine until 1861. That year the Colorado Mining Company, began to mine

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

in the Potosi Mine. They first set up a large smelter at Potosi Spring and established Potosi as its mining camp. Potosi had a population of 100 until mining ceased there in 1863.Nevada Historical Marker #115, Potosi After the Salt Lake and San Pedro Railroad was built through Clark County in 1905, it became possible to mine

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

in the Potosi Mine. From 1906 to 1928, zinc was mined there.

Today

The site of Potosi appears barren of ruins.

References

Populated places established in 1861 Ghost towns in Clark County, Nevada Arizona Territory Former populated places in Nevada 1861 establishments in New Mexico Territory {{ClarkCountyNV-geo-stub