2006 01 NV CA

2006 01 21 Olinghouse, Humboldt River near Lovelock

This was a day trip from Truckee to Lovelock. I wanted to look at a mill site at Toulon, which is about 20 miles west of Lovelock, just south of I80. On the way I thought I would also take a look at an old mine site, Olinghouse, which is in the Pah Rah Range just south of Pyramid Lake. Most of this is fenced and posted, so I did not do a lot of poking around. It was also a lot snowier than I expected. It appears that there was a notable dam failure at the site.

I then went on to Lovelock and looked at the mill site at Toulon. This site is privately owned and occupied, so all I did was try to find someone to let me in. No luck.

I did drive the area and spent some time out near the Humboldt River, which was near flood stage from all the recent rain and snow. Here are a few snaps, the first looking downstream, the second two looking up.

The sun did put in a brief appearance later in the day, and I shot some panoramic images here.

Later in the evening I was in the Lovelock Safeway and talked to a clerk there who knew who the owner was for the Toulon site. It took quite a bit of calling to find the owner and talk to him, but I eventually did, and got permission to go photograph the site.

The mill at Toulon processed tungsten from several mines in the area. I was told it is a superfund site, but the EPA web site seems to indicates that there is only one such site in Nevada. But there are noticeable tailings. (That booklet looks like it would be a useful source for locating wildly colored bodies of water.)

It's mildly interesting that Toulon is a French city, and that during World War II the US battleship Nevada shelled German positions in Toulon.