37°53'14.9"N 118°15'06.5"W

Some definitions to help you enjoy this page and your life in general.

Unlike gold and silver, mercury is usually measured by the flask, an iron or steel "bottle" that holds the liquid mercury. If you have a flask of mercury, you have 76 pounds of the stuff.

Mercury was refined using retorts and rotary furnaces. A retort simply heated up the crushed mercury ore until the mercury vaporized. Mercury boils at around 675°F and the vapor is collected and allowed to cool, where it become liquid at room temperature and can be collected in a flask. A rotary furnace performed the same task, only the ore was fed into a tube which slowly turned and more evenly exposed the ore to heat.

First, a general description.

B&B Mine
Ownership: State of Nevada, Bankrupt # 475
Discovery: 1925 (?) by George Chrysler
Production: 2,659 flasks to the end of 1943
The B&B mine, on a group of nine claims, lies at an elevation of 7.700 feet on the west slope of the White Mountains about three miles east of Mustang Mountain. Early in 1927 the B&B Quicksilver Company was organized by Peter Boul and H. Bernie to develop a property that had been discovered a short time before by George Chrysler. Boul, after buying Bernie's interest and installing four D retorts, produced in 1927 over one hundred flasks of quicksilver. The following year a 50-ton rotary furnace was installed, and in 1929 a second rotary furnace of 60-tons capacity was added. However, the plant was closed down in June 1931 after having produced 2,467 flasks of quicksilver, and the company declared voluntary bankruptcy. Between 1932 and 1942 the property was leased several times, but no real attempt at large scale mining was made. Late in 1942 the property was leased to Chicago interests who organized the Nevada Mineral Company and, after renovating the furnaces, recovered 28 flasks in 1943.
-Quicksilver Deposits in Nevada, University of Nevada Bulletin, December 1944

Adding equipment. Let's get that mercury!

MORE RETORTS AT BUOL MINE
Two more retorts are being installed at the quicksilver property of the B & B Company situated fourteen miles from the Chiatovich ranch in Fish Lake Valley. The company now operates two retorts which gives an output of three flasks a day. The mine is situated in the White mountains overlooking the valley and will be reached next spring by a skyline automobile road that will compare favorably with the Leadfield road for thrills and scenic beauty. This is the company controlled by Peter Buol, which is under advisement by one of the big mercury companies of the coast.
-Reno Evening Gazette, December 1, 1927

Stepping up their game

ROTARY FURNACE FOR FISH LAKE
The rising price of quicksilver is reflected in a number of new operations in Esmeralda, conspicuous among which is that of the B & B Quicksilver Company, carrying on extensive work at the Chrysler cinnabar deposits on the eastern slope of the White Mountains. A fifty-ton Gould rotary furnace is being installed to replace four retorts in use, which will augment the output. A seven mile road is under construction to connect with the Silver Peak road, shortening by fifteen miles the present haul by way of Coaldale.
-Reno Evening Gazette, February 24, 1928

The B & B has becomeone of the biggest producers.

It has been found impossible to secure accurate figures showing the output of quicksilver for the year but the Nevada Mining Press estimates it at 8,250 flasks, six thousand being credited to the Pershing Quicksilver Company. The remainder is distributed as follow: B & B Quick, 1150; Castle Peak, 500; Red Rock, 400; miscellaneous, 200
-Reno Evening Gazette, December 31, 1929

B & B TREATING 140 TONS ORE EACH DAY
Without any perceptible loss of time the B & B Quicksilver Company switched from steam to Diesel electric operation January 7 and now is operating two furnaces treating an average of 140 tons a day, with a content of five pounds of quicksilver a ton.
-Reno Evening Gazette, January 17, 1930

Sometimes, one must be resourceful.

B & B QUICKSILVER COMPANY RESUMES PRODUCTION AFTER MAKING A NUMBER OF CHANGES
E.J. Bumsted, manager of the B & B QUick Company at Montgomery, is resuming production after devoting two months to correcting an aggravating dust condition that interfered with the recovery of the quicksilver content. By an adjustment of the blower system and a change in the Cyclone chambers the difficulty was overcome and the company will soon be shipping seventy to eighty flasks a month. A recent experience of the company is illustrated road conditions. It was deemed expedient to order a caterpillar from Los ANgeles to boost motor trucks up the steep grade reaching the mine. The cat was loaded on a truck and billed for delivery via Montgomery Pass. The truck balked before reaching the summit owing to the accumulation of snow and ice. The difficulty was met by the resourceful driver and helper who unloaded the tractor which was hooked to the truck and dragged to its destination, the cat delivering the truck instead of the truck delivering the cat.
-Reno Evening Gazette, May 13, 1930

Must be some ore left-- still making improvements.

QUICKSILVER MILL AT FISH LAKE TURNED OVER
Trevor Sanks, general manager of the B & B quicksilver mine situated on Montgomery Mountain above Fish Lake Valley, was in town Saturday conferring with Ed S. Giles. A large Diesel engine furnishes electricity for the two motor-driven fifty foot rotary furnaces. Sanks also reports that they have repaired sixteen miles of road into Fish Lake Valley and that they were assisted in the road work by Walter Dunnigan, superintendent of the Red Rock quicksilver mine, situated in that district.
-Reno Evening Gazette, July 1, 1936

Yes, it can be very dangerous to go poking around these historic sites, which is why you should let us do your exploring for you.

YOUTH'S DEATH IN SAD ACCIDENT
A coroner's jury brought in a verdict of accidental death in the case of Kenny McLeland. The eighteen year old youth was crushed to death at the B & B quicksilver mine on Montgomery mountain above Fish Lake Valley last Friday. He was visiting at the mine and took a walk up the hill past the mill. Later, when M. Chester, caretaker at the mine, went to look for the boy, he found a slab of concrete, eight feet square and two feet thick had fallen out of a retaining wall and that McLeland was under it. He was compelled to go to a neighboring mine, the Red Rock, for help to move the slab to release the body. Death was evidently instantaneous as the head and chest were badly crushed. He has no known relatives.
Reno Evening Gazette, October 28, 1941

There is always some more to be found.

EQUIPMENT ADDED AT B & B PROPERTY
New ore has been opened in the B & B mercury mine on Montgomery mountain and a new dump truck and power shovel have been added to the equipment.
-Reno Evening Gazette, May 8, 1943

Queen, or Queen's Station, was west of the mine on the west side of the valley.

Howell's big team is engaged in hauling ore from the Indian Queen mine to Queen Station, on the C. & C. The ore will be shipped to Reno for reduction.
-Esmeralda News, February 19, 1887

The Indian Queen Mine is looking well, and a large quantity of rich ore is being taken out. The Chloride Belt says this is the ruchest mine in Esmeralda county, the ore milling up in the hundreds right along.
-Elko Weekly Independent, August 13, 1890

In the early 1900's, folks were still poking around and dragging out ore.

Jack Milner, of Benton, has shipped thirty tons of fine ore from the Indian Queen Mine, a famous property of early times.
-Tonopah Bonanza, November 8, 1902

Montgomery Peak is probably named after ol' Bob.

The Indian Queen Mine, near Benton, Mono County, a large producer, was found by an Indian, who showed it to Bob Montgomery.
-Nevada State Journal, March 20, 1914

Even in the 1930's and 1940's, the mine was being worked.

D. E. Zent, od Seattle and Spokane, is reopening the Indian Queen Mine near Benton.
-Nevada State Journal, September 9, 1935

A. F. W. Carlson, manager of the Indian Queen Mine in Queen Canyon on Montgomery Mountain, was attending to legal business here last week.
-Reno Evening Gazette, June 11, 1941

We didn't actually drive past this site, but got within 4 miles of it when we visitied the Red Rock Mine.