Basalt was a station on the Carson and Colorado Railway, a mining location, and home to a brothel. Only the mining operation survived.
BASALT DISTRICT
Basalt is a station on the narrow-gage Carson & Colorado Railway that operates between Mina, Nevada, and Keeler, Calif. It is 22 miles west of Coaldale, Esmeralda County, Nev., and is accessible from this place by an excellent highway.
A deposit of diatomaceous earth approximately 3 miles long and 1/2 mile wide occurs in the vicinity of Basalt. This deposit has been prospected by a number of shafts and open cuts. The deepest shaft is 135 feet and the bottom is still in diatomaceous earth. The depth of the overburden, which consists of desert wash and a few basalt boulders, is not more than a few feet. Although this occurrence of diatomaceous earth has been known since 1905, only small shipments have been made. The last shipments were made in 1927 and 1928, when about 5,000 tons of the material was shipped to Los Angeles for filtering and construction purposes. For all practical purposes the supply of diatomaceous earth is unlimited.
-Reconnaissance of Mining Districts in Mineral County, Nev., William O. Vanderburg · 1937
Large deposits of diatomaceous earth were located here in the early 1900's but serious mining didn't begin until the 1920's.
The Dicalite Company prospered in the 1920’s, and in 1934 additional mining claims were being staked at Basalt, Nevada. In 1945 the Dicalite Company purchased the mining claims in Basalt, Nevada from the United States Diatom Company. Currently the Basalt, Nevada diatomite plant is owned and operated by Dicalite Management Group, and is the fourth oldest continually operated mine in the state of Nevada.
-https://www.dicalite.com/location/basalt-nv/
What Is Diatomaceous Earth anyway?
Simply put, diatomaceous earth is skeletons. Yes, we're mining skeletons here-- skeletons of ancient plankton, or diatoms, that is. According to Wikipedia sources:
Living diatoms make up a significant portion of the Earth's biomass: they generate about 20 to 50 percent of the oxygen produced on the planet each year, take in over 6.7 billion metric tons of silicon each year from the waters in which they live, and constitute nearly half of the organic material found in the oceans. The shells of dead diatoms can reach as much as a half-mile (800 m) deep on the ocean floor, and the entire Amazon basin is fertilized annually by 27 million tons of diatom shell dust transported by transatlantic winds from the African Sahara, much of it from the Bodélé Depression, which was once made up of a system of fresh-water lakes.
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatom
We've found many, many uses for
diatomaceous earth, including but not limited to:
Explosives
In 1866, Alfred Nobel discovered that nitroglycerin could be made much more stable if absorbed in diatomite This allowed a much safer transport and handling than pure nitroglycerin under the liquid form.
Filtration
The Celle engineer, Wilhelm Berkefeld, recognized the ability of the diatomaceous earth to filter and developed tubular filters fired from diatomaceous earth. One form of diatomaceous earth is used as a filter medium, especially for swimming pools, drinking water, fish tanks, and other liquids, such as beer and wine.
Abrasives
The oldest use of diatomite is as a very mild abrasive and has been used in toothpaste, metal polishes, and some facial scrubs.
Pest control
Diatomite is of value as an insecticide because of its abrasive and physico-sorptive properties. The fine powder adsorbs lipids from the waxy outer layer of the exoskeletons of many species of insects. Damaging the layer increases the evaporation of water from their bodies, so that they dehydrate, often fatally.
Agriculture
Natural freshwater diatomaceous earth is used in agriculture for grain storage as an anticaking agent, as well as an insecticide.
Construction
Spent diatomaceous earth from the brewing process can be added to ceramic mass for the production of red bricks
Much more useful than all that silly gold and silver everybody wastes so much time looking for!
Basalt was also the former home of the Silver Princess brothel. Apparently, they thought they had purchased the land their trailers were on, but it was only a mining claim, and they really weren't mining anything except dollars from the wallets of passersby.
Eventually, the Government took notice.
SILVER PRINCESS BROTHEL GETS WALKING PAPERS
The "Silver Princess" got her waking papers from the Bureau of Land Management Wednesday but it may be some time before she makes her last move. The Silver Princess-- a two-trailer brothel at Basalt near the California line about midway between Reno and Las Vegas-- was mailed a notice of trespass Wednesday by Mike Jones, BLM manager here. Miss Erika Borg, operator of the Silver Princess, had said she has documents she bought the land in 1969 and will fight the eviction threat by the BLM in court. "It's basic, our action," Jones said. Operating a house of prostitution constitutes illegal use of a mining claim on federal land. Only mining can be done on mining claims." Miss Borg contends she has a deed of trust to the property, land she purchased in 1969. But Jones said the mining claim at Basalt is registered to Grefco Inc. in Los Angeles.
-Reno Gazette Journal, October 14, 1971
Fighting city hall didn't pan out for Miss
Borg, and the brothel closed and moved. Mister Jones of Babbit, however, was not pleased with the result.
Save a Stop
Editor, Nevada State Journal.
The departure of the Silver Princess brothel from Basalt. Nev., was welcomed by both tourists and weekend campers: but did the state have to desert it at the same time? In the early days the Candelaria mines installed a pipeline from the White Mountains to bring water to their operations This pipeline spelled the death knell for Beleville where the Candelaria ore had been milled because Belleville was closer to a water supply. When the narrow gauge railroad from Mina to Benton, Calif., was constructed Basalt came into being because of the availability of water from the pipeline and as a passenger and freight terminal for Fish Lake Valley and surrounding mines When the narrow gauge railroad was abandoned some of the buildings and shops were moved but some foresighted individual had planted trees and the area became well used by tourists and weekend campers as well as rock hunters, bird watchers and prospectors. The state maintained a water standpipe. which I understand was supplied with water purchased from the Dicalite people at $6 per month, supplied picnic tables and provided an outdoor "john" for the convenience of all. Then the Silver Princess was allowed to conduct its operation there which deterred the rest of us from using the area until that business was moved to another location. A recent visit to Basalt revealed complete abandonment by the state. There is no water available, the "John" has been removed, and no doubt the trees will die and the area will soon look like some of the old abandoned ranches in the Owens Valley. Nearly all travel maps list this rest stop: I hope the map makers have been notified of the abandonment. In Nevada we must make do with what is available. Surely such an area as this is ideal to develope I think a historical marker installation and a renovation of the rest area would be more appropriate than abandonment. If it is necessary to have the rest stop through the largess of a sporting house maybe Joe Conforte or some other operator should be subsidized by the state to open a house there — at least the trees would survive.
Harold W. Jones Babbitt. Nev.
-Nevada State Journal, August 26, 1973
While the post office has a short-lived span of operational dates, it's also listed as "rescinded," so it's quite probable it was never actually in operation.