38°15'38.2"N 118°15'25.1"W

"Moho" means "the boundary layer between the earth's crust and mantle." Mines in the area were discovered around 1903. Moho apparently never grew into much of a "town" and remained a small mining camp, most likely consisting of only support buildings and equipment for the mine.

First, a quick overview, circa 1939:

The Moho mine, on the south slope of the Excelsior Mountains, is accessible by automobile road from Mina 15 miles distant. The mine was located in 1903, and considerable work was done in searching for shipping ore. Property is credited with a production of $75,000, made mostly by lessees. With the increase in the price for gold, interest in the property was renewed. It was sampled by Earl Bohannon; and a small company, called the Federal Mining and Engineering Co., acquired 12 unpatented claims. In 1935, a pilot milling plant employing cyanidation was erected. This plant has a capacity of 25 tons per day, and up to October 1936 about 1,500 tons of dump ore had been milled. The mill equipment includes a Dorr classifier in closed circuit with a home-made rod mill 5 feet long and 28 inches in diameter, 2 Parral agitators, a clarifier, and 2 solution tanks. Power for milling is furnished by a 60- horsepower Holt gasoline engine. Dump material is fine, so that primary crushing is not necessary. Ore is ground to minus 60-mesh in a 2-pound-strength cyanide solution. Lime consumption is 7 pounds and cyanide consumption 1/2 pound per ton. Precipitation is effected with zinc shavings. The recovery by cyanidation is reported to be 90 percent on ore averaging about $8 per ton. Water for milling is pumped from Marietta Springs through a 2-inch- diameter pipe line 4,500 feet long. Approximately 25 gallons of water per minute are pumped by Gould Triplex pump, size 3 1/2 by 5 inches, driven by Fairbanks-Morse Z-type, 10-horsepower, gasoline engine. Water is under head of 350 feet. Mine development consists of one tunnel driven 1,200 feet on a vein, nine shorter tunnels, and several shafts, the deepest of which is 300 feet. Total underground workings comprise 3,500 feet.
-Mines of Churchill and Mineral Counties, William O. Vanderburg, 1939

The newspapers started to take notice, but they didn't get too excited.

About six miles south [of Douglass] are the newly discovered mines of Moho, which are yielding their own large quantities of ore giving excellent values in gold and lead with a little silver.
-Daily Silver State, May 27, 1904

Things progressed slowly at Moho in the early days.

The Moho company, to the east of the Chotauk, has a large force of men at work and its ore dump is rapidly gaining proportions.
-Goldfield News, May 9, 1908

It wasn't until ten years or so had passed that it began to get any real attention.

Moho in the Limelight
Sheriff Grutt motored to the new camp of Moho yesterday. This camp is situated about six miles from Belleville, and is attracting attention of big mining men. E. S. Chaffey and Eugene Grutt have a bond on the property, and through their efforts George Wilson, (who was with the Chinese Government for several years, and now represents the Guggenheims) has examined the mines and taken "pilot" samples. He believes this to be a great property. The values are 80 per cent gold, with lead and silver. The mines belong to Robert Stewart and Julius Boucher of Sodaville. Keep your eye on Moho.
-Walker Lake Bulletin, May 16, 1914

By 1915, it was considered an "old" mine.

OLD MONO MINE IS SHIPPING GOOD ORE
E. S. CHAFEY AND C. H. ELLSWORTH HAVE A PRODUCER NEAR DOUGLAS
Operating under a lease and bond arrangement, E. S. Chafey is shipping ore of good grade from the old Moho mine. owned by "Bob" Stewart of Sodaville and situated south of the camp of Douglas, near Sodavile, and six miles from the shipping point of Belleville, on the Carson and Colorado railroad. Associated with Mr. Chafey in the operation of the Moho property is Chas. H. Ellsworth of Goldfield. Starting work on the first of the present month, shipments had reached a total of 110 tons on the 12th and will soon be going forward at the rate of 25 tons daily. The lessees are negotiating with the management of the old Belmont mill at Millers for the treatment of their product and expect to send 50 tons daily to that plant if satisfactory arrangements can be made for its treatment. The Moho property has already made an important production and within a radius of a few miles are old mines that have recorded production of over $60,000,000. The ore now being shipped averages around $30 per ton and contains gold, silver and lead, with gold predominating. Many leases have been granted and are now working on different parts of the Moho property and among the lessees are several well known Goldfield men, the names of lessees including George McClellan, James H. Plant, Jack Busch, Joe Hanlon, N. Compton. Chris Smith, Hitchcock, Mount and Benton Jones. Al Annette, formerly of Goldfield, is hauling the ore to the railroad. According to Mr. Chafey, who has operated mining properties over a great part of the state, the district in which he is working at present is one of excellent promise: destined to make a big production. He reports greater activity at several points in that part of Mineral county, particularly at the old camp of Douglas, where lessees are taking lore from the old Douglas property.
-Goldfield News & Weekly Tribune, February 20, 1915

Mild interest in the mine continued, but production was hampered a bit by its location and lack of a mill, and only high-grade ore was being shipped, with the remainder left in the dumps.

The camp of Moho, about six miles from Belleville, is claiming a good deal of the attention of the Leninist, and a umber of people have taken leases and other interests there. There are now eight leasers working at the new camp, and a car of pre a day is being shipped, which will increase as soon as the snow goes off and the roads are in better condition. Among the Luning people at Moho are Ben Clay, Joe Bush, Dick Bush, Jim Plant, Charles Compton, Ben Mount, Chris Smith, Joe Hanlon, Jack Sicuse, and Jim Panger, and all are pleased with the outlook of the camp. -Walker Lake Bulletin
Nevada State Journal, March 14, 1915

MOHO CAMP
W.H. Gibson visited the camp of Moho last week. He says the camp is situated about six miles northwest of Belleville, and is the scene of much activity. None leases have been let, and all are getting ore, and are shipping steadily to the Western Ore Purchasing company. The ore is gold, silver and lead, and runs from $30 to $0 per ton. The ledges are large and permanent, and Mr. Gibson thinks that it will prove to be a big producer. The ore is hauled by teams six miles to the narrow gauge railroad. The ground is owned by Robert Stewart and Julius Doucher of Sodaville, and is under bond to E. S. Chafey. J.H. Miller and associates have secured an option on the property and are preparing to do extensive development work on it.
-Walker Lake Bulletin, May 29, 1915

The finally got some equipment on site which helped production, but it didn't seem to help much.

The chug of the first hoist in the Moho mine near Sodaville is being heard, according to the Western Nevada Miner. The hoist was installed and put in commission last week.
-Reno Evening Gazette, August 4, 1915

Apparently, at this point, the mine was closed for whatever reason, and then reopened.

Among the many old and well known mines in Nevada which are being reopened and placed on a producing basis, is the Moho group of claims owned by the Western Silver Mines company and located in Mineral county.
-Elko Independent, January 21, 1918

Finally, a mill was installed and the dumps were worked as well.

INSTALLING MILL AT MOHO MINE
The Mineral County Independent says that M. E. Bohannan was in Mina early in the week attending to business in regard to the operations at the Moho mine, seventeen miles southwest of Mina, which is now controlled by the Federal Mining & Milling Company, a corporation backed by Utah and Iowa interests. Mr. Bohannan stated that a crew of seven men is working daily on the installation of the new fifty-ton cyanide mill at the Moho. Cyanide tanks are expected from Los Angeles this week and a seventy-five horsepower engine has been ordered from Oakland. This machine will generate power to operate machinery at the mine and mill. The crew recently completed the installation of a 4500-foot pipe line and pump to provide adequate water supply for the plant. For several years the Moho has 'been operated on a small scale and with a milling plant on the ground and with the increased price for gold it is believed operations will be expanded considerably when actual development of the mine gets under way within the next few months.
-Nevada State Journal, January 20, 1934

CYANIDE MILL AT MOHO MINE STARTS MAR. 1
Will Treat Ore From Big Dump and Old Incline Shaft
Favored by an open winter the Federal Engineering & Mining Co. has assembled all the equipment for a 40-ton cyanide mill at the Moho mine 12 miles west of Mina and most of the machinery has been set. M. E. Bohannan, vice president and superintendent, in Reno last Thursday, said the mill should be completed and ready for the trial run about March 1. M. E. Bohannan was accompanied by E. E. Sprague of Salt Lake City, treasurer and fiscal agent, who has taken up his residence at Mina and will maintain a company office there. The Moho is a noted producer of gold-silver ore, but because of its isolated location, high up in the mountains and lack of a mill, only high-grade has been shipped in the past. At the portal of the Moho tunnel is a dump containing 10,000 tons of second class ore which Bohannan estimates will average $20 a ton. The mill will start on this dump and ore of higher grade will be drawn from the Shoemaker incline shaft, 300 feet deep, which is being equipped with a hoist. The Moho vein, a fissure in andesite which broke through a deep bed of quartzite eons ago, averages four feet in width and has been worked through the lower tunnel for 1200 feet. It is one of five fissures striking north-south and roughly parallel which have been explored by tunnels and shafts. In the old days when ore was hauled in wagons to Sodaville shipments were graded up to $100 a ton. Production was confined to the rich shoots and lenses. Federal Engineering & Mining has been financed by residents of Utah and Fort Wayne and South Bend, Indiana. A number of stock-holders have visited the property and are enthusiastic over its prospects.
-Nevada State Journal, February 5, 1934

Production continued for a while, but the company's property was seized for failure to pay money it owed, and it was apparently never reopened.

MINA, Nev., Jan. 21 (Special)—Upholding a local district court, judgment in favor of Robert M. Pollack. the state supreme court last week denied the Federal Mining and Engineering Company, Ltd., appeal. District Judge William D. Hatton, who was the trial judge and who rendered the original judgment favoring Pollack, previously had denied a motion of the mining company for a new trial and the supreme court affirmed this decree when the appeal was taken. Involving the property of the Moho mine, located about twenty-five miles southwest of Mina, the suit was originally instituted in the district court here when Pollack sued to collect $25.000 allegedly due on a mortgage and promissory note for money advanced to the company in which he was a stockholder. While the full amount sought was not allowed, Judge Hatton did rule in favor of the plaintiff, giving judgment in amount of $17,901.43; and a decree of foreclosure was entered accordingly. The appeal, which was taken by the defendant's mining company, was from this decree and from an order denying its motion for a new trial. According to testimony given at the trial, Pollack had advanced money to permit the mining company to make full payment for the purchase of the property from Fred Hanson in 1934, and that he made subsequent loans for the payment of taxes and to meet other obligations to permit the company to continue operations. The promissory note and the mortgage on the property were given to secure this money advanced, Pollack testified, but the defendant company contended the alleged stockholders' meeting at which the note and mortgage were purportedly executed and delivered to Pollack was not a legal meeting and therefore the instruments in question were not valid. Ruling against this contention, the supreme court stated in its decision: "But it is a well settled rule of law that one cannot accept the benefits derived from a transaction and repudiate any burden connected with it. To state the rule more specifically in its application to the facts in this case, a corporation cannot avail itself of the benefits of money loaned to it for its corporate purposes, and disavow a mortgage given without authority by its agents to secure the loan." With the settlement of the litigation through the decision on the appeal it is expected that Pollack will take full control of the Moho property. It is not known whether he, a resident of Fort Wayne, Ind., will endeavor to reopen the mine on a producing basis. The original owner, Fred Hanson, successfully developed the property over a period of years and following the sale of the mine to the Federal Mining & Engineering Company there was extensive development. The property has been inactive since it became involved in the litigation.
-Reno Evening Gazette, January 21, 1939

While there isn't much left at the "townsite" besides a metal head frame and the remains of the Federal Mining and Engineering Company mill, the further you follow the rocky road up the mountain the more stuff you'll find. Some great views of Teels Marsh and the valley below. Road is rocky and washed out and generally miseraable.