40° 17' 20"N, 118° 10' 13"W - ROCHESTER quad

"The Rochester district was discovered and named in the [eighteen] sixties by prospectors from Rochester, NY. The Relief Mine in the southern part of the range 4 miles south of Nenzel Hill was worked during the sixties and seventies. In 1905 Charles E. Stevens located claims on Nenzel Hill at the head of Rochester Canyon. These claims eventually came into the possession of Joseph F. Nenzel. In 1912 Nenzel shipped a small lot of float ore that gave surprisingly high returns. With the subsequent discovery of several silver-bearing veins development proceeded rapidly, and in 1913 Rochester Canyon had a population of about 2,000. Two companies, the Rochester Mines Co. and the Nevada-Packard Mine Co., built all-slime cyanidation plants in 1915. The mill of the Rochester Mines Co. had an initial capacity of 100 tons per day, which was later increased to 160 tons. The plant of the Nevada Packard Mines Co. had a capacity of 120 tons. In 1917 a mill reported to have cost $300,000 was erected at Packard by the Rochester Combined Mines Co. After the mill had been operated only a few weeks it was shut down, and in 1922 the equipment was moved to Candelaria, Nev.

"The principal producer, the Rochester Mines Co., was threatened by apex litigation in 1917, but by compromise and consolidation litigation was avoided, and the Rochester Silver Corporation was formed in 1920. This company ceased operations in 1929, and the equipment of the mill was sold. In March 1936 the principal active property in the district was the Buck and Charley Mine owned by the Rochester Plymouth Mines. Co."
-BRIEF DISTRICT SUMMARY; USBM IC-6902 RECONNAISSANCE OF MINING DISTRICTS IN PERSHING COUNTY, NEVADA 1936

Rochester consists of three sites, actually- there is an "Lower Rochester, and Upper Rochester, and a Rochester Heights. You come first to Lower Rochester, and that's where most of the ruins are- a Mill, the foundation of another mill, and several houses and buildings still stand in various stages of decay. Debris fields lay everywhere, glass, pottery, galvanized steel, wood, metal screen, machinery and parts, cans- in addition to the usual flostsam and jetsam of mining activity. Overall, this is one of the finest sites within comfortable driving distance of Fallon.

The Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation Coeur Rochester open pit silver mine is, as far as I know, the primary silver producer in the State of Nevada, which still produces more silver than any other state. It's a big honking operating mine at the end of Rochester Canyon and their tailings dump dominate the view to the east. Unfortunately, there are large signs warning of tresspass before you get to upper Rochester. This is probably because the Coeur Rochester mine is an operating mine, and some of the large pickup-sized boulders they dig up and dump off the edge have a tendency to roll down and bump into things.

Did I mention it's an operating mine? Oh, I did? Good.

Unfortunately, this is still a historically significant site, as there were quite a few ruins (albeit flat ones) in Upper Rochester which are beyond the rather large and hard-to-ignore warning signs.

On the day we went, it was rather windy and very overcast and misty, which makes for lousy digital photographs. We hope to return on a bright sunny day.


UPDATE January 2012. After a report that the mine company had "bulldozed" the buildings, we made another trip on a bright, crisp December day. Everything is pretty much as we left it, albeit with some missing metal no doubt recycled by thieving assh*les. The mine company has thoughtfully placed a large sign showing you how to get to the historic site instead of driving up toi their mine and bothering them. they have also blocked the road to Upper Rochester, so you could take your chances that one of those huge boulders won't roll down on your head if it was that important to you.