08 Nov Ruby Hill
The view begins with an 1870s postcard of Ruby Hill in its heyday. Click the hotspot to see the ruins of the 19th century mining camp. Other hotspots lead to the twentieth century mining area.
Discovered in 1869, the rich veins of silver and gold at Ruby Hill soon attracted enough miners to grow a rough camp into a real town. A post office opened in 1873. In 1875 the Ruby Hill Railroad, known as the “3 x 3” because it was three miles long and three feet wide, was completed, facilitating transportation of ore to the smelters in Eureka, three miles away. By 1878 Ruby Hill had two newspapers to serve its peak population of 2,500. By the 1880s mine production began to fall off and Ruby Hill declined until, in 1885, only 700 residents were left. Although a revival began in 1906, a flash flood four years later washed out the railroad, ended the revival, and made a ghost town of Ruby Hill. An open-pit gold mine nearby closed in 2002
Click here to see the location in Google Maps
The postcard of Ruby Hill c. 1870s, is courtesy of the Special Collections Department, University of Nevada, Reno Library.
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