Mining in the Battle Mountain area began long before mining districts had names.
The Newe, later known as the Western Shoshone, were the first to recognize and use copper in these hills. Their knowledge of the land proved critical as Euro-American prospectors arrived. In several cases, Native people led miners directly to copper ledges and silver deposits in what outsiders would later call the Battle Mountain Mining District.
Formal mining followed quickly. Prospectors were working parts of the district as early as 1857, and in April 1866, the Battle Mountain Mining District was officially organized. Early activity focused on Copper Canyon, where the Virgin copper vein was developed, while the Little Giant Mine became the district’s first steady silver producer. Galena, located along Duck Creek, grew into the largest mining camp for many years. By 1912, however, Copper Canyon overtook it in population, reflecting how fortunes shifted with each new discovery.
Mining activity soon spread beyond Battle Mountain itself. In 1874, ore discoveries in Lewis Canyon led to the formation of the Lewis Mining District, home to mines such as Pittsburg, Dean, Mud Springs, and the highly productive Betty O’Neal. The camp of Lewis grew so rapidly that it had to be divided into Upper Lewis, Lower Town, and Lewis proper. At the same time, mining interests expanded northward within Lander County, drawn by proximity to Battle Mountain’s rail shipping facilities. Access to transportation increasingly determined which mines survived.
Elsewhere in northern Lander and neighboring Eureka County, the Cortez Mining District was established in 1863, producing silver well into the 20th century. Gold mining there expanded in the 1930s and 1940s, paused, and then returned with new technology. Rising gold prices in the 1980s led to the reopening of Cortez using heap-leach methods, laying the groundwork for today’s massive operation, now a joint venture between Barrick Gold Corporation and Newmont Corporation.
Mining continued to evolve through the 20th century. Districts such as Hilltop and McCoy produced intermittently, while new methods reshaped old ground. In 1949, the enormous Natomas gold dredge began operating in Copper Canyon after being dismantled and hauled piece-by-piece from Manhattan, an engineering feat that symbolized industrial-scale mining. Later, companies such as Duval Corporation developed open-pit operations at Copper Basin and Copper Canyon beginning in 1965. Over more than a century, copper, gold, silver, lead, zinc, antimony, barite, and turquoise were pulled from these hills.
