Nelson Ghost Town - Old Mining Town

Jamie and I got up early one morning to head out into what felt like the middle of nowhere, to and old mining town called Nelson Ghost Town. But it's only 35 mins. south of Boulder City.

I loved the unique history in this place. Nelson Nevada was originally a gold mine founded in 1861 and was one of the largest towns in southern Nevada. The mine was active until about 1945. A family purchased it (I believe in the mid 1970's) and they've turned it into a thriving business. The family all live out there in the buildings, keeping very busy doing mining tours, and using their Americana location for movies, photo shoots, and many music videos. Here's the Wikipedia history on it.
Here's our view of the ghost town as we drove in...

So much of this place reminded me of Radiator Springs in the Disney Cars Movie.

They had so many things set up all over the place to take pictures with. I couldn't resist this old charming piano! 

This airplane was used in a Kevin Costner movie that was shot out there, so they set it up after the movie was done being shot, to make it look like the plane crashed there.

A man named Gabe took us and about 10 other people on a 1 hour tour of the mine. I really loved the tour. It was packed with fascinating information about the life of miners, Indians, and the Civil War deserters that ended up out there.

Here's the entrance to it in this photo below...

As we stepped inside I was whisked away to another world. One I certainly wouldn't have wanted to live in, but it was fascinating.

Gabe pointed out the veins in the mine, and told of how millions of dollars of gold, silver, copper and lead were mined over the years. From where we stood the mine went up 100 feet and down 100 feet. We also saw amethyst growing on the wall.

Gabe also told stories of how the miners were given one candle a day for light, and in order to conserve the light for when it was needed they worked much of the time in the dark! Some would also try to reserve enough candle to also be used at home. He lit a solo candle and turned off all of the lights in the mine so we could see what it would've been like to work in those conditions, then he blew out the solo candle and let us feel what it would've been like to work in the dark. It was creepy. Miners worked very hard to only make about 3 feet of progress a day!

He also told a story of a man who was using a small amount of dynamite to break away some stone, and the blast caused his tool to impale him.

Jamie and I spent another hour wandering around the property, taking silly videos and photos. :)

We explored this old barn...

The view from the top of the barn...

Just past Nelson's Ghost Town is Lake Mohave. It's gorgeous blue water, and delicate flowers surrounding it, were so inviting.

Later that day we did a photo shoot at Red Rock and saw half a dozen wild horses nearby! It was an amazing experience! We could feel the earth vibrate under us as two of them ran by us. 

Then we headed home to change clothes and go pick up Amber from the airport, and grab a late dinner in the city.

I'll have to save the last days for one last post. I only took one lens with me, thinking I wouldn't take too many photos on this trip, and ironically I documented pretty much everything. ;)