Publication: National Park Services
Author: Teaching with Historic Places
PDF File: Johnson-Lake-Mine-Mining-for-Tungsten-in-Nevadas.pdf
URL: https://www.nps.gov/articles/johnson-lake-mine-mining-for-tungsten-in-nevada-s-snake-range-teaching-with-historic-places.htm
Description
Today a historic landscape in Great Basin National Park, Johnson Lake Mine’s story actually begins in the early part of the 1900s, when the mineral tungsten was first discovered in the southern Snake Range. At Johnson Lake Mine tungsten was extracted and milled onsite and then transported a great distance to be refined and then used to make alloy steel. Alloy steel was used to create things like weapons, tanks, and transmitter radios during World War I. Following the war, mining activity was sporadic until the 1930s when a snowslide rushed over the mine and halted production. After that, the mine was closed and abandoned. Now in disrepair, with much of the mining equipment salvaged for use at other mines or collected by mining buffs, the site still possesses archeological resources. Archeologists are following clues, dusting off the remains of the past, and discovering the day-to-day practices of the mine and the people who inhabited the region.