Above Silver State Valley and Desert Valley at about 6,000 feet atop a crest facing westward to the Jackson Mountains in the Slumbering Hills mining begin here in 1910 around the same time Daveytown Nevada was founded. Mines such as the Alabama increased in productivity and within that same year a camp that went by the name Awakening had formed which boasted a saloon, general store and many other structures. Thus the Awakening District was formed by 1912 since three different mills that opened up in the region and quite a few gold mines. This included the amalgamation mill not to far away from Daveytown. With such growth in such a short time you needed the mills to process the ore so that it could be exported and although this was a later bloomer western town during its boom profits were to be made.

As a matter in fact for many years life was kind of slow in these hills till another major boom occurred with the discovered of the Jumbo Mine in 1935. The Austin Jumbo Mine had been discovered by a Clyde Taylor and J.C. Stagg when they were dry panning near an outcropping in a gulch. News spread quickly and allot of miners flooded the area in hopes of getting a piece of the pie. Later that same year however the mine had been sold to a George Austin and Associates I am not sure if the original discoveries just wanted to sell their claim and make a quick profit or they simply did not have enough funding to building a mill to process the ore that would be brought out of this mine. The new owners had equipped the mine property with a thirty-ton amalgamation-concentration mill paid for from the proceeds earned from the mine.

That same year of 1936 President Herbert Hoover visited Jumbo giving the town some nationwide publicity when he stated he was favorably impressed with the Jumbo Mine. While many presidents favored Virginia City Nevada it was rare to ever hear about one who had shown interest in such a remote location such as Jumbo. Not just remote but rather a difficult location to get to even in modern times. However, when rumors had spread many folks believed this would be the next big gold rush of the west as word spread the district became populated with many prospectors, investors, engineers and business owners. San Francisco newspapers had written a story called "The March Of Time" which was featured on a radio programmed which also led to exposure. After the story broke a few mining companies moved in on the area but only the Jumbo Mine remained in production at the time and the boom was short lived. No less around 38 tons of ore per day was being processed and 15 men operated Jumbo's Mill which averaged to about $30 for every ton of ore brought out of the mine. 

A lease would be granted to H.L. Hunt and other Texas Oil Investors for 35 years and the cash down payment to lease it would be a quarter of a million dollars with royalty payments for ten to fifteen percent of all extracted ore brought up from the mine. They also had the option to purchase the mine for $10 million dollars if they chose to do so within a twenty year period. Unfortunately, H.L. Hunt and his partners broke the lease around WWII due to all the litigation involved with the mine. I believe that Hunt felt that owning the Jumbo Mine was a big headache perhaps feeling that it would cost him and his partners more then what the mine was actually worth therefore around 1940 the mine would revert back to the original owners. At the time the mine reverted back to the owners the Jumbo was a small underground mining operation.

More significant mining transpired around 1941 and after WWII Austin once again leaded the mine to some investors based out of Salt Lake City Utah by the names of Ken Garff, Leland Flint and a few other leasers. One boom occurred in 1948 and another in 1951. At some time between those years an engineer supervised a 500 ton per day open pit mining operation which only lasted a little under a year and closed because it was simply to expensive to lease from Austin. Lets face it Austin had a great investment but he expected more then what the land in Jumbo was worth. Time and time again no matter who leased the Jumbo mine most folded due to litigation, high cost or simply they were not happy with the terms.

By 1963 nearly 300,00 tons of Gold and Silver ore had been mined up in Jumbo. A Jim Flowers who lived near Jumbo had done some private prospecting just panning and pick axing away was getting about an ounce or two per day up into the early 1970's. Other then that the district remained fairly idle and mild prospecting occurred. This is probably due to the fact that by the mid 1900's the mills no longer were in operation and the boom had ended which means the only folks who lived up near Jumbo were those who preferred to be hermits since the town was long gone life was very lonely up in the Slumbering Hills no doubt. As a matter I read that even some mining went on in the 1980's but generally the past couple of decades Jumbo has become a spot for ghost town seekers like myself and campers. 

Sadly Jumbo has reached a state of disrepair and in the last decade it has become deplorable. I found a cabin which is sitting on the edge of a wall which is about to fall right down onto what was once Main Street but what really captured my interest time and time again is the fact that quite a few adventurers over the years have had some credible haunting experiences and if I have ever been to an eerie ghost town Jumbo certainly fits this category with its terraced wooden cabins, crumbling mill ruins and rusty remnants of the past scattered on the western flank of the Slumbering Hills. While Jumbo does not get the recognition many other popular boom towns receive it is infamous for a few ghost stories and strange tales. Allot of people feel spooked when visiting here then again how can you not with names like Slumbering Hills or to the east of them the Bloody Run Hills for example. Whether you are here for the history, ghosts or nature such as wild turkeys, antelope or hawks Jumbo offers all that and more to those who have the heart of an adventurer, Its so desolate in Jumbo and quiet that its spooky in a sense and you could hear a pin drop. 

Besides the serenity the views of the snowcapped Santa Rosa Mountains are also very picturesque. Before you entering the Slumbering Mills its an open range filled with fields of alfalfa, meadows, ranch land and stellar views of the Slumbering Hills before you head up into them to journey onward into Jumbo. Not much has changed more then likely President Hoover would have experienced the same views as he made his way through Silver State Valley passing by Daveytown before he made his ascension on into Jumbo as well. While Jumbo may not have been the biggest town what intrigues me about this ghost town is that it looks allot older then what it is despite the fact that its not nearly as old as most silver and gold mining towns found throughout Nevada.

While their are remnants of the mill, mine, water and concentrate tanks very little remains. Their are ruins of a dance hall and saloon but its hard to even make out what it is because its just a pile of debris. Their is allot of piles of stones, wood stove pipes, bricks and wood scattered throughout the town. While tiered on a hill side above the mill site are the cabins where the miners lived. Most of the miner cabins were built like duplexes. While I explored many of the miner cabins each one had an main entrance on each side of the cabin separated by a wall in the middle with a shared chimney which meant that each cabin was equipped with a wood stove for heating in the winter months. The summers in the Slumbering Hills were brutal while winters were intense as blizzards would sweep through the region fiercely. 

Life in Jumbo was simple as the miners did not have a large living space; cabins were more like a small studio apartments equipped with a small den, bedroom and kitchenette others were just a single room with a closet perhaps a stand up shower. The only entertainment the miners had to look forward to was drinking at the local saloon and being entertained at the dance hall. More then likely some miners brought there families here and while the views were stellar Jumbo did not provide its residents with much opportunity unlike many other towns in the region such as Paradise City and National which had other venues besides mining in the region. I was told that Jumbo had a lower and an upper part of town we focused on the upper part which also was the heart of this once lucrative mining town. While the miners are long gone the gold isn't and it will remain up in the Slumbering Hills as long as men allow it to be. Someday its quite possible that Jumbo may reopen its claims while it did not contain the richest gold mines in Nevada mining transpired at this location for nearly 80 years which was considered allot longer then most mining towns or claims that only lasted a few years in the region. 

I am sure that the Slumbering Hills hold many more secrets and remnants of the past but during our first expedition a massive storm was moving on in. People who get caught up in storms up here often had gotten stuck up here. I am sure the elements played a role as to why the town declined. Its such an isolated locations bringing in supplies had to be difficult. Unlike most ghost towns there is not even a single tree that grows in Jumbo. Then you have the water issues also to deal with sure you could store water but it had to be imported on in for the miners. Despite all the hardships even till this day Jumbo remains one of my favorite ghost towns as you can see why from our photo galleries it kind of speaks volumes for itself. Its hard to know if Jumbo will ever one day make a comeback. Over the years I have seen ghost town sites like Jumbo end up being claimed and new mining avenues have occurred. If that ever happens Jumbo will be lost history in a town which offered a million dollar view out the front windows of these miner cabins. 

Copyright By
Lord Rick aka AngelOfThyNight
PGS Founder
Author, Talk Show Host, News Editor, Producer, Urban Explorer and Paranormal Investigator

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