When rich springs were found in the Stillwater Range this led to a small ranching community known as Mountain Well. The water source was vital not just for the ranchers but also the Pony Express and Overland Freight Stations in the region. The treks on horseback were rugged and water was a rare commodity in the harsh Nevadan frontier. The pioneers utilized the local springs from nearby towns such as La Plata, Wonder, Stillwater, Fairview, White Cloud City, Dixie Valley which springs would eventually be discovered here, Victor and Hercules Nevada.  Without a water source most towns simply would die before they even begin. Which is why living in the Nevadan frontier was so difficult because you had two extremes one was harsh winters the other was relentless summer desert heat. Water was a vital resource when it came to milling, mining and basic living. Mountain Well had plenty of springs which the pioneers utilized even when traveling from one town to the next in between Mountain Well provided a mid point while on the journey. For those that made there way here many weary travelers could rest their head for the night and get a hot meal at Middlegate Station.

Today if you made the trek through Stillwater and climbed up in the range you will find very little remains of Mountain Well but a few corrals, wells, pieces of wood and cattle on the range. But you will not find any structures, cabins or much evidence that pioneers lived by the springs which flow consistently in the area. What is surprising is the road to Mountain Well is well maintained as a matter in fact its smooth that is if you drive through Stillwater then head on up to it you will barely feel a bump. However, the jeeping journey to La Plata becomes much more rugged edging high cliffs and is very narrow at times with boulders on the road which would sound about right considering La Plata was a mining town. Mining means ore falling off the wagons onto the road and sometimes the miners made towns a bit more rugged trying to haul out the ore to be processed and the main ore found here was Silver along with some copper as well.

The La Plata district was discovered in 1862 or as some call it the Mountain Well District was a boom camp in the middle of the 1860's at least that is when the town had its hey day. By 1863 La Plata held the Churchill County sea from 1864 to 1868. Today when you visit this ghost town it tends to paint a different picture as so little is left. The prospectors who came here filed quite a few claims many of the men were eastern coast capitalist but most of them who laid claim on silver veins also were highly disappointed because very little rich ore was found here. The county seat was moved to Stillwater Nevada in 1868 and by the next year most of the miners left for the White Pine boom in eastern Nevada and other major rich strikes such as Virginia City Nevada where silver had been discovered and offered many Nevadans promise.

The town was horseshoe shaped where these two canyon s for a "V" type of pattern and at its base at the top of a flat hill is where some major ruins reside which was said to be the courthouse or even a mill. Its hard to know for sure because the ruins found in La Plata are so scarce and all you really have left is a few walls which is why I decided to do a preservation project here to raise more awareness. The V shaped knoll was where the crossroads met downtown with a road traversing two different canyons in opposite directions. When the town was platted the founders had thought that this may some day be a major city and that the climate nestled in the Nevadan forest provided its residents some comfort by investing in the town. The town besides owning the Churchill County seat had two to three hotels the La Plata Hotel, Pioneer Saloon and the Warren House. For a short time it even had a post office which was a sign that the town had experienced considerable growth. If you study the black and white photo I posted further above you can clearly see the V shaped knoll where today the largest series of stone ruins stand today.

 Some of the buildings were made of native stone I heard some of them were beautifully built while others were wood. Today all the wood buildings are long gone ranchers probably used the wood for fencing and corrals. The town boasted that it had water three springs so further research indicates that the springs were located a bit below La Plata in Mountain Well. So both communities simply went hand in hand but since the town had springs nearby their were talks of perhaps a ten stamp mill being built here. In the towns early beginnings over 80 lots were platted for businesses or even residential living and they advertised Mountain Well as La Plata's suburb if that makes sense since that was where the source of water was located. It was a bustling little canyon sadly it was short-lived unlike many ghost towns we visit where we have structures we can explore Mountain Well and La Plata today are not very extensive. If your expecting to see massive mills, wood structures or saloons you will be disappointed. If however you enjoy old corrals, wind mills, cattle roaming the range and a few stone ruins then your going to love this silver camp. Now I have heard that the large stone ruins in town were remnants of the courthouse but other sites claim it was a mill we may never know for sure but like most boom towns La Plata was large enough to offer its miners a home for nearly a decade that we do know.

In 1864 that mill which was a rumor in the towns early beginnings would come to be owned as well as built by the Silver Wave Wining Co. who erected a ten-stamp mill on the outskirts of La Plata as you head down into Dixie Valley.  I heard their are some mill ruins to explore but I never found them despite that during my journeys here I drove all over the canyon in search of remnants of the town. But those that have visited the mill have stated that their is a few foundations and tailings to see.  I believe this is why most locals in the region or historians state their was never a mill perhaps its because nobody ever can seem to find it. But the mill at the time was build for $150,000. Since so little of the mill remains its obvious that the mill had been removed and relocated to Nye County to be used in the Ellsworth Mining District. Their was another mill built near La Plata in 1864 known as the Eleven Mile Canyon Mill but the trek to transport the ore was rugged and difficult also a seven mile one.  If La Plata had more mills maybe it would have urged investors to extensively mine for silver because it would have motivated the mine owners to seek out richer ore found on the ledges just above the town site.

The La Plata courthouse was acquired in October of 1864 for about $700 from an Anton Kaufman. Its kind of ironic but the courthouse would also serve as a place for the county seat sadly however in 1867 an election was held where thirty three votes were casts here for locating the county government to Stillwater which eventually became absorbed by the city of Fallon which is one of Northern Nevadas largest towns today. With thirty three residents casting their vote to move the seat to Stillwater Nevada seventeen voters opted to move it to Big Adobe which was a small way station which today probably is non-existent and most people probably never even heard of the place. Not to mention the fact that ranchers from Stillwater came in the middle of the night to the courthouse to remove the county records relocating them to the newly built courthouse in Stillwater. After the county seat had moved by December of 1868 the courthouse which was literally at the time just a wood house had been disassembled then reassembled it at a new location within the town perhaps to make it more convenient for the towns folk. Since the one room wooden structure was not sufficient perhaps two small to serve the city of La Plata a new structure would be built which contained two stories in the 1870's and supposedly that is the massive stone ruins seen on a hill today which is all that remains of downtown La Plata. Their is also a stone miner cabin and quite a few old wooden fence posts found along the towns dirt roads which probably corralled horses, cattle, goats and other livestock. Mountain Well more then likely provided the water, livestock and food for the miners who resided up in La Plata.  

Local ranchers state their was never a mill in La Plata others say the same about the town having a courthouse based on transcripts and records. But based on my research I found this not to be true that in fact the town had a courthouse and a mill. The problem is their were very few records ever kept in La Plata everything is gone even most records so its hard to know what they once were for all we know the stone walls found in La Plata could just be saloons or remnants of the hotels that so many miners spent time at. La Plata was not a large town at its peak about 200 miners and pioneers came here to try to make a life for themselves. But between the lack of rich copper and silver ore also the lack of water probably played a part in the town going bust. Their were only a few springs in the area but the ones found in Mountain Well were still a good trek away through the Stillwater Mountains. So we did Mountain Well first on our journey then I filmed the trek to La Plata so you could see exactly what the miners had to experience in order to haul water up to town using a wagon via horse.

Some miners went where the water was more abundant perhaps building ranches in Dixie Valley where springs were more prevalent and accessible. As a matter in fact many of the miners in La Plata and settlers transitioned from mining to a life of ranching. Today all your going to find in the region are ranches where the cattle roam the range along with wild mustangs, antelope and dust devils swirl. La Plata meaning in Spanish "Silver" is a true ghost town and while so very little remains today this is a true ghost town in every shape, way and form. Which is why it makes such a great addition on our site because it has every element of what a true ghost town is truly like breathtaking scenery included with the element of adventure as well. It would appear that once Stillwater Nevada became absorbed by Fallon along with the railroad coming through here it led to many towns to become abandoned like Wonder, La Plata and Mountain Well whom were once thriving communities deep in the scenic Stillwater Mountains.

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