Perhaps because of this memorable part of my life it was the catalyst in me starting this organization. Back when I resided in Las Vegas I investigated this area, performed two house cleansings, an exorcism, and did some UFO adventures. It was a curious time in my life I wanted to know about the Roswell Incident, UFO's in the desert, demons, ghost etc. But it was a time in my life where I realized knowledge is power and those were the years I would take a journey into the paranormal field. 

The investigation I did took place back in 1997 of course your not going to see many photos since back then when I visited here I had no reason to take ghostly photos cause I did not have any fans or paranormal members. I was a young man living in Las Vegas that heard stories about ghost towns, caverns, aliens abducting people, strange eyes in the canyons, and even cults which would open up vortexes to other worlds. 

The man I met was named Dave he told me about this place gave me quite a few stories. This man to me was sort of a mentor I looked up on him. He was in the military doing UFO research and involved with other secret projects. He knew demons by name, was very good at magick and had a nice sword collection. He did not tell me the name of the mines, ghost town or canyon we would be at. 

But over the years before I get into the history of this place he told me many horror stories. Some of them he told me is that he has been to this place a few times once finding alot of blood in one of the mines. He worked with a coven which wanted to cleanse this place which he told me was pure evil. He told me stories about how the minors died and how one cult would actually sacrifice children deep within the mine. He told me that if I wanted to go it would be serious and when I say serious he brought a very large pistol on him during the investigation for protection.

He told me stories that the mine had a secret cavern that looked like paradise. But then he told me stories about a secret door which this is true I do know where it is but there is no way to get it opened. He also told me of a beast rumored to be a black dragon was kept deep down in the mine. But see these are not just mines these are also caverns and who knows how far or deep they go down.

He told me once the whole mine shook and deep down within the mine he heard a beast. He also told me that the dry river beds babies have been buried at. The river beds served the town of Nelson on the Colorado river for steamboat purposes. The area then eventually became flooded with alot of mud and I was told that because of it bodies were buried back here whether this is factual data I do not know but he was serious especially when carrying a pistol around so something must have scared him going up here so often. He told me that he once also seen ghostly miners and a demon in the cave. The ghostly mines are true I could see the energy when we sat still in darkness. This is one of these places that can turn your stomach cause once you go in their is no turning back.

But the reason for our visit was to purify the mine using salt and incense I believe. At the time this man was convinced that if we cleansed it that it would technically slow down the evil that has been done with the cave. But personally I think this was about revenge as this mans ex-wife use to spend alot of time up here with a coven which turned out to be very demeaning and he told me she was possibly possessed from going into these mines.  He also told me once deep down in the mine he found a man who was not mentally all there hiding in the dark. 

So perhaps as brave as I am I did go to help him and he said after the investigation something that stuck. He said always have an openmind the more you deal with the more you are going to want to see. The more you see the more you will learn. After that investigation I worked a little bit with the paranormal but did not start the organization for a few years. It took me a few years to think about how I was going to do this. What I would change differently from the past etc. The reason why I say this is because something followed me home back in 1997 it changed my life and stayed with me for quite awhile till another person seen it and the entity became very angry.

Anyhow the area was a blank for me because I did not remember much about it just that there was a historical sign leading almost into a canyon a sign I seen on the internet before leaving for Las Vegas. So then after that things started to come back to me reading about all the mines in the area, caverns, ghost town etc. and I knew its name from there on I was able to find some really interesting history about the place most of it tragic so now I knew the man who once journeyed with me around here was telling the truth afterall.

Now keep in mind I know after this update comes out people are going to want directions here but I will not give them. Sure they give tours in the public areas and mine in the canyon but there are some areas that are bad news and you do not want to be caught in there cause if you are it could lead to your demise. 

Next off the area is very very dangerous. Let me explain to you...its the type of place your driving in up this rocky road and through the ghost town yet you see people living in shacks staring at out there windows at you. The whole community is a bunch of shacks and small trailers with many sets of eyes just staring as you drive up many miles a dead end road eventually. 

Lastly when entering the mines it says Welcome To Hell then you do a deep descent into this giant entrance. So steep that you almost fall to your death which leads into many tunnels. Some tunnels are so small that you have to crawl in them. We did not explore many tunnels but in some of them were wood logs you had to cross and ladders leading down deeper into the mine. Honestly I could not trust the homemade bridges so we explored the safer areas. However looking down below I could see more tunnels and caverns only twenty feet below. With rope or proper climbing gear one could descend deeper into the mines although today I think about what would I have found if I went across the bridge and took the ladder down deeper???

Now lets get into the history of the area. The first Indian tribe in the area dates back to thousands of years ago when the Anasazi Indians made there home in this canyon. The Anasazi tribe mysteriously vanished if anybody has studied the Sedona area. Later other tribes lived in this area but not for long because in 1776 the Spaniards arrived here and found gold. 

I would assume the Spaniards came by on boat exploring the region and when they found out it was rich in gold they started to slaughter the Indians in the most brutal ways.  They started a settlement naming it Eldorado which is how the narrow canyon got its name. Unfortunately the Spaniards were not finding much gold but rather silver cause they were not digging deep enough so eventually they abandoned the area.

In the 1850s many miners and settlers came to the area as they were panning the Colorado river in search of gold. Some of the gold panners kept it a secret but when news of fortune spread hundreds of prospectors and miners came to the area.  They found a giant hill which is one of the highest points in that region and they cut into it on a slanted angle naming it the Techatticup mine which means hungry which referred often the native Americans who settled in this area. By 1858 most of the mining was done by the miners who would get off at Nelson Steamboat Landing and eventually the settlement grew to 500 people. There is rumors of sinister or shady dealings when it comes to the mines. By 1961 many mines were dug in the area and many civil war soldiers were were deserters worked here. Some of the miners would work so hard that they would actually sleep inside the mine without coming out for sunlight. Although many other mines existed in the area some not so known but still very productive.

The mine became notorious for its labor disputes, riots, accident deaths, Indian raids, fights over owner ship and murders. Not a day would go by that someone would not die violently here. It was so bad the law could not even set foot in the canyon out of fear of being killed.  It became so terrible that they had to establish a military station to keep the two separate camps from fighting and the Indians attacking the steam boats. The town was lawless despite it was one of the largest ports on the Colorado River at one time.

The mines from that point on stayed opened for about 70 years after till about the 1940s. By that time millions of dollars in gold, copper, lead,  silver, ore were mined from here. The men for 70 years used picks, candles, cyanide and TNT to mine. Many upon many deaths have occurred here. The wharf on the river was washed away even along with the stamp mill. Not much remains to the area but its mines, an old gas station and a few other structures. 

Now lets talk a little bit deeper into this cursed tragic area. First off it was home to Nevada's first serial killer who took the lives of 23 men. I believe his body eventually was found in one of the caves in the canyon.  Most of the killers were Indian posses that would slaughter settlers when opportunity struck. In one case a group of 5 settlers was killed some of these were horrible gun fights. 

But nonetheless I have read about hell hounds that haunt the Eldorado Canyon, Miner Ghost, Demons etc so something paranormal is happening in what was a town larger then Las Vegas a century ago. I read that today they give tours of the mine where they have lights now and its alot safer. But after doing some thinking I do remember many different caves/mines in the area. The town today is home to only twenty people and alot of the rusty machine parts, overgrown tumble weed cemetery, shacks etc still reside in the area. 

But the area is not just a cursed site it has had some movies filed here like 3,000 miles to Graceland and Breakdown both with Kurt Russell. Its an area that's slowly growing to tourist, hikers etc but its also a place with a dark past. Below you can read a more in depth history of the area. It will really astound you and you will understand perhaps a little more. 

**Special Note**

I am putting up this message to see if we can find a sponsor or grant for someone to fund a second investigation to the mines, ghost town, and surrounding area. This expedition would be quite a large investigation. We would probably spend a couple nights up in the canyon of course in the cooler months exploring the caverns, mines, and area. I would need someone to fund me enough for a rental vehicle, plane ticket, some gear such as rope/climbing gear, and essentials. I would not do it alone so I would need at least 3-4 more men some I could recruit of course for the trip and other members in the southern Nevada area. If you can sponsor us or fund us for this trip lets work out the details. Id love to video tape the whole investigation as we journey deep down into the dark underworld under the desert.  Unfortunately we are a very low funded paranormal group receiving little or no donations but we have enough talent and experience to pull off an amazing investigation. Many of the things we want to do we just do not have the funding but think about it how many of you would like to see us really do a large scaled investigation of this place? If you can make it come true contact me at AngelOfThyNight@paranormalghostsociety.org 

© By

Rick-AngelOfThyNight

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this  message is being distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those  who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for  non-profit research and educational or criticism purposes only.  Notwithstanding  the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phone   records or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement. Anotherwards a few photos are borrowed we do not make any profit off pictures mainly they are used for historical, criticism, theories and other educational purposes therefore we can use them as long as we do not claim them as our own or get paid for those photos specifically. 

***I have a few photos of my own Ill be posting eventually. They were misplaced when I moved locally here in Deland but when I find them I will scan them. One of them is the mine entrance, another deep in the caverns, and the last one is an occult symbol. I did further research and found out that there is over 100 mines and caverns located in the area. I did more research and found that the Jubilee Mine & Ora Plata Mine fit the bill of where we Investigated back in 1997. Some of them photos are very similar to the ones I took back in 1997. Unfortunately we never did visit the Techatticup mine since that one is lit and public. Some of the more hidden mines or built into the mountains are the ones that have unexplained things happening because they are not visited often and are in seclusion. If you study a few of the photos in one you will see a ladder going down inside the mine and in a couple a steep incline which you had to almost slide carefully down till you reach the tunnels underground. The ghost town is essential to traveling to various mines and they will watch you. I felt it was necessary to expose this place I mean it truly is a fascinating area lots of ghost, strange events, and caverns to explore***

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Eldorado Canyon & The Ghost Town Of Nelson

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/NV-Eldorado.html

The area surrounding Nelson and Eldorado Canyon was first home to the ancient Anasazi Indians, and later the Paiutes and Mojave tribes.  Living peacefully for hundred of years, the Indians were intruded upon in 1775, when the Spaniards arrived in the canyon in their constant quest for gold.  Founding a small settlement at the mouth of the Colorado River, they called it Eldorado.  However, these early Spaniards somehow missed the rich gold veins just beneath the canyon’s flanks, finding silver instead.  They soon found that the silver was not in high enough quantities to justify their operations, and moved on.

Seventy-five years later, in the 1850s, a new breed of prospectors began sluicing the many streams feeding into the Colorado River. For a few years, the miners were able to keep their gold find a relative secret due to the remoteness of the area.  However, this all changed in 1858 when the first steamboats began to make their way up the Colorado River from Yuma, Arizona.  Before long, word spread and miners began to flood the area. 

By 1861 miners had discovered the Salvage Vein about five miles up from the Colorado River.  The rich, vertically stacked ribbon of gold ran through a steep ridge along one side of the canyon.  The miners began at the top of a high hill, cutting down into the vein.  Before long, several of the miners formed the Techatticup Mine, supposedly through a series of shady dealings.  The name derives from the Paiute Indian word for hungry, a term often heard by early settlers from the starving Indians inhabiting the dry hills.  The Techatticup Mine was once owned by Senator George Hearst of California, father of William Randolph Hearst of publishing fame.

Before long the Nelson District was dotted with several mines, including the Gettysburg, Duncan, Solar, Rand, Wall Street, Swabe and Golden Empire Mines in what was to become one of the earliest and richest mining districts in Nevada.  The Techatticup Mine, along with the Gettysburg, were the first mines in Nevada to be worked by white men. 

Many of prospectors who find their way to the gold field were reportedly Civil War deserters and disagreements and gunfights over gold and women became commonplace.  Greed, claim jumping and vigilante justice fueled the fire.  Meanwhile, the Techatticup Mine itself was in the midst of feuds over ownership, management and labor disputes, which soon earned it a notorious reputation.  At one point the killings in the rowdy canyon, called home to as many as 500 miners, became an almost daily event where even lawmen refused to enter.

Despite the sinister reputation of the mine, the Techatticup was to become the most successful in the area, mining millions of dollars in gold, silver, copper and lead throughout the years.  For the next 70 years, miners at the Techatticup Mine dug deeper and deeper into the hard rock, working with picks and shovels in chambers lit by candles.  As the gold played out in one tunnel, they would carve a new one just beneath it using blasting powder, and then drag out the broken rocks to be pulverized and treated with cyanide to separate out the gold.  Over the years, the miners excavated tiers of a dozen tunnels, the lowest of which could be reached by a long tunnel cut into the hillside some 500 feet below the upper entrance.  The temperature remained constant in the tunnels at around 70 degrees and it is said that some of the miners slept inside their workplace to escape the desert heat. 

The Techatticup Mine, along with dozens of others engendered a number of settlements including Nelson and Eldorado at the river’s edge.  As the ore was extracted from the many area mines, it was then transported to Nelson’s Landing along the Colorado River and shipped by steamboat to Yuma, Arizona for overland shipment to San Francisco, California.  The river also served as the primary source of much needed supplies for the camps along the canyon.In 1864, when the area was still a part of Arizona, the territory’s first stamp mill was built near the steamboat landing.  The 10-stamp, steam-driven mill, then processed the ore from the area mines before shipping to Yuma. 

The lawlessness continued as factions of Northern and Southern sympathizers developed among the miners during the Civil War.  The strife and bitterness split the workers into two camps, severely hindering mine and mill production.   Before long, Federal troops stationed downriver had to be brought in by steamboat to break up the factions before more bloodshed occurred.  The lawlessness got worse after the area became part of Nevada, when the nearest law officials were in Hiko, Nevada some 300 miles away.  Finally, a military post was established in Eldorado Canyon in 1867 to protect the steamboat traffic and to keep an eye on the local Indians who were beginning to raid the canyon. 

By 1883, a railhead was developed at Needles, California and the long riverboat shipments to Yuma were rerouted to Needles, where the ore was offloaded.  Eventually, better overland routes eliminated the need for the steamboats.

In addition to the canyon’s numerous rowdy miners, two of Nevada's most famous renegade Indians lived in Eldorado Canyon, the first of which, a man named Arvote, was said to have killed five area settlers.  At about the same time a Cocopah Indian named Queho, was terrorizing the area and was reportedly Nevada's first serial killer.  He was said to have murdered 23 people in the early 1900s.  The last person Queho killed was Maude Douglas near the Techatticup Mine in 1919.  Having already become Nevada's Number 1 Public Enemy, the Indian was relentlessly pursued by sheriff’s posses but was never captured.  What was thought to have been his remains were finally found in a cave in Eldorado Canyon in 1940.

In the early 1900s Nelson’s Landing was one of the largest ports on the Colorado River and became even more important in the 1920s for two reasons. 
 
The first was prohibition, enacted on January 16, 1920.  On the Arizona side of the river in Mohave County, prohibition was strictly enforced and  moonshine sold for as much as $50.00 a gallon.  However, in Clark County on the Nevada side, prohibition was not enforced and homemade liquor sold for as low as $1.00 a gallon.  This created a brisk trade along the river as bootleggers ran their white lightning into Arizona.

The second was the preliminary work required for the building of the Hoover Dam.  Dozens of surveyors operated small boats from Nelson’s Landing, while many others were ferried across the river to complete their work.  When the dam was completed, the area became one of the first main tourist sites as visitors were guided to the best fishing areas and taken on tours of the dam.  Before long, Nelson's Landing prospered as a resort, where boats, bait, gasoline, food, and cabins were provided.  The Techatticup Mine remained active until about 1945, producing more than $250 million dollars worth of gold, silver, copper, and lead, after which, it sat abandoned for almost five decades.  In no time, the town of Nelson dwindled leaving little more than the remains of mine works and tailings among the scorpions and rattle snakes.

Following the completion of Davis Dam in the mid-1950s, Lake Mohave began to fill up, drowning the old stamp-mill site, the steamboat landing and the remains of the Eldorado Camp.

A tour of Eldorado Canyon begins by accessing Nelson Road (Nevada Highway 165) from I-95 south of Boulder City.  Traveling southeast, the highway gradually climbs through about 11 miles of desert hills before reaching the old mining community of Nelson, Nevada.  During the spring, this part of the drive will provide numerous picturesque views of desert wildflowers.  Nelson is entirely surrounded by Bureau of Land Management (BLM) property, where you might also see big horn sheep and wild burros roaming among the hillsides.

Today, Nelson is all but a ghost town with a population of just about twenty people.  With no open businesses, the town marks its past with a few weathered sheds, small shacks with corrugated metal siding, and rusting machinery parts.  Those few residents that remain mostly live in a smattering of modern buildings and mobile homes.  On a hillside above Nelson is a small overgrown cemetery and though it has some fairly recent graves, they can barely be seen through the brush.  Though it’s hard to imagine today, in the 1880s Nelson and the 10-mile Eldorado Canyon was called home to more people than the entire Las Vegas valley.

As you leave Nelson, the road begins a twisting drive through the canyon, providing dramatic views of rugged rock walls and stone formations, pocked with holes and tailings from its old mining days.

Within just a few miles you will come to the infamous Techatticup Mine.  After having sat abandoned for five decades, Tony and Bobbie Werly purchased the mine and 51 acres of surrounding property. Prior to purchasing the mine acreage, the pair operated a river adventure outfit in nearby Boulder City. 

Clearing the rubble from the mine tunnels, stabilizing ramps and ladders, and installing electric lights and emergency phones, the mine soon opened for guided tours.  The above and below ground guided mining tour lasts about one hour taking visitors 500 feet into the mine.  On this tour you will receive the history of the mine, Nelson’s landing, and the area’s turbulent past.  Mine tours require a minimum of four people (which can be combined with another group) and reservations are recommended.

Over the last decade the couple has also restored and preserved a number of buildings at the mine site.  Across from the mine sits a historic 1861 building which serves as a museum to the area and to the Techatticup Mine.

Here you will see a display of old photographs, tools and other mining memorabilia.  Tony and Bobbie also provide river tours and rent kayaks and canoes for use on the nearby Colorado River.  Reservations for river tours are required.

The Techatticup Mine has been the set of two movies.  The first, Breakdown, with Kurt Russell and Kathleen Quinlan, was released in 1997 and several artifacts from the movie can be seen at the site.  Several years later, the movie 3000 Miles to Graceland, was released in 2001, parts of which were filmed at the mine site.  This movie, again with Kurt Russell, as well as an all star cast including Kevin Costner, Courtney Cox, Christian Slater , and David Arquette, shot several scenes here including the scene where the Lucky Strike gas station blows up .  Props from the movie, including the crashed airplane can still be seen at the site.

Beyond Techatticup, the road continues to wind its way to the Colorado River where it opens up to panoramic views across Lake Mohave into Arizona.  On the river below once stood Nelson’s landing, long gone today.  Numerous old roads angle down toward the lake where much of the area is administered by the National Park Service.   Be aware that severe penalties can be levied for off-roading in National Park areas.If you travel the outlying land, be cautious as there are many open mines and ventilation shafts.  Though most of the mines in the district are no longer active, the majority are on private property and are so posted.  Respect these no-trespassing signs as reports have it that local land owners are quick to prosecute trespassers.