Kingston Nevada resides deep in the heart of the Toiyabe Mountain Range an area of Nevada so very few ever get to see perhaps the states best kept gems. The townsite was laid out in 1864 when gold was discovered on Bunker Hill. As a matter in fact a camp begin here which led to the town site below it and Bunker Hill more of a mountain does overshadow Kingston below. As a matter in fact the Kingston Mining District is on the west side of Bunker Hill and contains many mines one of them having over 50 miles of tunnels within this mountain. Since Bunker Hill was difficult to get to and the terrain was steep the town of Kingston would be built below on more even ground suitable for building businesses, homes, mills and other structures. Kingston was also called Summit and Morgan back in the day just another fast fact. Bunker Hill stands at nearly 11,500' not as high as Arc Dome at 11,774' in the Toiyabe Range these are some of the tallest peaks in the region and I traversed them both in our jeep.  

By 1865 the Sterling Mill was built you can check it out on our site or at least what little remains a year later another 20 stamp mill would be built. Kingston today is a living ghost town sadly the mills are many of its original structures are gone. However the chapel, general store, Sterling Mill, mines at the mouth of Kingston canyon and the stone work found at the Miles End Lodge.  Many mills would follow as the Nevada and New England Consolidated Silver Mining Company were put into operation just below the Sterling Mill. The Old Colfax Mill later named the Big Smoky Mill were moved here to process the ore from the nearby Mother Ledge Mine in the Sante Fe District. In 1866 two smaller ten stamp mills were built and utilized. The 20 stamp mills were water powered my theory is they utilized the creek which flowed out of the mouth of the canyon into town. 

The Post Office erected and opened in 1865 and stayed open about two years when it closed in 1867 with Henry Schmidtlein as its postmaster.  During that time the town grew to about 125 residents and many businesses would be built. Since you had many camps in Kingston Canyon many of the miners would utilize the businesses in town for supplies then would make there way back to the mining districts. The old 27 mile wagon road that traverses the Toiyabe Mountains still exist today and leads right into Austin Nevada another boom town North of Kingston. Austin however was many times larger then Kingston so most of the miners tended to flock over. 

Like most boom towns the mines would be either depleted or were just not as productive as years went on which led to the closures of mills. In 1869 the Big Smoky Mill was relocated to the Booming White Pine District near Hamilton. This would be the second time this mill would be relocated not even sure how this would be done as most mills were built on concrete foundations that was poured and mixed on site using native rock. By 1870 all the mines were closed or quiet most of the machinery found in the canyon would be hauled to Kingston in the early 1880's. 

Around 1881 some of the mines reopened surprisingly and mining would be revitalized in the region. The post office would reopen that very same year at the time it was called Morgan prior Summit. Then came the 1882 Victorine Gold Mining Company who bought up most of the mines which led to a new boom. The Victorine Mining Company owned some of the largest mines in Nevada and eventually I am considering doing some of them in the future but there is no say to see everything some of them go for miles through the honeycombed Bunker Hill. Another revival came in 1906 and a monolithic 60 ton mill was built in 1909. 

The school in town was built in 1885 and stayed open till about 1923 to provide education for many of the miners children. By the next year after the school closed mining was discontinued and the post office closed. The town had about 25 residents most of the people had left after the closure of the mines. Later on many newer homes would be built including an airport. Many of the residents own planes here to travel and that would make sense considering how remote the town is you might need one to get to where you had to go for medical treatment or emergencies. The local cemetery found on the edge of town contains about 28 interments many of the graves marked with bed frames which overlook the Big Smoky Valley below. An ancient area that looks across to the east at the Toquima Mountains which are home to the Toquima Cave which been a part of Shoshone culture for thousands of years. 

Groves Lake was constructed in 1969 besides the small fishing pond found in town just a few miles west of it the locals can camp or trout fish here. Its not a very large lake around 16 acres and a depth at times of 22' and was constructed in 1969. I read that a 12lb large brown trout was captured in 1978 the Kingston Creek flows right through this reservoir. In addition to the trout you have deer, elk, beavers, chipmunks, big horn sheep, bobcats, mountain lions, coyotes, fox and many types of bird species. Near Groves Lake is a station of some kind I know its not a homestead because it has old cargo bay doors. Such stations are common in Nevada however most of them are Overland or Pony Express owned. This one probably was a trading post or a business that may have served some of the local mining camps found in the canyon.

Many residents in the 1800's tried to farm here using water from the creek planting crops and grapes. The land was not very fertile therefore planting came with failure however cattle ranching has been mainstream for 150 years. One can drive through Kingston Canyon today and see cattle roaming around. The cattle had water from the creek and meadows where they could find food substitence. Many of the folks here are retired opening up small business while others went into cattle ranching a prime example of this would be the Hess Ranch which is found in the Reese River Valley on the eastern edge of the Toiyabe Mountains.  Two really fantastic locations found in town are the Miles End B&B and Zach's Lucky Spur which houses some of the old historic relics left behind when the town went bust. I do plan on staying here so that I can continue to do more research and work in the area. There are other ghost towns, mines and ancient sites to see. Trust me you cannot see everything is just one trip but Kingston is small and quaint so you definitely tour the town.  There are quite a few other well known ghost towns in the region as well such as Belmont, Canyon City, Jefferson, Berlin, Manhattan, Washington, Yamba, Aspen, Gold Basin, Victorine and many others just to name a few.

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