Pioche Nevada

In 1863 a local Indian revealed a good specimen of silver ore to, “Famous Scout, Prospector, Expert Rifleman, and Missionary to the Indians,” William Hamblin. Hamblin was one of those, ‘Mormons’, who founded Gunlock, Utah, in 1857 and came to Clover Valley in the early 60’s, and was said to be the first white man to settle in Meadow Valley. Later in 1872, Hamblin would be an essential witness in the court battles between Raymond & Ely and the Hermes Mining Company over control of the mineral wealth in the camp. However, before he could testify, he was administered a lethal drink. Realizing he had been poisoned he started for home in Gunlock, Utah. After reaching Barclay in Clover Valley he could travel no farther, and he died there. Hamblin was buried in the Barclay cemetery.
On Hamblin’s first visit to the deposits in 1863, he managed to take samples and make several locations. He then transferred his samples to Salt Lake City; the result of this would be several expeditions to the region, which established the Meadow Valley Mining District.
The first expedition was in April 1864 by J. M. Vandermark and Stephen Sherwood who organized the Meadow Valley Mining District. Not to be dispossessed by Gentiles, Brigham Young ordered Erastus Snow from St. George to Meadow Valley with a company of men, who in lacking a mining recorder organized a new district with new rules. A third company, chiefly of men from the California Volunteers, followed, and the former rules of the Vandermark and Sherwood party were restored. The presence of so many Mormons made the place distasteful. The district was abandoned by Gentiles after some work had already been done on the Panaca, the original discovery ledge. The first recorded claim was the ‘Panacker’, and the surrounding area was called the Panaca Flats.
There were several delays due to the Civil War. Indians became annoyed with all the white men invading their land. More delays were caused by the length of time it took to get mining equipment shipped from San Francisco by way of Cape Horn. There was very little work done between ’64 to the early part of ’68. Very little development had been started by the time the news of the strike at Panaca Flats reached Europe.
In the spring of ’68, Francois L. A. Pioche, San Francisco financier, sent Chas. E. Hoffman out to purchase the property, which was incorporated as the Meadow Valley Mining Company. This is one of the two great mining companies that in the late 70’s, became rivals and came to be more famous in the world than the big Bonanza itself.
In 1869 newcomers John H. Ely and William H. Raymond arrived in camp. They were operating down in Pahranagat Valley and had spent what little they had just to reach Pioche’s camp. After entering camp they met up with two brothers by the name of Edward and Pat Burke, who just happened to have a very rich claim. This led to some serious dickering, and Ely and Raymond ended up owning the claim. Before this, Ely and Raymond were running a little five-stamp mill down at Hiko, but because of the low-grade ore in the area, the mill was a failure. They went down the hill about twelve miles or so to the Mormon camp of Panaca, where they talked a few Mormons into going to Hiko and hauling the mill up. The Mormons would be paid after the first sale of bullion. The mill was to be set up on a sloping hillside where they had an abundance of water, between Pioche and Panaca. This site would later come to be known as Bullionville.