Johnnie Nevada

[Las Vegas Bob]

"The story of Johnnie is the story of the "Lost Breyfogle." A prospector by the name of Byron Breyfogle brought a very rich piece of ore into the mining center of Austin, Nevada, sometime in 1861. It is said Breyfogle was more dead than alive, near starvation, emaciated and without memory of where he found the rich piece of ore. When he was sufficiently recovered, he began the search for the site and thought he remembered it being somewhat east and north of Death Valley. After a number of fruitless searches, Breyfogle took on a partner named Duncan. They set out on a new search which proved to be Breyfogle's last. While on the search, he died but not before he told Duncan all he remembered about the lost "mine." Shortly thereafter, Duncan joined forces with George and Robert Montgomery who were also searching for the mine. They hired a Paiute Indian named "Indian Johnnie" as a guide who took them to a site where the gold was like "plums in a pudding" according to one of the Montgomery brothers. Whether this was the "Lost Breyfogle" or not, we'll never know. Submitted by Henry Chenoweth.

Johnnie, first known as Montgomery, was formed in early 1891 soon after prospectors discovered gold a few miles northeast of the townsite. It was know as the Johnnie mine. There was a small rush of people to the camp that came mostly from fading camps to the north. By May, there were more than 100 men and women living at the camp. The Congress and the Johnnie mines were the mainstays of Johnnie. By 1895, only the Congress mine was active where seventy men were employed. But the veins turned out to be quite shallow and the camp quickly emptied. A Utah mining company bought the Congress mine in early 1898 and soon more than fifty people were back at the camp. However, there were a number of labor disputes that were never resolved and all operations were shut down. The post office closed in 1899 and the town was once again a ghost. New discoveries were made in 1905 that prompted the reopening of the Congress mine and work on a number of new claims began. By early 1907 almost 350 people were living in Johnnie. Several new stores, saloons, hotels, and restaurants were added to the business section. Activity began to fade in 1914 and the population dropped to less than 15. Prospectors made yet another discovery in 1916 that signaled the beginning of Johnnie’s last and longest revival. Activity continued until 1925 when financial problems caused the mining company to fold. But Johnnie did not fold. Even though the post office closed for good in 1935, a handful of people stayed. After World War II, the entire site was purchased and was privately owned as it still is today. There are numerous remains but permission is required to visit the site."

As a follow up to this story I knew a person who's family owned the mine and a 16 stamp mill with which they processed the ore (which is not mentioned in the article which I stole borrowed liberated it is however mentioned in other article about Johnnie)

I worked with the aforementioned person for over ten years and not once would the family give him permission to let me see the mill site in operation.

This was a fully operational leather belt driven stamp mill and the family ran it to process ore up until the late 1970's early 1980's. Then in the early 1990's the family donated the stamp mill to the University of Reno. I did get to see a VCR of the mill in operation.

The last I heard as of Feb 2007 the mine site is or was up for sale and naturally the BLM is champing at the bit to make the area a preserve.

So it goes in the West.

 

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[TreasureTales]

Thanks for the story, LVBob. It's always fun to read about old mines, lost mines, and mine legends.

 

[Miner49er]

I too thought that the Johnnie mine could have been the Breyfogle until I read a book by Walt Wilhelm (Last Rig To Battle Mountain). Walt's father was a gold prospector who discovered the last big gold deposit in Nevada at Battle Mountain. He had travelled all over the southwest with his family in a wagon prospecting. While the family lived in Austin, Walt's father knew Breyfogle. The elder Wilhelm stated that EVERY time he met Breyfogle returning to Austin from searching for the lost mine, Breyfogle was coming from the north of town.
I had the pleasure of knowing Charlie Overfield and his wife, whose gold mine, Overfield butted up against the Johnnie. One of the drifts in the Overfield actually ran into one of the drifts of the Johnnie. The last time I was there in the 1990's, Charlie and his partner Don, were still taking gold out using metal detectors.

 

[Las Vegas Bob]

Thanks too both of you for the kind words and the input.