Abandoned Towns
A long weathered wooden mill building climbing a slope beside a gravel road, with a taller wooden section and tailings behind

Gold mining town

Berlin

A company mining town on the west side of the Shoshone Range, founded in 1897 and empty by about 1911. The state has kept its mill, machine shop and wooden houses standing since 1970, beside the ichthyosaur fossil beds that give the park its name.

38°52′56″N 117°36′26″W · ≈6,760 ft

Photo: Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Overview

A company town on the Shoshone Range

Wooden houses on the townsite, with the mill chimney behind, July 2014
Wooden houses on the townsite, with the mill chimney behind, July 2014 · Photo: Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Berlin sits at about 6,700 feet on the west side of the Shoshone Range, looking out over Ione Valley. Prospectors had been working Union Canyon since the 1860s, and a camp called Union was platted a mile east in 1865, but it was the Berlin Mine, opened in 1896, that made a town. Berlin was founded in 1897 and run by the Nevada Company as a company town. The name is said to come from Berlin, Germany, home region of some of the prospectors.

It was never a big camp. At its peak around 1905 it had about 300 people and some 75 buildings, and the mine, with about three miles of tunnels, produced less than $1 million in gold and silver. In 1907 the miners struck for wages the company said it couldn't afford, the mine closed, and the Panic of 1907 did the rest. A last revival ran from 1910 to 1914, but Berlin was largely abandoned by 1911.

The company kept the buildings up, and in 1970 the state bought the townsite and added it to Berlin–Ichthyosaur State Park, which had been created in 1957 to protect ichthyosaur fossils in the hills above. The town is kept in what the park calls arrested decay: stabilized, not restored.

Timeline

Union Canyon to state park

  1. Prospectors find silver in Union Canyon. The Atlantic and Pacific Mining Company plats a townsite at Union in 1865 and fails in 1866.
  2. The Berlin Mine opens in the Union Mining District.
  3. Berlin is founded, reportedly named for Berlin, Germany, home region of some of the prospectors. The Nevada Company runs it as a company town.
  4. A 30-stamp mill is built, by one photo essay's date.
  5. Berlin has about 300 people and roughly 75 buildings. Union, a mile east, peaks in 1904 and 1905 with more than twenty buildings.
  6. Miners strike for wages the company says it can't pay. The mine closes and people leave (one account dates the closure to 1909), and the town declines after the Panic of 1907.
  7. A last revival. By 1911 Berlin is largely abandoned, and by 1914 it is a ghost town.
  8. The University of California excavates ichthyosaur fossils in the hills nearby. The fossil area becomes a state park in 1957.
  9. The state acquires the townsite and adds it to Berlin–Ichthyosaur State Park.
  10. The Berlin Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  11. Tours of the Diana Mine are halted pending a safety review.
  12. Photos show the mill, the machine shop and wooden houses standing, the road through town graveled and buildings near the entrance occupied.
  13. The park lists itself as always open, with a $5 day-use fee for Nevada vehicles and Fossil House tours through November 1.

What's left

The 30-stamp mill and the townsite

Inside the 30-stamp mill: a flywheel and machinery bases, July 2014
Inside the 30-stamp mill: a flywheel and machinery bases, July 2014 · Photo: Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The biggest building is the 30-stamp mill, which Wikipedia says has been stabilized. Other survivors include the mine supervisor's house, now the park office, the assay office and the machine shop. Accounts count about a dozen or thirteen buildings standing. The park's self-guided Berlin townsite tour follows trails with signs about Berlin and the Union camp, and the park website has a color map.

Photos taken on July 28, 2014, show the mill climbing the slope beside a gravel road, its interior with a flywheel and stone foundations, the machine shop with an old truck in front and rusted machinery around it, and a row of wooden houses and sheds on the bare hillside. Buildings near the park entrance were occupied in 2014. Tours of the Diana Mine, which connects to the Berlin Mine, were halted in 2007 pending a safety review, and we found no sign they have resumed.

Union, a mile east, has been mostly destroyed by vandalism. Drive only on established roads in the park.

  • 30-stamp mill (stabilized)
  • Machine shop, assay office and mine supervisor's house (park office)
  • About a dozen other wooden buildings
  • Cemetery west of town
  • Traces of Union, a mile east
USGS topographic map of Berlin, Berlin Canyon and the cemetery, with the Toiyabe National Forest boundary to the east
USGS The National Map, topo. Berlin at the mouth of Berlin Canyon, with the cemetery to the west and the Toiyabe National Forest boundary to the east.
Aerial view of a small cluster of buildings where roads meet at the foot of brown hills
Aerial imagery, same area. The townsite's few buildings where roads meet below the brush-covered hills.

The 1907 Tonopah sheet in the historic maps below already marks Berlin, Mount Berlin, Union Canyon, Grantsville and Ione. The 1948 Ione sheet shows the town's buildings at the mouth of Berlin Canyon, with West Union canyon to the south. The 1988 sheet names Berlin–Ichthyosaur State Park and marks the cemetery and mine shafts.

The park

The ichthyosaurs

The other half of the park is about two miles up the hill. Ichthyosaur bones in the area drew the University of California, which excavated from 1953 to 1957, and the state made the fossil beds a park in 1957. The Fossil House, a shelter over the quarry, is shown on guided tours. For 2026 the park lists tours at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on weekends from April 18 to Memorial Day, daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and on weekends again from Labor Day to November 1, at $5 for adults with children 12 and under free.

The campground has 14 sites and is open year-round, with drinking water usually from mid-April through October, at $15 a night for Nevada vehicles and $20 for others. Gabbs has gas, food and a phone; Ione has no services.

Historic maps

Berlin on USGS maps, 1907–1988

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Berlin, 1907
Tonopah sheet, 1907, 1:250,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Gabbs is the closest town with gas and food. Both routes end on the park road about 160 meters from the mapped townsite point. The Reno route runs east through Fernley and Fallon on US 50, then south to Gabbs. The routes were computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us; the state parks page sends drivers to nvroads.com for road conditions.

USGS topographic map from Gabbs east across Ione Valley to Berlin, with the route drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From Gabbs20.7 miabout 52 min
  1. From Gabbs, take Brucite Street and SR 361 (Gabbs Valley Road).2.1 mi
  2. Turn onto SR 844 (Ione Road) and head east across the valley.16.4 mi
  3. Turn onto the Berlin–Ichthyosaur State Park road to Berlin.2.2 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • The road rating is 2WD. A July 2014 photo shows the county road at the park entrance unpaved; the park says some campsites suit RVs up to 25 feet (page read October 29, 2026). Check nvroads.com before you go.
  • Pay the day-use fee in cash or by check; cards aren't accepted.
  • Gabbs is the last place for gas and food. Ione has no services.
  • Drive only on established roads in the park. Drones, metal detecting and taking or disturbing artifacts, fossils or structures are not allowed.

Photos

Berlin in photos

Visitor reports

Been to Berlin?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Berlin

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Nevada index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. Wikipedia, "Berlin, Nevada", retrieved October 2026: the 1896 mine and 1897 founding, the name, the Nevada Company, 75 buildings and 300 people, three miles of tunnels and under $1 million, the Panic of 1907, abandonment by 1911, Union a mile east, the surviving buildings, the stabilized mill, the 1970 acquisition, the November 5, 1971 National Register listing, the Diana Mine tours halted in 2007, coordinates (GNIS).
  2. Nevada Division of State Parks, "Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park", read October 29, 2026: always open, day-use, camping and tour fees, cash or check, the 2026 Fossil House schedule, the self-guided townsite tour and signs, the campground, its 25-foot RV limit and water season, services in Gabbs and none in Ione, nvroads.com, established roads only, no drones or metal detecting, Stage One fire restrictions, phone.
  3. ghosttowns.com, "Berlin and Union": road, climate, best time, Union's 1865 plat and 1866 failure, its 1904–1905 peak and vandalism, the 1907 strike, the 1910–1914 revival, the 1953–1957 excavations, thirteen buildings.
  4. Never Quite Lost, "The town where dinosaurs lived", August 5, 2017: silver found in Union Canyon in 1863, the 1898 mill, the 1907 strike and the mine's closure in 1909, a ghost town by 1914, about 13 buildings in arrested decay, fossils about two miles from town.
  5. Wikimedia Commons, Berlin–Ichthyosaur State Park: Famartin's photos of July 28, 2014 (camera metadata), including the unpaved road at the entrance and occupied buildings near it; Snowfalcon's photo of early 2004.
  6. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits