Delamar

Overview

The Widowmaker

In 1889 John Ferguson and Joseph Sharp found gold around Monkeywrench Wash, and a camp called Ferguson grew up beside the Monkeywrench Mine. Captain Joseph Raphael De Lamar bought most of the good mines in 1893 or 1894 and gave the place his name. A newspaper, the Delamar Lode, and a post office followed in 1894. From 1895 to 1900 Delamar led Nevada in ore production, and by 1897 most accounts put more than 3,000 people here, in houses built mostly of native rock.

Everything had to be brought in. Water was pumped from a well in Meadow Valley Wash about 12 miles away, and freight came by mule team from the railroad at Milford, Utah, 150 miles off. With so little water the gold-bearing quartzite was crushed dry, and the fine silica dust it threw off gave the miners silicosis. The town became known as the Widowmaker.

Fire swept the town in the spring of 1900. De Lamar sold in 1902, the new owners' mine closed in 1909, and a revival from 1929 to 1934 was the last. Twenty-five people were left in 1940, and the post office closed the next February. The ruins sit on BLM land in the Delamar Mountains, at the end of a long, rough road, and in April 2026 the BLM approved closing 47 mine hazards around them.

Video

Walking in from the cemetery

A solo traveler drives the dirt road in from the highway on June 18, 2025, stops at the cemetery and, rather than risk his tires on the big rocks beyond, walks about a mile and a half to the townsite. He wanders among the stone walls and arches, the rusted tanks and timbers of the mill, sun-purpled bottle glass, a small wooden shed, a bullet-holed car body and an old safe. He reads a figure of over $25 million in gold off the roadside marker; our sources give estimates of $13.5 million to more than $15 million. He also films at the mouth of a timbered mine adit. Keep out of all mine openings.

Play “Exploring the hauntingly quiet ghost town of Delamar, Nevada” from YouTube

Timeline

Gold, dust and fire

1. 1889John Ferguson and Joseph Sharp find gold around Monkeywrench Wash. A camp named Ferguson grows west of the Monkeywrench Mine. Another account says local farmers found the gold in 1890 and 1891.
2. 1893–94Captain Joseph Raphael De Lamar buys most of the important mines, for $150,000 by one account, and the camp takes his name. Sources date the sale to 1893 or April 1894.
3. 1894The Delamar Lode newspaper starts printing and a post office opens, in June by one account.
4. May 1895A 50-ton mill starts up. By 1896 it handles up to 260 tons of ore a day.
5. 1895–1900Delamar is Nevada's leading producer. By 1897 it has more than 3,000 people by most accounts, with a hospital, an opera house, churches, a school and saloons.
6. Spring 1900Fire destroys most of the town. Another account puts a fire that burned half the town around 1902.
7. 1902De Lamar sells out. His mines have produced about $8.5 million in gold.
8. 1903–1909The new owners put in a 400-ton mill. The mine shuts down in 1909.
9. 1929–1934A revival reopens the school and, in March 1933, the post office.
10. 1940The census counts 25 people.
11. Feb 1941The post office closes for good.
12. Jul 19, 2024A photo shows a stone arch still standing among the ruins.
13. Jun 18, 2025A visitor films the stone ruins and mill remains, walking in from the cemetery because of the rocky road.
14. Apr 28, 2026The BLM approves permanently closing 47 abandoned mine hazards around Delamar and Helene.

Legend and record

Why they called it the Widowmaker

The record is plain. The gold at Delamar was locked in quartzite, and crushing it made a fine silica dust. Water was scarce, so the crushers ran nearly dry, and the men who worked in the mines and mills breathed the dust and developed silicosis. One account says the dust reached the lungs of women, children and animals too.

Numbers grew in the telling. Legends of America says that at one time more than 400 widows lived in Delamar; another account speaks of several dozen. Neither cites a count.

One story is told about Agnes Horn, one of the first settlers and among the last to leave, whose husband died of the dust. She was buried, the story goes, under a rose bush that once bloomed at her window. Her son Fred A. Horn, born in 1893, died in 1912; his marker was photographed in the cemetery in 1999. Take the rose as a story.

What's left

What you'll see

Many stone buildings stand partly intact, some with arched doorways, and mine foundations can be seen from the hills around town. Vandals have pulled down some walls stone by stone, and both cemeteries have been vandalized. Tailings spread below the mill site. The hills are full of shafts; the main shaft has been blasted closed, and the BLM's 2026 decision covers 47 more hazards around Delamar and nearby Helene. Stay out of every opening.

The 1954 USGS sheet in the next section marks Delamar on the west side of the Delamar Mountains above Delamar Valley. The 1969 sheet shows the ruins, the tailings, a mine and jeep and pack trails; the 1978 sheet adds Helene to the north.

• Stone building ruins and arches
• Mill and mine foundations
• Tailings
• Two cemeteries
• Closed and open mine workings (keep out)

Historic maps

Delamar on USGS maps, 1954–1978

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.

19541:250,00019691:24,00019781:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Delamar is reached from US 93 west of Caliente. Sources differ on the way in: Legends of America describes Delamar Road as about 16 miles of rugged gravel, and another account says about 15 miles south from a turnoff about 16 miles west of Caliente. Both routes below leave US 93, follow an unnamed road and Knoll Pond Road to Delamar Road, and end about 1.2 miles northwest of the townsite, where the map data stops. The router times these roads at walking pace, so plan for slow going.

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

Directions go to the end of the mapped route on Delamar Road, about 1.2 miles northwest of the townsite, where the drive ends, not to the townsite.

Photos

Delamar in photos

Looking down into Delamar Valley from the road to the townsite, September 2008A stone arch among the ruins, July 2024

Visitor reports

Been to Delamar?

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.

Thanks. Your report reached us, and we'll read it before it goes on the page.

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Nearby

Other sites near Delamar

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

• Stine10.3 mi E · Lincoln
• Elgin14.8 mi SE · Lincoln
• Caliente17.7 mi NE · Lincoln
• Crystal Springs25.9 mi W · Lincoln
• Hiko26.4 mi NW · Lincoln
• Carp28.4 mi SE · Lincoln
• Joseco29.8 mi E · Lincoln
• Bullionville31.0 mi NE · Lincoln

Sources

Sources and credits

1. ghosttowns.com, "Delamar": fact sheet fields (roads, climate, best time, remains), the 1890–91 find, the 1893 sale for $150,000, the June 1894 post office, more than 3,000 by 1897, the dust, the fire of about 1902, the Agnes Horn story, the cemetery photos of April 13, 1999 (Fred A. Horn's marker), the directions from US 93.
2. Wikipedia, "Delamar, Nevada", revision of September 30, 2026: Ferguson and Sharp, April 1894, the Lode and post office, 1895–1900, $13.5 million, the hospital and opera house, water and freight, the 1900 fire, 1902, 1903, 1909, the revival, 1940, 1941, the ruins, the vandalized cemeteries, the closed main shaft, silicosis, coordinates (GNIS).
3. Legends of America, "Delamar, Nevada", updated February 2024: the 1895 mill, more than 1,500 residents, the 400 widows claim, more than $15 million, vandalized buildings, two cemeteries, about 16 miles of rugged gravel, four-wheel drive.
4. Bureau of Land Management, "BLM approves permanent closure of Abandoned Mine Lands hazards in Lincoln County, Nevada", April 28, 2026: 47 hazards around Delamar and Helene, contact.
5. A visitor's photo of the Delamar cemetery, posted November 15, 2016 in an album from a June 2016 trip: the road past the cemetery.
6. Tim-desser, "Delamar Stone Arch Remains", Wikimedia Commons, July 19, 2024: the newest dated photo of the ruins we found.
7. John Cole Artist, "Exploring the hauntingly quiet ghost town of Delamar, Nevada", YouTube, posted January 30, 2026 (filmed June 18, 2025, per the date on screen): the video on this page; the rocky road past the cemetery, the walk of about a mile and a half, the ruins and mill remains standing.
8. Land: BLM national surface management map, queried October 24, 2026 (BLM land at the townsite). Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026; the map data ends about 1.2 miles short of the townsite.

Photo and map credits

• Looking down into Delamar Valley from the road to the townsite, September 2008: loboford220, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
• A stone arch among the ruins, July 2024: Tim-desser, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain). Historic sheets: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Caliente 1954, 1:250,000; Delamar 1969, 1:24,000; Clover Mts 1978, 1:100,000.