Silver Tailings: Tuscarora

In 1871, the newest EI Dorado in silver was Tuscarora in Independence Valley. The town was 25 miles away from one neighbor, Cornucopia, and 45 miles away from another, Columbia.

At its liveliest, perhaps there were 4,000 inhabitants.

A rush of men journeyed to the area when the silver was discovered. As usual, more went than the prospecting and mining could support.

A decline in population was not long in coming. However, ten years later, the town still had 2 churches, a newspaper, and 150 students taught by 3 teachers in a building converted into a school. (In departure from usual Nevada practice, one had never been built.)

There were more general stores, twelve, than saloons, eleven. Tuscarora was a lasting, prosperous town. It was not an ‘overnighter’ such as Treasure Hill.