There was an inscription on the image. "Blair was located three miles north of Silver Peak and was founded in 1906 by the Pittsburgh Silver Peak Gold Mining Company whose 120 stamp mill (under construction in the foreground) overlooked the town. Ore from the Mary Tunnel reached the mill via a 14,000 foot aerial tramway. The town's population was 700 and Blair was served by the mining company's Silver Peak Railroad. Blair prospered until 1917 when the mine and mill were closed. The mill processed over $6,000,000 worth of gold ore.
The Belmont was Tonopah's second most prosperous mining company with a production of over $38,000,000. The 60 stamp mill, one of Tonopah's largest, was built in 1911 and crushed ore until August 1, 1923. It was dismantled in 1927. The company continued mining until 1929, when operations were turned over to the Budelman Syndicate which began leasing blocks of the mine. Leasing continued until October 31, 1939 when a fire of undetermined origin burned out the shaft timbers. The Belmont was the scene of Tonopah's worst mine disasters when an underground fire on February 23, 1911 took the lives of 17 men. The fire was apparently started by a miner's candle left behind in a pile of timber.