Located 10 miles southeast of Tonopah, the camp was settled in the late 1890s when silver and gold was discovered in the area. In May, 1900, when Jim Butler picked up his first samples at the site that would become Tonopah, he was en route to Klondyke. He offered the local assayer, Frank Higgs, an interest in the find for an assay, but Higgs declared the samples worthless and threw them out. Fortunately, Butler retrieved more samples on this return trip to Belmont. The building on the right with the large smoke-stack was the assay office. None of the structures remain today.
The Harmill was being operated by Gerald B. Hartley, Sr. and was worked through the 1930s. (Gerald B. Hartley, Jr. Collection) There was an inscription on the image. "The Montezuma district was laid out after the discovery of ore in the area on May 24, 1867 by Thomas Nagle, Mat Plunkett, and a Mr. Carlyle. The district was active through the 1880s after which mining came to a standstill. Montezuma experienced a revival in the early 1900s on the heels of the Goldfield boom. Mining continued through the 1930s from operations such as the Harmill. Ore was chiefly silver accompanied by lead with some gold. Recorded production from the district was over $500,000."
The Tonopah-Goldfield Mining Photograph Collection depicts mining activities in the mining towns of Tonopah and Goldfield in Esmeralda County, Nevada from approximately 1901 to 1920. The photographs primarily depict mines, miners, mills, construction, ore, and workers transporting ore. The photographs also depict events and people in Tonopah and Goldfield, including parades, celebrations, banquets, children, Native Americans, and prominent buildings.