Rochester

Thank goodness for E Clampus Vitus and their informative plaque.

Call it a special sixth sense I have, but I have a distinct feeling they're trying to tell us something here, on the road just west of Upper Rochester. Note the giant open pit mine dump in the background.

A view of Lower Rochester from the road to the Lincoln Hill Mine. Up the canyone lay Upper Rochester, near the tailings of the Coeur Rochester mine.

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Rochester (Pershing County)		We Visited: 4-12-03
40° 17' 20"N, 118° 10' 13"W - ROCHESTER quad		Directions: From Fallon, take Highway 95 33.3 miles north to the junction of Interstate 80; take Interstate 80 East 36.9 miles to Exit 119 (Oreana); turn right and take Lovelock-Unionville Road 3.9 miles; turn right, take local road 6.8 miles to Lower Rochester From Fallon: 80.9 miles



What Was Gold was discovered in Rochester Canyon in the 1860's, but it wasn't until 1912 that discoveries of silver ore started things happening. Railroad track were brought in by 1914, and production peaked during the 1920's, tapering off until World War II. Post Office: Feb 1913- Nov 1926 (Rochester) Jun 1915-Jan 1943 (Lower Rochester) Newspaper: Miner, Journal
What is Rochester consists of three sites, actually- there is an "Lower Rochester, and Upper Rochester, and a Rochester Heights. You come first to Lower Rochester, and that's where most of the ruins are- a Mill, the foundation of another mill, and several houses and buildings still stand in various stages of decay. Debris fields lay everywhere, glass, pottery, galvanized steel, wood, metal screen, machinery and parts, cans- in addition to the usual flostsam and jetsam of mining activity. Overall, this is (sorry, Churchill County) one of the finest sites within comfortable driving distance of Fallon. The Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation Coeur Rochester open pit silver mine is, as far as I know, the primary silver producer in the State of Nevada, which still produces more silver than any other state. It's a big honking operating mine at the end of Rochester Canyon and their tailings dump dominate the view to the east. Unfortunately, there are large signs warning of tresspass before you get to upper Rochester. This is probably because the Coeur Rochester mine is an operating mine, and some of the large pickup-sized boulders they dig up and dump off the edge have a tendency to roll down and bump into things. Did I mention it's an operating mine? Oh, I did? Good. Unfortunately, this is still a historically significant site, as there were quite a few ruins (albeit flat ones) in Upper Rochester which are beyond the rather large and hard-to-ignore warning signs. On the day we went, it was rather windy and very overcast and misty, which makes for lousy digital photographs. We hope to return on a bright sunny day.