DONT GO TO LUDWIG! Ludwig was a turn of the last century camp located in the Singatse range roughly the south and eastern edge Smith Valley. Originally a copper find in the late 1860s, and first called Morningstar, Ludwig kind of limped along with no real major promise until the Nevada Douglas mining company came to town with enough capital to build a smelter on site. This, coupled with the construction of the Nevada Copperbelt Railroad allowed Ludwig to prosper. By 1912, the town boasted 65 buildings including schools, hotels, boarding houses and a social club where weekly dances were held. By 1913, census numbers for Ludwig were pegged at 750 people. By 1914, things had started to wane. In the 1920s, Gypsum was mined in Ludwig but was over by 1930. Ludwig was marked by the large concrete pillars and columns that attracted artists of all sorts to make their mark. It has been a favorite exploration spot for history enthusiasts for years. Ludwig is no more. Gypsum is now being activity mined and the whole area is closed off to any sort of travel. There are gates and fences surrounding the property along with No Trespassing signs in abundance. Although full scale mining has not yet begun, exploration is in full swing and there is a mine supervisor there who can be quite an unfriendly fellow as I found out yesterday. I had known that something was going on there and I wanted to see for myself. A group of us from the area decided a little ATV ride to Ludwig, then over the top of Bluestone would be a fun activity on a cool January day. We unloaded near Day Lane in Smith Valley and drove to Ludwig. Apparently we took a different route in there as we didnt encounter the signs nor locked gates. As we got close to the town site, we decided to head over Bluestone pass. We stopped to talk about this and soon the new mine boss was there and he was in no mood for conversation and frivolity. It took a little talking on my part to point out that we came in on a different route that wasnt signed. It was dumb luck on our part that we even got there. He told us this whole area is closed and active mining is taking part. He also said that Bluestone Road is closed as well as the Bluestone mine site on the other side of the range. We finally got him calmed down when he realized that we were not out looking for a fight and we were just a bunch of senior citizens out for a ride. He asked us to leave via the main road which we did. When we got the main gate off Delphi Road, it was chain locked. I had to laugh. Just as we were turning around, one of his guys drove up in a pick up and unlocked the gate. One of my compadres made the remark that this place was easy to get into but hard to get out!. The employee laughed and said, Kind of like jail. One thing the mine boss asked us was to pass the word. DONT GO TO LUDWIG.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 16:55:03 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015