Belmont Mill is located north of the Tonopah-Belmont Exploration Company mine on land managed by the U.S. Forest Service. According to Fred L. Humphrey,
Bulletin 57, Geology of the White Pine Mining District, the mill is located 9,000 feet north of the Tonopah-Belmont Exploration Company mine. The mine is private property. This mine has been known under an assortment of names: Tonopah-Belmont, Tonopah Development Co., Nevada Belmont or Belmont. Belmont Mill is the most intact mill that can be viewed in the area. English investors built the original silver and lead-processing mill in the late 1800's, but saw little profit from the investment. The original mill site is located further down the canyon. Little can be see at this original site.
Water for the mill was piped approximately two miles from the old California Mill springs located northwest of Hamilton. The mill ran by one central power source. Flat belts ran all the equipment from the shafts throughout the mill. The bearings on the shafts are all poured bearings.
Ore was delivered to the mine by an overhead cable tram from the mine, located three and one-half miles away. The tramline is still visible, but the trip cars are gone. According to a 1926 report, there were a large percentage of slimes in the ore. Extraction was less than 50 percent. Poor recovery and the drop in lead price combined to close the mill.
In an oral interview June 9, 2000 with the White Pine County Historical and Archaeological Society, Lee Tillman, former Hamilton resident, told the group that his stepfather, Frank Bonnel, working for Denver equipment, was the engineer in charge of building the new mill site in 1925. A small tent city housed workers while more permanent structures were being built. Lee Tillman explained that when anyone left the mill site they took barrels with them to carry water back.
On June 19, 1968, Leon Gregory visited the Belmont Mill and reported to Stuart Havenstrite. Mr. Gregory was considering what could be salvaged from the mill. An inventory accompanied the letter. Some of the items in the inventory are still on site today, but many are gone. Gregory stated that "all of the equipment is at least 20 years old and a lot is 40 years old and older." From this statement it may be assumed that the Mill was in operation a few years after the 1926 shutdown.
Gregory concluded his letter with a disquieting observation - "I recommend we get the small motors, vices, power saw, and pumps and make a contract with some company to junk the mill and buy the scrap."
Thankfully, all of Gregory's recommendations did not take place. The Belmont Mill site is a favorite picnic and exploration site for visitors.
The two oldest buildings, a combination Mill office and Superintendents quarters, and the large boarding house are covered with wood shake shingles. Several other buildings were constructed using corrugated tin. The large four-level mill still has much of its original machinery and cables. Unhappily, each year people are carrying off items like the ore buckets and other important pieces of the property. The original four long lines of 9,000 feet each of tram cable extending from the upper floor of the mill to the Belmont Mine were still in place in May 2003. The mill is still in good condition, but the houses near and above the mill site are showing the wear of years of inclement weather, vandalism and neglect.
A wooden framework along the road is the remains of a thickener tank - used to settle out tails and separate excess water to be recirculated to the mill. A minimum amount of water was used to wash away the tailings.
There is a good-sized root cellar with shelves located behind the large boarding house. This is collapsing and unsafe to enter. Mill workers and others associated with mining and milling used the homes located above the mill site. These are of newer construction than the mill, boarding house and Superintendents residence.
