Black Horse is located northeast of Sacramento Pass, about eight miles from Osceola. White Pine News March 23, 1906 stated that Thomas Watkins had made a strike over a month before, but the strike was not divulged until the previous week. Residents of Osceola were let in on the secret first, and after they had located all the claims they wanted, the find was made public.
As with tales of other mining districts, historians have romanticized the discovery and naming of Black Horse. The tale often begins with a lone prospector from Osceola who was caught in wind and rain in 1906 and discovered gold. Shelter was found under an overhanging ledge and as any prospector knows, you do not just wait out the rain. A few taps on the rock were made while waiting and what was chipped off looked interesting. An assay of his samples proved high gold content and a rush developed, led by miners in nearby Osceola. As with many of these places, the reader may take their choice on how the name Black Horse came to be. One version is that the prospector was looking for a black horse. Another version reports he was riding a black horse. A third version tells of him searching for a beautiful black horse and the thrill of seeing him ride in on the horse with high-grade ore he had discovered.
An article written March 23, 1906 in the White Pine News may be the true version of the find. Naturally, the News article was written with a slant towards the promotion of a new mining strike, but the description of the find and subsequent staking of claims, while not romantic, ring true. The article states that for many years Tom Watkins, a prospector with over twenty-five years experience had been searching for the source of the placer gold that abounds in the Osceola District. Watkins traced the ledge across the country until it disappeared under Mount Moriah, but had never been able to find values in it. In about late January, or early February, of 1906 while testing a new formation, principally quartzite, he found values amounting to about $90 per ton, although no colors showed by panning. This assay put him in touch with the general character of rock to look for. Following this formation, he soon found cropping’s “lousy” with free gold.
According to an article written by Allen C. Bragg from Black Horse June 11, 1907, Mr. Watkins’ old black horse had died in the canyon over a year before and the canyon immediately took the name Black Horse. Watkins staked out the Black Horse mine in 1906. Excitement of the discovery near Osceola had the White Pine News doing its part to help the promoters of Black Horse. The News stated that “hundreds are pouring in as fast as conveyances can be secured, and a big crowd from the outside is said to be waiting at Newhouse for transportation.” The locations of the Nil Desperandum, the Mabel and other claims were soon staked. Within six months of his find, a crude camp, consisting of “rag houses,” was formed. About 100 people made Blackhorse their headquarters in 1907 and there were about 200 men in the district. The White Pine News, June 5, 1906, stated there were two rival townsites - an upper and lower Black Horse. The town(s) boasted three saloons, two boardinghouses, a barbershop, two restaurants, two mercantile establishments, a feed tent, a blacksmith shop and a town pump.
A post office opened September 17, 1906. Gold was produced from the San Pedro and Black Horse mines from 1906 until 1913. The ore from the Black Horse was incredibly rich, but located in very small veins. In June of 1907, the Black Horse ran into some financial problems. Watkins had bonded the property to H. S. Wooley of Salt Lake City. When Wooley did not make the final payment, the work was discontinued and the men paid off. The superintendent, Mr. Steward, departed quite suddenly for Salt Lake City to attend a meeting of the directors and stockholders. Other mines in the district included San Pedro, Mabel group, Grasshopper, California, Red Chief, Lucky Boy, Buchanan, and Campbell. The same company that bonded the Black Horse also owned the San Pedro and the Mabel and the matter was soon resolved.
The largest mine was the San Pedro, covering 21 claims. Gold ore was milled in an arrastra in 1909 and an amalgamating mill in 1910. The ore veins had thinned by 1911 and Black Horse came to a halt in 1913. Black Horse quickly became a ghost town after producing close to $1 million during its short existence. The post office closed on March 24, 1914 and Osceola became the mailing address of its patrons.
The district was unproductive from 1913 until the discovery of lead-silver ore at the Pauline (Bellander) mine in 1933. A placer gold deposit in Miller Basin Wash on the Mathis ranch was sampled in 1935 by three shafts that averaged 54 feet in depth. The best values were reported to two feet above the quartzite bedrock. Five or more prospect shafts were sunk in the gravels of Black Horse Canyon but no placer gold was produced.
Scheelite was produced from the Gold King (Black Horse) mine intermittently from 1943 to 1953. Tungsten ore was concentrated in a 25-ton plant at the Gold King mine in 1943. This activity lasted until 1954, but the town of Black Horse never revived.
Most of the town of Black Horse has disappeared. No buildings are left. Careful searching will reveal faint foundations of both upper and lower Black Horse, surrounded by broken pieces of pottery and glass. The inevitable tin can pile can be found - man must mark his spot!
Open mine shafts are scattered throughout the entire district and there is currently exploration drilling in the district. There are several claim markers placed by Minex LLC Company of Incline Village dated September 1999.
The well cared for cemetery above the site of the town is a private family site and the only non-family member is a stone marked Black Horse Miner.
Photo of Black Horse mining camp, circa 1904 courtesy Kaye Kirkeby, Ely. Kaye's grandmother and his father lived at Black Horse after his grandfather died.