Eldorado Canyon Ghost Town and the Techatticup Gold Mine
16880 Nevada State Route 165, Nelson, NV 89046
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Mine tours are paid; ghost-town exterior wandering is included with property entry. Cash and card accepted.
Access
Limited Access
Quarter-mile underground walk into the mine; uneven dirt around the ghost town
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1861 · 1861 Discovery of Salvage Vein · Earliest Mining District in Nevada Territory · Civil War Deserter Refuge · Queho Historical Site
Eldorado Canyon cuts east from the Eldorado Mountains toward the Colorado River, providing access from the river-corridor of southern Nevada into the gold-bearing mineral district of what is now Clark County. Spanish prospectors are believed to have worked sections of the canyon in the late 18th century. American prospecting began in earnest after the 1858 discovery of gold in California's Mother Lode pushed prospectors east into Nevada.
In 1861 miners discovered the Salvage Vein, leading to the formation of the Techatticup Mine. The name Techatticup is derived from two Paiute words meaning hungry and bread, referring to the Paiute people who frequented the mining camps requesting food during the establishment of the workings. The Techatticup became one of the earliest and richest hard-rock mines in pre-statehood Nevada Territory.
The Civil War isolated Eldorado Canyon and the mine. The canyon became a destination for Civil War deserters from both Union and Confederate forces, and gunfights between competing claimholders were common. Two of the most-discussed individual figures in the canyon's late-19th- and early-20th-century history are Ahvote, a Paiute man credited with five killings, and Queho, also Paiute, credited with more than 20 killings across the early 20th century. Queho's life and death have been the subject of considerable academic reanalysis as scholarship has reexamined frontier-era newspaper accounts.
The Techatticup Mine operated intermittently into the 20th century. The townsite of Nelson, named for prospector Charles Nelson who was killed in the canyon in 1897, grew around the mine and a riverboat landing at the mouth of the canyon.
In 1994, Tony and Bobbie Werly purchased approximately 50 acres including the mine, a store, a stamp mill, a bunkhouse, and several miner cabins. The Werlys reopened the mine for guided tours and restored the surface buildings as the Nelson Ghost Town tourist destination. The property has since become one of the most-photographed Nevada locations, used in film and music-video shoots and as a wedding venue.
Sources
Nelson's paranormal tradition is anchored to the Techatticup Mine and to Eldorado Canyon's specific history of unresolved frontier violence. The most-cited mine reports come from the deepest accessible sections of the workings, beyond the standard tour turnaround. Reports include the sound of metal tools striking rock, voices in low conversation, and shadow figures observed at the edge of the tour lights. Mine guides have publicly discussed these experiences in regional Nevada paranormal podcasts.
A second cluster of accounts is associated with the surface buildings. The original general store and the miner cabins generate reports of footsteps on bare wood floors, doors closing on their own, and the smell of pipe tobacco. Many of the cabins retain original 19th- and early-20th-century interiors, contributing to the atmospheric quality of the site.
The legacy of Queho, a Paiute man held responsible across the early 20th century for more than 20 deaths in the Eldorado Canyon area, generates a separate and editorially sensitive subset of accounts. Modern historical scholarship has reexamined many of the killings attributed to Queho and questioned whether the contemporaneous newspaper reporting reflected accurate identification rather than scapegoating. The Nelson Ghost Town interprets Queho's story as part of canyon history. Paranormal accounts in this category should be treated with awareness of the historical and racial framing involved.
Film crews shooting at Nelson have on multiple occasions reported equipment malfunctions, particularly battery drain on camera systems. The property has been used in productions for music videos and films across the 2000s through 2020s.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
A roughly one-hour, quarter-mile guided walk into the Techatticup Mine, one of the oldest and richest hard-rock gold mines in the Eldorado Canyon district. The tour covers the 1861 discovery of the Salvage Vein, Civil War-era ownership disputes, and stories of resident American Indian renegades Ahvote and Queho.
Self-guided wandering through Nelson's preserved miner cabins, the original general store, and the iconic vintage cars and props maintained on the property. The road from State Route 165 down through Eldorado Canyon to the Lake Mojave shore is a popular drive.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
McCarthy, AK
Kennecott is a preserved copper-mining ghost town in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. The mines operated from 1911 to 1938, producing 4.6 million tons of ore and 1.183 billion pounds of copper. The site is a National Historic Landmark and is administered by the National Park Service.
Goldfield, NV
Goldfield is a former gold-mining boomtown in Esmeralda County, Nevada, established in 1902 and briefly the largest city in the state, with a peak population of about 20,000 in 1906. Mining declined sharply after 1910; a 1913 flash flood and a 1923 fire destroyed much of the town. Fewer than 300 residents remain, making Goldfield one of the most-visited still-occupied ghost towns in the American West.
Nathrop, CO
Duplicate of the 'st-elmo' record. Both entries describe the same preserved 1880 Sawatch Range mining town in Chaffee County, Colorado. Flagged for human review and merge.