Silver Mountain City was a spin-off of the Comstock Lode, founded by eager miners hoping for the next big silver strike. And there were, indeed, traces of silver found. The lodes would never prove as promising as those of Virginia City.
But from 1862 to about 1876, this rocky flat beside Silver Creek was home to hundreds of citizens. For those few, heady years, Silver Mountain was a quintessential silver mining town, filled with miners, merchants, and drama.
It began as Alpine County’s original county seat. But today, the site of Silver Mountain City is almost completely gone. An army of pines has invaded the town’s cross streets. The old stone jail, once a proud centerpiece of town, is a jumble of broken blocks. Hand-dug cellars and rock foundations are all that’s left where noisy saloons and thriving businesses once stood..

Here’s how mining capitalist Lewis Chalmers described those early days:
No sooner was work commenced in the croppings [in the summer of 1861], than the richest description of ruby silver ore revealted itself and, as a matter of course, created one of those ‘excitements’ once so common in this country. Eager prospectors covered the mountain sides, swarmed in the immediate vicinity of the pioneer discovery, and almost before the year expired, nothing was left in the shape of a ledge or stain or outcrop to locate, the same ledge being taken up two or three times over by a rude notice on some of its spurs or angles, and all found a place in the records of the then-formed ‘Silver Mining District.’ A general rush from Virginia [City] and other mining camps was made to the new El Dorado, buildings of all kinds were erected in anxious haste, saloons drove a rushing trade, corner lots ruled high.

Silver Mountain became the official county seat in 1864, when Alpine County was formed. In 1875, the county seat was officially moved to Markleeville, and many of Silver Mountain City’s residents departed for the new excitement of Bodie in 1876. A fire laid waste to much of Silver Mountain’s Main Street in 1882. And by 1890, Silver Mountain was almost completely deserted.
But in its own way, the town of Silver Mountain City never really died. The Fiske Hotel which once graced Main Street has been moved to Markleeville – and is still in use as a restaurant. Books, old photographs, newspapers, and county records continue to preserve Silver Mountain’s stories. And most of all, its legacy lives on in Alpine County itself. For without the energy of this amazing place, California’s 46th county might never have been formed.

Story by Karen Dustman Author of “Silver Mountain City: Ghost of the Sierra”