A desert basin in Nevada is the perfect setting for a ghost town, combining barren remoteness with spooky aesthetics. In the Delamar Valley in central Nevada, there's a fascinating ghost town known as Widowmaker. While the town is officially called Delamar, its sobriquet, Widowmaker, is far more popular and descriptive.
History Of The Delamar Ghost Town
In 1889, gold prospectors founded a mining camp called Ferguson in the area. After five years, prominent mine owner and financier Joseph De Lamar purchased and expanded the mining operation. With the added capital and know-how, the mines became enormous producers of ore. By 1895, the camp had developed into a fully-fledged town, with more than 3,000 residents. It was named after the financier, De Lamar.
During its heyday, the town had a bustling community. There were several churches, schools, salons, a hospital, theatres, and an opera. From the early 1890s, the town had its very own newspaper that brought in the news from far away and informed the town's residents about the latest happenings.
Two Delamar cemeteries are still standing, but none of the gravestones and markers are legible due to over a century of wear. No new bodies are laid to rest at the burial grounds as no one lives nearby anymore and the cemetery is subject to rampant vandalism. There's something beautiful and creepy about being in the remote desert and seeing old, unmarked graves that have been weathered and vandalized for decades.
Back when the mines were operational, supplies for industrial activities were brought to the town by packs of mules that traveled long distances through harsh mountainous terrain all the way from the railroad in Utah.
Delamar used to be the biggest ore producer in all of Nevada in addition to being a gold rush settlement. In the five years between 1895 and 1900, the town produced over $13.5 million in gold. It was the gold mines in particular that gave the town its ominous nickname, Widowmaker.
Due to particular geological circumstances in the area, the gold found in Delamar was encased in quartzite rock. As the miners were picking away at the stone to get to the gold, the pulverized quartzite formed fine dust that sprayed into the air. Without modern protective equipment, the miners, working deep underground in small spaces, breathed in the crystal dust. Over a short period, the dust would settle deep in their lungs and cause silicosis, a fatal disease that took the lives of many miners, windowing their wives and orphaning their children. This is why Delamar is known as Widowmaker.
Delamar Today
To this day, several mine shafts dot the area. Over the years, to keep out teenagers and other adrenaline junkies, some of the mine shafts were blasted shut. However, there are still several mine entrances that are unmarked and accessible. Authorities warn tourists to stay out, as conditions in the mine are dangerous and unpredictable. Apart from the risk of silicosis and other industrial diseases, the infrastructure inside the mine shafts could be rusty and unstable after a century of neglect.
There are also, most certainly, all kinds of fauna and fungi living in the abandoned mines, and many of them are dangerous. It might come as an unpleasant surprise to hear and feel a slimy, cold-blooded rattlesnake in the pitch darkness, or a scorpion or rabid bat for that matter.
Delamar Lake is one of the more interesting features of the town. It is dry as a bone and the lake bed is cracked from heat exposure. Pilots who fly over the region know it as Texas Lake due to the outline of the lake resembling the state of Texas.
The town is famous in American UFO folklore as several UFOs have been sighted at and around the lake. Without any light pollution from nearby habitation, the desert night sky is unobscured, making it a great place for stargazing. Who knows, maybe the next UFO sighting could occur there again.
The United States Air Force has also used the Delamar Lakebed for some of its operations and has even landed its planes there.
For travelers who find themselves in Nevada, either on a trip to Area 51 or to Vegas, Delamar is a great place to stop. It's easy to spend a day exploring the ruins of the ghost town, checking out some mine shafts, watching the sunsets, and maybe even seeing a UFO. If that's not good enough, wild horses also roam the area. There's no question that Delamar is a piece of classic Americana and a beloved remnant of the Wild West.