Miners Delight Wyoming Ghost Town
Photos courtesy of Mike Sinnwell September 2013
Gold was first discovered here in Spring Gulch in 1867 and within no time, a mining camp sprang up that was named Hamilton City. However, because the largest and most productive mine, located on Peabody Hill, was called Miners Delight, most people called the town by the same name.
The large mine was founded by Jonathan Pugh, and before long, the town’s name was officially changed to Miners Delight. The mine was initially rich enough that a 10-stamp mill was erected to crush the rock.
The residents of Miners Delight soon found that the gold was more expensive to recover than it was worth and within a few years, its population fell dramatically from its peak of some 75 residents. The Miners Delight Mine first shut down in 1874, but soon reopened, only to shut down again in 1882. Boom and bust periods followed the operation of the mine. In March 1882 the mine was completely shut down and not used again until after the turn of the 20th century. The two brief boom periods, 1907 and 1910, were in relation to mining operations.
Over the years the mine produced over $5 million in gold ore. The town was inhabited as late as 1960, but today provides only ruins.
Two famous residents lived in Miners Delight. Calamity Jane, born Martha Jane Canary moved with her adoptive parents to Miners Delight. It is rumored that she serviced the miners at Miners Delight and nearby Atlantic City. Skills she probably used later on in Deadwood and other places she visited. The other famous person was the gent who discovered the Comstock Lode in Nevada, Henry Tompkins Paige Comstock. Of course the Comstock discovery was after his stay in Miners Delight.
In this town it was not unusual to find a entrance to a cellar or mine inside the buildings. Numerous cases where there was a trap door or other opening leading down a set of stairs.