EVEN the post office in nearby Ely, 30 miles east, has not heard of the place.
The ruins of Swansea lie forgotten in the desert 235 miles north of Las Vegas.
The town was the first county seat of White Pine County, which experienced a silver rush in 1869. In the spring of that year the Hamilton Press described it as a new magic town situated in a lovely valley, with great expectations for success. The description may well have been exaggerated in a bid to attract miners.
Plans for Swansea to become a significant industrial settlement in its own right were curtailed when it was annexed to Shermantown at the end of that year. Shermantown's post office closed in 1871, after a probable "bust".
The town got its name from an experienced Welsh miner who erected a furnace there. He had placed a similar smelting works in a successful operation at Oceana in Humboldt County, Nevada.
This article originally appeared in Planet Swansea which was published by the South Wales Evening Post.
The ruins of Swansea lie forgotten in the desert 235 miles north of Las Vegas.
The town was the first county seat of White Pine County, which experienced a silver rush in 1869. In the spring of that year the Hamilton Press described it as a new magic town situated in a lovely valley, with great expectations for success. The description may well have been exaggerated in a bid to attract miners.
Plans for Swansea to become a significant industrial settlement in its own right were curtailed when it was annexed to Shermantown at the end of that year. Shermantown's post office closed in 1871, after a probable "bust".
The town got its name from an experienced Welsh miner who erected a furnace there. He had placed a similar smelting works in a successful operation at Oceana in Humboldt County, Nevada.
This article originally appeared in Planet Swansea which was published by the South Wales Evening Post.
