Dean Mill

Esmeralda County

AKA: Jackamile Mill

If there was ever a historical site in Nevada that made it tough for me to research, this is it. I have spent years trying to figure out exactly what this place was. I used to work with a guy who was born and raised around Eureka and Smoky Valley. He told me that when he was a kid, he lived at this mill with his dad for a short time. They called it the Jackamile Mill. I tried for years and was never able to find anything under that name. In May of 2022, I pulled up a USGS Report on an Esmeralda County mine. It had a passage about the distance and direction from the mine to the "Dean Mill". I drew a mileage line on Google Earth from the mine to what I had marked as the "Jackamile" and there it was. I have since found many more mines in the area that all reference the Dean Mill in their USGS Reports. All of these mines have very direct roads that lead to the Dean Mill. Each of those USGS Reports also provide a distance and direction from the mine to Dean Mill. Each one lines up perfectly. I will list each of these mines below. I don't have enough room to do full write-ups on all of these mines. Therefore, I'm only going to add the information that ties all of this together.

Below, I will list the name of the mine, primary commodity, year of discovery and who discovered it.

Blue Star Mine- Talc-Soapstone- 1941- Edward Shaw.
C and C Mine- Talc-Soapstone and Clay- 1944- Charles Chance and Peter Cherooty.
Cowhide Mine- Talc-Soapstone and Clay- 1939- Justin Gates.
Crystal White Prospect- Talc- Soapstone- 1943- Unknown.
Curley Talc Mine- Talc-Soapstone- 1942- Roscoe "Death Valley Curley" Wright.
Gates Mine- Clay and Talc-Soapstone- 1940- Justin Gates.
Green Top Mine- Tungsten and Talc-Soapstone- It only lists that there was production into the 1950's.
Hilltop Mine- Talc-Soapstone.
King Mine- Talc-Soapstone and Clay- 1940- W.E. Mac Boyle, M.D. Mac Boyle & J.E. King.
Mae Talc Mine- Talc-Soapstone- 1941- Fred C. Johnson.
Nevada No. 1 Talc Mine- Talc-Soapstone- 1941- Peter Cherooty & Ernest Brushwood.
Oasis Mine- Talc-Soapstone and Clay- 1927- F.V. Bovard.
Oversight Mine- Talc-Soapstone and Clay- 1939- W.E. Mac Boyle, M.D. Mac Boyle & Sam Hain.
Reed Mine- Talc-Soapstone. 1927- F.V. Bovard.
Roseamelia Mine- Talc-Soapstone, Clay & Mica- 1931- Ernest and Al Lemke.
Sundown- Talc-Soapstone.
White Eagle- Talc-Soapstone- 1931- Gertrude and Laurel Dust.
White Giant- Clay & Talc-Soapstone- 1941- O.F. Danuser.
White King Extension- Clay & Talc-Soapstone- 1947- J.E. King.

These mines all seem to coincide very closely. Talc-Soapstone seems to be the going commodity. They were all discovered within a short time of each other, mainly in the 1930's and 1940's. In some cases, the same person is responsible for discovering more than one of them. It seems very likely that the Dean Mill handled Talc-Soapstone and was utilized in more modern times. This would also coincide with the guy that I knew who lived there as a child.

Last Trip/ Road Conditions: April 2013 is when the photographs were taken. The mill is located about a 1/4 north of Hwy 266 down a decent dirt road.