Rochester

Pershing County

AKA: See below.

This page is going to incorporate all the camps of the Rochester area described below. The Rochester area was another very early discovery. Gold was discovered here in the early 1860's. Maybe even as early as 1860. The camp received its name from the original prospectors who were from Rochester, New York. After the discovery, there was no further development of the area until the beginning of the 20th century. High quality silver ore was discovered here in 1912 and the rush to Rochester was on. By 1913, the area became an actual city comprised of four separate town names. These included Upper Rochester, Rochester, Lower Rochester and Rochester Heights. Another author has referred to them as Upper Rochester, East Rochester, West Rochester/ Lower Town and Central Rochester. It is estimated that the population may have reached a couple thousand residents. Real homes were being built and streets with defined business districts were established. Two newspapers known as the "Miner" and the "Journal" operated here. All of the regular boom town businesses operated here, to include saloons, restaurants, a drug store, bakery, dance halls, etc. Rochester Heights on Nenzel Hill became the elite section of town. The area of Rochester Heights even had a philharmonic orchestra which performed shows. By 1914, the Nevada Short Line Railroad had extended a branch to Lower Rochester. This was a branch of the Southern Pacific. By 1914, service reached the mouth of the canyon and went as far as Nenzel Hill. The main purpose was to carry ore to the mills of Oreana. After the mill was built at Lower Town, the branch hauled ore from the mines down to this new mill. This short line never performed in the manner in which it was intended. By 1917, a tram line was built from the mines to the mill. The short line was already in financial trouble. In 1918, fires and floods finished it off. The 1920's were actually the most successful period of time for the mines here. After this, falling silver prices, the Great Depression and a few other factors caused great decline in the area.

We took this trip to Rochester, as well as through the Seven Troughs Mining district in May of 2021. I did something that I had never done before. I found old photographs of these towns and tried to recreate them. for Rochester, I found a photograph on the website 'Western Mining History' of a two- story hotel. I did a pretty good job of recreating it. If you haven't been to the page 'Western Mining History', it is awesome. I attached that photo below. You will have to actually click on it, because the photo gallery style that I chose doesn't give a full view of vertical photographs.

Post Office: Rochester- February 17, 1913 to March 18, 1919 (Humboldt County); March 18, 1919 to November 15, 1926 (Pershing County); Upper Rochester- November 9, 1927 to January 14, 1928; Lower Rochester- June 7, 1915 to March 18, 1919 (Humboldt County); March 18, 1919 to January 8, 1943 (Pershing County).

Last Trip/ Road Conditions: May 2021. The road up through here is dirt. It was pretty good.