Few visitors to Nevada’s Great Basin National Park notice the sign indicating the trailhead for the Osceola Ditch Interpretive Trail—which is a shame because there’s a fascinating story behind the ditch as well as the town to which it once provided water.
The interpretive trail can be found about 4.6 miles from the start of the Wheeler Peak Scenic Road. A sign notes the trail location, with parking on the right side of the highway.
While today little remains of the actual ditch, in the late 19th century it was an engineering achievement. Gold was discovered in about 1872 in what would become known as the Osceola Mining District (which is located three miles west of Great Basin National Park; accessible by dirt road from U.S. 50 at the Sacramento Pass Recreation/Rest Area).
Prospectors James Matteson and Frank Heck made the initial gold ore discovery and within a short time other miners poured into the area seeking to make their fortunes. Within two years, Osceola had 250 residents and by 1882 a town of about 1,500 people had sprouted on the northwest side of Mount Wheeler.
Since there weren’t any major sources of water near the mining district, which was located in a deep ravine, the miners decided to construct a 16-mile ditch to drain water off the western slope of the South Snake Range.
This ditch, completed in 1885, cost more than $80,000 to build and employed more than 175 workers. The water from the ditch (called the West Ditch) allowed a limited hydraulic mining (essentially blasting the ravine with pressurized water to free up any gold) and inspired the miners to build a second ditch to bring even more water to the area.
This second canal, which was 18 miles long, was designed to carry water from streams located to the southeast, including Lehman Creek. This water system, built between 1889-1890, cost more than $108,000 and involved some 300 workers, many of whom were Chinese or local Native Americans.
The second (or East) ditch (part of which is today’s Osceola Ditch Trail) required constructing miles of wooden flumes as well as blasting a 600-foot tunnel through rock outcroppings.
Adding the second canal ultimately didn’t substantially improve the haul from Osceola’s mines. Additionally, several dry winters in a row meant very little water was available to divert to either of the ditches.
By 1900, the whole ditch project was abandoned. Today, the Ditch Trail retraces the path of the old flume and passes a tunnel that had to be blasted in the rock at one spot.
Despite the ditch’s apparent lack of success, Osceola was a fairly productive (generating about $2 million) and relatively long-lived mining camp. In 1877, one of the world’s largest gold nuggets was discovered at the Osceola site, a chunk of ore weighing 24 pounds.
Little remains of the former town of Osceola, which once boasted two stores, a hotel, a Chinese restaurant, livery stable, post office and several saloons. Visitors can still find the stone walls of the former general store, a handful of wooden structures and, on the roadside hill west of the town site, a fairly impressive cemetery.
Much of the site is on private property—mining has been done sporadically over the years—so be courteous and respectful of the property owners.
For more information, go to the National Park Service web site, www.nps.gov/grba/historyculture/the-osceola-ditch.htm, or to the Exploring Great Basin website, https://www.exploringgreatbasin.net/?q=content/3-osceola-ditch-interpretive-trail.
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