Tunnel Camp and the Seven Troughs District in Vernon, Nevada

The Seven Troughs District, toward the south end of the range of the same name, includes a number of mining camps: Tunnel Camp, Vernon, Mazuma, and Seven Troughs itself, all dating from Nevada's early 20th-century mining boom. Of these, the best preserved by far is Tunnel Camp.

Tunnel Camp's unusual name reflected its purpose: the plan was to bore a tunnel into the range from the east so that the mines could be drained. The project was unsuccessful, however. Nonetheless, desultory mining continued in the area, and some activity persists even today.

The ruins in Tunnel Camp are dominated by the foundation of a large mill, which includes a well-preserved loading chute and stamp mill. A large brick building, partly intact, was probably the mill office. Several cabins in remarkably good shape, indeed showing evidence of recent occupation, also are found. Finally, a poorly preserved graveyard is located downstream of the buildings.

Tunnel Camp was founded later than the other camps, in 1927—that may be part of why it is so well preserved. Another factor is probably that a few people still lived there up until circa 2000. Finally, a wildfire swept through Seven Troughs Canyon in the early 1990s, destroying any wooden ruins that remained there. Little is left of the other camps, just adits and spoil heaps with occasional stone or concrete foundations. The handful of steel structures are more recent additions.