Form No. 10-306 lRcY lO-741

U N ITED ST'ATtS DL,PA RT M t,N1' O F T H L, I NT L,R IORNATIONAL PARK SERVICE

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESINVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM

FOR FEDERAL PROPERTIES

SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL NEGISTER FONMSTYPE ALL ENTRIES.. COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTION

NAMEHlsroRtc

creat Slerta Mine (Dana ViLlage) Historic SlteAND/OF COMMON

Great Sierra Mine

IlI.ocarroN1., , ,. r .,/ .., '/. . l. t"' ,'

STREET & NUMBER

Not appllcable (Yosenite National Park) -torron puarlcrnolr

CITY,TOW ...,. L-:, .._ CONGRESSIONA| DISTEICT

tr{r.---eFFli.,hrai , -lr vrcrNrrYoF Gaylor Lake ' Tl.'oga H111 14thSTATE COD€ COUNTY COO€

CI.ASSIFICATION

CATEGONY_DISTRICT

LBUrLDrNGtsl

-STRUCTUREx-srTE

-OSJECT

ow EnsHrP{-puaLrc

-PRIVATE-8OTHPUEUC ACqUtStTtOtrl_lN PsoCESS

ia€rilG coNsrDCREo

STATUS_occuPt€DIuroccuetro_woax t PRocREss

ACCESSIBLE

-YES, RESTRIC'ED

.:l'YES: UNRESTRICTEO

-NO

PRCSENT USE__.AGRICUITUNE

-MUSEUM-coMMERcrAr

.:!PARK

-EDUCATIONAL _PNIVAIERESIOTNCE

-ENTCRTAII{MENT -NELIGIOUS

-GOVERNMET{T _SCTE TtFtC

-IT{OUSTNIAL -TRANSPORTATION

-MIUTARY -OTHERI

IecuNcvnEGIONAL HEAOOUAnftRS. 0l.pprhtht. )

Park Servlce Westetn

San Franciseo

-

vtclNtlY oF CaliforniaLOCATION OF IJGAL DESCRIPTIONCOUEINOUS€,REGrsrRYoFDEEoqErc National Park Servlce. Yosemite National park

P.O. Box 577CITY, TOWN STAT€

REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYSII

'IE llistorlc Bulldj.ngs InventoryDATE

L96l :l.FEDERAL _STATE -couNTY -LocAL

oEPOSTIOnY FO8

SURV€Y RCCOROS Yosernite NationaL Park filesCITY. TOWN

Yosenite National ParkSTATE

California

I nnscRrPTIoN

_EXCELLENT

-GOOOLrlrn

CONDITION

-DETENIORATEDLnuns

-UNEXPOSEO *Mlnine equlDment moved to Pioneer Hlstory Center' War^tonaDESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND OFIGINAL (IF KNOWN} PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

The Greac Slerra Minlng Company establlshed Dana V1llage as the support facilltyfor the operatl-ons of the Sheepherder Lode. The vlllage is located above GaylorLake on Tioga II111.

The remains of 5 stone cabins r a wooden bleckslnlth shop, and a snall- stone po\flderhouse can be seen today. The equipment originally l-n thLs mLne was removed by the?ark for reasons of preservation, and 1s displayed at Ehe Hlstoly Center (Wawona) '

The wal1s of the cablns and powder house are well defined' but portions are toPpledover and iir ruins. The blacksnlth shop was destroyed in an explosion durlng thel-ast nonths of operatlon, and those timbers are scattered about the slte, Theshaft openlflgs are caved in, and fllled with rubble.

One cabin is relatlvely intact wlth onl-y lts roof removed' The cabln ls a one-story'one-roon nasonry structure measuring c. 25t x 18r,

The wa1ls are very thiek, c. 4r at the base and 3r at the toP' consistlng of smal1lagged slabs of metanorphlc rock (schLst or slate) and sracked on a rubble bondcompletely wlthout norcar, Ttere ls one wlndow on the south wall and one door onthe east wa1l, both franed wj-Eh hand-hewn lumber' rteathered and bLeached. Thecabln had a gable roof which was removedl the gabi"e ends were stone masonry ' Theplates for the roof structure and 4 beams are lntact '

The cabln hae evidentLy been rebuilt and repalred sevetal tLmes, but the rature of chedty-masonry constructlon fequlrea thls type of malntenance, The cabin thereforedoes not vlolate the crlterla concerning reconsttuctlon.

To prevent further collapse of masoD.ry, the roof should be restored. A new gableon the south end vi11 have to be buil-E and debris should be removed fron Lhsidethe butldtng. The bullding has potentlal as an Lnterpretive tool in relatlng thestory of the sllver miners and the openlng of the Tloga Pass region. Maintenanceof the cabln ls adequate preservatlon for thls resource.

CHECK ONE

-UNALTEREDlllre n: o

CHECK ONE

-tr'ORIGINAL SITE

l(MovEo orre 1960s*

EsrclurtcANcE

PERIOD

_PR€HISTORIC

_ 1400. r 499

I 500- 1599

_1600- I699

-1700 1 799

{raoo-rsgs_1900-

-ARCHEOLOGY FREHISTONIC

-ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC-,AGFICULTURESncxrre crunr

-,A NT

-COMM€ACE-,-COMMUNICATIONS

AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE ., CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW

*COMMUNITY PLAN NING

-CONSERVATION-- ECONOMTCS

.-EDUCATION

-ENGIN6ENING

-EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT.:iIN OUSTF Y

-INV€NTION

-LANDSCAPE Afl CHITECTURE

-LITERAIURE

-MUStC_.PHILOSOPHY

-POLITICs/GOVERNMENT

-RETIGION_scl€n cE

_SCULPTURE

-SOCIAT-/HUMANITAFIAN

-THEATER

-TRANSPORTATION

-OTHER ISP€'ICVI

s PECTFTC DArES 1881_1884 BU ILDER/ARCH ITECT Gr.at Sierra Consolidated Silver Co.

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANC€

Mining activity on the crest and eastern slope of the central Sierra Nevada is closelyinterwoven with events leading to the formatlon of Yosemite National Park. , The

Great Slerra Mine (Dana village) was the slte of the most intenslve, albeit unpro-flrable, silver ninlng effort wlthln the present park boundary and 1s of 1ocalsignlficance in lntlustry. The cabln ls of 1ocal significance arcb{ecqurally; its-typer""ooty construcrT6i-fE-ve ry rare, and lt exhtbtts a high level- of handetaftsuranship.The Great Slerta Mine, originally called the "HLgh Rock" or "Mt. Dana", was one ofseveral claims l-ocated along a ledge atop Tloga Hill and about 800 feet south of thefabled Sheepherder Lode, reputed to be a fabulously rich silver veln. The Lode was

dlscovered Ln 1860 and rediscovered in 1874 by a young sheepherder, Thomas Bruskyr Jr.Brusky and others staked clalms along the Sheepherder and the adjacent ledge, andthe ensuing seven years produced a confusing lltany of tltle changes, coutrterclailns,etc. In 1881 the Great Sierra Consolldated Silver Minlng Company purchased all clalrnsin the lunedtate vlcinLty of Tioga H111. The conPany establlshed the mountalntopcommunity of Dana, includlng a post offiee branch, that same year, lntendlng to workthe minlng operation year-round. Llving conditions at c. 11,000 feet wete difficultand the miners soon relocated at "BennettvLll-et' near the norrhern base of Tloga H111.

Orlglnally the company sank two shafts at the Great Sierra Mine, going down 100 feetbefore sunnit work was abandoned Ln favor of a tunnel through the side of the hillthat would intersect both silver ledges. Drivlng a tunnel- into extremel-y hard rockrequlred speclal dri1l1ng machinery. It took more than fito nonths to haul eight tousof equipment the nlne mLles from Ehe foot of Bloody canyon to the Great Sierra Minetunnel. Ihe equtpment rras transported on 5 heavy sleds by l0 to 12 men and 2 mules.One section requlred an almost vertical c1lmb of 2'1.60 feet.

In 1884 the tunnel had been dtiven 1,784 feet and more than $300,000 expended rathen theGreat Slerra CoflsoLldated Silver Mlning Conpany coLLapsed and closed down operations.?he claim changed hands sevetal tlmes and in 1933 work was restrmed with modetn equip-ment. T'he tunneL was driven several hundred feet further without striking the Sheep-herder Lode and the second ill-fated operation ended. Today the Natlonal Park Servicecontrols access to the rnine tunnel.

The nlning activity on Tloga lti1l attracted hundreds of men and women to Yosernltershigh Slerra region. Conservationis cs, already lobbying to esLablish a federal resetvethat would abollsh grazlng ln Tuolunne tleadows and the lndiscrllnlnate cutting of treesin the sugar pine tracts, agltated anew over the potential deatructlon of spectacularscenery caused by ninlng. It is difficult to assess rrhether Tloga 1t111 and 1ts envl.ronswould have been included in the boundarles delineatlng Yosemite Natlonal Park in 1890tf the Sheepherdet Lode had proven to contaln facural, instead of Tegendaty, Isealth.

of

qm*gtB*lrl.ofi BSP"ry"qS"+,RF"tF'$'Fary$F$'o"n""..,",yosernlteNpLrbrary

bfrIb'l-F.oteii F., "Yosenlters Pi6neer ciblns", Yosernlte Naturg Notes, v. 35:10 (oct.1956)Report of the State Mineralogist, No. 8, 1888. Bureau of M1nes. Sacrarnento, Callf.Report of the State Mineraloglst, No, 35, 1940. Bureau of Mines, Sactanento, calif.Mlning and Scientlfic Prd6s' v. 78t 239, 1899, san Francisco, Callf'Hubbard, Douglass, Ghost Mines of Yosemite. (Fresno: Awani Press, 1958)Russe1l,, Catl P. t0d--:gglg !a tosemite' rev. ed. (Yosernite Natural Ilist. Assn., 1957)

@cnocnaPHIcAL DATA

Al t, ll el lll,l ,lzoNE EASTING NORTHING

A coTrplete dellneation of the boundaries of the Great Sierta Mlne could probablybe ascertalned from the title patent to the mlne. The prfune resources on thesite are the drywal-l masonry cabin and the ruLns of the other structures on thesurmnil of Tloga H111

LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES

acFEAGE oF NoMlf.rar5g ppgp66n Less than l0 acresUTM RIFEN€NCES

STATE

on summlt

-STAIE CODE

@ronu PREPARED BYNAM€ / TITIE

Natio4aL Park Service-. Denver Servlce center Aqgusf 19?6 . ,srFEEr& NUMBER TELEPHoNE (303) 234-4509 (Hart)

Starr Hart, IllstorlanOBGANIZA

l1son)

Lesl,ie

Colorado

El csnrrrrcATroN oF NoMTNATToN

Historic Prosorvation Officer has boen-' evaluale its significanc€. The;valuated

F€DERAL R€PRESENTATIVE SIGNA

Deputy As$J.stant

STATE HISTOR]C PRESERVATION OFFIC€R R€COMMENDATION

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ttt:T'rza t&L"^ LSTATT HISToaIc Pff ESEFvATIoN oFFIcEn SIGNATUFE

ninato this proporty to th€ Nationsl R"s";-;rf6;i6iCEGG-in which tg prosont the nomination to the Stato Foview Eoard and to

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