They differ widely in age but were probably formed during the Tertiary period. Eruptive formations, consisting of rhyolite and minor amounts of basalt and rocks of intermediate composition with associated tuffs and breccias, are exposed over extensive areas in all of the ranges bordering the valley. Igneous rocks in the Big Smoky Valley are predominantly pre- Quaternary.
Originally they probably covered the entire region, but at present they are found over extensive areas only in the Toiyabe, Toquima, Silver Peak, and Lone Mountain ranges. Since their deposition they have been extensively deformed, eroded, intruded by lavas, and largely covered by igneous bodies and sedimentary deposits. Although they have a wide range in age, no unconformity has been found between two successive formations. Limestone, slate, schist, and quartzite totaling several thousand feet in thickness and ranging in age from lower Cambrian to Carboniferous are the oldest rocks found in this region. Grit derived from Tertiary lavas supplied by the southern part of the Toiyabe and Shoshone ranges is also abundant and widely distributed. Meta-sedimentary and granitic wastes predominate the Manhattan and Kingston fans while quartz sands derived from granites, predominate in the axial part of the valley between Charnock Springs and Round Mountain and most of the steep slope adjacent to Lone Mountain. The valley floor consists primarily of alluvial fans composed of small poorly sorted gravels. Big Smoky Valley is bounded to the south by Lone Mountain, and the east and west by the Toquima and the Toiyabe ranges, respectively. The Big Smoky Valley is similar to many of the desert valleys in Nevada, characterized by flanking mountain ranges running north to south. Major mining operations opened and operated through the 1970s to the 1990s, but production has recently scaled back significantly. Īnother boom in 1909 resulted in mining continuing into the late 1940s. In 1904, "Mom" Ronzone first started selling socks to Manhattan miners, the beginning of a retail career that would result in Ronzone's department stores in Tonopah, then Las Vegas. The Nye and Ormsby County Bank, the only stone structure to be built in the town, was erected in 1906, but a decline followed the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1907 depression. Then, in 1905, as part of the gold boom, "4,000 people flood(ed) into the region". George Wheeler found the district abandoned in 1871. It originally was founded in 1867 as part of the silver mining boom.
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