"Some time during the year 1853, four miners, whose names are Taylor, Bonham, Moore and Rogers,[Note 2] united their fortunes and set out together upon a prospecting tour through the mountains of Nevada.

At a point about three miles south of Snow Tent, in the northern section of the county, our adventurers discovered indications which induced them to commence serious operations.

Staking off a small claim near the head of what is now styled Logan's Cañon, and forms the north-eastern boundary of Relief Hill, they applied themselves with untiring energy and patience.

Reduced to positive destitution, and heartily sick of 'hope deferred,' they were upon the eve of adopting the alternative when one of the hungry hombres struck the shining lode, and manifested his delight by shouting the word—Relief.

[20] Principal mines were the Blue Gravel, Union, Great Eastern, Relief, Penn Cut and Waukesha.

[22] In 1884, a federal court enjoined many aspects of hydraulic mining, finding that the discharges had created a variety of problems for farmers and others living downstream.

[23][24] As one writer puts it: "With an elaborate warning system, including riders on fast horses, and the Ridge Telephone Company's relatively new long-distance line, the miners usually had time to shut down before the inspectors from Sacramento could reach them.

"[24] In 1893, the US Congress passed the Caminetti Act which allowed the resumption of hydraulic mining under license if the debris could be retained in localized dams.

[27] With the old town largely abandoned, some residents started mining in the old town site, so that: "husbands, crazed with gold fever, washed the foundations from under their homes, and watched the houses fall into the river, while the wives and children ran from their homes, fleeing a certain death.