Prospect
Formed in 1885, Prospect was a small residential camp for miners working nearby. By the time it gained a post office in 1893, the population was only fifty. A smelter was erected in 1908, bringing some growth to the camp, which soon had a saloon, school, population of 100, and stage to Eureka. As mining wound down in the late 1910s, Prospect was abandoned, and the post office closed in 1918.
The principal mine in the area was the Diamond, operated by the Diamond Mining Company, making its first production in 1874. It may have been around 1890 that work began on the 3000-foot Diamond Tunnel, and after 1897 the Diamond and neighboring Excelsior mine seemed to operate in tandem, and the majority of production occured by 1900. In 1934, the two mines were formally consolidated and the Diamond-Excelsior Mining Company formed. A small cyanide mill was completed in 1935, treating some 10,000 tons of ore before closing in 1937; ore was shipped elsewhere for smelting for another two years.
In 1946, the Diamond-Excelsior Co. was reorganized as the Consolidated Eureka Co., which did sporadic exploration and development until a new discovery was made in 1954. This discovery was mined until 1962, after which lessees have performed intermittent work at least as recently as the late 2010s.
A small cluster of cabins beneath the mine seem to be the oldest remaining buildings in the Prospect area, while the structures at the Diamond mine appear to date to the 1950s (or later).
