Cumberland
(Gold Run/Adelaide)
[Not to be confused with the 1930s camp of Adelaide, 1¾ miles west]
The Gold Run District was organized in October 1866, prompting the location of several gold and silver mines that reportedly had thousands of tons of ore worth nearly $100/ton (Humboldt Register, 1867). A townsite called Cumberland was laid out in fall 1867, which soon had a population of sixty and a few businesses surrounding a central plaza. The primary mines were the Golconda and Hope, and in 1868 the 8-stamp Golconda Mill was built at Fairview, about eight miles north, to treat their ore. By 1871, however, activity languished, and the camp declined. A brief resurgence took place in 1888 when the Adelaide Copper Company was incorporated, and the following year some copper matte was produced and sent to New Jersey.
In 1897, Adelaide Star Mines, Ltd. was incorporated as a subsidiary of the Glasgow & Western Exploration Company (a Scottish firm), and acquired the principal mines in the district. They erected a ninety-ton concentrating plant and smelter at Golconda, connected to the Adelaide mine by the 12-mile narrow gauge Golconda & Adelaide Railroad - completed in January 1899. Unfortunately, by June 1900, it was determined that the smelter wasn't properly suited for copper ore from the Adelaide mine, and the smelter operated inconsistently until 1905. Two years later, the smelter was overhauled to use the Macquisten process; it was among the first in the United States to use this process. Around this time a new townsite called Adelaide was platted near the mine, but the smelter again proved to be problematic and operations were suspended after a year and a half. The smelter was dismantled in 1911, and the railroad was scrapped and sold to the Rochester mines in 1914. In 1916, the Adelaide mine was purchased by the Yerington Mountain Copper Company, which operated it through World War I. Activity since has shifted to the west to the newer camp of Adelaide, which can be found on its own page.
