A few years back, I wrote about the mining activity at Rosebud on the eastern edge of the Black Rock Desert. Yet, there was also considerable mining activity much closer to the Honey Lake Valley in the nearby Smoke Creek Desert. In 1882, the Cottonwood Mining District was established on the Fox Mountains on the east side of the Smoke Creek Desert. Due to its remoteness and lack of any substantial high grade ore, little mining was developed..
In 1904, several Susanville residents struck gold in Wild Horse Canyon, located on Fox Mountain, and some mines were developed. In 1906 the Washoe-Lassen Mining Company was incorporated, whose board of directors comprised of: Fred Hines, John E. Humphrey, Zeb Johnson, E.A. Martin and John Spalding. It was not too long after that, that witnessed the construction of the Western Pacific Railroad along the base of the Fox Mountains. With rail transportation nearby, made it easier to have have crushed ore shipped for processing.
In 1908 construction of a tunnel began. In 1910, the neglected five-stamp mill of the Lone Pine Mine on Gold Run, south of Susanville, was refurbished and taken to Wild Horse to crush quartz.
On April 20, 1911, a horrible tragedy occurred at Wild Horse, when 60 pounds of explosive near the tunnel entrance was accidentally set off, killing two men: Jack Lynch and J.C. Howard.
Mining at Wild Horse had its ebb and flows. By the early 1920s, one of the original shareholders of the Washoe-Lassen Mining Company, Charlie Emerson owned the controlling interest in the Wild Horse Mine. By 1928, Emerson’s health was failing and was burdened by an extremely large debt load, and did not have the funds to develop the mines. In 1929, after Emerson’s death, his children abandoned Wild Horse and focused on the family holdings in the Honey Lake Valley.