Boom and Bust Created a Community

1873 until 1925

As the gossip and discussion of an impending mining boom started to generate interest among the merchants, miners and related service-providers located throughout the central valley of California began to take hold, Mineral King and the surrounding mountains would be changed forever.
By 1873, ore deposits were found and a short-lived boom and bust period consolidated Mineral King and Silver City into viable communities that transformed themselves over time. At one point the combined communities eventually had over 3,000 residents.

The myth began…

In 1862 Harry Parole – Born Harry O’Farrell -- finds Mineral King Valley and determines that this was the conclusion of his long search for a mineral rich, but previously un-mined area of California. Ten years later in 1872, Harry Parole makes one of first claims under his given name Harry O’Farrell. During the same year, John Crabtree, Charles Belden and George Loup stake the White Chief Claim and discovered promising galena ore above the Mineral King Valley. The lure of riches to come was convincing for many. In the fall of 1872 merchants from Visalia hired John Meadows with $3000 they raised to complete a trail up the East fork of the Kaweah River into Mineral King. Before the end of the year, John Meadows and his crew were forced to stop due to heavy snow. Unable to continue, they built shelters and decided to stay until winter melted into spring --and Meadows called his base camp "Silver City". Just afterwards in 1873, James Morgan and W.H.H. Hart of the New England Tunnel & Smelting Co. named James P. Ford as the manager – White Chief mine was bonded for $300,000. Then commerce and jobs came to town.

…And Silver City evolved

As the snows melted, Al Weishar from Visalia established the first mill at John Meadow’s “Silver City”. From the hot valley floor, Weishar slowly hauled mill equipment up the newly-carved trail by mule to a site he acquired above Silver City to furnish lumber for the cabins being built. Business was good in the beginning. By March of 1874, the first miners entered the valley and several established base camp just below snowline. Later that spring the new settlement appeared for first time with the name “Silver City” in the Visalia Weekly Delta Newspaper on May 7, 1874. By mid-year in June, Silver City already had a population of fifty to sixty people. According to historical records at the Mineral King Preservation Society, it was announced in June that a school would be opened in Silver City before mid-summer. By 1878 the NET & S Co. had failed to produce a viable mine or a smelting plant. In 1878 Tom Fowler** purchased the Empire mine from Harry O’Farrell, created the “Empire Gold & Silver Mining Co. with 100,000 shares of which he sold 2,000 initially. Valley resident James Fleming was named superintendent and big business came to Silver City.

As the mining came to an end…

Around 1879 John Cutler, an area rancher, purchased 640 acres of land to provide timber for the mining boon in the present day area of Silver City. In the fall of 1879 there was reported to be 3000 people in Mineral King - roughly the same population as Visalia at the time. Mineral King had six hotels, 13 restaurants, 13 saloons, three butchers, three assay offices (ore testing), several stores, a barber, stamp mill, retort works (furnace), blacksmith, coal house, a full time physician, livery stable, shoemaker, warehouse, three lumber mills and a dairy. February 4, 1880 brought the first shipment of bullion from Empire mine. However, tragedy was just around the corner. On April 16, 1880 an avalanche came down on the mine. This marked the beginning of the end of the mining boom. By the end of 1881 miners were simply not interested in Mineral King, and local families were instead enjoying the area avoiding the summer heat of the San Joaquin Valley. The myth of silver and riches gave way to a recreational opportunity for those who were able to make it up to Silver City and Mineral King. Within a few years prominent valley residents and politicians petitioned the Federal Government to declare an area of over 400 square miles a national park and a protected forest area. In 1890 Sequoia and General Grant National Parks were created. Around 1920 Frank Blain purchased 160 acres from the Cutler family in the present Silver City area and subdivided lots under the name Silver City Forest Homes. Several of the cabins in the Silver City Community were built on lots purchased at the time from Frank Blain and many of the cabin owners can trace their lineage back to the purchase and construction of their cabin and remember the stories their Grandparents told about their summer trips to the mountain.