Noonchester Mine

Trail Overview

You will cross a short bridge as you leave the pavement behind. As you head up the trail there are a few rocks less than a foot tall other than that it's a fairly smooth road. At 1.3 miles up you will come to a switchback with a pull-out. If you choose you can hike up the walking path and see the old mine that is caged up. It is a pretty loose scramble up the tailings to get to it above the walking path, if you keep following the walking path it pops you out above Quail Lake. If you continue a bit past the switchback there is an old foundation and some other caged off mine shafts. When you get to the top of the trail there is an amazing view of Quail Lake and Lake Tahoe. The trail makes a loop at the top, do not pass the gate as you will be entering Homewood property.

Photos of Noonchester Mine

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Difficulty

There are a couple of rocks poking out around 12" tall that you can navigate around even in a smaller SUV. There are pull-outs frequently if there is on coming traffic.

History

Summary from an account in "The Nevada State Journal - Sun. June 1947" The remains of the Noonchester Mine are located just South of Quail Lake and are accessible via a 4-wheel drive road from the McKinney Rubicon Springs Road. It was a gold mine established by Londen Lee Noonchester in 1939. Born in Virginia in 1884, Noonchester lived and prospected for 35 years in Oregon and came to Tahoe in 1932. He discovered the gold containing arsenical sulfide ore in 1939, but because of delays in getting supplies during WWII, he did not get it into operation until the mid-40s. The value of the find based on assays, was from $18 - $27 million. The ore was extracted by surface mining and no water or timbering was required. At the time of the account, they employed 20 men and planned to expand to 300 men milling 1,000 tons of ore daily. They also formed the "Lake Tahoe Gold Mining Company" with 1 million shares at $1 par value."

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