Click the hotspots for additional views. Once the center of a mining district of 10,000 people, Hamilton now sits deserted off of Highway 50 in White Pine County, between Eureka and Ely. Large-scale discoveries of silver at nearby Treasure Hill in 1868 created an instant, but short lived, boomtown. In 1868-1869 some 10,000 people moved into huts and caves at elevations up to 10,500 feet above sea level. In addition to its many saloons, breweries and general stores, the town soon had theaters, dance halls, a Miners’ Union Hall, and skating rinks. But the surface silver soon ran out, and fires in 1872 and 1885 destroyed much of the fading town.