Lucky Jim Camp sometimes called Lucky Camp is a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by All ...

site in

Clark County, Nevada Clark County is located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,265,461. Most of the county population resides in the Las Vegas Census County Divisions, which hold 1,771,945 people as of the 2010 Census, acros ...

. It was within New Mexico Territory when founded in 1862. It was a mining camp in El Dorado Canyon in the Colorado Mining District in the 1860s. Its site lies on the north side of the canyon, south of the Techatticup Mine, at an elevation of 2444 feet and above the mouth of January Wash at its confluence with El Dorado Canyon.

History

How Lucky Jim Camp was named is unknown. The town replaced the earlier mining camps of Alturas and

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established near the Techatticup Mine in 1861, after the destructive Great Flood of 1862. The Great Flood affected much of the

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in the winter of 1861-1862, including the

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between

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and

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, causing severe flooding and destruction of settlements, including in El Dorado Canyon. Lucky Jim Camp was located off the canyon floor and above the flood waters, and provided a refuge to those fleeing the lower camps in the flood's path. The name of nearby January Wash may memorialize the event which would have occurred there in January 1862. Lucky Jim Camp was the home of miners sympathetic to the

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cause during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. A mile up the canyon, above Huse Spring, was a camp with

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sympathies called Buster Falls.James Graves Scrugham, Nevada: A Narrative of the Conquest of a Frontier Land, Vol. 1, American Historical Society, Chicago, 1935 El Dorado City with its stamp mill, established in late 1863, was located just a short distance down the same side of the canyon as the older Lucky Jim Camp, and may have supplanted it by the end of the war or shortly thereafter when the mines had a period of idleness.

Today

The site of Lucky Jim Camp appears barren of any trace of ruins viewed by satellite photos.

References

Ghost towns in Clark County, Nevada Mining in Nevada Former populated places in Clark County, Nevada History of Clark County, Nevada 1862 establishments in New Mexico Territory Populated places established in 1862 {{ClarkCountyNV-geo-stub