San Juan or Upper 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 ...

that was a

mining camp Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

of the Eldorado Mining District. It was located in the upper reach of El Dorado Canyon, just below the present day location of

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

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 ...

History

After silver was discovered in 1862 in the upper San Juan creek, a mining camp was established. The silver ore was transported by

steamboats of the Colorado River Steamboats on the Colorado River operated from the river mouth at the Colorado River Delta on the Gulf of California in Mexico, up to the Virgin River on the Lower Colorado River Valley in the Southwestern United States from 1852 until 1909, wh ...

Richard E. Lingenfelter, Steamboats on the Colorado River, 1852-1916, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1978
pg. 33,35. It was determined that the small veins could not be mined for a profit, and San Juan was abandoned weeks later. A large stone building are the only remains from the settlement.

References

Ghost towns in Clark County, Nevada Mining communities in Nevada Nevada Territory Steamboats of the Colorado River Ghost towns in Nevada Populated places established in 1861 1861 establishments in Nevada Territory {{ClarkCountyNV-geo-stub