Bonner Shaft Audio Tour

Turn and walk south to Washington Street. Two blocks up Washington Street you will reach a wooden stairway leading to C Street. Turn and look down D Street to your left and you’ll see the Mackay Mansion, more on that later.

Looking towards the Mackay Mansion, on your right you’ll see a greenish stone and brick foundation remains of the hoist house of the Gould and Curry Mining Company.

The hoist house was built over the Bonner Shaft which was sunk in 1864. By 1873, the mine had reached the 1800 food level, with a total production of $15,525,110. A year later, with the discovery of the Big Bonanza, the shaft was opened up to deeper levels.

The extreme heat, at 122 degrees, encountered at this depth combined with the frequent cave ins of the soft earth impeded the miners’ progress. The Gould and Curry Mining Company continued to mine sporadically at the Bonner Shaft until the turn of the century.