Fish Lake Valley is a ghost town

Ghost town

A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...

 located in Esmeralda County, Nevada

Esmeralda County, Nevada

Esmeralda County is a county in the west of U.S. state of Nevada. Its county seat is Goldfield. Its 2000 census population was officially 971, making its population density 0.1045 inhabitants/km² , the second-lowest of any county-equivalent outside of Alaska. As of 2010, the population had...

 and Inyo County, California

Inyo County, California

-National protected areas:* Death Valley National Park * Inyo National Forest * Manzanar National Historic Site-Major highways:* U.S. Route 6* U.S. Route 395* State Route 127* State Route 136* State Route 168* State Route 178...

.

It is just east of the White Mountains (California)

White Mountains (California)

The White Mountains of California are a triangular fault block mountain range facing the Sierra Nevada across the upper Owens Valley. They extend for approximately as a greatly elevated plateau about wide on the south, narrowing to a point at the north, with elevations generally increasing...

, the highest range entirely within the Great Basin

Great Basin

The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America and is noted for its arid conditions and Basin and Range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than away at the...

 at 14252 feet (4,344 m). There is sufficient rain and snow at high elevations to feed permanent streams from the mountains, providing irrigation for alfalfa and other crops, although the valley's elevation, in excess of 4000 feet (1,219.2 m), is a serious constraint.

History

Fish Lake Valley was originally settled in 1866, when the 'Palmetto Mining District' in Esmeralda County was formed, and settlement in Fish Lake Valley began. During the 1870s two companies, 'Griffing & Nyman's' and 'Pacific Borax Works' were located here extracting borax

Borax

Borax, also known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate, is an important boron compound, a mineral, and a salt of boric acid. It is usually a white powder consisting of soft colorless crystals that dissolve easily in water.Borax has a wide variety of uses...

 at Fish Lake.

The Carson and Columbus Stage Line

Stagecoach

A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...

 ran north from Fish Lake Valley to Aurora

Aurora, Nevada

Aurora is a ghost town in Mineral County in the western central part of the U.S. state of Nevada, approximately southwest of the town of Hawthorne and three miles from the California border....

 and Carson City, also connecting with Logsprings, Nevada in the Sylvania Mining District as well as Lida

Lida, Nevada

Lida, Nevada is a small town in Esmeralda County, Nevada, near the border with California. It is located on State Route 266, north of Magruder Mountain....

 in the Sylvania Mountains

Sylvania Mountains

The Sylvania Mountains are located in Inyo County, California and Esmeralda County, Nevada in the United States. The range trends in an east-west direction north of the Last Chance Range at the northern end of Death Valley National Park....

. Local ranches supplied food to the freight industry and mining communities such as Fish Lake Valley.

A post office opened in Fish Lake Valley in 1881.

Today a historical marker near the site commemorates the life of W.O. Harrell, known as "Harrell, the Irrepressible, Citizen Extraordinaire", of Fish Lake Valley in the 1870s.