Mortimer W. Belshaw was living with his wife, Jane, on Jackson Street in San Francisco when he heard reports of the silver strike up on the Fat Hill in the Inyo Mountains between the

Mortimer W. Belshaw

 Sierra Nevadas and present day Death Valley National Park. After bidding farewell to Jane, and their two sons, he hopped aboard the stage to the Owens River in the valley of the same name. Accompanying Belshaw was his friend, Abner B. Elder.

Belshaw worked, 1862-1864, with silver ore in the mines of Sinaloa, Mexico. Elder, was also a graduate of the Mexican mines. Upon their arrival to the primitive camp of Cerro Gordo in April,  1868, Buena Vista Peak was already pockmarked from the diggings of Mexican miners who worked individual sections of the hill. It was said that a big rope was fastened to a convenient tree in the camp with which they would hang the first man who talked of “one ledge” to these men., and the idea of one big “mother lode” was not even allowed.

Belshaw knew that control of Cerro Gordo would be in the hands of the man who built the smelting works. As he looked over the mountain, he saw galena ledges with 40-80 percent lead content. Knowing these veins would ultimately provide him control over the workings of the silver ore, he bought only those deposits containing the galena. The richest galena load was in the Union Mine, which he managed to acquire one third interest in from Joaquin Alamada by May 6, 1868.

With visions of building his own smelting furnace in his head, Belshaw knew it was important to show his wares first. Using existing Mexican vaso furnaces, he smelted galena into silver-lead pigs, loaded them into a wagon and drove them to Los Angeles. Belshaw and his partner, Elder, travelled through Los Angeles to the San Pedro harbor and created much excitement with their valuable cargo.

Once at the harbor they loaded their cargo aboard the steamship, Orizaba and sailed for San Francisco where they would drove up to the offices of Egbert Judson of the California Paper Company.  Judson liked what he saw so much, he shook hands with Belshaw and Elder to form the Union Mining Company.

On the return to Cerro Gordo, it was obvious to Belshaw that heavy machinery for his own furnace would not make it up the primitive mountain trail. Through July of 1868, Belshaw and Elder graded a wagon road the eight miles and 5,000 foot elevation gain from Owens Lake to the mines at the top of the mountain.

View looking east into Cerro Gordo today. The brick chimney on the left marks the site of Beaudry's smelter. Belshaw's smelter was at the top of the road saddle to the left of center.  The original Yellow Grade road is at far right.  The American Hotel, built in 1871 by Belshaw's competitor, John Simpson, is at the right. The modern Yellow Grade now winds through the center of the privately owned ghost town.

Cerro Gordons joked of having to be drunk to manage the winding route that consisted of sections so narrow two wagons could not pass each other without the smaller one being taken apart so the larger could pass.

Upon completion of this harrowing road, Belshaw saw more opportunity to leverage control and make money. A toll gate was set up in the constricted canyon. Every two horse wagon that passed through had to pay a dollar. A horse and rider were charged 25 cents. This route, the only practical way up the mountain, became known as the Yellow Grade, and is the easier route in to Cerro Gordo today.

The next order of business for Belshaw was to build the smelter that would extract silver and lead from the galena ore. His previous experience working in the Pacific Refinery in San Francisco, and an aptitude for mechanical devices helped him to design a blast furnace for ore reduction, complete with a more efficient water jacket.

High on the saddle of the mountains, just below Buena Vista Peak, the Belshaw smelter was erected. On a shelf approximately 150 feet wide, the furnace door had a view of the valley from both sides of the ridge. The blast furnace itself was two feet in diameter and fourteen feet high. According to author Robert C. Likes, a 10 horse power steam engine blower supplied the blast as it entered the furnace through three cast iron ruyere nozzles, which were located one foot above the slag spout. The furnace was gradually heated until the charcoal-filled crucible was aglow, in a process known as “blowing-in”. Alternating layers of charcoal, slag, silver ore, sand and limestone were added from the charge-door.

Site of Belshaw's smelter. Only a few scattered bricks and part of a foundation remain.

Molten lead and silver were drawn off from the tap hole at the bottom and poured into bars. At the same time slag (silica waste) was wheeled out and poured on the dump below the smelter. With the completion of this furnace, Belshaw succeeded to efficiently produce silver-lead bullion.

A piece of slag, possibly from Belshaw's smelter, sits on the ground. Most of Cerro Gordo's slag was later reprocessed to recover a small amount of silver.

By 1871, Belshaw once again drew upon his mechanical genius, and designed the even more efficient Belshaw Water Jacket blast furnace. In one twenty-four hour period, this boiler-like cylinder with scalding water surging between its double walls and lined with local fire resisting clay, was capable of producing silver-lead faster than any other process seen in the United States.  In one twenty-four hour period, 22.7 tons of ore, or 5.25 tons of bullion was smelted, consuming only 350 bushels of charcoal.

Belshaw joined forces with Victor Beaudry who ran a lesser smelter a short distance down the mountain. The two gained almost complete control of Cerro Gordo's ore and bullion production, earning them both the title of Silver King.

The camp of Cerro Gordo burst with buildings as signs of a real community, minus church and schools, cropped up. Top wages of $4 per day were touted by miners. Bullion was produced faster than it could be carried off the mountain and shipped to Los Angeles.  As others threatened, Belshaw’s domain, he would battle them, and strengthen his position buying the remaining shares of the Union Mine and investing in additional mining properties.

Cerro Gordo would eventually bust in ensuing years, as even the most productive mining towns are prone to do. Belshaw would eventually severe his connection with the mines as its manager, but retain a large financial interest. By 1877, he arrived in Antioch, Calif., where he opened the Empire coal mines in the foothills of Mount Diablo.  Here along with Egbert Judson and a man named Rouse, he built a railroad and dockage, acting as civil engineer and surveyors for the road.

Near Jackson in Amador County, Belshaw became active in the Kennedy Mining and Milling Company, as stockholder and director. He was also acting president of the Gwin Mine Development Company in Calveras County.

Noted as a man devoted to business and having little time for leisure, Belshaw spent his later years writing articles about silver and mining which were published throughout California. Among the more noted: “Silver on its own Merit”, San Francisco Evening Post, December 10, 1884; "Hard Times-Their Cause and Cure”, San Francisco Bulletin, September 8, 1885; “The Silver Problem”, Winona Republican, January 4, 1890 and an article entitled simply “Silver", that was published in Washington D. C, October, 1893.

Mortimer Belshaw died in the home of his son in Antioch, Calif., April 28, 1898, following a six month illness. His wife, the former Jane E. Oxner of Herkimer County New York, and two sons William Conrad, and Charles Mortimer, succeeded him.