From Atlantic City, a gravel road leads toward Lander, where in a little over two miles, a dirt road branches to the east. If you drive another one and one-half miles, you will pass the Gold Dollar Mine, and a little more than a mile beyond, is the Miner’s Delight cemetery. Take a left, go one quarter of a mile, and you will be on Main Street of Miners Delight.

Founded in 1867 by Herman Nickerson and friends, Miners Delight became a town when “color” was discovered in Spring Gulch. Originally, the town was called Hamilton City. The name was changed to Miners Delight when the mine by this name became successful. In its first year, the mine provided three hundred thousand dollars worth of gold. Since 1874, the mine has been dewatered and reworked seven times, with the last being 1927.

Today, you can still see the standing head frame, and near the mine amidst deep brush, is the long row of miners’ shacks. “Calamity Jane” grew up here. Orphaned at an early age, Martha Jane Canary (Calamity) was quickly adopted, and her new parents moved to Miners Delight during its first year of existence. A woman from the East persuaded “Calamity Jane” to visit New York, which she visited for a year. Martha returned educated and conducted business in the dance hall above McAuley’s Store in Atlantic City. Miners Delight boasts the title of “Calamity Jane’s home town.”