Tag: Nevada

Nevada, often referred to as the “Silver State,” is located in the western United States. Renowned for its vast deserts and striking mountain ranges, the state boasts a diverse landscape that includes the arid Mojave Desert in the south and the forested Sierra Nevada mountains in the west. The state is famously home to Las Vegas, a vibrant city known for its bustling casinos, entertainment venues, and nightlife. Beyond the glitz of Las Vegas, Nevada offers rich history in its ghost towns, a legacy of the 19th-century mining boom. The state also features significant natural attractions, such as Lake Tahoe and Great Basin National Park, offering a wide range of outdoor activities. Nevada’s economy is driven by tourism, mining, and, increasingly, technology, making it a dynamic state with a blend of natural beauty and modern attractions.

Goldfield Nevada

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Goldfield is Nevada State Historical Marker number fourteen and is located in Esmeralda County, Nevada. Goldfield was a boomtown  between 1903 and 1940. Goldfield’s mines produced more than $86 million at then-current prices. Much of the town was destroyed by a fire in 1923, although several buildings survived and remain today, notably the Goldfield Hotel, the Consolidated Mines Building, the schoolhouse.

Photograph of half-tone print of a busy main street in Goldfield, Nevada, ca.1905. The dirt street is crowded with horse-drawn wagons, and pedestrians. Stores and other commercial ventures front most of the small buildings lining the street. A hill is in the background at the end of the street. - Photo Credit “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library.
Photograph of half-tone print of a busy main street in Goldfield, Nevada, ca.1905. The dirt street is crowded with horse-drawn wagons, and pedestrians. Stores and other commercial ventures front most of the small buildings lining the street. A hill is in the background at the end of the street. – Photo Credit “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library.

Goldfield was established in 1902 when gold was discovered in the surrounding hills. This discovery ignited a rush of prospectors, investors, and opportunists eager to capitalize on the newfound wealth. Unlike other mining towns in Nevada, which primarily focused on silver, Goldfield was notable for its rich gold deposits.

The town’s boom truly began in 1904 when the Consolidated Goldfield Company was formed, consolidating smaller claims and turning mining operations into a large-scale enterprise. By 1906, Goldfield’s population had swelled to over 20,000, making it Nevada’s largest city at the time.

During its heyday, Goldfield was a hub of wealth and activity. The mines produced an estimated $86 million in gold, a staggering amount for the era. The town boasted modern amenities, including electricity, telephones, and luxurious buildings such as the Goldfield Hotel, completed in 1908, which remains an iconic structure to this day.

The town also became a cultural center, hosting boxing matches, theatrical performances, and other events that attracted notable figures, including heavyweight champion Jack Johnson.

Goldfield’s prosperity was not without challenges. In 1907, the Panic of 1907 and declining ore quality began to affect mining profits. Labor disputes further disrupted operations, with a notable miners’ strike in 1907 escalating tensions between workers and mine owners.

A devastating fire in 1923 destroyed much of the town, including many of its iconic buildings. By this time, mining activity had significantly declined, and the town’s population dwindled as residents sought opportunities elsewhere.

Nevada State Historic Marker Text

Nevada State Historical Markers identify significant places of interest in Nevada’s history. The Nevada State Legislature started the program in 1967 to bring the state’s heritage to the public’s attention with on-site markers. Budget cuts to the program caused the program to become dormant in 2009. Many of the markers are lost of damaged.

For a 20-year period prior to 1900 the mining in Nevada fell into a slump that cast the entire state into a bleak depression and caused the loss of one-third of the population.

The picture brightened overnight following the spectacular strikes in Tonopah and, shortly afterwards, in Goldfield. Gold ore was discovered here in December, 1902, by two Nevada-born prospectors, Harry Stimler and Billy Marsh. From 1904 to 1918 Goldfield boomed furiously. The city had a railroad that connected into Las Vegas and a peak population of 20,000. Between 1903- 40 a total of $86,765,044 in metals was produced here.

Neada State Historic Marker #14

Summary

ID14
NameGoldfield Nevada State Historic Marker
LocationEsmeralda County, Nevada
Latitude, Longitude37.7076, -117.2335
The Southern Nevada Consolidated Telephone- Telegraph Company Building is located in Goldfield, Nevada and Nevada State Historic Marker #242. Photo by James L Rathbun
The Southern Nevada Consolidated Telephone-
Telegraph Company Building is located in Goldfield, Nevada and Nevada State Historic Marker #242. Photo by James L Rathbun
The Goldfield Hotel located in Goldfield Nevada. Photo by James L Rathbun
The Goldfield Hotel located in Goldfield Nevada. Photo by James L Rathbun
The historic Goldfield Firehouse. Photo by James L Rathbun
The historic Goldfield Firehouse. Photo by James L Rathbun
The court house in Goldfield, Nevada is the Esmeralda County Courthouse and Nevada State Historic Marker #80. Photo by James L Rathbun
The court house in Goldfield, Nevada is the Esmeralda County Courthouse and Nevada State Historic Marker #80. Photo by James L Rathbun

Points of Interest

Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad in Rhyolite

Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad

The Bullfrog and Goldfield Railroad, often referred to as the B&G Railroad, played a significant role in the late 19th and early 20th-century mining boom…
The court house in Goldfield, Nevada is the Esmeralda County Courthouse and Nevada State Historic Marker #80. Photo by James L Rathbun

Goldfield Nevada

Goldfield is Nevada State Historical Marker number fourteen and is located in Esmeralda County, Nevada. Goldfield was a boomtown  between 1903 and 1940. Goldfield's mines produced…

References

Culverwells Ranch

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Culverwells Ranch is Nevada State Historical Marker number fifty five located in Lincoln county, Nevada.

The meadow area around the junction of Meadow Valley Wash and Clover Creek was originally settled in the early 1860’s by Ike and Dow Barton, two Negro slaves who had escaped from Arkansas. In the early 1870’s the area was known as Dutch Flat. In 1874, ranchers Charles and William Culverwell purchased the Jackman Ranch and renamed it as Culverwell Ranch. It was later referred to as “Culverwell.” Along with ranching, the family earned a living by providing hay for the mining camps in Pioche and Delamar.

Culverwells Ranch - Caliente Nevada - Early 1900's
Caliente Nevada – Early 1900’s

A dispute between two major railroad companies began when E.H. Harriman of the Oregon Short Line and Union Pacific, pushed track from Utah to the site of Culverwell. Even as Harriman’s crews worked on the line, the newly formed San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad owned by Senator William Clark, claimed the same territory. These rival groups had sought the right-of-way in a canyon only big enough only for a single set of tracks. The Union Pacific had grade stakes set all the way into Culverwell and on toward Pioche, but their rival group gobbled up enough of the narrow canyon to set a road block in the path of Union Pacific

Nevada State Historical Markers identify significant places of interest in Nevada’s history. The Nevada State Legislature started the program in 1967 to bring the state’s heritage to the public’s attention with on-site markers. Budget cuts to the program caused the program to become dormant in 2009. Many of the markers are lost of damaged.

Marker Text

Caliente was first settled as a ranch, furnishing hay for the mining camps of Pioche and Delmar.  In 1901, the famous Harriman-Clark right-of-way battle was ended when rancher Charles Culverwell, with the aid of a broad-gauge shotgun, allowed one railroad grade to be built through his lush meadows.  Harriman and Clark had been baffling eleven years, building side-by-side grades ignoring court orders and federal marshals.


The population boom began with an influx of railroad workers, most of them immigrants from Austria, Japan, and the Ottoman Empire.  A tent city was settled in August 1903.

With the completion of the Las Angeles, San Pedro, and Salt Lake Railroad in 1905, Caliente became a division point.  Beginning in 1906, the Caliente and Pioche Railroad (now the Union Pacific) was built between Pioche and the main line at Caliente.  The large Mission Revival-style depot was built in 1923, serving as a civic center, as well as a hotel.

STATE HISTORICAL MARKER No. 55
STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE
LINCOLN COUNTY AREA DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

Summary

Nevada State Historic Marker55
NameCulverwell’s Ranch
LocationLincoln County, Nevada
Latitude, Longitude37.6133, -114.5148

Nevada State Historic Marker #55 Map

References

Palmetto Nevada State Historic Marker #158

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Palmetto Nevada is Nevada State Historical Marker number one hundred and fifty eight and is located in Esmeralda County, Nevada. The ghost town is located just off of highway 168 about 30 miles west of Lida, in Esmeralda County, Nevada. The area was founded in 1866, three prospectors, H.W. Bunyard, Thomas Israel and T.W. McNutt worked the area north of the townsite and discovered silver deposits.

Palmetto HSHM

The camp was named Palmetto, when the miners assumed the Joshua Trees in the area were a relative of the Palmetto Tree. A 12-stamp mill was constructed on the site, however the miners could not produce enough the keep the mill in operation. Their fortunes failed and within one year the camp was abandoned.

The mines around Palmetto Nevada soon declined. The populations of these boom towns migrated from site to site looking for opportunity and profit. The next town down the line was Blair, Nevada.

Nevada State Historical Markers identify significant places of interest in Nevada’s history. The Nevada State Legislature started the program in 1967 to bring the state’s heritage to the public’s attention with on-site markers. Budget cuts to the program caused the program to become dormant in 2009. Many of the markers are lost of damaged.

Trail Map

NSHM Marker Text 158

Thinking that local joshua trees were related to palm trees, the 1866 prospectors named the mining camp Palmetto. The town “died” and revived three times.

New prospecting in 1903 caused Palmetto to grow to a town of 200 tents on a platted townsite. At its peak year, 1906, the commercial street, over 1/2 mile long, contained all the necessary mining camp businesses.

Local miners drifted away in autumn, 1906. Mining, on a lease basis, has been minimal since that time. An important talc deposit lies nearby.

Nevada State Historica Marker #158

Nevada State Historic Marker Summary

ID159
NamePalmetto, Nevada
LocationEsmeralda County, Nevada
Latitude, Longitude37.4443, -117.6952

References

Beatty Nevada State Historic Marker #173

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Beatty NSHM 173 is Nevada State Historical Marker number one hundred and seventy three five and is located just off of highway 95 in the town of Beatty in Nye County, Nevada. This marker is posted just off the highway on an island. Its orientation is such that when travelling north through town, it is quite visible, but may be difficult to find when travelling south. Beatty, Nevada was an old mining town and served as ta border town for old Nevada. The boomtown was provided passengers, frieght and mail service by three railroads, Tonopah and Tidewater Road, Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad and the Bullfrog and Goldfield.

Nevada State Historic Marker #173 - Beatty
Nevada State Historic Marker #173 – Beatty

In 1867, the Nevada Legislature approved the action of Congress to add that portion of the Territory of Arizona which lay to the south of this line, west of the 114 degree west longitude and the Colorado River, and to the east of the boundary of California. This action, taken on January 18, 1867, gave to the State of Nevada the permanent boundaries as they are today.

Nevada State Historical Markers identify significant places of interest in Nevada’s history. The Nevada State Legislature started the program in 1967 to bring the state’s heritage to the public’s attention with on-site markers. Budget cuts to the program caused the program to become dormant in 2009. Many of the markers are lost of damaged.

Nevada State Historic Marker Summary

ID173
NameBeatty
LocationNye County, Nevada
Latitude, Longitude 36.5922, -116.7558

Nevada State Historic Marker Map

Nevada State Historic Marker Text

During 1906-’07 three railroads were built in this area. The Las Vegas and Tonopah built from Las Vegas through Beatty and Rhyolite to Goldfield. The Bullfrog Goldfield built south from Goldfield to Beatty and Rhyolite. The Tonopah and Tidewater built north from Ludlow, California to Gold Center and used the BG tracks from Gold Center to Beatty and Rhyolite until 1914.

Rancher M.M. Beatty drove the last spike here on April 18, 1907, marking the completion of the first and only north-south railroad system in the state. Rails were torn up at Beatty beginning on July 18, 1942.

Nevada State Historic Marker #165

References

Nevada Test Site State Historic Marker #165

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Nevada Test Site NSHM 165 is Nevada State Historical Marker number one hundred and sixty five and is located about 20 miles west of Indian Springs on Highway 95 in Clark County, Nevada. This marker is posted just off the highway and its orientation is parallel with the highway and can be difficult to see even when you are looking for it. There are very small highway signs in both directions on either side of the highway.

Nevada State History Marker 165 - The Nevada Test Site
Nevada State History Marker 165 – The Nevada Test Site

An Explosive History

Previously known as the Nevada Proving Grounds, the Nevada Test Site is operated by the United States Department of Energy and used for testing of nuclear weapons during the cold war. The site was established as a 680-square-mile area by President Harry S. Truman on December 18, 1950. The proving grounds are found within the Nellis Air Force Gunnery and Bombing Range. Beginning January 27th, 1951 and continuing for four decades the United States detonated over 1,000 nuclear war heads above ground.

During the 1950’s and 1960’s, air detonations created a tourist industry in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fallout from theses tests spread east on westly winds into St. George and Southern Utah. This fallout caused an increased rate in cancers including leukemia, lymphoma, thyroid cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, bone cancer, brain tumors, and gastrointestinal tract cancers.

On August 5, 1963, President John Kennedy signed the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty which effectively banning atmospheric testing in the United States and other member countries. This move prohibited all above-ground testing at the NTS but did not address underground detonations. A further 828 nuclear tests were carried out underground following the Kennedy ban.

Operation Buster-Jangle - Dog test — with troops participating in exercise Desert Rock I. It was the first U.S. nuclear field exercise conducted on land; troops shown are a mere 6 miles from the blast. At the Category:Nevada Test Site, 1 November 1951.
Operation Buster-Jangle – Dog test — with troops participating in exercise Desert Rock I. It was the first U.S. nuclear field exercise conducted on land; troops shown are a mere 6 miles from the blast. At the Category:Nevada Test Site, 1 November 1951.

Nevada State Historical Markers identify significant places of interest in Nevada’s history. The Nevada State Legislature started the program in 1967 to bring the state’s heritage to the public’s attention with on-site markers. Budget cuts to the program caused the program to become dormant in 2009. Many of the markers are lost of damaged.

Nevada State Historic Marker Summary

ID165
NameNevada State Hsitoric Marker 165 – Nevada Test Site
LocationClark County, Nevada
Latitude, Longitude36.5923, -116.0297

Nevada State Historic Marker #165 Map

Nevada State Historic Marker #165 Text

Testing of weapons for defense and for peaceful uses of nuclear explosives is conducted here. The nation’s principal nuclear explosives testing laboratory is located within this 1,350-square-mile, geologically complex area in the isolated valleys of Jackass, Yucca and Frenchman Flats. Selected as on-continent test site in 1950, the first test took place on Frenchman Flat in January, 1951.

Archeological studies of the NTS area have revealed continuous occupation by prehistoric man from about 9,500 years ago. Several prehistoric cultures are represented. The last aboriginal group to occupy the site was the Southern Paiute, who foraged plant foods in season and occupied the area until the coming of the pioneers.

Nevada State Historic Marker #165

References