Goldfield is an unincorporated small desert city and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

Esmeralda County, Nevada Esmeralda County is a County (United States), county in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 729, making it the least populous county in Nevada. Esmeralda Coun ...

. It is the locus of the Goldfield CDP which had a resident population of 268 at the 2010 census, down from 440 in 2000. Goldfield is located southeast of

Carson City Carson City is an Independent city (United States), independent city and the capital of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 58,639, making it the List of cities in Nevada, sixth largest ...

, along

U.S. Route 95 US Route 95 (US 95) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highways, US Highway in the western United States. It travels through the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Idaho, staying inland from the Pacific Coast ...

. Goldfield was a

boomtown A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although ...

in the first decade of the 20th century due to the discovery of

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

– 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 communications center of the town until 1963), and the schoolhouse. Gold exploration continues in and around the town today.

History

The community was named for deposits of gold near the original town site. Gold was discovered at Goldfield in 1902, its year of inception. By 1904, the Goldfield district produced about 800 tons of ore, valued at $2,300,000, 30% of the state's production that year. This remarkable production caused Goldfield to grow rapidly, and it soon became the largest town in the state with about 20,000 people. Goldfield NV 1907

One prominent, or notorious, early Goldfield resident was

George Graham Rice George Graham Rice (June 18, 1870 – October 24, 1943) (aka Jacob Herzig) was a convicted stock swindler. He was known as the "Jackal of Wall Street." George Graham Rice was born Jacob Simon Herzig in Manhattan to Simon and Anna Herzig. His fath ...

, a former check forger, newspaperman, and racetrack tipster, turned mining stock promoter. The collapse of his Sullivan Trust Company and its associated mining stocks caused the failure of the Goldfield State Bank in 1907. Rice quickly left Goldfield, but continued to promote mining shares for another quarter-century. Another prominent resident from 1906 was

George Wingfield George Wingfield (August 16, 1876 – December 25, 1959) was a Nevada cattleman and gambler who became a financier, investor and one of the state's most powerful economic and political figures during the period from 1909 to 1932. With future sen ...

, one of Nevada's entrepreneurs, who built the

Goldfield Hotel The Goldfield Hotel is a historic four-story building located at the southeast corner of Crook Avenue ( U.S. 95) and Columbia Avenue in Goldfield, Esmeralda County, Nevada. Designed in the Classical Revival style of architecture by Reno architect ...

. In collaboration with his partner

George S. Nixon George Stuart Nixon (April 2, 1860 – June 5, 1912) was an American who served as a member of the United States Senate from Nevada. Early life He was born in Newcastle, California. He went to work for a railroad company and studied telegraphy ...

(who was to become a US senator in 1904), Wingfield started in

Belmont, Nevada Belmont is a ghost town in Nye County, Nevada, United States along former State Route 82. The town is a historic district listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It is Nevada Historical Marker number 138. History Belmont was establis ...

in 1901, and saw the potential of Goldfield after mining at Tonopah, north, took off. George S. Nixon and Wingfield made huge fortunes in Goldfield by forming the Goldfield Consolidated Mining Company. By 1906, they were worth $30 million. Wingfield moved to

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...

soon after realizing his great wealth could be spread across northern Nevada and northern California. Between 1903 and 1918, mining in the two towns grew from $2.8 million to $48.6 million.Thomson, David, ''In Nevada: The Land, The People, God, and Chance'', pp. 127–129

Wyatt Wyatt is a patronymic surname, derived from the Norman surname ''Guyot'', derived from "widu", Proto-Germanic for "wood". Notable people with the surname "Wyatt" include A * Aaron Wyatt, Australian musician * Addie L. Wyatt (1924–2012), Amer ...

and

Virgil Earp Virgil Walter Earp (July 18, 1843 – October 19, 1905) was both deputy U.S. Marshal and Tombstone, Arizona City Marshal when he led his younger brothers Wyatt and Morgan, and Doc Holliday, in a confrontation with outlaw Cowboys at the Gunfig ...

came to Goldfield in 1904. Virgil was hired as a Goldfield deputy sheriff in January 1905. In April, he contracted pneumonia and, after six months of illness, he died on October 18, 1905. Wyatt Earp left Goldfield shortly afterward. Goldfield reached a peak population around 20,000 people in 1906 and hosted a lightweight

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

championship match between

Joe Gans Joe Gans (born Joseph Gant; November 25, 1874 – August 10, 1910) was an American professional boxer. Gans was rated the greatest lightweight boxer of all-time by boxing historian and ''Ring Magazine'' founder, Nat Fleischer. Known as the "Old M ...

and Oscar "Battling" Nelson. In addition to the mines, Goldfield was home to large reduction works. The gold output in 1907 was over $8.4 million, the year in which the town became the county seat; in 1908, output was about $4,880,000. In the early 1900s, Consolidated Mining dug an

adit An adit (from Latin ''aditus'', entrance) is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, ventilated, and minerals extracted at the lowest convenient level. Adits ...

at Alkali, Nevada to deliver water to the 100-stamp Combination Mill near Goldfield. By the 1910 census, its population had declined to 4,838. Part of the problem was the increasing cost of pumping

brine Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for br ...

out of the diggings, making them uneconomic. By 1912, ore production had dropped to $5 million, and the largest mining company left town in 1919. In 1923, a fire caused by a

moonshine Moonshine is high-proof liquor that is usually produced illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of creating the alcohol during the nighttime, thereby avoiding detection. In the first decades of the 21st century, commercial dist ...

still explosion destroyed most of the town's flammable buildings. Some brick and stone buildings from before the fire remain, including the hotel and the high school.

Labor relations during the boom years

Soon after mining on an extensive scale began, the miners organized themselves as a local branch of the

Western Federation of Miners The Western Federation of Miners (WFM) was a labor union that gained a reputation for militancy in the mines of the western United States and British Columbia. Its efforts to organize both hard rock miners and smelter workers brought it into s ...

, and in this branch were included many laborers in Goldfield other than miners. Between this branch and the mine owners, serious differences arose, and several strikes occurred in December 1906 and January 1907 for higher wages. In March and April 1907, because the owners refused to discharge carpenters who were members of the

American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutu ...

, but did not belong to the Western Federation of Miners or to the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines genera ...

affiliated with it, this last organization was, as a result of the strike, forced out of Goldfield, despite at one point counting the 1,500 miners as well as hundreds of white-collar and service workers as members. This defeat came after a bitter struggle which saw IWW organizer

Vincent St. John Vincent Saint John (1876–1929) was an American labor leader and prominent Wobbly, among the most influential radical labor leaders of the 20th century. Biography Vincent St. John was born in Newport, Kentucky and was the only son of New York ...

first imprisoned and charged with

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...

, then shot in the street by a gunman on November 5 along with two other IWW members. Beginning in August 1907, a rule was introduced at some of the mines requiring miners to change their clothing before entering and after leaving the mines – a rule made necessary, according to the operators, by the wholesale stealing (in miners' parlance, "high-grading") of the very valuable ore (some of it valued at as high as $20 a pound). In November and December 1907, some of the owners adopted a system of paying in

cashier's check A cashier's check (or cashier's cheque, cashier's order) is a check guaranteed by a bank, drawn on the bank's own funds and signed by a cashier. Cashier's checks are treated as guaranteed funds because the bank, rather than the purchaser, is respo ...

s. Except for occasional attacks upon nonunion workmen, or upon persons supposed not to be in sympathy with the miners' union, no serious disturbance in Goldfield occurred, but in December 1907, Governor Sparks, at the insistence of the mine owners, appealed to

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

to send federal troops to Goldfield, on the grounds that the situation there was ominous, that destruction of life and property seemed probable, and that the state had no militia and would be powerless to maintain order. President Roosevelt on December 4, 1907 ordered General

Frederick Funston Frederick Funston (November 9, 1865 – February 19, 1917), also known as Fighting Fred Funston, was a general in the United States Army, best known for his roles in the Spanish–American War and the Philippine–American War. He received ...

, commanding the Division of California, at

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, to proceed with 300 federal troops to Goldfield. The troops arrived in Goldfield on December 6, and immediately afterwards, the mine owners reduced wages and announced that no members of the Western Federation of Miners would thereafter be employed in the mines. Roosevelt, becoming convinced that conditions had not warranted Sparks's appeal for assistance, but that the immediate withdrawal of the troops might lead to serious disorder, consented that they should remain for a short time on condition that the state should immediately organize an adequate militia or police force. Accordingly, a special meeting of the legislature was immediately called, a state police force was organized, and on March 7, 1908, the troops were withdrawn. Thereafter, work was gradually resumed in the mines, the contest having been won by the mine owners.

Climate

Goldfield's climate is

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ar ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

BWk The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

''), bordering on

semiarid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

. An average of 35.9 afternoons with maximum temperatures of or higher and 146.1 mornings with minimum temperatures of occur. The record high temperature was on July 20, 1906, and June 9, 1935. The record low temperature was on January 21, 1937. On average, 1.5 mornings per year have temperature of or below , and an average of 10.6 days per year have temperatures of or lower all day long. The long-term average precipitation in Goldfield is . An average of 29 days have measurable precipitation. The wettest calendar year was 1978 with and the driest 1934 with . The most precipitation in one month was in August 1931, and the most in 24 hours was on June 19, 1918. Average snowfall is . The most snowfall in one year was in 1969, including the record monthly snowfall of in February 1969.

Demographics

The population decline continued throughout the 20th century and, by 1950, Goldfield had a population of only 275. The 2000 census showed 440 people, 221 households, and 118 families resided in the Goldfield census county division. The

racial makeup A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

of the CCD was 93.2% White, 0.2% Black or African American, 2.0% Native American, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 1.4% from other races, and 3.0% from two or more races. About 5.2% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Present-day attractions

While the unoccupied buildings of the town remain an attraction, they are not abandoned. Each building has an owner, many with plans to renovate the property. In addition, the Goldfield Days festival is held in August each year. The festival includes parades, booths, historical displays, and a land auction. Among the buildings located within the

Goldfield Historic District Goldfield Historic District is a historic district located in the center of Goldfield, Esmeralda County, Nevada, United States. Description The district encompasses of the unincorporated community of Goldfield and is roughly bounded by 5th St ...

are: * The 1906–08 Goldfield High School, which survived the fire of 1923/24, is in poor condition, but the Goldfield Historical Society has received a matching grant of $296,000 from the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

under the " Save America's Treasures Grant Program". * Esmeralda County Courthouse * The 1907–1908

at Crook Avenue (U.S. 95) and Columbia Street has remained unoccupied since the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Education

Residents are zoned to the

Esmeralda County School District Esmeralda County School District is a public school district in Esmeralda County, Nevada. It is the smallest school district in Nevada. Its boundary is that of the county. The district has offices in Dyer and Goldfield. As of May 2022, the scho ...

for grades K-8. High school students in the entire county go to Tonopah High School of

Nye County School District Nye County School District provides public education for all grades in Nye County, Nevada, as well as 6th through 12th grade education for students living in Esmeralda County, due to its school district having no high school. The headquarters of ...

Notable people

* Ben Alexander, actor *

Samuel Langhorne Clemens Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has pr ...

Doris Dawson Doris G. Dawson (later Levy; April 16, 1905 – April 20, 1986) was an American film actress in the early days of Hollywood, mostly during the silent film era. Life and career Dawson was born in Goldfield, Nevada in 1905, though it has been ...

, actress *

Brad Dexter Brad Dexter (born Boris Michel Soso; April 9, 1917 – December 12, 2002) was an American actor and film producer. He is known for tough-guy and western roles, including the 1960 film ''The Magnificent Seven'' (1960), and producing several fil ...

, actor *

, deputy sheriff *

Joseph Rosenberg Joseph H. Rosenberg (1881-1971) was a bank executive credited with financing most of the Hollywood movie industry in its early days. Rosenberg, who served as an executive of Bank of America and Lehman Brothers, had a 61-year career in banking. ...

, banker and miner *

, banker and miner

In popular culture

Parts of the cult classic 1971 car chase movie, ''

Vanishing Point A vanishing point is a point on the image plane of a perspective drawing where the two-dimensional perspective projections of mutually parallel lines in three-dimensional space appear to converge. When the set of parallel lines is perpendicul ...

'', were filmed in Goldfield, and it was the site of the fictitious radio station "KOW", and the DJ "Super-Soul". Parts of Goldfield, and also parts of nearby

Tonopah, Nevada Tonopah ( , Shoshoni language: Tonampaa) is an unincorporated town in, and the county seat of, Nye County, Nevada, United States. It is located at the junction of U.S. Routes 6 and 95, approximately midway between Las Vegas and Reno. In the 2 ...

, served as the fictional town of Baxter, California in the 1998 film ''

Desert Blue ''Desert Blue'' is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Morgan J. Freeman, starring Brendan Sexton III, Kate Hudson, Christina Ricci, Casey Affleck, Sara Gilbert and John Heard. Plot A rising Hollywood starlet become ...

''. The town was featured in two episodes of ''

State Trooper State police, provincial police or regional police are a type of sub-national territorial police force found in nations organized as federations, typically in North America, South Asia, and Oceania. These forces typically have jurisdiction ...

'', Rod Cameron's syndicated

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

that aired from 1956 to 1959. In the 1988 movie ''

Cherry 2000 ''Cherry 2000'' is a 1988 American science-fiction film directed by Steve De Jarnatt and starring Melanie Griffith and David Andrews (actor), David Andrews. It was produced by Edward R. Pressman and Caldecot Chubb. The screenplay was by Michael ...

'', Goldfield was used as the set of the fictional town of Glory Hole. The 1995 movie '' The Stranger'' was filmed in and around Goldfield. An abbreviated depiction of Goldfield is featured in the video game ''

American Truck Simulator ''American Truck Simulator'' is a truck simulator game developed and published by SCS Software. It was announced as being in development in September 2013 and unveiled at the E3 2015. It was released on 2 February 2016 for Microsoft Windows, Linu ...

''.

Notes

References

*Rinella, Heidi Knapp, ''Off the Beaten Path: Nevada'', Guildford, CT:

Globe Pequot Press Globe Pequot is a book publisher and distributor of outdoor recreation and leisure titles that publishes 500 new titles. Globe Pequot was acquired by Morris Communications Morris Communications, headquartered in Augusta, Georgia, is a privat ...

, 2007. ISSN 1537-3304 *Thomson, David, ''In Nevada: The Land, The People, God, and Chance'', New York:

Vintage Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was purchased by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random Hous ...

, 2000.

External links

Goldfield Chamber of Commerce

– from official county website
KUED.org: "The Goldfield Strike"
– from

KUED KUED (channel 7), branded on-air as PBS Utah, is a PBS member television station in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The station is owned by the University of Utah, and has studios at the Eccles Broadcast Center on Wasatch Dr ...

public broadcasting
Library of Congress.gov: Historic HAER/HABS photographs of Goldfield

AllaroundNevada.com: Panoramic view of Goldfield in 1909
– with virtual-reality exploration of interior of the Goldfield Hotel
Archive.org: "Goldfield, Nevada: The scene of great gold discoveries"
– from ''The National Magazine'' (Vol.XXI, October 1904 − March 1905) {{Authority control 1902 establishments in Nevada Census-designated places in Esmeralda County, Nevada Census-designated places in Nevada County seats in Nevada History of Esmeralda County, Nevada Industrial Workers of the World in Nevada Mining communities in Nevada Populated places established in 1902