Springdale is a privately owned ghost town in Nevada, United States. It is inaccessible to the general public.

Location

Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad 1908 north of Bullfrog

Springdale lies in Nye County, along the

Amargosa River The Amargosa River is an intermittent waterway, 185 miles (298 km) long, in southern Nevada and eastern California in the United States. It drains a high desert region, the Amargosa Valley in the Amargosa Desert northwest of Las Vegas, int ...

at a crossroad of U.S. Route 95 between Las Vegas and Reno. The first settlers in the area were Native American Indians. When the first Europeans arrived in the late 1800s, six ranches were built along the Bonanza Trail, making use of the valley's fertile soil. Three were owned by George Davies, Ed Giles and "Panamint Joe" Stuart of the Indian Joe Ranch, which was sold to A. J. Lidwell. One ranch was called Windmill Ranch. Albert J. "Lucky" Lidwell set up a town around the old Indian Joe Ranch in July 1906. A station of the

Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad The Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad (BGRR) was a railroad lying just inside and about midway of the southwestern State line of Nevada. It was incorporated in 1905 to provide an outlet from the mining section near Beatty to the north over the lines of ...

was opened in May 1907, which was also used by the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad since 1908. The area was rich in both firewood and water, which were both needed to run steam locomotives. In 1907, the town got its own post office, of course with Lucky Lidwell as postmaster. By that time the town had four saloons, several restaurants, a school, a depot, a sawmill. A fifty-ton mill was used to process ores from the surrounding mines, a Gilds Mall, a hotel, a livery stable provided employment to many workers, who were served by 14 illicit

prostitutes Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

in the increasingly attractive red light area. The Springdale Water & Power Co. began on 7 April 1909 to supply electricity to the town, which had 293 inhabitants in 1910. Springdale was very popular, but its attractiveness declined when the ore mill closed down in 1911. The post office was subsequently relocated to

Pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...

on 15 January 1912. The railroad stopped operating in 1928, and the depot was dismantled and relocated to Las Vegas for another use. Due to the increasing popularity of private cars, U.S. Route 95 was built, along which a Union Oil gas station, one or two repair shops and a junkyard offered their services to motorists. Springdale was just outside of the Air Force's military ranges, where bomber pilots were trained for their service in World War II. Use of extensive areas as bombing ranges limited the nearby population that the town had served. some of the old buildings still exist. The properties in and around Springdale are owned by a half-dozen locals and are inhabited by four families.

References

{{Nye County, Nevada Ghost towns in Nye County, Nevada Amargosa Desert Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad Populated places established in 1906 1906 establishments in Nevada