Mazuma, Nevada was a small mining town in

Pershing County, Nevada Pershing County is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,650. Its county seat is Lovelock. The county is listed as Nevada Historical Marker 17. The marker is at the courthouse in Lovelock. The ...

where eight people were killed in a

flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice and snow. Flash f ...

on July 11, 1912. Mazuma was founded in 1907 and a post office was established on August 28, 1907. The name "Mazuma" is derived from a Yiddish slang word for money: m'zumon. Other sources indicate that m'zumon means "the ready necessary".. Just after 5pm on July 12, 1912, a wall of water was observed upstream from Mazuma at the Seven Troughs Canyon. The Seven Troughs Cyanide Plant was destroyed, releasing dozens of gallons of

cyanide In chemistry, cyanide () is an inorganic chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Ionic cyanides contain the cyanide anion . This a ...

into the flood. A phone call was made, but due to the electrified atmosphere, the only word that could be heard at Mazuma was "water." The warning was not received in time, the high, wide flash flood hit Mazuma and killed almost a tenth of the population. Over the following weeks, relief efforts included visits by doctors and nurses from as far as

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

. A statewide relief fund was set up. In addition, a relief fund was set up by the ''

San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and has been published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the He ...

'', where

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His extravagant methods of yellow jou ...

personally donated $100. Postmistress Maude Ruddell was killed in the flood when the post office collapsed on her while she was attempting to save the money. The post office formally moved from Mazuma to Seven Troughs on November 30, 1912. The Mazuma Hills Mill, located upstream of Mazuma, burned down 13 days after the flood, though the Darby Mill located southwest of Mazuma, operated from 1909 until it was dismantled in 1918.

References

{{Pershing County, Nevada Ghost towns in Pershing County, Nevada Populated places established in 1907 1907 establishments in Nevada 1907 natural disasters in the United States