Goldfield Nevada

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Gold was discovered at Goldfield in 1902. 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. A prominent resident from 1908 was George Wingfield, one of Nevada's entrepreneurs, who built the Goldfield Hotel. In collaboration with his partner George S. Nixon (who was to become a US Senator in 1904), Wingfield started in Belmont, Nevada in 1901 and then saw the potential of Goldfield after mining at Tonopah, only a few miles 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. Between 1903 and 1918, mining in two towns grew from $2.8 million to $48.6 million. Wyatt and Virgil Earp 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 of about 20,000 people in 1906 and hosted a lightweight boxing championship match between Joe Gans 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. By the 1910 census, its population had declined to 4,838. 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 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.
Status: Living Ghost town - (17) photo

	Original Date: 1913 Subject: damage in the Goldfield railroad yard from the 1913 flood. Source: Hidden Treasures Trading
	Original Date: 1900s Subject: John Burke, left, was born into a mining family that made it's home in Goldfield beginning in 1904. Born in Aspen, CO in the 1890s, he earned his Nevada Hoisting Engineers License and worked topside in his career around the western states. Source: Tonopah Times and Goldfield News
	Original Date: 1900s Subject: Ladies Day at the Montezuma Club. The date is between 1905 and 1912. This is the second Montezuma club.Which burnt down in 1923. Source: Hidden Treasures Trading
	Original Date: 1900s Subject: The biggest wood pile in Nevada. This was the Nevada Hotel in Goldfield Nevada under construction. The Nevada Hotel never opened. Source: Hidden Treasures Trading
	Original Date: 1960 Subject: The Historic Goldfield High school. Source: Hidden Treasures Trading
	Original Date: 1908 Subject: In 1908, the Goldfield Hotel, designed by Architect George E. Holesworth, opened amidst an array of fanfare. Built on the former site of the Nevada Hotel, which had burned down in a fire in 1905, the hotel was first owned by J. Franklin Douglas and several other investors. The four story building of stone and brick cost over $300,000 to build and included 154 rooms with telephones, electric lights and heated steam. The lobby was paneled with mahogany and furnished in black leather upholstery, beneath gold-leaf ceilings and crystal chandeliers. The hotel imported chefs from Europe and boasted one of the first Otis elevators west of the Mississippi River. Considered to be the most luxurious hotel between Chicago and San Francisco, it appealed to society’s upper crust, making it an immediate success. Source: Hidden Treasures Trading
	Original Date: 1906 Subject: The fighters shake hands before fighting. Gans - Nelson fight Goldfield Nevada 1906 Source: Hidden Treasures Trading
	Original Date: 1900s Subject: This was the Palace saloon in Goldfield Nevada. It was one of the famous four saloons located at the intersection of Main and Crook. Source: Hidden Treasures Trading
	Original Date: 1920s Subject: Goldfield Hotel Source: Hidden Treasures Trading
	Original Date: 1900s Subject: Bottle House in Goldfield in the early 1900s. Source: Hidden Treasures Trading
	Original Date: 1913 Subject: Golfield 1913 Flood Source: Hidden Treasures Trading
	Original Date: 1950 Subject: Golfield Hippadrome Theater Source: Private Collector
	Original Date: 1900s Subject: Ives Mine Source: Private Collector
	Original Date: 1904 Subject: First Auto Car into Goldfield Source: Private Collector
	Original Date: 1904 Subject: Boom Days in Goldfield Source: Private Collector
	Original Date: 1906 Subject: Pioneer Buildings - Miner's Dugouts Source: Private Collector
	Original Date: 1906 Subject: Miners pose in front of a head frame Source: Western Mining History

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