A Hidden Gem For The Adventurous Traveler

Photos and text copyright, 2004

by Johnny Gunn

Located about halfway between the excitements of Sin City to the south and the Biggest Little City to the north, Goldfield, Nevada is a true gem in the star-studded realms of western lore. Once home to some of the most productive mines in the Silver State, she tends to spend time in slumberland today, but can become riddled with talk of "Bonanza" at the drop of a nugget. She's fighting the effects of "Borasca" presently, but the correct word is fighting. She ain't dead, yet, pard.

Goldfield came into being during what has become known as the Goldfield Excitements at the turn of the 20th Century. Jim Butler found lots of silver and gold in an area we know as Tonopah today, and gold, lots of it, came to the surface in what is now Goldfield, a fast 25 miles to the south. This was about 1901 and the excitements continued for another quarter of a century.

Today, if you go to David Toll's fine web site, www.nevadatravel.net, you'll find just one listing for a place to stay and eat, the Santa Fe Motel and Saloon, 925 North Fifth Avenue. Call 702-485-3431, and if you go to www.governel.ned/NV/CO/ESM, you'll find an old hard rock miner by the name of Ben Viljoen is a county commissioner.

Old Ben and I worked underground in several mines in and around Virginia City, and worked the old Mary Mine in Silver Peak. He's a gentleman of the highest regard, and if you're in Esmeralda County, make sure you say hello. That's the way rural Nevada is.

Staying in a motel isn't always the most fun while traveling in Nevada. Throw your sleeping bag down under a Joshua Tree and watch the stars, the satellites, the super secret airplanes that fly in and out of Area 51, just a piece down the road. There is no spectral light from towns and cities. If you can't bring yourself to do that, there are some fine motels and hotels in Tonopah, but you won't be able to tell your neighbors about those airplanes.

In 1907 there was an upheaval of tremendous magnitude in Goldfield when organized labor decided to take over the town. They didn't reckon with some of the big names of the times. George Wingfield and U.S. Senator George Nixon. Those two conspired and called Governor Sparks who in turn called President Teddy Roosevelt, and as the story grew, Teddy called out the Army, and the uprising ended. Federal troops patrolled the streets of a Nevada town. The largest city in the state at that time.

That was mild compared to what old Tex Rickard did. He brought Joe Gans and Battling Nelson to town for a heavyweight fight. Boxing was almost as evil as prostitution in those days, but Rickard got a law passed, and the fight was held.

Tex Rickard. What a name in Nevada. He came down to the Silver State from the gold fields of Alaska, floundering in money, and opened the Northern Saloon. It wasn't his first Northern, wouldn't be his last. He hosted Jack Dempsey at his home and his saloon. In Tonopah, just 25 miles north of Goldfield, to this day, the Mizpah Hotel has a Jack Dempsey Room Dining Room, in honor of those days.

And you thought you were just going to spend a nice quiet weekend in the Nevada desert. Doesn't work that way, pard.

In Carson City, our beloved capital, every Nevada Day (October 31) there are the world championship single jack hard rock drilling championships, but it's Goldfield that got that Silver State tradition started. Thousands of people would jam the center of town, and the best of the best would challenge a piece of Sierra Nevada Granite with a piece of single-bit steel and a four pound hammer to see who could drill the deepest. I guess you wouldn't want to make a wager, eh?

There's a unique ecological experience when visiting the Goldfield region as well. In a band around the world, Joshua Trees grow. From the north, that band begins just a mile or so north of Goldfield. Thousands of the interesting trees flourish in this area, but don't even think about digging one up for your garden. That's jail time, pard.