Goldfield, Nevada

{{More citations needed|section|date=November 2022}}

File:Interior view of mine and miners in the Mohawk Mine, Goldfield, Nevada, ca.1900-1905 (CHS-5417).jpg

The community was named for deposits of gold near the original town site.{{cite book | url=http://dwgateway.library.unr.edu/keck/histtopoNV/Origin_of_Place_Names_Files/1941NevadaOriginofNames-pt1.pdf | title=Origin of Place Names: Nevada | publisher=W.P.A. | author=Federal Writers' Project | year=1941 | pages=31}} 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.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} This remarkable production caused Goldfield to grow rapidly, and it soon became the largest town in the state with about 20,000 people.Plaque on the Southern Nevada Consolidated Telephone-Telegraph Company Building, used from 1906 to 1963

File:Goldfield NV 1907.jpg

One notorious, early Goldfield resident was George Graham Rice, 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.Dan Plazak, A Hole in the Ground with a Liar at the Top, Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2006; {{ISBN|978-0-87480-840-7}}.{{cite web| url=http://www.miningswindles.com/html/george_graham_rice.html| title=George Graham Rice| work=miningswindles.com| access-date=September 28, 2015}}

A prominent resident from 1906 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 saw the potential of Goldfield after mining at Tonopah, {{convert|27|mi}} north, took off. Nixon and Wingfield made huge fortunes in Goldfield by forming the Goldfield Consolidated Mining Company. By 1906, they were worth $30 million.Moe, Al W. The Roots of Reno, [https://www.amazon.com/Roots-Reno-Al-W-Moe/dp/143921199X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322253439&sr=1-1Booksurge The Roots of Reno], 2008, p.20

Wingfield moved to Reno, where his great wealth could be spread across northern Nevada and northern California.

Between 1903 and 1918, mining in Belmont and Goldfield grew from $2.8 million to $48.6 million.Thomson, David, In Nevada: The Land, The People, God, and Chance, pp. 127–129

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, died on October 19, 1905. Wyatt left Goldfield shortly afterward.{{cite web| title=Frontier Lawman Virgil Earp| url=http://www.historynet.com/frontier-lawman-virgil-earp.htm| date=June 12, 2006| access-date=May 9, 2011}}

Goldfield reached a peak population around 20,000 people in 1906 and hosted a lightweight boxing championship match between Joe Gans and Oscar "Battling" Nelson. Goldfield briefly became Nevada's largest city.https://www.accessesmeralda.com/communities/goldfield.php

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 at Alkali, Nevada to deliver water {{convert|10|mi|km}} to the 100-stamp Combination Mill near Goldfield.{{cite journal

| last1 = Garside

| first1 = J. L.

| last2 = Schilling

| first2 = J. H.

| title = Thermal Waters of Nevada

| journal = Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin

| issue = 91

| page = 27

| location = Reno

| date = 1979

| url = http://dwgateway.library.unr.edu/keck/mining/Bulletin91/Esmeralda.pdf

| access-date = July 27, 2018

| archive-date = July 27, 2018

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180727212122/http://dwgateway.library.unr.edu/keck/mining/Bulletin91/Esmeralda.pdf

| url-status = dead

}}

By the 1910 census, its population had declined to 4,838. Part of the problem was the increasing cost of pumping brine 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 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.

{{main|Goldfield, Nevada labor troubles of 1906-1907}}

Soon after mining on an extensive scale began, the miners organized themselves as a local branch of the Western Federation of Miners, which also included many laborers. Between this branch and the mine owners, serious differences arose, and several strikes occurred in December 1906 and January 1907 for higher wages.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

In March and April 1907, the owners refused to discharge carpenters who belonged to American Federation of Labor, but were not members of the Industrial Workers of the World-affiliated Western Federation of Miners; a strike followed, resulting in forcing the IWW out of Goldfield,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} despite at one point counting the 1,500 miners as well as hundreds of white-collar and service workers as members.{{cite web |url=http://depts.washington.edu/iww/iwwyearbook1907.shtml |title=IWW Yearbook 1907 |last=Hermida |first=Arianne |website=IWW History Project |publisher=University of Washington |access-date=20 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160601110035/http://depts.washington.edu/iww/iwwyearbook1907.shtml |archive-date=1 June 2016 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}

This defeat came after a bitter struggle which saw IWW organizer Vincent St. John first imprisoned and charged with conspiracy, then shot by a gunman in the street on November 5 along with two other IWW members.{{cite news|publication-date=November 16, 1907 |title=Vincent St. John, Victim of Gunman |year=1907|volume=1 |issue=38 |page=1 |newspaper=Industrial Union Bulletin |url=https://archive.org/details/v1n38-nov-16-1907-iub }}

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 – made necessary according to the operators by the wholesale theft of the valuable ore (worth as much as $20 a pound) in a practice known as "high-grading". In November and December 1907, some of the owners adopted a system of paying in cashier's checks. Except for occasional attacks upon nonunion workmen, or persons unsympathetic to the miners' union, no serious disturbance in Goldfield occurred. However,at the insistence of the mine owners, Governor Sparks, appealed in December 1907 to President Theodore Roosevelt 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.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

On December 4, 1907, Roosevelt ordered the commander of the Division of California at San Francisco, General Frederick Funston, 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 dispute having been won by the mine-owners.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Goldfield's climate is arid (Köppen climate classification BWk), bordering on semiarid.

An average of 35.9 afternoons with maximum temperatures of {{convert|90|F|C|0}} or higher and 146.1 mornings with minimum temperatures of {{convert|32|F}} occur. The record high temperature was {{convert|108|F|0}} on July 20, 1906, and June 9, 1935. The record low temperature was {{convert|-23|F|0}} on January 21, 1937. On average, 1.5 mornings per year have temperature of or below {{convert|0|F|C|0}}, and an average of 10.6 days per year have temperatures of {{convert|32|F|0}} or lower all day long.

The long-term average precipitation in Goldfield is {{convert|6.06|in|cm|0}}. An average of 29 days have measurable precipitation. The wettest calendar year was 1978 with {{convert|13.19|in|cm|0}} and the driest 1934 with {{convert|1.47|in|cm|0}}. The most precipitation in one month was {{convert|6.07|in|cm|0}} in August 1931, and the most in 24 hours was {{convert|2.43|in|cm|0}} on June 19, 1918.

Average snowfall is {{convert|17.8|in|cm|0}}. The most snowfall in one year was {{convert|52.5|in|cm|0}} in 1969, including the record monthly snowfall of {{convert|42.0|in|cm|0}} in February 1969.{{Cite web|url=http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?nv3285|title=GOLDFIELD, NEVADA - Climate Summary|website=www.wrcc.dri.edu|access-date=Jan 6, 2020}}

{{Weather box

|single line=yes

|location=Goldfield, Nevada (1906–2009)

|Jan record high F=67.0

|Feb record high F=76.0

|Mar record high F=79.0

|Apr record high F=87.0

|May record high F=97.0

|Jun record high F=108.0

|Jul record high F=108.0

|Aug record high F=103.0

|Sep record high F=98.0

|Oct record high F=87.0

|Nov record high F=79.0

|Dec record high F=66.0

|Jan high F=42.2

|Feb high F=47.1

|Mar high F=54.2

|Apr high F=62.5

|May high F=71.3

|Jun high F=81.4

|Jul high F=89.6

|Aug high F=87.4

|Sep high F=79.0

|Oct high F=66.5

|Nov high F=52.9

|Dec high F=43.3

|year high F=64.8

|Jan mean F=31.3

|Feb mean F=35.7

|Mar mean F=41.6

|Apr mean F=48.8

|May mean F=57.1

|Jun mean F=66.1

|Jul mean F=74.2

|Aug mean F=72.1

|Sep mean F=64.0

|Oct mean F=52.7

|Nov mean F=40.5

|Dec mean F=32.4

|year mean F=51.4

|Jan low F=20.3

|Feb low F=24.3

|Mar low F=29.0

|Apr low F=35.2

|May low F=42.9

|Jun low F=50.9

|Jul low F=58.7

|Aug low F=56.9

|Sep low F=48.9

|Oct low F=38.8

|Nov low F=28.3

|Dec low F=21.5

|year low F=38.0

|Jan record low F=-23.0

|Feb record low F=-13.0

|Mar record low F=0.0

|Apr record low F=8.0

|May record low F=19.0

|Jun record low F=22.0

|Jul record low F=38.0

|Aug record low F=36.0

|Sep record low F=21.0

|Oct record low F=12.0

|Nov record low F=-1.0

|Dec record low F=-13.0

|year record low F=

|precipitation colour=green

|Jan precipitation inch=0.63

|Feb precipitation inch=0.77

|Mar precipitation inch=0.63

|Apr precipitation inch=0.54

|May precipitation inch=0.50

|Jun precipitation inch=0.37

|Jul precipitation inch=0.45

|Aug precipitation inch=0.52

|Sep precipitation inch=0.44

|Oct precipitation inch=0.44

|Nov precipitation inch=0.38

|Dec precipitation inch=0.39

|Jan precipitation days = 3

|Feb precipitation days = 3

|Mar precipitation days = 3

|Apr precipitation days = 3

|May precipitation days = 3

|Jun precipitation days = 2

|Jul precipitation days = 3

|Aug precipitation days = 2

|Sep precipitation days = 2

|Oct precipitation days = 2

|Nov precipitation days = 2

|Dec precipitation days = 2

|year precipitation days = 29

|unit precipitation days = 0.01 inch

|Jan snow inch=3.3

|Feb snow inch=3.7

|Mar snow inch=3.6

|Apr snow inch=1.9

|May snow inch=0.5

|Jun snow inch=0

|Jul snow inch=0

|Aug snow inch=0

|Sep snow inch=0

|Oct snow inch=0.7

|Nov snow inch=1.5

|Dec snow inch=2.6

|year snow inch=

|source 1= {{Cite web |url=http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?nv3285|title=Climate Of Goldfield, Nevada |publisher=Western Regional Climate Center |access-date=November 12, 2014 }}

}}

{{Historical populations

|type= USA

|1906|~20,000

|1910|4838

|1920|1558

|1930|692

|1940|554

|1950|336

|1960|184

|1990|655

|2000|440

|2010|268

|align-fn= center

|2020|225

|source=U.S. Census

}}

File:Main Street, Goldfield, Nevada, 1904.JPG

Image:Goldfield, NV-School House.jpg

Image:Goldfield,NV-hotel.JPG

The population decline continued throughout the 20th century, dwindling to 275 by 1950.

The 2000 census showed 440 people, 221 households, and 118 families resided in the Goldfield census county division. The racial makeup 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.

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = Goldfield Historic District

| nrhp_type = hd

| nocat = yes

| designated_other1_name = Nevada Historical Marker

| designated_other1_abbr = Marker

| designated_other1_color = #ffc94b

| designated_other1_link = Nevada Historical Markers

| designated_other1_number = 14

| designated_other1_num_position = both

| location = Roughly bounded by 5th Street and Miner, Spring, Crystal and Elliott Avenues, Goldfield, Nevada

| coordinates = {{coord|37|42|31|N|117|14|3|W|display=inline}}

| area = {{convert|200|acre}}

| built = 1902 et seq

| architect = various

| architecture = Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Bungalow/Craftsman, Georgian Revival

| added = June 14, 1982

| visitation_num =

| visitation_year =

| refnum = 82003213

}}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.{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}} The Goldfield Days festival is held in August each year, featuring parades, booths, historical displays, and a land auction.

The Goldfield Historic District encompasses {{convert|200|acre}} and is roughly bounded by 5th Street and Miner, Spring, Crystal and Elliott avenues. The district contains nearly 120 buildings, most dating from the time of Goldfield's initial boom, 1904 to 1909. Goldfield became a regional and national center of attention during Nevada's twentieth century mining boom, comparable to the Great Comstock era in the previous century.{{cite web |author1=James Woodward |author2=James Garrison |author3=Cindy Myers |author4=Lynn Drobbin |date=August 1981 |title=National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Goldfield Historic District and Goldfield Historic Property Survey |url={{NRHP url|id=08000001}} |accessdate=2014-12-11 |publisher=National Park Service |format=PDF}}{{NRHP url|id=82003213|title=Photos|photos=y}} On June 14, 1982, the district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.{{cite web |author1=James Woodward |author2=James Garrison |author3=Cindy Myers |author4=Lynn Drobbin |date=August 1981 |title=National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Goldfield Historic District and Goldfield Historic Property Survey |url={{NRHP url|id=08000001}} |accessdate=2014-12-11 |publisher=National Park Service |format=PDF}}{{NRHP url|id=82003213|title=Photos|photos=y}}

Among the buildings located in the Goldfield Historic District are:

• The 1906–08 Goldfield High School, which survived the fire of 1923/24; it is in poor condition, but the Goldfield Historical Society received a matching grant of $296,000 from the National Park Service under the Save America's Treasures Grant Program.Notice by the GHS posted outside the building.{{when|date=March 2024}}
• Esmeralda County Courthouse
• The 1907–1908 Goldfield Hotel at Crook Avenue (U.S. 95) and Columbia Street has remained unoccupied since the end of World War II.
• Southern Nevada Consolidated Telephone-Telegraph Company Building

Residents are zoned to the Esmeralda County School District for grades K-8.{{cite web|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st32_nv/schooldistrict_maps/c32009_esmeralda/DC20SD_C32009.pdf|title=2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Esmeralda County, NV|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|accessdate=2022-07-17}} - [https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st32_nv/schooldistrict_maps/c32009_esmeralda/DC20SD_C32009_SD2MS.txt Text list]

High school students in the entire county go to Tonopah High School of Nye County School District.{{cite web|url=https://www.accessesmeralda.com/county_offices/economic_development/education.php|title=Education|publisher=Esmeralda County, Nevada|accessdate=2022-07-17}}

• Ben Alexander, actor{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DsYjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IdEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3688%2C2210148 | title=Tidbits - Did you know... | work=Moscow-Pullman Daily News | date=Sep 10, 2004 | access-date=15 October 2015 | pages=38}}
• Doris Dawson, actress
• Brad Dexter, actor
• Virgil Earp, deputy sheriff{{cite web|url=http://www.shgresources.com/nv/timeline/|title=U101 College Search|work=shgresources.com|access-date=28 September 2015|archive-date=December 30, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061230215711/http://www.shgresources.com/nv/timeline/|url-status=dead}}
• Joseph Rosenberg, banker and minerRites set for banker, Joseph H. Rosenberg. LA Times, 1 July 1971
• George Wingfield, banker and miner

Parts of the cult classic 1971 car chase movie Vanishing Point 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, served as the fictional town of Baxter, California, in the 1998 film Desert Blue.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126261/maindetails|title=Desert Blue (1998)|author=sarahjeanaxo|date=18 June 1999|work=IMDb|access-date=28 September 2015}}

The town was featured in two episodes of State Trooper, Rod Cameron's syndicated television series that aired from 1956 to 1959.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0709696/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_39|title=No Blaze of Glory on State Trooper|publisher=Internet Movie Database|access-date=August 2, 2016}}

In the 1988 movie Cherry 2000, Goldfield was used as the set of the fictional town of Glory Hole.{{cite book |title=Elvis, Marilyn, and the Space Aliens: Icons on Screen in Nevada |first=Robin |last=Holabird |year=2017 |isbn=9780874174656 |publisher=University of Nevada Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TGyVDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22The+Stranger%22+%22Kathy+Long%22&pg=PT241 |access-date=September 16, 2021}}

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.

{{Portal|United States|Nevada}}

• Goldfield Hills
• Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad
• Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad

{{Reflist|25em}}

• Rinella, Heidi Knapp, Off the Beaten Path: Nevada, Guildford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 2007. ISSN 1537-3304
• Thomson, David, In Nevada: The Land, The People, God, and Chance, New York: Vintage Books, 2000. {{ISBN|0-679-77758-X}}
• {{EB1911|wstitle=Goldfield|volume=12|page=210}}

{{Commons category}}

• [http://www.goldfieldnevada.org Goldfield Chamber of Commerce]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20051219140352/http://www.accessesmeralda.com/Goldfield.htm Esmeralda County, Nevada.gov: Information on Goldfield] – from official county website
• [http://www.kued.org/productions/fire/goldfield/ KUED.org: "The Goldfield Strike"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031008171956/http://www.kued.org/productions/fire/goldfield/ |date=2003-10-08 }} – from KUED public broadcasting
• [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?ammem/fsaall:@FILREQ(@field(SUBJ+@od1(United+States--Nevada--Goldfield+))+@FIELD(COLLID+fsa)) Library of Congress.gov: Historic HAER/HABS photographs of Goldfield]
• [http://www.allaroundnevada.com/?p=363 AllaroundNevada.com: Panoramic view of Goldfield in 1909] – with virtual-reality exploration of interior of the Goldfield Hotel
• [https://archive.org/stream/nationalmagazine21brayrich#page/n394/mode/1up Archive.org: "Goldfield, Nevada: The scene of great gold discoveries"] – from The National Magazine (Vol.XXI, October 1904 − March 1905)

{{Esmeralda County, Nevada}}

{{Nevada}}

{{Nevada county seats}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1902 establishments in Nevada

Category:Census-designated places in Esmeralda County, Nevada

Category:Census-designated places in Nevada

Category:County seats in Nevada

Category:History of Esmeralda County, Nevada

Category:Industrial Workers of the World in Nevada

Category:Mining communities in Nevada

Category:Populated places established in 1902