Ore to Lore in Goldfield

... Rancher and prospector Jim Butler ventured south from his home in Belmont and discovered an outcrop of rich silver ore. News of the find led to a mining boom and population rush from other mining districts into the newly founded town of Tonopah and its surroundings. Eager to find the next bonanza, Butler hired two prospectors, Harry Stimler and William Marsh, to search for ore in the surrounding area. Well-known Shoshone prospector Tom Fisherman discovered gold in the area and agreed to lead the men to his find. In December 1902, the prospectors found promising ore on the northwest side of Columbia Mountain, approximately 30 miles south of Tonopah. Fisherman called the location Gran Pah, a Shoshone word meaning “land of much water.” The men quickly staked claims, including the Sandstorm, the Kruger, and the May Queen. 

The remoteness of the claims and the harshness of the surrounding terrain made further exploration difficult.  Mining activity stagnated, and the area’s population shrank from a high of 50 to a few stubborn miners.  Two of those miners, A. D. Myers and R. C. Hart, located what would become the renowned Combination group of claims in mid-1903. Soon after, Hart sold his shares, and Myers was joined by T. D. Murphy. Together these men struck extremely rich ore in the Combination No. 2 shaft.  Another miner, Charles Taylor, secured rights to other locations that contained some of the most productive workings in the nascent mining district, including the Florence and Jumbo claims.

Throughout 1903, the area buzzed with excitement over the new claims. The 50 or so claim owners in the burgeoning mining district met on October 30, 1903. They formed a committee to decide the boundaries and regulations of the district. Later that year underground water was discovered. Locals drilled a few small wells, staking out a rudimentary townsite around the wells. The month-old town was named Goldfield, and the Goldfield Mining District was created. By the end of November 1903 Goldfield grew to 150 inhabitants, and by January 1904 the town boasted 350 residents and fifteen businesses.

Goldfield’s claim owners adopted the leasing system that had been developed and refined in the mining districts of Cripple Creek, Colorado, and nearby Tonopah. By leasing a portion of their properties, the claim owners could quickly raise enough capital to improve their core mining facilities, building mills, and other extractive infrastructure. This system was efficient at extracting high-grade ores but mid- to lower-grade ores were often ignored, as lessees lacked the funds for sufficiently sophisticated milling equipment. Consequently, some smaller operations incorporated and advertised to outside investors. One of the first companies to do this was the Florence-Goldfield Mining Company, which was incorporated on May 6, 1905 with a capitalization of $1,250,000 and T. G. Lockhart as president. In June 1905 the Combination Fraction Mining Company was incorporated, led by A. D. Myers and T. D. Murphy. A year later, George Wingfield and George Nixon organized the Goldfield Consolidated Mines Company (GCMC) with a capitalization of $50,000,000.

Outlying communities quickly sprang up around Goldfield, most notably Columbia and Diamondfield. Columbia was located at the base of Columbia Mountain, north of Goldfield. The town was incorporated in February 1904 and featured a residential section, several businesses, a bank, and large hotel.  By 1908 the town had about 1,500 residents and numerous businesses. In late 1904 the small community of Diamondfield developed near McMahon Ridge. Named after mining promoter “Diamondfield” Jack Davis, the community retained between 200 and 300 inhabitants, numerous businesses, a miners’ union hall, and a post office.

As Goldfield grew, demand for water increased. In 1905, the Montezuma Water Company (MWC) developed springs on Magruder Mountain. In 1906, the MWC became the Goldfield Consolidated Water Company and took control over all water and sewer lines in Goldfield. The company finished the 47-mile pipeline system from Lida to Goldfield in late 1907. Similarly, demand for electrical power exceeded supply during these early years. The creation of the Nevada Power, Mining, and Milling Company in December 1904 satisfied the region’s need for electrical power. In 1905, the company constructed the Lake Sabrina Reservoir on Bishop Creek in Inyo County, California. Water from Lake Sabrina spun turbines in an electrical generating plant, delivering power to Tonopah and Goldfield by means of a 113-mile transmission line network.

Development in Goldfield peaked between 1907 and 1908. At that time, the town had four banks, six newspapers, two mining stock exchanges, four schools, six churches, and several hospitals. Numerous restaurants, hotels, broker’s offices, and a variety of other businesses flourished. Goldfield’s business district contained blocks of imposing brick and stone ashlar buildings, some of which were four and five stories high, including the Goldfield Hotel, and the Nixon and Palace buildings.

Beginning in 1906 and lasting until early 1908, fierce labor disputes rocked Goldfield. During this period, mining stock speculation and the overblown promotion of unexplored and undeveloped claims exacerbated the frenetic atmosphere in Goldfield. Meanwhile, experienced mining promoters and operators developed the mines and consolidated their holdings to increase efficiency and productivity in the District. Mining development in Goldfield peaked with the construction of the GCMC Mill in 1908, which was the largest mill built in the District, and the Florence Mill in 1909.

After 1908, the Goldfield frenzy receded as the best ore deposits were mined out. With the decline in mining, the population and vitality of Goldfield waned. During this period Goldfield experienced devastating disasters that would permanently alter the physical makeup of the community.

A cloudburst flood occurred on September 13, 1913, killing two people, heavily damaging the yards and shops of the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad, and leaving many homes beyond repair. A decade later, on July 6, 1923, a major fire leveled 52 city blocks, apparently caused by a bootlegger's still. Two people died, and many commercial buildings and establishments were lost. The fire leveled major portions of Goldfield’s commercial and residential districts, which never recovered. Damage from the fire was estimated to be between $200,000 and $1 million.

In the eight years following its initial organization, the District experienced intense mining activity and served as the economic heartbeat of Nevada. However, after 1911, mining claim patents plummeted, with only 31 new patents surveyed between 1912 and 1930. Of these, approximately one-third were patented by individuals rather than mining companies, suggesting that small-scale mining began to replace corporate interest.

During the late 1930s, a small-scale mining revival occurred at Diamondfield. This lasted a few years until 1942, when the War Production Board required that non-essential gold mines cease operations to conserve equipment and manpower for the war effort, effectively terminating local mining efforts.

After World War II, Goldfield’s economic depression continued. Some exploratory mining activities took place in the District, but no major mining endeavors occurred. During the second half of the twentieth century, Goldfield’s economy focused on tourism, with attractions such as  Goldfield Days  bringing historic mining enthusiasts to the region to revel in the town’s history and admire downtown Goldfield, which—apart from the damage done by the 1913 flood and 1923 fire—remains largely unchanged since the mining ended. The iconic Goldfield Hotel is one of the main attractions in town. Today, Goldfield remains the county seat for Esmerelda County, a position it has held since 1907. Its economy is still largely based on tourism, with some renewed development in the mining sector.

Mining and milling architecture was driven by the frenetic energy of the mining industry in the 19th and 20th centuries, developing organically for function, speed, economy, and access to building materials. While structural foundations were often permanent, mining and milling structures themselves were often designed to be mobile as lumber was scarce and expensive. Additionally, the “boom and bust” cycles of mining meant that these structures would be in use at one place for a handful of years before the lode ran dry, and the next lode was identified. Some of these structures remain in the desert in and around Goldfield, standing monuments to a rich and detailed history.

The following sections take a close look at some of the most striking architecture and mining features in Goldfield – those associated with the Florence-Newmont Industrial District and the Goldfield Consolidated Mines Company.

The Florence-Newmont Industrial District consists of six structures on Florence Hill. The structures are associated with the Florence-Newmont Deep Mines milling complex and include a mill, privy, machine shop and hoist house, headframe, and two ore bins. These buildings are astonishingly well-preserved down to their original machinery and industrial systems.

The machine shop and hoist house dates to the early days of the Florence Mine. The Florence Mining Company constructed the building as early as 1908. As the name suggests, the building consists of a machine shop and hoist house connected by a central addition. The hoist works consist of a round double-drum rope hoist and a small generator. Cables from the hoist travel through small openings in the eastern side and extend to the top of the Florence-Newmont Headframe.

The Florence-Newmont Headframe is constructed in the traditional gallows style, but its large size and sturdy construction suggests that it was used to raise and lower substantial loads. Ore was lifted out of the mine by two one-inch-diameter cables extending from the hoist works building. As ore was lifted from the shaft in buckets, small ears on the ore bucket would catch in two inverted J-shaped brackets on either side. These brackets would guide the bucket up to the top of the ore bin and then dump the ore automatically. This process was controlled from the hoist works.

A robustly constructed wooden ore bin is adjacent to the Florence-Newmont headframe. Although its date of construction is unknown, the bin appears to have been reused through various successions of the mine’s use. Wooden ladders provide access from the ground to the higher levels of the bin. The base of the bin is steeply angled, forcing the ore brought up by the headframe to flow downward. At the bottom of the eastern side is a metal chute through which the ore would have exited the bin and been carried by conveyor to the nearby Florence-Newmont Mill.

A second ore bin, the Florence-Newmont Lessee Ore Bin, is located on the periphery of the district in an area of the Florence claims that was leased and mined throughout the early twentieth century. Miners brought ore to the bin in carts via an overhead trestle. Only a small fragment of trestle survives, terminating under a sheltered area at the top of the ore bin. Once inside the trestle shelter, the ore was dumped down into the ore bin. The base of the bin is steeply angled, forcing the ore inside to flow down toward two metal chutes providing an exit route for the ore. A series of cables and counterweights raised and lowered the chutes, allowing miners to control the flow of ore.

The district’s privy is a rectangular four-seat outhouse positioned over a large pit. A cupola is centered in the roof and features horizontal rows of wooden planks that are angled downwards to provide light and ventilation to the interior while keeping out rain and snow. Two large cylindrical exhaust pipes on the western side extend up from the privy cistern and were designed to vent gasses from the organic matter below. Because there were so many large mining operations in the immediate vicinity of the privy, it is impossible to know what mining company built it or when it was constructed. No matter who built it, the privy would have been a necessity for mine and mill workers.

The Newmont Deep Mines Company constructed the mill in 1948. Highlights of the structure include a wooden gangway and ore conveyor, gyratory ore crusher, ore bins and storage boxes, and a ball mill with an electric motor. The mill’s history is described in greater detail below.

The original Florence Mill was the final mill to be designed and built for the Goldfield ores. Completed in 1909 at the height of the boom, the mill was located on the side of Florence Hill and featured 40 stamps.  It was designed to process a prodigious amount of ore using the latest metallurgical methods, namely amalgamation and lixiviation. For unknown reasons, the mill caught fire and burned completely in 1911.

Four years later, the Nevada Metal Extraction Company erected a new mill on the old foundations. The second mill retained the Florence name and was designed around a flotation process. Second only to the Goldfield Consolidated, the mill processed 200 tons of ore per day at its peak. It burned in 1916 after one year in operation.

The mill site lay dormant until 1948, when the Newmont Deep Mines Company acquired the property and constructed a new mill. The mill processed gold for a short period of time before federal subsidies for tungsten production and the relatively low price of gold spurred the Newmont Company to investigate the feasibility of converting from gold to tungsten production. It is unlikely that the mill was retrofitted to process tungsten, as Newmont shut down its Goldfield operation in 1951.

Completed in 1908, the Goldfield Consolidated Mill (GCM) was the largest ore-processing facility in the Goldfield Mining District. George Wingfield and Senator George Nixon needed a state-of-the-art mill to process the ore from their mines and financed its construction.

Designed by renowned mechanical engineer J.B. Fleming, and utilizing metallurgical processes devised by master metallurgist F.L. Bosqui, the mill featured a crushing plant, 100 stamps, and a series of mercury amalgamation plates, tube mills, and cyanide leaching tanks. The mill operated at a breakneck pace, with the stamp assembly dropping 108 stamps per minute. An integrated refinery smelted the ore, and machine and electric shops maintained equipment and tools. The mill’s processing capacity was a staggering 600-1,000 tons per day.

Bosqui, through experimentation conducted at the nearby Combination Mill, worked out a scheme of processing Goldfield’s notoriously complex sulfur-laden ores. Bosqui’s method, controversial among metallurgical engineers at the time, started with wet crushing, followed by treatment on amalgamation tables to recover the coarse gold, and culminated in cyaniding to recover the finer particles. With this method, Bosqui was able to recover 90 percent of the gold from Goldfield ores.

In 1916, GCM constructed a 50-ton flotation plant, which became the primary focus of mill production. However, by the late 1910s, Goldfield’s best ore had been mined out. The mill became unprofitable, and the mill shut down in January 1919. In its 11 years of operation between 1908 and 1919, the mill produced $53,970,400 worth of ore, which constitutes more than half of the total output of the district prior to 1940.

The mill sat idle from 1920 until 1927, when Bradshaw, Inc. began re-treating the tailings. Previously, several companies attempted to reprocess the tailings, but they deemed it uneconomical because transporting the material from the tailings pond to the plant was so expensive. In 1926, Bradshaw proposed transportation of the material by hydraulics, which proved cost-effective. The company continued to process the tailings until 1941 when the milling equipment was moved to Millers, Nevada to outfit a new 1,000-ton treatment mill. The company recovered a total of between $2.8 and $3 million from the Goldfield Consolidated tailings.

Today, only the large tailings pile and the tiered concrete foundation remain.

The Goldfield Consolidated Mines Company built a private railroad to keep their enterprise profitable. The railroad spanned four miles to directly transport ores from the company's mines to the mill and to connect to the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad.

Construction of the standard-gauge railroad began on January 24, 1908 and was completed four months later, before the mill was completed. Two steam locomotives with six hopper-bottom rail cars hauled ore (and construction materials) up to the mill site.

As ore reserves declined, the railroad became increasingly unprofitable for the GCMC. In September 1915, the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad (T&GRR) company took over operation of the line, which they operated until 1931.

Today, only the railroad berm remains.

Although the Goldfield Consolidated Mining Company dominated Goldfield’s boom, independent operators survived alongside the giants and resisted falling under the GCMC’s control. Some maintained the leasing system while others self-managed their claims. The following workings, while not exhaustive, provide varied examples of autonomous mining endeavors in the area.

The Jumbo Extension Mining Company incorporated in 1904.  The company’s interests were centered on the Daisy, Jumbo Extension, and Triangle mines in Diamondfield. It avoided acquisition by the behemoth GCMC, perhaps due to its limited early success. However, the company discovered a rich body of ore in 1914 after consulting engineer J.K. Turner advised deep exploration. Jumbo continued to work its claims into the 1930s, retimbering and reopening the Daisy shaft, as well as installing a new headframe and hoisting engine, in 1939. The reinvestment may not have paid off, as the company was leasing the mine by 1941.

Although the Gold Coin Mine adjoined the Jumbo Extension Company’s Daisy and Triangle claims, it remained independently owned and operated. By 1908, the mine was shipping ore valued at $1,000 per day. The original supervisor of the mine was Walter C. Geddes. Under his leadership, a hoist for the mine was constructed in July of 1911.

Little is known about the early days of the Great Bend Mine. In early 1918, as mining excitement waned in the area, new workings of the Great Bend procured high-grade ore with much fanfare. The mine did not live up to the hype. By 1937, it had produced only $250,000. It reverted to a leasing operation. Later that year, a 100-ton mill was constructed at the site, recovering zinc and copper into the 1940s.

The first gold strikes at Tonopah and Goldfield were located 100 miles from the closest tracks, the Carson & Colorado (C&C) railroad tracks at Sodaville and Candelaria. Wagon freighting from the C&C to these communities was too costly and unpredictable to be economical, so the C&C built the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad (T&GRR) between 1904 and 1905 to connect the booming districts to outside markets.

During the summer of 1904, the company began to survey the railroad connection from the C&C to Goldfield. By July 24, 1905, grading of the entire route was complete, and by the end of August 1905, standard-gauge track had been laid from Mainline Junction to the newly built Goldfield depot. In September the first passenger train arrived.

The demand for supplies often overwhelmed the railroad's freight capacity. This changed with the financial panic of late 1907, which caused a nationwide economic downturn that severely impacted Goldfield and Tonopah. Although the T&GRR remained profitable through the panic, competition from other railroad companies reduced the railroad's revenues. In addition, the T&GRR offices relocated from Tonopah to Goldfield after the Tonopah fire on June 28, 1909. By August 1910, the railroad had moved its shops and other facilities to Goldfield.

In the early 1920s, the T&GRR continued to turn a profit despite reduced mining production and rail traffic. A fire on July 6th, 1923, destroyed the T&GRR's offices but spared its shops and terminals. Over the subsequent decades, the railroad continued to operate with slim margins, buoyed by occasional shipments to the Tonopah Army Air Field, which had been established in 1942. After World War II ended, business for the railroad declined. With a fleet of aging steam locomotives and increased mining costs, traffic on the T&GRR came to a halt. On October 15, 1947, the T&GRR was formally abandoned, and its tracks were removed in 1948.