Beatty Ghost Town Bound

Heading to and from a long weekend of visiting ghost towns around Beatty, I spent the drive visiting ghost towns and historical sites along Highway 95.

The Long Winter

The winter of 2022-2023 has been brutal. I had some fun times, like taking my sister and her family to the Chollar Mine, but the snow, blizzards, floods and wind storms have worn on me. Throw Five Ducking Days, which turned into eleven days, with a combination of no electricity, propane, heat, water or hot water, and I was in a funk.

In early March, I told Hubby I didn’t feel like myself. I was tired but didn’t want to sleep, I had no motivation to do anything at the house, and I never once went out looking for bald eagles. There were a few short trips around our area to places like Fort Churchill and my Museum Madness trip to Tonopah and Goldfield, but otherwise, I was just blah. I didn’t even want to start researching a ghost town or planning a trip; unheard of for me. Hubby said he thought I was a little depressed as I hadn’t been outside and doing what I love; exploring Nevada. The family told me I needed to get out and visit my beloved ghost towns.

Enter stage left. Austin of Nevada Expeditions had the week off and called to ask if I wanted to go on a trip. My week was free, and the family almost shoved me out of the house. We decided to head south as northern Nevada has been like Hoth, the ice planet from Star Wars. Beatty would make a great base, had both passed through headed south and to Death Valley, but neither of us had spent much time in the area.

We visited twenty ghost towns, plus smaller sites along the way. As I needed to meet with Radio Goldfield to learn to edit audio, I added a night in Tonopah, which gave us four full days to explore. I am splitting this trip into two articles as we visited so many sites. This installment is the trip down and back. The second will focus on ghost towns around Beatty.

Schurz

I met Austin in Schurz at the Next Evolution Cofee Shop. They had a great menu of coffee, smoothies and food.

Schurz was established in 1891. It is home to the Walker River Indian Reservation. The town was named in honor of Carl Schurz, author and Secretary of the Interior. A post office opened on October 21, 1891. Shurz was originally in Esmerelda County but transferred in 1911 with the creation of Mineral County.

The Carson and Colorado Railroad had a station in Schurz by 1883.

Methodist Episcopalian Parsonage

Schurz House

Schurz School

Employee Cottage

Station

Post Office

This is next to the current post office and has a flag pole, so we wonder if it was the old post office.

Railroad Houses

Jail

Babbitt

Hawthorne Naval Ammunition Depot was created after an explosion in New Jersey in 1926 in which twenty-one people were killed, and fifty-three were seriously injured. The Navy wanted a remote site within 1,000 miles of the Pacific coast and chose Hawthorne. Construction of HNAD began in July 1928, and they received their first munitions in 1930.

To support employees at the Hawthorne Naval Ammunition Depot, Babbitt was created in 1941.

Residences

The Navy built the first block of twenty-five duplexes in 1914. In 1942, they made 400 more duplexes and another 487 in 1943. Each duplex contained four bedrooms, two bathrooms, two kitchens and living rooms. Some single homes existed with one to three-bedroom layouts. At the height, Babbit consisted of forty blocks and 584 duplexes with a total of 2,590 rooms.

Following the end of the Korean War, many duplexes were relocated. “Babbitt Houses” were used in locations such as Hawthorne, the Walker River Indian Reservation and Tonopah. Once you know about “Babbitt Houses,” you will see them everywhere in rural Nevada.

The last residents moved in 1987; only the school and bowling alley remained.

Town Center

Babbitt had everything residents needed: grocery store, butcher, pharmacy, post office, barber, and school. For entertainment, Babbit had a movie theater, soda fountain, bowling alley, golf course, and tennis and basketball courts.

Streets

Bowling Alley

Tennis and Basketball courts

The courts are now broken concrete, but you can still see the lines.

Coledale Junction

I stopped at Coledale Junction on my Tonopah & Beyond trip in 2022, but Austin wanted to document it more thoroughly before more damage occurred. I hadn’t spent a lot of time photographing it on my last trip, it was one of the few places I was uneasy exploring alone.

Coledale was a stage station between Fish Lake and Bishop headed to Hawthorne and Belmont. Coledale had a service station until 1959. The town is now gone, but Coledale Junction, another service station and the motel are south of the ghost town.

Coaldale Junction consisted of a store, cafe, motel and service station. It operated until 1993, when the EPA found the fuel tanks were leaking. The restaurant and motel closed soon after, and a fire destroyed the restaurant in 2006.

Station

Restaurant

Motel

Outbuildings

The buildings are all covered in graffiti.

Graffiti is always changing. The camera below was changed from white to black since my last visit.

Green Building

The green building is my favorite. The construction doesn’t seem to match the rest of Coledale Junction. Austin thinks this may have been the hospital from the Tonopah Airbase.

Tonopah

We had lunch in Tonopah and grabbed a few pictures before continuing our journey south.

Fire Department & Water Company

I had never photographed these buildings before as I thought they were too perfect and must be new. But, nope, they are original, date to 1907-1908.

Crib or row house

This building looks like a crib where prostitutes lived and worked. They are outside of the two red-light districts. Was there another red-light district? If not, these might be row houses.

Columbia/Stimler

Some consider Columbia a suburb of Goldfield, but it had its own post office between 1904 and 1919 and the town fought to be a separate community. Originally named Stimler 1902 after Harry Simler, one of the founders of Goldfield, the town was renamed for the Columbia Mountains. Interestingly, Stimler started another town in Esmerelda County in 1907 by the same name.

Active mining and reclamation surround Columbia. The roads were a muddy mess: this wasn’t regular Nevada mud, but clay that dried like concrete. When I got home it took me an hour with a pressure washer to clean the wheel wells.

Goldfield Consolidated Mill

The 100-stamp mill was built in 1908 and operated until 1919. Between 1927 and 1940 a portion of the mill was used to rework tailings.

Columbia Townsite

Survey work

Work has been occurring at one of the structures. I hope they are able to preserve the buildings.

Goldfield

Austin showed me some places in Goldfield I missed on my last trip.

Church

Sacred Heart Catholic Church was built in 1909. Sadly, a fire destroyed most of the church in 1943.

Jail

Goldfield’s first jail was operated between 1905 and 1908.

Red-light district house built in 1905

Slaughterhouse Canyon

Above the Pioneer Cemetery is Slaughterhouse Canyon.

Ice House

From 1905 to 1913, Goldfield & Columbia Ice and Cold Storage company had an ice house. From 1914 to 1914, Tonopah & Goldfield Meat Company had a butcher shop at the location.

Swimming Pool

Crystal Baths in Slaughterhouse Canyon was a Goldfield retreat. The WPA converted the into a community swimming pool in the 1930s.

Cemetery

I was recently at the Goldfield Cemetery to research “Unknown man died eating library paste,” but I missed other graves I wanted to visit.

Grave digger dies digging grave

John Meagher was a grave digger at the Goldfield Cemetery. He was killed in the grave using explosives to break apart a boulder. He could not get out of the grave after setting the explosives, and a piece of the rock penetrated through his head into his brain. Ironically, they buried him in the grave where he died.

Diamondfield

I had seen the sign to Diamondfield on my last trip, but OF#1 thought taking off into the desert, not knowing if I had a full-sized spare, wasn’t the best idea ever. I learned on this trip that I had a full-sized spare, but that is another tale.

“Diamondfield Jack” Davis founded the town. He had smartly moved away from Idaho, where he was convicted of murder and then pardoned at the final hour, standing on a gallows, hood over his head and noose around his neck. Hearing of discoveries outside of Goldfield, he plotted a town and created a toll road to Goldfield.

By 1904, Diamondfield had every service you can imagine: a post office, stores, churches, stores, boarding houses and restaurants, a physician, and of course, multiple saloons. Several hundred people called Diamondfield home at the town’s height. As mining declined, so did Diamondfield. Miners moved to the next big strike, and the post office was closed in 1908.

We made it out just as the storm broke.

Home Bound

As we were staying in Tonopah for my meeting Monday, that gave us an entire day to explore.

Gold Point

I stayed in one of the miner’s cabins at Gold Point on my first Nevada ghost town trip in 2002. The town is privately owned Gold Point started as a silver camp in the 1860s and was known as Silverhorn. In 1932, the name was changed to Gold Point.

Herb purchased many of the Gold Point buildings with proceeds from his lottery winnings. Along with friends, he restored many of the structures and created a bed & breakfast, which are now cabin rentals. Sadly, the Gold Point Saloon was closed. I want to stay at Gold Point again and explore the area more thoroughly.

You better behave at Gold Point!

Stewart’s Mill

I visited Stewart’s Mill with Stan Paher in 2021 but only had a few pictures of the mill. You can read at a full article about Stewart’s Mill at this link.

I am glad we returned; we noticed rock foundations on the opposite side of the gulley.

Ralston

Ralston was a Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad stop established in 1907. Only fifteen people lived in Ralston, but it had a small store and saloon.

Stonewall

Ralston is as close to Stonewall as we could get. Nellis Air Force Range cuts around Stonewall Mountain. The townsite isn’t in the base, but the road crosses the test site. Miners discovered silver around 1904. Stonewall was worked sporadically but never amounted to much. According to Ghost Towns & Mining Camps of Nevada, the only ruins are the mine.

We were outside the base but could see helicopters flying.

Cuperite

Cuperite started following the discovery of copper ore in the nearby hills. It became a stop for travelers headed to Bullfrog with an Inn and saloon. In 1906 the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad arrived and Cuperite became a shipping center for Gold Point, Lida, Palmetto and Stonewall. The small town had a post office beginning in 1907. As mining and freight decreased, by 1901, Cuperite only had one saloon, a roadhouse and a garage. Debris and a water cistern are all that remain.

Tonopah

Base housing in town

I am slightly obsessed with the hangars at the Tonopah Air Base. I have debated writing an article on them, but the task is daunting. Austin showed me some of the base facilities in the town proper.

Tonopah Brewing Company

We finished our evening at the Tonopah Brewing Company. I plan on visiting each trip, but I get distracted by the Mizah. I am glad Austing chose TBC for dinner: I am not a beer person, but we sampled some of the large variety of beers and ciders.

The Cherry 51 was amazing and perfectly paired with the BBQ ribs, baked beans and fries. Now I’m kicking myself for not getting a few to take home; I guess I need another trip!

Radio Goldfield

I came home Monday after meeting with Radio Goldfield. They loved my first episode; a minute in, they started nodding “yes” at each other. I have recorded four episodes and am working on the fifth. Radio Goldfield started airing Nevada Ghost Towns & Beyond with Nevada Tami show Monday the 10th. It runs It will run Monday through Friday 3:05 & 6:05 am – 1:05 & 4:05 pm (except the 6:05 am will be only on Wednesday and Thursday).

International Car Forest of the Last Church

I loved the photo I took with “Its ok to be wild,” but I was wearing a hat, so I quickly stopped to retake the photo.

Luning

I wasn’t going to stop, really, I wasn’t. Then I spotted the old jail in the parking lot of the rest stop and turned around.

We had an amazing four days, but there is still so much more to explore!

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