Travel Update: Full Post to Follow
This is a picture of a picture that didn’t hold up well over 18 years.
Hubby and I visited Gold Point for several days on a ghost town vacation. We stayed in one of the miners cabins at the Gold Point Ghost Town Bed and Breakfast.
We visited multiple ghost towns including Gold Mountain, Sylvania and Palmetto during our stay at Gold Point. We also visited the unusual Hard Luck Mine and Castle while it was under construction.
Somehow this is the only photo of Gold Point I have. I either lost them or didn’t take more as I was pregnant and not feeling well. We are looking forward to visiting the area again!
Visited 6-2002
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Ken Angst says
Tami,
You have done an excellent job with this site. Here is a little more info on Gold Point.
The first time I visited Gold Point (Horn Silver) was in April of 1964. Ora Mae Wiley was still living in the store / Post Office. Very gracious Southern Belle. We rented a spare room in the back from her for $3.00 a night as I recall. As you are probably aware her husband had been a Nevada State Senator from that area. I was able to purchase a copy of Nell Murbarger’s Ghost’s of the Glory Trail from Ora Mae, autographed by both Ora Mae and Nell Murbarger. A classic for ghost town research. Nell visited and wrote about Aurora before it was torn down and the bricks hauled away for sale in postwar Los Angeles.
There were several other residents living in the “town” at that time. One was a retired air force pilot WWII vet who was quite knowledgeable about the history of the area which led me years later to a little climb to the top of Mount Jackson in which the California Volunteers supposedly were involved in an engagement with hostiles during the period of the “War of Northern Aggression” when they were “protecting Nevada”. I have only been able to find a couple mentions of such action with no details. Mt. Jackson is the table top mountain you can see north of Gold point.
There may still be some conflict between the Federal Government and Esmeralda County over the property ownership of Gold Point. Evidently the feds have no record of the town or property and yet the residents have been paying Esmeralda County property taxes as recorded property owners since 1908. According to a second-hand story I have heard from several Goldfield residents back in the 1980’s, a decision was made by BLM in the late 70’s or early 80’s to evict the residents and bulldoze the structures. I believe Eddy Pinson was the sheriff at the time. The story I was told was that an armed standoff developed between BLM and a number of Gold Point and other Esmeralda County residents. When asked by BLM to get the residents to back down, the sheriff was said to reply to the BLM agent in charge something to the effect of you’re looking at a good percentage of the voters of this county who voted for me so unless you have a court order don’t come back.
This story was related to me on several occasions in the “watering holes” of Goldfield years ago so it’s hard to say what is fact and what is fiction but a confrontation was reported by news media during that era.
Ken, Fallon Nevada
Tami says
Thank you, I’m glad you enjoy the site. I am on a trip right now with Nevada Expeditions who is from Fallon.
Wow, thank you for all the information on Gold Point. I was there last summer but just ran through. I am hoping to spend more time there this summer. Such interesting history, some I have never heard of. I knew there had been conflicted with federal agencies, but I didn’t realize how much or that it could still be ongoing. Thank you again!