Springs, later the site of one of the richest booms in the West,
was an Indian campground for many years, long before Jim Butler
spent a chilly night here.
A number of stories exist as to how Butler discovered
the ore. The most popular version is that Butler's mule wandered
away and when Butler found the ornery critter, he noticed an
outcropping that appeared to be heavily laced with silver. Butler
took a number of samples. The date was May 19, 1900. This quiet
start belied the actual importance of the discovery. Butler
firmly believed he had discovered an important silver deposit
but he had trouble convincing the assayer he visited in nearby
Klondike. The assayer told him the samples were worthless, consisting
mainly of iron, and he threw them into the back of his tent.
was still convinced that his find was genuine.
On his way back to his Monitor Valley ranch, he stopped at Tonopah
Springs once more to gather samples. Back at his ranch, Butler
put the samples on
his windowsill. Not too much time passed before Tasker Oddie,
later to be governor of Nevada, stopped at the ranch and spied
the ore samples. He offered to pay for another assay and Butler
agreed to this. Butler, in turn, offered Oddie a quarter interest
of the assay. Oddie heartily agreed. He took the ore samples
to William Gayhart, an Austin assayer, and offered Gayhart a
quarter interest in his quarter. Gayhart found the assay ran
as high as $600 a ton. When Oddie was notified of the value
of the samples, he immediately sent an Indian runner to Butler's
ranch to alert him of the rich find. Butler did not react rapidly.
He stayed at his ranch to complete the hay harvest and did not
even bother to file claims on the lode site!
of the discovery traveled to Klondike and soon, scores of eager
prospectors were searching around Tonopah Springs, to no avail,
for Butler's lode.
Butler finally went to Belmont, and on August 27, 1900,
he and his wife filed on eight claims near the springs. Six
of these - Desert Queen, Burro, Valley View, Silver Top, Buckboard,
and Mizpah - turned into some of the biggest producers the state
has ever had.
Work was begun on the Mizpah mine in October 1900, and a camp
called Butler formed nearby. On Christmas Day, 1900, 14 men
were living in the camp including Butler and Tasker Oddie, Nye
County's new District Attorney. Butler decided to lease out
all of his claims for one year, from December 1900, to December
1901. Soon, the cry of "Jim, how about a lease?" was heard throughout
the bustling camp. Oddie and Butler were partners, receiving
a 25% royalty on all gold and silver mined from the Butler claims.
The town of Butler began to grow by leaps and bounds. By January
1901, there were 40 men in the camp. The first stagecoach, coming
from Sodaville, arrived in Butler on March 24, 1901, with seven
passengers. It was a two day trip, with an overnight stay at
Crow Springs. The camp consisted of seven shacks, a number of
tents and a population of 60. Within weeks, the population had
grown to 250. A post office (Willie Sinclair, postmaster), named
Butler, opened at the booming camp on April 10, 1901. It was
not until March 3, 1905, that the post office changed its name
By the summer of 1901, Butler
was beginning to make its mark on Nevada's silver production
mines around the town produced almost $750,000 in gold and silver
in 1901, and for the next 40 years, the Tonopah mines were consistent
producers. The town now had six saloons, restaurants, assay
offices, lodging houses, a number of doctors, lawyers and a
rapidly swelling population of 650. The first wedding took place
on November 14 when Harry Stimler and Eleanor Whitford were
A newspaper came to the town on June 15, 1901, when W.W. Booth,
who had published a paper in Belmont, set up the Tonopah Bonanza.
The first issue had this greeting: "With this issue, the Tonopah
Bonanza glides down the typographical ways and into the sea
of journalism. Whether its voyage will be a calm and prosperous
one, time along will tell. The Bonanza will at all times act
as a free lance, giving credit whenever merited and censure
when called for. Our policy in politics will be for the best
of the country. That the paper will meet with public favor or
condemnation is left to the opinion of the reader and advertiser.
We have done our best and sincerely hope it will meet with your
approval." The paper listed Butler as its place of publication
until March 1905. Booth took over the postmaster duties from
Sinclair and served until 1905.
was also very prosperous for the booming town.
Jim Butler had sold out the claims, which were all consolidated
and gave birth to a new company, the Tonopah Mining Company.
It was incorporated in Delaware, with stock listed on both the
Philadelphia and San Francisco exchanges. The company, with
J.H. Whiteman as president, controlled 160 acres of mineral-bearing
ground around the Tonopah district. The company also had holdings
in the Tonopah-Goldfield Railroad and controlled mining companies
in Colorado, Canada, California and Nicaragua. The mine workings
at Tonopah consisted of three deep shafts with more than 46
miles of lateral workings. The deepest of the three shafts was
1,500'. The ore mined at the site was shipped to Millers, where
it was treated in a 100-stamp mill. This facility was used by
the company's mines until suitable treatment facilities were
built at Tonopah.
The Tonopah-Belmont Mining
Company was also formed in 1902.
company was based in New Jersey and had C.A. Heller as president.
The company's property, 11 claims covering more than 160 acres,
was on the east side of the property owned by the Tonopah Mining
Company. There were two deep vertical shafts, 1,200' and 1,700',
with workings covering almost 39 miles. The company also had
to ship its ore to Millers until 1912, when its own 60-stamp
mill was built at Tonopah. The mill had a capacity of 500 tons.
During its years of activity, 1912-1923, it was regarded as
one of the country's best equipped and most efficient silver
mines maintained very high yearly production until the Depression
brought a slowdown.
Mine production from 1900 to 1921, the peak years, was almost
$121 million. The biggest single year was 1913, when almost
$10 million in gold, silver, copper and lead was mined. By World
War II, only four major mining companies were operating. A huge
fire in October 1942 destroyed the Tonopah Extension mill and
property, and spread to a nearby hotel, causing $100,000 in
damage. At the end of the war, even these companies had left.
The final blow came in 1947 when the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad
folded and its rails were torn up.
much mining activity has taken place in Tonopah since then.
In 1968, Howard Hughes and his Summa Corporation bought 100
claims in Tonopah, including the Mizpah, Silver Top, and Desert
Queen mines. Hopes for a mining revival soon faded after core
samples and nothing more were taken. A few of the old mines
were re-timbered but never reopened. As of now, total production
from the Tonopah district is just more than $150 million, a
figure few other places could boast.
History of Tonopah by