Welcome
to
Jiggs,
Nevada
"From
Elko, head east o Nevada 227 for 3.7 miles. Take Nevada 228 south
for 26.8 miles to Jiggs.
Although
Jiggs was never large, its history has many unique facets.During
its lifetime, six different post offices have served the town,
and it achieved national prominence when Volkswagen put all its
residents in one of its vans for a nationwide advertising promotion.
W.M.Kennedy,
the first settler in Mound Valley, arrived in 1866, thought Myron
Angel, in History of Nevada, erroneously identifies the year as
1861. Kennedy named the valley for a large mound located near
his property on Smith Creek. By the late 1860s there were quite
a few homesteads in the valley. The boom at Hamilton (in White
Pine County) led to the formation of a number of toll roads, including
the Hill Beachey, the Gilson Turnpike, the Woodruff and Ennor,
the White Pine toll road, and the Eureka-Hamilton road, which
all came through Mound Valley. The main stop in the area was Hooten's
Station, located east of the present Jiggs townsite.
The first post
office in the Jiggs area was named Cottonwood. It opened at the
Porter Ranch on December 14, 1869, with Mason Dexter as postmaster,
and closed on July 12, 1870. Cottonwood was home to a strange
mixture of hard-working, law abiding residents and wild outlaws
who called the camp at Hooten's home. The latter group's reputation
inspired popular western author Zane Grey to make Cottonwood home
base for his fictional outlaw King Fisher.
In
1900 the population of Skelton and Mound Valley stood at 109.
In November 1902 a gunfight - a rarity for Elko County - took
place between Fred Stone, a cowboy fro the Carville Ranch, and
Charles Conley, a saloonkeeper with a reputation for obnoxiousness.
After a running argument, Stone challenged Conley to a fist fight.
Conley came out with a gun, slugged Stone with it, and shot the
hat off the unarmed Stone's head. Stone bought a gun for protection
at the store, but when he prepared to mount his horse, Conley
renewed the argument. Stone fired five times, hitting Conley four
times. The shots killed Conley, who had just married local girl
Hannah Guldager. The shooting was ruled as self-defense, and Stone
was released.
Begging
in 1902 Albert Hankins, formerly a rancher in Ruby Valley, became
Skelton's main businessman. In 1912 Hankins and his wife, Julia
bought everything in town except the Hylton store, which he purchased
in 1916. in 1916 Hankins also built a new two-story brick hotel,
which remains the town's most prominent landmark. In addition,
he built a dance hall and erected large sheep corrals to capitalize
on the sheep heads traveling through the area. With the arrival
of prohibition in 1918, he closed his saloon, delivered the alcohol
to federal agents in Elko, and converted the building into a small
store. He also reestablished the post office on December 18 and
renamed the town Jiggs, after the comic strip character. As a
result, a local women's organization was named the Maggie Club,
after Jiggs's wife. The original Hylton store burned on August
25, 1919, and was never rebuilt. When Hankins died in 1922 his
holding were sold, and Jiggs slowly faded as buildings burned
or were torn down. The hotel became a residence and the school
a post office.
Electricity
finally arrived in Jiggs in 1963, courtesy of the Wells Rural
Electric Company. That was also a year in which the town became
nationally know, when all of its nine residents were loaded into
a Volkswagen van as part of a promotional campaign. The post office,
which still contains original mailboxes, finally closed on December
15, 1975. A few people still call Jiggs home. A small school operates.
The community hall, a brick hotel and a school/post office are
among the remaining buildings. The two-story brick hotel, even
after all these years, is still one of the most impressive building
in Elko County."
Our
thanks to author Shawn Hall for this bit of Jiggs history. This
is just a small portion of this areas colorful history.
Located
just miles from Southfork State Recreation Area.
Be
sure to mark this town on your places to visit in Elko County.
Return
to Elko County Main