Please remember to exercise caution when exploring Nevada's Ghost Towns & Mining Camps. Open shafts, drifts going into mountainsides, and old buildings, are all DANGEROUS. Be aware of your surroundings, and let someone know where you are, especially if your plans change.

Amargosa. (Johnnie Station)

Directions: From Armagosa valley head east on US 95 for 16 ½ miles to Nevada 160. Armagosa is 1/4 mile west of this point on the north side of US 95.

" Armagosa was a fairly important stop on the Las Vegas and Tonopah railroad. It was originally a temporary site used while tracks were being laid westward toward Rhyolite and Beatty. The railroad set up a siding in the early 1900's, and it became permanent when strikes at Johnnie created the need for the location. The siding was called Johnnie Station until late1901, when a post office named Armagosa, Spanish for bitter water, opened on December 14. Albert Howell was postmaster. While drilling a well at the site the drills encountered a brackish water, hence the name. The post office was closed in November 1902. Another Armagosa post office opened three miles west of Rhyolite in 1904.

By 1904 there were few buildings at Armagosa. These include a store, a hotel, a restaurant, and a blacksmith shop. The small town remained a pivotal shipping point for Johnnie and other areas to the west. A daily stage to Johnnie was set up, and Armagosa became a vital supply depot for the new town. It also became a diversion point for people heading to the new copper discoveries at Greenwater, California, because it was the closest railhead to the booming town until the Tonopah Tidewater Railroad was completed.

Alikali Bill Brong set up an auto stage from Armagosa to Greenwater, charging anywhere from $100 to $200 for the seventy mile trip. In spite if the steep price, Brong was never short of passengers who wanted to experience the thrill of being driven across the desert at fifty miles per hour. All supplies for the booming town were unloaded at Armagosa and then transferred to mule-drawn wagons for the long trek to Greenwater. In 1907, when the Tonopah and the tidewater Railroad was complete, Armagosa ceased to be the scene of much shipping activity. By June 1910 only the railroad agent and a merchant named Rathbone were left in the town.

The town on Johnnie soon became Armagosa's main interest once more, and the activity there brought some people back from Armagosa. When Johnnie began to decline again in 1912, Armagosa faded quickly. By the beginning of 1914 Armagosa's population was down to twenty-five. By 1915, the small town was completely abandoned. Today the only remnant of Armagosa is the large concrete foundation of the old station. The site is unrewarding and extremely difficult to locate. The best visitors to Armagosa can hope for is a sense of accomplishment at having found the elusive foundation."

 

Return to: Ghost Town & Mining Camp Map