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.

TONOPAH

Located at the junction of US 6 and US 95, 207 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"Tonopah Springs, which was later the site of one of the richest booms in the West, was an Indian campground for many years before Jim Butler discovered ore at Tonopah on May, 1900."

"There are a number of stories of how he discovered the ore. In the most popular of these, Butler's mule wanders away, and when he finds him he notices an outcropping that appears heavily laced with silver. Butler firmly believed that he had happened upon a valuable silver deposit, but he had trouble convincing the assayer he visited in nearby Klondike that this was the case. Throwing the samples Butler had brought to the back of his tent, the assayer told Butler they consisted mainly of iron and were worthless. Butler was still convinced that his find was a significant one."

"On his way back to his Monitor Valley ranch, he stopped at Tonopah Springs once more to gather samples. Back at the ranch, he put them on his windowsill. Not much time passed before Tasker Oddie, who would later become Governor of Nevada, stopped at the ranch and caught a glimpse of the ore samples. He offered to pay for another assay, and Butler agreed. Butler, in turn, offered Oddie a quarter interest of the assay and Oddie eagerly accepted. Oddie took the ore samples to William Gayhart, an Austin assayer, and offered him a quarter interest in his quarter. Gayhart found that the assay ran as high as $600 a ton."

"When Gayhart notified Oddie of the value of the samples, he immediately sent an Indian runner to Butler's ranch to tell him about the rich find. Butler reacted calmly. He stayed at his ranch to complete the hay harvest and did not even bother to file claims on the lode site."

"News of the discovery traveled to Klondike, and soon a score of eager prospectors were searching around Tonopah Springs, to no avail, for Buter's lode. Butler finally went to Belmont, and on August 27th, 1900, he and is wife filed on eight claims near the springs. Six of these - the Desert Queen, the Burro, the Valley View, the Silver Top, the Buckboard, and the Mizpah - turned out to be some of the biggest producers the state has ever had."

Tonopah is a town with a wild and colorful past. Alot of history still remains. One of the most photographed mine head frames is overlooking the town of Tonopah. Jim Butler Day's are still a celebrated event annually in Tonopah.

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