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.

 

Cleveland Ranch (Cleveland)

DIRECTIONS: From Ely, take U.S. 50 south for 29.4 miles. Exit left onto good road and follow for 16 miles to Cleveland Ranch.

"During the mid-1860s, Abner C. Cleveland and Daniel Murphy became partners in a cattle venture. Cleveland borrowed $50,000 from Murphy to enter the partnership, and the two stocked the new ranch with Hereford cattle. Within a few short years, the ranch was the most successful in Spring Valley. Cleveland married Kate Peters in 1868 and two years later was elected to the Nevada State Senate. Murphy died in 1882, and Cleveland took over complete control of the ranch. A post office opened on July 24, 1882, and mail was brought from Gold Hill, Utah, twice a week by Tom Mulliner. The post office closed in 1905 but reopened from 1917 to 1924. Cleveland was an important man on the political scene in Nevada. In 1890 he ran for the United States Senate but lost the election to William Stewart. In 1902 he ran for governor but lost again, this time to Governor John Sparks. He died the following year.

After Cleveland's death, his widow took control of the ranch. William Neil McGill, for whom the smelting town McGill was named, made numerous attempts to buy the Cleveland empire, which led to a bitter feud. During this period, Cleveland was the primary stop on the Aurum-Osceola stage, which ran twice a week. In 1909 Mrs. Cleveland sold the ranch to Thomas Judd, a Mormon bishop from Lund, for $100,000. She believed Judd when he said he would not resell to McGill. But only months later Judd deeded the land to McGill. Mrs. Cleveland vowed that she would kill McGill for his underhanded deed, but she never carried out her threat. Cleveland Ranch is still in operation today, and many of the original buildings remain. A few cowboys who died while working at Cleveland are buried in the Osceola Cemetery, including Decknos Kathan, a Canadian who died on March 24, 1899. One of the interesting aspects of the Cleveland site are the huge trees, about fifty of them, that line the road to the old ranch."

 

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