Star City
Pershing County, Pershing County, Nevada
Marker Inscription
Star City. Located in the Star Mining District some seven miles west of here, Star City was established in 1861 when rich silver ore was discovered in the area. During the boom years of 1864 and 1865, the town boasted 1,200 residents, two hotels, three general stores, a wells-Fargo office, a church and a dozen or more saloons. The Sheba Mine, the district’s biggest operation, had produced about $5,000,000 in silver by 1868, the year the rich ore began to run out. Three years later, only seventy-eight inhabitants remained in Star City. All that remains today are crumbling foundations, rusted mill equipment and memories.
Erected by Division Of Historic Preservation And Archeologyjulia C. Bulette Chaptere. Clampus Vitus
The Story
Founded in 1861 after rich silver ore was struck in the Star Mining District, Star City exploded during the boom of 1864–65 into a town of 1,200 with hotels, stores, a Wells Fargo office, a church, and a dozen saloons. Its biggest operation, the Sheba Mine, had produced some $5 million in silver by 1868, but that year the rich ore began to give out. Within three years only seventy-eight residents remained, and today nothing survives but crumbling foundations and rusted machinery.
Why it matters
Star City's swift rise and collapse is the archetype of the Western silver boomtown, a reminder of how quickly fortune and community could vanish when the ore ran out.
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