Tonopah
Nye County, Nye County, Nevada
Marker Inscription
Tonopah. Jim Butler, District Attorney of Nye County, is credited with the turn-of-century discovery, which ended a twenty-year slump in Nevada’s economy. American Indians originally used the name Tonopah for a small spring in the nearby San Antonio Mountains, long before Butler camped in this area in May 1900. Tonopah became the richest silver producer in the nation and replaced Belmont as the Nye County county seat in 1905. The mines spawned a railroad, several huge mills, and a bustling population of approximately 10,000.The mines faltered in the 1920s, but Tonopah achieved long-lasting fame because of the prominent financial and political leaders it produced. Many camps and communities followed in the wake of Tonopah’s boom, most of which have become ghost towns.
Erected by Nevada State Historic Preservation Office
The Story
In May 1900, Nye County District Attorney Jim Butler made the discovery that ended a twenty-year slump in Nevada's economy — the Paiute had long used the name Tonopah for a spring in the nearby mountains. The strike proved to be the richest silver producer in the nation, spawning a railroad, great mills, and a population of some 10,000, and by 1905 it had taken the county seat from Belmont. Though the mines faltered in the 1920s, Tonopah's lasting fame rests on the financiers and politicians it launched.
Why it matters
Tonopah's silver revived a struggling state and seeded a generation of Nevada's political and financial leaders.
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Related people
- · Jim Butler
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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After two decades of decline that drained a third of Nevada's population, the state's fortunes turned overnight with rich strikes at Tonopah and, in December 1902, here at Goldfield. Nevada-born prospectors Harry Stimler and Billy Marsh found gold ore, and from 1904 to 1918 Goldfield boomed into the state's largest city, peaking near 20,000 people with a railroad linking it to Las Vegas. Before the mines gave out, they yielded more than $86 million in precious metals.
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