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ENLARGE
NEVADA TRAVELER
Rich Moreno
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ENLARGE
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It’s amazing the number of Nevada mining towns that popped up almost overnight—and then disappeared even faster.
Most of these now-you-see-them-now-you-don’t towns were frequently little more than tent cities, but a few, such as Gold Center, were able to claim at least a few brick and stone buildings before vanishing.
The remains of Gold Center are located three miles south of Beatty, on a hillside directly west of U.S. Highway 95.
Despite its name, Gold Center wasn’t the heart of any successful mining endeavor and didn’t produce an ounce of gold. Indeed, its sole reason for existing was the Amargosa River, which runs adjacent to the former site. The town supplied water to the surrounding mines and mining communities.
In 1904, a townsite was laid out and named Gold Center. The town’s optimistic developers hoped that Gold Center would surpass nearby Bullfrog and other mining camps as a kind of mining camp suburb.
When the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad was constructed through the area in 1906, Gold Center was selected as its connection with the nearby mines. Unfortunately, that was the high point of Gold Center’s existence.
Less than a year later, rail facilities were completed to Rhyolite, which had grown much larger, and Gold Center began to lose its importance.
The end, however, wasn’t immediate. A large brewery and distilled water ice plant was constructed in Gold Center in 1907, as were several dozen wooden homes and a number of businesses, such as a post office, bank, hotel, stores, saloons and newspaper office.
Additionally, a large mining mill was erected on the hillside above the town to process ore from the surrounding Bullfrog and Rhyolite mining districts.
A mining company even sold stock to finance sinking several shafts in adjacent hills to test the area for mineral potential—the certificates identified the mine as located in the Bullfrog Mining District in order to make it sound more appealing—but found nothing worthwhile.
In fact, not many of Gold Center’s businesses proved to be very good investments. By the time the Bullfrog mines went bust and the town of Rhyolite had begun to fail, in about 1910, Gold Center was in a steep decline and would soon evaporate into the warm desert air like one of its ice cubes.
A visitor today will find only a few reminders of Gold Center. Much of the former site has been destroyed by dredge mining operations during the past few decades.
The best remains are found on the hillside overlooking a large pond of water diverted from the Amargosa. This scene is somewhat interesting because the pond still has a large, rusting yellow dredging machine at its south end.
Wandering through the stone and brick ruins on the hillside, you can find the large, rusted, round bottoms of a couple of metal tanks once part of the mill. In addition, you will find stone foundations, cracked concrete floors and the intriguing remnants of some kind of brick and iron oven.
For more information, contact the Beatty Chamber of Commerce, Box 946, Beatty, NV 89003, (702) 553-2424.
Most of these now-you-see-them-now-you-don’t towns were frequently little more than tent cities, but a few, such as Gold Center, were able to claim at least a few brick and stone buildings before vanishing.
The remains of Gold Center are located three miles south of Beatty, on a hillside directly west of U.S. Highway 95.
Despite its name, Gold Center wasn’t the heart of any successful mining endeavor and didn’t produce an ounce of gold. Indeed, its sole reason for existing was the Amargosa River, which runs adjacent to the former site. The town supplied water to the surrounding mines and mining communities.
In 1904, a townsite was laid out and named Gold Center. The town’s optimistic developers hoped that Gold Center would surpass nearby Bullfrog and other mining camps as a kind of mining camp suburb.
When the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad was constructed through the area in 1906, Gold Center was selected as its connection with the nearby mines. Unfortunately, that was the high point of Gold Center’s existence.
Less than a year later, rail facilities were completed to Rhyolite, which had grown much larger, and Gold Center began to lose its importance.
The end, however, wasn’t immediate. A large brewery and distilled water ice plant was constructed in Gold Center in 1907, as were several dozen wooden homes and a number of businesses, such as a post office, bank, hotel, stores, saloons and newspaper office.
Additionally, a large mining mill was erected on the hillside above the town to process ore from the surrounding Bullfrog and Rhyolite mining districts.
A mining company even sold stock to finance sinking several shafts in adjacent hills to test the area for mineral potential—the certificates identified the mine as located in the Bullfrog Mining District in order to make it sound more appealing—but found nothing worthwhile.
In fact, not many of Gold Center’s businesses proved to be very good investments. By the time the Bullfrog mines went bust and the town of Rhyolite had begun to fail, in about 1910, Gold Center was in a steep decline and would soon evaporate into the warm desert air like one of its ice cubes.
A visitor today will find only a few reminders of Gold Center. Much of the former site has been destroyed by dredge mining operations during the past few decades.
The best remains are found on the hillside overlooking a large pond of water diverted from the Amargosa. This scene is somewhat interesting because the pond still has a large, rusting yellow dredging machine at its south end.
Wandering through the stone and brick ruins on the hillside, you can find the large, rusted, round bottoms of a couple of metal tanks once part of the mill. In addition, you will find stone foundations, cracked concrete floors and the intriguing remnants of some kind of brick and iron oven.
For more information, contact the Beatty Chamber of Commerce, Box 946, Beatty, NV 89003, (702) 553-2424.
