Ghost Towns in Nevada
25 documented ghost towns
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History
Nevada's landscape is dotted with silver mining ghost towns from the Comstock Lode era. The desert climate preserved structures remarkably well.
Regions: Great Basin • Mojave Desert
All Ghost Towns
Aurora
Aurora was so big it was capital of BOTH Mono County, California AND Esmeralda County, Nevada—until surveyors figured out it was in Nevada. Mark Twain...
Austin
Austin was site of the Reese River silver rush after a Pony Express horse kicked over a silver-rich rock in 1862. But its greatest legacy is Reuel Gri...
Belmont
Belmont was Nye County seat for 38 years (1867-1905), until Tonopah's boom took the title away. Its 1875-76 Italianate courthouse is one of Nevada's b...
Berlin
Berlin is Nevada's best-preserved ghost town—a company town where buildings remain in 'arrested decay.' But the park's real claim to fame: 225-million...
Candelaria
Candelaria had two separate boom periods - the 1860s-1880s and again in the 1930s. At its first peak, 3,000 residents lived among saloons, hotels, and...
Delamar
Delamar was called 'The Widow Maker' because silica dust from the dry-crushing mills killed hundreds of miners from silicosis. At peak, 1,500-3,000 li...
Eureka
Eureka was the 'Pittsburgh of the West'—16 smelters processed ore from 50+ mines. It pioneered silver-lead smelting in America and became Nevada's sec...
Goldfield
Goldfield was Nevada's largest gold rush, exploding to 20,000 people by 1907. The Goldfield Hotel, an elegant four-story landmark, still stands but is...
Goldfield
Goldfield was briefly Nevada's largest city (20,000-40,000), producing $86 million in gold. It hosted the 1906 'Fight of the Century'—a 42-round boxin...
Hamilton
Hamilton exploded from nothing to 10,000-20,000 people in months during the 'White Pine Excitement' of 1868-69—the Treasure Hill silver strike was leg...
Ione
Ione was briefly Nye County's seat before Belmont won the prize. Without government, businesses left. Today, weathered buildings stand in a remote des...
Lucky Boy
Lucky Boy boomed when silver was discovered in 1908. Within months, the town had 800 residents, multiple saloons, and a newspaper. The ore played out ...
Metropolis
Metropolis was planned as a major city of 7,500 people with grand ambitions. Developers built a hotel, school, and infrastructure for a population tha...
Pioche
Pioche was reportedly so violent that 72 people died of violence before anyone died of natural causes. The Million Dollar Courthouse still stands, alo...
Pioche
Pioche was one of the Old West's most lawless towns—the first 72 deaths were murders, 60% of Nevada murders in 1871-72 happened here. The 'Million Dol...
Rawhide
Rawhide boomed and busted in just five years. Promoter Tex Rickard (later Madison Square Garden founder) ran the Northern Saloon. Elinor Glyn, scandal...
Rhyolite
Rhyolite rose and fell in just 12 years. At its peak in 1908, this gold mining town had 5,000 residents, a stock exchange, an opera house, and electri...
Seven Troughs
Seven Troughs was built in a narrow canyon that proved deadly. Multiple flash floods swept through, killing residents and destroying buildings. The re...
St. Thomas
St. Thomas was a prosperous Mormon farming community until Hoover Dam was completed. In 1938, Lake Mead submerged the town. During severe droughts, th...
Survival Town
Survival Town was built to be destroyed—a mock American town with furnished homes and mannequin families, nuked during 'Operation Teapot' in 1955 to t...
Tonopah
Tonopah was a silver/gold boomtown that peaked at 20,000. About 2,500 remain. The Mizpah Hotel is reportedly America's most haunted....
Tonopah
Jim Butler discovered silver at Tonopah in 1900 when he threw a rock at his mule and realized it was ore. The Mizpah Mine became one of the West's mos...
Tybo
Tybo was a remote silver town with charcoal kilns that still stand. The town produced millions in silver but couldn't overcome its isolation. Stone ki...
Virginia City
Virginia City was built on the Comstock Lode—America's first major silver strike (1859). It financed the Civil War, made Nevada a state, and built San...
Ward
Ward's charcoal kilns are the best-preserved in Nevada—six massive beehive ovens that made charcoal for silver smelters. When the railroad brought coa...