Goldfield, Nevada — RoadPics
// September 17th, 2011 // Places
[Goldfield, NV] — “Here today, gone tomorrow,” pretty much sums up the town of Goldfield, Nevada. From its first gold discovery and the city’s founding in 1902 , the city grew explosively to become Nevada’s largest by 1906, with over 20,000 residents, five banks, three newspapers, a hotel billed as the finest between Chicago and San Francisco, and countless saloons — the largest of which employed 80 bartenders.
Today, not so much. “We’ve got 2.5 million acres and 1,020 people left in the entire county,” David Ashe, owner of 
Barbarrossa & Bear Vintage Wares & Classic Motorcycle shop explained to me. Although the town was “the last and one of the biggest gold strikes in the U.S.” according to Ashe, the gold ore quickly played out. A flash flood in the teens and a major fire in the 1920s helped hasten the city’s demise.
Although a shadow of its former self, Goldfield is hardly a ghost town. People still live and work here, albeit not that many. On a ride through Nevada earlier this year, I parked on the street outside the courthouse and strolled the main street, admiring the early twentieth century stone buildings and imagining the city as it once was.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://goldfield.travelnevada.com/
Early 1900s "bottle house"
14 Responses to “Goldfield, Nevada — RoadPics”
Leave a Reply
My videos. Featured videos.
Subscribe to Travelin’ Gringo:
Follow Me:
Motorcycle Superstore:
Best Western:
GoPro:
MedJet Assist:
Tags
I can’t help but think: All that elbow room!!
Old mining towns like this are awesome. I just watched the tv series Deadwood and got into this big “gold rush” kick!
Technosyncratic Travel Blog recently posted..Unexpected Perils of the Roman Baths
Thanks for these beautiful pictures. I espacilly like the one with the 2 rusty cars, but they are all very beautiful. Thanks
Demi recently posted..asbakken
I like photos from small, Western towns like this.
Stephanie – The Travel Chica recently posted..Best Restaurants in Columbus: Basi Italia
Is there any other reason why those houses have bottles placed on the walls? It seems that they are for decoration purposes, but do they have a contribution to keep the house sturdy?
Mark Errol recently posted..יוגה
Man, you get everywhere on that bike!
adventureswithben recently posted..You Pick My Next Adventure Anywhere Around the World!
Love the pics, especially the Blue… Harley? I bet you back in the day, the place used to be really busy.
David @ MalaysiaAsia recently posted..Louis Vuitton Island Maison in Singapore
This place looks like the wild, wild west…great pix!
Raymond @ Man On The Lam recently posted..An Inconvenient Death
Great shots!
Love that that one shot at the top is of one of those septic tanks turned homes. Once had a boyfriend that had one of those. Know that ‘it’ was never used as a septic tank, but could still never quite shake that out of my head.
~ Emme
Emme Rogers recently posted..Italy 3 – A History Lesson in Pompeii
wow – what an interesting town!! love the photos!!!
jenjenk recently posted..Photo Friday: Oklahoma State Fair
Cool little post and great pictures!
Jay Green recently posted..East Coast Biker Online Sept 2011
I love visiting old town like that. Seems that Nevada has its share of them that boomed, then busted. Interesting history. Great pics!
Cathy Sweeney recently posted..A San Francisco Treat
Love the Goldfield roadsign. It doesn’t get any more nostalgic than that shot.
inka recently posted..The sweet smells of Saida/Lebanon
These shots are excellent! I love the “garage” pic.
Caanan @ No Vacation Required recently posted..Entitlement Sucks