The town now known as Gold Point had its name changed several times depending upon what was being mined there. Originally, when lime deposits were found in 1868, the small community that grew near the deposits was called Lime Point. Silver was discovered in the 1880s, but the silver was thoroughly embedded in surrounding rock, making it unprofitable to mine. Discoveries in Tonopah and Goldfield at the turn of the twentieth century, however, brought renewed interest in the surrounding hills.
As a result of this more intense examination, significant amounts of silver were found at Lime Point in 1905, followed by a bonanza of high-grade horn silver in 1908. As miners descended upon the site, the camp became known as Hornsilver. Eventually, it became a town featuring more than two hundred wood-frame buildings with the usual stores, thirteen saloons, and a post office. The town’s growth was hampered somewhat by never having a railroad; the nearest station was at Ralston, fifteen miles east.
Gold was discovered in 1927 within the Great Western silver mine, and by the 1930s, when more gold was being mined than silver, Hornsilver became Gold Point. But when World War II began, the federal government closed mines of non-strategic metals. Gold Point became a ghost, but not before more than a million dollars in gold and silver had been extricated from its mines.
WALKING AROUND GOLD POINT
As mentioned in this chapter’s introduction, Gold Point is this book’s finest example of an early mining camp that is not part of a state park. Most camps like it have long since disappeared. But Gold Point contains more than three dozen buildings, most of them tiny miners’ quarters, along with some rudimentary commercial structures. For this preservation, we can thank many former residents and volunteers, but special gratitude goes to two people: Ora Mae Wiley, who moved to Gold Point in 1930 and watched over the town until her death, at age eighty-three, in 1980; and Herb Robbins, who started buying Gold Point buildings in 1980 and is still there at this writing, carefully shoring up and restoring his properties.
On the west side of town are photogenic false-front, wood-frame buildings, including Mitchell’s Mercantile, the Expiration Mercantile, and the Turf Saloon and Grill, all dating from about 1908. A block south of those buildings is the picturesque 1908 Gold Dust Saloon and a series of miners’ residences. One block east is the post office—which closed in 1967—along with some carefully restored miners’ cabins (occasionally available for lodging) and the attractive Hornsilver Townsite and Telephone Building, now a saloon. Many mining artifacts and an eclectic array of fire engines placed throughout the town add to the charm of Gold Point.
Gold Point’s false-front buildings are the kind that, if not protected, will disappear into the desert. These have survived in part because of the present owner, Coleen Garland.
WHEN YOU GO
From Goldfield, head south on U.S. Highway 95 for 13.5 miles to Lida Junction. Turn southwest on Nevada Highway 266 and drive 7 miles to Nevada Highway 774, the road to Gold Point, which is just beyond a state historical marker. Gold Point is 7.2 miles southwest of that marker.