I remembered passing through this spooky sleepy town one night on the way to Vegas with my partner.
I asked Rebel what is this town called, and he said Goldfield Nevada.
I looked out the window of our truck, and no one is on the street, and it is dark. That was a weird feeling, especially it was midnight.
Not faraway from this town all of a sudden talking can be heard from a speaker but once again no one is out. It is that old radio station that sits on the end of the town or the entrance, and it is depend what direction you are coming from or leaving.
After that we headed back on the main highway.
The next day I decided to researched what was the town is all about, and I learned that Goldfield began as a small tent camp once called Grandpa after a gold discovery in 1902. In 1904, there was a massive ore strikes that generated a rapid boom. Because of that it turned into Nevada’s largest city with 20,000 residents.
By 1910, the production supply fell sharply, and it was followed by a devastating fires in 1923 which lessen the number of residents in a huge way.
From calling it a GRANDPA, it got renamed GOLDFIELD to lure investors.
Did you know Wyatt Earp’s older brother Virgil, along with Virgil’s wife Allie, lived in Goldfield during that same era? Virgil worked there as a deputy sheriff before he died of pneumonia in town in October 1905. Wyatt himself, with his partner Josie, also spent time passing through and prospecting in the area. Boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who knew the Earps from their earlier days in Alaska, was tied to the town too.
There was also that labor strife around 1907-1908, which prompted President Roosevelt to send federal troops to maintain order.
After a week, we passed through it, and it was daytime. We saw few people walking around and a store was also opened.
I told my partner if there was a way to stop for 30 minutes so I can check the place in a hurry. He parked on a wider area and we actually both went.
First stop was “The Goldfield Gift Shop,” then we decided to cross the street and found another general store owned by a guy named Dave.
He took me to the store backdoor and showed me acres of empty land that used to be packed with people before a cataclysmic flood in 1913 and a fire in 1923 leveled 53 city blocks, forever changing the formation of the land. We spend thirty minutes of talking as he loved to meet passerby as this town barely has visitors.
Not faraway from his store is the now rundown High School, and what came to mind is how does this school looks like when it was in its prime. I saw the comparison of when the High School was new, everything was in good condition, but now the foundation was bad. From a front stair that not straight anymore, windows were open, while some are covered with woods. The facility is now barricaded with wire fence. A sign hanging outside of no trespassing along with unsafety building was posted.
That Goldfield Hotel looks amazing even though it’s been abandoned for so long. This is one structure I felt that spirit lingers the night we passed through it. Imagination comes to play, but being sensitive to energy, even to this day, I can feel when there’s energy that is around me.
There are also part of the town where old cars were decorated with random things, which is one oddity on this place. A red and yellow boat stuck in the middle of the windshield, an animal skull on the bumper, horns attached to the hood, a front of a truck on top of the roof, plates glued on the windows, dolls hanging on the grill, beads around the dolls, puppets being hang on the side mirrors, and so much more items. They are fixed decoration and these cars are not driveable.
We ended up eating on a restaurant that is located on a farther side of town.
Even the stretch of this town is only few miles from the entrance to the end, anyone whose time is free to this day will be able to find many places that can’t be seen from the main road, such as that Florence Mine, which we did venture on another time and spent half of the day when we went to Vegas for a trade show.
It does have the feel of a ghost town in my opinion because the population maybe now just few hundreds, tons of empty lands and places. Standing on those places, if not noises I heard it will be movements of spirits. Even there was no one around me.
Whether someone is standing in any direction outside the town, it is an open space before anyone will reach the next town.
Moving to now we do not go to that direction anymore, but since we took times to few more visits in the past, we got to know the town more, and I will recommend it to any passer by to stop and explore.
But night time, my suggestion is drive straight and don’t look around because you might see someone in the corner of your eyes.
And I intend your car won’t breakdown around the area once night time strikes.
