38.510653° -116.343367°

An overview from the History of Nevada

The town of Hot Creek is situated in the center of a rich mining region, with wood and water convenient and abundant. Among its earliest settlers were Jeremiah Miller, David Baker, Eli Baker, G. B. Montgomery, Dr. Walter, E. G. Brown, Garrett& Joslyn and Capt. A. D. Rock— who arrived in 1867. The town was most prosperous in 1868, when its population numbered about 300. The altitude is 6,800 feet. It is situated in a beautiful valley in the foot-hills of the Hot Creek Mountains, and is fifteen miles south of Morey District, twelve miles north of Tybo, and thirty-five miles southeast of Belmont. Its present inhabitants number only twenty five. The site of the town is now the property of Hon. J. T. Williams. A saloon, restaurant, hotel, post-office, blacksmith shop and assay office meets the present wants of the community. The buildings are of stone and iron. In 1867 a twenty-stamp mill was built, but it was soon afterwards burned down. The town at that time consisted of two camps, and the upper one was then abandoned. In 1880 a ten stamp mill was built at the lower town, but it has never been operated much. The bullion product of the town to date has been about $1,000.000. The water supply consists of 300 inches, and is private property. Austin, about ninety miles to the northwest, is the nearest railroad point, and to team freight from it costs two cents per pound. The taxable property of the township is valued at $200,000. Large herds of cattle and horses are raised in the vicinity, and one fine ranch raises a large amount of hay and other produce. Near the town are boiling hot springs of great medicinal value, and mineral water is also abundant of a quality highly appreciated. The principal fire occurred in 1867. when the Old Dominion twenty-stamp was burned down, causing a loss of $90,000.
-History of Nevada 1881

HON. J. T. WILLIAMS Is a native of Arkansas, born in Conway, July 21, 1842. His father was a planter and died when the present subject was quite young. At the early age of seventeen years he came to California, by way of the plains and arrived in 1859 in the land of promise. He having no relatives or friends on this coast, was obliged to follow the promptings of his own nature. He settled in Calaveras County and engaged in mining until 1862, when he came to the then Territory of Nevada, and followed the occupation of silver. In 1863 he went in company with Gov. L. R. Bradley to Austin, during the Reese River excitement, and assisted in the organization of Nye County, and has since resided in that county. He was married to Miss Sophia Ernst, September 20, 1870. The great triumph of the subject of this sketch is in the authorship of the Williams Resolution regulating freights and fares on the railroads of the State, which be introduced in the Nevada Senate in 1881. His present residence is at Hot Creek, Nye County and his business is divided between mining and farming. He is extensively interested in mining, owning several paying claims. He also owns a hotel, and
has some 500 acres of fine bottom-land at his home place and his hay crop is very valuable, being worth about forty dollars per ton. Mr. Williams is a gentleman, esteemed by all who have the honor of his acquaintance.
-History of Nevada 1881

Hot Creek was originally a rich mining region.

The Old Dominion mill, at Hot Creek [Upper Town - FN], says the Belmont Reporter, is now supplied with salt from a marsh situated about thirty miles eastward from the mill. There is an extensive valley there, in which occurs a saline deposit embracing an area ten or fifteen miles square. Work was commenced during the early part of the summer and some salt collected, but the frequent occurrence of rain storms somewhat hindered operations by preventing efflorescence. Now, however, the prevalence of continuous fair weather induces a beautiful and heavy incrustation, enabling those at work to gather large quantities, not only sufficient for the use of the mill at Hot Creek, but also to supply Newark, White Pine, Reveille, and Pahranagat.
-Daily Territorial Enterprise, November 19, 1867

Hot Creek has had its share of fires.

MILL BURNED
The 10 stamp mill of the old Dominion Silver Mining Co., at Hot Creek, 90 miles southeast of Austin, was burned on Wednesday morning last. To keep the main water pipe from freezing a box of live coals was placed under it outside of the building, and it is supposed the wind had blown some embers underneath the floor of the engine room and set fire to the shavings and chips lying there. The engineer observed smoke coming through the floor, and on tearing up a hoard was met by such a body of flame that it was barely possible for him to escape. In little more than an hour the main woodwork-- including the lumber building— was consumed, there being no water at command to check the devouring scourge. The mill, which had power sufficient for twenty stamps, was built last summer, and since then had been doing good work. Its destruction is not only a serious loss to the company but to that of the whole region of country, as there is now no custom mill nearer than Austin.
-Daily Territorial Enterprise, February 11, 1868

Not sure if this was the Dominion mill rebuilt, or another. Regardless, it soon had nothing to do.

The mill at Hot Creek, which was started some time since, has stopped operations for want of a supply of ore.
-Los Angeles Daily News, August 18, 1870

Hot Creek gives up its status as a mining commuity and turns to agriculture.


HOT CREEK DISTRICT
This mining district, famous in 1867-8, then boasting two mills, is now abandoned as a mining camp, but the agricultural interests thereabouts have become important. Hot Creek is thirty-five miles this side of Belmont.
-The Pioche Record, May 27, 1873

Hot Creek was located favorably as far as freighting and trade was concerned.

The Cañon of Hot Creek is, for a distance of 40 miles, a favorable pass through the mountains in which center roads from Morey, Hamilton, Eureka, Currant Creek, Pahranagat, Reveille, and Tybo, and at the upper end are roads to Austin, Belmont, and EUreka, which makes it a resting and supply point and gives it a sort of way trade to and from the above named points.
-Weekly Nevada State Journal, February 18, 1874

THe WIlliams Hot Creek Hotel was a famous stop on the road

The Odd Fellows' ball on the 26th of April was a decided success, both socially and financially. A grand May party is announced at J. T. Williams' Hot Creek Hotel on May 10th.
-Eureka Daily Sentinel, May 8, 1878

Unfortunately, fire again visited Hot Creek

SENATOR JOE WILLIAMS HOT CREEK HOTEL DESTROYED
From W. C. Reveal, who came into town yesterday from Tybo, we learn that Thursday afternoon about 3 o'clock the fine stone built hotel of Senator J.T. Williams at Hot Creek, Nye Count, caught fire and was entirely destroyed, nothing but walls being left standing. The fire started in the roof of the kitchen, ignited by sparks from the stove pipe. The burning was not discovered for some time after it had got well under way; in fact, the roof had almost entirely fallen in before attention was attracted by the fire by the smell of smoke and the noise from falling rafters. Fruitless efforts were made to save something from the building, which, soon after the fire was discovered, was wrapt in flames throughout, but nothing more could be gotten out but a single bed and one or two other important pieces of furniture. Mr. Williams and Mr. Ernst were occupying the house with their wives. They lost everything, saving not even their clothes, except what they had on. The building was very substantial, well arranged and comfortable, and was put up when Hot Creek and Belmont were thriving camps. It cost $10,000, including furniture. It contained seven rooms on the first floor while the second story was taken up by a large dance hall and two small rooms. The loss is very severe, especially as the persons burned out have no other dwelling on the ranch and no time to rebuild new, as Winter has set in. The ranch barn and other outhouses did not catch fire.
-Eureka Daily Sentinel, November 19, 1882

Another fire nearby, but this one with a macabre twist

Suicide of R. Gluyas
A Well Known and Highly respected Citizen of Hot Creek, Nye County, Is Determined to Die By His Own Hand and Deliberately Carries Out His Intention-- Builds His Own Pyre And Dies On Top Of It.
A man in the employ of the Wheeler brothers, of this place, came in from Hot Creek last Tuesday evening and brought the dreadful intelligence that Richard Gluyas, a highly respected citizen of that district, had committed suicide by digging a trench and piling a quantity of wood over it and, after setting fire to the wood, crawling into the hole and shooting himself. Mr. Gluyas was well and favorably known in this community and commanded the highest esteem of all who knew him. The following communication to the SENTINEL, which gives the full particulars, will be read with great interest by many anxious inquiries into the truth of the report:
Tybo, Nye county, Aug. 21, 1893. EDITOR SENTINEL.—On Saturday, Aug. 19, 1893. Richard Gluyas, as was his usual custom, took his ore sack and directed his course up the mountain. As he did not return in the evening, the Chinaman in his employ mistrusting that something wrong must have happened, notified Hon. Jos. T. Williams. That gentleman, H. B. Campbell, J. B. Gilmore and others met on the following morning for the purpose of going in search of him, but before starting out thought proper to search his domicile, thinking that he might have left some written explanation of his absence. Upon examination they found a sealed letter addressed to the residents of Hot Creek, with instructions written upon the envelope that it be opened 24 hours after his departure. The letter explained that he had resolved to die by his own hands and, in order to save funeral expenses and trouble to those he left behind him, to burn up his body. It also directed the place where he intended to commit suicide, namely at Mountain View mining camp, near the northeast corner of the mill. [The mill at Mountain view is located about 3.4 air miles due west of Hot Creek - FN] The deceased must have set fire to a pile of wood (some 30 cords), and then, after getting on top of it, shot himself. All that was found of his remains were a few bones, and beside them a suspender buckle and the fragments of a pistol. Deceased left a will, bequeathing to Robert, son of Hon. J. T. Williams, all of his real property, consisting of mines and lands. He had attributed his troubles to the depression in the price of silver; at least it is supposed so, as it is known that he had invested all of his money in mines in Hot Creek District. He had been a resident of Hot Creek for the past 14 years. He was Superintendent of the Hot Creek and Rattlesnake Mining and Milling Company, an Eastern concern, was quite an expert in mining and milling, a good assayer and a man of excellent character, who never went back on his word. He was a native of England and aged about 52 years. The residents of Hot Creek and surroundings feel deeply sorry for the loss of an excellent friend and neighbor. Yours truly, George Turin.
-Eureka Sentinel, August 26, 1893

By this time, and automobile came into common use, and Hot Creek was listed on earl Midland Trail maps as a stop. Some stops were voluntary, others-- not so much.

ESCAPED BY A NARROW MARGIN
MALCOLM MACDONALDS PARTY HAD A VERY CLOSE CALL.
Malcolm Macdonald is indeed a fortunate man. The gentlemen who were with him on the memorable ride from Chloride to Hot Creek are also fortunate men. Mr. Macdonald was brought in yesterday afternoon in the relief automobile which took out Congressman Bartlett, Major Monteath and Dr. J. D. Grissim on Monday night.
The relief machine covered the distance between here and Hot Creek in three hours. It is seventy miles from Tonopah to the Williams ranch at Hot Creek. The relief machine, which was another Simplex, made the trip in three hours. The party left here at 9 o'clock. It was a rook that spilled the machine in which were riding Messrs. Macdonald, Bradford and Russell, and there were rocks on the way between here and Hot Creek. But the friends of those in the relief machine were at Hot Creek, and suffering they knew not what. Their anxiety to reach him was going at a faster rate than was the machine, and they cried to the chauffeur to go faster and faster. The party little imagined at what a pace they were being driven, but they knew that they were going at a pretty good clip. The Simplex spread out the sagebrush and stirred up the dust; it rounded corners like a sharp knife cutting through cheese. It went down into the hollows and soared up the hills like a duck, and along the level stretches the machine fairly flew. On and on she went, and the party were at the ranch before they realized it. Mr. Macdonald was resting as easily as possible, but he did not conceal his pleasure at the sight of his friends. Dr. Grissim got to work immediately, and as far as a superficial examination could determine, there were no bones broken. The doctor diagnosed the case as a dislocated elbow, and a further examination showed the diagnosis was correct. The Macdonald party had a very narrow escape for their lives, and Shorty Kutchnan proved himself the hero of the occasion. The rock that was encountered was in the middle of the road, and the gear of the Simplex failed to clear it. The result was a broken spring, a sudden stqppage, and the entire party went out of the machine. Mr. Macdonald had his hands in his pockets, and when he fell his entire weight was on top of the elbow. Shorty was thrown, but with his mind ever on his machine, he saw that it was coming over on top of them all. Quick as a cat his feet shot as he lay on his back, and they met the side of the machine. He held the machine in this position until Bradford and Russell jumped to their feet, and held it up, while he got from under and dragged Macdonald away. Then they gently let the machine come over. Had it not been for the quick work of the chauffeur, the big machine would have crashed on the entire party, and if it had not killed them outright, they might have laid there for two days until some machine happened that way. Two of the party walked ten miles to the Williams ranch, and Macdonald lay there in the cold nursing his hurt, until 1 o'clock Monday morning. It took three hours to react the ranch on the wagon, and the pain all the while was intense. When the party arrived here yesterday there were scores of telegram for Mr. Macdonald, which had beet sent from nearly all parts of the United States. The story of the accident had been carried by the Associated Press, and while the sufferer lay on his back at Hot Creek miles and miles away from nowhere his friends were reading of his accident in all parts of the finite States.
-Tonopah Bonanza, November 23, 1907

Hot Creek was still a stop, but Williams had not rebuilt his hotel as of yet.

WALKED EIGHTEEN MILES FOR RELIEF
C. H. BOTTSFORD SPRAINS HIS ANKLE ON THE DESERT.
Hot Creek is becoming famous as a resort. The latest patient to accept the hospitality of Senator Williams and his family is C. H. Bottsford, the well known mining man, the man who sold the Combination mine. Mr. Bottsford and Mr. Frank Peterson went out to view a prospect. They had got a tip from Goldfield, from McCormick and others with whom they are associated, that there was something great about twenty miles from Hot Creek and so they went. When they reached Hot Creek, it was a case of a burro ride for twenty miles and it was a toss-up to see which of the gentlemen should take the ride. Mr. Peterson finally got the ride. In his absence Mr. Bottsford determined to take a ride up to Tybo. Eighteen miles from Hot Creek the crank shaft broke, and the passengers started to walk to Tybo to get help. There are two canyons on the way to Tybo and Mr. Bottsford and the chauffeur got into the wrong one. Then the former sprained his ankle, and it was case of walking eighteen miles back to Hot Creek. Mr. Bottsford arrived at the ranch in considerable pain, at 9 o'clock that night, to find his friend Peterson back from the mine, and worried to death about his absence. Mr. Peter-son went to Tybo on Monday, and got a machine which brought him into Tonopah. He telephoned to Mr. McCormick and the latter last night sent out his auto to Hot Creek. The mine that the gentlemen went out to examine turned Out to be a myth.
-Tonopah Daily Bonanza, December 4, 1907

The Williams familycontinue to live at Hot Creek.

MR. AND MRS. JOSEPH WILLIAMS of Hot Creek, Nev., are in Los Angeles to pass a portion of the winter, and are guests at the Rosslyn. Mr. Williams is the oldest male resident of Nye county, Nevada, barring a few stray Indians, and has played an important part in the reclamation of a portion of the desert country, the development of the mineral resources and in waging a fight against the rail-roads, which for yearn controlled the state. As a member of the legislature he was the author of the Williams resolutions which were sent to congress as a protest against the dominance of the roads. Mr. Williams was an associate of Fair and Mackay in the palmy days of the Comstock, going to Nye county to reside in 1866. With Mrs. Williams, who is a fitting helpmate for a man who spends his life on the frontier, and one of the most lovable women in the world, he has reared a family on his beautiful home ranch, which is the stopping place for every wayfarer who travels the road. He is familiar with all of the well known mines in that region, and knows every prominent mining man in the state, including Jim Butler, who discovered Tonopah. Nye county is the second largest county in the United States now, but when Mr. Williams went there to live, along with Governor Bradley, it was as big as many a state. Lincoln county, Esmeralda and White Pine have all been shorn off the territory originally known as Nye. The Hot Creek ranch, the house on which is shown herewith, is not far from the line of the railroad which is soon to be built from Goldfield to Ely, as distances go in that country, nor from the old camps of Tybo and Reveille, which are to be afforded transportation for their low-grade ore. Of both of these camps Mr. Williams speaks highly. The Tybo mine, which is owned by the Southwestern Mines company, in which Malcolm MacDonald of Tonopah and Max FL Bernheimer of New York, who financed the Ely-Goldfield road, are the leading spirits, has fourteen feet of good silver lead ore at a depth of 400 feet. This mine was purchased upon the recommendation of Mrs. Williams, who urged MacDonell and Bernheimer, while guests at the ranch, to examine the property. The Reveille mine was discovered by an Indian who brought the ore to Mr. Williams, and he located the mine. Mr. Williams also sold the Hot Creek mine, a silver-lead property, to John W. Brock of Philadelphia and F. A. Keith, formerly general manager of the Tonopah Mining company, now established in Los Angeles. "The new road will open up a large district which has many good mines," said Mr. Williams, "and will bring about a great change in Nye county, which had been held back because of lack of transportation. I am told that a custom smelter will be built at Ely, and Nye county can furnish any amount of ore for it. All of the old mines have plenty of ore left in them, in fact they have hardly been prospected yet." Mr. and Mrs. Williams expect to spend several weeks in Los Angeles and other places in Southern California, returning home in the spring. They have no notion of abandoning life on Hot Creek ranch, with its friendships of lifetime.
-Los Angeles Herald, December 13, 1909

Sometime during 1908-1909. Willaims constructed the home presently at Hot Creek, replacing the one that burned in 1882. Where we was living in the mean time we haven't a clue.

DEATH OF JOSEPH T. WILLIAMS
Pioneer Nevadan Dies at His Home at Hot Creek, Nye County
A telegram was received in" Eureka Thursday by Beatific Lodge No. 7, Knights of Pythias, announcing the death of Joseph T. Williams at his home at Hot Creek, Nye County, Wednesday. Mr. Williams had been a member of the K. of P. Lodge here for the past 80 years. The funeral is to take place at Tonopah under the auspices of the Knights of Pythias Lodge of that place. Deceased had been in poor health for the past two years, and recently made a trip to the Sandwich Islands in the hope that it would be beneficial to him. Mr. Williams some time ago sold mining properties at Hot Creek, on which it is reported he realized about $100,000. He built a handsome residence about a year ago at Hot Creek for himself and family. He was a pioneer Nevadan and an active and influential man in political affairs in Nevada about 20 years ago, serving one term in the State Legisla-ture as Senator from Nye County. Deceased is survived by a widow and three grown children, two daughters and a son, Mrs. Victor Llarudt, Mrs. J. Lawton Butler, and Joseph, who reside at Hot Creek.
-Eureka Sentinel. April 30, 1910

The house continues to be a focal point of the region, well after it was bypassed by the realinging of the Midland Trail further south..

The house which Mrs. Williams built some years ago is perhaps the most substantial and pretentious ranch home in the state. It is built of stone and a fine quality of 'dobe brick. The ground floor has nine large rooms, the three in front being so arranged that they can be thrown into one big enough for twenty-five couples to dance in with comfort. About a mile from the house there are a number of springs, the water from one being deliciously cool- while from the others it comes from the ground almost at the boiling point Drinking the hot water has cured many stomach and other ills that flesh is heir , to, and the vapor baths from the hot steam arising from the springs are refreshing and health-giving.
-Reno Evening Gazette, May 9, 1917