The result of one of the last big mining rushes in Nevada, Wahmonie burst onto the scene around February of 1928 with much excitement, and enjoyed a peak population of perhaps 1,500 people. But by the time the post office closed in September of 1929, it had but one remaining resident. Interestingly, this site was one of the oldest gold discoveries in the West, possibly predating discoveries at Sutter's Mill in California.
First this lovely overview:
WAHMONIE MINING DISTRICT The Wahmonie Mining district is east of Jackass Flats and north of Skull Mountain on the Nevada Test Site. The exact dimensions of the district are not clearly defined but earlier references describe possible limits as the north-side of Skull Mountain, four miles north of the Wingfield Shaft and Kane Springs which is four miles to the east of the main camp. The official record shows the district at its peak of activity had been staked for an area of six by seven miles (Tonopah Daily Times, February 22, 1928, p. 1). Ball (1906) visited the Hornsilver Mine but did not elaborate on his findings. Kral (1951) reported that the district was rediscovered by McRea and Lefler in 1928 with a strike of high-grade gold silver ore, but with only minor shipments. The published information on the district is very limited in scope. However, the Tonopah Daily Times (1928) fairly burst its seams with information on the camp. The 1928 newspaper accounts of the original discovery in 1847 (or 1853), include complete details on Lefler and McRea's discovery and activities, the people who had claims or owned interest in the camp (such as Governors James Scrugham and Joe Hutchison, Senators Key Pittman and George Wingfield), a detailed accounting during the sinking of the Wingfield shaft, a running account of activities on other properties, reports from most of the mining companies in Tonopah and their engineers, and elaborate geological and mineralogical descriptions as well as certified assays. When Lefler and McRea rediscovered Wahmonie in 1928 they, along with others, were apparently aware that "The old Hornsilver Mine had been worked by Mormons in 1853". In fact, their initial 1928 discovery was described as being "very near several old holes dug by Mormons in 1853 from which very rich horn-silver was extracted" (Tonopah Daily Times, February 14, 1928, p.1). Wahmonie is on the old Mormon Trail from Salt Lake City to San Bernardino, California. Part of the route traveled included Groom, Oak Spring, Tippipah Spring, Kane (Cane) Springs and Wahmonie to the Amaragosa Desert, Death Valley and into San Bernardino. Another account from the same paper, dated February 24, 1928, described a stone location monument found in a fireplace wall in a cabin above Kane Springs: "The stone bears the inscription F.O. Byers, 1847 and the lower left-hand corner has a clearly defined skull and cross bones chiseled an inch deep". The newspaper had the stone on display and invited those skeptical about the primitive location notice, to drop by the office and examine the carving. This seems to confirm Wahmonie as a gold camp before gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in California. The inscription stone found its way north to Reno where it now can be seen displayed in the Mackay School of Mines museum on the UNR campus.
-Wahmonie Mining District, District Summary, NBMG Open File Report 84-2, Tingley, Quade, 1984
Businesses began preparing for the onslaught of mining men and needed supplies.
STAGE COMPANIES ENTER WAHMONIE
Temporary permits to operate stage lines between Beatty and the new camp of Wahmonie were granted to two stage companies today by the Public Service Commission. Several days ago the Tonopah & Goldfield Stage company made application to the commission for permission to extend its stage service between Tonopah and Beatty to Wahmonie.
-Nevada State Journal, February 26, 1928
The Nevada State Journal prints an unusually cautious story.
Wahmonie Strike
THE ALLEGED RICH STRIKE reported at Wahmonie, in southern Nye county, lies 422 miles southeast of Reno by auto road, in the wildest and most inaccessible part of Nevada. Its surroundings are veiled in romance and mystery. In 1848, following the discharge of the members of the famous "Mormon Battalion" in southern California, a few members of that organization are reported to have made their way to the Mormon settlements in the Salt Lake valley, partly by following an ancient Indian tribal trail running from the Ash Meadows in Nye county to the Pahranagat valley via Cane Springs, White Rock Springs, Oak Springs, Groom and Timpahute. They were led by a French trapper and guide re-ported to have been named La Quinta. After tremendous hardships, the party reached the Cane Springs, near Wahmonie, where there is a dense growth of a species of wild sunflower, the seed of which furnishes sustenance for hundreds of mourning doves. Antelope and mountain sheep also fed there, and the comparatively abundant food supply caused the party to stop and rest, building a stone shelter which stands to this day. Skull Mountain and Frenchman's Flat were the names given to the most prominent topographical features to the west and east of the camp. Numerous bold outcroppings of alunite run through the foothills northwest of Cane Springs, and tradition has it that a piece of rock flecked with gold and horn-silver was picked up by La Quinta from this formation at or near the site of the present strike at Wahmonie. The same party is claimed to have later discovered the mineralized outcroppings at Oak Springs and Groom, and the spring north of the latter place was named La Quinta in honor of the guide. After the California gold excitement in '49, rumors persisted of the rich outcrop-pings near Cane Springs, and a party led by Edward Bunker, founder of Bunkerville, in Clark county, prospected the area in vain during the latter fifties. The lost Breyfogle mine was thought to be in this vicinity, but the isolation and forbidding aspect of the country prevented any great number of prospectors from risking their lives in such barren surroundings. George Montgomery, who found the Johnnie mine, prospected there in the nineties. With the discovery of Goldfield and Rhyolite, and the building of the Las Vegas and Tonopah railroad, there came a considerable influx of treasure seekers and the alunite-rhyolite outcroppings around Skull Mountain were prospected more thoroughly. A few small pockets of free gold and hornsilver were found in the district, but none of commercial importance. A few years later, Frank Rapp, a well-known prospector and surveyor of Tonopah, picked up large piece of rich gold float in the Forty Mile canyon, containing over a hundred dollars, and another short-lived spasm of interest was created. Due to the deep sands, dim trails, chasms in the roads created by cloudbursts, a long distances from water, gasoline and food supplies, but few people have visited the district. However, with ordinary precautions the trip can be made with ease and safety. Beatty is the last supply point and the trail to the new camp takes off where the Forty Mile wash comes into the main Las Vegas road near the Skeleton hills. It is quite doubtful if the strike is anything like as rich or extensive as claimed, and more authentic reports will be required before a boom is to be encouraged.
-Nevada State Journal, February 11, 1928
But a few days later, they join in the fun, running this ad comparing the Wahmonie excitement to a local real estate development.
GOLD!
Wahmonie (I'll spell it and you pronounce it) is firing the imaginations of all the old prospectors. If they bring out many more of those gold be-splattered samples there will be a ton of gold seekers going through Reno into the new camp, but the gold-diggers will probably stay in Hollywood as usual. And if Wahmonie don't make another Goldfield, some of these old desert rats will, keep fooling around until they find one. Some folks say Newlands Manor is a gold mine for profits, but the big excavation out there is not a mine. It is just part of the most extensive development ever put into any residential subdivision in Reno. In fact it is so extensive that a conservative banker said we are spending so much money out there that we are going broke. We can't go broke as long as there are so many people in Reno who appreciate real estate values but we thank the banker for giving us credit for building values into our lots. WEB.
It is a surprise even to us how many people are buying lots at Newlands Manor these last few days. Perhaps it is the spring days and the moonlight nights. Mrs. Bill Lunsford says they have the biggest printing plant in Nevada and the two finest lots in Newlands Manor where she can always see the sunrise and sunset, the snow capped mountains and all the twinkling lights of the city at night. She likes fine printing and fine views.
-Reno Evening Gazette, February 28, 1928
Two towns tried to grow here, but Bradley was beat out by Wahmonie.
NEW WAHMONIE DISTRICT EASY TO REACH AND CAMP IS FILLING UP RAPIDLY.
LOCATORS WAITING FOR INVESTORS AND LITTLE WORK DONE SO FAR EXCEPT FOR FILING CLAIMS; TWO TOWNSITES BIDDING FOR TENTS AND BUILDING
With the rounded dome of Skull mountain, one of Southern Nevada's landmarks, the rival towns of Wahmonie and Bradley, the new mining district, less than a month old, is now full of life and hope and tents are being pitched at a rapid rate in the town townsites. The townsite locations are ideal for a mining camp. Cane Springs, with plenty of water, are four miles away and if the time comes when the camp needs a water supply piped in there will be few engineering difficulties to overcome in bringing in the water, although the camp is a little higher than the springs. Wahmonie and Bradley are all one with Wahmonie avenue, the principle street of the original camp running at right angles into the main and yet unnamed street of Bradley. On Wednesday there were sixty-five tenants in the two camps and work was starting on some small frame buildings. Wahmonie, according to W. R. McCray, is an Indian name and means yellow money. It is pronounced "Wah-mo'-nie with the accent on the second syllable and the "o' long.
-Reno Evening Gazette, March 3, 1928
Gold wasn't the only thing that caused excitement over Wahmonie.
HAM AND BACON CAUSE DISPUTE
TONOPAH. Mar. 3.(Special)----A shipment of 850 pounds of bacon and hams caused a rupture between J. Overman and Charles Inman, both of Los Angeles. who arrived here a week ago on their way to Wahmonie, with the intention of embarking in the grocery business. Overman insisted on taking charge of the shipment without regard for the feeling of his partner and In the course of arguments with the local police became violent that he was generally believed to have lost his mind or become affected by the high altitude. Inman claimed the meats were bought with his money and. pending a settlement through inquiry by the Los Angeles police, the meats were stored in the Hill warehouse. Finally it was decided that Inman was the real owner and he was given the goods.
-Reno Evening Gazette, March 3, 1928
With population comes the need for mail.
WAHMONIE WANTS POST OFFICE SOON
A petition compiled by the Miner's Association of Wahmonie, with recommendation by Robt. Griffith, Vegas postmaster, for a fourth class office at the new camp has been forwarded to Washington. The petition asks for an office as soon as possible.
-Las Vegas Age, March 13, 1928
Speaking of which, back in the 1920's, the Post Office classified post offices based on revenue generated. there were:
The U.S. Postal Service classified post offices into four categories based primarily on their gross annual receipts and, to some extent, their operational complexity:
First Class:
Post offices with the highest annual revenue (typically over $40,000 in 1928). Offered full postal services, including money orders, registered mail, and extensive delivery networks. Had larger staff, multiple clerks, and dedicated facilities.
Second Class:
Post offices with moderate revenue (typically between $8,000 and $40,000 annually in 1928).
Provided most postal services but on a smaller scale than first-class offices.
Third Class:
Post offices with lower revenue (typically between $1,900 and $8,000 annually in 1928).
Offered basic postal services with fewer staff and more limited hours.
Fourth Class:
Post offices with the lowest revenue (typically under $1,900 annually in 1928).
Served small villages, rural areas, or remote locations like mining camps. Operated with minimal staff, often just a postmaster, and provided basic mail services.
Activity during the first few months grew and men and equipment was hauled in.
Wahmonie Should Have Dozen Hoists Within Next 30 Days or Less
Wahmonie promises to become a very active mining camp within the next 30 days. The Wahmonie Gold Mines has ordered a gasoline hoist that should be on fiche ground early this week. W. J. Tobin is bringing in a hoist and gallows frame for the "Forty-Mile" group. William Fording is getting ready for a hoist on the Wahmonie Development. That is three hoists that should be in operation within a week or 10 days. The Goldfield Development, Victory Divide, North Divide, Red Hill, Hasbrouck, Kernick are each in position to install hoists immediately when developments warrant. The Original Wahmonie is advancing a tunnel and does not calf for a hoist. The Wahmonie Carolina and the Wahmonie Monteray are financing for machinery as needed. Others are in line. At the Wahmonie Gold Mines the east drift is reported as out 12 feet and the west at 17 feet. It is stated that as soon as the face of each drift is 20 feet from the shaft crosscutting will be started to locate the rich streak which has left the shaft and to determine the width of the vein. While it is true that the rick streak has left the shaft yet the ore carries some horn silver and black telluride concentrates are in evidence. The hoist is due to arrive any day and probably will have been installed by the time the drifts are ready for crosscutting.
-Nevada State Journal, April 16, 1928
Roads were improved and built.
WAHMONIE ROAD WORK STARTED
The Clark county grading outfit has arrived at Wahmonie and will start work this week on a new road that will leave Tonopah highway sixty miles north of Las Vegas covering a distance of twenty miles. The cut-off will bring Wahmonie and Las Vegas within eighty miles. The road will be completed about May 10.
-Reno Evening Gazette, April 18, 1928
Common to Nevada, buildings were either built on site or moved from another location.
HOUSE IS MOVED; SPARROW'S NEST TAKES A RIDE
When F. J. Bradley, a Beatty rancher, moved a house to Wahmonie this week, a couple of sparrows, which had built their nest in the eves, went along with it. The house was loaded on a truck and after making the sixty mile trip, mostly over rough roads, it was found that the nest was still intact, and even the eggs it contained were unbroken. The house is being used by Fred Remick as a garage, and the sparrows and their prospective family are now permanent residents of the new gold camp.
-Nevada State Journal, April 22, 1928
It always pays to get the opinion of an experienced old-timer.
OLD-TIMER LIKES NEW WAHMONIE DISTRICT
Dan. G. Kelly, well known mining man, who has seen the rise and fall of many camps, returned from Wahmonie yesterday with a prediction that the new southern Nevada strike is a comer, and that it will make a permanent camp. He is not of the optimistic type, for he has seen other mining towns start up with high hopes only to end in desertion and disappointment, but he believes Wahmonie has the values to make it go.
-Reno Evening Gazette, April 24, 1928
Things are fine, just fine. Nothing to worry about. Just keep digging.
WAHMONIE FINE GILBERT SAYS
C. V. T. Gilbert, local ad merchant and postmaster of Wahmonie is in town today. Mr. Gilbert states that the future for the camp looks bright. Due to extremely hot weather of the past few weeks, there is not much activity outside of the work on the Wingfield shaft, but the original prospectors and locators are drifting back, and real activity is anticipated with the fall.
-Las Vegas Age, July 26, 1928
Apparently, things were not fine.
WAHMONIE MAIL DELIVERY DROPPED
Rural mail service to Wahmonie from Las Vegas was ceased the first of this month, according to Robert Griffith, postmaster. Due to the fact that the population there now consists of one individual, and that ninety-two miles from this city, that part of the route was dropped, delivery in that direction extending now to Indian Springs only. Indian Springs is about forty-four miles from Las Vegas.
-Las Vegas Age, September 9, 1929
Like I said, it always pays to get the opinion of an experienced old-timer.
NO PLACE FOR A HE-MAN
Bourke Lee in the Saturday Evening Post:
Jake is one of Death Valley's old prospectors. Years ago he cut a fuse too short and a stick of dynamite took his left arm off at the elbow. But Jake is no cripple. Last year Jake drove his car across the valley near the head of the rush of people bound east for the gold strike over in Wahmonie, Nev. A week later we were surprised to see Jake come bark. There was still a lot of excitement about the strike at. Wahmonie. A tent city was springing up and there was a promise of a permanent camp. Jake had looked at Wahmonie, and now he was headed the other way. He stopped his ear at the gas station at the end of the toll road.
Someone asked: 'How's things at Wahmonie. Jake? Pretty lively?"
"Lively? Yeah, its lively" Jake had a far-away look in his eye, as though he saw the roaring early days of Tonopah and Goldfield. Jake knew what a boom camp should be.
"Couldn't you get a claim. Jake? Ain't there no claims left?"
"Yeah, they's claims. Lotsa claims."
"Well, why are you back, then? Ain t she a good town?"
"Good town! They ain't no good towns any more. Do you know what they're doin' in Wahmonie? They's fellows sellin' kewpie dolls on the streets! Kewpie dolls! Gimme five gallons o' gas."
-Columbia Daily Tribune, October 12, 1929
Just for reference, Kewpie is a brand of dolls and figurines that were conceived as comic strip characters by American cartoonist Rose O'Neill. The illustrated cartoons, appearing as baby cupid characters, began to gain popularity after the publication of O'Neill's comic strips in 1909, and O'Neill began to illustrate and sell paper doll versions of the Kewpies. The characters were first produced as bisque dolls in Waltershausen, Germany, beginning in 1912, and became extremely popular in the early 20th century.
Well after the camp had declined, there's always one guy who thinks it can make a comeback.
HOPES TO PLACE WAHMONIE CAMP ON MAP AGAIN
The breast of the drift at Wahmonie is in a full face of ore and high-grade is being sacked it is stated in a letter received by the Gazette today from W. R. McCrea of Beatty.
McCrae was the discoverer of the camp which cause considerable excitement something over a year ago but which languished after the Booth company withdrew from the district. He is interested in the lease now being operated and says he hopes to put the camp back on the map.
-Reno Evening Gazette, November 22, 1929
Even as late as 1934, they were still poking around. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for Mr. Groesbeck.
Body of Ted Groesbeck Removed from Deep Shaft At Wahmonie After Week
[500 feet is about the height of the Washington Monument. -FN]
TWO MINERS REACH BOTTOM OF PIT AFTER GAS IS PUMPED OUT
Remains Will Be Brought to Reno But There Will Be No Funeral Service
Retired Business Man Fell To His Death on April 12 When Timbers Gave Way
After one week of effort, the body of P. E. ("Ted") Groesbeck, retired Reno business man, was removed from the Wahmonle mine shaft last night. Groesbeck plunged down the five hundred-foot shaft on the afternoon of April 12 when rotten timbers on a landing stage gave way under his feet.
INQUEST IS HELD
The body was hoisted to the surface at 7:30 p.m., and an inquest was held immediately by Justice of the Peace E. Gray of Beatty. A verdict of accidental death was returned. Since Sunday, the mine crews have been pumping gas from the shaft, and several times the workers who descended into the pit were overcome. Late yesterday afternoon the gas was cleared and two miners, Paul McGuire of Tonopah and Oscar Wright of Beatty were lowered to the bottom, where they found the mangled body lying on a pile of rock. There was no water in the shaft. The body was taken to Tonopah early this morning, and will be brought to the O'Brien Mortuary in Reno tonight. No funeral services will be held, in accordance with Groesbeck's instructions given several years ago, and the body will be cremated.
GAS DELAYS WORK
Since a few hours after Groesbeck fell to his death, the rescue crews from Tonopah and Beatty worked day and night to remove the body. At first, it was possible to reach the three hundred-foot level, where gas was encountered, but as the air and gas in the shaft became stirred, the gas level rose to within 150 feet of the surface. A blower and canvas air pipe were installed, but this method. did not clear the gas rapidly, and Sunday a metal air pipe was installed, and the foul air pumped out of the shaft. Several times the miners were overcome as they started down, and Wednesday afternoon A. J. Stinson. state mine inspector, narrowly escaped asphyxiation when the oxygen helmet he was wearing did not work properly. When the first recovery work was started a week ago. the crews dropped a cross head and five hundred feet of cable to the four hundred-foot level, where it jammed. It was necessary to remove this obstruction yesterday before the mine bucket could be lowered to the bottom of the shaft.
TEN MEN IN CREW
McGuire and Wright, who reached the body, had been at the mine since the first attempt had been made to reach the bottom of the shaft. Ten men, all experienced miners, formed the crew that worked at the mine, and they were directed by Charles Huber. deputy state mine inspector. who drove from Reno to Wahmonle the day after the accident. Expenses of removing the body will amount to between $1500 and $2000. it was estimated by Nye county officials today. and these will be paid by Mrs. Groesbeck. Groesbeck, former assemblyman from Washoe county and a resident of Reno for over twenty-five years, drove to Beatty on April 18 with W. W. Conant, Sam Mozingo and E. H. Cole, all of Reno. At Beatty Groes-beck left the others, who continued to Boulder Dam, while he and W. R. McCrea went to the mine to take some ore samples. McCrea was one of the discoverers of Wahmonie in 1927. Thursday afternoon he and McCrea reached the shaft, and McCrea started down a ladder, which fell with him to a platform thirty feet from the surface. Groesbeck made his way down the square sets and found McCrea was not seriously hurt. The two went into a drift, took the samples, then returned to the shaft to put them in a sack. Groesbeck stepped on a rotten plank which col-lapsed and he fell to the bottom of the shaft. McCrea made his way to the sur-face, drove the fifty miles to Beatty and summoned aid. Conant, Mozingo and Cole returned to Beatty that afternoon, where they learned of the tragedy from McCrea.
-Reno Evening Gazette, April 20, 1934
The exit of bigger mining interests-- with good reason-- spelled the end of Wahmonie.
You tell me, then we'll both know. The Tonopah Gunnery Range was established on October 29, 1940, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt directed the transfer of over 3,000,000 acres of public land to the War Department for use as a US Army Air Corps training range. The broader range evolved into the Nevada Test and Training Range, encompassing areas like Area 51 and the Nevada Test Site, leaving Wahmonie inaccessible to the general public. The site is now generally occupied by the old Nevada Test Site Pluto Facility. It served to disassemble nuclear reactors after testing, allowing for component study and improvements. It is now suposedly closed.