Ghost Town: Manhattan & Belmont, Nevada

Departing Tonopah, we drove north through Toiyabe National Forest (pretty much a desert) to explore two more ghost towns. The first was the Manhattan Ghost Town. Driving on the main street, we only saw one car and the town seemed deserted.

Originally referred to Manhattan Gulch in the 1860s, by 1905, a prospector by the name of Frank Humphrey uncovered gold, prompting several hundred people to follow suit. Within a year, the population soared to 4,000 and a business popped in downtown.

The mining continued to boom in 1909 to 1940s, totaling in $10 million in production before it ceased in 1947. Gold is still very prevalent in this region on a small scale. Today, around 125 people continue to reside in Manhattan. A pleasant visit seeing the Manhattan Bar & Motel, a deer, old buildings, and the Manhattan church, prominently positioned on the hillside overlooking the former business district. 

The Manhattan Bar

Manhattan Motel

 A Deer

Main Street - Old Buildings

The Manhattan Church

A bit of history about the Belmont's Stolen Church. Back when the mining boom was busting in Manhattan, its soon-to-be-former residents packed up and left Belmont (nearby town) to seek fortune in Manhattan, but that packing up wasn't limited to personal belongings. One night in 1908, the new Manhattanites went back and stole that church, rolling it on timbers more than 17 miles to its current location.

Welcome Belmont, NV

On to Belmont to see the strangely similar house of worship. Belmont sprung to life after a massive silver discovery made in 1865 - just one year after Nevada became a State. Copper, lead and antimony were also discovered, drawing thousands of eager prospectors. The town reach its peak population in 1870s, boasting 2,000 people, four stores, two saloons, five restaurants, a post office, assay office, bank, school, two newspapers, and one impressive courthouse.

Main Street Buildings

The old timers referred to this house as the doctor's house

During that time, important city and county records were kept in a variety of odd and often unsecured places. The city fathers recognized the need for a central civic building - a place that could house all the government offices, including a jail, and a courtroom. In 1875, a movement was underway to raise funds to build the Belmont Courthouse with the state granting $3,400. Bonds were passed and additional funds were raised, and a building site was purchased from the Belmont Mining Company just west of Main Street.

Belmont Courthouse

The courthouse is an early Italianate style that called for red-brick construction on a stone foundation with two floors.

Courthouse and a Jail

By 1887, the rich ore deposits of Belmont began to play out. Several mines closed and the town experienced a rapid decline in population. By 1900, there were fewer than 100 voters registered there. In 1905, Belmont had its last court case and the county seat was moved to Tonopah where it remains today. When we visited the courthouse it was locked shut. In reading about the history of this courthouse, when it was open and abandoned for many years it experienced the ravages of time, vandals, extreme weather, and seismic disturbances. Apparently, during this time it was common for locals and visitors to leave graffiti on the interior walls in the form of poetry, names, and drawings. The most notable of these graffiti artists may have been the notorious Charles Manson who masterminded a string of California murders in the 1950s. He and his followers are believed to have visited the courthouse. Carved into a door frame on the first floor is the haunting inscription, "Charlie Manson + family 1969" with a peace symbol drawn in the O in Manson.

Source: Photo from Travel Nevada

Historian Terry Terras has studied the building's myriad graffiti and has a favorite. It is a poem written to a young lady by a soldier being deployed during WWII.

"When you and I our love must part/may it cause pain in both our hearts/I to some foreign land will go/sleep cold in death as others do/All this and more I have to say but/night calls and I must away/With these lines/you will a hidden question find."

It took a while for the historian to realized that the poem had a hidden code. Using just first word of each sentence, it reads: "When may I sleep all night with you?" Pretty cool!

Here's something interesting that Nan took a photo of, The Ten Commandments, Cowboy Style; 

Belmont Church, 2001. This structure is a replica of the Catholic Church that was moved from Belmont to Manhattan in 1906. 

Belmont Church

Belmont Cemetery 1869 - Present, is located in a beautiful setting of pine, juniper and sagebrush beneath the base of Cemetery Hill. The first occupants were most likely interred in the winter of 1869. As we walked through the cemetery we saw family plots of many of the people who came to Belmont to settle and establish businesses in and around the area. WE also saw a number of small graves, I guess the infant mortality rate was quite high due to childhood illnesses and epidemics. 

In true boomtown fashion, the mine dried up and shut down, and the folks living here moved on to the next big boom.

Old smoke stack at combination mill ruins. 

This mill was a forty stamp mill built in 1867 and by September of 1868 was closed. There were two large smoke stacks intended to carry the smoke and pollutants (sulfur, etc.) down wind and away from the community of East Belmont. 

The sulfide silver were crushed, roasted, salt added and mixed with mercury to extract silver. In July 1878, the mill was remodeled and was running until May 1879.

My drone flyover shots of the Combination Mill

Belmont is a place that satisfied our old American West Ghost town hankering. It was truly an adventure!Thanks for reading, safe travels!

International Car Forest - Goldfield, NV

A quick roadside attraction that we stopped and visited was the International  Car Forest. 

One mile downtown from Goldfield, NV features 40 cars, vans, and trucks that have been planted right into the ground and painted by visiting artists. In the shack there are some local brochures and a World Map where one can pin where one is from. 

This interesting roadside attraction is a great place to stop and take some great photos.

While some cars are forcefully driven into the ground clawing toward the sky, others are carefully balanced atop each other, as though they could topple over at any minute.

While other car exhibits can be enjoyed in other states (like Texas' Cadillac Ranch or Nebraska's Carhenge) it is believed that the International Car Forest is the largest in the country.

Photo taken on our Route 66 trip: Texas' Cadillac Ranch

Photo taken when we lived in Omaha: Nebraska's Carhenge

We had a ball, walking and driving around the car forest taking countless photos. Thanks for reading, safe travels!

Tonopah, Nevada: One-Night Road Trip

We heard about the best places in the U.S. to experience breathtaking stargazing in the darkest skies was at Tonopah so, we packed our car and took off for a road trip. 

The Tonopah Star Gazing Park

What we found was a town that is filled with history, all things odd with its haunted history, the infamous Clown Motel, and Historic Mining Park.

Me & Jim Found Tonopah

How the town of Tonopah came to be involves quite a tale. In the year 1900, a man named Jim Butler lost his burro. He eventually found it snoozing in the desert. To rouse it, he grabbed a rock, but the rock felt heavier than normal. He quickly realized his runaway burro had led him to an untapped reserve of silver ore that in today's money ended up over a billion dollars. 

The spot where his burro decided to siesta is now home to the Tonopah Historic Mining Park. The Park covers more than 100 acres to discover all of its nooks and crannies as we took our time exploring. The approximate elevation is 6,200 feet (1,890 meters) above sea-level so we were very careful to wear a hiking boots, sunscreen, and drink plenty of water.

For a little spookiness we visited the Clown Motel, the Tonopah Cemetery, and the Mizpah Hotel.

The Clown Motel has 2,275 donated clowns that you can see and take photos. It is said that the motel is haunted.

The Tonopah Cemetery is right next door from the Clown Motel. The first burial in the old cemetery was in May of 1901. In 1911, the tailings from the Tonopah Extension Mill were washing over and destroying the graves. The Tonopah Extension Mill donated property for the new Tonopah Cemetery, and burials at the old cemetery ceased.

About 300 people are buried in the old cemetery. Resides have died from plague, injury, the Belmont Mine Fire, suicides, and even murder!

Original Map of the Old Tonopah Cemetery

The Marojevech Brothers, Frank and George died on June 20, 1907 due to a horrific accident at the Belmont Mine. 

George "Devil" Davis was the first African American in Tonopah. He was beloved by the entire community, he worked hard and became the political leader of the African American community and eventually came to own his own saloon. However, George had a dark side. Witnesses said that George was an abusive husband. On the night of June 22, 1907, his wife, Ruth, came into the saloon and shot George in the back. She continue to fire as he went down. Ruth only served 1 year for his killing.

Sheriff Thomas Logan was serving his 3rd term as Sheriff when he was shot to death by an unruly gambler in the Manhattan Red Light District on April 7, 1906. 

The 3 Merten Brothers all died between September of 1908 and July of 1910. First Albert died of typhoid fever. Next, Sam was killed in an accident in the Montana Tonopah Mine. William was the last brother to pass away. At only 17 years of age, he died of heart failure.

Bina Verrault and her friend, ran a "Love Syndicate" in New York City. The women claimed to be wealthy widows. They would seduced rich men into giving them expensive gifts and money. One man fell in love with Bina. When she refused his attentions an ddid not return his gifts, he went to the authorities. Bina was arrested. It was estimated that the two women collected about $100,000 in fine clothing, jewelry, and money, which in today's dollars is about 2.5 million. During the trial, Bina pawned some diamond rings and fled. About a year later, she found herself in Tonopah. Her time on the run had taken its toll, and she died of alcoholism.

During the 1911 Belmont Mine Fire, a hero miner named Bill Murphy gave his life saving men from the fire. When workings at the 1100-foot level of the Belmont Mine caught on fire, Bill went down in the mine cage a number of times to rescue stricken miners. On the last trip, from which he never returned, Big Bill said, "Well, boys, I have made two trips and I am nearly all in, but I will try again."

A statue honoring Big Bill is located in front of the post office on Main Street. There is also a mural depicting the funeral procession, which took place during a blizzard.

A statue honoring Big Bill

A mural depicting the funeral procession

Mizpah Hotel

Another place supposedly is haunted is The Mizpah Hotel. This c.1907 hotel was the swankiest and fanciest in town - often referred to as "the finest stone hotel in the desert" - and still holds that same charm.

Its most famous permanent guest is "The Lady in Red" and has been featured on numerous ghost hunting shows. 

The Lady in Red

As the story goes, this purveyor of female companionship at the Mizpah in the 1920s resided on the fifth floor and met an untimely and brutal demise outside her suite, when she was strangled and stabbed by a jealous ex-lover. The Lady in Red themed room is 504, it is exquisite beyond doubt, but the allegedly haunted room is down the hall, in room 502.

Gracing a table across from the hotel's front desk is a book of ghost stories penned by guests over the years, and over by the restaurant, you can photos of Celebrity with a signed checks.

Elizabeth Montgomery, Jessica Walter, Jamie Lee Curtis, Angela Lansbury
Carol Lynley, Annette Funicello, Ave Gardner
Donna M Owen, Myrna Loy, Mae West

Tonopah is where the real stars come for their nightlife so for an added adventure, we received permission from the Tonopah Station Hotel to park our car overnight in the parking lot to sleep. 

Tonopah Station

After getting our car ready for the night, we sat outside waiting to see the stars. 

Beautiful night sky but, unfortunately, the night sky was not clear enough to see the stars but the few starts that we saw seemed very close.

One other place we had to see before departing to another ghost towns adventure was the Yellow Road. A short section of desert road covered with strange yellow and white stripes. Line painting test runs? The painted road is about an eighth of a mile long.

We hope you enjoy reading and learning about Tonopah. Safe travels!