GHOSTS OF GILPIN COUNTY

Sneak preview: Nevadaville

 

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Nevadavillle is a short distance from Central City in Nevada Gulch. The town grew up in 1859-1860, and was originally called Nevada City. When a post office was established the name was changed by the Post Office Department to Bald Mountain because of possible confusion with a California camp. However, Nevadaville continued to be the name used by the residents. The post office operated from 1861-1921.

In 1861 Nevadaville was larger than Denver, and it rivaled Central City for a while. However, lack of water and uneven terrain hampered its growth.

The town was settled by Cornish on the western end and by Irish on the eastern. Battles raged between the groups until the 1890s, when they united to keep out an influx of miners willing to work for lower wages. The Cornish built an Episcopalian and a Methodist church; the Irish walked to Mass in Central City. Both groups drank and fought in Nevadaville's thirteen saloons.

Nevadaville experienced several booms of activity. It flourished in the early 1860s, just before World War I, and in the 1930s. Of course the metallic ores were the most popular, but radium ore has also been mined in the area.

Nevadaville has many interesting ruins and a few remaining residents. The 1879 Masonic Hall of the Rising Sun Tribe stands, as does the City Hall, which also housed the fire department and jail. The old stone house toward Central City was once a Buddhist temple for the Chinese larborers. Bald Mountain cemetery can be found about a mile west of town, and it is worth a visit. One tombstone still has a picture of its underlying resident, Estal Slater, who died at the age of 23 in 1895.

Read more – including the price of water – in Ghosts of Gilpin County, one in a series of concise books on the ghost towns and mining camps of Colorado.

20 sites are included in Ghosts of Gilpin County:

American City	Antelope	Apex	Baltimore	Black Hawk
Central City	East Portal	Gamble Gulch	Gilpin	Gold Dirt
Kingston	Lake Gulch	Missouri Flats	Mountain City	Nevadaville
Nugget	Perigo	Rollinsville	Russell Gulch	Tolland

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