Rawhide, Nevada

Rawhide, located approximately 118 miles east of Reno, was the site of one of the last big gold strikes of the 20th century. In 1906, Jim Swanson discovered gold on Christmas day, and in February 1907, prospectors Charles B. Holman and Charles McLeod joined him. The men named the town Rawhide to show their contempt for nearby Buckskin, Nevada. Holman and McLeod soon sold their claims to Van Doren and Dunning, who then resold them to the Nat C. Goodwin Company. Only one mine could be developed in Rawhide, severely limiting production. At its peak, between April and August 1908, Rawhide had a population of about 7,000 people. By 1909, most of the gold and silver had been discovered, and soon the bonanza was nearly over. The rush in Rawhide lasted approximately eight months to two years and afterward marked the end of the speculative boom in Nevada.

During its heyday, Rawhide boasted 90 saloons, including George “Tex” Rickard's Northern. Unfortunately, the town had no natural water source of its own, so a plumbing system never came into existence. Water had to be hauled from nearby Dead Horse Wells. Nonetheless, the town had three banks, two daily and three weekly newspapers, and Stingaree Gulch, a mile-long red-light district complete with 500 “chippies.” Although attempts to establish a railroad were unsuccessful, Rawhide had two telegraph lines and one long-distance telephone to keep it in touch with the outside world. Daily auto stages and mail service from Schurz, Fallon, and Mina were also available.

Several factors facilitated the rush to Rawhide. First, the 1907 depression threw numerous miners out of work in southern Nevada. Neighboring Goldfield experienced labor problems, which resulted in the calling forth of federal troops, almost stopping production of the Goldfield mines. This drove many of the miners to Rawhide. In addition, the activities by promoters, such as George Graham Rice and Tex Rickard, lured prospectors and speculators into Rawhide. The promoters filled magazines and newspapers with false claims of another Comstock Lode, promoted the town and sold worthless mining stock. Amongst their more famous dupes was British novelist Elinor Glyn, who came to Rawhide in 1908 on a publicity stunt.

Rawhide nearly met its demise on September 4, 1908, when a large fire destroyed nine blocks of the business district including 37 buildings, 10 saloons (among them, Rickard's Northern), 5 hotels, and all the restaurants and general stores. Estimated damages totaled between $500,000 and $750,000, and although residents from nearby Goldfield and Tonopah sent relief, the town was never completely rebuilt. The fire effectively put the Rawhide railroad permanently on hold.

Today Rawhide is truly a ghost town. The town site is owned by Kennecott Minerals Company, a [Page 564]subsidy of Rio Tinto, which purchased the property in 1982. When the town site was purchased by Kennecott Minerals, the only existing structure was the rock jailhouse, which was dismantled and restored at Hawthorne, Mineral County, Nevada. Today all that remains of Rawhide is the cemetery and Kennecott's open-pit mine, which began operation in 1990. By the beginning of the 21st century, more than 1.1 million ounces of gold and 9 million ounces of silver had been recovered. The Denton-Rawhide operation ceased mining in October 2002, and completed crushing and stacking of low-grade stockpiles in May 2003. The company is in the process of dismantling the mining structures, and is in the residual leach phase of the mine's life, which is expected to last several years. Although the company anticipates long-term monitoring of the site through the year 2016, as of October 2004, the Rawhide open-pit mine was being considered as a landfill for nonhazardous municipal waste.

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