Nevada’s Gold Point observes centennial with a big celebration

Tiny Gold Point celebrates its centennial during the seventh annual Memorial Day observance slated for May 23-25. Started in 2002, the fund-raiser benefits the local volunteer fire department and projects to restore and maintain remaining buildings in the ghost town, which first became important enough to rank a post office in 1908.

Gold Point lies about 185 miles from Las Vegas. Head north 165 miles on U.S. 95 through Beatty and past Scotty's Junction to Lida Junction. Turn near the Cottontail Ranch bordello onto Highway 266. Head west 7.5 miles to Highway 774. This paved side road runs eight miles to the scatter of weathered buildings along an unpaved main street that comprise Gold Point today.

Many original buildings in Gold Point remain standing only because of volunteer efforts to maintain and protect them, often repurposing them to house museum displays, a saloon, a gift shop and guest housing. Since wood was the fastest and cheapest kind of building material in Gold Point's boomtown era, the town always faced destruction by fire. Gold Point's fire equipment includes three venerable trucks, always in need of new tires or parts.

During the holiday weekend, celebration highlights include a Dutch oven stew contest on May 24, a chili cook-off on May 25, and a patriotic flag ceremony at noon on May 25. Activities include country, bluegrass and classic rock music, live-action shoot outs, and community breakfasts and barbecues. Expect ample, delicious country-style fare at the meals. Pay $6 for a full breakfast and $11 for barbecue dinners of steak and tri-tip roast.

The Memorial Day special event gets bigger every year, drawing hundreds of attendees in 2007. Nearly 250 people lined up for each of the big outdoor breakfasts and dinners last year. Many outdoor cooks return annually to vie for handsome awards in the stew and chili cooking contests. This year, more than 400 raffle prizes await lucky ticket holders, including three Henry rifles.

Most people attending the celebration camp out in RVs, in tents or in sleeping bags under the stars. The town's small RV park accommodates just seven vehicles. The rest park around town, taking care not to trespass on areas owned by Gold Point's handful of full-time residents and other property owners. Since the town's resources are limited, bring water, firewood, snacks and picnic fare from home. Please keep pets on leash, picking up after them.

A few of those attending reserve rooms at Gold Point's bed and breakfast inn, which offers room in several restored and refurbished miner's cabins. This facility houses overnight guests on Saturdays all year for contributions to the restoration fund of $94 for a one-room cabin or $134 for a suite in an old house. Rates are for double occupancy, including breakfast. Lunch and dinner cost $17 per person. All meals are served family style in a central location. Rustic accommodations include a mix of comfortable modern and antique furnishings and unique decor such as walls papered with vintage newspapers.

Gold Point's history began in 1868 with the discovery of lime deposits. The remote location and difficulty in processing and transporting Lime Point's product doomed the early enterprise. The same brief life awaited a camp at the site that resulted from the discovery of silver in 1880. Mining excitement generated by the booms at Tonopah and Goldfield led miners to re-examine older sites. Discovery of horn silver near Lime Point in 1908 resulted in a rush and a change of the town's name to Hornsilver. Soon 225 wooden buildings and tents housed 1,000 residents, a post office, several stores, a dozen saloons and a newspaper.

Litigation, inefficient milling and transportation plagued the little town's prosperity. Mining resurged in 1915 and again in 1922. When the mines began producing more gold than silver in the 1930s, the town changed its name to Gold Point. World War II made a ghost town of Gold Point, reviving briefly in the 1960s. Postmistress from 1940 to 1967, Ora Mae Wiley, saved Gold Point from vandals. Now resident and major property owner Herb Robbins, better known as Sheriff Stone, continues that tradition. Find out more at goldpointghosttown.com

Margo Bartlett Pesek's column runs on Sundays.