Historic Tonopah

Nate Howard and Kris Kjerengtroen

Dr. Mulderink

History 2700: US History 1500-1877

Dec 6^th 2002

Service Learning Project

Service Learning Project for History 2700 Professor Earl Mulderink titled Historic Tonopah.  For this project the plan was to find and identify as many of the historic points in and around Tonopah Nevada.  Then to research some information on each including such information as who, what, when, where, and why, highlight these points and provide a small pamphlet of information to be made available for public use.

Tonopah is a small town in central Nevada that was spawned in the early 1900’s by a silver rush.  The town is situated about half way between Las Vegas and Reno in a volcano caldron rich in mineral deposit.  The town is named after a Paiute word Tonopah meaning “not much wood little water.”  The founder of the town was Jim Butler who first found silver by accident.  The town sprang up as one of the last great boom towns in Nevada.  A number of large mines were started and the remnants of them are still around as a statement in time of history gone by.

There are many points of historical interest in Tonopah that are not well known to anyone but locals.  As a service to the town and to all those who might have interest, we will highlight some of these points and help make them easier to find, and were to go to find out more about them. The points of interest will be highlighted in a small pamphlet and with the permission of each establishment will be placed accessible locations for public use.

The Audience and beneficiaries we are intent on affecting are both locals and tourists.  Tonopah depends on tourism as an important source of industry and has over the years developed the historical aspects of some points.  One of the things emphasized is the Jim Butler Days celebration remembering the founder of Tonopah.  This celebration brings in people from all over southern and central Nevada.  The celebration is over Memorial Day weekend and there are a number of events and activities for all.  This project will help those who visit Tonopah find some of those historical points that are not as emphasized and bring more to the experience of Tonopah.  The locals will also benefit from this as many of the points we will emphasizes are not well known to all locals.

The local chamber of commerce along with the Central Nevada Museum and the Tonopah Mining Park have been supportive of the project through our local contacts Mark Howard, and Mike Trusdell.  Mr. Howard is a local teacher of history at the Tonopah high School and has helped us gain much information concerning the project.  Mr. Trusdell is a member of the Tonopah town council and has ties with the camber of commerce.  With the help and cooperation of Mr. Howard and Mr. Trusdell we have been able to locate and research information on the points of interest we have emphasized and with their help have brought some structure to the project.

As you have stated, “what can we contribute to existing pamphlets?”  Well most of the existing pamphlets emphasize some of the bigger attractions specializing in the museum or the mining park.  Most of these don’t even mention many of the points we would like to bring forth such as monuments, the old cemetery, the air port is mentioned in some of the pamphlets, but it’s historical import is not.  The Tonopah airport used to be much bigger than it now is and can still land jumbo jets on the old runways.  Tonopah’s airport was once a military training facility for bombers during WWII.  This is of course mentioned at the Central Nevada Museum and there are a few artifacts in place but not much is said about what is still out at the airport.  The pamphlet brings these smaller points of interest out.  Another thing that this project contributes is a pamphlet with less detail and a broader view of Tonopah.  As has been stated most of the existing pamphlets emphasize one or two of the major attractions and none of the smaller ones.  This pamphlet brings these attractions as well as the smaller ones together into one pamphlet.  The pamphlet does not give all the details of the attractions but shows the reader where the attractions can be found and where to find more information about them.

The work load for this project has been somewhat extensive concerning the distance Tonopah is from Cedar City, we have corresponded over the phone extensively and thorough both snail mail and e-mail.  Of course a trip to Tonopah was also helpful in locating and researching some of the points of interest highlighted in the pamphlet.  The project had to be mapped out, then we decided which of the attractions we would include in the pamphlet and the locations were discovered.  All the streets in Tonopah do not have street signs and identifying some of the locations was somewhat challenging.  Our contacts however and the visit proved successful and we were able to gain the information needed.

Concerning Technology-related resources and/or applications, there are a few.  There are some Internet sites available to glean information from, www.tonopahnevada.com/TNV.html or http://www.nevadaweb.com/cnt/pio/tonopah/main/html; these are two of the better sites.  There is quite a bit of information about Tonopah on the web if one is interested.  A search using the key words “Tonopah” and or “Nevada” will net the best results and lead to information about Historic Tonopah.

We started on the project by contacting Mr. Howard and Mr. Trusdell in Tonopah to get some information and have most of the existing pamphlets sent to us via mail.  Both contacts were interested in the project and were more than willing to help in the retrieval of the information needed.  It took a few weeks for us to get the information and begin planning our project.  Then a visit to Tonopah gave us the locations and addresses of the attractions and we proceeded to plan the pamphlet.  As the pamphlet was fairly basic, we had most of the information we needed to complete the work the main thing left was to do the research for some background and a little information about each attraction. The finished product evolved on paper and the pamphlet began to take shape.  Copies will be made a distributed to various locations for the availability and use of those who would desire to use such.

The three premier attractions to Tonopah are the Central Nevada Museum, the Tonopah Mining Park and the Mizpah Hotel.  A few of the lesser attraction we highlighted are the Stealth Development Monument, the Old Tonopah Cemetery, KC Hall, The Old Tonopah Court House and The World War II Flight Training Base.  These last few attractions mentioned are not as prominent as the first three and are not as developed concerning tourism, but are of interest and have historical import as far as Tonopah’s history and legacy.

The Stealth Development Memorial was placed in front of the Tonopah Fire Department in 1994.  It was placed in historical remembrance of the development of the Stealth technology developed and tested on the Tonopah Test Range.  The Test Range is a area set aside by the government that runs from the Las Vegas Area in Southern Nevada to Tonopah in Central Nevada where the government has tested new weapons and technology since the 1950’s.  There are several ground zero sights and the infamous area 51, the government still uses the facility today for technology development and is the main source of employment for Tonopah.  The Stealth Technology was developed on the Test Range and before the Stealth’s home base was moved the monument was put in place considering Tonopah the Home of the Stealth.

The Old Tonopah Cemetery is another attraction not easily found or advertised.  The cemetery was developed out of necessity after the town was founded and contains gravesites dating back to the early 1900’s.  Some year’s back the cemetery was cleaned up as a Boy Scout Eagle Project and has been maintained by the Tonopah Conservation Camp since.  The cemetery is as old as the town and helps to tell the history of Tonopah.  The cemetery holds historical value and is worthy of recognition as an attraction of Historic Tonopah.

Knights of Columbus Hall or KC Hall as it is known to the locals, is another attraction that receives little recognition; the Mansion boasts four stories and twin spiral staircases.  The Mansion was build by one of Tonopah’s premier men, an attorney and politician, George A. Bartlett.  The foundation and basement are built out of the side of the mountain of native rock; the rest of the mansion is of wood with three stories and countless rooms.  The Mansions entry way has two huge spiral staircases running up to the second floor from the right and left.  The Mansion looks down over Tonopah standing high on the side of “T” mountain.  George A. Bartlett built the Mansion in 1907 for the comfort of his family.

The Old Tonopah Court House is another attraction for those who would be interested.  The Court House was built in the 1905 and a jail house was added on in 1907 for the government of Nye County.  The Court House is also built of rock and stands on a hill in the center of town.  Although the official Court House has recently been moved to a new building, the Old Court House is still in use as a city building and access is granted to those interested.  The Court House has an old style Court Room and though it was upgraded for security the original jail was used until the move.

The next attraction we highlighted was the World War II Flight Training Base at the Tonopah Airport.  During World War II the Tonopah Airport was one of the largest Air Bases in the western United States.  There the military trained hundreds of pilots to fly planes including B-17’s, B-29’s and B-52’s.  During that time the Airport Valley was doted with over twelve enormous bomber hangers, of these huge structures three remain.  The landing strips are still in tact and it is still possible and happens once in a while that large airliners find need to land on the old strips that crisscross the valley.

The Tonopah Mine Supply is another small attraction to the list; it is a small antique shop that specializes in mining equipment from the early days.  It is on a small scale a museum depicting the tools of the trade for miners of the early age.  There are small plaques identifying tools and their uses, explaining different types of tools and different types of mining techniques.  One can buy samples of ore and collectable rocks, as it is an antique shop most everything is for sale.  Old dynamite boxes, gold pans with explanations on “How to” and small specimens of raw gold or silver.  The Tonopah Mine Supply is of historical significance to the area.

We decided as well to include the three main attractions to Tonopah, the Central Nevada Museum, the Tonopah Mining Park and the Mizpah Hotel.  The Museum has exhibits on everything one could imagine from early settlers to miners to gunfighters.  There are hands on exhibits souvenirs; the museum also offers a short film giving information about Historic Tonopah.  The Tonopah Mining Park is an Attractive point of interest; it contains much of the heavy machinery that was used in the early mining process.  There are tours available of the structures above ground as well as below.  The Park is soon to be opening three new tours focusing on the three most productive mines, the Mizpah, the Desert Queen and the Divide. The tours are will be underground tours of the excavations and will feature the actual experience of underground mining.  The third attraction, the Mizpah Hotel opened in 1909 and was considered one of the more luxurious hotels in Central Nevada at the time of its opening.  The hotel is still operating and boasts an antique decor of hard wood and red velvet.  One of its better attractions is the “Demsey Room” named after the famous Jack Demsey who frequented the place often during Tonopah’s boom.

The Tonopah Convention Center is the best place in Tonopah to find out more information about these historical sites and or the Tonopah Library.  The Names and Addresses of these points of interest are contained in the pamphlet as well as information about the Convention Center and the Library.  This project as has been stated is for the benefit of Tourists and Tonopah Locals alike to help bring some of the less known historic points of Tonopah Nevada into view for all to enjoy.  The pamphlet is broad and does not go into great detail about the topics, but gives information as to where they are and how to obtain information about them.  This service learning project has no connections to other service learning projects that have been done that we have knowledge of although it could spawn new ideas for such.