Not only did they serve as a sturdy pack animal and often the miner's only companion for months at a time, they occasionally led their masters to fortune and fame. Such is the legacy of the little town of Tonopah, midway between Reno and Las Vegas, and approximately 300 miles southeast of Lake Tahoe.

On May 20, 1900, "Big Jim" Butler, a county district attorney, and his partner William Hall were camping at what was then a rather isolated location, Tonopah Springs at the base of the San Antonio mountains. That morning, Hall woke up early and decided to head down the trail while Butler was still asleep. Butler, a man of 45 years, about six feet tall and weighing more than 200 pounds, kept snoring away the morning hours.

When Butler finally woke, one of his valuable burros had fled the camp. With his partner gone and the search for the burro keeping him from his hunt for ore, or "color," as it was called, Butler was greatly agitated. When he found the frightened animal, he reached for a rock to throw at it to release his frustration. But, as legend has it, before he heaved the rock, Butler noticed that it was flecked with mineral. Intrigued, he filled several burlap bags with specimens of the blackish, burnt-looking quartz.

When Butler later showed the samples to other miners, they laughed and proclaimed it worthless "black iron." Much to their chagrin, when the ore was finally assayed, the analysis valued it at 640 ounces of silver and $200 in gold per ton. Almost overnight, "Big Jim" Butler was rich beyond his wildest dreams. His discovery spawned Nevada's last great mining rush, and within a few years the Tonopah region was producing more than $10 million annually with a population exceeding 10,000 people. By 1921, Butler's lucky strike had yielded the town more than $120 million in ore.

Once known as the "Queen of Nevada's Silver Camps," today Tonopah's famous silver mining legacy has made it one of the state's most popular small tourist towns. Tonopah's close-knit community of approximately 2600 people is a welcoming bunch, and the town has a handful of quiet, comfortable hotels, tasty eateries, and a casino.

One of the classic older hotels, the Mizpah, which opened in 1908 at the height of the town's early boomtown days, hosted the secret wedding of Howard Hughes to Jean Peters in 1957, and it is rumored that famed boxer Jack Dempsey was once a bouncer there. While, in the 1980's and 90's, the Mizpah enjoyed a period of popularity after being restored to its original Victorian splendor at great expense, today the hotel's doors are shut, awaiting a new investor. It's still an impressive old building, however, its walls filled with history and the lore of days gone by.


The stars may not be visiting the Mizpah Hotel any longer, but many visitors are attracted to Tonopah for its choice star gazing - that of the stars in the night sky. Because of its ideal location at the base of Mt. Oddie, and its noticeable lack of city lights blocking the view, Tonopah has been crowned by amateur astronomers and stargazers as one of "the best stargazing spots in America."

During Memorial Day Weekend, Tonopah celebrates the annual "Jim Butler Days," complete with barbecues, a parade, dune buggy races, rock drilling contests, and evening street dances. Other festive hometown events, such as the "Best in the West Off Road Race" in April, and the "Old Timers Picnic and Dance" in August, occur throughout the year.

For more information on Tonopah, Nevada, visit www.tonopahnevada.com.

Photos by author.