Carrara

A marble town on the Amargosa Desert

Carrara lies in southern Nye County, east of US 95 and southeast of Beatty. It was named for the Italian marble city. Road Trip America says white marble was found in early 1904. Destination 4x4 and Nevada Expeditions add that the early stone was too fractured to use and that a better deposit was found in 1911. They say the American Carrara Marble Company was formed with P.V. Perkins as president and Eastern investors. Road Trip America dates the company to June 1912.

Destination 4x4 and Nevada Expeditions say the townsite was dedicated on May 8, 1913, and that the Carrara Obelisk newspaper printed its first issue that day. Nevada Expeditions says the Hotel Carrara opened in June 1913 and the post office ran from May 24, 1913 to September 15, 1924. Road Trip America says the town had a fountain, a hotel and a store, with water piped in from Gold Center. Destination 4x4 adds a restaurant, saloon, dance hall and electric lights.

The quarry sat about three miles up the canyon. A cable railway with counterbalanced cars, completed in early 1914, carried blocks down to the mill. The first shipment, six large blocks bound for Los Angeles, left on April 7, 1914, per Nevada Expeditions.

Why it closed

Destination 4x4 and Nevada Expeditions say the marble fractured easily and carried impurities, and that Vermont quarries produced better stone. Road Trip America says the quarry was judged unprofitable by September 1919 and most residents were gone by 1924. Destination 4x4 and Nevada Expeditions give an earlier end: in late 1916 the Nevada-California Power Company cut electricity to the quarry, which halted work, and the newspaper stopped in 1917.

The sources also differ on population. Road Trip America says nearly 100 people at the peak. Destination 4x4 says about 150 around 1915 and 1916, with roughly 40 buildings, and Nevada Expeditions says more than 40 buildings and about 150 residents in those years. They differ on the railroad too: Road Trip America says the Las Vegas & Tonopah stopped running in 1917, while Destination 4x4 says service to Carrara ended in 1918. Destination 4x4 says a short gold rush in 1929 did not revive the town. The sources disagree on cement works nearby. Road Trip America places the Elizalde Cement Company plant about a mile north, built in the early 1930s. Nevada Expeditions describes a 1940s plant just north that burned before it opened.

What remains

Road Trip America lists an empty fountain, a stone fireplace, septic pits and rock foundations from the hotel and outbuildings, with mill foundations near the highway turnoff. Destination 4x4 describes concrete foundations with scattered marble tile, the fountain basin, cellars and railroad grades, and abandoned equipment and mine openings at the quarry.

Visiting today

Road Trip America puts the turnoff at Nye County mile marker 51 on US 95, with the townsite about 300 yards northeast of the mill foundations. It describes the quarry road as very steep, and Destination 4x4 says it needs off-road travel. None of the sources names the land manager, so check with the Bureau of Land Management for current access and road conditions. Leave foundations and artifacts where they are, and stay clear of mine openings.