Goodsprings

A zinc and lead district in the Spring Mountains foothills

Nevada State Historical Marker No. 102 covers the Goodsprings Mining District, 1856 to 1957. It says the district’s faulted and folded limestone went unworked until 1856, when Mormon workers began mining at Potosi. The marker calls that perhaps the oldest underground mine in Nevada. The district is named for the cattleman Joseph Good, and A.G. Campbell developed the open-springs area into Goodsprings, a mining and ranching community.

Railroads cut the cost of shipping the area’s oxidized zinc minerals. The marker cites the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad in 1905 and the narrow-gauge Yellow Pine Railroad from Jean to Goodsprings in 1911. It says the town peaked in 1916 with 800 residents. The marker credits the district with the greatest variety of minerals in Nevada and about $25 million in total production, mostly lead and zinc, with smaller amounts of gold, silver, copper, and other metals.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal says the town thrived through World War I, declined afterward, and boomed again during World War II. Nevada Magazine reports a 20-room Hotel Fayle was completed in 1916. It burned in 1966.

The Pioneer Saloon and the Lombard crash

Nevada Magazine says George Fayle built the Pioneer Saloon and the general store next to it in 1913. The saloon was added to the State Register of Historic Places in 2007. Tin walls inside the saloon show bullet holes. The sources disagree on the back bar. Nevada Magazine calls it mahogany, built in Maine around 1864 and shipped by sea around Cape Horn to San Francisco, then hauled by ox-wagon to Rhyolite and later to Goodsprings. The Review-Journal calls it cherry and says it came from old Rhyolite. They also disagree on how many saloons the town once had. The magazine’s article says nine, while the owner, Noel Sheckells, says the town claimed seven.

On January 16, 1942, a plane carrying actress Carole Lombard crashed on Mount Potosi. Nevada Magazine says the search party started at the Pioneer Saloon and that her husband, Clark Gable, waited at the corner of the bar for news. A room next to the bar displays a piece of the plane and other memorabilia.

What remains

The Review-Journal lists several surviving features. Goodsprings Elementary School, built in 1913, is on the National Register of Historic Places and is described as the oldest school building still in use in Clark County. The 1866 Campbell cabin, built of stacked native stone, is called the oldest structure in town. The article says the foundations of an old mill can be seen on the left side of the highway as you approach town.

Goodsprings is not abandoned. The Review-Journal reported about 230 residents in 2015, so treat buildings as occupied or private unless a business is open. Leave relics and mine remains where they are.

Visiting today

The Review-Journal gives the route from Las Vegas as about 20 miles south on I-15 to exit 20 toward Jean, then right onto State Route 161 for about 7 miles west. Route 161 runs alongside the old railroad tracks, and traces of the roadbed remain. The Goodsprings Historical Society organizes an annual Old-Timers’ Reunion with potluck lunches, a miners’ breakfast, and school tours. Hours, events, and conditions change, so confirm with the businesses and the historical society before you go.