Midas

Gold Circle becomes Midas

Midas is an unincorporated community in western Elko County, at about 5,740 feet. Gold was discovered in the canyon that now holds the town in 1907; secondary accounts credit James McDuffy with a June 1907 find at the base of the Owyhee Bluffs. The camp was first called Gold Circle, and the surrounding mining district still carries that name. A post office opened in 1907 and ran until 1942.

The camp was renamed Midas around 1909. Sources give different reasons. The Friends of Midas, the local preservation group, says the federal government would not approve another Nevada post office with “gold” in its name. Another account ties the rename to the end of a neighboring camp called Summit.

Boom, bust, and a long working life

Population estimates for the 1908 peak range from more than 1,000 to about 2,000. One account describes six saloons, five hotels, stores, a commercial club, and a newspaper, the Gold Circle News, by mid-1908. The boom ended quickly. With few mills nearby, only the richest ore was worth hauling out, and the population fell to about 250 by the end of 1908 or 1909, depending on the source. Mills followed, and a second boom ran from about 1916 to 1921. The Elko Prince mill burned in 1922, which the Friends of Midas say stopped mining in Midas for several years.

Friends of Midas calls the camp one of the most productive in Nevada from its start until World War II. Production continued in most years until 1942, when wartime closures shut the mines, with total output put at more than $4 million. The town declined after the war but was never completely abandoned. Mining returned to the area in 1998 with the modern Midas Mine, now owned by Hecla Mining, though its workers commute from larger towns rather than living in Midas.

What remains

The jail is the second-oldest building in town. It was built in less than a month in March 1908 after a murder that February, using 2x4 boards laid flat and interlaced into a single windowless room. It was donated to Friends of Midas in 2000 and restored, but the group says it now “still stands but precariously” after hard winters and floods. The schoolhouse, built in 1927 and used until 1972, was later sold to private owners and burned in 2005; only its outhouses and playground equipment survive. Friends of Midas also documents the assay office, town hall and fire station, and cemetery. The Midas Bighorn Saloon operates in a historic building on a limited schedule, so check hours before you go.

Visiting today

Midas is a small, lived-in community, not an empty ruin. A handful of people live there year-round, and part-time residents and vacation-home owners fill it on weekends and holidays. The town is made up of occupied and vacation homes alongside historic buildings owned by Friends of Midas, so treat it as private land: stay on public roads, do not enter structures or yards, and ask before photographing people or homes.

State Route 789 runs north from Interstate 80 at Golconda for about 16 paved miles to just past Midas Road. It is the paved remnant of the old State Route 18, an unimproved road that ran from Golconda through Midas to Tuscarora until the unpaved remainder left the state system in 1976. Expect dirt road beyond the pavement, and check conditions locally, since weather can change them.