Pioche

A lawless silver camp that kept the county seat

Silver ore was found in the hills here in 1864, according to Nevada Centennial Marker No. 5. Serious development waited until 1869, when mines opened and the town was founded. The marker says miners had taken out more than $5 million in ore by 1872, and that the 1870s gave the town a reputation for tough gunmen and bitter lawsuits. Pioche became the seat of Lincoln County in 1871.

The sources disagree on how big the camp got. The Nevada Mining Association says about 6,000 residents within three years. A 2015 Las Vegas Review-Journal article puts the peak at about 10,000. The same article says nearly 60 percent of Nevada’s homicides in 1871 and 1872 happened in Pioche. The Mining Association says the first 72 people buried in town were murder victims. Travel Nevada says 72 were buried in 1871 before anyone died of natural causes. The two tellings differ.

The mines declined from the mid-1870s. The marker says the town was nearly abandoned by 1900, and that profitable lead-zinc mining returned for about two decades starting in 1937.

The courthouse

The 1977 National Register nomination for the Lincoln County Courthouse says the contract was awarded on August 26, 1871, and the building was finished the next year. The original contract called for no more than $26,000. The review-journal article gives $26,400. Bonds of $75,000 were issued, and county script was used in place of cash. The nomination blames weak tax assessment and the mid-1870s mining decline for the trouble repaying. The county tried to repudiate the debt in the 1880s and lost several lawsuits. In 1907 the Legislature approved refunding it at 65 percent. The nomination says the debt was paid off in 1938, the year the courthouse was abandoned. The review-journal article says 1937. The review-journal says overruns and refinancing pushed the total to nearly a million dollars, and the Nevada Mining Association calls it the Million-Dollar Courthouse. The scanned nomination text is garbled on its own final cost figure.

The nomination describes a stone-and-brick building with a brick facade over stone rubble walls. The review-journal reports guided tours when it is open, showing the woodwork and stamped metal ceilings. Travel Nevada calls the courthouse seasonal, so confirm hours before going.

Visiting today

The review-journal calls Pioche the county seat and says many historic Main Street buildings now hold businesses, shops, bars and restaurants. It says a restored 1873 opera house hosts stage productions and community events, and that the Lincoln County Historical Museum at 69 Main Street was free, with donations welcome, when the article was written. It also says Treasure Hill mining headframes can be seen from the spur road into town.

Travel Nevada lists Boot Hill Cemetery as open sunrise to sunset and free, reached by going north on Main Street, then Comstock Road, which becomes Boothill Cemetery Road. The site describes a Murderer’s Row with the graves of more than 100 alleged murderers, and a 1920s-era aerial tramway that it calls the only intact one left in Nevada. Respect occupied and privately owned buildings in town. Leave any artifacts where they lie, and check with local agencies for current hours.