Jumbo Ghost Town
Washoe Valley, Nevada
Washoe Valley is home to several old west ghost towns. Mill City, Franktown, Ophir and Washoe City sprang into existence in the 1860s to supply the Comstock mining boom with lumber and milling for Comstock ore. Washoe Valley’s access to wood for fuel and water allowed the construction of several ore processing mills. As the Comstock’s fortunes faded towards the 1880s these towns faded too and the valley returned to its ranching and farming roots.
But Jumbo is also on the our list of ghost towns. While the others were established around the time of the Comstock mining boom around Virginia City in the 1860s, Jumbo came much later in a new time of mining excitement in Nevada.
In 1901, a prospector by the name of Jim Butler stumbled, or rather his burro stumbled on a rich outcrop of ore at the present day location of Tonopah in central Nevada. This discovery, along with discoveries twenty miles south soon after at Goldfield led to the greatest mining excitement in the country at the time. Goldfield grew in a short time to 20,000 residents making it the biggest city in the state at the time.
This rags to riches story fired the imaginations of not only small time prospectors in Nevada but veterans of the Comstock, Colorado and Alaska mining excitements. The national mining industry was depressed through reduced discoveries, production and economic depressions. The fabulous central Nevada discovery excited everyone interested in mining from the old timers to young fortune seekers. Capital was ready to spend big.
Soon, prospectors were fanning out over Nevada and surrounding states looking for the next Tonopah and Goldfield. After all, if this fabulous discovery had gone undiscovered for 40 years, there surely were other fortunes waiting to be tripped over.
Thus, many new mining districts were established in the early 1900s in the west. Some had good prospects, some were merely pipe dreams or speculative scams. In the beginning a prospector or other mining experts would scour the country, identify a likely geologic formation and get samples analyzed. If promising they would stake a claim. Under the mining laws of the United States an individual can make claim to a patch of federally owned ground if they can demonstrate there is value to the minerals there. They also have to do “assessment” work showing an active effort to develop the mining claim. Quickly, the size of excavations exceeds the abilities of the single prospector and he has to bring in “leasers” who will work portions of the claim for a share of the profits or sell some or all of the claim to professional mining speculators with access to the capital to bring in the necessary labor and equipment to expand the mine.
This pattern was typical and is the story of Jumbo. Several articles listed in the footnotes describe the district as being worked many years before, with many thousands of dollars recovered but the area had been long since abandoned. An article in 1906 reports a flurry of claim sales. Apparently upon obtaining a worthy assay, the old, original claims were bought out.
Promising samples were obtained along the old “Washoe Grade” on the east side of Washoe Valley in about 1905. This toll road was established in the early 1860s to haul ore from the newly discovered Comstock Lode to Washoe Valley where water and fuel wood for processing was available. By 1872 the Virginia and Truckee Railroad was hauling wood and supplies to Virginia City and ore to the Carson River for processing and the Washoe Grade fell into disuse.
Why was it named Jumbo? In the late 1800s circus magnate P.T. Barnum introduced Jumbo the Elephant to American audiences. Jumbo was huge and became the main attraction and soon entered the common lexicon. “I’ve seen the elephant!” was the cry when someone saw something amazing. When a young man set off for the gold fields he might say “I’m going to see the elephant!” A major mine in Goldfield was called the Jumbo. One local article states the name of the Washoe Valley Jumbo District had been renamed the “West Comstock District” apparently to end confusion. But the new name didn’t stick and the area remained the Jumbo Mining District despite the announcement.
Several mines were established, leading to a rudimentary town with several saloons, boarding house, store and assay office. A post office was granted in 1908 and a newspaper started publishing. Eventually production was promising as a small ore crushing mill was built in 1910 and another larger one in 1915. They were in operation until about 1921.
It is not too hard to speculate that there was much excitement over the discovery of marketable ore at Jumbo. What if the surface findings were part of a fantastic lode of silver and gold in the same geologic formation as the Comstock in the same mountain to the east? The Los Angeles Herald even reported plans were be laid to extend the famous Sutro Tunnel, built to drain the Comstock mines of excess water, one mile to the west to tap into the new Jumbo district, which they described as the “Jumbo Mineral Belt.”
A great example of speculative promotion comes in an article in 1906 with a headline screaming “Says Jumbo is a Great Mining Camp.” And that “The Ledges are Both Rich and Immense.” Prince Catlin, described as a graduate of UNR and interested in mining properties, asserts in the article that “The large gold-bearing dykes of the Jumbo District run parallel to the great lode of the famous Comstock, and were probably formed at the same time and by the same action.”
By 1908 things were progressing with the planning of further industrialization of the mines. An electric hoist was purchased and a contract made with the new-fangled Truckee Meadows General Electric Company. The power company had already run a line from their powerhouse on the Truckee to Virginia City and now a spur would be run to Jumbo. With this secured, the Bargo Mine planned to immediately start building and ore processing mill on-site.
On April 19, 1910, the officers of the Bargo Mining and Milling Company in Jumbo petitioned the Washoe County Commissioners to provide for extending a new road to Jumbo from Steamboat Station to the north. This road would connect the district to the V&T railway and the road to Reno. While Jumbo was already served by three other roads to Virginia City, Carson City and Washoe Valley, they were deemed too rocky, steep and sandy to serve the growing needs of the district. The road could be built easily by combining segments of abandoned Comstock era roads. By now the mine owners admitted the ore was “low grade” but this was an advantage as it would lead to many years of large scale processing leading to a permanent, prosperous settlement. They claimed the payroll of the Bargo was $25,000, double that of the previous year. They speculated the other mines in the district were experiencing similar growth.
In 1915, Mining engineer Charles Hayden visited and declared while examining the Washington-Nevada group of claims “This is a good property and one that warrants the expenditure of a large amount of money in development. The company has over 1400 feet of shaft, drifts and crosscuts and is down 150 feet.”
Several other articles detail other claims and mines expanding into the district during this time. “Battling Nelson” the famous prize fighter of the time, was even an investor.
It’s worth noting here that “speculation” on mining properties was a large part of the mining industry since the days of ’49. Prospects of instant riches gave rise to wild claims, overblown promotion and reckless dealing in mining properties. Whole towns would be laid out, eastern financiers and everyday citizens duped, millions invested on developing mines just on a questionable assay if a speculator was successful. Millions exchanged hands on mining properties separate from the actual profits of a mine or district. There was little or no regulation of trading, mining stock exchanges or speculation. Fortunes were made and lost in a day.
After about 1921, The news reports fade away rapidly. When reading the old Nevada papers it becomes apparent they were interested in optimism and promotion. Bad news rarely made it to the Mining Section. But the notices of sheriffs sales of claims and mining equipment indicate the district was done. The small ledges probably petered out and the connection to the Comstock was never found.
One of the last articles found was from 1930 where two independent miners apparently living separately entered into a feud that found its way to court. The judge dismissed the case and admonished the two to be “better neighbors.”
In about 1943 local Washoe Valley artist and photographer Gus Bundy visited the townsite and took some photos of the remains that are included with this article
When Andy and I hiked and explored the area 20 years ago broken glass, china and metal bits could be found. It was possible to identify flattened areas where buildings and homes stood. Tailings piles dotted the hills. The concrete foundation for a mill remains on the south side of the creek. A couple open vertical shafts remained, being slowly filled in by throwing rocks in to judge the depth. These shafts and adits have since been bulldozed shut for safety.
Getting There
The townsite is approximately 3 miles up Jumbo Grade Road from the intersection with Eastlake Blvd in Washoe Valley. The road follows, and is sometimes in, the creekbed of Jumbo Creek and so is subject to changing conditions. High clearance four wheel drive vehicles are recommended with a good deal of caution. About one mile up Jumbo Grade road is a trailhead and parking area for hiking, equestrian or ATV deployment.
Credits
Nevada State Journal, Reno Gazette Journal, Los Angeles Herald, UNR Special Collections, Calisphere.org, Eppler Albums (California Society of Pioneers), Wikipedia, Google Maps, and a special thank you to Gus Bundy who documented 1940s Western Nevada.
