Manhattan, Nevada

Manhattan is one of those early mining towns in Nevada that actually saw two lives. The first life began around 1850 and really picked up in 1866 with the discovery of a decent lode of silver ore. But by 1869 that ore body was just about played out and most folks left the area. Then in 1905, 4 cowboys traveling through Manhattan Gulch from Belmont discovered a new vein of silver that assayed for close to $3,000 per ton. A tent city of 500 people sprang up almost overnight. Then another body of silver was found that assayed for $10,000 per ton and the boom was on. When the post office opened in December 1905, there were already 3 banks, several hotels, saloons, assay offices, schools, 3 newspapers and a Wells Fargo office in town, with the population running close to 1,000. Then came the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.

A lot of the mining activity in Manhattan was financed by investors from San Francisco, and those investors pulled their money in order to rebuild San Francisco. 1906 and 1907 saw more new silver discoveries but Manhattan was already declining and the population was soon down to a few hundred. Then in 1909, a rich placer deposit was found a few miles below Manhattan on the edge of the Big Smoky Valley. Silver production in the Manhattan area went on for many years but today, there's a lot of ruins left and not a lot of people. However, if you do go to Manhattan, check out the Manhattan Bar, continuously serving customers for more than 100 years... you'll get the feel of what life was like 100 years ago in the outback of Nevada.