Nevada City is a ghost town in Montana that was a gold mining town in the heydays. The town which had a short life-span of less than was deserted by its residents and is now a historic museum and a tourist attraction site year after it was deserted.

The rise of a city

Nevada City came into popularity in 1863 when ores of gold were discovered in the Alder Gulch region. Interested parties soon flocked the region, mining camps and buildings sprang around the Gulch almost immediately. The town was home to 2000 residents by 1865 with most of them being miners. The city was known for its quick action on outlaws who were hanged by vigilantes when found guilty. In 1863, Nevada City saw a rise in vigilantes when George Ives murdered Nicholas Tibalt (a Dutch). The city’s main street served as a miner's court where suspects would either be sentenced to death by hanging or set free. The rise in vigilante crime reduced crime in the city making it one of the most peaceful towns in the region.

The decline of the city's mines

Once the gold ores were exhausted, most miners fled the town the same way they came and by 1869 the population declined from 2000 to 100 people. Most miners in the town closed before 1869 but those that continued past 1869 never lasted as the town had no labor to work the mines. By 1876, Nevada City was completely deserted and was declared a ghost town. Before the incorporation of Nevada City, all the mines in the town were under Idaho territory. 

It is believed that the town produced 35 to 40 million US dollars’ worth of gold in its operational days. The mines that contributed much of the town’s success were all closed except for those owned by the Conrey Placer mining company. Conrey Placer mining company introduced dredges that they used to mine the remaining few gold ores after the town was deserted. The company made a profit of 10 million US dollars in its 2 decades of operations and officially shut down in 1924.

What is the state of the townsite?

In 1923, when Conrey Placer mining company shut down its operations, the town had been deserted 20 years before and most of its buildings were destroyed. There are still parts of the dredges that the company could not disassemble. They still lie intact from the day they were left to decay. Later in the 1900s, Nevada City saw more damage to its structures when a highway was built through the town. The town was turned into an outdoor historical museum and is under the management of the Montana heritage commission. A few of the buildings are still preserved and others are replaced by replicas. Remains of the heavy dredge parts all over the townsite. Watch out for the remains as they may result in injuries.