A Day in Tonopah
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We left the Big Trees Campground in Bishop early, stopping in town to gas up, check internet and phone messages at MickeyDs, and pick up an Eastern Sierra map at Bishop’s Visitor Center. We headed onto US-6 bound for Tonopah, Nevada.
Up and over pass after pass as US-6 snaked its way from the high desert floor to pass summit, then down again. This area is part of the Great Basin, “the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, i.e., those watersheds with no outlets to the ocean, in North America.” It’s usually the continental divides that determine where river waters go… Atlantic, Pacific, etc., but the Great Basin’s water, what little there is, stays put. David did a whole blog on continental divides, if you’re interested.
Nevada is home to the majority of America's wild horses, descended from escaped and abandoned domestic horses and burros, and managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). We saw signs for wild horses along US-6 and spotted several along our route.
After several nights camping, we thought a shower might be in order, and Tonopah seemed a likely spot for an inexpensive hotel. Well, there were hotels and motels… several of them… but none were inexpensive. We bit the bullet, booked a room, and made an adventure of it with the thought of exploring this old mining town on foot. We downloaded the free Historic Self-Guided Walking Tour of Tonopah and headed out. It was hot and dusty in the late afternoon, and after an hour or so, we decided we’d finish our tour early the next morning.
Once known as the “Queen of the Silver Camps” because of its rich silver production, Tonopah derives its name from the Shoshone language and roughly translated means hidden spring. The story goes that in the spring of 1900, Jim Butler, a rancher and hobby prospector from Belmont, was camping near Tonopah Springs. When his burro wandered off, he picked up a rock to throw at the animal and discovered that it might be silver ore. He took back a sample for assay, found it was indeed silver, filed his claims and shabang… a silver boom was launched in Tonopah.
Jim Butler and his burro From the tonopah Archives
The town still commemorates Jim and the founding of Tonopah every year in May with a Jim Butler Days celebration and the Nevada State Mining Championships. Mining competitions include events like “jackleg drilling, hand steeling (single jack), mucking (filling ore carts), swede saw (cutting timbers), track stand, and gold panning, where competitors demonstrate their skills in traditional mining methods to preserve mining history and recognize skilled miners.”
We ended up staying at a ‘vanilla’ Comfort Inn (points), but there were two other options in town that caught our attention. Billed as the “Jewel of the Desert”, the Mizpah Hotel builit in 1907 combines “historic elegance and comfort in Nevada’s breathtaking high desert!” according to its website. When it was built, it was the tallest building in Nevada and has been recently restored. The hotel is famous for its resident spirit, "Lady in Red," purportedly a prostitute named Rose, who was murdered by a jealous lover in a suite on the fifth floor of the Mizpah in the 1920s.
The Clown Motel, “America's Scariest Motel”, opened in 1985 by a Nevada miner and clown collector, Clarence David, was another option for our overnight stay. Over the years, with changes in ownership, the motel expanded its collection to over 4,000 clown items, and the motel morphed into an attraction for horror enthusiasts with clown-themed rooms. After being featured in an episode of "Ghost Adventures" in 2015, the motel has gained some notoriety. Creepy clowns? No, thanks.
We stopped by to check out the little museum (free and cluttered) and the general clownish atmosphere. Take a look.
Next door is Tonopah’s ‘Old Cemetery’. This cemetery was the resting place for about 450 people from May 1901 until April 1911, when it had more prospective residents and nowhere to expand. Dry, hot, and arid, we wandered amongst the old grave markers, pondering the fate of its residents… the Tonopah Plague (pneumonia), gunshot wounds, mining accidents, and fires.
We walked along Main Street, turning up one side street and then down another. Grand structures built during the silver boom, like the Mizpah Hotel and the Belvada Hotel, were distinctively different than the wooden utilitarian structures built in later days when the silver lodes began to peter out.
On Burro Ave, we spotted the Tonopah Historic Mining Park, a 100-acre park located on the site of the original mining claims that started Tonopah’s silver rush. We were too early to take the self-guided tour, but it looked interesting.
‘Big Bill” Murphy is buried in this cemetery, and he’s a town hero. Back in 1911, the Tonopah Belmont mine fire killed 17 miners, including Big Bill, age 28, who repeatedly descended in the mine cage to rescue miners below. On his last trip down, he didn’t make it back up. The town honors him with a statue and a mural.
According to AI, Tonopah is known for its connection to the F-117A stealth fighter, which was built by Lockheed and tested at the Tonopah Test Range. We found a memorial to stealth technology pioneers, which was unveiled in 2023 and placed prominently on Main Street to honor those who developed it. A mural also celebrates the town’s connection to the stealth. Today, Tonopah depends upon its historic mining industry, tourism, and the nearby Tonopah Test Range for its income.
A few famous people have visited out-of-the-way Tonopah over the years.
In January 1902, Wyatt Earp, fresh from Alaska's mining boom, arrived in Tonopah with his wife, Josie. Within a few months, he and a partner had opened the Northern Saloon, and Earp was working for the Tonopah Mining Company, hauling ore and supplies.
Jack Dempsey, legendary boxer and heavyweight champion of the world from 1919 to 1926, fought some of his first bare-knuckle bouts in Tonopah.
The reclusive business magnate, Howard Hughes, secretly married actress Jean Peters at the Mizpah Hotel in 1957. He returned a decade later to buy up nearly 100 mining claims in Tonopah.
Before becoming the first person to break the sound barrier, the Air Force pilot Chuck Yeager trained at the Tonopah Army Air Field.
And, of course, Marcie and David Lynn visited in August 2025 just because they could.
Next time? Lunar Crater National Natural Landmark… Just a Little Further along US-6.