CORNUCOPIA
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CORNUCOPIA |
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| NAME: Cornucopia COUNTY: Elko ROADS: 4WD GRID: 1 CLIMATE: Warm summers. Cold winters. BEST TIME TO VISIT: Summer, autumn |
COMMENTS: Lots of cattle. Keep an eye out. You hit, you pay. REMAINS: Stone ruins, mine dumps, mine machinery, trestles, some modern ruins. |
| First ore discovered in 1872. By January 1873 a townsite named Kaufmanville began building and was populated by around 70 miners. Cornucopia Mining District organized in August 1873. By September of that year the townsite was proliferated by tent dwellings, three saloons, two restaurants, two butcher shops, a blacksmith shop and school. Cornucopia came to have three separate sections of town, separated by a few yards of space between them. The post office opened November 3, 1973. By December of that year the population was up to 1,000. A mill opened on Deep Creek in December 1874. Population had dwindled by then, but leveled out at 500. The mill at Deep Creek burned in July 1875. Elko County established a Justice Court here in 1875. Slow times came over the camp by 1876 and a cloudburst which ruined much of the residential district in July of that year didn�t help matters. Population had dwindled to 113 by the time the census was taken in 1880. A fire in July of that year wiped out remaining mill and a number of homes. Another fire in December 1880 took out much of the business area and more homes. Those left without their homes vacated Cornucopia and by the end of the year only 60 remained. By 1882 the population was reduced to only three persons and the post office closed on October 16, 1883. Leasers were persistent in Cornucopia over the ensuing years and the last mining took place here 1979 through 1989. Submitted by: David A. Wright Life was short but sweet for the boomtown of Cornucopia. It saw only a few years of life but was at the forefront of Elko County production figures while it lasted. The first ore was discovered in 1872 and by August 1873 there were numerous tent houses, three saloons, two restaurants, two butcher shops, a blacksmith shop, and even a small school. By the end of the year, there were 1,000 residents and more businesses including a hotel, a clothing and dry goods store, a bakery, and a boarding house. Cornucopia’s peek years were between 1874 and 1875. The winter of 1874 was particularly harsh and much of the transient population left. Snowfall was so heavy that mail service stopped and the stages could not get through. The end for many mines came in 1876, as veins began to fade and disappear. The downslide continued into 1877 as mining companies folded one by one. Most of the businesses had closed and in 1880 a deputy sheriff and a justice of the peace remained in the town of only 113. The post office finally closed On October 16, 1883 when the postmaster left town. His departure left the town with only one resident who left shortly after. The town of Cornucopia was no more. The remains of Cornucopia today do not begin to hint at how active the town once was. There are stone cabins and foundations of many other buildings still there for the visiting ghosttowner. Submitted by: Shawn Hall from his books Old Heart Of Nevada: Ghost Towns And Mining Camps Of Elko County Click here to purchase his book! Connecting The West: Historic Railroad Stops And Stage Stations In Elko County, Nevada Click here to purchase his book! |
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