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http://nvghosttowns.topcities.com/humboldt/humlst.htm Sulphur discovered in 1869 and limited amounts produced through the 1880s. Aggressive production began in 1899 and a company town formed. The Western Pacific established a station in 1909 and while the town of Sulphur has faded into oblivion, sulphur continues to be mined. A couple of old buildings remain.
Sulphur is a ghost town located on the [[Railroad | Western Pacific Rail Road]] west of the [[Kamma Mountains]].


Sulphur is named for the nearby sulphur deposits, discovered in 1866.  Today, the [[Hycroft Mine]] is located nearby.


[[Image:Sulphur_Junction.JPG]]'''This is Sulphur Junction about 1/2 way between Gerlach and Winnemuca on [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada_State_Route_49 Nevada State Route 49] going East from the main highway between Gerlach and Empire. This road is mainly gravel and is suitable for a street bike type motorcycle at a speed of about 30 MPH. There are few, if any sandy spots, unlike the Soldier Meadows Road which has lots of sandy areas. This road travels the South East side of the Black Rock Desert.'''
The 1914-1915 WPRR Descriptive Time Table for west-bound traffic stated: "Five miles from Sulphur are located the extensive workings of the Nevada Sulphur Company. On the left is distant and oddly white [[Calico Range]], always of the pale hue."<ref>[[Descriptive Time Tables, Denver and Rio Grande - Western Pacific, Winter 1914-1915]]</ref>  ''There could be confusion about left and right here?''


<hr/>
Sulphur is at mile post 474.52.<ref>http://www.trainweb.org/WPRRINFO/WPMilePostDetail.html</ref>.  To the west is [[Ronda]], to the east is [[Floka]].


http://dmla.clan.lib.nv.us/docs/photos2/boiler.jpg This solitary boiler marks the location of the railroad station at Sulphur in Humboldt County.


http://dmla.clan.lib.nv.us/docs/dca/newsletters/museum-cc/mus-let23.htm ... The Color of Daffodils, the Smell of Rotten Eggs By DOROTHY NYLEN Exhibit Preparator II ... Before the era of the EPA, Nevada did indeed mine sulfur in a number of places. The Sulphur, or Black Rock Mining District on the northwest flank of the Jackson Mountains (formerly the Kamma Mountains) is one area where sulfur was mined. Remnants of the Western Pacific station at Sulphur still remain, although one building burned this summer and the other collapsed. Paiutes showed miners this Humboldt County location in the 1870's. Deposits of the Lewis Mine were distributed over several square miles. The Pacific Sulphur Company constructed a refinery and produced 6 to 7 tons daily for about eight years. The Nevada Sulphur Company of San Francisco took over the deposits in 1900. California Rex Spray Company purchased the property in 1917. In 1937 all mining, milling and power equipment were auctioned. At least 40,000 tons of sulfur were produced from this site. The content of the ore that included alunite and gypsum, ranged from 15 to 85 percent sulfur. As with many sulfur rich sites in Nevada the Lewis Mine and the adjacent Crofoot Mine became the site of gold and silver mining in the 1980's. It is now known as the Hycroft Mine and is operated by Vista Gold.
See [[Sulphur Mining District]] for early histories of the area.


===Residents of Sulphur===
Below are various resources that name residents of Sulphur organized chronologically.


A SULPHUR MINE IN NEVADA (1903)
J. W. Rover was convicted of murdering Isaac Sharp at Sulphur and hung in Reno in 1878.<ref>Guy Rocha, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20140730024736/http://nsla.nv.gov/Myth_124/ Myth #124: True Confessions: The J.W. Rover Case]," Nevada State Library and Archives.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=tbc2AQAAMAAJ&lpg=PA416&ots=Wmj_dh2Pds&dq=%22A%20SULPHUR%20MINE%20IN%20NEVADA%22%20Adams%201903&pg=PA416#v=onepage&q=%22A%20SULPHUR%20MINE%20IN%20NEVADA%22%20Adams%201903&f=false Mining Magazine: An International Monthly Review of Current Progress in Mining and Metallurgy]," p. 416, Volume 8, December 26, 1903.</ref>.


"DR. GEORGE I. ADAMS of the United States Geological Survey has recently had a glimpse of the infernal regions. He was sent to inspect a sulphur mine in Nevada and he brought back to Washington an interesting collection of specimens which show that a good grade of sulphur is produced in this country and that we are not dependent on importations from Sicily to supply the demand only a few deposits in the United States are at present mined but if a tariff were levied on the foreign product much greater development of native deposits might be expected This is one of the industries that ought to be fostered. The investigations of the survey were made for the purpose of ascertaining the nature and extent of the Nevada deposits. The mine visited by Dr Adams belongs to the Nevada Sulphur Mine Company. It is situated in the Rabbit Hole Mining district just Northwest of Rabbit Hole Springs about 35 miles from Humboldt House Station on the Southern Pacific Railway. This is on the edge of the Black Rock Desert a desolate volcanic region in which there is little to rest the eye or cheer the spirit. The mines are in the form of pits open cuts and drifts exemplifying in every case that ancient truism "Easy is the descent to Avernus." This deposit was discovered about 35 years ago by an Indian who sold it for a horse and saddle that he never received. In 1871 the mine was worked by two partners white men who quarreled over their profits until one of them killed the other cut him up put him in a sack and buried him thereabouts. For a long time the ghost of the murdered miner had things all his own way. The appearance of the Nevada Sulphur Mine Company in the field in 1900 put an end to his monopoly.  The new company entered at once on the active production of sulphur and brimstone. They started with only one retort but have since added another. These retorts are cylindrical iron structures somewhat resembling a blast furnace in general appearance. After the ore is dumped into them they are closed and superheated steam is then turned on.  The sulphur melts and runs out of the bottom of the retort into a settling pan from which it is drawn into molds.  The forms in these molds weigh about 250 pounds. After they have cooled they are crushed to pea size or ground with buhrstones into flour.  The sulphur of pea size is shipped in 100 pound sacks the flour in 110 pound sacks.  Where the sulphur has taken crystalline form it looks bright and sparkling its yellow crystals often beautifully tinted with rosy cinnabar/  The richer deposits are the dark massive ones which look like solid balls of brimstone They make an appropriate background for the ghostly figures of the miners bent at their tasks. Everywhere about the upper works hangs the penetrating odor of sulphurous fumes and below ground the gruesome squeak of the sulphur follows every foot. Dr Adams will write a report on the mine to be included in the Survey's yearly volume on Economic Geology"
The Sulphur post office "Operated Jan 1899-Sep 1899, Jan 1910-Nov 1943, Aug 1946-May 1953"<ref>GNIS, "[https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/summary/864862 Sulphur Post Office (historical)]," "History: , Citation: Gamett, James, and Paher, Stanley W. Nevada Post Offices. Las Vegas: Nevada Publications, 1983, 176 pp. Discusses historical background of Nevada post offices. p123"</ref>.
 
Effie Mae Fisk ran a boarding house at Sulphur where she met [[Clyde Fisk]]'s father.  In 1911, she homesteaded a ranch near [[Squaw Reservoir]].<ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90793806/fisk-homestead-a-state-institution/ Fisk Homestead a State Institution,]" Doris Cerveri, Reno Gazette-Journal, December 27, 1975, page 4.</ref>
 
 
In 1910, Mr. C. L. Rowley drilled the well for the W.P.R.R. near [[Sulphur]]<ref>[http://newspaperarchive.com/us/nevada/reno/nevada-state-journal/1910/02-14/page-3 Tells Promise of Black Rock]," Nevada State Journal, February 14, 1910.</ref>. The 1910 census lists his trade as well driller and his industry as oil<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/13thcensus1910po858unit#page/n1133/mode/1up Red Butte, Humboldt County, Nevada, 1910 Census], archive.org.</ref>.
 
[https://archive.org/stream/14thcensusofpopu1004unit#page/n718/mode/1up 1920 Census, Sulphur]
 
In 1922, a petition to the U.S. House of Representatives was sent and lists residents of Sulphur: "4942 By Mr Arentz Petitions of the Humboldt County Chamber of Commerce and Messrs Born, Cooney, Richardson, Pearce, Wilkinson, Gray, Moore, Defenbaugh and Fishburn of Winnemucca Messrs Crowley, Whitaker, Newland, Stonebaker, Brown, Cushin, Alley, Rolph, Willig, Noble, Swager, Olsen, Brabazon and Webster of '''Sulphur''' Nev. protesting against House bill 10598 to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce" (Bill 10598 seems to have something to do with using the US Mail to promote illegal financial matters?)<ref>"[https://books.google.com/books?id=6DI9AQAAMAAJ&dq=Swager%20Sulphur%20postmaster&pg=PA258#v=onepage&q=Swager%20Sulphur%20postmaster&f=false United States Congressional Serial Set, Journal of the House of Representatives]," p. 258, April 3, 1922.</ref>
 
George Swager was the Sulphur postmaster in 1928-1932<ref>[http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gl=DIR_SOCIETY&rank=1&new=1&MSAV=0&msT=1&gss=angs-g&gsfn=Jay&gsln=Swager&msdpn__ftp=IN&so=2 Ancestry.com]</ref><ref>Photo 023, "1933 George Swager Postmaster," Humboldt Museum, Winnemucca.</ref><ref>"George W. Swager is Summoned at Humboldt Home," Nevada State Journal, December 30, 1936 - Page 9.</ref>
 
W. W. "Wally" Irwin was the Sulphur postmaster from "the mid-1930's through the 1950's"<ref>Benjamin T. Barna, "[https://books.google.com/books?id=WZTLIWiCRkIC&dq=Sulphur+Nevada++postmaster&q=sulphur#v=snippet&q=sulphur&f=false A Material Culture of Making Do: Adapting to the Great Depression in the Rabbithole Mining District,]" p. 74, UNR, May, 2008. Cites Venable 2006a.</ref>.
 
In 1950, Velva D. Zeik opened a grocery store in Sulphur<ref>[http://newspaperarchive.com/us/nevada/reno/nevada-state-journal/1950/04-25/page-6 Winnemucca Social Notes]," Nevada State Journal, April 25, 1950</ref>.
 
Robert Trego states that there were three or families living in Sulphur in 1955<ref>Robert Trego, "[http://newspaperarchive.com/us/nevada/reno/nevada-state-journal/1955/10-23/ Black Rock Desert Roads]," Nevada State Journal, October 23, 1955, p10-11.  Low resolution image of Sulphur. Also mentioned are [[Trego]] and [[Jungo]].</ref>.
 
[[Image:Sulphur_Junction.JPG|thumb|Sulphur Junction about 1/2 way between Gerlach and Winnemuca on [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada_State_Route_49 Nevada State Route 49] going East from the main highway between Gerlach and Empire. This road is mainly gravel and is suitable for a street bike type motorcycle at a speed of about 30 MPH. There are few, if any sandy spots, unlike the Soldier Meadows Road which has lots of sandy areas. This road travels the South East side of the Black Rock Desert.]]
[[Image:Cscrm_000335_07_access3675x2040.jpg|right|thumb|WPRR 1910 Timetable showing Sulphur]]
[[Image:TregoMap1913.png|right|thumb|October 1913 map showing Sulphur]]
[[Image:1930_D&RGW_WP.jpg|right|thumb|c. 1914 map of the W.P.R.R. showing Sulphur]]


== See Also ==
== See Also ==
* [[Warm Spring in Sulphur (NBMG)]]
* [[Sulphur Mining District]] - Mining history of the area.
 
== References ==
<references/>


== External Resources ==
== External Resources ==
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulphur,_Nevada Wikipedia]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulphur,_Nevada Wikipedia]
* [http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:845687 GNIS]
* [https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/summary/845687 Sulphur GNIS]
* "[http://books.google.com/books?id=YUMAAAAAMAAJ&dq=mcfarland%20spring%20black%20rock%20desert&pg=PA794#v=onepage&q=A%20sulphur%20mine%20in%20nevada&f=false A Sulphur Mine in Nevada,]" Steel and Iron, Volume 73, National Iron and Steel Publishing Company, 1903.
* "[http://www.winnemucca.nv.us/outdoor_recreation_ghost_towns.html Winnemucca County Ghost Towns],"  Sulphur was a major shipping and receiving point in the 1920s.
* "[http://www.winnemucca.nv.us/outdoor_recreation_ghost_towns.html Winnemucca County Ghost Towns],"  Sulphur was a major shipping and receiving point in the 1920s.
* Guy Rocha, "[http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=805&Itemid=418 J. W. Rover Case]," Murder at Sulphur.
* Trego, Robert, "[http://newspaperarchive.com/us/nevada/reno/nevada-state-journal/1955/10-23/ Black Rock Desert Roads]," Nevada State Journal, October 23, 1955, p10-11.  Low resolution image of Sulphur, Robert Trego states that there were three or families living in Sulphur in 1955.  Also mentioned are [[Trego]] and [[Jungo]].
* Photos [http://www.californiazephyr.org/resource_library/photo_archive/albums/Sulphur.php 1955 Derailment] of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Zephyr California Zephyr] near [[Sulphur]].
* Photos [http://www.californiazephyr.org/resource_library/photo_archive/albums/Sulphur.php 1955 Derailment] of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Zephyr California Zephyr] near [[Sulphur]].
* http://nvghosttowns.topcities.com/humboldt/humlst.htm
* Dorthoy Nylen, "[http://museums.nevadaculture.org/dmdocuments/mus-let23.pdf The Color of Daffodils, the Smell of Rotten Eggs]," Nevada State Museum Newsletter, January/February 2002. Includes image of boiler.


== Images ==
== Images ==
* Photo #23, "1933 George Swager Postmaster," Humboldt Museum, Winnemucca.
* People #24, "Mary Swager at Sulphur Nev, in 1912," Humboldt Museum, Winnemucca. Her wedding dress is in Humboldt County Museum Collection.
* People #26, "Mary Swager, Sulphur, Nev 1921," Humboldt Museum, Winnemucca.
* People #178, "Mary Evans c 1920 Telegraph operator at Sulphur, NV 1918-1964," Humboldt Museum, Winnemucca.
* HU-404, "Nevada Sulphur Smelter," Nevada Historical Society.
* HU-404, "Nevada Sulphur Smelter," Nevada Historical Society.
* HU-405, "New Mill for Grinding," Nevada Historical Society.  Not sure of the location.
* HU-405, "New Mill for Grinding," Nevada Historical Society.  Not sure of the location.
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[[Category:Deaths by violence]]
[[Category:Deaths by violence]]
[[Category:Ghost towns]]
[[Category:Ghost towns]]
[[Category:GNIS]]
[[Category:Humboldt County]]
[[Category:Humboldt County]]
[[Category:Mining]]
[[Category:Railroad sidings]]
[[Category:Wikipedia articles]]
[[Category:Wikipedia articles]]

Latest revision as of 21:01, 28 December 2021

Sulphur is a ghost town located on the Western Pacific Rail Road west of the Kamma Mountains.

Sulphur is named for the nearby sulphur deposits, discovered in 1866. Today, the Hycroft Mine is located nearby.

The 1914-1915 WPRR Descriptive Time Table for west-bound traffic stated: "Five miles from Sulphur are located the extensive workings of the Nevada Sulphur Company. On the left is distant and oddly white Calico Range, always of the pale hue."[1] There could be confusion about left and right here?

Sulphur is at mile post 474.52.[2]. To the west is Ronda, to the east is Floka.


See Sulphur Mining District for early histories of the area.

Residents of Sulphur

Below are various resources that name residents of Sulphur organized chronologically.

J. W. Rover was convicted of murdering Isaac Sharp at Sulphur and hung in Reno in 1878.[3][4].

The Sulphur post office "Operated Jan 1899-Sep 1899, Jan 1910-Nov 1943, Aug 1946-May 1953"[5].

Effie Mae Fisk ran a boarding house at Sulphur where she met Clyde Fisk's father. In 1911, she homesteaded a ranch near Squaw Reservoir.[6]


In 1910, Mr. C. L. Rowley drilled the well for the W.P.R.R. near Sulphur[7]. The 1910 census lists his trade as well driller and his industry as oil[8].

1920 Census, Sulphur

In 1922, a petition to the U.S. House of Representatives was sent and lists residents of Sulphur: "4942 By Mr Arentz Petitions of the Humboldt County Chamber of Commerce and Messrs Born, Cooney, Richardson, Pearce, Wilkinson, Gray, Moore, Defenbaugh and Fishburn of Winnemucca Messrs Crowley, Whitaker, Newland, Stonebaker, Brown, Cushin, Alley, Rolph, Willig, Noble, Swager, Olsen, Brabazon and Webster of Sulphur Nev. protesting against House bill 10598 to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce" (Bill 10598 seems to have something to do with using the US Mail to promote illegal financial matters?)[9]

George Swager was the Sulphur postmaster in 1928-1932[10][11][12]

W. W. "Wally" Irwin was the Sulphur postmaster from "the mid-1930's through the 1950's"[13].

In 1950, Velva D. Zeik opened a grocery store in Sulphur[14].

Robert Trego states that there were three or families living in Sulphur in 1955[15].

Sulphur Junction about 1/2 way between Gerlach and Winnemuca on Nevada State Route 49 going East from the main highway between Gerlach and Empire. This road is mainly gravel and is suitable for a street bike type motorcycle at a speed of about 30 MPH. There are few, if any sandy spots, unlike the Soldier Meadows Road which has lots of sandy areas. This road travels the South East side of the Black Rock Desert.
WPRR 1910 Timetable showing Sulphur
October 1913 map showing Sulphur
c. 1914 map of the W.P.R.R. showing Sulphur

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Descriptive Time Tables, Denver and Rio Grande - Western Pacific, Winter 1914-1915
  2. ↑ http://www.trainweb.org/WPRRINFO/WPMilePostDetail.html
  3. ↑ Guy Rocha, "Myth #124: True Confessions: The J.W. Rover Case," Nevada State Library and Archives.
  4. ↑ Mining Magazine: An International Monthly Review of Current Progress in Mining and Metallurgy," p. 416, Volume 8, December 26, 1903.
  5. ↑ GNIS, "Sulphur Post Office (historical)," "History: , Citation: Gamett, James, and Paher, Stanley W. Nevada Post Offices. Las Vegas: Nevada Publications, 1983, 176 pp. Discusses historical background of Nevada post offices. p123"
  6. ↑ "Fisk Homestead a State Institution," Doris Cerveri, Reno Gazette-Journal, December 27, 1975, page 4.
  7. ↑ Tells Promise of Black Rock," Nevada State Journal, February 14, 1910.
  8. ↑ Red Butte, Humboldt County, Nevada, 1910 Census, archive.org.
  9. ↑ "United States Congressional Serial Set, Journal of the House of Representatives," p. 258, April 3, 1922.
  10. ↑ Ancestry.com
  11. ↑ Photo 023, "1933 George Swager Postmaster," Humboldt Museum, Winnemucca.
  12. ↑ "George W. Swager is Summoned at Humboldt Home," Nevada State Journal, December 30, 1936 - Page 9.
  13. ↑ Benjamin T. Barna, "A Material Culture of Making Do: Adapting to the Great Depression in the Rabbithole Mining District," p. 74, UNR, May, 2008. Cites Venable 2006a.
  14. ↑ Winnemucca Social Notes," Nevada State Journal, April 25, 1950
  15. ↑ Robert Trego, "Black Rock Desert Roads," Nevada State Journal, October 23, 1955, p10-11. Low resolution image of Sulphur. Also mentioned are Trego and Jungo.

External Resources

Images

  • Photo #23, "1933 George Swager Postmaster," Humboldt Museum, Winnemucca.
  • People #24, "Mary Swager at Sulphur Nev, in 1912," Humboldt Museum, Winnemucca. Her wedding dress is in Humboldt County Museum Collection.
  • People #26, "Mary Swager, Sulphur, Nev 1921," Humboldt Museum, Winnemucca.
  • People #178, "Mary Evans c 1920 Telegraph operator at Sulphur, NV 1918-1964," Humboldt Museum, Winnemucca.
  • HU-404, "Nevada Sulphur Smelter," Nevada Historical Society.
  • HU-405, "New Mill for Grinding," Nevada Historical Society. Not sure of the location.
  • HU-406, "Nevada Sulphur Smelter," Nevada Historical Society.
  • HU-417, "Sulphur-Humboldt Co.," Nevada Historical Society.
  • HU-418, "Spring Belonging to Sulphur Works," Nevada Historical Society.
  • HU-661, "Hotel @ Sulphur in the 1920's," Nevada Historical Society.
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