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Contact Nevada

Contact Nevada

Contact Nevada Overview

A mining district located on a branch of the Union Pacific Railroad, between Twin Falls, Idaho, and Wells, Nevada located on US 93, Contact was known as one of the closest Nevada settlements to the Idaho border.

Named for a mining term, contact – A geological term used to describe the line or plane along which two different rock formations meet.

A post office was established at Contact in 1897 and remained in operation until 1962.

As of 1915 Contact had a hotel, restaurant, and its own local newspaper.

Although a new townsite was laid out in 1930, by that time the community was once again in decline.

A devastating 1942 fire effectively turned Contact into a near-ghost town.

Today one of the main presences in Contact is a Nevada Department of Transportation maintenance station.

The State Historic Preservation Office didn’t include this one in the overall book I was using as a reference. We will be providing more information about the historical marker after we visit the site.

Category

unknown

Marker Type

unknown

Nevada Historical Marker Number

Contact Nevada is Nevada Historical Marker #260.

Click here to view the complete list of Nevada State Historical Markers.

County

Elko County, Nevada

GPS Coordinates

41.76957, -114.75334

Nevada Historical Marker Transcription

In the 1870s gold was mined in Contact, and a five-ton smelter, built in Contact, ceased functioning after three test runs. But with a renewal of mining in 1905, Contact was laid out below the older camp in a more favorable location near the Salmon Falls River. Businesses were established including a hotel, several saloons, and a store. The weekly Contact Miner provided a voice beginning in 1913. During WWI a large amount of copper was mined.

The Union Pacific Railroad built the Oregon Short Line which ran nearby in 1926. Mining resumed. In 1928-1930 Contact had a population of 260 people, saloons, a hotel, post office, school, electric power and a water system was brought to camp in anticipation of a large mining expansion. But a depressed copper market shelved the camp’s dreams of permanence.

Thereafter Contact was relocated on U.S. 93 and became a tourist stop.

References Used

Contact Nevada